Two students find security bug that could let millions do laundry for free
Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge
A security lapse could let millions of college students do free laundry, thanks to one company. That’s because of a vulnerability that two University of California, Santa Cruz students found in internet-connected washing machines in commercial use in several countries, according to TechCrunch.
The two students, Alexander Sherbrooke and Iakov Taranenko, apparently exploited an API for the machines’ app to do things like remotely command them to work without payment and update a laundry account to show it had millions of dollars in it. The company that owns the machines, CSC ServiceWorks, claims to have more than a million laundry and vending machines in service at colleges, multi-housing communities, laundromats, and more in the US, Canada, and Europe.
CSC never responded when Sherbrooke and Taranenko reported the vulnerability via emails and a phone call in January, TechCrunch writes. Despite that, the students told the outlet that the company “quietly wiped out” their false millions after they contacted it.
The lack of response led them to tell others about their findings. That includes that the company has a published list of commands, which the two told TechCrunch enables connecting to all of CSC’s network-connected laundry machines. CSC ServiceWorks didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
CSC’s vulnerability is a good reminder that the security situation with the internet of things still isn’t sorted out. For the exploit the students found, maybe CSC shoulders the risk, but in other cases, lax cybersecurity practices have made it possible for hackers or company contractors to view strangers’ securitycamera footage or gain access to smart plugs.
Often, security researchers find these security holes and report them before they can be exploited in the wild. But that’s not helpful if the company responsible for them doesn’t respond.
The Mac Pro and Studio won’t get the M4 nod until mid-2025
A 2023 Mac Pro. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The Mac Studio and Mac Pro aren’t due for an upgrade to Apple’s M4 chip until the middle of next year. That means both machines will still be on Apple’s M2 generation this year, unlike all other Macs except the MacBook Air, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote to Power On subscribers today.
Throughout 2024, though, all of Apple’s laptops (except the MacBook Air) will move to the M4 chip that the company just gave the iPad Pro, Gurman writes. Amusingly, this herky-jerky chip upgrade cycle means that the iPad Pro is currently the single-core performance champ of Apple’s lineup — and it will continue to be for about another year, when compared to the Mac Studio and Mac Pro.
Screenshot: Geekbench
It’s not even close, according to comparisons on Geekbench, which regularly show the iPad Pro outdoing the the M2 Ultra by roughly 25 percent. If we want to be silly about it, even the iPhone 15 Pro’s A17 Pro chip is about on par with the M2 Ultra in single-core CPU power. Neither matters — the M2 Ultra will still smoke either when multiple cores are needed, and that’s where it really counts. (Apparently that’s not the case for my M1 Max Mac Studio, which puts up slightly lower multi-core numbers than the new iPad Pro.)
This is a silly comparison, of course — The current crop of Mac Studios and Mac Pros are incredible computers that hold more RAM, have more ports, and won’t throttle as quickly as the iPad Pro, even with that heat-conducting Apple logo. They also don’t have an operating system that stands squarely in the way of pushing their hardware. And high-end Mac users should be used to waiting a while between revisions. Still, I’m sure more than a few people will appreciate the upgrade when it comes.
Sonos is teasing its ‘most requested product ever’ on Tuesday
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Sonos is teasing, both in emails and on social media, that its “most requested product ever” is “coming soon” on May 21st (this Tuesday). This, of course, is almost certainly the Sonos Ace, its first wireless headphones.
Sonos has been expected to launch the Ace in June, but given the company’s “most requested” phrasing here and the fact that the headphones recently appeared for sale by authorized dealer Schuurman, it seems they’re coming sooner than that.
A launch this week could help Sonos with some of the ire surrounding the roll-out of its new app earlier this month. The app was ostensibly created in part to support the Sonos Ace, but is missing key features like a sleep timer or those related to local library management. And getting those features back in the app may take months.
Image: Schuurman
Sonos is also gearing up to release the Roam 2, likewise rumored for June. That speaker will look nearly identical to the original Roam and Roam SL, but with a color-matched “Sonos” and a dedicated Bluetooth pairing button. For all its good qualities, the first Roam had some annoying drawbacks, like requiring Wi-Fi setup before you can use Bluetooth, and an unintuitive pairing process even when you can.
Image: Sonos
The Roam and Ace aside, there’s not much else that the company is likely to announce this week. Rumor has it that Sonos is preparing to release a TV streaming device, but not until late this year at the earliest. Same goes for its rumored Sonos Arc soundbar. And chances seem pretty that its “most requested product ever” is the next Sonos Sub or the business-oriented Era 100. The headphones make the most sense and would kick off the first of four new product categories the company is supposed to be stepping into.
All the news about Blue Origin’s first crewed flight since 2022
Screenshot: YouTube
Jeff Bezos’ space tourism company is flying humans to space for the first time since 2022.
