This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
It’s their job to keep AI from destroying everything
2 Dec 2025, 3:11 pm by Hayden Field
One night in May 2020, during the height of lockdown, Deep Ganguli was worried.
Ganguli, then research director at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, had just been alerted to OpenAI’s new paper on GPT-3, its latest large language model. This new AI model was potentially 10 times more advanced than any other of its kind – and it was doing things he had never thought possible for AI. The scaling data revealed in the research suggested there was no sign of it slowing down. Ganguli fast-forwarded five years in his head, running through the kinds of societal implications he spent his time at Stanford anticipating, and the changes he e …
Apple gadgets, ranked
2 Dec 2025, 3:07 pm by David Pierce
Apple makes a lot of gadgets. Most of them are very good! You’d frankly be hard-pressed to find a company with a better track record, especially across so many categories. But only one Apple gadget can be the best Apple gadget, and it’s time for us to decide which one it is.
On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge’s Victoria Song and Allison Johnson join David to come up with a definitive ranking of Apple’s best gadgets. (We did this with Google’s gadgets a few months ago, in case you missed it.) In this case, “best” is defined quite broadly: it includes a product’s inherent quality, the quality of its competition, its cultural and econ …
Metroid Prime 4 excels when it’s actually being Metroid
2 Dec 2025, 3:00 pm by Andrew Webster
When Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is good, it’s good. The latest in Nintendo’s sci-fi exploration franchise, and the first since Metroid Dread in 2021, Beyond captures the moody sense of isolation and discovery that has been so core to Metroid since it debuted in 1986. Those quiet moments truly make you feel all alone on a harsh alien planet, punctuated by intense action set pieces and some incredible boss fights. At its peak, the game is among the best in the series. The problem is that Nintendo added a whole bunch of stuff on top of that – including chatty companion characters and a boring, empty hub world – which gets in the way.
Despite the …
30 practical smart home gifts that make everyday life a little easier
2 Dec 2025, 3:00 pm by Sheena Vasani
Smart home products are all about making everyday life a little easier, which is why they’re some of the best and most thoughtful gifts you can give. Some people go all out building a multi-gadget IoT kingdom (like our resident smart home expert, Jen Pattison Tuohy), but a smart home is whatever your recipient wants it to be. It can be as simple as wanting a cheap switch-flipping bot to brew you a pot of coffee before you exit the shower in the morning.
Having tested many smart home gadgets over the years, we pooled our knowledge to assemble our favorite recommendations for this gift guide. There are practical (and sometimes pricey) picks l …
Some of the stuff we bought during Black Friday and Cyber Monday
2 Dec 2025, 2:48 pm by Barbara Krasnoff
It’s one thing to do a bit of online shopping during the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales, but it’s another to put your money where your mouth is. (Where did that phrase come from, anyway?) If you’re curious what our writers, editors, and reviewers bought for themselves, here are some of the items, many of which are still discounted.
I’ve been planning a monitor upgrade for a while — I even mentioned it in my “What’s on your desk?” entry back in August — and finally pulled the trigger this weekend. I’d been using two old 24-inch monitors of different brands, resolutions, and specs, and knew I wanted something bigger and 4K to replace them both. I’ve had a few other major expenses recently though, so I talked myself down from a 32-inch model, or the higher-spec Dell 27-inch display with a USB-C hub built in, for one that covers all my needs, if not all my wants. The IPS panel seems great for the price, the modern design looks slick on my desk, and it has USB-C connectivity and 120Hz refresh rate, all for less than $300. That makes it pretty much perfect for me right now, giving me more desktop space during the work day and a few specs suited to my increasingly occasional PC gaming sessions too. — Dominic Preston, news editor
Hisense 55” Class U7 Series MiniLED ULED 4K Google TV
Where to Buy:
My partner and I recently moved to a smaller apartment — but with a larger living room. We had been making do with a several-years-old 40-inch TV, but when Black Friday hit, we decided we deserved to upgrade. So, we bought a 55-inch Hisense U7 Mini-LED TV. Yes, we were aware that it was only a mid-level TV, and that these days, a 55-inch TV seems relatively diminutive, but it was within our budget and got some fairly good reviews. It arrived Sunday, and so far, we’re really happy with it. Setup was obscenely simple, we were able to ditch the old Chromecast we were using in favor of the TV’s Google interface, we’re happy with the colors and brightness (although the sound could be better), and we’re going to have fun tweaking all the settings to suit our cinephile leanings. — Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor
Panasonic Streaming Blu Ray DVD Player
Where to Buy:
I don’t typically buy a lot of stuff during Black Friday / Cyber Monday, but I took advantage of sales to get a few bigger-ticket things I was going to buy anyway. I got an Oxo coffee maker because my old Bonavita broke irreparably a couple months ago. This Panasonic 4K Blu-ray player has been in my cart for half a decade, fluctuating between $450 and $550; it briefly dropped to $399 over the weekend so I pulled the trigger.
