This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
Senators are pushing to find out how much electricity data centers actually use
26 Mar 2026, 2:25 pm by Stevie Bonifield
On Thursday, senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) urging it to begin collecting “comprehensive, annual energy-use disclosures” on data centers, as reported by Wired. According to the letter, data on how much electricity data centers are consuming is “essential for accurate grid planning and will support policymaking to prevent large companies from increasing electricity costs for American families.”
The EIA announced on Wednesday that it’s launching a pilot program to evaluate data center energy use, but that program is voluntary and focused on Texas, Washington …
Why a two-seater robotaxi makes more sense than you think
26 Mar 2026, 2:00 pm by John Voelcker
When Tesla revealed the Cybercab in 2024, many people were baffled by the automaker’s decision to make it a two-seater. I had similar thoughts when I first saw it at the LA Auto Show later that year: What kind of taxi has only two seats? Once you get above a tuktuk, that’s an asinine idea no one will ever want.
For 18 months, that seems to have been the prevailing attitude. On Reddit and other social media platforms, users have weighed in on the utility, or lack thereof, of a two-seat robotaxi. “You could strap a few people to the roof for a special discount,” quipped one commenter. Nevertheless, the first Tesla Cybercab was put into produ …
Some of our favorite Apple tech is cheaper than ever during Amazon’s Big Spring Sale
26 Mar 2026, 1:07 pm by Sheena Vasani
It feels like nearly everything is receiving some sort of discount as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale — that is, except for most Apple devices. Don’t worry, though; you’re not completely out of luck if you’re on the hunt for discounted Apple gear. We found several noteworthy Apple deals while sifting through Amazon’s catalog and competing sales events. In fact, Apple’s first-gen AirTags are down to their lowest price to date, as are the latest Apple Watch SE and the M4 iPad Air.
Below, we’ve rounded up the best Apple deals you can get, many of which are also available at retailers like Best Buy and Walmart for the same price. And if you’re looking for more bargains, be sure to check out our detailed roundup of the best Amazon Big Spring Sale deals.
Headphone and earbuds deals
AirPods 4
Where to Buy:
- The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation are currently on sale for around $148.99 ($30 off) at Amazon and Walmart, which is their typical sales price and about $30 more than their all-time low. Apple’s step-up earbuds are identical to the standard AirPods 4 but include active noise cancellation, though it’s not quite as effective as that of the latest AirPods Pro. They also offer a transparency mode, wireless charging, and a case with a built-in speaker, which makes tracking easy via Apple’s Find My feature. Read our review.
AirPods Pro 3
Where to Buy:
- The last-gen AirPods Max with USB-C are down to $449.99 ($100 off) at Walmart and Target, which is $50 shy of their best price to date. The over-ear headphones offer a luxurious stainless steel and aluminum design that’s exceptionally comfortable, while delivering rich sound quality with lossless audio support and a surprisingly natural-sounding transparency mode. Just bear in mind that the forthcoming AirPods Max 2 will supposedly offer improved ANC, along with support for AI-powered live translation and a plethora of new features courtesy of Apple’s newer H2 chip. Read our review for the original AirPods Max.
Beats Studio Pro
Where to Buy:
Apple Watch deals
Apple Watch Series 11
Where to Buy:
- The LTE-enabled version of the Apple Watch SE 3 has dropped to its all-time low of $269 ($30 off) at Amazon, while the 40mm / GPS version is down to around $219 ($30 off) at Amazon, Target, and Walmart. The Apple Watch SE 3 offers a number of former flagship-level features, including an always-on display, on-device Siri, and gesture controls (including Apple’s double tap tool). You also get faster charging, ovulation tracking, and sleep apnea alerts; however, EKGs, blood oxygen level detection, and hypertension alerts remain exclusive to the Series 11 and Ultra 3. Read our review.
Apple Watch Ultra 2
Where to Buy:
iPad deals
11-inch iPad Air M4
Where to Buy:
- If you want a larger display, the 13-inch base version of the M4 iPad Air is also on sale for $744 ($55 off) at Amazon and Walmart. The tablet is identical to the 11-inch model, but boasts a brighter, sharper display.
- You can buy the latest iPad with Wi-Fi support and 128GB of storage at Amazon and Best Buy for $299 ($50 off), which is $20 shy of its all-time low price. It offers twice the base storage of its predecessor and faster performance thanks to the inclusion of Apple’s A16 Bionic chip; however, it still lags behind its higher-end siblings in performance and doesn’t support the newest Apple Pencil, nor does it support any of the AI-based Apple Intelligence features baked into the latest iterations of iPadOS. Read our review.
- The latest 13-inch M5 iPad Pro is also on sale at Amazon in its 256GB / Wi-Fi configuration for $1,199 ($100 off), which is $50 shy of the tablet’s lowest price to date. If you need more storage, the 1TB model is down to $1,732 ($167 off) at Amazon, while the 2TB version is going for $2,107 ($192 off). In addition to offering faster performance than their predecessor, the new Pros support Wi-Fi 7, faster charging, and start with 12GB of RAM. They also come with an N1 chip for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread, and if you get the cellular version, Apple’s new C1X cellular modem is built-in. The heavier 13-inch model is nearly identical to the 11-inch, but it offers more screen real estate and higher resolution. Read our review.
13-inch iPad Pro M4
Where to Buy:
MacBook deals
15-inch MacBook Air (M4)
Where to Buy:
13-inch MacBook Air (M5)
Where to Buy:
- The 15-inch M5-powered MacBook Air is also on sale at Amazon and B&H Photo starting at $1,249 ($50 off), its lowest price to date. It’s identical to the 13-inch model, but offers a bigger screen and a six-speaker sound system instead of the four-speaker setup on the 13-inch Air.