Blue Origin hasn’t carried out a crewed launch since 2022, and is getting ready to do so once more after being required to implement 21 fixes required by the Federal Aviation Administration last year. Six human beings are flying aboard its New Shepard rocket today, including Ed Dwight, the first Black astronaut candidate, who was selected by US President John F. Kennedy, but never made it into space.
The five other passengers on the flight are Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and Gopi Thotakura. The company posted just after 8AM ET that New Shepard was vertical on the launchpad, and that it had updated its targeted launch time to 10:13AM ET.
Today’s flight will be its seventh one with an actual crew on board. Blue Origin paused its space tourism flights in 2022 after a booster failed on an uncrewed flight, prompting an FAA investigation that led to the US regulator’s recommendations.
CorrectionMay 19th:This article previously said this is Blue Origin’s sixth crewed mission, but in fact, it’s the seventh. That has been corrected, as has the spelling of Ed Dwight’s name.
The AI assistants are getting better fast
Image: David Pierce / The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 38, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and you can also read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
I also have for you a new AI model, literally thousands of new Lego pieces, a new way to Google, the fanciest mop you’ve ever seen in your life, more emulators for iOS, and much more.
And I have a question: What’s your favorite mini-game on the internet? I’m thinking about things like Wordle, The Wikipedia Game, Sudoku, Really Bad Chess, Name Drop, and a million others — the kinds of things you might play every morning with your coffee. I want to compile a huge list of everybody’s favorites, the sillier the better! I’d love to hear everything in your rotation. Reply to this email, email me at installer@theverge.com, or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — and tell me all your faves.
All right, lots to do this week. So much AI! Let’s go.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, and tell them to subscribe here.)
The Drop
GPT-4o. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about OpenAI’s event this week, with the Her-like demo of the new voice assistant. It’s really impressive, kind of weird, and both delightful and creepy? I’m so torn. But the tech is impressive, and every AI app I’ve seen is already rushing to support GPT-4o.
ChatGPT for Mac. Desktop AI chat apps are a dime a dozen and mostly all just wrappers on a webpage. But the new ChatGPT app is a bit more: it lets you share your screen and ask questions about it, which strikes me as a very handy way to get AI help with something. “How do I fix this?” is a question I ask ChatGPT a lot.
“Historical AI & Rewriting the Past on TikTok.” Have you seen those videos on TikTok of an AI-generated emperor or whatever, telling you a salacious story about world history? They’re fun! And messy! And frequently just lies! Love this video on how it all happened and what it all means.
Lego Barad-dûr. Five thousand, four hundred and seventy-one pieces. Pair this with the Rivendell set Lego released last year, and you’ll spend about $1,000 and one very happy lifetime putting together a truly epic Lord of the Rings setup.
Google’s “Web” filter. I have a lot of big-picture thoughts about what AI is doing to web search and what that means for the internet, but I also just miss when Google was a bunch of links and not a thousand videos, X posts, and shopping links. The new “Web” filter is like old Google brought back to life — not right for everything but very useful.
“I Started a New Business. It Didn’t Go Well…” I’m a fan of Ali Abdaal’s (he was in Installer a while back!) and really loved this video. He shares a lot of the kinds of stories you don’t hear about building products, failure, mistakes, challenges, and what happens when you just get it wrong. Lots to learn from this one.
Setapp Mobile. If you don’t already know about Setapp, a subscription service that gets you access to hundreds of Mac and iOS apps, you should check it out. Setapp Mobile, its new alternative app store, is EU-only for now, but it’s still a fascinating look at what’s possible when you open up the smartphone.
The Dyson WashG1. Explaining Dyson stuff always sounds so silly — “yeah, it’s like 4x the price of all its competitors, and yeah, it’s just a cleaning thing, but dude, it’s SICK.” But… this $700 ultra-fancy mop sounds sick. I can’t help myself.
Hello, Dot. A new game from the Pokémon Go and Peridot folks, designed just for the Meta Quest. There’s not actually a ton to the game itself, but it’s a pretty great mixed reality tech demo, and these things are just fun to play around with.
RetroArch. The latest in an increasingly long list of great emulator apps coming to the iPhone. This one’s not the most user-friendly, but it does support a huge number of consoles and games — and it works on the Apple TV!
Screen share
My favorite new iPhone app this week is definitely Bebop, which is a really clever thing: it’s an app for taking notes, but it’s designed specifically to be used as a quick way to write something down for people who use tools like Obsidian, which is great but heavy and not good for short capture. Bebop just pipes stuff into a folder of text files, which you can read with any other app you want. I’m already using it a dozen times a day.
Bebop was created by Jack Cheng, who you might know as the author of books like The Many Masks of Andy Zhou and the very fun newsletter Sunday Letter. I’ve been a fan of Jack’s work for a while and figured his app launch was a good time to get him in Installer.
Here’s Jack’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The phone: iPhone 14.