I also got a collection of D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides for my 10-year-old for Christmas. — Nathan Edwards, senior reviews editor
I have to be careful with events like Black Friday / Cyber Monday as I tend to buy many things I don’t really need or want. To check that impulse, I made a list this year and was pretty good at sticking to it. The first thing I bought was a retractable USB-C cable from Baseus. It’s boring but practical and is something I’ve needed since I upgraded to an iPhone 17 earlier this year and rendered all my old cables obsolete. Here’s hoping it makes my bag “neater and lighter than ever.”
I also bought a copy of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. The first game was undeniably weird but I thoroughly enjoyed stepping into the role of postapocalyptic delivery man and have been looking forward to the sequel all year. Between travelling, moving flat, and starting a new job, I’ve not had much chance to game lately so I’m hoping it’s worth the wait. The Verge’s review suggests I won’t be disappointed.
There was one impulse buy: these cute Lego Botanicals Happy Plants. I think they’re meant for kids, but I thought they’d make my boyfriend smile. — Robert Hart, AI reporter
I tried to restrain myself from going overboard during Black Friday this year, and I think I did a good job. I purchased one item that I truly needed: Arctic MX-6 thermal paste. I’m using it to upgrade the CPU on a used watercooled PC that I bought at a flea market. (Thankfully, it doesn’t need RAM!)
Amazon’s Black Friday sale knocked a few bucks off the version that comes with alcohol wipes that you can use to clean up the existing thermal paste on your CPU die. But I didn’t actually need the wipes; I misread the listing as coming with six tubes of paste, not just measly alcohol wipes. (Don’t be like me and actually read the listings!) — Emma Roth, news writer
I live next door to a subway station in New York City, so I’ve had my eye on this realtime circuit board LED display of subway car locations for a while now. They knocked 20 percent off for Black Friday, so I jumped on it — and I’m looking forward to eying this thing every time I hear the train rumble.
Traintrackr also has versions for Boston, DC, Chicago, London and San Francisco, and there’s a sexy-looking, limited-edition black version for New York City. — Travis Larchuk, Vergecast supervising producer
Apple will reportedly refuse India’s order to preinstall a government app
2 Dec 2025, 2:46 pm by Stevie Bonifield
Apple is not planning to comply with an order from the Indian government directing phone manufacturers to preload a state-backed cybersecurity app, according to Reuters.
Industry sources tell Reuters that Apple plans to tell India’s government that they don’t comply with requests like this due to privacy and security concerns. However, Apple won’t go to court or “take a public stand” over the order. At the time of writing, iPhones make up just nine percent of India’s smartphone market, behind Vivo, Oppo, and Samsung, which were also directed to preload the state-backed app on their devices.
The app in question, Sanchar Saathi or “Communication Partner,” can be used to track and block lost or stolen phones using their IMEI. It’s currently available in the App Store and Google Play Store, but the Indian government’s order would make the app mandatory on all new phones sold in the region, require phone manufacturers to push it to existing phones through a software update, and prevent users from disabling the app.
