This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
This tiny magnetic e-reader sticks to the back of your iPhone
5 Dec 2025, 3:04 pm by Andrew Liszewski
A Chinese company named Xteink has announced the X4, a compact e-reader with a 4.3-inch E Ink screen that’s more pocketable than the smallest Kindle or Kobo. Like a wireless power bank, the e-reader can magnetically attach to the back of an iPhone, Pixel 10, or any device that supports Qi2 or Apple’s MagSafe. If your phone doesn’t, the company includes a couple of magnetic stick-on rings.
At $69 from Xteink’s online store, the X4 is also cheaper than Kindles and Kobos, but there are more than a few trade-offs when it comes to features and functionality. The X4’s E Ink screen’s resolution is limited to 220ppi, while most modern e-readers offer 300ppi, which means text won’t look as sharp. You’ll need a nearby lamp if you plan to read at night, since the screen doesn’t have its own light. But that means the X4 can squeeze up to 14 days of use (while reading 1-3 hours each day) from its 650mAh battery.
The biggest downside to buying e-readers from smaller brands like Xteink is that they lack access to the ebook stores Amazon and Kobo offer if they’re not running Android with the Google Play store installed. The X4 can only read DRM-free books and documents in EPUB and TXT formats, and they need to be sideloaded onto the device either through a microSD card (up to 512GB supported) with ebooks or by connecting to the X4 over Wi-Fi and sending them wirelessly.
There’s no touchscreen. The X4 has dedicated page turn buttons, a feature every e-reader should offer. You can also install your own fonts if you don’t like the two preinstalled options.
Welcome to the wellness surveillance state
5 Dec 2025, 3:00 pm by Victoria Song
This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest phones, smartwatches, apps, and other gizmos that swear they’re going to change your life. Optimizer arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 10AM ET. Opt in for Optimizer here.
The other day I was staring into my toilet. Not because I was hungover, stricken with food poisoning, or in the midst of a deep clean. No, I was installing a gadget that I affectionately call the Pee Shell. The actual name is the Withings U-Scan, a $380 at-home urinalysis test with a removable cartridge that either measures your nutr …
13 years later, the bold and terrifying sci-fi game Routine is finally here
5 Dec 2025, 3:00 pm by Lewis Gordon
It has been 13 long years since Aaron Foster last spoke to The Verge. Back then, Foster’s tiny, three-person studio Lunar Software was touting sci-fi horror game Routine with a striking vision: Foster hoped to suck players into the desolate eeriness of its moon base setting, which was equal parts immersive and grounded. Foster ended that interview by swerving a release date question. With 13 years of hindsight, it reads like an all-timer understatement. “Making a good game is more important than a hard-set deadline,” he said. “So we will keep it loose for now.”
Now, nearly a decade and a half on, Routine has been released on Steam and Xbox …
Meta strikes AI licensing deals with CNN, Fox News, and USA Today
5 Dec 2025, 2:39 pm by Emma Roth
On Friday, Meta announced that its AI chatbot will now respond with information from CNN, Fox News, USA Today, and People Inc.’s portfolio, as part of a new partnership with the companies.
The deal comes as publishers continue to sue AI companies for stealing content. The New York Times filed a lawsuit against AI startup Perplexity on Friday, for example, seeking to stop it from pulling its news until the two companies reach an agreement.
Meta says the partnerships will “improve Meta AI’s ability to deliver timely and relevant content and information with a wide variety of viewpoints and content types.” It has also struck deals with conservative outlets The Daily Caller and The Washington Examiner, as well as the French media conglomerate group Le Monde.
Meta’s shift toward AI-focused licensing agreements comes after the company backed out of deals with major publications and shuttered Facebook’s News tab. It also pulled news content from Facebook and Instagram in Canada after the country enacted a law requiring it to pay for news content.
Meta struck a similar AI licensing deal with Reuters last year. OpenAI has signed content agreements with publications such as The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Tom’s Guide owner Future, and The Verge’s parent company Vox Media, but is facing a lawsuit from The New York Times as well.
