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Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Microsoft is finally adding a setting for remapping the Copilot key.

After Microsoft removed the Copilot buttons from some Windows 11 apps, the latest Insider Release Preview builds (26100.9539 and 26200.9539) add an option for easily changing that dedicated AI key back to a control or Context Menu button, without using workarounds.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Tesla Cybercabs turn up in NYC.

Miami is looking like the next market for Elon Musk’s steering-wheel-less autonomous vehicles. But a few of the gold two-seaters were spotted in New York City — albeit with steering wheels and human safety monitors driving manually. It’s likely just a marketing maneuver, since fully autonomous vehicles are prohibited in New York. Governor Kathy Hochul recently reversed a decision to allow Waymo to deploy its vehicles outside the city after pushback from labor groups.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
The Justice Department is looking into Steve Ballmer’s jumbotron corruption scandal.

The New York Times reported Thursday that federal prosecutors are in the “early stages” of a criminal investigation into the Clippers’ shady sponsorship arrangements for Kawhi Leonard, using companies like Aspiration, Daktronics (which already revealed an ongoing SEC investigation), and Boingo Wireless.

Pablo Torre obviously chimed in with his take on the proceedings, saying “there is, in fact, more.”

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Polyarc, known for its VR series starring a mouse, appears to be shutting down.

”After nearly 12 years riding the joyous rollercoaster of emotions that is making video games, our time together has come to an end,” Polyarc, the developer of the Moss franchise, wrote in a LinkedIn post on Friday.

Earlier this year, Polyarc laid off staff after it couldn’t secure funding “following the cancellation of a major project.” It also released a flatscreen collection of the two Moss games, titled Moss: The Forgotten Relic.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Framework canceled its One Key Module for making custom Laptop 16 keyboards.

Framework announced the single-key module last year, but now says it can no longer turn it into a “sellable product.” The company says the module’s costs were too high and even the “expert DIYers and electronics tinkerers” in its developer program struggled with assembling it.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
A military aircraft reportedly caused the UK’s air traffic control outage.

Sources tell the Financial Times that “spurious” flight data entered by a UK military jet “triggered a series of events” that grounded flights across the country earlier this week:

The entry caused a meltdown within the wider air traffic control system that took hours — and several attempts — to restart, the people said.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Roblox will soon let you play games in your browser.

By the end of 2026, you’ll be able to hop into a Roblox game right from Chrome with support other browsers coming in the future, Roblox announced as part of its developer conference news on Friday. The company also revealed plans to let developers launch their games as apps on other platforms and offer offline modes.

TC Sottek
TC Sottek
NHL 27 will have AI generated announcing.

It’s reportedly with the permission of the human announcers John Buccigross and Darren Pang who do in-game voiceovers. As a long-time player of the series I’m very curious what you think about this. For me, it seems like one of the best possible use cases for AI generation, considering it’s annoying to hear the exact same commentary over and over, and because there’s no possible way humans could record VO for every possible scenario.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Google might be making a wearOS version of the Fitbit Charge.

9to5Google spotted this FCC entry for the Goertek-made SZGG8BL6, which lines up with other Google devices. Like the Fitbit Charge, it has Bluetooth and GNSS, but lacks Wi-Fi, while its e-label suggests it has a screen and could run wearOS similar to a mysterious wearable spotted in Google ads.

TC Sottek
TC Sottek
George Bush paints himself in the meme that went viral.

On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the former president, who became a painter in his retirement, just shared a self-portrait from his most fateful day. (He also has a new collection of paintings related to 9/11.) The original image depicts Bush receiving news of the attack from his chief of staff, as the president was reading a book to Florida schoolchildren. The “whisper” image has become a potent meme over the years.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Does a streaming series’ absence make your heart grow fonder?

According to a new report from Luminate, lengthy gaps between s treaming shows are one of the reasons people stop watching them. That feels right, but we want to hear from you: does waiting a few years for a series to come back make you more inclined to move on?

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Genius is bringing Open Mic and Verified to Spotify.

The long-running lyrical breakdown and live performance series will now be available to stream on Spotify as it continues to grow its video efforts. Verified first came to Spotify last year as part of a limited rollout, but now archival episodes are being added alongside new installments every week.

We unfolded the iPhone DuoWe unfolded the iPhone Duo
Jacob Kastrenakes
Anthropic spent this week in hot water over cybersecurity

An Anthropic researcher’s resignation letter went viral, and the company released details of four concerning cybersecurity incidents.

Hayden Field
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Suno admits it scraped audio from YouTube in a court filing.