The order was privately issued to phone manufacturers on November 28th, and is facing pushback over concerns Sanchar Saathi could be used for surveillance or tracking outside of its stated anti-theft purposes. India’s Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia commented on Tuesday that “the app is completely optional. If you want to delete it, you can.” However, that directly contradicts the government order’s reported directions to prevent users from disabling Sanchar Saathi.
Wooting’s 60HE v2 is a solid upgrade to the best gaming keyboard
2 Dec 2025, 2:45 pm by Tom Warren
Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried to switch to many different gaming keyboards and always ended up back with a Wooting 60HE. Wooting changed PC gaming with the 60HE, popularizing the use of Hall effect switches and a Rapid Trigger system that speeds up how quickly you can activate keys. Now it’s back with a v2 that upgrades the best gaming keyboard to improve its sound and feel.
I’ve been testing the $239.99 Wooting 60HE v2 over the past week, and I’m impressed with my early hands-on, but I don’t know if I would rush to upgrade from an original modded 60HE.
The Wooting 60HE v2 has the same 60 percent layout as the original, so ther …
Amazon is testing 30-minute deliveries
2 Dec 2025, 2:32 pm by Jess Weatherbed
Amazon is starting to test ultra-fast deliveries that aim to drop household goods at your doorstep in 30 minutes or less. The Amazon Now service is launching now in parts of Seattle and Philadelphia, according to Amazon’s announcement, allowing eligible customers to shop for items like fresh milk, eggs, produce, cosmetics, electronics, household essentials, over-the-counter medicines, and more.
In those areas, Amazon Now has become part of the main Amazon shopping app, and allows users to track orders and tip delivery drivers. Users can check the “30-Minute Delivery” option in the app navigation bar to see if they’re eligible for the service. Delivery fees start at $3.99 per order for Prime subscribers and $13.99 for non-Prime members, with a $1.99 basket fee applied to orders below $15.
The service will operate out of small specialized fulfillment facilities near eligible delivery zones, and is designed to help Amazon better compete with companies like DoorDash and Instacart.
This is Amazon’s latest attempt to break into the ultra-fast delivery market, having previously invested $60 million in the one-hour Kozmo delivery service in 2000. A stand-alone “Prime Now” service for two-hour deliveries was also launched in 2014, and later shut down in 2021. Most recently, Amazon shut down its dedicated “Amazon Today” same-day delivery service in October 2024, though same-day deliveries are still available to Prime subscribers via the Amazon shopping app.
YouTube introduces its own version of Spotify Wrapped for videos
2 Dec 2025, 2:00 pm by Jess Weatherbed
YouTube is rolling out a new roundup experience that lets you quickly review your most notable video habits over the last year. The Recap feature “uniquely highlights interests, deep dives, and moments” based on your watch history, according to YouTube’s announcement, providing up to 12 cards that spotlight top channels, interests, and how your taste in videos has changed over time.
It appears similar to Spotify’s end-of-year Wrapped experience, which other services like Apple Music and Amazon Music have also riffed on in recent years. YouTube’s Recap feature will even assign users a “personality type” based on viewing habits, such as Adventurer, Skill Builder, and Creative Spirit — which seem comparable to Spotify’s listening personality types.
Recap is launching for YouTube users in the US starting today, and will roll out globally this week. The feature is available on both mobile devices and desktop, and can be found by selecting the dedicated button on the YouTube homepage or under the “You” tab in the user menu.
Some stats related to listening and watching music, such as your top artists and songs, will also be included in Recap, though it’s not replacing the existing Recap experience for YouTube Music that provides an annual review of top artists, songs, genres, and podcasts. YouTube Music app users will still have “a separate YouTube Music Recap available within that app,” according to a YouTube support page.
Alongside the video Recap launch, YouTube also shared some trend charts that show which topics, creators, podcasts, and songs have been the most popular with US users this year. Some stats aren’t especially surprising — MrBeast remains the top creator and The Joe Rogan Experience holds the number one spot in the podcast rankings, for example — but it’s interesting to see that the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack was less popular in Shorts compared to its domination on the general top songs chart.