Waymo’s robotaxis are under investigation for passing stopped school buses
5 Dec 2025, 1:45 pm by Robert Hart
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into Waymo following reports that the company’s robotaxis illegally drove past stopped school buses in Austin, Texas.
In a letter sent to Waymo on Wednesday, the federal regulator’s Office of Defects Investigation asked for detailed information on Waymo’s fifth-generation self-driving system and expressed concern that the Alphabet-owned company’s vehicles were showing unexpected or illegal behavior around school buses.
The letter comes after the watchdog opened an October investigation into the firm following an incident involving a stationary school bus in Georgia. Video footage showed one of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles driving past a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arms deployed. In response, Waymo said safety is its top priority and that it had already issued software updates to its fleet to resolve the issue.
However, the problem appears to have persisted. In a letter dated November 20, the Austin Independent School District said it had evidence of 19 separate incidents in which Waymo vehicles had been recorded driving past stopped school buses since the start of the school year. At least five of these happened after the company said it issued an update to fix the problem.
The school district asked Waymo to cease self-driving operations around school pick-up and drop-off times. The district told Reuters the company had refused to halt operations around schools and claimed another incident involving an actively loading school bus occurred on December 1. In an email dated November 24, the NHTSA explicitly asked Waymo to “let us know if you have ceased operations during these times as requested or plan to cease,” and to confirm whether a software fix had been implemented.
It’s not the first time Waymo has come under regulatory scrutiny for its self-driving cars. For example, in 2024, the federal regulator launched a probe following reports of erratic driving that potentially broke the law. It comes as the company expands into new markets, with hopes to launch in over 20 cities in the coming years.
A Waymo spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the probe.
Pluribus turns a ‘caloric deficit’ into a nightmare
5 Dec 2025, 1:30 pm by Andrew Webster
Every week since Pluribus‘ premiere, I’ve presented a handful of burning questions I have about what’s coming next. And most of the time I really want to know the answer. This is a show where mysteries are baked into the premise, with a slow-burn structure that can make it very satisfying when the answers start rolling in. But I regret wanting to know what the hive mind are drinking in episode 5 – I now have the answer, and I really don’t like it.
Welcome to our weekly Verge-subscriber discussion of Pluribus, the new sci-fi series on Apple TV from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. The show follows a woman named Carol (Rhea Seehorn), who …
Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $83 billion
5 Dec 2025, 1:16 pm by Dominic Preston
Netflix has announced that it’s struck a deal to acquire Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion. The purchase will go through after Warner Bros.’ planned split from Discovery, now expected to take place in Q3 2026. It will see the streamer acquire the Warner studio, both HBO and HBO Max, and access to IP including Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and DC Comics.
“Our mission has always been to entertain the world,” said Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix. “By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies — from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry Potter and Friends — with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we’ll be able to do that even better.”
Yesterday it was reported that Netflix had won the bidding war to purchase Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming assets, including HBO, DC Comics, and video game publisher Warner Bros. Games, and the final deal came together quickly. In its announcement Netflix suggests it has no immediate plans for drastic change at Warner Bros., describing HBO and HBO Max as a “compelling, complementary offering” alongside its own streaming service, and saying it will maintain the studio’s current operations “including theatrical releases for films.”
To get the deal over the line, Netflix reportedly pledged a $5 billion breakup fee in case regulators block the buyout. Netflix’s bid won out over interest from Comcast and Paramount, fresh from its own merger with Skydance, though early interest had been reported from Amazon and Apple, too.
Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it was open to an acquisition in October, months after announcing plans to split the company in two: the studio and streaming business on one side, and cable on the other. While Paramount, which had three early bids rejected, had reportedly hoped to buy both halves of the company, Netflix is focused on the studio side, and so won’t purchase cable assets including CNN and the Discovery channels.
Any deal will have to clear regulatory hurdles, with opposition already likely from the Department of Justice. And if it goes through, Netflix will have to adapt to a new role in Hollywood, running one of the largest and oldest studios, including the theatrical business it’s historically shied away from.
Update, December 5th: Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery have now announced a deal.