We already kinda knew that thanks to a hack of the company’s data in July. And Suno admitted to training its models on publicly available music. But this is the first time it has explicitly copped to ripping audio from YouTube, saying in a court filing:

Suno admits that audio data was obtained from YouTube for use as training data using YT-DLP.

Anime reaction YouTubers are at war with copyright enforcers

Content creators say their videos are fair use, but one controversial company begs to differ.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Anker upgraded its screen-equipped Nano charger to help prolong battery health.

Less than a year after its original Nano Charger launched, Anker is introducing an updated and slightly more expensive $34.99 version that adds support for USB PD 3.2’s adjustable voltage supply (AVS) to more precisely manage power delivery and reduce battery degradation. The new Nano Charger is also available in new colors to match the iPhone 18 Pro.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

<em>The new Nano Charger’s color options include orange, burgundy red, black tone, aurora white, and misty blue.</em>
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The new Nano Charger’s color options include orange, burgundy red, black tone, aurora white, and misty blue.
Image: Anker
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s interview with James Talarico.

Kimmel said he couldn’t air his interview with the Democratic Texas Senate candidate on TV after the FCC “threatened” him. Instead, you can watch it on the the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel:

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Judge rules TikTok broke a Texas law by misleading users on its child safety features.

A 2025 lawsuit claiming TikTok violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act will now go to trial after Judge Cory Liu granted the state’s request for a partial summary judgment on Thursday.

The state had argued that TikTok said it would remove content with drugs, gambling, or graphic injuries but instead designated it “hard to find,” and said a Restricted Mode setting filtered out content that was inappropriate for minors while employees internally acknowledged it didn’t work as well as advertised.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Insta360’s Luna Ultra will soon get vertical 4K video too.

This week’s new single-lens Luna Pro added 4K30 vertical recording, something lacking on the pricier Ultra and both of DJI’s Osmo Pocket 4 and 4P steadicams. The company tells me that the Ultra is getting 4K support added retroactively though. The update is planned for September 20th, but I’ve been warned there’s a chance it could be postponed.

Arizona’s lifeline for chip manufacturing is drying up

Water from the Colorado River is getting scarce — and more expensive for everyone.

Justine Calma
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Samsung’s leaked SmartTag 3 goes full squircle.

Images shared by WinFuture suggest a return to the squircular design of the original SmartTag (unlike its pill-shaped successor), but without a cutout for key rings and carabiners. Instead an optional case could offer an attachment point, while a Spigen collaboration builds it into a pet collar. WinFuture expects it to launch in October for $29.99.

1/5Image: WinFuture / Samsung
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Samsung’s first clip-on earbuds leak in new image.

Supposedly galled the Galaxy Buds On, SammyGuru found an image of the earbuds in the Samsung Buds Manager app. Other images hint at features including automatic volume adjustment, voice memo recording, and head shaking and nodding gesture controls. Clip-ons are the new industry trend, with Bose, Sony, and Nothing already on board.

Although these are in black, SammyGuru says a white version is on the way too.
Although these are in black, SammyGuru says a white version is on the way too.
Image: SammyGuru
Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Did… he forget that Final Fantasy VII originally came on three discs?

FFVII Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi has revealed to IGN his “only choice” was to ship the new game on a single disc that forces you to download the rest of the game, because the team “didn’t want to make any compromises” in fidelity.

But the original game shipped on three discs. FF8 shipped on four! So did FF9.

Here, I whipped out a copy to show you. Forgot about the awesome booklet art!
Here, I whipped out a copy to show you. Forgot about the awesome booklet art!
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
YouTube now lets you lock your account on the TV app with a PIN.

You’ll also be able to unlock your account with the YouTube mobile app. Read all the details in this YouTube support post. This is a smart feature!

A screenshot of the TV app showing a PIN entry screen.
Image: YouTube
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Due to GPT-6 Astra demand, OpenAI has paused new subscriptions to its $200 ChatGPT Pro tier.

Those subscriptions “put the most strain on our systems and we wanted to take the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest access possible,” OpenAI’s Thibault Sottiaux says on X. The company is working on “adding more capacity as fast as we can.”

A screenshot of an X post from OpenAI’s Thibault Sottiaux. The text reads: “To make sure our current users have an incredible experience and continued access to Astra, we are going to pause subscriptions to our $200 Pro plan. These put the most strain on our systems and we wanted to take the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest access possible. All other plans and the api remain available. There is no impact to existing accounts and we are working on adding more capacity as fast as we can. Thanks!”
Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge