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Sony’s WH-1000XM5s, our favorite noise canceling headphones, are $100 off. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

It can be hard to get some peace and quiet even on an average day, but with the holidays slowly yet steadily approaching, it’s about to become impossible. Luckily, though, today, Sony’s WH-1000XM5s have dropped to one of their best prices yet, selling for $299.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, Target, and directly from Sony in almost every colorway. That’s about $5 shy of their 2024 all-time low and $50 shy of their best price ever.

When it comes to noise-canceling headphones, few can rival Sony’s WH-1000XM5s, which is why they’re our favorite pair on the market. Along with canceling out noise impressively, they deliver clear, detail-rich sound with support for LDAC, Sony’s codec for higher-quality wireless audio. The over-ears also have a number of other features going for them, including stellar voice call performance and now even compatibility with Google’s Find My Device network. They also boast multipoint Bluetooth support, so you can, say, connect them to your phone while working on your laptop without manually switching back and forth. Plus, they’re just plain comfortable, so you can tune out the world for hours on end.
Read our Sony WH-1000XM5 review.

More ways to save

If you’re a cook looking for an excellent instant-read thermometer, the Thermapen One is on sale for $76.30 ($32.70 off) from ThermoWorks in black, orange, and purple, which is one of its better prices to date. The Thermapen is one of our favorite kitchen gadgets because it delivers accurate readings quickly and is also incredibly simple to use, with a big, backlit display that’s also easy to read.

Amazon’s latest Fire HD 10 with 32GB of storage and lock screen ads starts at just $74.99 ($65 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, which is its best price yet. Compared to its cheaper siblings, the Fire HD 10 offers a relatively sharp 1080p display and is a great, basic entertainment device sufficient for reading, watching Prime video content on the 1080p display, browsing, and even performing some light productivity tasks.
You can buy the UE Megaboom 4 Bluetooth speaker for $169.99 ($30 off) from Amazon and Best Buy, which is $10 shy of its best price yet. Along with sporting a rugged 1P67 rating, the speaker charges via USB-C and should last 20 hours on a single charge. It also supports the new megaphone feature, which amplifies your voice when you speak into it.

Sony’s WH-1000XM5s, our favorite noise canceling headphones, are $100 off. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

It can be hard to get some peace and quiet even on an average day, but with the holidays slowly yet steadily approaching, it’s about to become impossible. Luckily, though, today, Sony’s WH-1000XM5s have dropped to one of their best prices yet, selling for $299.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, Target, and directly from Sony in almost every colorway. That’s about $5 shy of their 2024 all-time low and $50 shy of their best price ever.

When it comes to noise-canceling headphones, few can rival Sony’s WH-1000XM5s, which is why they’re our favorite pair on the market. Along with canceling out noise impressively, they deliver clear, detail-rich sound with support for LDAC, Sony’s codec for higher-quality wireless audio. The over-ears also have a number of other features going for them, including stellar voice call performance and now even compatibility with Google’s Find My Device network. They also boast multipoint Bluetooth support, so you can, say, connect them to your phone while working on your laptop without manually switching back and forth. Plus, they’re just plain comfortable, so you can tune out the world for hours on end.

Read our Sony WH-1000XM5 review.

More ways to save

If you’re a cook looking for an excellent instant-read thermometer, the Thermapen One is on sale for $76.30 ($32.70 off) from ThermoWorks in black, orange, and purple, which is one of its better prices to date. The Thermapen is one of our favorite kitchen gadgets because it delivers accurate readings quickly and is also incredibly simple to use, with a big, backlit display that’s also easy to read.

Amazon’s latest Fire HD 10 with 32GB of storage and lock screen ads starts at just $74.99 ($65 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, which is its best price yet. Compared to its cheaper siblings, the Fire HD 10 offers a relatively sharp 1080p display and is a great, basic entertainment device sufficient for reading, watching Prime video content on the 1080p display, browsing, and even performing some light productivity tasks.
You can buy the UE Megaboom 4 Bluetooth speaker for $169.99 ($30 off) from Amazon and Best Buy, which is $10 shy of its best price yet. Along with sporting a rugged 1P67 rating, the speaker charges via USB-C and should last 20 hours on a single charge. It also supports the new megaphone feature, which amplifies your voice when you speak into it.

