This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
Peak Design has wearable gadget straps for people who hate bags
17 Feb 2026, 2:00 pm by Jess Weatherbed
Peak Design is launching a lineup of mobile straps for carrying small gadgets and other essentials around without dumping them into a bag. There are three versions available starting today: a $29.95 Mobile Cuff for your wrist, a $49.95 two-point Crossbody Strap, and a $59.95 Crossbody Multi-Strap that allows you to carry several items at once using anchor attachments.
Peak Design’s straps feature a corded rope that was custom-developed for “strength, comfort, and stretch” and are compatible with any Peak Design or Apple iPhone 17 case, and any third-party case if paired with the included adapter. The anchor attachments for the Crossbody Mul …
Warner Bros. Discovery gives Paramount one week to present its ‘best and final’ offer
17 Feb 2026, 1:56 pm by Emma Roth
After rejecting Paramount’s latest acquisition bid, Warner Bros. Discovery says it’s giving the David Ellison-led entertainment giant seven days to make its “best and final” proposal. Though WBD is reopening negotiations with Paramount, the company makes it clear in a press release that it still favors Netflix’s $82.7 billion deal to purchase its studio and streaming service.
As noted in the press release, a Paramount representative told WBD that it would agree to pay $31 per share if WBD reopens negotiations, adding that this isn’t Paramount’s “best and final proposal.” Paramount has been upping its bid to purchase the entirety of WBD for …
Laurie Spiegel on the difference between algorithmic music and ‘AI’
17 Feb 2026, 1:00 pm by Terrence O’Brien
In 1986, electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel created Music Mouse, a way for those with a Mac, Atari, or Amiga computer to dabble in algorithmic music creation. Music Mouse is deceptively simple: Notes are arranged on an XY grid, and you play it by moving a mouse around. Back in 1986, the computer mouse was still a relatively novel device. While it can trace its origins back to the late ’60s, it wasn’t until the Macintosh 128K in 1984 that it started seeing widespread adoption.
By then Spiegel, was already an accomplished composer. Her 1980 album The Expanding Universe is generally considered among the greatest ambient records of all tim …
Who needs a laptop when you have a folding phone?
17 Feb 2026, 12:00 pm by Allison Johnson
The first rule of Purse Computer is to check your bag before you leave the house.
A few days ago, I took a 15-minute walk to a nearby coffee shop thinking I had my new folding keyboard in my bag – the key ingredient that would turn the Galaxy Z Fold 7 into a mobile workstation. I spent the whole trip congratulating myself on how light it felt compared to carrying my MacBook. “It’s almost like it’s not there,” I thought.
This was because it wasn’t there, which I discovered only once I was at my destination. I tapped out a few emails with my thumbs, drank a latte, and walked back home in shame.
After using every major phone of 2025 in su …
Samsung is slopping AI ads all over its social channels
17 Feb 2026, 10:55 am by Jess Weatherbed
After cramming AI into every inch of its smartphones, appliances, and other devices, Samsung is now increasingly slapping it across social media. Several videos posted to the company’s YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok accounts in recent weeks were made or edited using generative AI tools, including its latest teaser for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series.
The “Brighten your after hours” video features two people skateboarding at night, and supposedly shows off the low-light video capabilities of the upcoming Galaxy S26 devices. Fine print appears at the bottom of the screen toward the end of the video, flagging that it was “generated with the ass …
Valve’s Steam Deck OLED will be ‘intermittently’ out of stock because of the RAM crisis
17 Feb 2026, 2:57 am by Jay Peters
Valve has updated the Steam Deck website to say that the Steam Deck OLED may be out of stock “intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.” The PC gaming handheld has been out of stock in the US and other parts of the world for a few days, and thanks to this update, we now know why.
The update comes shortly after Valve delayed the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller from a planned shipping window of early 2026 because of the memory and storage crunch. “We have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around bot …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
