This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
How an ‘icepocalypse’ raises more questions about Meta’s biggest data center project
11 Feb 2026, 2:06 pm by Justine Calma
Donna Collins lives about 20 miles from where Meta’s biggest data center is being built, in a house her family has lived in for five generations. Construction has thrown the small agricultural community in North Louisiana into the spotlight as a high-profile example of how the infrastructure behind generative AI could impact nearby residents.
For Collins, this place is “a little piece of heaven.” “It’s all I’ve ever known as a home. It’s quiet. It’s rural. It is beautiful,” she says. “We can’t imagine the changes that are coming.”
The region was particularly hard-hit by the recent cold snap that knocked out power for hundreds of thousands …
Pokopia turns the Pokémon world into a relaxing, human-free paradise
11 Feb 2026, 2:00 pm by Charles Pulliam-Moore
Though catching monsters and making them fight have always been core elements of the Pokémon brand, spinoffs like the Pokémon Snap and Detective Pikachu series have stood out by approaching the franchise from different angles. In different (and often small) ways, recent mainline Pokémon titles like Sword / Shield, Scarlet / Violet, and Legends: Z-A have acknowledged that there are some players who would much rather spend their time hanging out and taking pictures with their monster friends.
That leisurely approach to enjoying the Pokémon world doesn’t exactly gel with the main games’ focus on becoming a competitive champion, but it is exact …
Process Zero is even better with a little processing on the side
11 Feb 2026, 2:00 pm by Allison Johnson
Something happens every time I try to use an iPhone camera like a real camera.
Here’s how it goes: I shoot RAW in addition to the default HEIC output, and since I have the RAW file I might as well edit it to my taste. And if I’m going to do that, I want to use Lightroom on my MacBook. You know, real software. Then I remember: iPhone photos hate real software. Moving image files between devices is mysterious. If I Airdrop them to my Macbook will the HDR gain map tag along? Why do my photos always come out of Lightroom looking different than my edit? Where did that gain map go? I lack the patience to find out, so I just live with what my phon …
El Paso flights grounded 10 days for ‘special security reasons’
11 Feb 2026, 1:11 pm by Dominic Preston
The Federal Aviation Administration has closed the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas, grounding all flights in and out of the airport for the next 10 days. No explanation for the closure has been given, beyond a vague reference to “Special Security Reasons.”
The closure was announced late on February 10th in a notice on the FAA website, and applies until February 20th. A second notice lists a similar closure for nearby Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Airspace in a 10-mile radius around El Paso airport is included, though flights above 18,000 feet are unaffected, as is Mexican airspace.
El Paso operates flights from major US …
T-Mobile will live translate regular phone calls without an app
11 Feb 2026, 12:35 pm by Jess Weatherbed
T-Mobile is preparing to test a new AI feature that translates live phone calls into more than 50 languages. Live Translation is launching in beta “this Spring,” according to a press release, with registration for eligible T-Mobile customers available starting today.
“Some of the biggest barriers wireless customers face are the simplest ones – like being able to understand each other,” said T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan. “By bringing real-time AI directly into our network, we’re delivering more than connectivity – turning conversations into community, starting with Live Translation.”
Enabling it at the network level means users don’t need spe …
Uber Eats adds AI assistant to help with grocery shopping
11 Feb 2026, 12:00 pm by Andrew J. Hawkins
Uber announced a new AI feature called “Cart Assistant” for grocery shopping in its Uber Eats app.
The new feature works a couple different ways. You can use text prompts, as you would with any other AI chatbot, to ask it to build a grocery list for you. Or you can upload a picture of your shopping list and ask it to populate your cart with all your favorite items, based on your order history. You can be as generic as you – “milk, eggs, cereal” – and the bot will make a list with all your preferred brands.
And that’s just to start out. Uber says in the coming months, Cart Assistant will add more features, including “full recipe inspiratio …
‘Shut up and focus on the mission’: Tech workers are frustrated by their companies’ silence about ICE
11 Feb 2026, 11:00 am by Hayden Field
Keep your head down. Compartmentalize. Don’t make trouble.
That’s what many tech workers are taking their CEOs’ strategic silence to mean, amid an immigration crackdown across the US by the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security. Widespread violence by federal agents has sparked protests in Minneapolis and across the country. One month after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, and two weeks after Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, the majority of tech CEOs have remained tight-lipped. Internally, workers from several companies describe a culture of silence and fear – and trepidation over what kind …
The Toyota Highlander is now a three-row electric SUV with 320 miles of range
11 Feb 2026, 2:30 am by Andrew J. Hawkins
Toyota unveiled the new 2027 Highlander, a fully redesigned midsize SUV that marks the brand’s first three-row electric vehicle for the US market and the first Toyota EV assembled in America. It’s a familiar name – Toyota has been selling gas Highlanders for over 20 years – with an all-new powertrain aimed directly at one of the most popular vehicle segments in the market today. To say this is Toyota’s best chance to best its EV rivals would be an understatement.
The announcement comes at a tumultuous time for the world’s best-selling automaker. Toyota’s strategy of emphasizing hybrid vehicles over pure battery-electric ones seems to have b …
Amazon Ring’s Super Bowl ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance
11 Feb 2026, 1:17 am by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Ring’s new Search Party feature has once again drawn backlash for the company. A 30-second ad that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl showed Ring cameras “surveilling” neighborhoods to locate a lost dog. In the current political climate, a prime-time ad celebrating neighborhood surveillance struck a nerve.
People voiced concerns across social media that the AI-powered technology Ring uses to identify dogs could soon be used to search for humans. Combined with Ring’s recent rollout of its new facial recognition capability, it feels like a short leap for a pet-finding feature to be turned into a tool for state surveillance.
Privacy expert Chr …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