The wallpaper: My partner, Julia, taken at one of my favorite places: Kresge Court inside the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The apps: Photos, Gmail, Arc, Phone, Messages, Bebop, Blackmagic Camera.
Lock screen widgets: Fantastical, Weather, and Lightroom’s camera widget. I usually include a photo when I send out my Sunday newsletter, and I loathe the way newer-generation iPhones over-process everything. So I use this when I want a RAW image for later editing (and don’t have my Ricoh GR III on me).
Homescreen: A Widgetsmith photo widget that shows my workweek in index cards. I’m doing my first 12-Week Year and also experimenting with the cards for time-blocking. I plan out my week on Monday morning, then the cards stay on the table next to my desk. I refer to them when I journal, too. Both the 12-Week Year and card system I first saw in Dan Catt’s oddly therapeutic Weeknotes.
When Apple announced Final Cut Camera, I wondered if there was something similar for DaVinci Resolve, and it turned out there was: Blackmagic Camera. I’d love to do some short video updates for my YouTube channel (which currently just has older videos of me reading from one of my children’s novels). But that’s a big project, for a future 12-week stretch. In the meantime, I’m accumulating little clips and figuring out a good workflow.
I have two other iOS screens: One for reading and audio apps (the only screen visible in Sleep Focus mode) and another for messaging and social media. Everything else is in the App Library. I use search a lot.
I also asked Jack to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he shared:
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film is the best book I’ve read so far this year. It has so many insights on writing and making art, and I love the interview format — especially when the two conversation partners (the other is author Michael Ondaatje) are experts in their own domains. Which is why I’m also a Decoder fan!
Completely Arbortrary is, to me, a perfect podcast. Each hour-long episode is about a different tree, and for hosts, you have a dendrologist (Casey Clapp) paired with a musician / comedian (Alex Crowson) who stands in for the novice listener. Talk about evergreen content. (sorry)
I’m eagerly awaiting my preorder of Robin Sloan’s new novel, Moonbound. This happens startlingly regularly: I’m at the bookstore when a cover catches my eye. I read the flap copy and first few pages and get sucked right in. Then, I flip over to the back, and there it is: a Robin Sloan blurb. Robin has such a singular taste for the interestingly weird / weirdly interesting. He’s also a serial appreciator of things, which I appreciate!
My partner and I just finished the third season of Master of None, eminently watchable in large part thanks to Amy Williams’ gorgeous production design. The seasonal arc is an infertility storyline involving Lena Waithe and Naomi Ackie’s characters, which, because of our own fertility journey, hit a little close to home at first. But I’m happy that after two years of trying, Julia and I are expecting our first child this summer.
Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Emailinstaller@theverge.comor message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For more recommendations than I could fit here, check out the replies tothis post on Threads.
“So every once in a while, I manage to get a hard drive full to the rim and need to clean up. That’s when I fall back on a really old piece of software from the Dutch University of Eindhoven called SequoiaView. I don’t think it’s been updated since November 2002, but I still find it the best way to quickly and visually localize big files. I wonder: does anybody else have such an old piece of software that still performs its task for them?” — Jasper
“I’m very late to Balatro and been playing that (and failing — how are people already completing the game and I can’t even get past the basic stakes for some of these decks lol) and trying to finish the new Vampire SurvivorsDLC.” — Melody
“I just re-downloaded the original StarCraft and can’t stop watching TikTok live videos of people playing some weird Russian Roulette PC game.”
“Downloaded Delta when it officially launched and realized how much I missed playing ‘simpler’ games. Amongst a few others, I was really enjoying Pokémon Fire Red. Fast forward a few days… and the Analogue Pocket had a very timely restock. Nothing to take away from Delta — it’s amazing and massive credits to the developer. I think I just want something a bit more tactile to go all in on some OG games.” — Omesh
“I’ve found that my screen time can sometimes rocket from using apps like Instagram and Twitter. To solve that, I found Ascent, which adds a sliding distraction screen whenever you try to open the app. You can get Premium for free by Instagramming about them, and it’s worth it because it’s so customizable!” — Leo
“One of Twitch’s / YT’s biggest creators Critical Role just launched their own direct support / streaming service, Beacon, but in contrast to the huge miss that was Watcher doing something similar last month, they aren’t paywalling any existing content. Super interesting move to skip established platforms like Patreon and DIY it. The new content on the platform is really cool for megafans!” – Zach
“Fur and Loathing. I just started listening to this podcast about the gas attack in the 2014 furry convention, and it’s really good!” — Katie
“I’m watching the second half of Clarkson’s Farm season 3. If you’ve never seen it, you’ll be surprised by just how complicated it is to grow something in a field.” — Alan
Signing off
I’ve been sick off and on for most of the last two weeks, which has lots of downsides but one really terrific upside. It’s an infinite excuse to watch TV shows I’ve already seen 100 times! I’ve realized I have a rotation, not on purpose but somehow quite rigid: I watch The Office, then I watch Parks and Recreation, then I watch New Girl, then I watch Community. Sometimes one all the way through and then the next, sometimes a couple of episodes and then bounce around, but it’s almost always in that order. (Schitt’s Creek and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are the honorable mentions — they haven’t quite made it into the official rotation yet, but I love them both.)
