You know, YouTube has allowed us music listeners to find more bands and tracks a lot more easily. However, it has also made some things less convenient. As someone who has fond memories of loading up music tracks into WinAmp and having the playlist play, going through YouTube takes up quite a bit of RAM with the browser, has lots of recommendations you may not be interested in, and comes with ads.

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on Android phones, follow Dominic Preston. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.How it startedSamsung's Galaxy S20 Ultra wasn't the first phone to feature a periscopic telephoto lens - both Huawei and Oppo beat the Korean company to it - but it was the first in the US to make such a big deal about it. Almost all of Samsung's marketing for the S20 Ultra centered on its so-called Space Zoom, its 5x optical folded periscope lens, capable of digitally zooming much further. Samsung even …Read the full story at The Verge.

I take a lot of screenshots while I’m researching and writing. But the most annoying part is thinking I have the screenshot I need, only to realize I missed a line of text and have to redo it. So that doesn’t happen anymore. I use Firefox’s built-in screenshot tool, because it lets me size the capture before I save it.

Ever since Valve stopped production of the Steam Deck LCD version, it has been harder to recommend portable gaming systems to people. While the cheap LCD Steam Deck was a shoo-in for newcomers to pick up, its cancellation means we have to turn to other devices like the Switch 2.

Windows 11 had a really rough January after Patch Tuesday. We saw some very strange bugs appear over the last month, such as Windows 11 PCs flat-out refusing to shut down when you tell them to. However, among the reports was a bug that seemingly mostly affected commercial PCs, which caused boot issues when using Windows 11.

Microsoft has been doing something exciting in the gaming scene. We're still not sure whether it's a good or bad thing yet, but it's definitely exciting. The company, once stalwart with its Xbox consoles and its exclusives, has since ducked out of the console wars to instead focus on turning everything else into a console. Basically, if it has a screen and an internet connection, Microsoft wants to ensure you can run games on it, even if it's cloud-based gaming.

It’s so embarrassing when a robot is better than you at latte art. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge In Seattle, the only thing we love more than coffee is our coffee shops. On a six-block walk I pass at least a half dozen, each with their own vibe: one focused on chai, another inside a yoga studio, a Starbucks that's surprisingly busy for late afternoon downtown. I passed them all up to get to one shop in particular, where a barista named Jarvis would address me by name and make me a thoroughly decent latte with rose-flavored syrup - nothing out of the ordinary in Seattle. But Jarvis, unlike the other baristas keeping the city's many shops humming, is a robot.Hill7 is a luxury apartment building located between the courthouse, the conv …Read the full story at The Verge.

Travel usually turns my “I’ll be productive” fantasies into a parade of compromises. A laptop is powerful, sure, but it also demands a lot from the bag, the table, and the outlet. When I started traveling with a Raspberry Pi and a portable monitor instead, the whole setup felt more intentional. It stopped being a smaller laptop dream and became a purpose-built little workstation.

Besides their privacy-first design and FOSS nature, another neat aspect of containerized apps is the sheer number of tools you can deploy on your home server. For your media consumption needs alone, you’ve got the holy trifecta of Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby to choose from, each featuring an entire set of secondary tools designed to offer QoL facilities for your collection of archived shows and movies. And that’s just a small subset of handy self-hosted applications.

I've used and reviewed dozens of e-readers over the years, but the 5-inch Kobo Mini remains my favorite for one simple reason: It was small. While it lacked useful features like screen lighting and page turn buttons, its size made it an e-reader I actually wanted to carry every day. The $69 Xteink X4 e-reader is even smaller than the Kobo Mini and E Ink smartphones like Boox Palma. It's satisfyingly pocketable but also frustratingly unintuitive and functionally limited out of the box. That could be a deal-breaker were it not for a growing community of users working to improve it.Like the Kodak Charmera, I was pleasantly surprised at how sm …Read the full story at The Verge.

New York City got hit with a hell of a snowstorm last week. And, inevitably, when I'm watching the snow fall, wandering the oddly quiet streets after dark, people hiding inside and staying warm, I put on M83's sophomore record, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. Before Nicolas Fromageau left the band and Anthony Gonzalez embraced traditional pop song structures, saxophone solos, and teen angst, M83 released two albums of mostly instrumental music. The self-titled debut album is kind of forgettable, but the second one finds the French duo taking inspiration from the repetitive bombast of Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Dead Cities …Read the full story at The Verge.

Antigravity’s ambitious A1 360-degree drone is 15 percent off through February 9th. The first-ever discount on this model is available across all bundles, with the most affordable option dropping from $1,599 to $1,359 at Amazon and Best Buy. Pricier bundles are also discounted and include accessories such as a carrying case, additional replaceable drone wings, and extra batteries.Antigravity A1 droneWhere to Buy: $1599 $1359 at Amazon (Standard) $1599 $1359 at Best Buy (Standard) $1899 $1609 at Amazon (Explorer)The Antigravity A1, Insta360’s first drone, really impressed us during our hands-on with a prototype in December 2025. It can shoot in 8K at 30 frames per second or in 5.7K at 60 frames per second. It comes with a remote control, and you can get a cockpit view with the included Vision Goggles. They provide a 360-degree first-person view even as the drone flies straight, letting you see things you might have otherwise missed. There’s a screen on the outside of the goggles that lets people see what you’re seeing through the A1’s eyes.This sale coincides with the launch of a new Flight Simulator feature that Antigravity launched on January 29th. It lets you practice flights via the Vision Goggles without actually having to fly the A1 drone. The company says that the feature creates a virtual flying environment that replicates how the A1 handles, helping those concerned about crashing become more comfortable with the controls. If you’re looking for more information about the A1, check out Sean Hollister’s in-depth hands-on, and get a quick lowdown on what it’s all about with his TikTok video: @verge I tried Antigravity, the first drone from Insta360. It’s a flying 360-degree camera with these wild goggles that have a screen on the front, point-to-fly controls, and the ability to film in every direction and piece together dynamic videos afterward! The company says it’s coming to the US for as little as $1,300 or as much as $1,700 if Trump’s tariffs allow and claims it’s standing up a whole Antigravity company to make it happen. #todayimtoyingwith #drone #dronefootage #dronetok #tech ♬ original sound – The Verge