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Image: Nintendo

Though we’re mere months away from the reveal of the Switch’s successor, Nintendo still has some unfinished business with its current hardware. Nintendo has announced that Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, a remaster of Monolith Soft’s 2015 action RPG, will launch on the Switch on March 20, 2025. According to the press release, the remaster features enhanced visuals and added story elements.

Nintendo released a new trailer to mark the occasion and its opening seconds feel hilariously on the nose. There’s something deeply ironic about the trailer for a Switch port of a ten-year old Wii U game starting with the dialogue, “Well, here we are. Not too shabby, huh?” It’s like a tongue-in-cheek joke acknowledging there’s a wealth of Wii U games in desperate need of salvation (coughs Wind Waker coughs) and Xenoblade Chronicles X was one of the lucky ones to get a lifeboat off the sunken, inaccessible ship that is the Nintendo back catalogue.
In addition to porting old Wii U games, Nintendo’s still releasing new titles in the twilight days of the Switch. Mario & Luigi: Brothership is due out next week. Nintendo’s also confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 will get a Switch release too.

Image: Nintendo

Though we’re mere months away from the reveal of the Switch’s successor, Nintendo still has some unfinished business with its current hardware. Nintendo has announced that Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, a remaster of Monolith Soft’s 2015 action RPG, will launch on the Switch on March 20, 2025. According to the press release, the remaster features enhanced visuals and added story elements.

Nintendo released a new trailer to mark the occasion and its opening seconds feel hilariously on the nose. There’s something deeply ironic about the trailer for a Switch port of a ten-year old Wii U game starting with the dialogue, “Well, here we are. Not too shabby, huh?” It’s like a tongue-in-cheek joke acknowledging there’s a wealth of Wii U games in desperate need of salvation (coughs Wind Waker coughs) and Xenoblade Chronicles X was one of the lucky ones to get a lifeboat off the sunken, inaccessible ship that is the Nintendo back catalogue.

In addition to porting old Wii U games, Nintendo’s still releasing new titles in the twilight days of the Switch. Mario & Luigi: Brothership is due out next week. Nintendo’s also confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 will get a Switch release too.

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

GitHub is going multi-model for its Copilot code completion and programming tool. Developers will soon be able to choose models from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI for GitHub Copilot. GitHub is also announcing Spark, an AI tool for building web apps, and updates to GitHub Copilot in VS Code, Copilot for Xcode, and more at its GitHub Universe conference today.
GitHub Copilot users on the web or VS Code can select Claude 3.5, with Gemini 1.5 Pro in the coming weeks. OpenAI’s GPT-4o, o1-preview, and o1-mini models will also be available in GitHub Copilot soon. Developers will be able to toggle between models during a conversation with Copilot Chat to find the model that’s best for a particular task.
“There is no one model to rule every scenario, and developers expect the agency to build with the models that work best for them,” says GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke. “It is clear the next phase of AI code generation will not only be defined by multi-model functionality, but by multi-model choice.”
Microsoft-owned GitHub was the first to launch its AI tool called Copilot in 2021, ahead of Microsoft’s push to make Copilot the center of its AI efforts. It was the first major result of Microsoft’s initial $1 billion investment into OpenAI, and GitHub announced last week that Copilot now has more than 1 million paid subscribers. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft adopts GitHub’s multi-model approach and opens up its own Copilot AI assistant to models from rivals like Google and Anthropic.
GitHub is also announcing Spark today, an AI tool that makes it easier to build web apps using natural language. An initial prompt uses OpenAI and Anthropic models to produce live previews of what the web app will look like, and GitHub Spark users can compare versions as they make changes. GitHub Spark lets experienced developers directly manipulate code, while novice ones can create a web app entirely using natural language.
Once the app is created, you can run it on a desktop, tablet, or mobile device and also share the app with others to let people remix and build on top of Spark apps. GitHub Spark is part of GitHub’s vision to get to 1 billion developers. “For too long, there has been an unscalable barrier of entry separating a vast majority of the world’s population from building software,” says Dohmke. “With Spark, we will enable over one billion personal computer and mobile phone users to build and share their own micro apps directly on GitHub.”
GitHub is also announcing more updates to Copilot at its GitHub Universe today. Multi-file edit for GitHub Copilot in VS Code is arriving on November 1st, allowing users to make edits across multiple files at the same time using Copilot Chat. Copilot Extensions will also be available in early 2025, GitHub Copilot for Xcode enters public preview, and Copilot now has a new code review capability.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