The far right is mobilizing against Trump AI czar David Sacks
5 Dec 2025, 1:15 pm by Tina Nguyen
Washington lawmakers had barely finished processing the news that Congress would not put a state AI law ban into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) when a new rumor began trickling out of the White House on Wednesday: President Donald Trump would, indeed, sign an executive order that would ostensibly assign the federal government the ability to punish states for writing their own AI laws.
There was the possibility that it would be as drastic as the one that had leaked from the White House weeks before, which would have given David Sacks, billionaire venture capitalist and the White House’s AI and crypto czar, immense influence o …
EU fines X $140 million over ‘deceptive’ blue checkmarks
5 Dec 2025, 12:04 pm by Jess Weatherbed
The European Union has served Elon Musk’s X with a €120 million (about $140 million) penalty for violating the bloc’s digital service rulebook, in part for the “deceptive design” of its blue checkmark. Today’s announcement marks the first time that a company has been fined under the landmark Digital Services Act (DSA) law for curbing “illegal and harmful activities” on online platforms, and follows the EU launching a multifaceted investigation into X in December 2023.
In July 2024, the EU ruled that X was failing to comply with obligations around advertising transparency, data access for researchers, and “dark patterns” — deceptive interface features designed to trick users. X’s blue checkmark system was specifically called out for deceiving users by allowing anyone to pay to be “verified,” making it harder to determine the authenticity of X accounts. In today’s announcement, the European Commission noted that while the DSA doesn’t require user verification, “it clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified.”
“Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU,” the bloc’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement. “The DSA protects users. The DSA gives researchers the way to uncover potential threats. The DSA restores trust in the online environment. With the DSA’s first non-compliance decision, we are holding X responsible for undermining users’ rights and evading accountability.”
The EU can charge companies up to 6 percent of their global revenue for DSA violations. As X is a private company — purchased by Musk for $44 billion in October 2022 and again by his artificial intelligence company, X AI, in March 2025 for $33 billion — it’s unclear what its potential maximum penalty could have been. X can appeal the fine, but now has 60 working days to inform the EU of the measures it will take to change the “deceptive” use of blue checkmarks, and 90 days for its planned fixes for the other violations. Failure to meet those deadlines could result in more penalty payments.
European lawmakers had deliberated how large a fine to issue according to The New York Times, reporting that regulators sought to make an example of X as a warning to other companies while weighing the risks of sparking retaliation from President Donald Trump amid ongoing trade disputes. Musk, alongside the leadership of other US tech giants, has encouraged the president to stop the EU from taking advantage of US companies.
The 2023 investigation was also launched to scrutinize X’s moderation practices and the dissemination of illegal or harmful content on the platform, which is currently still ongoing and could incur further penalties.
The EU has criticized X over rising levels of disinformation following its acquisition by Musk. In January, EU lawmakers pledged to “energetically” push the X investigation forward over concerns with Musk’s promotion of Germany’s far-right party leader on the platform. Musk has used X to rally behind other far-right personalities and sparked outrage after pulling a controversial gesture during his speech at Trump’s inauguration.
Facebook and Instagram have a new hub to help get hijacked accounts back
5 Dec 2025, 11:08 am by Robert Hart
Meta on Thursday announced it is launching a new, centralized support hub for Facebook and Instagram, acknowledging that getting help hasn’t always been as easy as it should be. The space will bring together all the support features users of both networks need to report account issues or recover one they’ve lost access to.
“Getting help with your account should be simple and accessible,” the company explained, adding that it’s aware “support hasn’t always met expectations.” The update is rolling out globally to users of both social media platforms on iOS and Android.
Meta said it is also working on an AI assistant “for instant, personalized help” with things like recovering your account or updating settings. Initially, this will only be available to Facebook users, but Meta said it is “exploring bringing it to our other apps in the future.”
As the hub is accessed through the Facebook or Instagram apps, it’s not clear how helpful it will actually be if you’re already locked out of them. Meta said it’s improving the account recovery process though, using AI to make it easier to find the right recovery options and help the company better detect devices and locations where you’ve used the apps in the past.
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