Is this just a me thing? Does everyone have a few shows they just kind of instinctively bounce between when you don’t really care what you’re watching? Either way, I highly recommend my rotation. Infinite comedy, perfect for naps.
Sugar’s big twist was more than a gimmick
Image: Apple
For most of its first season, Sugar on Apple TV Plus was a fairly typical if slickly produced detective story. It starred Colin Farrell as John Sugar, a private investigator with a number of charming quirks — obsessed with old movies, unable to get drunk, beloved by dogs — who was determined to solve a missing persons case involving the granddaughter of a famous Hollywood director. Then, at the end of episode six, the show introduced a twist that threatened to change it into something very different. But now that Sugar’s finale is out, it’s clear that the twist didn’t alter what the show already was — it just added some new flavor.
Spoiler warning for the first season ofSugar, including the final episode.
Okay, let’s get it out of the way: Sugar is an alien. At the end of episode six, he revealed himself to be a blue humanoid who looks like a cross between Doctor Manhattan and Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy. It was a startling moment, although one that makes a lot of sense in retrospect. All of those quirks could be explained by Sugar’s extraterrestrial nature. He loves movies because he used them to learn about humanity. He can’t get drunk because he has different biology. And he’s part of a secretive group of polyglots because that’s how his alien friends meet up to discuss their observations.
Turning Sugar into an alien doesn’t fundamentally change the show — it’s still a modern noir with a compelling mystery at its core. The finale drives this home, as the sci-fi aspect mostly recedes to the background, while Sugar races to rescue Olivia (Sydney Chandler) from a potentially horrific fate and return her to her grandfather (James Cromwell). The episode is concerned with the same questions that have propelled the series since it started: what really happened to Olivia, and can Sugar save her?
Image: Apple
Mostly, the sci-fi elements add to the urgency. In Sugar’s finale, the aliens are discovered and forced to leave Earth. This means that Sugar needs to solve the case before hopping on a spaceship to wherever he’s from. Every moment counts. And the show ends in a way all good detective thrillers do, with a crime that is disturbing but also isn’t quite the end of the story. Even if you guess where it’s going, there are a number of unexpected twists and turns along the way.
Ultimately, the aliens are a fun twist on a well-worn archetype. Sugar is patient, observant, and dedicated, skills that make him great at his job and that can also be linked to his extraterrestrial origins. He’s patient and observant because his real job is watching people and reporting back to his home world. He’s dedicated to finding Olivia because he experienced a tragic loss on his planet and doesn’t want it to happen again.
The finale also makes it clear that Sugar’s story isn’t over. He ends up staying on Earth, partly because he can’t get enough of humanity, but mostly because he discovers that a fellow alien — who has also stayed behind — is essentially the intergalactic Moriarty to his Sherlock. If it gets renewed, Sugar will likely shift from a detective story to a revenge tale. Hopefully, if that happens, it can maintain that careful balance between sci-fi and noir. Sure, Sugar is an alien — but that’s not the most interesting thing about him.
No one should buy an MSI Claw. It’s not technically broken: the first 7-inch Intel Core Ultra handheld gaming PC doesn’t regularly crash or anything like that. But the Claw falls so far short of the competition that it’s effectively dead on arrival.
In almost every way, the $750 MSI Claw feels like an inferior clone of the Asus ROG Ally — except it costs more, not less! You could get a far better experience while saving hundreds of dollars if you choose a Steam Deck OLED instead.
I’ve spent weeks searching for a silver lining. In the end, I only found three tiny ways the Claw improves on the competition.
I didn’t start my MSI Claw journey by running benchmarks. My expectations were already at rock bottom, so I began with an easier test: making the Claw my daily driver for the not-particularly-intensive games I’d already been playing on other handhelds. I fired up the PC port of Studio Ghibli’s Ni No Kuni, Dave the Diver, and Fallout New Vegas — a game that’s nearly 14 years old.
Every one of them runs smoothly on a $549 Steam Deck OLED. Not one ran smoothly on the $749 MSI Claw. They would stutter or hitch, even when the system told me they were hitting 60fps or above and despite a 48–120Hz variable refresh rate screen that should have smoothed things out. The Claw would also drop frames when the Deck stayed stable and delivered fewer frames to begin with.
So, I fired up some more repeatable benchmarks. How bad could the Intel Core Ultra 155H really be compared to rivals? Here’s a peek:
In case your jaw has not yet hit the floor, let me bottom-line it for you: the less expensive Steam Deck OLED all but completely wiped the floor with the MSI Claw in power and performance.
