This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
I reviewed the MacBook Neo, ask me anything
10 Mar 2026, 2:15 pm by Antonio G. Di Benedetto
It’s MacBook Neo review day, so let’s talk Apple’s new $599 laptop. I’m going to host another AMA for Verge subscribers today at 11AM PT / 2PM ET. Like last time, it’ll all take place in the comments section of this post.
What do you want to know about the MacBook Neo? I’ve got the “blush” pink one on hand right now, and I’m happy to answer whatever I can about Apple’s new MacBook with an iPhone chip. I also have the 15-inch M5 MacBook Air and 16-inch M5 Max MacBook Pro review units on-hand too, so we can also nerd out about those a bit if you’d like.
To ask your questions, leave a comment on this post. There’s no harm in getting your ques …
V-bucks are getting more X-pensive
10 Mar 2026, 2:02 pm by Stevie Bonifield
Everything is more expensive now, even Fortnite‘s in-game currency. Starting on March 19th, V-bucks packs will include less of the premium currency at the same prices. For instance, players can currently get 1,000 V-bucks for $8.99, but after the price increases they will only get 800 V-bucks at the same rate. The price of exact amount packs is increasing from $0.50 per 50 V-bucks to $0.99 per 50 V-bucks.
Epic is also adjusting the price of Fortnite‘s Battle Pass, which will now cost 800 V-bucks to access and reward 800 V-bucks upon completion, rather than costing and awarding 1,000 V-bucks as it currently does. Unfortunately, Battle Pass …
The twist in the Ticketmaster antitrust fight
10 Mar 2026, 2:01 pm by David Pierce
A lot of people are mad at Ticketmaster, and have been for a long time. (Did Swifties directly create an antitrust trial? Discuss.) The US government’s case against Live Nation-Ticketmaster appeared poised to lay bare some of the strangeness of the music business, and maybe even change the way the company works.
Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Vergecast wherever you get your podcasts. Head here. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here.
And then, well, the Department of Justice and Live Nation-Ticketmaster decided to settle. On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge‘s Lauren Feiner explains what happ …
YouTube is expanding its AI deepfake detection tool to politicians and journalists
10 Mar 2026, 2:00 pm by Mia Sato
Public officials and journalists will soon be able to keep track of AI-generated deepfakes of themselves on YouTube through the platform’s likeness detection feature.
The tool is already available to millions of content creators on YouTube, but beginning Tuesday, it will expand to a pilot group of journalists, government officials, and political candidates. (At a briefing with reporters, YouTube declined to share who was in the pilot group, including whether Donald Trump is part of it.) Likeness detection is similar to Content ID, which scans YouTube for copyrighted material – except likeness detection looks for people’s faces. When there …
Yamaha launches Creator Pass for music makers and podcasters
10 Mar 2026, 2:00 pm by Terrence O’Brien
Yamaha is taking a big leap into subscription services with its new Creator Pass, which bundles a bunch of different services and apps focused on music and podcast production under a single umbrella. Yamaha doesn’t actually make much software of its own, so it’s partnered with several other companies to help flesh out the bundle. The primary partners are Landr, Output, and Riverside, which offer virtual instruments, sample libraries, and podcast recording tools.
The bundles start at $14.99 a month (or $155.88 when billed annually) for the Beginner package, and go all the way up to $468 per-year for the Podcaster Complete plan. In total, the …
Sonos just launched Play, a new $299 portable speaker
10 Mar 2026, 1:30 pm by John.Higgins
Sonos is returning to focus on the system that made it a driving force in whole-home audio. And to support that system, it’s releasing its first new consumer speakers since 2024, the Sonos Play and Era 100 SL, which join the Amp Multi that the company recently announced for custom installs.
The $299 Play is a portable speaker that’s designed to live in your home, but can also be taken out into the world. It includes a removable utility loop to carry or hang it, weighs under three pounds, and has a cylindrical oval shape that’s about 7.5 inches tall, 4.5 inches wide, and 3 inches deep. There are physical controls on top of the speaker to pla …
iRobot’s Roomba Mini can clean where its larger robovacs can’t reach
10 Mar 2026, 1:20 pm by Andrew Liszewski
iRobot has announced its first new robot since the company filed for bankruptcy last December and was later acquired by China’s Picea Robotics. At just 9.5-inches in diameter, the new Roomba Mini is half the size of iRobot’s entry-level 105 series robovacs that launched last March, allowing the vacuum to access and clean spaces that are too narrow for larger robots.
The Roomba Mini was originally developed for smaller Japanese homes, but iRobot is expanding its availability to the United Kingdom where it’s now available for £379, and the rest of Europe for €399. Color options include back, pink, white, and mint. The company also plans to m …
Project Hail Mary is popcorn sci-fi at its best
10 Mar 2026, 1:00 pm by Andrew Webster
Have you ever wondered what Arrival would be like if it was also a goofy buddy comedy? Me neither. And yet the strange combination somehow fits together in Project Hail Mary. The movie follows a scientist who travels to the far reaches of the universe to save humanity and is forced to work alongside an alien in the same position. It’s silly and heartfelt, tense and hopeful. It may be a seemingly odd mixture – but the strangest part of all is how well it all works.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller of Spider-Verse fame, and based on the novel of the same name from The Martian author Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary stars Ryan Gosling …
MacBook Neo review: the Mac for the masses
10 Mar 2026, 1:00 pm by Antonio G. Di Benedetto
The MacBook Neo is basically the M1 MacBook Air all over again. That laptop changed the game in 2020, and became the default option for just about anyone who wanted a great all-around thin-and-light laptop and could spend $1,000. The M1 Air was good enough that you could still buy a new one until last month. The Neo takes its place as Apple’s cheapest laptop, with a starting price of $599 and enough power to handle everyday tasks and last all day on a charge. It’s designed to entice students and first-time laptop buyers into Apple’s world. It will.
The Air is still better than the Neo in pretty much every way, but even the cheapest MacBook …
Google’s Gemini AI is getting a bigger role across Docs, Sheets, and Slides
10 Mar 2026, 1:00 pm by Emma Roth
Google is embedding its Gemini AI assistant even more deeply within its Workspace apps. The changes, which are rolling out to Google Workspace and AI plan subscribers, include a new Gemini chat window inside Google Docs, a way to generate entire spreadsheets with AI, and a new Gemini-powered search feature in Drive.
While Google Docs already shows you a few AI writing options alongside your blinking cursor, now you’ll see a Gemini chat window at the bottom of your screen. There, you’ll get the option to describe to Gemini the kind of document you’d like to create, and the AI assistant will use information from the web, Drive, Gmail, and Cha …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
