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Image: Waze

Waze is testing a handy-sounding update that will let you report traffic incidents while speaking naturally. With the new feature, you can tap the app’s reporting button and then say what you see, such as, “Looks like there’s a traffic jam up ahead.”
The Google-owned driving app will then use the Gemini AI model to “understand” what you’ve said and create a report. If you make a vague report, like “There’s something on the road,” Waze might ask follow-up questions, like “Can you describe what you see?” Depending on your reply, the app will then use that information to categorize your report.

Image: Waze

You can currently only report incidents on Waze by tapping through options within the app, which isn’t always convenient while you’re driving. Waze will roll out voice reporting in beta to “trusted testers” on Android and iOS this week. It’s only available in English for now, but Waze plans to expand it to more users and languages in the “coming months.”
Alongside this update, Waze will also start displaying school zones on the map globally later this year, alerting you to drive more safely in these areas.

Image: Waze

Waze is testing a handy-sounding update that will let you report traffic incidents while speaking naturally. With the new feature, you can tap the app’s reporting button and then say what you see, such as, “Looks like there’s a traffic jam up ahead.”

The Google-owned driving app will then use the Gemini AI model to “understand” what you’ve said and create a report. If you make a vague report, like “There’s something on the road,” Waze might ask follow-up questions, like “Can you describe what you see?” Depending on your reply, the app will then use that information to categorize your report.

Image: Waze

You can currently only report incidents on Waze by tapping through options within the app, which isn’t always convenient while you’re driving. Waze will roll out voice reporting in beta to “trusted testers” on Android and iOS this week. It’s only available in English for now, but Waze plans to expand it to more users and languages in the “coming months.”

Alongside this update, Waze will also start displaying school zones on the map globally later this year, alerting you to drive more safely in these areas.

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Image: Google

Google Maps is getting a big update that’s supposed to help you find new places to visit with AI. Starting this week, you’ll be able to explore more locations with Immersive View and search for specific spots based on a descriptive query like “things to do with friends at night.”
Google will then use its Gemini AI model to come up with “inspirational collections” matching that description. For late-night options, Google Maps might pull up locations categorized as “speakeasies” or places with “live music.” Meanwhile, regular search results remain below these collections.

GIF: Google
Google Maps will let you type in a question or choose from ones it generated with AI.

But that’s not the extent of the AI features Google is adding to Maps. Once you tap on a location, you’ll see AI-generated summaries of user reviews, along with a prompt to “Ask Maps about this place.” Here, you can enter a question, and Maps will use Gemini to provide an AI-generated answer based on what it’s gathered from reviews.
During a press briefing, Google Maps head Miriam Daniel demonstrated how this might work by selecting a restaurant and entering, “Is it a quiet atmosphere?” Google Maps then returned an answer saying the location “has a lively atmosphere and a cozy feel.” Beneath the response, you’ll see the reviews Gemini used to inform its answer. These features are rolling out on Android and iOS this week in the US, building upon the AI integration Google began experimenting with earlier this year.
“We wanted to make sure that anything we show in this experience is fresh and factual,” Daniel said. “There are 100 million updates happening every day, and we’re able to pull from that refreshed fresh information and ground the results from Gemini… making sure that the results show real places on the map.”
Google is also expanding Immersive View to 150 cities. This feature, first rolled out in 2022, combines Street View and satellite images to provide an aerial view of a location, while also offering the ability to explore a city at street level. Some other updates include enhanced navigation that will show more details on the map when driving in select cities and updates to its Waze-like destination guidance features it previewed in July. Speaking of Waze, the Google-owned app is also adding the ability to report incidents on the road with your voice.

Image: Google

Google Maps is getting a big update that’s supposed to help you find new places to visit with AI. Starting this week, you’ll be able to explore more locations with Immersive View and search for specific spots based on a descriptive query like “things to do with friends at night.”

Google will then use its Gemini AI model to come up with “inspirational collections” matching that description. For late-night options, Google Maps might pull up locations categorized as “speakeasies” or places with “live music.” Meanwhile, regular search results remain below these collections.

But that’s not the extent of the AI features Google is adding to Maps. Once you tap on a location, you’ll see AI-generated summaries of user reviews, along with a prompt to “Ask Maps about this place.” Here, you can enter a question, and Maps will use Gemini to provide an AI-generated answer based on what it’s gathered from reviews.

During a press briefing, Google Maps head Miriam Daniel demonstrated how this might work by selecting a restaurant and entering, “Is it a quiet atmosphere?” Google Maps then returned an answer saying the location “has a lively atmosphere and a cozy feel.” Beneath the response, you’ll see the reviews Gemini used to inform its answer. These features are rolling out on Android and iOS this week in the US, building upon the AI integration Google began experimenting with earlier this year.

“We wanted to make sure that anything we show in this experience is fresh and factual,” Daniel said. “There are 100 million updates happening every day, and we’re able to pull from that refreshed fresh information and ground the results from Gemini… making sure that the results show real places on the map.”

Google is also expanding Immersive View to 150 cities. This feature, first rolled out in 2022, combines Street View and satellite images to provide an aerial view of a location, while also offering the ability to explore a city at street level. Some other updates include enhanced navigation that will show more details on the map when driving in select cities and updates to its Waze-like destination guidance features it previewed in July. Speaking of Waze, the Google-owned app is also adding the ability to report incidents on the road with your voice.

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Image: The Verge / Getty Images

Don’t worry — Elon Musk is somehow also involved. We’re just a few days away from one of the most consequential presidential elections in our lifetimes. I think we can all agree that there’s a lot about this election that’s deeply upsetting and some aspects that are, frankly, shocking. But we’ve only got so much time on Decoder each week, so today I’m focusing on one thing that’s really stood out to me: Trump and the group of tech billionaires around him who have all started talking about revoking broadcast licenses for TV networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS because they don’t like the news coverage from those networks.

Trump has been making threats like this since 2017, but in recent days he’s been joined by Elon Musk, David Sacks, and others who have picked up on the theme and started talking about how we should take the wireless spectrum back from TV networks and use it for other stuff.
In a normal world, this would be idle billionaire wishcasting. Spectrum access is doled out by the Federal Communications Commission, there’s a long and boring process for reallocating it, and companies like AT&T and Verizon have armies of lobbyists who spend a lot of time and money getting what they want out of the process. On top of that, punishing news organizations for their coverage by using the power of the government is one of those things we have a First Amendment to protect against.

You know — the First Amendment, quite famously the first one? The one that protects free speech by prohibiting the government from making speech regulations or punishing people for what they say? You’d think Elon, the so-called free speech absolutist, would remember that one.
But it turns out, there is a long and complex history of the government regulating speech on broadcast platforms like radio and television — and that history dovetails into many of the problems we have regulating tech companies and social platforms.
I invited Verge senior tech and policy editor Adi Robertson on the show to help me dig into all this. I always invite Adi on to explain the most bonkers things, and this is really no exception. It feels to me like a bunch of billionaires are just not doing the reading and aren’t paying attention to how anything actually works, so I wanted Adi to help me create a framework to understand what’s going on.
You’ll hear us get into a whole lot of prime Decoder territory on this one: we talk about the Fairness Doctrine, Section 230, monopolies, and of course, a landmark Supreme Court decision known as Red Lion. It’s a wild ride.
We talked about a lot of news and a lot of really wonky policy in this episode. Here are some stories we discussed, if you’d like to learn more:

The Verge guide to the 2024 US presidential election | The Verge

FCC chair rejects Trump’s call to revoke CBS license over Harris interview | The Verge

Florida official who resigned after letter to TV stations blames DeSantis’ office | MSNBC

“To keep it simple for the state of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid” | The Verge

How America turned against the First Amendment | The Verge

Why Sen. Brian Schatz thinks child safety can trump the First Amendment | The Verge

How the Kids Online Safety Act puts us all at risk | The Verge

Here’s a bunch of bananas shit Trump said today about breaking up Google | The Verge

Barack Obama on AI, free speech, and the future of the internet | The Verge

Image: The Verge / Getty Images

Don’t worry — Elon Musk is somehow also involved.

We’re just a few days away from one of the most consequential presidential elections in our lifetimes. I think we can all agree that there’s a lot about this election that’s deeply upsetting and some aspects that are, frankly, shocking. But we’ve only got so much time on Decoder each week, so today I’m focusing on one thing that’s really stood out to me: Trump and the group of tech billionaires around him who have all started talking about revoking broadcast licenses for TV networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS because they don’t like the news coverage from those networks.

Trump has been making threats like this since 2017, but in recent days he’s been joined by Elon Musk, David Sacks, and others who have picked up on the theme and started talking about how we should take the wireless spectrum back from TV networks and use it for other stuff.

In a normal world, this would be idle billionaire wishcasting. Spectrum access is doled out by the Federal Communications Commission, there’s a long and boring process for reallocating it, and companies like AT&T and Verizon have armies of lobbyists who spend a lot of time and money getting what they want out of the process. On top of that, punishing news organizations for their coverage by using the power of the government is one of those things we have a First Amendment to protect against.

You know — the First Amendment, quite famously the first one? The one that protects free speech by prohibiting the government from making speech regulations or punishing people for what they say? You’d think Elon, the so-called free speech absolutist, would remember that one.

But it turns out, there is a long and complex history of the government regulating speech on broadcast platforms like radio and television — and that history dovetails into many of the problems we have regulating tech companies and social platforms.

I invited Verge senior tech and policy editor Adi Robertson on the show to help me dig into all this. I always invite Adi on to explain the most bonkers things, and this is really no exception. It feels to me like a bunch of billionaires are just not doing the reading and aren’t paying attention to how anything actually works, so I wanted Adi to help me create a framework to understand what’s going on.

You’ll hear us get into a whole lot of prime Decoder territory on this one: we talk about the Fairness Doctrine, Section 230, monopolies, and of course, a landmark Supreme Court decision known as Red Lion. It’s a wild ride.

We talked about a lot of news and a lot of really wonky policy in this episode. Here are some stories we discussed, if you’d like to learn more:

The Verge guide to the 2024 US presidential election | The Verge

FCC chair rejects Trump’s call to revoke CBS license over Harris interview | The Verge

Florida official who resigned after letter to TV stations blames DeSantis’ office | MSNBC

“To keep it simple for the state of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid” | The Verge

How America turned against the First Amendment | The Verge

Why Sen. Brian Schatz thinks child safety can trump the First Amendment | The Verge

How the Kids Online Safety Act puts us all at risk | The Verge

Here’s a bunch of bananas shit Trump said today about breaking up Google | The Verge

Barack Obama on AI, free speech, and the future of the internet | The Verge

Read More 

Image: AMD

After bizarrely teasing a 9000-series X3D announcement last week, AMD is making it official today that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D will be available on November 7th. Priced at $479, the 9800X3D is a direct successor to the best gaming CPU on the market right now, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. There’s a lot to be excited about with this next-generation X3D chip, too.
AMD is increasing the base clock speed up to 4.7GHz on the 9800X3D, with a max boost of 5.2GHz. Combined with an increase to a 120-watt TDP, this may well help improve productivity workloads — something the X3D chips have always fallen behind their non-X3D counterparts on.

Image: AMD
AMD claims its 9800X3D is on average 8 percent faster than the 7800X3D.

The 9800X3D is really focused on gaming, though. AMD is calling it “the world’s best gaming processor,” and promising an 8 percent uplift in average FPS over the 7800X3D. Those gains are thanks to the Zen 5 architecture and a second generation of 3D V-Cache technology.
AMD even claims the 9800X3D will be up to 20 percent better than Intel’s latest Core Ultra 9 285K in gaming. In a video announcement, AMD computing and graphics boss Jack Huynh reveals that “in many games such as Far Cry 6 and Cyberpunk 2077 we are more than 40 percent faster.”
The 9800X3D is also the first X3D processor to be fully unlocked, allowing enthusiasts and gamers to overclock it and squeeze more performance out of their systems. AMD is launching the Ryzen 7 9800X3D on November 7th, priced at $479.

Image: AMD

After bizarrely teasing a 9000-series X3D announcement last week, AMD is making it official today that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D will be available on November 7th. Priced at $479, the 9800X3D is a direct successor to the best gaming CPU on the market right now, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. There’s a lot to be excited about with this next-generation X3D chip, too.

AMD is increasing the base clock speed up to 4.7GHz on the 9800X3D, with a max boost of 5.2GHz. Combined with an increase to a 120-watt TDP, this may well help improve productivity workloads — something the X3D chips have always fallen behind their non-X3D counterparts on.

Image: AMD
AMD claims its 9800X3D is on average 8 percent faster than the 7800X3D.

The 9800X3D is really focused on gaming, though. AMD is calling it “the world’s best gaming processor,” and promising an 8 percent uplift in average FPS over the 7800X3D. Those gains are thanks to the Zen 5 architecture and a second generation of 3D V-Cache technology.

AMD even claims the 9800X3D will be up to 20 percent better than Intel’s latest Core Ultra 9 285K in gaming. In a video announcement, AMD computing and graphics boss Jack Huynh reveals that “in many games such as Far Cry 6 and Cyberpunk 2077 we are more than 40 percent faster.”

The 9800X3D is also the first X3D processor to be fully unlocked, allowing enthusiasts and gamers to overclock it and squeeze more performance out of their systems. AMD is launching the Ryzen 7 9800X3D on November 7th, priced at $479.

Read More 

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Peloton’s got a new head honcho. The company announced that Ford executive Peter Stern will take over as CEO and President starting January 1st. Stern previously worked at Apple and Time Warner Cable.
“As a cofounder and driving force behind Apple Fitness Plus, Peter led his growth to millions of members, and is responsible for successfully scaling over a dozen other subscription services ranging from Ford BlueCruise to Apple iCloud to Time Warner Cable Home Security,” said Karen Boone, Peloton’s interim CEO, on today’s Q1 2025 earnings call. “Importantly, Peter has also been a passionate member of the Peloton community since 2016.”
In a Q&A with investors, Boone also emphasized that Stern was “known for execution” and that the ability to balance profitability and growth was top of mind in the search for a new leader. Notably, Peloton’s downfall was due to the company throwing hundreds of millions at growth opportunities while failing to account for waning demand after vaccines became widely available.

Stern’s appointment is further evidence that Peloton increasingly views its future is in services. Stern spent more than six years at Apple as VP of services. On top of his experience with Fitness Plus, a direct competitor for Peloton, he handled Apple TV Plus, iCloud, Apple News, Apple Books, Apple Arcade, and Apple One.
Peloton also noted several new software features are in the works. That includes a previously announced strength training app for gym-goers, which has had 70,000 signups thus far. The company is also testing a second game after seeing that 10 percent of active subscribers engage with its Lane Break game. It’s currently in a closed beta of roughly 100 existing Bike Plus members. Another beta feature is called Personalized Plan, which gives users a weekly workout plan based on an individual member’s fitness goals.
In its earnings call, Peloton said its total revenue slightly exceeded estimates at $586 million — $160 million from hardware sales, and $426 million from subscriptions. The company also raised its full year 2025 revenue guidance by $40 million, and said it expects to have positive free cash flow in all four quarters. Stock prices surged 22 percent thanks to stronger-than-expected financials and Stern’s appointment.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Peloton’s got a new head honcho. The company announced that Ford executive Peter Stern will take over as CEO and President starting January 1st. Stern previously worked at Apple and Time Warner Cable.

“As a cofounder and driving force behind Apple Fitness Plus, Peter led his growth to millions of members, and is responsible for successfully scaling over a dozen other subscription services ranging from Ford BlueCruise to Apple iCloud to Time Warner Cable Home Security,” said Karen Boone, Peloton’s interim CEO, on today’s Q1 2025 earnings call. “Importantly, Peter has also been a passionate member of the Peloton community since 2016.”

In a Q&A with investors, Boone also emphasized that Stern was “known for execution” and that the ability to balance profitability and growth was top of mind in the search for a new leader. Notably, Peloton’s downfall was due to the company throwing hundreds of millions at growth opportunities while failing to account for waning demand after vaccines became widely available.

Stern’s appointment is further evidence that Peloton increasingly views its future is in services. Stern spent more than six years at Apple as VP of services. On top of his experience with Fitness Plus, a direct competitor for Peloton, he handled Apple TV Plus, iCloud, Apple News, Apple Books, Apple Arcade, and Apple One.

Peloton also noted several new software features are in the works. That includes a previously announced strength training app for gym-goers, which has had 70,000 signups thus far. The company is also testing a second game after seeing that 10 percent of active subscribers engage with its Lane Break game. It’s currently in a closed beta of roughly 100 existing Bike Plus members. Another beta feature is called Personalized Plan, which gives users a weekly workout plan based on an individual member’s fitness goals.

In its earnings call, Peloton said its total revenue slightly exceeded estimates at $586 million — $160 million from hardware sales, and $426 million from subscriptions. The company also raised its full year 2025 revenue guidance by $40 million, and said it expects to have positive free cash flow in all four quarters. Stock prices surged 22 percent thanks to stronger-than-expected financials and Stern’s appointment.

Read More 

Pink home office with door to outside at far end, desk and couch on right side, photos on wall at left.

A handmade desk in an office painted a color called ‘Little Piggy.’ Kristen Radtke is The Verge’s creative director; she works with the art team to create the visuals for stories and custom features. “Before this,” she explains, “I was art director for the small arts and culture magazine The Believer, and in a previous life, I worked in independent book publishing.”
We asked her to show us her home office, and she graciously obliged.

Furnishing such a narrow space was a real challenge.