The Claw, set to maximum power and plugged into a wall for a turbo boost, ran some games slower than my Steam Deck did on battery power alone. Can you imagine paying two hundred dollars more to play games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 45 fps instead of 60 — and only when you’re plugged into the wall?
Against Windows gaming handhelds, the Claw fared no better: the competing Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go offered anywhere from 10 percent more performance to overdouble the perf depending on the game and power mode.
The functional quick access menu is one of the handheld’s very few bright spots.
There was one bright spot: Returnal, one of the most intensive PC titles I tried, actually ran better on the Claw than it did on the Deck or Ally. But not well enough to be playable… and when I sat down to play an hour each of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Cyberpunk 2077, I didn’t find them playable either. Both are playable on the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go at identical (low) settings, so the Claw has no excuse for delivering a choppy mess.
I even fired up 3DMark Time Spy and Fire Strike to see if MSI might have accidentally sent me a lemon, but no — my Claw scored slightly higher than MSI’s own internal benchmark. And yes, I ran these benchmarks on the recent Intel graphics driver that was supposed to deliver big improvements, not the one the Claw originally shipped with.
One USB-C port and micro SD slot, next to the fingerprint reader power button.
At least the Claw doesn’t seem to have worse battery life than Windows peers. MSI gave it a 53-watt-hour battery pack, slightly larger than Legion Go and notably larger than Ally, and I saw roughly the same 1.5 hours of Shadow of the Tomb Raider on a charge. I got 2 hours and 25 minutes of Fallout New Vegas and achieved a maximum runtime of 4 hours and 19 minutes in Balatro, one of the least demanding games I’ve yet played on a handheld. (My first run lasted 3.25 hours; I got an extra hour by setting the system to Super Battery mode and aggressively dimming the screen.)
But compared to the Steam Deck OLED, which can easily go twice as long in Balatro and lets Lara Croft raid tombs for over two hours, it’s not great — and I have no clue how MSI can justify saying the Claw “lasts 50 percent longer” than the average handheld in its marketing campaign.
The backs of the ROG Ally and the MSI Claw show differences and similarities.
It’s worth noting that MSI did put a decent amount of thought into the Claw’s UX. While the hardware may look like a low-rent Batman edition of Asus’ ROG Ally, cribbing the same exact button layout and most of the same curves, it can feel a tad better in the hands. I appreciate its larger grips, more substantial face buttons, and its Hall effect joysticks and triggers for longevity. Like the Ally, the Claw has some of the best speakers on a gaming handheld, here augmented with surprisingly good Nahimic virtual surround sound that delivered delightfully all-around-me echoes as I failed to delve through tombs.
I do wish MSI hadn’t adopted a stiffer yet sloppier D-pad or added so many unnecessary spikes to its vents — they’ve repeatedly kept me from finding its charge port in a dark bedroom. The Claw’s rumble feels awful, too. At least MSI lets you turn it off!
But the main thing I’d like to turn off is Windows.
The fronts of the ROG Ally and MSI Claw show almost identical curves and layouts.
It’s been almost a full year since Asus released the ROG Ally and over two years since the Steam Deck, but Microsoft has done nothing meaningful to make its operating system friendlier for a gamepad-operated screen. I could practically copy / paste my criticisms from the ROG Ally review: I ran into the same exact issues summoning virtual keyboards and playing games — things that mostly just work on a Steam Deck despite and / or because of its Linux underpinnings.
And, I ran into very similar sleep issues to the ones I saw on the Lenovo Legion Go: I simply can’t trust this portable not to wake itself up when I put it down or drop it into a bag. Only here, it’s slightly worse because the MSI Center utility has a tendency to hang when waking from sleep — sometimes disabling my gamepad controls until I reboot it.
MSI Center M, the company’s quick launch software.
While MSI Center also buries important features like remappable controls, I like that it includes launchers for every major PC game platform, comes with lots of handy Quick Access shortcuts that work right out of the box (like a switch that turns off RGB lighting), and is relatively snappy. The Deck, Ally, and Legion Go all had buggier, more sluggish interfaces at launch.
Today, though, all of them are far more full-featured, and all let you natively install updates — while the Claw still expects you to navigate to MSI’s website and download important bits manually or wait for Windows Update to deliver the goods.
The MSI Claw vs. the Steam Deck. They’re roughly the same thickness, though the Deck’s joysticks are taller and there’s more grip underneath.
The MSI Claw isn’t the worst handheld gaming PC I’ve ever touched. Years ago, I played with some that didn’t even deserve a review, handhelds so poorly thought out and narrowly marketed I didn’t feel the need to warn you. But stores like Best Buy actually carry the MSI Claw — and in the current crop of competing handhelds, it’s the worst buy of them all.
