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Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta’s Muse AI agent now has a Mac app.

The agent initially launched earlier this month on iOS, Android, and the web, but now, you can use it on your Mac computer, as announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. With Muse on Mac, the agent can do things like organize files, fill out forms, and pull information from apps including Messages, Calendar, and Notes, Meta says.

Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Virtual Desktop dev says he’ll ‘try to bring the app’ to Steam Frame.

The Steam Frame and Meta Quest headsets can natively beam your Windows monitors into a headset — but some still prefer Virtual Desktop, the app that pioneered the idea in 2016 before getting “sherlocked” by Meta. Developer Guy Godin says Valve didn’t send him a Frame, but he’ll try to port it anyhow.

Technically, I can already stream Virtual Desktop Classic, with working 3D video, but my monitors are stitched together and the controls feel awkward.

Here’s Virtual Desktop Classic streamed from my PC to Steam Frame. A standalone version with passthrough would be better.
Here’s Virtual Desktop Classic streamed from my PC to Steam Frame. A standalone version with passthrough would be better.
Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Valve has open-sourced Lepton, its tool to bring Android games to Steam.

“Lepton is intended to help game developers bring their VR Android games to the Steam Frame,” Valve writes. “Lepton is not designed for general Android use, instead opting to keep the bare minimum functionality required to launch into games.”

Developers have already used it to port Meta Quest games to the Steam Frame. But could it do more?

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
A Microsoft exec called AI scraping ‘theft of unprecedented proportions.’

In court documents unredacted Thursday, lawyers for the NYT in its copyright infringement case against Microsoft and OpenAI cited Microsoft’s Director of Applied Science, Brent Hecht, saying that “millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions… almost no one intended for content they created to be used in this fashion, nor are they compensated for its use.”

The Orlando Sentinel, which is also part of the suit, reports a Microsoft filing “framed Hecht as someone on the payroll to play a contrarian.”

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Google’s new emoji site is great.

On the Noto Emoji site, you can search for emoji, download 2D and 3D files of the (open source) emoji in different formats, and even see the original proposals that helped things get turned into emoji in the first place. (In 2019, I wrote about that proposal process for my submissions of the waffle and yawning face emoji.)

I also recommend Google’s post about designing its Noto 3D emoji, it’s good stuff.

A screenshot of Google’s Noto Emoji site.
Image: Google
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Anthropic proposes three rules for measuring AI progress.

Anthropic’s proposals, laid out in a big website, are:

The extent to which AI is building the next version of itself, as opposed to being built by humans

Our ability to oversee and intervene in actions that AI agents take on Anthropic’s systems

The resources that power the development of more capable models

The company also includes a “snapshot” of the metrics inside the company.

Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
What should we test on Apple’s ridiculous $12,299 Mac Studio?

That’s not a typo. The M5 Ultra Mac Studio Apple sent us for review is a doozie. It’s got a 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU, 256GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage, making it mind-bogglingly expensive.

Our regular benchmarks aren’t much of a challenge. So what would you like to see us throw at it?

The review configuration of the M5 Ultra Mac Studio, priced out on Apple’s site.
The review configuration of the M5 Ultra Mac Studio, priced out on Apple’s site.
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Google’s revamping its ‘CC’ AI as an organizing agent for families.

It says the new version of CC can help families manage household tasks like sorting through emails, keeping track of everyone’s schedules, filling out permission slips, and creating shopping lists. Up to six users can manage and interact with the same CC agent and choose what to share with it.

A screenshot of a daily briefing from Google’s CC AI agent
Image: Google
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
King Charles says AI needs “sufficient means of control before it is all too late.”

He joined growing calls for more safety measures around AI at a gathering of AI leaders on Thursday, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google’s Demis Hassabis, OpenAI’s Sarah Friar, and Anthropic’s Tino Cuéllar.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, and Elon Musk reportedly have Trump’s ear on AI.

The three CEOs have apparently have been encouraging him to be hands-off with his approach to AI and “successfully stalled” a plan for an industry-funded AI regulator pitched by Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, according to The Wall Street Journal. Trump also likes to call Huang while he’s onstage.

TC Sottek
TC Sottek
Are we getting direct tax filing after all?

Don’t hold your breath, but the government may effectively reverse course on killing a Biden-admin program that helped people file their taxes for free without having to use infamous third parties like TurboTax. (Democrats have wanted to bring it back, which could make this a little awkward for Trump.)

The Washington Sun reports this could be part of a broader “America.gov” effort that may also let people renew passports and conduct business through an AI agent. It sounds good until you learn that a bunch of former DOGE folks are working on it. Yes, that includes “Big Balls.”