Sony’s new A7 V uses a partially stacked sensor so you can shoot silently
2 Dec 2025, 2:00 pm by Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Sony is announcing the A7 V, its first camera with a partially stacked sensor and various features borrowed from pricier Alpha models. It will be available body-only in late December for $2,899, and a kit including a new 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS II lens is coming in February.
The A7 V is one of Sony’s most versatile all-purpose full-frame cameras, for enthusiasts and pros not looking to spend nearly $7,000 on an A1 II. The new A7 retains a 33-megapixel sensor like the A7 IV before it, but with a partially stacked design like Nikon’s Z6 III. Thanks to this tech, the A7 V can be used full time with its electronic shutter for totally silent shooting and blackout-free 30fps continuous bursts. While the Nikon Z6 III, as great as it is, had some controversies over its partially stacked sensor’s reduced dynamic range, Sony claims the A7 V’s sensor has 16 stops of latitude.
Other features of the A7 V include a new Bionz XR2 processor with a dedicated AI chip for tracking autofocus and subject detection (like the A7R V), a new tilt screen (also first introduced on the A7R V), improved five-axis image stabilization (rated up to 7.5 stops), up to one second of pre-capture in continuous burst shooting, and a speed boost button that allows on-the-fly faster shooting (borrowed from the A9 III). The A7 V’s OLED electronic viewfinder is the same 3.68-million dot resolution as its predecessor, but it now supports a faster 120fps, and the live view feed switches more quickly from the LCD when you put your eye to it. Sony also managed to squeeze a bit more life out of the new model using the same NP-FZ100 battery — rated for an estimated 630 shots using the EVF or 750 with the LCD (an increase of 110 and 170 over last gen).
The A7 V is designed as a hybrid for both stills and video, and its video chops have a significant improvement over the A7 IV. The new model records in oversampled 7K resolution to yield 4K 60p full-frame video, fixing one of the A7 IV’s biggest issues and oversights. The last-gen model relied on a 1.5x crop for its 4K 60p footage, whereas the A7 V now crops only to hit a high-speed 4K 120p for slow-motion work.
As someone who owned and used the A7 IV professionally for about two years (before selling it to upgrade to another model), the A7 V has much of what I wish that camera could do for me. I got to use one for a very brief period, and being able to shoot silently in most situations like my other cameras is incredibly helpful for shooting freely in a quiet environment — like a wedding ceremony. One of my biggest gripes with my A7 IV was the delay while waiting for the live view to switch from the LCD to the EVF. The split-second moment of temporary blindness wasn’t egregiously long, but the A7 V’s faster switching brings it closer to the super-speedy feel of the pro A1 and A9 III cameras. I’m spoiled, I know, but once you adjust to it you don’t want to go back to a slower response time every time you pull up your second body.
The A7 V’s new screen and ergonomic improvements are also welcome changes. I still don’t love Sony’s grip feel, even though they’re my cameras of choice, but Sony makes the best articulating screens around, offering the best of both worlds for photo and video. Up until now, these excellent screens have been reserved for pricier models, and I’m excited for more people to have access to them.
It’s easy for the Sony A7 V to seem like a bit of a ho-hum update, kind of like last year’s A1 II upgrade was for pros. But Sony did a nice job focusing on refining and improving all of the base A7’s bread-and-butter features. It’s a greatest hits album of many of Sony’s recent new features. It’s a shame this line keeps getting pricier, as it’s launching at $500 more than the A7 IV’s original price and $200 more than the IV’s current tariff-inflated price, but new sensor tech is costlier sensor tech.
Sony was quick to innovate and iterate on its Alpha cameras for years, giving it a massive head start in the mirrorless world ahead of Canon, Nikon, and others. But it’s been feeling like that innovation has stalled a bit in recent models. Now that Sony has played all its latest cards across its current crop and given its A7 V samples of its latest tech, we’ll have to see if Sony’s next generation of cameras can make any of the big jumps forward like it’s been previously known for.
Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