GitHub is going multi-model for its Copilot code completion and programming tool. Developers will soon be able to choose models from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI for GitHub Copilot. GitHub is also announcing Spark, an AI tool for building web apps, and updates to GitHub Copilot in VS Code, Copilot for Xcode, and more at its GitHub Universe conference today.

GitHub Copilot users on the web or VS Code can select Claude 3.5, with Gemini 1.5 Pro in the coming weeks. OpenAI’s GPT-4o, o1-preview, and o1-mini models will also be available in GitHub Copilot soon. Developers will be able to toggle between models during a conversation with Copilot Chat to find the model that’s best for a particular task.

“There is no one model to rule every scenario, and developers expect the agency to build with the models that work best for them,” says GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke. “It is clear the next phase of AI code generation will not only be defined by multi-model functionality, but by multi-model choice.”

Microsoft-owned GitHub was the first to launch its AI tool called Copilot in 2021, ahead of Microsoft’s push to make Copilot the center of its AI efforts. It was the first major result of Microsoft’s initial $1 billion investment into OpenAI, and GitHub announced last week that Copilot now has more than 1 million paid subscribers. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft adopts GitHub’s multi-model approach and opens up its own Copilot AI assistant to models from rivals like Google and Anthropic.

GitHub is also announcing Spark today, an AI tool that makes it easier to build web apps using natural language. An initial prompt uses OpenAI and Anthropic models to produce live previews of what the web app will look like, and GitHub Spark users can compare versions as they make changes. GitHub Spark lets experienced developers directly manipulate code, while novice ones can create a web app entirely using natural language.

Once the app is created, you can run it on a desktop, tablet, or mobile device and also share the app with others to let people remix and build on top of Spark apps. GitHub Spark is part of GitHub’s vision to get to 1 billion developers. “For too long, there has been an unscalable barrier of entry separating a vast majority of the world’s population from building software,” says Dohmke. “With Spark, we will enable over one billion personal computer and mobile phone users to build and share their own micro apps directly on GitHub.”

GitHub is also announcing more updates to Copilot at its GitHub Universe today. Multi-file edit for GitHub Copilot in VS Code is arriving on November 1st, allowing users to make edits across multiple files at the same time using Copilot Chat. Copilot Extensions will also be available in early 2025, GitHub Copilot for Xcode enters public preview, and Copilot now has a new code review capability.

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Image: Disney

Disney is releasing an experience tied to Fortnite — but it’s not the big “persistent universe” featuring all things Disney that was teased earlier this year. This new experience launching today is instead all about ESPN, and it’s called ESPN Football Island.
In the experience, you’ll be able to participate in activities, challenges, mini-games, and a big Payload-style game called “Touchdown Rush” where you guard a football from your opponents as it moves toward an end zone. ESPN Football Island will also have persistent progression and its own unlockable cosmetics that will be exclusive to the experience.

ESPN Football Island was built using the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), a powerful set of development tools Epic launched last year to let people make Fortnite experiences. While this ESPN island is a branded Disney experience that’s separate from Fortnite’s main battle royale modes, Disney properties have been a frequent presence within battle royale, including with the latest season’s Marvel theme.
If you want to try ESPN Football Island yourself, you can access it by entering the code 4481-0077-4190 from the Fortnite menu.