Behold Ayaneo’s sophisticated takes on the Game Boy and Game Boy Micro
Image: Ayaneo
The Analogue Pocket is the most advanced Game Boy to ever take actual carts, but Ayaneo has just unveiled a pair of emulator-centric pocket computers that could give it a run for its cash — including a modern take on the original DMG-01 Nintendo Game Boy with a 419ppi OLED screen.
Unfortunately, we’ve only got renders and a few details today — no prices or full spec sheets — but those renders look pretty neat! I find myself most interested in the Pocket Micro, whose sleek design, twin joysticks and horizontal layout look a bit more practical than the stick placement on the Pocket DMG. Not to mention a bit of a Sony Walkman vibe? Take a peek:
Below, you’ll also see the Ayaneo AG01 “Graphics Starship” eGPU dock the company already teased, as well as a Super Famicom themed retro power bank with a screen, and a new version of Ayaneo’s Mac-inspired mini-PC — now with a tilting screen and your choice of a AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS or Ryzen 9 8945HS chip, as well as 2.5Gbps Ethernet, a pair of USB4 ports, and six USB-A ports, and 65W worth of cooling.
Ayaneo says the Pocket DMG is powered by a Qualcomm G3x Gen 2 processor and has an active cooling system (read: fan) beneath its 3.92-inch, 1240x1080 OLED screen, while the aluminum-housed Pocket Micro has a 960x640 panel that allows for 4x integer scaling for GBA games, and is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 chip.
The AG01 is a AMD Radeon RX 7600M eGPU that connects over Oculink or USB4, similar to competitors from OneXPlayer and GPD. It has twin DisplayPorts and twin HDMI ports for video output, as well as Ethernet, USB-A, and an SD card slot, and room inside for an M.2 2280 SSD with toolless entry — just twist a dial on the back.
Last but not least, the Retro Power Bank is a 45.6 watt-hour (12,000mAh) battery pack with a tiny built-in OLED display for real-time monitoring. It has 45W USB-C PD input and output, and two USB-C ports, though it looks like you might be limited to 15W per port if you use both at the same time.
It’s not clear when, where, or how much any of these will cost: Ayaneo says the Retro Power Bank will be released “soon,” and will announce details later for the rest.
Here are the best Kindle deals right now
The Kindle Scribe doesn’t provide the most intuitive note-taking experience you can get, but it’s getting better thanks to a series of OTA updates.
When it comes to finding a device to read ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.
Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks to be moving beyond books and into the realm of writing — something that should make future Kindles function more akin to physical paper.
Below, we’ve listed each model currently available. Sometimes, there isn’t a deal for one or any of the products, but we’ve mentioned the most recent sale price in those instances. Keep in mind that Amazon also offers 20 percent off all of its Kindles when you trade in select devices, so there are still other ways to save money when none of the models are available at a discount.
Image: Amazon
The best Kindle (2022) deals
In case you missed it, Amazon announced a new entry-level Kindle in 2022, one that was designed to replace the 2019 model. The latest Kindle — which starts at $99.99 — puts Amazon’s base e-reader more in line with the most recent Kindle Paperwhite, providing a number of quality-of-life improvements in the process. The 2022 model features longer battery life, a 300ppi screen, and charges via USB-C instead of Micro USB. It also touts 16GB of storage by default and comes in a “denim” color, which resembles the soft blue you might associate with jeans.
In the past, Amazon’s newest ad-supported Kindle has dropped to as low as $74.99 ($25 off) with three months of Kindle Unlimited included. Right now, however, you can only buy the Kindle at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for its full retail price of $99.99, or with ads, a power adapter, and a fabric cover starting at $134.97 ($15 off). Regardless of whether you choose the standalone model or the bundle, the entry-level Kindle remains a worthwhile option if you’re looking to pick up an e-reader for less than the latest Paperwhite.
The latest base Kindle wasn’t the only e-reader Amazon introduced in 2022. The entry-level model arrived alongside a new Kindle Kids, which is identical to the standard model but comes with a handful of accessories and provides age-appropriate content for younger readers who prefer digital books. Like the last-gen Kindle Kids, the latest model retails for $20 more than the base model, bringing the MSRP to $119.99.
In terms of add-ons, the new Kindle Kids edition consists of four items: the device, a case, a two-year extended replacement guarantee (in the event the device breaks), and one year of Amazon Kids Plus. The latter is the biggest selling point of the device aside from the kid-friendly patterns, as it allows parents to grant their child access to games, videos, and books — including those in the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series — at no additional cost.
In late March, we saw the Kindle Kids sell for $99.99, which is $20 shy of its all-time low and the cheapest we’ve seen it go for since Black Friday. Right now, however, there are no deals currently available, meaning you can only buy the e-reader at its full retail price of $119.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.
Image: Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is identical to the standard model but features wireless charging and a sensor to automatically adjust the backlight.