That looks like a really well organized space — a little narrow, but the space is used really well.
The room is quite narrow — a little under seven feet — so furnishing it in a functional way was a fun challenge. I really like working within the limitations of a small space, figuring out how maximalist I can go without overwhelming a room.
Is that your backyard we see through the door?
It is! I love being able to pop outside for quick breaks from work, and having the door open on temperate days is a serious mood booster.
Could you tell us a bit about the desk itself?
I like having an L-shaped desk so that I can pivot back and forth between two work surfaces. This desk was made for me by my dad and husband out of plywood while my parents were visiting, right after our baby was born last year. Because the space is so small, I really wanted to use every inch I could, so we took meticulous measurements and built it in place exactly to size. I like that the desk also serves as a kind of room divider, creating a distinction between work and lounge space.
And your chair?
This chair is supposed to help with your posture; you sort of kneel on it while sitting back. I found it on AptDeco and have no idea what it’s called. I use it properly about half the time, but sometimes I catch myself sitting cross-legged or with my feet up on it. [Editor’s note: I believe it’s called a kneeling chair; I had one several years ago, and yes, I ended up using it as a seat with a footrest.] I thought I’d miss being able to lean back, but I really don’t, and I can always move over to the couch if I want to lounge for a bit.

The desk is home-made; the chair is supposed to help with posture.

An innovative way to handle an overload of books.

Tell us about the various tech devices you’re using. (And please be specific about the model, etc.)
I have a MacBook Pro for work, but I hate it and never use it. It gets so hot, the fan is so loud, and the battery life is atrocious. I’m an evangelist for the MacBook Air, which I always thought wouldn’t be powerful enough for me as a designer, but with the 16GB model from 2021, I can use the whole Adobe Suite at once without any stalling. I’ve never been a person who wants multiple monitors; once I got used to my 13-inch screen, I was fine with it, and I hate the visual clutter of a bunch of extra monitors.
For drawing, I use a Wacom Cintiq 22 drawing tablet with a 21.5-inch screen. Sometimes the connection is a little glitchy and I get some screen static, but I haven’t found anything better. When I’m traveling or not in my home office, I draw on an iPad Pro.

I love the bookcase in the closet!
Thank you! Because the room is so small, I couldn’t fit a couch and desk in there and still have a closet door that opened, so I just took it off. Most of my books aren’t stored in my office simply due to lack of space — we’re always hauling books from one room to the other and offloading copies onto friends and into Little Free Libraries — so I try to keep my office just for books I want to return or refer to. This closet is reserved for graphic novels.
And you also have shelves for books above your desk. And I noticed that some of those books have your name on them.
I’m terrible at keeping my books organized — I used to alphabetize but gave up after my last move. It’s so tedious! After a while, I have a rough visual memory of where things are. The books above my desk are mostly those I’m using for research for a current project. I also have a (nearly) complete set of The Believer back issues, though my husband and I have been toying with the idea of combining our magazine archive into one periodical shelf in the living room.
And yes! I write and draw books in my life outside of The Verge. My last one was called Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness, and I’m currently a couple of years overdue on a book about gossip, secrets, and talk (apologies to my editor!).
Tell us about the collection of art you have on the wall opposite your desk.
Most of the art I have hanging in my office is somewhat sentimental: the first paragraph I ever typeset and letterpressed in graduate school; a funny quote from a review of my last book needlepointed by my friend; broadsides from some of my favorite cartoonists. I never get things professionally framed — it’s just so expensive! I love Framed and Matted and Frame It Easy; there’s a much lower bar for entry than going to a frame shop, and it gives me room to play around with color and chunky mats.
That’s a really comfortable-looking couch!
It’s surprisingly comfortable! It was a brandless cheapy that I got for under $400, also on AptDeco. I like that the chaise lifts up to store a blanket and extra pillow. It folds down into a (rather uncomfortable) full-size bed, and I add a memory foam topper to make it tolerable when I need an extra sleeping space for guests.
Anything else we didn’t cover that you’d like to add?
I wanted my office to be a really dreamy space because I spend so much time there, both for The Verge and because of my creative work outside of it. I picked colors that feel very private that I wouldn’t use in shared spaces: a powder pink by Benjamin Moore called “Little Piggy,” and I wallpapered the outlets with prints from Spoonflower, a textile company that I love.

The lamp was Kristen’s grandmother’s, who had it custom-made.

Most of the art has sentimental value.

I also put some of my favorite heirlooms in the room, and the most prized is the lamp next to my couch. It was my grandmother’s, from the house I grew up visiting before she moved into assisted living. She had it custom-made to match her palm tree-themed living room in northern Wisconsin, and there is a lot to unpack here: a tropical island scene is designed within the lampshade, which is itself constructed in the shape of a tree, though it’s very notably not a palm tree. It makes no sense, and it’s perfect.
Photos by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Pink home office with door to outside at far end, desk and couch on right side, photos on wall at left.

A handmade desk in an office painted a color called ‘Little Piggy.’

Kristen Radtke is The Verge’s creative director; she works with the art team to create the visuals for stories and custom features. “Before this,” she explains, “I was art director for the small arts and culture magazine The Believer, and in a previous life, I worked in independent book publishing.”

We asked her to show us her home office, and she graciously obliged.

Furnishing such a narrow space was a real challenge.

That looks like a really well organized space — a little narrow, but the space is used really well.

The room is quite narrow — a little under seven feet — so furnishing it in a functional way was a fun challenge. I really like working within the limitations of a small space, figuring out how maximalist I can go without overwhelming a room.

Is that your backyard we see through the door?

It is! I love being able to pop outside for quick breaks from work, and having the door open on temperate days is a serious mood booster.

Could you tell us a bit about the desk itself?

I like having an L-shaped desk so that I can pivot back and forth between two work surfaces. This desk was made for me by my dad and husband out of plywood while my parents were visiting, right after our baby was born last year. Because the space is so small, I really wanted to use every inch I could, so we took meticulous measurements and built it in place exactly to size. I like that the desk also serves as a kind of room divider, creating a distinction between work and lounge space.

And your chair?

This chair is supposed to help with your posture; you sort of kneel on it while sitting back. I found it on AptDeco and have no idea what it’s called. I use it properly about half the time, but sometimes I catch myself sitting cross-legged or with my feet up on it. [Editor’s note: I believe it’s called a kneeling chair; I had one several years ago, and yes, I ended up using it as a seat with a footrest.] I thought I’d miss being able to lean back, but I really don’t, and I can always move over to the couch if I want to lounge for a bit.

