I used two GPS hiking apps for backpacking and I’ll do it again
In which the phones website goes outside. | Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images For most of my life, I’ve relied on a paper map when I go outdoors. Then, in March, I joined my friend Rusty on the Appalachian Trail for two weeks. He told me to download FarOut. FarOut was my introduction to the world of app-based navigation. It’s focused on thru-hikers, and has useful details, including comments that tell you whether a specific water source is flowing, and if so, how well. It ...
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The best wireless headphones get even better
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 83, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, please don’t spoil Andor for me, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about Mission: Impossible and Sam Altman’s kitchen and bad roommates, ranting to PJ Vogt about all the ways I’m trying to use my phone less, writing all my scratch notes in Antinote, deciding to be cauti...
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Amazon claims its ‘constantly inviting’ new customers to Alexa Plus
Yesterday, Reuters ran a story with the headline “Weeks after Amazon’s Alexa+ AI launch, a mystery: where are the users?,” in which it detailed its difficulty locating first-hand accounts of the AI-upgraded assistants’ use online. The Verge asked Amazon about the story, and the company has responded to say that the idea that Alexa Plus isn’t available is “simply wrong.” Here’s the company’s full — and rather strongly-worded! — statement on the matter,...
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Epic asks judge to make Apple let Fortnite back on the US App Store
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Epic is asking District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to order Apple to review — and approve if compliant with Apple’s guidelines — Epic’s submission of Fortnite to the US App Store in a new court filing. The company argues in the document that Apple is once again in contempt of the judge’s April order restricting it from rejecting apps over their use of outside payment links. In a letter from Apple that Epic sh...
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The Verge’s 2025 graduation gift guide
Graduation is one of those unique milestones in life that’s both exciting and nerve-wracking. It’s worth celebrating, but it also marks a new chapter that can feel overwhelming. That’s why your grad will surely appreciate a little support as they step into the next phase of their life, whether that be college or their first job. Lucky for you, we’ve put together a list of gifts that are designed to make the transition into post-grad life a little smoother. Our picks c...
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It’s time for Logitech to make a real Forever Mouse
Last fall, Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber was roundly ridiculed after suggesting the company would like to produce a “Forever Mouse” – a mouse with a monthly subscription fee for software updates. It seemed to betray a lack of understanding: many people who buy mice don’t want software at all, much less software they have to pay for; the idea they’d pay every month is ridiculous. But as I sit here with a perfectly good Logitech mouse, the best I’ve ever owned,...
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Google I/O will be an AI show
Android is getting its biggest visual update in years, and rather than unveiling it for the first time at its big annual developer conference, Google announced Material Three Expressive at a pre-show event broadcast on YouTube the week before. If a major design language shift for the world’s most popular mobile OS doesn’t qualify as a headliner at I/O, then what does? You guessed it: AI. We expect Google to talk all about Gemini during I/O, which kicks off on Tuesday, and how it&#...
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Meta faces Democratic probe into plans to power a giant data center with gas
Meta’s building a new AI data center so massive in Louisiana that the local utility company has plans to construct three new gas-fired power plants to provide it with enough electricity. Now, advocates and lawmakers are pressing Meta for answers about how it’ll clean up pollution stemming from the data center’s energy consumption. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, shot off a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerb...
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