The latest tech news about the world’s best (and sometimes worst) hardware, apps, and much more. From top companies like Google and Apple to tiny startups vying for your attention, Verge Tech has the latest in what matters in technology daily.
They operate on different philosophies, yet there’s overlap in their target audiences.
seven39 doesn’t give a flip about the attention economy.
Nothing is ready to reveal the second phone under its budget-friendly CMF brand, with the CMF Phone 2 Pro due for a reveal on April 28th, alongside three new pairs of earbuds.
CMF’s first phone was a $199 modular model, but the name suggests the 2 Pro might be a little more advanced. Teasers so far suggest a third camera lens and a newly textured finish to the phone’s rear.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick insisted in a Face the Nation appearance today that President Trump’s tariffs will “stay in place” and will result in things like “the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones” coming to the US.
He acknowledged that “it’s gonna be automated,” which is just one of the reasons more manufacturing may not mean more jobs.
Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Apple a letter “telling the company it should follow President Donald Trump’s executive order” extending ByteDance’s deadline to sell TikTok by 75 more days, reports Bloomberg. The outlet had reported a similar letter sent to both Google and Apple prior to their decision to restore the app to their online marketplaces in February, too.
The ability to text an AT&T subscriber from an email address is going away on June 17th, the company has announced.
If you’ve never done that and want to try before it goes away, just enter your favorite AT&T customer’s area code and phone number, sans punctuation, followed by “@txt.att.net” or “@mms.att.net.”
Just days after President Trump initiated broad tariffs that could raise the prices of most goods that Americans buy, Musk told Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini yesterday that he thinks there should “effectively” be a “free-trade zone between Europe and North America,” writes Bloomberg.
In posts on X early Saturday morning, Musk insulted White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has pushed for “maximalist” tariff approach, as Bloomberg notes.
[bloomberg.com]
An estimated 100,000 protesters rallied for everything from the federal workforce, to immigrant and trans rights.
Can you ever use too much software? Yes, but hear me out first.
Consider this a reminder or a PSA: a “view” on the internet means even less than you think.
Microsoft held a special 50th anniversary event at its headquarters earlier today. During Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s presentation, a Microsoft employee interrupted the event to protest the use of Microsoft’s technologies in Israel’s war against Hamas. A second employee interrupted the event later on, while CEO Satya Nadella, co-founder Bill Gates, and former CEO Steve Ballmer were discussing 50 years of Microsoft.
24-year-old Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov took an inflatable boat to North Sentinel Island located in the Bay of Bengal. There, he left an “offering” of Diet Coke and a coconut to the remote Sentinelese tribe, which has resisted outsiders in the past, The New York Times reports.
Police arrested Polyakov when he returned to India’s Port Blair, as it’s illegal to attempt to contact the tribe to “protect their Indigenous way of life,” according to a police statement.
YouTube’s policy page that lists groups the company protects against hate speech recently removed the phrase “gender identity,” reports Taylor Lorenz in User Mag. It’s similar to recent changes made by Meta that could leave LGBTQ members more vulnerable on social platforms like Instagram and Facebook, and appear to align with Trump administration directives against “wokeness” and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In replies on X, YouTube said, “...our hate speech policies haven’t changed and these were routine copy edits to our Help Center.”
Under the list of examples of hate speech provided on YouTube’s policy site, the line “[Protected group status] is just a form of mental illness that needs to be cured,” was also removed.
This is a laptop you might want to buy, but you won’t be able to. Microsoft has created a limited edition 50th anniversary version of its Surface Laptop 7. It has the retro 1975 Microsoft logo etched into the palm rest area, a golden accent color on the Surface logo, and there’s even a golden Windows 11 wallpaper. Microsoft is giving away 50 of these special edition laptops in competitions to mark its 50-year milestone.
Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event has been overshadowed by two employee protestors, but that didn’t stop former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer from doing his famous developers, developers, developers chant.
Here, have a tiny break from an intense news cycle that’s threatening to last the rest of our lives and gaze upon some delightful giant tech. These creations are the work of Pablo Rochat, who heads a creative studio bearing his name, and if you’ve ever lost track of a dongle then boy does he have a solution for you.
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