The ornament also plays the console’s startup sound. | Image: Hallmark The Halo 3 soundtrack could soon be joining classics like “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Deck the Halls” on your holiday playlist, if you deck your halls with Hallmark’s new Xbox 360 Keepsake ornament. It’s now available from Hallmark’s online store and Amazon for $28.99 and pressing its power button plays the console’s swooshy startup sound and then about 20 seconds of the Behold a Pale Horse track from the Halo 3 soundtrack that incorporates elements of the Halo theme, according to IGN. The 3.25-inch tall replica of Microsoft’s nearly 20-year-old console (the 360 launched in November 2005) is surprisingly detailed for something that’s going to get lost amongst a sea of ornaments on your tree, and includes a matching mini controller permanently leaning up against the console’s base.It’s powered by a trio of replaceable button batteries should you get overly nostalgic and hit the button ad nauseam. The Xbox 360’s power button even lights up green when pressed, and although green and red is often considered the official colors of the holiday season, it doesn’t appear as if you can create the 360’s Red Ring of Death, despite Microsoft not shying away from making other merchandise featuring the infamous error message.

Over the last 20 years, I've built more than a few gaming PCs. I can freely admit that every single time, I've let a component's specifications affect my decision more than its real-world performance. Sometimes it was CPU clock speeds or GPU cores; other times, it was monitor response times or motherboard marketing fluff. With time, however, I've learned to look deeper, ignoring superficial technical specs in favor of reliable, third-party reviews that reveal a component's actual performance. The next time I build a PC, these are the specs I'm glossing over.

Amazon has deployed over a million robots to its facilities, and is testing bipedal bots like Agility Robotics' “Digit” (pictured). | Image: Jason Redmond / Getty Images Amazon is reportedly leaning into automation plans that will enable the company to avoid hiring more than half a million US workers. Citing interviews and internal strategy documents, The New York Times reports that Amazon is hoping its robots can replace more than 600,000 jobs it would otherwise have to hire in the United States by 2033, despite estimating it’ll sell about twice as many products over the period.Documents reportedly show that Amazon’s robotics team is working towards automating 75 percent of the company’s entire operations, and expects to ditch 160,000 US roles that would otherwise be needed by 2027. This would save about 30 cents on every item that Amazon warehouses and delivers to customers, with automation efforts expected to save the company $12.6 billion from 2025 to 2027.Amazon has considered steps to improve its image as a “good corporate citizen” in preparation for the anticipated backlash around job losses, according to The NYT, reporting that the company considered participating in community projects and avoiding terms like “automation” and “AI.” More vague terms like “advanced technology” were explored instead, and using the term “cobot” for robots that work alongside humans.In a statement to The NYT, Amazon said the leaked documents were incomplete and did not represent the company’s overall hiring strategy, and that executives are not being instructed to avoid using certain terms when referring to robotics. We have also reached out to Amazon for comment. “Nobody else has the same incentive as Amazon to find the way to automate. Once they work out how to do this profitably, it will spread to others, too,” Daron Acemoglu, winner of the Nobel Prize in economic science last year, told The NYT. Adding that if Amazon achieves its automation goal, “one of the biggest employers in the United States will become a net job destroyer, not a net job creator.”

Even though there’s practically a new AI tool launching every day, OpenAI’s ChatGPT is still most people’s go-to. And despite there being arguably better alternatives out there, it continues to dominate the conversation.

The PCIe slots on your motherboard do a lot of heavy lifting in your PC, and for most people, it's almost exclusively GPU and storage related. On most modern platforms, however, it's capable of doing a lot more than what meets the eye. PCIe bifurcation allows users to divvy up PCIe lanes into multiple smaller channels. On modern systems, most of this happens automatically once you install multiple PCIe devices in your rig, like multiple M.2 drives, but you can deliberately leverage true PCIe bifuraction at home in some pretty neat ways.

Although Apple said in a recent court filing that Jon Prosser “still has not” replied to the company’s July lawsuit against him for allegedly stealing trade secrets, Prosser tells The Verge that he is in communication with Apple about the case.“All I can tell you is that regardless of what is being reported, and regardless of what the court documents say — I have, in fact, been in active communications with Apple since the beginning stages of this case,” Prosser says. “The notion that I’m ignoring the case is incorrect. That’s all I am able to say.”Last week, a clerk entered a default against Prosser, indicating that he hadn’t responded to the July lawsuit and allowing the case to go ahead. In its request for entry of default, Apple’s legal counsel says that the company personally served Prosser the lawsuit in July and notified him of the August 19th deadline to respond. He did not respond by that date, and “despite Apple’s multiple inquiries to Mr. Prosser about whether he would be responding to the Complaint, Mr. Prosser still has not done so,” according to the filing.In its lawsuit, Apple alleged that Prosser and another defendant, Michael Ramacciotti, had a “coordinated scheme” to “steal Apple’s trade secrets, and profit from the theft.” According to the complaint, Ramacciotti broke into a development iPhone used by a friend that worked at Apple, called Prosser over video, and “demonstrated several features and applications” of iOS 19, which was officially named iOS 26. Ahead of the announcement of the software, Prosser published videos highlighting changes to things like the Camera app and showing elements of what would later be revealed as the Liquid Glass design language. Apple didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Last month, my colleague Liz Lopatto explained how a gummy bear battery bank was taking over the ultralight backpacking world. I'm talking full-grown, outdoorsy adults nerding out about gummy bear merch beating the battery pros at their own game!Liz and I quickly agreed: We should put it to the test. Could the gummy bear company truly have the best ultralight battery, and could I bring some hard data to prove it? @verge It's the official Haribo gummy bear battery that's sweeping the ultralight backpacking and hiking world! Could it truly be the lightweight champ? I put the 10,000mAh (36Wh) version to the test against the lightest from …Read the full story at The Verge.