Image: Disney

Disney is releasing an experience tied to Fortnite — but it’s not the big “persistent universe” featuring all things Disney that was teased earlier this year. This new experience launching today is instead all about ESPN, and it’s called ESPN Football Island.

In the experience, you’ll be able to participate in activities, challenges, mini-games, and a big Payload-style game called “Touchdown Rush” where you guard a football from your opponents as it moves toward an end zone. ESPN Football Island will also have persistent progression and its own unlockable cosmetics that will be exclusive to the experience.

ESPN Football Island was built using the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), a powerful set of development tools Epic launched last year to let people make Fortnite experiences. While this ESPN island is a branded Disney experience that’s separate from Fortnite’s main battle royale modes, Disney properties have been a frequent presence within battle royale, including with the latest season’s Marvel theme.

If you want to try ESPN Football Island yourself, you can access it by entering the code 4481-0077-4190 from the Fortnite menu.

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Image: Apple

Just like the bite-sized iMac keynote posted on Monday, Apple has released a 10-minute video showing off the M4-equipped Mac Mini. You can find the video on the “Watch the announcement” link on Apple’s Mac Mini page and on YouTube.
The video kicks off with John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of engineering, taking the wraps off the new desktop device (literally). He says the device is “even more mini,” as it measures just five inches long and wide.
The video then transitions to Mac Mini product manager Shloka Kini, who similarly says the M4 device comes with a “big boost in performance in an incredibly small design.” Kini claims the Mac Mini is up to six times faster than the top-selling PC in its price range — but at 1/20th the size.

Image: Apple

The smaller — and more powerful — Mac Mini offers 16GB of RAM and has a starting price of $599 with the standard M4 chip, but that price goes up to $1,399 for the M4 Pro model. Tim Millet, Apple’s vice president of platform architecture says the M4 Pro comes with up to 14 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores, making it 1.6 times faster than the M2 Pro. We also get a glimpse at some of the Apple Intelligence updates coming across Mac devices, such as redesigned Siri and AI-powered writing tools.
This likely won’t be the last Mac-related announcement we see from Apple this week. The company is also rumored to release an M4-powered MacBook Pro.

Image: Apple

Just like the bite-sized iMac keynote posted on Monday, Apple has released a 10-minute video showing off the M4-equipped Mac Mini. You can find the video on the “Watch the announcement” link on Apple’s Mac Mini page and on YouTube.

The video kicks off with John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of engineering, taking the wraps off the new desktop device (literally). He says the device is “even more mini,” as it measures just five inches long and wide.

The video then transitions to Mac Mini product manager Shloka Kini, who similarly says the M4 device comes with a “big boost in performance in an incredibly small design.” Kini claims the Mac Mini is up to six times faster than the top-selling PC in its price range — but at 1/20th the size.

Image: Apple

The smaller — and more powerful — Mac Mini offers 16GB of RAM and has a starting price of $599 with the standard M4 chip, but that price goes up to $1,399 for the M4 Pro model. Tim Millet, Apple’s vice president of platform architecture says the M4 Pro comes with up to 14 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores, making it 1.6 times faster than the M2 Pro. We also get a glimpse at some of the Apple Intelligence updates coming across Mac devices, such as redesigned Siri and AI-powered writing tools.

This likely won’t be the last Mac-related announcement we see from Apple this week. The company is also rumored to release an M4-powered MacBook Pro.

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Image: Apple

As part of the company’s week of Mac-focused announcements, Apple has just introduced a smaller, yet even more powerful Mac Mini. It’s now equipped with Apple’s latest M4 silicon, supports ray tracing for the first time, and ships with 16GB of RAM by default — seemingly the new normal in the Apple Intelligence era. The machine still starts at $599 with the regular M4 chip, while the more powerful M4 Pro model has a starting price of $1,399. Like the refreshed iMac announced yesterday, the Mac Mini is available to preorder immediately and will be in stores on November 8th.
The first thing you’ll notice is the new design. As rumored, the Mini has been shrunken down considerably — and it was already a relatively small desktop machine to begin with. Now it’s downright tiny, measuring five inches in both length and width. If you’re wondering how Apple manages to keep things running cool, the company says it’s through the M4’s efficiency and “an innovative thermal architecture, which guides air to different levels of the system, while all venting is done through the foot.”

