iRobot files for bankruptcy
After 35 years, the maker of the Roomba robot vacuum filed for bankruptcy protection late Sunday night. Following warnings issued earlier this year that it was fast running out of options, iRob...
President Trump’s Ban on State AI Rules Faces Legal Pushback
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to ban state-level AI regulations.
“For banks, payments firms and FinTechs leaning on AI for fraud detection, credit dec...
You need to listen to Sudan Archives’ violin opus for the club
My introduction to Sudan Archives was the song "Nont for Sale" from her first EP Sink in 2018. I've been a diehard fan ever since. With each album, she finds new ways to sculpt the sound of her...
Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting
Grok's track record is spotty at best. But even by the very low standards of xAI, its failure in the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia is shocking. The AI chatbo...
Absynth is back and weirder than ever after 16 years
Abynth 6’s very pretty, but questionably useful preset explorer.
Absynth is something of a cult classic in the soft synth world. It was originally released in 2000, and quickly found an audien...
Inside the high drama of the iPhone 4
By 2010, the iPhone era was in full swing. Smartphones were still a new and unfinished idea - the iPhone had only just gotten copy and paste! - but it was clear that these big slabs of glass we...
The end of OpenAI, and other 2026 predictions
Here's a thought: what if the next-generation Siri is awesome? Not just awesome for setting timers and dictating text messages (though that would be nice), but so awesome and fun to talk to tha...
AI image generators are getting better by getting worse
Real ones will know that Mount Rainier looks too big in this image, but the re-creation of a Washington State ferry in this AI image is uncanny.
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter brea...
A new old idea about video stores
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 109, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you're staying warm, and also you can read all the old ed...