The best Kindle Paperwhite (2021) deals
Amazon’s latest Kindle Paperwhite is its 11th-gen model, which comes with USB-C support, longer battery life, and a larger 6.8-inch display. The e-reader launched more than two years ago, and it often receives steep discounts at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, particularly around Black Friday and throughout the holiday season.
When it first launched in 2021, the latest Kindle Paperwhite arrived in two entry-level configurations: an 8GB model with ads for $139.99 and an 8GB model without ads for $159.99. These days, though, it’s hard to find either in stock, and the 16GB ad-free version ($149.99) and the ad-free version ($169.99) tend to be more widely available. There’s also a 32GB ad-free Signature Edition for $189.99, which is identical to the standard Paperwhite only it features Qi wireless charging and a sensor that will automatically adjust the backlight when needed.
Amazon also rolled out a Kindle Paperwhite Kids for $169.99, which comes bundled with a kid-friendly cover, a two-year extended replacement guarantee, and a year of Amazon Kids Plus, much like the aforementioned Kindle Kids. All 2021 models are also similar to the 2018 model in that they feature a waterproof design and Audible audiobook support.
The ad-free Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s biggest e-reader to date — one that also represents a departure from past Kindle models. It packs a 10.2-inch display with 300 dpi, along with the same great battery life for which Kindles have become known. What separates the Scribe from other models, however, is that it comes with one of two styli, which can be used to annotate books, doodle, or jot down notes. We found the e-reader’s note-taking capabilities lacking in our testing, but Amazon has already started to improve the software via free OTA software updates, helping bring it up to speed with other E Ink competitors.
For a limited time, the Kindle Scribe is available at Amazon and Target in its 16GB base configuration with a Basic Pen and three months of Kindle Unlimited for $239.99 ($100 off), which matches its all-time low. The same model is also available at Amazon with a Premium Pen starting at $264.99 ($105 off), or bundled with a leather cover and a power adapter for $299.97 ($140 off). Meanwhile, the bundle with the Premium Pen, which offers a shortcut button and a built-in eraser, is currently on sale in the 16GB configuration with a folio cover and a power adapter starting at $324.97 ($145 off).
Up until recently, Amazon also sold the 2019 Kindle Oasis. Along with a 7-inch 300ppi E Ink display, the Oasis was unique in that it offered physical, page-turning buttons. Sadly, however, the waterproof ebook reader is neither on sale nor in stock in new condition at Amazon or any other major retailer. The international version of the e-reader is currently available at Amazon for $135 (half off), though it may not be worth buying at this point. Amazon won’t ship it to US addresses, and more notably, the Oasis is no longer listed as part of Amazon’s official Kindle lineup. That suggests that Amazon may have discontinued it and that we may see a newer version at some point in the near future.
OpenAI’s Flirty New Assistant, Google Guts the Web and We Play HatGPT It’s been a week of A.I. vertigo — the feeling that we’ve been dragged five years into the future and aren’t sure what to do about it.
The social network formerly known as Twitter has officially adopted X.com for all its core systems. That means typing twitter.com in your browser will now redirect to Elon Musk’s favored domain, or should. At the time of publication, we’re seeing a mix of results depending upon browser choice and whether you’re logged in or not.
A message also now appears at the bottom of the X login page that reads, “We are letting you know that we are changing our URL, but your privacy and data protection settings remain the same.”
The URLs started to change way back in August of last year, when some Verge staffers were able to copy x.com links from the share sheet inside X’s iOS app. The clumsy transition has been a gift to phishing attacks, said Brian Krebs last month.
Musk has a long history with the x.com URL, launching a business under the name in 1999 that eventually merged with what would become PayPal. For this modern-day version of the company, Musk envisions that it will become a WeChat-like “everything app.”
Maybe, but one thing’s for sure: it’s not Twitter anymore.
Here are the best iPad deals right now
The new iPad Air and iPad Pro are here (and already on sale). | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day, many of the best iPad deals from the holiday season have persisted into 2024. The discounts come and go like changing winds, but you can still take advantage of sales on many models today, particularly on the more affordable iPads. What’s more, Apple recently released a new iPad Pro and iPad Air, and they’re already causing prices on older models to drop even further.
It’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals you can get on each iPad model that is currently available, from the cheapo ninth-gen iPad of 2021 to the latest models equipped with Apple’s powerful M4 chips.
Announced alongside the iPhone 13, the 2021 iPad is Apple’s aging entry-level tablet, one that’s still great at carrying out everyday tasks despite having recently been discontinued. The ninth-gen model originally started at $329 with Wi-Fi and 64GB of storage, which arguably makes the newer 10th-gen model the better deal if you don’t need a home button or a headphone jack, as it now starts at $349.