GIF: Apple
Here’s a top-down size comparison of the old and new Mac Mini.

Even so, Apple has loaded this thing up with plenty of I/O: on the front are two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. Around back you’ll find ethernet, HDMI, and three USB-C / Thunderbolt ports. The USB-A ports are indeed history, but it’s worth noting that the base M2 Mini only had two Thunderbolt 4 ports and two USB-A ports. With the M4, you’re getting five ports in all. So you’re losing native USB-A but picking up an extra Thunderbolt port.

Image: Apple
Both models have the same number of ports, but only the M4 Pro Mini gets Thunderbolt 5.

The speed of those Thunderbolt ports will differ based on which M4 processor you choose. The regular M4 chip includes Thunderbolt 4, whereas the M4 Pro gets you the very latest Thunderbolt 5 throughput.
The M4 Pro Mac Mini also delivers greater overall performance with its 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores. RAM can be configured up to 32GB with the regular M4 or 64GB with the M4 Pro. Storage tops out at a whopping 8TB. So while the Mini is quite small, you can make it seriously mighty if you’re willing to spend enough. 10 gigabit ethernet also remains an optional upgrade for those who want it.
We’re likely to see the M4 Pro chip come to the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros that Apple is rumored to announce this week, along with an even more capable M4 Max chip that’s not available in the Mini. But the Pro should be plenty as is for many prosumers and creatives.

Image: Apple
The Mac Mini with M4 Pro can run up to three 6K displays.

It’s a busy week for Apple. The M4 iMac made its debut on Monday, and the company also rolled out its first Apple Intelligence software capabilities across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. (More AI features, including image generation and ChatGPT integration, will be released in December.) Tomorrow could see the debut of those upgraded MacBook Pros as Apple rounds out its new hardware. The company is set to report quarterly earnings on Thursday, during which it will no doubt trumpet its latest fleet of Macs.

Image: Apple

As part of the company’s week of Mac-focused announcements, Apple has just introduced a smaller, yet even more powerful Mac Mini. It’s now equipped with Apple’s latest M4 silicon, supports ray tracing for the first time, and ships with 16GB of RAM by default — seemingly the new normal in the Apple Intelligence era. The machine still starts at $599 with the regular M4 chip, while the more powerful M4 Pro model has a starting price of $1,399. Like the refreshed iMac announced yesterday, the Mac Mini is available to preorder immediately and will be in stores on November 8th.

The first thing you’ll notice is the new design. As rumored, the Mini has been shrunken down considerably — and it was already a relatively small desktop machine to begin with. Now it’s downright tiny, measuring five inches in both length and width. If you’re wondering how Apple manages to keep things running cool, the company says it’s through the M4’s efficiency and “an innovative thermal architecture, which guides air to different levels of the system, while all venting is done through the foot.”

GIF: Apple
Here’s a top-down size comparison of the old and new Mac Mini.

Even so, Apple has loaded this thing up with plenty of I/O: on the front are two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. Around back you’ll find ethernet, HDMI, and three USB-C / Thunderbolt ports. The USB-A ports are indeed history, but it’s worth noting that the base M2 Mini only had two Thunderbolt 4 ports and two USB-A ports. With the M4, you’re getting five ports in all. So you’re losing native USB-A but picking up an extra Thunderbolt port.

The speed of those Thunderbolt ports will differ based on which M4 processor you choose. The regular M4 chip includes Thunderbolt 4, whereas the M4 Pro gets you the very latest Thunderbolt 5 throughput.

The M4 Pro Mac Mini also delivers greater overall performance with its 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores. RAM can be configured up to 32GB with the regular M4 or 64GB with the M4 Pro. Storage tops out at a whopping 8TB. So while the Mini is quite small, you can make it seriously mighty if you’re willing to spend enough. 10 gigabit ethernet also remains an optional upgrade for those who want it.

