Computex is full of some of the flashiest, most powerful tech we'll see this whole year. However, that kind of hardware is definitely not for everyone. Sometimes you just want a computer that does its job, and does it well. And what better device to achieve this than something made with office work in mind from the ground up?

A few years ago, I would have said Plex was the most important streaming service. Not because of its library of movies and shows, but because it allowed you to host and stream your own media. You could run everything from a computer or server and watch it on your TV. Many of the app's best features were available for free, which made it even more appealing.

Chapter 16: The Kar’Thul Marshes in Doom: The Dark Agespushes the Slayer into a marshy, swampy, and Lovecraftian arena where he must contend with powers and objects that defy belief in order to find Commander Thira. This cosmic twist halfway through the game is very welcome, and you can read in our review of the game how impressed it left us.

AMD is already cooking up the next version of FSR. Despite launching the impressive FSR 4 just a few months ago, a significant update to the performance-enhancing feature suite is in the works for a release in the second half of 2025. It's called Redstone, and although we don't have a ton of details about it yet, AMD laid out several additional features that will be joining the FSR suite that finally match what Nvidia has established with DLSS.

At yesterday’s I/O conference, Google announced plans to start putting its AI chatbot, Gemini, in a variety of different places, including cars. Today, Volvo said it was shoving its way to the front of the line to be the first to receive the new tech. Volvo said it was expanding its preexisting partnership with Google — the Swedish automaker was one of the first to adopt the built-in Android Automotive operating system for its vehicles — to include the integration of Gemini across its model lineup. Drivers will be able to have more “natural” conversations with their car, including language translation, navigational help, and finding specific locations. They’ll even be able to ask the AI assistant to answer questions about their vehicle’s user manual. Volvo framed it as easing the driver’s “cognitive load” so they can keep their eyes on the road.Drivers will be able to have more “natural” conversations with their car.Earlier this month, Google said that it would make Gemini available to cars that support Android Auto, the company’s popular phone mirroring program. But whereas Android Auto users will get access to Gemini in the coming weeks, vehicles with Android Automotive — marketed as Google built-in — won’t get access until later this year. Drivers and passengers will be able to use Gemini send texts, get directions, play music, and basically all the things that Google Assistant has been able to do. The main difference is users won’t have to use stilted, robotic commands, instead relying on Gemini’s natural language capabilities. Volvo will also now serve as one of Google’s reference hardware platforms for the development and testing of future automotive technology. That means Volvo’s vehicles will get “new features and updates” from Google before they are added to the main Android codebase.“Through this partnership with Google, we are able to bring the very latest features and capabilities from the leading consumer eco-system into our products first,” Alwin Bakkenes, head of global software engineering at Volvo Cars, said in a statement. “With our expanding partnership, we’re collaborating on cutting-edge solutions that shape the future of connected cars.”Volvo has worked closely with Google for a number of years and is already first in line to receive product updates, like high-def maps, built-in YouTube, and voice-controlled HVAC systems. Polestar, Volvo’s former performance subbrand (now a standalone marque), was the first company to sell cars with native Android Automotive OS. Google’s annual developer conference, held at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, was all about Gemini this year. And the car is quickly emerging as an important platform for the chatbot, especially with its myriad of challenges — namely steering a 2-ton metal box through a complex environment riddled with pitfalls. Google is positioning Gemini as a team player with the other core parts of the vehicle’s operating system. “Navigation apps can integrate with Gemini using three core intent formats, allowing you to start navigation, display relevant search results, and execute custom actions, such as enabling users to report incidents like traffic congestion using their voice,” Ben Sagmoe, developer relations engineer, wrote on the Android Developers Blog.

