This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
How Claude Code Claude Codes
24 Feb 2026, 2:20 pm by David Pierce
Claude Code is a developer tool for developers. And yet, over the last year and especially the last few months, the team at Anthropic has seen a huge number of people, across industries and disciplines, figure out how to access their terminal so that they could build new stuff too. Few AI products have found true product-market fit the way Claude Code has. But how did that happen? And are we ever going to get out of the terminal?
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On this episode of The Vergecast, Anthropic’s Bo …
This limited edition Death Stranding-inspired tablet is the coolest computer I’ve ever touched
24 Feb 2026, 2:00 pm by Antonio G. Di Benedetto
The Asus ROG Flow Z13 was already a unique beast. It’s a chunky gaming tablet with impressive AMD Strix Halo integrated graphics. I was really into it when I reviewed it around this time last year. But just look at it now, clad in the stylings of Hideo Kojima’s game studio and his longtime collaborator, artist Yoji Shinkawa.
This is the Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP, a collaboration between Asus and Kojima Productions announced at CES. It’s officially inspired by Kojima Productions’ mascot Ludens, though it feels very Death Stranding, which makes sense, since Yoji Shinkawa designed both. Shinkawa is famed for designing legendary characters and gadg …
This Chainsmokers-approved AI music producer is joining Google
24 Feb 2026, 2:00 pm by Emma Roth
ProducerAI, an AI-powered music-making platform, is joining Google. As part of the deal, Google will fold ProducerAI under the Labs umbrella and power the tool with a preview version of its new Lyria 3 music-making AI model.
ProducerAI is a music-making platform that allows users to work with an AI agent to generate sounds, workshop lyrics, remix songs, and even create new instruments based on a prompt. The platform launched in July 2025 as a successor to the AI music-making tool Riffusion, and initially used the startup’s own AI model to help you generate songs and tweak existing ones. Seth Forsgren, the cofounder and CEO of ProducerAI, te …
Samsung is on slop watch at Unpacked
24 Feb 2026, 2:00 pm by Allison Johnson
Another Unpacked is nearly upon us. On February 25th, Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S26 series of flagship phones – potentially including the S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra – with another round of AI-based features. That will come as a surprise to nobody. But as more AI creeps in on Samsung’s AI phones, there’s one important consideration: the slop factor.
I’m talking, of course, about AI slop. Last week, Samsung put out a blog post promoting a new “seamless Galaxy camera experience” on its newest phones. Based on the examples in the article, that experience includes turning a picture of a puppy into cute little stickers, filling …
More Shohei Ohtani content is coming to TikTok
24 Feb 2026, 1:30 pm by Mia Sato
Major League Baseball wants more of a footprint on TikTok. Just in time for spring training, the two companies announced Tuesday they were partnering to expand baseball content on TikTok, including creating an MLB hub in the app and, of course, bringing in more influencers.
Baseball is coming back after a season that was especially culturally relevant. The World Series last fall had its highest viewership in years, and an increasingly international audience tuned in to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays after seven games and extra innings. There was a surge in interest on TikTok, too: The company says posts that includ …
Apple will soon make (some) Mac Minis in the US
24 Feb 2026, 11:15 am by Jess Weatherbed
Apple is preparing to move some of its Mac Mini production to the US as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to appease the Trump administration’s push for domestic investment. Manufacturing is set to begin later this year in north Houston, Texas, at a Foxconn facility that currently assembles Apple’s AI servers.
“Apple is deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing, and we’re proud to significantly expand our footprint in Houston with the production of Mac Mini starting later this year,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the announcement. “We began shipping advanced AI servers from Houston ahead of schedule, and we’re excited to ac …
Inside Anthropic’s existential negotiations with the Pentagon
24 Feb 2026, 11:00 am by Tina Nguyen
Anthropic’s weekslong battle with the Department of Defense has played out over social media posts, admonishing public statements, and direct quotes from unnamed Pentagon officials to the news media. But the future of the $380 billion AI startup comes down to just three words: “any lawful use.” The new terms, which OpenAI and xAI have reportedly already agreed to, would give the US military carte blanche to use services for mass surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons, AI that has full power to track and kill targets with no humans involved in the decision-making process.
The negotiations have turned ugly, with Pentagon CTO Emil Michael …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