Travis Larchuk
Travis Larchuk
Today’s Vergecast: Apple’s new iPhones and Watches are better than the last ones.

Senior reviewers Allison Johnson and Victoria Song trade host and guest duties in a Vergecasting ouroboros that’s never been attempted before and will probably never be attempted again. Allison talks about the iPhone 18 Pro’s new camera, Victoria talks about the Watch 12 and Ultra 4’s new sensors, and they both give their verdicts on who should upgrade.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
The international rollout of Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk movie was in doubt, but now it might happen.

Universal Pictures, which has the rights for Musk outside of North America, hasn’t put a release date on the film yet and sources told The Hollywood Reporter that they believed Universal would be dropping it. In a later report, though, THR said that its initial article led to meetings at Universal, and Universal’s head of comms said in a statement that that “The studio remains committed to releasing it in theaters internationally.”

My colleague Andrew Webster reviewed Musk this week.

Update: Added second THR report.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
A jury was shown this video of a Huawei employee allegedly stealing T-Mobile robot parts.

The video, posted by Inner City Press, was shown during the DOJ’s trial against Huawei, which kicked off last week and follows the 2018 arrest of Huawei’s CFO and an indictment in 2020.

Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
The 1872 book that predicted an AI backlash — and was cited by Alan Turing.

You’ve heard of the Turing Test to see if a machine can pass as human, right? Maybe you’ve even heard Alan Turing’s warning that machines could “take control”? If you read his actual lecture notes, he cites the 1872 book Erewhon, which you can also read for free. It’s incredible to look back on both at our present moment:

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Twitch CEO: GTA VI multiplayer is coming in 2027.

Bloomberg interviewed Twitch CEO Dan Clancy:

“We spent a lot of time talking with Rockstar about their plans, and also helping them think about how they can engage our creators,” Clancy said in an interview. “You are going to see this big bump with GTA 6, but then an even bigger one next year when they launch multiplayer.”

In an investor call today, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick also said that PC is “becoming more and more important to our company over time,” according to GamesRadar. Perhaps we won’t have to wait too long for a PC version of GTA VI?

Update: Added new Zelnick comment.

Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Dang, Xbox didn’t blow it in 2013 as bad as I thought.

Sure, the Xbox One’s disc strategy blew up in the company’s face, giving Sony the perfect ammo. But as Tom reveals, Microsoft decided to secretly start printing unique serial numbers on its discs way back then — a decision that’s paying off now!

Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Somebody just won an exoskeleton.

Want to win the gadgets I call in for my Today I’m Toying With videos? I boxed up the latest three winners’ items yesterday, and we’re now on TITW Giveaway #12! If you’re in the US you can enter to win right here anytime before 9AM ET Wednesday, or via our email entry option.

Boxes tilted to hide a logo and protect our journalistic ethics — I’m not promoting any of the brands whose products I’m giving away.
Boxes tilted to hide a logo and protect our journalistic ethics — I’m not promoting any of the brands whose products I’m giving away.
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
More people can get refunds from the FTC’s big settlement with Amazon.

The September 2025 agreement said that Amazon would pay up to $1.5 billion over “deceptive” Prime signup practices. But after a court approved a joint motion, more people now qualify for refunds, there is now a maximum payment cap of $200 (up from $51), and Amazon will distribute refunds automatically, according to a press release.

Janko Roettgers
Janko Roettgers
Plex co-founder Elan Feingold is back with a new music app.

Caldera Music brings your Plex music libraries and Winamp-style visuals to Apple TVs and Google TVs. Feingold is also building connected light fixtures and other weird and interesting hardware.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Lofi Girl has a new 24/7 stream focused on house music.

The stream, Lofi House, stars Lofi Teacher, a mustachioed dude. “Once the final bell rings and school is out, he switches gears to pursue his passion behind the decks,” the Lofi Girl X account says. Love the lore.

The stream is live now, it’s great.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
A contest to open for Ed Sheeran couldn’t have been better timed.

Sheeran’s tour is on the verge of collapse after he booted Macklemore for saying “Free Palestine” on stage. Other openers, Finneas and Aaron Rowe, along with his backing band, dropped in solidarity. Now a planned contest to open at the Mexico City stop has been flooded with pro-Palestinian clips, memes, and fart videos.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
A snippet about Snap Specs.

Late last night, we published my video about trying Snap’s Specs AR glasses at the company’s headquarters. The hardware, which costs $2,195, is interesting, but the experience of actually using them was rather finicky. Despite yesterday’s splashy launch event, the Specs also don’t yet have a firm release date beyond sometime this fall.