AMD is officially announcing its Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU at Computex today. Like the number implies, this graphics card will challenge Nvidia’s recently released RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti, with AMD offering models with 8GB or 16GB of VRAM. AMD is launching both models on June 5th, with the 8GB variant priced at $299, with the 16GB version priced at $349.AMD is following Nvidia’s controversial choice to ship a modern GPU with just 8GB of VRAM in the year 2025. The 8GB of VRAM debate has been raging for months now, particularly because of the latest games that can be very demanding on the memory side. AMD is following in Nvidia’s footsteps, though, so it’ll be interesting to see what reviewers make of both cards in this important part of the market.The RX 9060 XT will ship with 32 RDNA 4 compute units, a boost clock of 3.13GHz, and support for DisplayPort 2.1a and HDMI 2.1b. The total board power is between 150 watts and 182 watts, depending on the model. AMD claims its 16GB version of the RX 9060 XT will be around 6 percent faster than Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti at 1440p resolution, based on 40 games that AMD has tested itself. We’re still waiting to hear how the RTX 5060 stacks up, because oddly, Nvidia launched its latest 50-series GPU yesterday without any reviews available. The GPU maker had reportedly prevented reviewers from obtaining the necessary driver to test the RTX 5060 ahead of the release date, presumably because it’s worried about the paltry 8GB of VRAM spec.While the 8GB of VRAM choice for both Nvidia and AMD is controversial, Nvidia has managed to spark a further wave of outrage from PC gaming YouTubers over comments it has made to Gamers Nexus. In a 22-minute video, Gamers Nexus discusses the pressure from Nvidia to include Multi Frame Generation (MFG) in benchmarks against competitor cards that don’t have a similar feature. Gamers Nexus (GN) alleges that Nvidia has even implied that it would revoke access to interview Nvidia engineers unless the channel discussed MFG more.Update, May 21st: Article updated with pricing and release date information that AMD didn’t share with The Verge ahead of its press conference.

Slimmed down and shiny. | Image: MiniotThe original Wheel vertical turntable was a bust, the Wheel 2 redemption, and now the small mom and pop team at Miniot is back for a victory lap with the Wheel 3. It can play your record collection upright on its stand, laid flat on a table, or hung on a wall. Inside the handmade Wheel 3 turntable you’ll find a new optical stylus that the company says “blows away anything you’ve heard before!” It also features a new “bespoke, high-end” amplifier and redesigned linear tonearm that moves up-and-down the spinning record instead of side-to-side like the Wheel 2 I reviewed back in 2023.The volume and playback slider is still embedded in the rim at the top near the dimmable display, giving you precise digital control over your analog music track selection. The new slimmed-down design also looks more cohesive, if colder. It’s made from two parts: a solid composite on the back married to a polished aluminum unibody front. A Wheel 3 Special Edition will feature a solid wooden back for fans of Miniot’s organic roots.The Wheel 3 can be preordered now for $3,350 / €2,900 with deliveries expected in 10 weeks.

Amazon is issuing refunds to customers who’d returned products but never received their money back, in some cases from as long ago as 2018. “Following a recent internal review, we identified a very small subset of returns where we issued a refund without the payment completing, or where we could not verify that the correct item had been sent back to us so no refund was issued,” Amazon spokesperson Maxine Tagay told The Verge. “There is no action required from customers to receive the refunds, and we have fixed the payment issue and made process changes to more promptly contact customers about unresolved returns going forward.”Amazon emailed a similar message to affected customers, according to Bloomberg, while acknowledging the delay in processing the payments. “We could have notified these customers more clearly (and earlier) to better understand the status and help us resolve the return,” the email states. “Given the time elapsed, we’ve decided to err on the side of customers and just complete refunds for these returns.”Amazon had hinted refunds were coming during its most recent earnings call on May 1st. CFO Brian Olsavsky confirmed that the company was reporting a one-time charge of $1.1 billion, partly attributable to “some historical customer returns,” along with the costs of stockpiling inventory in preparation for Trump’s tariffs.There have been reports of the belated refunds from Amazon customers on Reddit, X, and LinkedIn for over a week, with one poster claiming to have received almost $1,800 this week for a TV returned to the retailer in 2018. Others claim to have received money from Amazon with no explanation why, and some report receiving refunds for products they never returned in the first place.The company is currently facing a potential class action lawsuit that alleges it systematically failed to issue refunds to customers, or reversed refunds that had been issued. The suit was filed in 2023, but this April a judge rejected Amazon’s move to have it dismissed. It’s currently awaiting certification, a necessary step before other Amazon customers can join the class action.Update, May 21st: Added an official statement from Amazon.