We’re likely to see the M4 Pro chip come to the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros that Apple is rumored to announce this week, along with an even more capable M4 Max chip that’s not available in the Mini. But the Pro should be plenty as is for many prosumers and creatives.

It’s a busy week for Apple. The M4 iMac made its debut on Monday, and the company also rolled out its first Apple Intelligence software capabilities across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. (More AI features, including image generation and ChatGPT integration, will be released in December.) Tomorrow could see the debut of those upgraded MacBook Pros as Apple rounds out its new hardware. The company is set to report quarterly earnings on Thursday, during which it will no doubt trumpet its latest fleet of Macs.

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Volvo and Polestar — two Swedish car brands owned by China’s Geely — are now offering their electric vehicle customers access to Tesla’s Supercharger network. The companies are taking orders for adapters that will allow its EV customers to charge at over 17,800 Supercharger stalls across the country.
Tesla’s superior charging experience and the ubiquity of its Superchargers has spurred the entire auto industry to announce support for the company’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). All non-Tesla EVs will require adapters at first, but automakers have said they intend to start producing vehicles with native NACS ports installed at the factory starting as soon as 2025.
All non-Tesla EVs will require adapters at first
Ford, GM, Nissan, and Rivian have all started rolling out Supercharger access to their customers. And now it’s Volvo and Polestar’s turn. Both Ford and Rivian gave out free adapters for a limited time before making customers buy them, while GM declined to offer any complimentary period.
Volvo is doing things slightly different. The Swedish automaker says the NACS adapter will be included free-of-charge to anyone who buys a 2025 EX90, EX40, or EC40. But existing Volvo EV owners will have to order an adapter from any Volvo dealership or service center for $230.
Polestar says it will be selling adapters through its Service Points, but made no mention of including them in the purchase of a new Polestar 2 or 3. Volvo said that orders will start shipping on November 18th, and Polestar just said “mid-November.”
Both companies are updating their Android-powered infotainment software so Tesla Supercharger stations show up in their vehicle’s navigation. The update will also include real-time availability of each station, as well as a seamless way to pay for each charging session.
The adapter rollout hasn’t been exactly problem-free. Ford had to tell some of its customers to stop using their adapters amid reports of reduced charging speeds over time. Supply constraints have also delayed some customers from receiving their adapters.
Tesla has said it is ramping up production of adapters out of its Buffalo, NY gigafactory. And some third-party suppliers of NACS adapters are also attempting to address lingering design flaws and other safety issues so they can also jump in the fray and help meet demand.

Volvo and Polestar — two Swedish car brands owned by China’s Geely — are now offering their electric vehicle customers access to Tesla’s Supercharger network. The companies are taking orders for adapters that will allow its EV customers to charge at over 17,800 Supercharger stalls across the country.

Tesla’s superior charging experience and the ubiquity of its Superchargers has spurred the entire auto industry to announce support for the company’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). All non-Tesla EVs will require adapters at first, but automakers have said they intend to start producing vehicles with native NACS ports installed at the factory starting as soon as 2025.

Ford, GM, Nissan, and Rivian have all started rolling out Supercharger access to their customers. And now it’s Volvo and Polestar’s turn. Both Ford and Rivian gave out free adapters for a limited time before making customers buy them, while GM declined to offer any complimentary period.

Volvo is doing things slightly different. The Swedish automaker says the NACS adapter will be included free-of-charge to anyone who buys a 2025 EX90, EX40, or EC40. But existing Volvo EV owners will have to order an adapter from any Volvo dealership or service center for $230.

Polestar says it will be selling adapters through its Service Points, but made no mention of including them in the purchase of a new Polestar 2 or 3. Volvo said that orders will start shipping on November 18th, and Polestar just said “mid-November.”

Both companies are updating their Android-powered infotainment software so Tesla Supercharger stations show up in their vehicle’s navigation. The update will also include real-time availability of each station, as well as a seamless way to pay for each charging session.

