Sony is still slashing prices on consoles, controllers, and more for the holidays
Sony’s “cosmic red” DualSense Wireless Controller is down to $54.99 ($20 off) for a limited time. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over, but Sony’s ongoing holiday sale lives on, giving you a chance to save on various PlayStation 5 consoles, games, and accessories through January 2nd. Now until December 25th, for example, you can save up to $75 on the newer PS5 “slim” (now $424 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target) and the PS5 Digital Edition (now $374 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart). If you already have a PS5 and are looking for new ways to play, the PlayStation VR 2 is currently on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target with Horizon Call of the Mountain for $349 ($250 off), which may be tempting. The virtual reality headset is easy to set up and offers excellent PC-grade immersion, though its lineup still remains somewhat limited...
Sony’s “cosmic red” DualSense Wireless Controller is down to $54.99 ($20 off) for a limited time. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The VergeBlack Friday and Cyber Monday may be over, but Sony’s ongoing holiday sale lives on, giving you a chance to save on various PlayStation 5 consoles, games, and accessories through January 2nd. Now until December 25th, for example, you can save up to $75 on the newer PS5 “slim” (now $424 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target) and the PS5 Digital Edition (now $374 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart).If you already have a PS5 and are looking for new ways to play, the PlayStation VR 2 is currently on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target with Horizon Call of the Mountain for $349 ($250 off), which may be tempting. The virtual reality headset is easy to set up and offers excellent PC-grade immersion, though its lineup still remains somewhat limited nearly two years after its release.Not into VR? It’s also a great time to pick up extra controllers, gaming headsets, and other PS5 accessories. Now until December 13th, Sony’s standard DualSense Wireless Controller is on sale for as low as $54 ($21 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, while the reflective “Chroma” variants can be had for $59. There aren’t many PS5 controllers we’d recommend over the DualSense, namely because most third-party options lack the adaptive triggers and haptic engine, which add real tension to mirror your in-game actions.You can also pick up Pulse-branded headsets throughout the same period, including the Pulse Elite, which is down to an all-time low of $129.99 ($20 off) at Best Buy, Walmart, and GameStop. The Pulse Explore earbuds are also on sale starting at $169 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. Both use planar magnetic drivers, which noticeably impact the 3D audio listening experience, along with a proprietary low-latency codec that works natively on PS5 consoles and Windows PCs with the included dongle. If you’re looking to change up the look of your PS5, you can also pick up one of several Console Covers starting at $44.99 ($10 off). A number of games are on sale, too, including the collector’s editions of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for $149.99 ($80 off) and MLB The Show 24for $49.99 ($10 off), along with Astro Bot for $49.99 ($10 off).
More deals to shop this weekend
Now through January 2nd, new Mint Mobile customers can get a year of cellular service with unlimited talk, text, and data for $180 (50 percent off), which breaks down to $15 a month. You have to pay for all 12 months upfront, but that’s a great value for the T-Mobile-owned MVNO carrier. Just bring your phone, drop in the SIM card (or activate via eSIM), and you can connect to the same 4G LTE and 5G towers that T-Mobile customers do. Just be mindful that you’ll be slowed after using 40GB of data each month, and your video streaming will be limited to 480p.
It’s a little nippy out in many parts of the US, but the birds are still cutting through the chilly winds to get their food. Fortunately, you can keep watch on them from the warmth of your home with Bird Buddy’s smart bird feeder, which is currently available for $199 ($20 off) directly from Bird Buddy. The feeder will alert you when new visitors arrive, take a photo of them, and even detect their species so you can learn more about them. It also uses a detachable solar roof, allowing it to stay powered indefinitely.
The Marshall Emberton II, a Bluetooth speaker that resembles a mini guitar amp, is on sale for $99.99 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Marshall’s online storefront. While we haven’t reviewed the second-gen model yet, the original offered a warm, bassy sound signature with well-balanced mids and highs. The sequel builds on it with IP67 water resistance while retaining up to 30 hours of battery life and the ability to sync with multiple units for an even bigger sound.
I’d rather buy an older high-end GPU than a newer low-end one, and VRAM is only part of why
The GPU market has been in flux for the better part of 2 years to this point, and buying advice has centered around what's in-stock instead of what's the best deal. When you're trying to ball on a budget, used hardware is always in the conversation. Used flagships can go...
