US government takes equity stake in one of the world’s largest lithium mines

US government takes equity stake in one of the world’s largest lithium mines

In windswept, remote Thacker Pass in the far northern reaches of Nevada, a massive lithium mine has drawn impassioned protest from local Indigenous peoples, ranchers, and environmentalists. | Photo: Getty Images Donald Trump’s administration is taking a 5 percent equity ownership of mining company Lithium Americas, on top of another 5 percent stake in the…

Adam Mosseri’s ‘we’re totally not spying on you’ video is raising a lot of questions

Adam Mosseri’s ‘we’re totally not spying on you’ video is raising a lot of questions

Today, the same day that Meta announced that it will soon use your AI chats to personalize the ads it shows you, Instagram head Adam Mosseri made a “myth busting” video attempting to set the record straight on a persistent rumor about Meta: “I swear, we do not listen to your microphone,” he says. Meta’s…

Refurbished Sonos headphones, speakers, and soundbars are up to 25 percent off right now

Refurbished Sonos headphones, speakers, and soundbars are up to 25 percent off right now

You can get the Era 100 for just $134. | Image: The Verge With the impact of President Trump’s tariffs leading to higher prices on Sonos gear, scoring a deal feels extra special. Right now, Sonos is currently offering up to 25 percent off a range of refurbished devices, including the Sonos Era 100, Era…

You can now preorder LG’s 6K 32-inch Thunderbolt 5 display for $2,000

You can now preorder LG’s 6K 32-inch Thunderbolt 5 display for $2,000

LG’s UltraFine 32U990A display is nearly here after debuting at CES 2025. | Image: LG LG first announced its new 32-inch UltraFine monitor at CES 2025. The company still bills it as the “world’s first 6K monitor with Thunderbolt 5 connectivity” built right in. Ahead of the display launching in South Korea and Japan in…

Microsoft is giving Copilot AI faces you can chat with

Microsoft is giving Copilot AI faces you can chat with

Here are some examples of the “Portraits” avatars available to select Copilot users. Microsoft is trying to make Copilot more approachable by giving the AI assistant an animated face to talk with. The experimental “Portraits” feature in Copilot Labs is currently available in the US, UK, and Canada, and provides 40 stylized human avatars that…

Beats redesigned its new Powerbeats Fit’s wing tip to be more comfortable and secure

Beats redesigned its new Powerbeats Fit’s wing tip to be more comfortable and secure

Like the iPhone 17 Pro, the new BEats Powerbeats Fit earbuds come in orange. | Image: Beats Beats has announced a new version of the Fit Pro wireless earbuds that launched in late 2021, which are now called the Powerbeats Fit. The most notable upgrade is a redesigned wing tip that Beats says is 20…

Amazon’s Echo Pop and Dot speakers are the cheapest they’ve been in months

Amazon’s Echo Pop and Dot speakers are the cheapest they’ve been in months

The Echo Pop is $15 off. The Echo Pop and Echo Dot are Amazon’s entry-level smart speakers, and both are currently on sale ahead of Amazon’s October Prime Day (aka Prime Big Deal Days), which officially kicks off on October 7th. Both speakers are currently discounted to their lowest prices since the middle of June,…

RidePods is the first iPhone game you control with AirPods

RidePods is the first iPhone game you control with AirPods

Weave through traffic by just moving your head from side to side. | Image: Apple Developer Ali Tanis has released the first game for iPhones and iPads that’s played using Apple’s AirPods as a wearable motion controller. The RidePods – Race with Head gameplay is relatively basic – you’re just steering a motorcycle through oncoming…

Anthropic releases Claude Sonnet 4.5 in latest bid for AI agents and coding supremacy

Anthropic releases Claude Sonnet 4.5 in latest bid for AI agents and coding supremacy

Anthropic’s latest AI model spent 30 hours running by itself to code a chat app akin to Slack or Teams. It spat out about 11,000 lines of code, according to Anthropic, and it only stopped running when it had completed the task. The model, Claude Sonnet 4.5, was announced today, and its ability to operate…