Tell us about the various tech devices you’re using. (And please be specific about the model, etc.)

I have a MacBook Pro for work, but I hate it and never use it. It gets so hot, the fan is so loud, and the battery life is atrocious. I’m an evangelist for the MacBook Air, which I always thought wouldn’t be powerful enough for me as a designer, but with the 16GB model from 2021, I can use the whole Adobe Suite at once without any stalling. I’ve never been a person who wants multiple monitors; once I got used to my 13-inch screen, I was fine with it, and I hate the visual clutter of a bunch of extra monitors.

For drawing, I use a Wacom Cintiq 22 drawing tablet with a 21.5-inch screen. Sometimes the connection is a little glitchy and I get some screen static, but I haven’t found anything better. When I’m traveling or not in my home office, I draw on an iPad Pro.

I love the bookcase in the closet!

Thank you! Because the room is so small, I couldn’t fit a couch and desk in there and still have a closet door that opened, so I just took it off. Most of my books aren’t stored in my office simply due to lack of space — we’re always hauling books from one room to the other and offloading copies onto friends and into Little Free Libraries — so I try to keep my office just for books I want to return or refer to. This closet is reserved for graphic novels.

And you also have shelves for books above your desk. And I noticed that some of those books have your name on them.

I’m terrible at keeping my books organized — I used to alphabetize but gave up after my last move. It’s so tedious! After a while, I have a rough visual memory of where things are. The books above my desk are mostly those I’m using for research for a current project. I also have a (nearly) complete set of The Believer back issues, though my husband and I have been toying with the idea of combining our magazine archive into one periodical shelf in the living room.

And yes! I write and draw books in my life outside of The Verge. My last one was called Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness, and I’m currently a couple of years overdue on a book about gossip, secrets, and talk (apologies to my editor!).

Tell us about the collection of art you have on the wall opposite your desk.

Most of the art I have hanging in my office is somewhat sentimental: the first paragraph I ever typeset and letterpressed in graduate school; a funny quote from a review of my last book needlepointed by my friend; broadsides from some of my favorite cartoonists. I never get things professionally framed — it’s just so expensive! I love Framed and Matted and Frame It Easy; there’s a much lower bar for entry than going to a frame shop, and it gives me room to play around with color and chunky mats.

That’s a really comfortable-looking couch!

It’s surprisingly comfortable! It was a brandless cheapy that I got for under $400, also on AptDeco. I like that the chaise lifts up to store a blanket and extra pillow. It folds down into a (rather uncomfortable) full-size bed, and I add a memory foam topper to make it tolerable when I need an extra sleeping space for guests.

Anything else we didn’t cover that you’d like to add?

I wanted my office to be a really dreamy space because I spend so much time there, both for The Verge and because of my creative work outside of it. I picked colors that feel very private that I wouldn’t use in shared spaces: a powder pink by Benjamin Moore called “Little Piggy,” and I wallpapered the outlets with prints from Spoonflower, a textile company that I love.

I also put some of my favorite heirlooms in the room, and the most prized is the lamp next to my couch. It was my grandmother’s, from the house I grew up visiting before she moved into assisted living. She had it custom-made to match her palm tree-themed living room in northern Wisconsin, and there is a lot to unpack here: a tropical island scene is designed within the lampshade, which is itself constructed in the shape of a tree, though it’s very notably not a palm tree. It makes no sense, and it’s perfect.

Photos by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

If former President Donald Trump is to be believed, some of the richest and most powerful people in the world have called him to lavish him with compliments. Though most leaders of major tech companies haven’t publicly endorsed him — with one glaring exception — Trump claims they’ve privately told him how cool he is, implied they’d be better off under a Trump presidency, or said they aren’t voting for his opponent.
Among Trump’s claims: Google CEO Sundar Pichai congratulated him on his stint as a McDonald’s employee, calling it “one of the biggest things we’ve seen on Google”; Tim Cook called him to complain about fines the European Union levied on Apple; Mark Zuckerberg called him multiple times to “apologize” and said there’s “no way” he can vote for a Democrat after a shooter nearly took Trump’s life in Pennsylvania.
If true, it would be an interesting pivot for the leaders of companies that Trump has accused of “manipulating” votes in the 2016 election, “rigging” search results against him and other conservatives, and generally being “anti-Trump.” The accusations aren’t one-sided, either: Amazon has claimed that Trump used “improper pressure” to convince the Pentagon not to award the company a multibillion-dollar defense contract.
Of course, it’s possible that these men aren’t actually lining up to kiss the ring or that Trump — a diva who is prone to exaggeration — has sensationalized more mundane conversations. It’s also possible that, despite their riches, Zuckerberg, Pichai, Cook, and other leaders of major tech companies are in the same boat as the rest of us: they don’t know who will win the presidential election. Poll after poll shows that it’s basically a coin flip. And if one of the two people who could be president is both vindictive and susceptible to flattery — and in charge of appointing people who decide how to spend billions in federal contracts — why not butter him up a little bit?
Whatever their motivations, tech leaders appear to be hedging their bets.
You can see the calculus at play. Trump has in the past made policy decisions based on his grudges and whims and is all but threatening to do so again if he gets back into the White House. In September, he threatened to prosecute Google if reelected, saying the company had “illegally” only shown “bad stories” about him and “good” ones about Vice President Kamala Harris. He later said he called Pichai to complain about bias against him in Google Search. If there’s a chance Trump is going to be the next president, some flattery might avert a lot of damage.
Here’s what we do know: Zuckerberg said Trump’s reaction to being shot at was “badass.” Jeff Bezos reportedly killed The Washington Post’s endorsement of Harris, and executives of Bezos’ Blue Origin met with Trump the same day the Post published its non-endorsement.
The people involved have denied any allegations of bias or impropriety. In an emailed statement to The Verge, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the “brief greeting was spontaneous and arranged last-minute on Friday morning. No one could have possibly known about it in advance, including Jeff. It’s ridiculous that anyone would imply otherwise or refer to any quid pro quo. It’s simply not true.” Bezos wrote a justification of the Post’s non-endorsement, claiming “neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way” about the decision. Meta spokesperson Dani Lever declined to comment directly and instead pointed The Verge to a comment made to New York Magazine in September: “As Mark has said publicly, he’s not endorsing anybody in this race and has not communicated to anybody how he intends to vote.” (Apple, the Post, and Google did not respond to requests for comment.)
This isn’t entirely new. Bezos and Zuckerberg didn’t personally endorse presidential candidates in 2020. But the Post did endorse Trump’s opponents in both 2020 and 2016.
Whatever their motivations, tech leaders appear to be hedging their bets. It’s unclear whether they’re afraid of potential retribution from Trump, hoping to be rewarded with government contracts, or wary of being subject to additional oversight and regulation if Harris wins. But there’s no indication they’ll be safe with Trump in the White House.
Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, drafted by Trump allies and former staffers, lays out a roadmap for punishing conservatives’ tech adversaries. (The chapter on the Federal Trade Commission recommends emulating Europe’s “less friendly regulatory environment.”) Trump, too, has said he’d “do something” about Google, and his running mate JD Vance has outright called for a breakup of the company. Meanwhile, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) — a right-wing think tank that has gotten far less attention than the Heritage Foundation, the organization behind Project 2025 — is advising the Trump campaign and has reportedly drafted nearly 300 executive orders that can be signed the second he takes office. Among the AFPI’s plans is the creation of a new “Manhattan Project” for defense, which the Post reports would benefit tech companies that already have government contracts, including Palantir.
Unlike Elon Musk — who has endorsed Trump, appeared at several campaign rallies, and reportedly put hundreds of millions of dollars toward Trump’s reelection effort — Bezos and other tech leaders haven’t gone full MAGA. Still, their strategic silence suggests they’re preparing for the possibility of a Trump presidency — and for the favors and punishments he’ll dole out if reelected.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