Adobe Creative Cloud often reigns above other creative tools. It’s undoubtably the most well-known suite of creative software, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best. Although there are lists of open-source alternatives to Adobe products, sometimes a proprietary option will provide better results and remind you that Adobe isn’t the only choice for funded creative results. Serif Affinity began its suite of creative tools in 2014, and has become a breath of fresh air in the creative design space since. In over a decade, Affinity still shows Adobe the best way to treat customers, harness human creativity, and share the design landscape.

AMD is doubling down on its Threadripper range with new offerings featuring its Zen 5 architecture. Although Threadripper never went away, its future for high-end desktops (HEDT) was uncertain for a couple of generations, as AMD refocused the brand on professional workstations with the Threadripper Pro range. Now, however, HEDT has its footing. In addition to Threadripper Pro chips reaching up to 96 cores, AMD announced a new range of Threadripper processors targeting HEDT, which can reach up to 64 cores, at Computex.

Protesters outside Microsoft’s Build conferenceMicrosoft’s head of security for AI, Neta Haiby, accidentally revealed confidential messages about Walmart’s use of Microsoft’s AI tools during a Build talk that was disrupted by protesters. The Build livestream was muted and the camera pointed down, but the session resumed moments later after the protesters were escorted out. In the aftermath, Haiby then accidentally switched to Microsoft Teams while sharing her screen, revealing confidential internal messages about Walmart’s upcoming use of Microsoft’s Entra and AI gateway services.Haiby was co-hosting a Build session on best security practices for AI, alongside Sarah Bird, Microsoft’s head of responsible AI, when two former Microsoft employees disrupted the talk to protest against the company’s cloud contracts with the Israeli government.“Sarah, you are whitewashing the crimes of Microsoft in Palestine, how dare you talk about responsible AI when Microsoft is fueling the genocide in Palestine,” shouted Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the protest group No Azure for Apartheid, and a former Microsoft employee who was fired for holding a vigil outside Microsoft’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza. View this post on Instagram A post shared by No Azure for Apartheid (@noazureforapartheid)Walmart is one of Microsoft’s biggest corporate customers, and already uses the company’s Azure OpenAI service for some of its AI work. “Walmart is ready to rock and roll with Entra Web and AI Gateway,” says one of Microsoft’s cloud solution architects in the Teams messages. The chat session also quoted a Walmart AI engineer, saying: “Microsoft is WAY ahead of Google with AI security. We are excited to go down this path with you.”We asked Microsoft to comment on this protest and the Teams messages, but the company did not respond in time for publication.Both of the protesters involved in this latest Microsoft Build disruption were former Microsoft employees, with Vaniya Agrawal appearing alongside Nasr. Agrawal interrupted Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and CEO Satya Nadella later during the company’s 50th anniversary event last month. Agrawal was dismissed shortly after putting in her two weeks’ notice at Microsoft before the protest, according to an email seen by The Verge.This is the third interruption of Microsoft Build by protesters, after a Palestinian tech worker disrupted Microsoft’s head of CoreAI on Tuesday, and a Microsoft employee interrupted the opening keynote of Build while CEO Satya Nadella was talking on stage.This latest protest comes days after Microsoft announced last week that it had conducted an internal review and used an unnamed external firm to assess how its technology is used in the war in Gaza. Microsoft says that its relationship with Israel’s Ministry of Defense (IMOD) is “structured as a standard commercial relationship” and that it has “found no evidence that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies, or any of our other software, have been used to harm people or that IMOD has failed to comply with our terms of service or our AI Code of Conduct.”

It shouldn't come as a surprise, but AMD made the RX 9060 XT official at Computex. The GPU, which has been the topic of discussion among the rumor mill for months, comes in two flavors; one with 8GB of VRAM and another with 16GB. It's significantly cut-down compared to the excellent RX 9070 XT, but AMD still claims better price-to-performance compared to Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti. And unlike the recently launched RTX 5060, AMD says buyers can expect reviews when the card releases on June 5.