The adapter rollout hasn’t been exactly problem-free. Ford had to tell some of its customers to stop using their adapters amid reports of reduced charging speeds over time. Supply constraints have also delayed some customers from receiving their adapters.

Tesla has said it is ramping up production of adapters out of its Buffalo, NY gigafactory. And some third-party suppliers of NACS adapters are also attempting to address lingering design flaws and other safety issues so they can also jump in the fray and help meet demand.

Read More 

So long for now, Playdate Stereo Dock. | Screenshot: Playdate

Well, we finally know what’s up with Panic’s Playdate Stereo Dock. It’s not coming — at least, not for a while. In an update to the Stereo Dock’s page, the company describes the challenges it faced in getting a good prototype, but says that, in the end, the device didn’t meet its standards.
The Stereo Dock was going to be a small desktop Bluetooth speaker and pen holder that you could attach a Playdate to. Panic first announced the Stereo Dock in 2021, when it was still working toward releasing the Playdate.
On the web page, the company describes the unexpected challenges it faced getting the Stereo Dock to market:

What happened? Well, our first regret was assuming that our factory at that time — a factory that made lots of Bluetooth speakers — could easily design the electronics for us, saving us lots of time and money. That went pretty well at first. But they, in turn, outsourced the Bluetooth software and chipset to another company in another country.
As a result, the Stereo Dock would crash often — rapidly adjusting the volume would do it. The Bluetooth pairing/unpairing experience was rough. And when we played music, it just didn’t sound very good. The back-and-forth between three companies trying to fix bugs became a huge challenge. And worst of all: the cost of the Stereo Dock kept getting higher and higher.

GIF: Panic
The Playdate Stereo Dock could still happen someday.

Ultimately, Panic says it had to “hit pause” on the Stereo Dock, because it was spending more money developing the device than it would likely make back, and the prototypes, while “beautiful,” weren’t good enough. “And if we’re going to ship a product,” the company writes, “it has to be, at least, good.”
In the meantime, Panic says it’s focusing on the Playdate, “as our new factory comes online and production once again resumes.”

So long for now, Playdate Stereo Dock. | Screenshot: Playdate

Well, we finally know what’s up with Panic’s Playdate Stereo Dock. It’s not coming — at least, not for a while. In an update to the Stereo Dock’s page, the company describes the challenges it faced in getting a good prototype, but says that, in the end, the device didn’t meet its standards.

The Stereo Dock was going to be a small desktop Bluetooth speaker and pen holder that you could attach a Playdate to. Panic first announced the Stereo Dock in 2021, when it was still working toward releasing the Playdate.

On the web page, the company describes the unexpected challenges it faced getting the Stereo Dock to market:

What happened? Well, our first regret was assuming that our factory at that time — a factory that made lots of Bluetooth speakers — could easily design the electronics for us, saving us lots of time and money. That went pretty well at first. But they, in turn, outsourced the Bluetooth software and chipset to another company in another country.

As a result, the Stereo Dock would crash often — rapidly adjusting the volume would do it. The Bluetooth pairing/unpairing experience was rough. And when we played music, it just didn’t sound very good. The back-and-forth between three companies trying to fix bugs became a huge challenge. And worst of all: the cost of the Stereo Dock kept getting higher and higher.

GIF: Panic
The Playdate Stereo Dock could still happen someday.

Ultimately, Panic says it had to “hit pause” on the Stereo Dock, because it was spending more money developing the device than it would likely make back, and the prototypes, while “beautiful,” weren’t good enough. “And if we’re going to ship a product,” the company writes, “it has to be, at least, good.”

In the meantime, Panic says it’s focusing on the Playdate, “as our new factory comes online and production once again resumes.”