If former President Donald Trump is to be believed, some of the richest and most powerful people in the world have called him to lavish him with compliments. Though most leaders of major tech companies haven’t publicly endorsed him — with one glaring exception — Trump claims they’ve privately told him how cool he is, implied they’d be better off under a Trump presidency, or said they aren’t voting for his opponent.

Among Trump’s claims: Google CEO Sundar Pichai congratulated him on his stint as a McDonald’s employee, calling it “one of the biggest things we’ve seen on Google”; Tim Cook called him to complain about fines the European Union levied on Apple; Mark Zuckerberg called him multiple times to “apologize” and said there’s “no way” he can vote for a Democrat after a shooter nearly took Trump’s life in Pennsylvania.

If true, it would be an interesting pivot for the leaders of companies that Trump has accused of “manipulating” votes in the 2016 election, “rigging” search results against him and other conservatives, and generally being “anti-Trump.” The accusations aren’t one-sided, either: Amazon has claimed that Trump used “improper pressure” to convince the Pentagon not to award the company a multibillion-dollar defense contract.

Of course, it’s possible that these men aren’t actually lining up to kiss the ring or that Trump — a diva who is prone to exaggeration — has sensationalized more mundane conversations. It’s also possible that, despite their riches, Zuckerberg, Pichai, Cook, and other leaders of major tech companies are in the same boat as the rest of us: they don’t know who will win the presidential election. Poll after poll shows that it’s basically a coin flip. And if one of the two people who could be president is both vindictive and susceptible to flattery — and in charge of appointing people who decide how to spend billions in federal contracts — why not butter him up a little bit?

You can see the calculus at play. Trump has in the past made policy decisions based on his grudges and whims and is all but threatening to do so again if he gets back into the White House. In September, he threatened to prosecute Google if reelected, saying the company had “illegally” only shown “bad stories” about him and “good” ones about Vice President Kamala Harris. He later said he called Pichai to complain about bias against him in Google Search. If there’s a chance Trump is going to be the next president, some flattery might avert a lot of damage.

Here’s what we do know: Zuckerberg said Trump’s reaction to being shot at was “badass.” Jeff Bezos reportedly killed The Washington Post’s endorsement of Harris, and executives of Bezos’ Blue Origin met with Trump the same day the Post published its non-endorsement.

The people involved have denied any allegations of bias or impropriety. In an emailed statement to The Verge, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the “brief greeting was spontaneous and arranged last-minute on Friday morning. No one could have possibly known about it in advance, including Jeff. It’s ridiculous that anyone would imply otherwise or refer to any quid pro quo. It’s simply not true.” Bezos wrote a justification of the Post’s non-endorsement, claiming “neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way” about the decision. Meta spokesperson Dani Lever declined to comment directly and instead pointed The Verge to a comment made to New York Magazine in September: “As Mark has said publicly, he’s not endorsing anybody in this race and has not communicated to anybody how he intends to vote.” (Apple, the Post, and Google did not respond to requests for comment.)

This isn’t entirely new. Bezos and Zuckerberg didn’t personally endorse presidential candidates in 2020. But the Post did endorse Trump’s opponents in both 2020 and 2016.

Whatever their motivations, tech leaders appear to be hedging their bets. It’s unclear whether they’re afraid of potential retribution from Trump, hoping to be rewarded with government contracts, or wary of being subject to additional oversight and regulation if Harris wins. But there’s no indication they’ll be safe with Trump in the White House.

Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, drafted by Trump allies and former staffers, lays out a roadmap for punishing conservatives’ tech adversaries. (The chapter on the Federal Trade Commission recommends emulating Europe’s “less friendly regulatory environment.”) Trump, too, has said he’d “do something” about Google, and his running mate JD Vance has outright called for a breakup of the company. Meanwhile, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) — a right-wing think tank that has gotten far less attention than the Heritage Foundation, the organization behind Project 2025 — is advising the Trump campaign and has reportedly drafted nearly 300 executive orders that can be signed the second he takes office. Among the AFPI’s plans is the creation of a new “Manhattan Project” for defense, which the Post reports would benefit tech companies that already have government contracts, including Palantir.

Unlike Elon Musk — who has endorsed Trump, appeared at several campaign rallies, and reportedly put hundreds of millions of dollars toward Trump’s reelection effort — Bezos and other tech leaders haven’t gone full MAGA. Still, their strategic silence suggests they’re preparing for the possibility of a Trump presidency — and for the favors and punishments he’ll dole out if reelected.