Yesterday, we learned how Google plans to let 15 lucky fans try new Pixel phones while they're still in development, thanks to a Bloomberg scoop.We have now obtained copies of the official rules and entry form for that contest, as shared with fans by the head of the Pixel Superfans program, and you can read the full versions at the bottom of this story.TL;DR: Google wasn't asking for much! To get nominated to become a "Pixel Trusted Tester" and win the unheard-of opportunity to use an unreleased Pixel phone in the wild, entrants only had to answer three questions at first:"How many Pixel devices have you ever owned?""As a Pixel Su …Read the full story at The Verge.

Building a smart home is typically a work in progress. Your home network is responsible for accessing and managing a variety of smart home devices. Whether you use Home Assistant or any other smart home software, you might run into network issues as the volume of devices grows. Network reliability is crucial to ensure that your smart home and automations work smoothly.

The 2025 Steam Next Fest just wrapped up, and we just saw some of the most incredible indie and AA games that are on the horizon in the gaming landscape. There were more games in the Next Fest that you could shake a controller at, and I think it's pretty safe to say that the future of small indie games from all genres — those forgotten and those resurgent — is safe.

Recently, the gaming world lost someone that was an important figure in the early 2000s, especially for anyone that owned the original Xbox. Tomonubu Itagaki, the creator of the Dead or Alive series and the reboot of Ninja Gaiden, was announced to have passed away on October 16th, 2025, with news coming from his immediate family through social media. In response to the sad news, many people within the games industry shared their reactions and memories of Itagaki throughout the years. But one thing that was very similar among all the posts was how much Tomonubu Itagaki meant to people who encountered him or his games in the early 2000s.

Yelp’s Host AI will speak to customers for restaurants. Yelp’s AI-powered solutions promise to answer calls, take reservations, and manage bookings for “understaffed” restaurants. Yelp Host and Yelp Receptionist are part of a broader push from the company and similar platforms embracing AI to streamline customer management “around the clock.” Host is an AI agent that can answer calls from guests and manage tables, Yelp said. The AI can take reservations over the phone, modify or cancel bookings, provide up-to-date waiting times, and even capture special requests, as well as answer questions about the restaurant, like whether or not it has vegan options or welcomes dogs. It will also be able to send guests links to menus, join waitlists, or place orders for pickup or delivery through an automated follow-up text.Yelp first previewed the Host tool in April. It will be available to restaurants starting from $149 a month, or $99 a month for Yelp Guest Manager customers. New features are on the way, too, and the company said Host will be able to add diners directly to the Yelp Waitlist “in the coming weeks.”Yelp is also launching Yelp Receptionist this week, an AI agent it says will handle incoming calls for businesses. Similar to Host, Yelp said the tool will answer calls, respond to customer questions, and collect details needed to vet leads, provide quotes, and schedule appointments. Both will come pre-trained on Yelp’s business data and be ready to “work out-of-the-box to answer calls 24/7, or only when extra coverage is needed.” Receptionist will only be available for “eligible” businesses to begin with, starting at $99 a month, but Yelp said it “will be widely available for local businesses across categories in the coming months.” The tools are among several AI updates announced today as part of Yelp’s fall release roster, including making its AI chatbot assistant available on all platforms and in Canada, a new feature that brings up photos and reviews when you point your phone at menus, and an AI-powered voice search to “make it easy to find what you need on Yelp by searching like how you’d speak.” They join a growing range of AI features that can already stitch user content together to create restaurant reviews, help summarize customer reviews, and match users with service professionals in their area. Vocal AI agents like Host and Receptionist are part of a broader trend within the service and hospitality industry as Yelp and platforms like DoorDash tap technology as a means of helping businesses focus on in-person interactions and core services. Companies like Google are also working on similar products, but for customers, letting AI tools call businesses, ask questions, and make bookings on users’ behalf. Maybe the time of AIs calling AIs is upon us.