Apple MacBook Pro (M5 Pro/Max, 2026)
Where to Buy:
Other Apple deals
Apple AirTag (four-pack)
Where to Buy:
- You can buy the Apple Pencil Pro for $99 ($30 off) at Amazon and Walmart, which is $10 more than its lowest price to date. If you own the latest iPad Pro, iPad Mini, or an M2- or M3-based iPad Air, this is a fantastic stylus that offers several features not found on the entry-level Apple Pencil with USB-C. In addition to wireless charging, you get Find My support, pressure sensitivity, and a “Barrel Roll” gyroscope, which allows you to easily adjust the angle of your pen with a twist.
- The Apple Pencil (USB-C) is on sale at Amazon and Target for $69 ($10 off), its typical sale price. The stylus magnetically attaches to compatible iPads and offers a snappy, responsive experience for basic tasks like note-taking. It works with the latest iPad models, though it lacks the more advanced features found on the Apple Pencil Pro, including pressure sensitivity and wireless charging.
The versatile Play speaker is a great way into the Sonos world
26 Mar 2026, 1:00 pm by John.Higgins
It’s been nearly a year and a half since Sonos released a consumer product, and those last two releases – the Arc Ultra and Sub 4 – were updates to existing products. The $299 Sonos Play, however, is a brand-new portable speaker that can expand an existing system or be the gateway into the Sonos world. When on Wi-Fi, it acts like any other Sonos speaker – with features like Auto Trueplay, AirPlay 2, and the ability to stereo pair – but it’s also a water-resistant Bluetooth speaker.
The Play falls right in the middle of Sonos’s portable speaker lineup. While it’s not quite as easily packable as the Roam 2, the Play has more than twice the b …
Webtoon is adding AI localization tools to its comics platform
26 Mar 2026, 1:00 pm by Charles Pulliam-Moore
Canvas, Webtoon‘s platform for user-uploaded comics, is about to get a major overhaul that’s designed to help creators make more money and share their art with a wider audience.
Today, Webtoon announced its plans to roll out a number of new features for Canvas that will make it easier for artists to build global followings and gain a deeper understanding of who’s engaging with their work. Soon, manga creators who upload their work to Canvas will be able to use an AI-powered translation tool to localize their scripts into English, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Thai, Traditional Chinese, and German. A beta version of the translation feature – …
EU backs nude app ban and delays to landmark AI rules
26 Mar 2026, 12:49 pm by Robert Hart
European lawmakers have voted to delay key parts of the EU AI Act, the bloc’s flagship law for regulating artificial intelligence, while also backing proposals to ban nudify apps.
The measures, approved by a large majority in the European Parliament, would push back compliance deadlines for developers of high-risk AI systems – those deemed to pose a “serious risk” to health, safety, or fundamental rights – until December 2027. Companies developing AI systems covered by sector-specific safety rules like toys or medical devices would have even longer to comply, with a proposed deadline of August 2028. Rules requiring providers to watermark A …
DJI’s Avata 360 is a more functional, flexible 360 drone
26 Mar 2026, 12:00 pm by Dominic Preston
DJI’s Avata 360 finds the company at an odd time. For one, it’s been beaten to the punch – upstart Antigravity’s A1 became the first 360-degree drone when it launched last December, and DJI is playing catchup (and filing lawsuits). But this is also the last DJI drone you may ever be able to legally buy in the US, in the wake of the FCC’s de facto ban, and even then it won’t actually see an official release in the country.
It means that if you’re in the US, the Antigravity A1 remains the best (and only) option for a flying 360-degree camera. But in the rest of the world, the Avata 360 makes a good case for itself: it’s faster than the A1, do …
OpenAI shelves erotic chatbot ‘indefinitely’
26 Mar 2026, 11:58 am by Jess Weatherbed
OpenAI has paused plans to release a sexualized “adult mode” for ChatGPT, in its latest move to refocus on the company’s core products. According to The Financial Times, the erotic chatbot has been shelved “indefinitely” after facing pushback from employees and investors due to the problematic and harmful effects sexualized AI content can have on society.
This decision comes in the wake of OpenAI also discontinuing its text-to-video AI platform Sora, citing “internal discussion about our broader research priorities.” It’s the latest side quest to be dropped by the company after CEO Sam Altman declared a “code red” in December, suggestin …
Uber aims to launch Europe’s first robotaxi service with Pony AI and Verne
26 Mar 2026, 8:15 am by Andrew J. Hawkins
Uber is joining forces with two companies, China’s Pony AI and Croatia’s Verne, to launch what it claims will be Europe’s first commercially available robotaxi service. The vehicles are already being tested in Zagreb, Croatia, where Verne is headquartered, and will soon be available to customers on Uber’s ridehail network.
The announcement is the latest move by Uber to shield itself from the financial blowback of robotaxis potentially overtaking the traditional ridehail business. The company has allied itself with dozens of autonomous vehicle developers over the past year in an attempt to persuade investors that it can survive the impendin …
Intel and LG Display may have beaten Apple and Qualcomm with the best laptop battery life ever
26 Mar 2026, 12:33 am by Sean Hollister
One of the coolest laptops we saw at CES in January was the new Dell XPS 16, with a unique 1-120Hz variable refresh rate display that can sip power when you don’t need the screen to stay speedy.
Just how little power might it consume? Notebookcheck has tested a version of the laptop with that LG Display screen and a new Intel Panther Lake chip – and it appears to be the most efficient laptop that’s ever gone through its Wi-Fi web browsing test. At idle, the Core Ultra 325 laptop drew as little as 1.5 watts, and lasted nearly 27 hours of web browsing despite only housing a 70 watt-hour pack. That’s well shy of the 99.5Wh Dell has sometimes …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