If you’re still interested in buying the last-gen model, however, you can pick up the base Wi-Fi configuration at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $249 ($80 off), which is just $20 shy of its lowest price to date. As for the 256GB model that normally retails for $479, Amazon and Walmart are both selling it for $379 ($100 off), which matches its second-best price to date.
The last-gen iPad uses an A13 Bionic processor and a 12MP wide-angle camera with Center Stage, a feature designed to keep you framed up and centered while on video calls. The tablet also carries over a number of features from its predecessor, such as the 10.2-inch display, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the home button, and a Smart Connector for connecting a Smart Keyboard.
Although the newer 10th-gen iPad came out in late 2022, it’s still an excellent tablet — one we consider to be the best value for most people. The latest iPad modernizes the design with a switch to USB-C, uniform bezels with no home button, a side power button with a fingerprint sensor, and a larger display, but it eliminates the 3.5mm headphone jack.
In the past, you could often buy Apple’s latest entry-level iPad for $349 ($100 off) — which is now its starting price. Right now, however, the base model with 64GB of storage is on sale at Amazon for $334 ($15 off) in select colors; Amazon is also selling the step-up 256GB model with Wi-Fi for $474, which is $25 off its new starting price of $499.
The sixth-gen iPad Mini has a larger screen than its predecessor, along with a top-of-the-line processor, support for USB-C, and options for 5G. It has forfeited its 3.5mm headphone jack and dedicated home button in the process, but overall, it’s a solid device that brings a fully refreshed design to Apple’s small tablet form factor.
The changes and refinements to the newest iPad Mini come at a heftier price, however, and the 64GB Wi-Fi model now starts at $499. Electing 256GB of storage brings the price up to $649, while the 5G cellular models are $649 for 64GB and $799 for 256GB. These are some big numbers for a small iPad, and the larger iPad Air might be worth considering if you prefer your dollar to go further with more screen real estate. But if you want the latest and greatest from Apple in a smaller format, this is where the action is.
As of right now, Amazon is selling the latest iPad Mini in its 64GB base configuration for $399.99 ($100 off) when you clip the on-page coupon. If you need additional storage, the 256GB model is also on sale at Amazon for $539.99 ($110 off) thanks to an on-page coupon. The cellular version goes on sale periodically for as much as $100 off as well, but as of writing, we can’t find any discounts at trusted sellers.
The previous-gen iPad Air usually costs $599, but right now, it’s on sale for $399.99 ($200 off) at Amazon and Walmart, likely as a result of the 2024 model’s arrival. The fifth-gen Air was once our top iPad recommendation for most people thanks to its speedy M1 processor, modern design, and midrange price. For those who crave more storage, the 256GB variant is also available for around $599 at Amazon, which is $150 off compared to its previous starting price and likely the new standard going forward.
The 2022 iteration of Apple’s lightweight tablet is similar in terms of its capabilities when measured against the previous-gen model but still offers a handful of iterative upgrades. The most pronounced improvement is the M1 processor, which offers better performance, and the front-facing 12MP camera equipped with Apple’s Center Stage feature, which helps to keep a moving subject centered when recording video or during video calls.
Apple just recently launched the 2024 iPad Air, which features several small upgrades. The newer model doesn’t feature any groundbreaking changes compared to the 2022 release, but notably, there is now a 13-inch configuration in addition to a base 11-inch model. Apple also added Wi-Fi 6E radios and upgraded the chipset to M2, which enables the hover feature when using Apple’s latest styli. You can use the newer iPad Air with the Apple Pencil Pro and both previous-gen Magic Keyboards, too. The 11-inch iPad Air starts at $599, while the comparable 13-inch model starts at $799.
Deals for the 2024 iPad Air started to appear before the latest model even hit store shelves. Right now, you can get the 11-inch model with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage in select colors for $569.99 ($30 off) at Amazon. The 13-inch iPad Air, meanwhile, is down to $764 ($35 off) in its base configuration at Amazon in select colors.
Compared to the latest iPad Air, the 2024 iPad Pro is a far more impressive upgrade. The 11- and 13-inch models start at $999 and $1,299, respectively, and they are the first Apple devices to feature the company’s latest M4 chip, which brings moderate performance gains and dedicated hardware for on-device AI processing. The new Pro models can claim other firsts, too, such as being the first iPad models with OLED displays and and lightest Pros yet, which is true for both sizes. They also feature repositioned front-facing cameras that sit along the horizontal edge, which prevent you from looking as though you’re staring off into space on a video call.
As for deals, the 11-inch iPad Pro with Wi-Fi / 256GB of storage is down to $949.99 ($50 off) in select colors at Amazon. The 13-inch model, meanwhile, is also on sale in its base configuration for $1,288.96 (about $12 off) at Amazon. Additionally, My Best Buy Plus and Total members can save an extra $50 on any 2024 iPad Pro. The membership starts at $49.99 annually, so it’s a great opportunity to give the service a try if you haven’t already.
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