Check out my full article for more.

TC Sottek
TC Sottek
New cat just dropped.

As New Scientist reports, researchers have named a new species of cat — the “tilcayo” — which lurks on the slopes of the Andes mountains in South America. It’s apparently the first new named species of cat in over a century. Regarding this news, Verge staff have been observed noting disappointment that it’s a wild species, because why can’t we all have one at home? Here, kitty kitty.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Amazon says some data was permanently lost after Persian Gulf data center drone strikes.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced on Tuesday that it was “unable to restore access to some customer data hosted in Persian Gulf data centers” following attacks by Iranian drone swarms in the spring that left facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain still “mostly offline,” according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Tumblr Premium adds saved posts, collections, and animated avatars.

The long-running microblogging platform is adding a bunch of heavily requested features, including the ability to save posts for later and sort them into collections, like musings on physical media or quotes about creativity. Subscribers can also now use animated GIFs as their avatars.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Japanese airports now offer clothing compression machines to free up suitcase space.

Following trials earlier this year, Japan’s Haneda, Narita, Kumamoto, and Naha airports are starting a full-scale implementation of machines that can compress clothing into much smaller cubes in about a minute so tourists have more room in their suitcases. The machines don’t use vacuum bags and don’t damage clothing, according to SoraNews24.

<em>Depending on the type of fabric or material, clothing and towels can be reduced to up to one-seventh of their original volume.</em>
<em>Items like t-shirt compress more efficiently, and be uncompressed by laying them out for 15 minutes.</em>
<em>A full-scale rollout at four Japanese airports is expected in 2027 and may be available for travelers both arriving to and leaving the country.</em>
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Depending on the type of fabric or material, clothing and towels can be reduced to up to one-seventh of their original volume.
Image: Sjoy Co.
Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Cat Frazier mattered.

Frazier, who died in June at age 35 after a heart emergency, was the creative force behind the “LOL nothing matters” rotating gif, among other certified bangers. Business Insiders’ Katie Notopolous calls her “probably one of the most influential people in internet culture of the 2010s and how things look now.”

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
This is the next Millennium Prize math challenge OpenAI is reportedly chasing.

Mathematicians have speculated that the company was targeting the Hodge Conjecture next, but after the PR disaster that was Navier-Stokes and its recent failure to keep its models under control, OpenAI may hold off on any announcements. According to The Information:

It could take the company longer to announce the solution, though, because it’s trying to figure out how to collaborate with the math community to make the announcement without triggering another PR nightmare….

TC Sottek
TC Sottek
Meet the three horsemen of the content apocalypse.

There’s a truly wild report today from Futurism about a trio of brothers who have built a content empire filled with fakery, including completely fabricated writers with huge credentials. Apparently they’re getting massive web traffic from this scheme. Maybe it’s a good thing Google is going to zero.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Steve Wozniak launched an online merch shop.

While announcing that he was planning to share more of his adventures on X, Steve Wozniak also revealed a new merchandise store. WozMerch.com carries everything from wireless power banks, to $700 carry-ons, to t-shirts featuring inspirational phrases and colorful images of the Apple co-founder himself.

A black t-shirt featuring a rainbow image of Steve Wozniak.
Image: WozMerch
Your robotaxi might be a narc

Waymo is watching you.

Rani Molla
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
If this week wasn’t dominated by headlines about how AI will kill us all, I’d be quite excited about this.

Google Home just announced MCP integration. Read about how this could help your smart home — assuming we’re not all living in a post-apocalyptic battery farm — in my explainer.

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Behold the Carhartt WIP x Omnium Mini-Max.

This cargo bike is meant to get your workman juices flowing by fitting “bear trap” pedals to a limited edition Omnium Mini-Max with a stainless-steel frame, left raw (but clear coated) to revel in the heat discoloration of its welds. There’s no motor here — if you need one, this collab isn’t for you. Just 150 units will be sold in Europe for €4500 starting September 24th.

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Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Apple will use the iPhone 18 Pro to shoot some of tomorrow night’s Giants vs. Dodgers game.

After using four iPhone 17 Pros during a Tigers vs. Red Sox game in 2025, Apple will use 14 of its new iPhone 18 Pro to capture “unique perspectives that would be difficult to achieve with traditional broadcast cameras” at tomorrow night’s season final of Friday Night Baseball. The cameras will record “positions within the pitch clock, backstop, foul pole, and both bullpens.”

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An iPhone 17 Pro used to capture a MLB game at a stadium.
One of the four iPhone 17 Pro phones used to capture an MLB game in 2025.
Image: Apple TV Plus