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Image: Puzzmo

The Weather Network can be a very useful website, but that’s mostly true when the weather is bad. So when the company began collaborating with the Hearst-owned puzzle platform Puzzmo, it had a specific goal: to get people coming to the site even when it’s nice out. “Why would you check the weather on a sunny day?” veteran game designer Zach Gage remembers asking himself. Eventually, the Puzzmo team came up with an answer in the form of Weather Memoku, an extremely chill game that combines elements of memory, sudoku, and, well, the weather.
“A very important idea was: can we change checking the weather from being a thing you check off your to-do list, to being a chance to take a moment for yourself?” explains Gage.
The game takes place on a 6 x 6 grid, and the goal is to flip over tiles to find matches, much like in a classic game of memory. The twist is that it also follows the rules of sudoku. This means that each of the six symbols appears in each row and column only once, turning Weather Memoku from a pure guessing game to one with a bit of strategy. It’s also incredibly charming, with symbols that change based on the weather. There are cute little frogs on a rainy day and penguins when it snows out. When you complete the puzzle — which will probably take a minute or two — you’re presented with your score in addition to an hourly weather report. You can also share this, much like your Wordle score.

Image: Puzzmo

According to Gage, who previously developed the sudoku app Good Sudoku, Weather Memoku is meant to be an iteration of what he calls “arcade sudoku,” which is basically the standard way of playing without using high-level strategies. Weather Memoku takes the same core gameplay — looking at a grid to figure out where things belong — and streamlines it even further. “Being wrong is part of the game,” Gage explains. “In this game, if you don’t know something and you guess, you can tap anywhere and now you have a new piece of information and your board has changed. It really feels like an interesting evolution of arcade sudoku.”
That streamlined nature is important for what the game is meant to be. Weather Memoku is a fun way to learn a piece of information, but it’s also designed to feel like “a little meditation” that would make you want to keep coming back to the site each day, much like a crossword puzzle or sudoku challenge. “You can have this meditative experience and then when you’re done, you actually have the weather,” says Gage. “You’ve left with a tangible piece of information that’s valuable to you.”
Disclosure: Puzzmo has a partnership with Verge sister site Polygon.

Image: Puzzmo

The Weather Network can be a very useful website, but that’s mostly true when the weather is bad. So when the company began collaborating with the Hearst-owned puzzle platform Puzzmo, it had a specific goal: to get people coming to the site even when it’s nice out. “Why would you check the weather on a sunny day?” veteran game designer Zach Gage remembers asking himself. Eventually, the Puzzmo team came up with an answer in the form of Weather Memoku, an extremely chill game that combines elements of memory, sudoku, and, well, the weather.

“A very important idea was: can we change checking the weather from being a thing you check off your to-do list, to being a chance to take a moment for yourself?” explains Gage.

The game takes place on a 6 x 6 grid, and the goal is to flip over tiles to find matches, much like in a classic game of memory. The twist is that it also follows the rules of sudoku. This means that each of the six symbols appears in each row and column only once, turning Weather Memoku from a pure guessing game to one with a bit of strategy. It’s also incredibly charming, with symbols that change based on the weather. There are cute little frogs on a rainy day and penguins when it snows out. When you complete the puzzle — which will probably take a minute or two — you’re presented with your score in addition to an hourly weather report. You can also share this, much like your Wordle score.

Image: Puzzmo

According to Gage, who previously developed the sudoku app Good Sudoku, Weather Memoku is meant to be an iteration of what he calls “arcade sudoku,” which is basically the standard way of playing without using high-level strategies. Weather Memoku takes the same core gameplay — looking at a grid to figure out where things belong — and streamlines it even further. “Being wrong is part of the game,” Gage explains. “In this game, if you don’t know something and you guess, you can tap anywhere and now you have a new piece of information and your board has changed. It really feels like an interesting evolution of arcade sudoku.”

That streamlined nature is important for what the game is meant to be. Weather Memoku is a fun way to learn a piece of information, but it’s also designed to feel like “a little meditation” that would make you want to keep coming back to the site each day, much like a crossword puzzle or sudoku challenge. “You can have this meditative experience and then when you’re done, you actually have the weather,” says Gage. “You’ve left with a tangible piece of information that’s valuable to you.”

Disclosure: Puzzmo has a partnership with Verge sister site Polygon.

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Miniot’s Klapklok wall clock uses paper-like flaps to flip pixels to show the time. The sound and motion is soothing to experience. | Image: Miniot

If you’ve ever experienced the sight and sound of a split-flap display then you’ll immediately understand the nostalgic appeal of Miniot’s pixelated wall clock. Klapklok uses mechanical flaps to convey information, just like the departure boards commonly found in transportation terminals before the arrival of LEDs.
As its name suggests, Klapklok primarily functions as a low resolution clock, showing the hour and minute hands using 69 (nice) “paper-like” flaps that act like black and white pixels. But Klapklok also features a bluetooth app to create pixel drawings if that’s your thing.

GIF: Miniot
A closer look at the lightweight flaps.

As a clock, a selection of the flaps are redrawn every 2.5 minutes with a soothing rustle to show the progression of the hands. At the top of the hour all 69 flaps shuffle at once to display the time in numbers. That makes Klapklock the “gentlest cuckoo clock you’ve ever heard,” according to Miniot.

GIF: Miniot
Time ticking over from 11:59 to 12 o’clock.

I think the smooth pixel movement looks great, but it really is the sound that sold me when I first saw a working prototype last year. Here, listen for yourself.

The USB-C powered clock is a 17.7-inch (45cm) squircle that’s just 0.5 inches (13mm) thick and weighs 3.7 pounds (1.7kg). When the pixels are at rest it’s completely silent, there’s no light, and it uses very little power. It’s expensive because the array of flaps, spools, hinges, magnets, and electronics are all hand assembled in Peter Kolkman’s home workshop — the same place that this small family-run business eventually refined its impressive Wheel record player that plays vinyl vertically.
Klapklok will eventually retail for €2,400 (about $2,600). However, it’s temporarily reduced to €1,800 (about $1,950) for the first batch of 25 which are scheduled to ship by December 12th to meet the Christmas deadline.

