At $380, MSI’s 27-inch 1440p QD-OLED gaming monitor is one of the best purchases Verge readers who want an awesome gaming upgrade can make now. That’s how much it costs in an online-only deal at Costco for membership holders through December 1st. In case you’re curious as to what kind of OLED monitor you can get for just $380, so was I. So I got MSI to send over a review unit, which I’ve been using for over a week. This monitor (model MAG271QPX E2) doesn’t really differ from several other similarly-sized models. It offers a fast 240Hz refresh rate, fantastic viewing angles compared to cheaper panel types, and colors that really pop. It’s not typically one I’d suggest most people buy at its usual $599 sale price, but it becomes an extremely compelling value for $200 less.MSI MAG271QPX E2 1440p QD-OLED gaming monitorWhere to Buy: $479.99 $379.99 at CostcoMSI’s QD-OLED replaced an aging Acer 1440p IPS 144Hz monitor at my desk, and the difference was profound when I jumped into a game. I’ve been playing a lot of Battlefield 6 lately, and the landscapes look more lived-in than they do with the limited, pale color gamut that my IPS can muster. The chaotic action looks a little more real, thanks to more vivid-looking explosions. Every little aspect of the interface is easier to parse, too, thanks to OLEDs unbeatable contrast ratio. Ambrosia Sky is another title I recently picked up that looks particularly stunning on this display. I wish I had started testing this around Halloween, when I was playing more scary games, because its deep black levels look fantastic in my home office — it’s got great contrast. If this is your first OLED gaming monitor and you haven’t yet experienced the difference between that and an inferior panel type, you’re in for a treat that keeps on giving. I play a lot of games, but I type articles in Google Docs more often because of my job. OLEDs have a bad reputation for rendering text; various subpixel layout types introduce color-tinged aliasing that’s not present on IPS and other types of non-OLED panels. The evidence of this is irrefutable under close inspection, as this Monitors Unboxed hands-on video proves. However, as the video mentions, you may not notice it. From the distance I sit from the monitor, it looks fine to me.This monitor’s specs make it a particularly good deal compared to other non-OLED monitors at this price point. This model supports variable refresh rate between the range of 48Hz and 240Hz. While it only lists support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro adaptive sync, not Nvidia G-Sync, I’ve been happy with its performance in a range of games while connected to my Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti-powered PC. The panel itself is covered in an “anti-reflection” coating that appears semi-glossy, so it might catch reflections in a well-lit room. This monitor comes with a nice height-adjustable stand that allows for tilting, swiveling, and pivoting, but I just tossed it on my monitor arm thanks to its VESA mount.MSI covers the monitor with a three-year warranty that includes panel burn-in, which is great. I’m also smitten with this model’s ports. It sports one DisplayPort 1.4a port, two HDMI 2.1 ports supporting up to 240Hz on PC (or up to 120Hz on consoles), plus one USB-C with DisplayPort video, which works great with my Steam Deck, and a headphone jack. That port allows 15W PD charging, but is turned off by default.If there’s one complaint that I have, it’s that the plastic chassis on the back is a bit chunky compared to other models that I’ve tested. However, MSI says that this is where the monitor’s heatsink is located, which allows it to have a fanless design. And at $380, this complaint doesn’t hold much water.If you aren’t a Costco member, it may be worth it to become one if only just for this deal. But if you don’t plan to become one, it’s possible that we’ll see deals at other retailers for this model. It sold for $449.99 at Amazon during the Prime Big Deal Days, so hopefully that price (or ideally, something better) will pop up during Black Friday. While Best Buy only sells the MSI monitor through a third-party seller, the retailer currently has Alienware’s AW2725D, the company’s 27-inch 280Hz 1440p QD-OLED, for $499.99 — a $50 price drop. LG’s 27-inch 1440p OLED with 240Hz refresh rate (which seems very similar to MSI’s) is $499.99 at Amazon. In other words, there are deals to be had just about anywhere. But right now, Costco’s is the one to beat on a QD-OLED gaming monitor.Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Jeff Bezos is getting a new job. He’ll reportedly become co-CEO of Project Prometheus, a new startup that he’s partly funding. The company’s exact plans are still unknown, but its focus is on AI that could improve manufacturing in fields including computing, automobiles, and aerospace.The New York Times reports that Project Prometheus is already one of the better funded early-stage start-ups in the world, with $6.2 billion in investment, in part from Bezos himself. In addition to financing the venture, he’ll help run the company together with co-founder Vik Bajaj. He’s a physicist and chemist who once worked at Google X, the company’s experimental “moonshot factory,” before running health tech company Verily, an Alphabet-owned venture spun out of that division.Project Prometheus reportedly has nearly 100 employees already, including former staff from OpenAI, DeepMind, and Meta. With Bezos now among them, this will be his first formal operational role at a company since he stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, though since then he’s taken a keen interest in his SpaceX rival Blue Origin, which last week completed the first successful landing of its New Glenn booster. 

You know, it didn't feel like it was that long ago since we saw the GeForce RTX 50 series cards selling for some nasty inflated prices. Fortunately, those days are now over, and we're beginning to see sales for these GPUs where the price actually goes below the MSRP, which is a relief. So, if you've always wanted to pick up an RTX 5070, Walmart currently has them at $60 lower than the asking price, so be sure to grab one before they're gone.