The GPU market has been in flux for the better part of 2 years to this point, and buying advice has centered around what's in-stock instead of what's the best deal. When you're trying to ball on a budget, used hardware is always in the conversation. Used flagships can go for what new lower-end models are seen for in storefronts right now, and it's easy for PC enthusiasts to point at the VRAM discrepancy between the two and recommend the older card, but the comparison goes a lot deeper than that. There's certainly trade-offs when it comes to software features, but the flagships of a couple of generations ago have the chops to handle higher resolutions much better than their new low-end counter-parts, and I know which one I'm reaching for every time.
Sophia Wilson Atlanta
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Spotify is narrating magazine articles now
Would you listen to magazine articles on Spotify? The streaming platform certainly hopes so, as it's launching a new format for narrated long-form articles, alongside its usual array of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Starting today, more than 650 articles from publications including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, Variety, Billboard, Vibe,...
Would you listen to magazine articles on Spotify? The streaming platform certainly hopes so, as it's launching a new format for narrated long-form articles, alongside its usual array of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Starting today, more than 650 articles from publications including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, Variety, Billboard, Vibe, GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair, and Pitchfork will be available in English in regions where Spotify's audiobooks are available.The narrated articles are all under two hours long, and available under the monthly audiobook allowance for Premium users. Spotify says that free users who don't pay for a subscrip …Read the full story at The Verge.
Daniel Martinez Dallas
Published by: aplhsindia.in
The Steam Deck won because Valve solved what Microsoft refuses to fix for gaming handhelds
Gaming handhelds have absolutely fantastic hardware. Devices like the Asus ROG Ally X are marvels of modern engineering, packing 120Hz variable refresh rate screens, 24GB of RAM, and massive batteries into an ergonomic shell that you can literally hold in your hands and take on the go. However, there's a...
Gaming handhelds have absolutely fantastic hardware. Devices like the Asus ROG Ally X are marvels of modern engineering, packing 120Hz variable refresh rate screens, 24GB of RAM, and massive batteries into an ergonomic shell that you can literally hold in your hands and take on the go. However, there's a major visual disconnect: the jarring experience of turning the handheld on. You pass through a beautiful blue animation only to be dropped face-first into a microscopic Windows 11 desktop. You are suddenly using a thumbstick to drag a tiny mouse cursor over a closed window button that is literally three pixels wide and impossible to click on.
Jane Smith Los Angeles
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I paid for Perplexity, Claude, and NotebookLM, and only one was worth keeping
There's a point in AI adoption where the tools stopped being optional. Think about it, how many tools have you tried out at this point or even become reliant on, spanning across domains like productivity, creativity, coding, learning, and so on - a big chunk of this stuff happens in...
There's a point in AI adoption where the tools stopped being optional. Think about it, how many tools have you tried out at this point or even become reliant on, spanning across domains like productivity, creativity, coding, learning, and so on - a big chunk of this stuff happens in some kind of chat window now. This shift toward AI isn't really news anymore, but with so many new companies popping up all wanting you to try their product, the bill is. And it's not like AI subscriptions are $5 throwaways - some are $20 a pop, if not more, and they all sit alongside whatever else you've already got renewing in the background.
Olivia Miller Seattle
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Linus says Linux’s trivial fixes are getting out of hand, and AI reviewers are making it worse
Before a new version of Linux sees public release, it goes through a few rounds of release candidates. These are purely focused on people giving the kernel a spin, spotting bugs, and reporting them so they can be fixed. Linux's founder, Linus Torvald, noticed a strange upsurge in bug reports...
Before a new version of Linux sees public release, it goes through a few rounds of release candidates. These are purely focused on people giving the kernel a spin, spotting bugs, and reporting them so they can be fixed. Linux's founder, Linus Torvald, noticed a strange upsurge in bug reports since version 7.0, and he quickly deduced that it was because people used AI tools to scour the code and report issues automatically.
Olivia Miller Seattle
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I changed these settings on my ISP gateway and my network finally works like it should
Home networking can be complicated, especially for the average non-tech-inclined person. As a result, ISPs provide gateway combo units that combine the functions of a router and modem into one box. These boxes typically ship with default settings designed to get the user onboarded and online as quickly and painlessly...
Home networking can be complicated, especially for the average non-tech-inclined person. As a result, ISPs provide gateway combo units that combine the functions of a router and modem into one box. These boxes typically ship with default settings designed to get the user onboarded and online as quickly and painlessly as possible, and while that's great for them, it results in a network that's running in a less than optimal way. Your network performance, security, and reliability can all be improved by changing just a handful of settings.
Hemmo Lieftink Netherlands
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Discord brings better performance and battery use to Windows on Arm with a native app
For a while, Windows on Arm devices were in a weird spot. They offered better performance and battery life than typical laptops, but they could only achieve that if the apps supported the Snapdragon architecture. Otherwise, you had to rely on emulation, which didn't really tap into all those juicy...