Miniot’s Klapklok wall clock uses paper-like flaps to flip pixels to show the time. The sound and motion is soothing to experience. | Image: Miniot

If you’ve ever experienced the sight and sound of a split-flap display then you’ll immediately understand the nostalgic appeal of Miniot’s pixelated wall clock. Klapklok uses mechanical flaps to convey information, just like the departure boards commonly found in transportation terminals before the arrival of LEDs.

As its name suggests, Klapklok primarily functions as a low resolution clock, showing the hour and minute hands using 69 (nice) “paper-like” flaps that act like black and white pixels. But Klapklok also features a bluetooth app to create pixel drawings if that’s your thing.

GIF: Miniot
A closer look at the lightweight flaps.

As a clock, a selection of the flaps are redrawn every 2.5 minutes with a soothing rustle to show the progression of the hands. At the top of the hour all 69 flaps shuffle at once to display the time in numbers. That makes Klapklock the “gentlest cuckoo clock you’ve ever heard,” according to Miniot.

GIF: Miniot
Time ticking over from 11:59 to 12 o’clock.

I think the smooth pixel movement looks great, but it really is the sound that sold me when I first saw a working prototype last year. Here, listen for yourself.

The USB-C powered clock is a 17.7-inch (45cm) squircle that’s just 0.5 inches (13mm) thick and weighs 3.7 pounds (1.7kg). When the pixels are at rest it’s completely silent, there’s no light, and it uses very little power. It’s expensive because the array of flaps, spools, hinges, magnets, and electronics are all hand assembled in Peter Kolkman’s home workshop — the same place that this small family-run business eventually refined its impressive Wheel record player that plays vinyl vertically.

Klapklok will eventually retail for €2,400 (about $2,600). However, it’s temporarily reduced to €1,800 (about $1,950) for the first batch of 25 which are scheduled to ship by December 12th to meet the Christmas deadline.

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Mark Zuckerberg. | Image: The Verge | Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Meta is “working with the public sector to adopt Llama across the US government,” according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The comment, made during his opening remarks for Meta’s Q3 earnings call on Wednesday, raises a lot of important questions: Exactly which parts of the government will use Meta’s AI models? What will the AI be used for? Will there be any kind of military-specific applications of Llama? Is Meta getting paid for any of this?
When I asked Meta to elaborate, spokesperson Jon Carvill declined to comment beyond Zuckerberg’s brief remark to investors. The social media giant is pushing its AI on the government at an interesting time. For one, presidential nominee Donald Trump has recently threatened to jail Zuckerberg, even as the CEO has tried to publicly distance himself — and Meta’s products— from politics.
There’s also the cozying up to the government that Meta’s AI rivals are doing. OpenAI and Anthropic recently said they would share their models with the US AI Safety Institute ahead of time for safety screening. Google’s on-and-off-again relationship as an AI vendor for the Pentagon is well documented. In a recent blog post, OpenAI said its models were being used by DARPA⁠, the U.S. Agency for International Development⁠, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

While we wait to learn about Meta’s AI work with the government, Zuckerberg teased a bit more about the next Llama model on the Q3 earnings call. He said version four is training on “a cluster bigger than I’ve seen reported for anything else others are doing” and that he expects “new modalities,” “stronger reasoning,” and “much faster” performance when it debuts next year.
He acknowledged that Meta plans to continue spending more on AI in 2025, which is “maybe not want investors want to hear in the near term.” But he sees the upside as being worth it.
“I’m pretty amped about all the work we’re doing right now,” he said. “This may be the most dynamic moment I’ve seen in our industry, and I’m focused on making sure that we build some awesome things and make the most of the opportunities ahead.”
As a business, Meta is still continuing to grow. The company reported revenue of $40.5 billion for Q3, a 19-percent increase from a year ago, and $17.3 billion in profit. And it claims that 3.29 billion people use at least one of its apps each day, an increase of 5 percent from a year ago.

Mark Zuckerberg. | Image: The Verge | Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Meta is “working with the public sector to adopt Llama across the US government,” according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The comment, made during his opening remarks for Meta’s Q3 earnings call on Wednesday, raises a lot of important questions: Exactly which parts of the government will use Meta’s AI models? What will the AI be used for? Will there be any kind of military-specific applications of Llama? Is Meta getting paid for any of this?

When I asked Meta to elaborate, spokesperson Jon Carvill declined to comment beyond Zuckerberg’s brief remark to investors. The social media giant is pushing its AI on the government at an interesting time. For one, presidential nominee Donald Trump has recently threatened to jail Zuckerberg, even as the CEO has tried to publicly distance himself — and Meta’s products— from politics.

There’s also the cozying up to the government that Meta’s AI rivals are doing. OpenAI and Anthropic recently said they would share their models with the US AI Safety Institute ahead of time for safety screening. Google’s on-and–off-again relationship as an AI vendor for the Pentagon is well documented. In a recent blog post, OpenAI said its models were being used by DARPA⁠, the U.S. Agency for International Development⁠, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

While we wait to learn about Meta’s AI work with the government, Zuckerberg teased a bit more about the next Llama model on the Q3 earnings call. He said version four is training on “a cluster bigger than I’ve seen reported for anything else others are doing” and that he expects “new modalities,” “stronger reasoning,” and “much faster” performance when it debuts next year.

He acknowledged that Meta plans to continue spending more on AI in 2025, which is “maybe not want investors want to hear in the near term.” But he sees the upside as being worth it.

“I’m pretty amped about all the work we’re doing right now,” he said. “This may be the most dynamic moment I’ve seen in our industry, and I’m focused on making sure that we build some awesome things and make the most of the opportunities ahead.”

As a business, Meta is still continuing to grow. The company reported revenue of $40.5 billion for Q3, a 19-percent increase from a year ago, and $17.3 billion in profit. And it claims that 3.29 billion people use at least one of its apps each day, an increase of 5 percent from a year ago.

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