I've rage-quit Notion at least seven times. Every time I open it, I'm greeted by a database I swear I'll maintain this time, followed by the creeping dread that I've overcomplicated my own thinking. I assumed the problem was me, that I just wasn't disciplined enough to keep up with the systems I built.

I really love little gadgets that float. I know that under the hood, there are magnets working away to create the effect, but seeing a little floating thing still makes those child-like wonder neurons light up in my brain. So, when I saw that someone was using this tech in their ESP32 project, I had to report on it.

X has revealed Chat, an encrypted upgrade to the platform’s direct messaging service. It also includes support for video and voice calls, disappearing messages, and file sharing.The company announced Chat on Friday, and it’s available now on iOS and the web, with an Android version coming “soon.” It replaces X’s existing messaging system, though your old messages should be carried across.X says that Chat supports end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for both messages and files, though a support page notes that this doesn’t cover message metadata — such as who received it, or when it was sent. There’s also no protection against man-in-the-middle attacks, the company admitting that if “a malicious insider or X itself” compromised an encrypted conversation, there would be no way for users to know, though ways to verify message authenticity and device identity are coming.Other privacy features include disappearing messages, which can be set to automatically delete after a set period of time, and the options to either receive a notification when a chat is screenshotted or block screenshots entirely. Messages can be both edited and deleted, and voice and video calls are supported, with voice notes on the way in the future.Say hello to Chat – all-new secure messaging on X.• end-to-end encrypted chats and file sharing• edit, delete, or make messages disappear• block screenshots and get notified of attempts• no ads. no tracking. total privacy. pic.twitter.com/7dmDEDkYvO— Chat (@chat) November 14, 2025X — then Twitter — first introduced encrypted DMs in 2023, before pausing the feature this May while it worked on “improvements.” Those seem to have arrived as Chat.

Microsoft’s Windows 11 and macOS remain the two best-looking operating systems ever. When you think of Linux, you rarely worry about its appearance. The main idea is to revive a system or use an alternate OS with better privacy control and a “usable” interface. Linux distros use desktop environments to offer a distinct appearance. Some try to look like Windows while others aim to mimic the macOS design. It’s not a bad thing because you get to use something familiar while enjoying Linux.

For decades, thermal paste has remained a divisive topic among the PC community. While some enthusiasts take it too seriously, others treat it as an afterthought. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Even in 2025, thermal paste is surrounded by some persistent myths that might be negatively impacting your PC's performance. Whether it's about which thermal paste to trust or the right method and amount of paste to apply, it's time to (once again) bust these outdated myths.

The second-gen Nest Thermostat launched in 2012. Google officially turned off remote control functionality for early Nest Learning Thermostats last month, but it hasn’t stopped collecting a stream of data from these downgraded devices. After digging into the backend, security researcher Cody Kociemba found that the first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats are still sending Google information about manual temperature changes, whether a person is present in the room, if sunlight is hitting the device, and more.Kociemba made the discovery while participating in a bounty program created by FULU, a right-to-repair advocacy organization cofounded by electronics repair technician and YouTuber Louis Rossmann. FULU challenged developers to come up with a solution to restore smart functionality to Nest devices no longer supported by Google, and that’s exactly what Kociemba did with his open-source No Longer Evil project.But after cloning Google’s API to create this custom software, he started receiving a trove of logs from customer devices, which he turned off. “On these devices, while they [Google] turned off access to remotely control them, they did leave in the ability for the devices to upload logs. And the logs are pretty extensive,” Kociemba tells The Verge.Along with preventing users from remotely controlling early Nest Learning Thermostats (in addition to the European version from 2014), Google turned off the ability for users to check the status of their devices from the Nest or Google Home app, while also blocking security and software updates. Google notes that the unsupported devices “will continue to report logs for issue diagnostics,” though the data the company is collecting no longer appears to be useful.“Although these logs can contain technical details such as HVAC error states, Google can no longer use that information to assist the customers who still depend on these thermostats, since support has been fully discontinued, even in cases of device failure,” according to Kociemba.Google is still getting all the information collected by Nest Learning Thermostats, including data measured by their sensors, such as temperature, humidity, ambient light, and motion. “I was under the impression that the Google connection would be severed along with the remote functionality, however that connection is not severed, and instead is a one-way street,” Kociemba says. The Verge reached out to Google with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.FULU awarded Kociemba and another winner, who goes by the name of Team Dinosaur, with the $14,772 bounty for bringing smart features back to the unsupported thermostats.

Microsoft Edge has come a long way, from being powered by EdgeHTML to becoming a Chromium-based browser. The web browser has also changed a lot since the transition, as Microsoft continued to improve it by adding new features and fixes. Removal of certain features was a strategy the Redmond-based tech firm used to improve the overall experience.

So Microsoft has a little bit of a PR problem on its hands right now. We're seeing signs of Microsoft wanting to make an agentic Windows experience, including the President of Windows flat-out saying they want it. The thing is, people aren't as happy with these changes as Microsoft may like.

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius is the eternal optimist, and for good reason. He has long pushed the European Union to roll back its lofty goal of phasing out new internal combustion engine cars, arguing that weakening the rules was a return to pragmatism and not capitulation to opponents of Europe's green agenda.His push is working. The rigid deadlines for phasing out combustion engines after 2035 are "no longer feasible," Källenius told The Verge in a recent interview, given infrastructure bottlenecks and the sluggish adoption of EVs by consumers. More flexibility was needed to protect jobs and competitiveness, give consumers greater cho …Read the full story at The Verge.