For a while, Windows on Arm devices were in a weird spot. They offered better performance and battery life than typical laptops, but they could only achieve that if the apps supported the Snapdragon architecture. Otherwise, you had to rely on emulation, which didn't really tap into all those juicy benefits of using an Arm chip.
William Garcia Boston
Published by: aplhsindia.in
A battery-powered Starlink Mini is likely on the way
This, but no cable. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Code in recent Starlink firmware suggests that SpaceX might soon release a version of its smallest internet dish with an integrated battery. A battery-powered Starlink Mini would offer untethered portability for vanlifers, emergency responders, and anyone who wants...
This, but no cable. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Code in recent Starlink firmware suggests that SpaceX might soon release a version of its smallest internet dish with an integrated battery. A battery-powered Starlink Mini would offer untethered portability for vanlifers, emergency responders, and anyone who wants fast, low-latency internet from almost anywhere on the planet.University researcher Jinwei Zhao spotted a number of strings hinting at the integrated battery in a May firmware release, according to PCMag. The "message DishBatteryStats" line suggests code designed to return specific fields from an integrated battery, including the current state_of_charge. If the dish were simply …Read the full story at The Verge.
Vivan Graham Australia
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Uber president says AI spending is getting ‘harder to justify’
Uber president Andrew Macdonald (pictured) says its “hard to draw a line” between AI spending and deliverable features. | Photo: Zed Jameson/Bloomberg via Getty Images After reportedly exhausting its annual AI budget just four months into 2026, Uber is now questioning whether it's actually seeing meaningful returns on its investments....
Uber president Andrew Macdonald (pictured) says its “hard to draw a line” between AI spending and deliverable features. | Photo: Zed Jameson/Bloomberg via Getty Images After reportedly exhausting its annual AI budget just four months into 2026, Uber is now questioning whether it's actually seeing meaningful returns on its investments. In an interview with Rapid Response, Uber president and chief operating officer Andrew Macdonald said the company isn't seeing a connection between rising token consumption for Claude Code and more useful features being delivered to consumers."That link is not there yet, right? I think maybe implicitly there is more that is getting shipped, but it's very hard to draw a line between one of those stats and, 'Okay, now we're actually producing 25 percent more useful consumer f …Read the full story at The Verge.
Isabella Pedersen Denmark
Published by: aplhsindia.in
AI warfare is already here
The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, an international forum that focuses on lethal autonomous systems, is hosted twice a year at the United Nations in Geneva. When Branka Marijan attended in November 2017, she thought the five-day sessions - which dealt largely in hypotheticals, speculating on a world where warfare...
The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, an international forum that focuses on lethal autonomous systems, is hosted twice a year at the United Nations in Geneva. When Branka Marijan attended in November 2017, she thought the five-day sessions - which dealt largely in hypotheticals, speculating on a world where warfare was fought with killer robots - would be business as usual. After all, this was technology some thought might never be developed, and likely never deployed. That year, she quickly realized, was different. That distant, imagined future was suddenly closer and realer than ever.On the first day, some attendees watched a …Read the full story at The Verge.
Sophia Wilson Atlanta
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Microsoft quietly added a way to scrub Copilot off your PC to the Group Policy
Microsoft has been approaching 2026 with a far different mindset than the year before. 2025 was packed full of instances where Microsoft rolled out its AI assistant, Copilot, into as many apps and services as possible. However, after the Windows user base failed to meet Microsoft's enthusiasm for Copilot (going...
Microsoft has been approaching 2026 with a far different mindset than the year before. 2025 was packed full of instances where Microsoft rolled out its AI assistant, Copilot, into as many apps and services as possible. However, after the Windows user base failed to meet Microsoft's enthusiasm for Copilot (going so far as to coin the term 'Microslop' around the turn of the new year), the company has been pulling back its efforts.
Daniel Martinez Dallas
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I finally stopped forcing local LLMs and switched back to cloud AI
Up until a few months ago, you could've likely gotten away with using free tiers of AI tools exclusively. Most tools didn't have strict limits, and if you hit them, you could just switch to a different tool and keep going. If you hit your Claude limit on the free...
Up until a few months ago, you could've likely gotten away with using free tiers of AI tools exclusively. Most tools didn't have strict limits, and if you hit them, you could just switch to a different tool and keep going. If you hit your Claude limit on the free tier, just switch to your free ChatGPT account. If you ran out there (or weren't getting what you needed with ChatGPT), Gemini was waiting. For a good stretch, that was the workflow for most.
