This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
You can grab a refurbished 2021 Kindle Paperwhite starting at just $49.99
12 Apr 2026, 2:32 pm by Brandon Widder
We spend a lot of time at The Verge waxing poetic about the latest gadgets, but sometimes it’s the last-gen devices from several years ago that offer the better value. The 2021 Kindle Paperwhite is a great case in point — especially since you can grab it at Woot in refurbished condition with lockscreen ads, 8GB of storage, and a 90-day warranty starting at $49.99 through the rest of today, April 12th, which is about $90 off the e-reader’s original list price. Per usual, Amazon Prime members will also receive free shipping with their purchase.
The entry-level refurb models are in full working order but include a unspecified, moderate level of wear and tear — hence their “scratch and dent” designation. Thankfully, Woot is also selling non-S&D models of the 2021 Paperwhite with ads, 8GB of storage, and the same 90-day Woot warranty starting at $69.99. You can even pick up a refurbished Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition — which adds wireless charging, a sensor to automatically adjust the backlight, and four times the storage — for $99.99, or $90 off the step-up model’s original MSRP.
2021 Kindle Paperwhite (refurbished, with ads)
Where to Buy:
Unlike Amazon’s latest entry-level Kindle, the 11th-generation Paperwhite boasts robust IPX8 waterproofing and a 6.8-inch display, which is two inches smaller than the 7-inch screen on the newest Paperwhite. That said, it still boasts the same resolution (300ppi) as the latest model, along with adjustable color temperature, allowing you to read just as easily at night as during the day. The e-reader packs monthslong battery life and USB-C support, too, though its UI isn’t as responsive as on the latest models, nor are page turns quite as fast.
If you’re thinking about upgrading from an older model, Woot’s Paperwhite promo couldn’t come at a better time. Amazon recently announced that it will end support for pre-2012 Kindle devices on May 20th, 2026, which will prevent existing owners from purchasing, borrowing, or downloading new content via the Kindle Store (previously downloaded books will still be accessible). Amazon is offering longtime users a 20 percent discount on new Kindle devices until June 20th; however, even with the discount, you’d still be paying nearly three times as much to nab the 2024 Paperwhite.
Read our 2021 Kindle Paperwhite review.
The Hisense UR9 is a great first shot against OLED’s bow
12 Apr 2026, 1:30 pm by John.Higgins
RGB LED TVs have been the talk of the TV world this year, with models coming from all the manufacturers, and the first one of 2026 is here – the Hisense UR9. It’s the first look at the viability of the new backlight technology outside of demo rooms, and it’s a step above the traditional mini-LED TVs of years past. HDR is colorful and accurate, it has great brightness, and it is capable of showing colors beyond the P3 color space for movies and TV shows that have wider color. But at $3,500, the 65-inch model I reviewed is priced comparably to high-end OLEDs from LG and Samsung, which is tough competition.
Hisense released the very first RGB …
How AT&T created the most iconic phone ever
12 Apr 2026, 1:28 pm by David Pierce
For years, even decades, virtually everyone in the United States had the same phone. Nobody really thought about it, it didn’t even matter what it was called – it was just The Phone. Well, The Phone was called the Western Electric 500, and when landline phones ruled the world, the Western Electric 500 ruled the landlines. It was so ubiquitous for so long that even if you’ve never touched a landline, you’ve encountered the 500. The Phone app on your iPhone? Looks like a 500.
On this episode of Version History, we tell the story of the Western Electric 500, and the deeply strange world it came to represent. David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and pro …
The AI code wars are heating up
12 Apr 2026, 12:00 pm by David Pierce
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the AI coding and vibe-coding booms, follow David Pierce. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
Writing code was a killer app for AI even before anyone was really talking about AI. In the spring of 2021, 18 months before the world knew the word “ChatGPT,” Microsoft debuted the very first product of a partnership with a nonprofit called OpenAI: a tool called GitHub Copilot that watched developers as they wrote code and tried to autocomplete snippets and lines for them …
Allow me to explain why I love this camera that can’t shoot color
12 Apr 2026, 11:00 am by Antonio G. Di Benedetto
I love black-and-white photography. I also adore compact cameras you can always have by your side. So I’m a total mark for the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome, a fixed-lens camera that can’t zoom and can’t record color – at all. It’s a formula that makes the average person ask, “Why?”
I’ve tested the GR IV Monochrome for over a month, taking it with me everywhere and photographing everything. Let me explain how this pricey little point-and-shoot is likely to go down as one of my all-time-favorite cameras.
Ricoh GR IV Monochrome
Score: 8
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End of today’s The Verge roundup.