Read More 

Fantastical for Windows is already at full feature parity with the Mac app. | Image: Flexibits

Fantastical is one of the best and most powerful calendar apps on the market. Since it first launched in 2011, it has been both nicer to look at and easier to use than your average calendaring tool. I’ve been a user for years, and every time I switch away, I come back for the design, the natural-language processing that lets you create events just by typing “Lunch with Arthur 12:30 Friday at Panera,” and the integrations with to-do list apps. It’s an expensive app, at $57 a year or $7 a month for all its features, but it’s worth it for anyone who lives out of their calendar. And as long as you only have Apple devices.
Now, at long last, Fantastical is coming to the most important productivity platform: Windows. Flexibits, the developer behind Fantastical, says the Windows app includes all the features from other platforms, and is a truly native app rather than a web wrapper or a hacky port. There is one caveat, though: it’s not yet an Arm-native app, so if you’re on a Copilot Plus PC or something similar you’ll have to run Fantastical through an emulator for now. But Flexibits says the Arm version is coming soon.

Windows support has been a top feature request among Fantastical users for years, Flexibits CEO Michael Simmons said in a press release announcing the app. The company is calling this launch Fantastical 4.0, though the new platform is the only new feature. Fantastical now works across Mac, iOS, iPadOS, Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and Windows; the big name still missing there is Android, but there’s no word on that.
If you’re a Windows users and you end up downloading Fantastical for the first time, here are a few pro tips. Start with the free version, which includes most of the basic calendaring features and will be plenty for lots of people. If you do pay, my favorite thing about Fantastical is the one-click way to join video meetings, so make sure you integrate all your video apps. Fantastical Openings, which is basically like Calendly built into Fantastical, is also very good if that’s a feature you need. But after all this time, the best thing about the app is still how good it looks, and how easy it makes it to add and move events. It’s very much a power-user tool, but it’s a good one.

Fantastical for Windows is already at full feature parity with the Mac app. | Image: Flexibits

Fantastical is one of the best and most powerful calendar apps on the market. Since it first launched in 2011, it has been both nicer to look at and easier to use than your average calendaring tool. I’ve been a user for years, and every time I switch away, I come back for the design, the natural-language processing that lets you create events just by typing “Lunch with Arthur 12:30 Friday at Panera,” and the integrations with to-do list apps. It’s an expensive app, at $57 a year or $7 a month for all its features, but it’s worth it for anyone who lives out of their calendar. And as long as you only have Apple devices.

Now, at long last, Fantastical is coming to the most important productivity platform: Windows. Flexibits, the developer behind Fantastical, says the Windows app includes all the features from other platforms, and is a truly native app rather than a web wrapper or a hacky port. There is one caveat, though: it’s not yet an Arm-native app, so if you’re on a Copilot Plus PC or something similar you’ll have to run Fantastical through an emulator for now. But Flexibits says the Arm version is coming soon.

Windows support has been a top feature request among Fantastical users for years, Flexibits CEO Michael Simmons said in a press release announcing the app. The company is calling this launch Fantastical 4.0, though the new platform is the only new feature. Fantastical now works across Mac, iOS, iPadOS, Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and Windows; the big name still missing there is Android, but there’s no word on that.

If you’re a Windows users and you end up downloading Fantastical for the first time, here are a few pro tips. Start with the free version, which includes most of the basic calendaring features and will be plenty for lots of people. If you do pay, my favorite thing about Fantastical is the one-click way to join video meetings, so make sure you integrate all your video apps. Fantastical Openings, which is basically like Calendly built into Fantastical, is also very good if that’s a feature you need. But after all this time, the best thing about the app is still how good it looks, and how easy it makes it to add and move events. It’s very much a power-user tool, but it’s a good one.

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The 2026 Cadillac Lyriq-V | Image: Cadillac

Cadillac is launching a new performance version of its all-electric Lyriq SUV. The new 2026 Lyriq-V, the luxury automaker’s first EV to get a V-Series badge, will come to North America, Australia, and New Zealand to start, plus other markets later. The specific launch date and pricing have not yet been revealed, but we can expect 2026 model-year vehicles to be available this time next year.
In an email to The Verge, Cadillac production communications representative Katie Minter wrote that the company will share more information on the features and specifications of Lyriq-V in early 2025.
Although we barely know anything about the Lyriq-V, GM says that V-Series vehicles are AWD standard and have “instantaneous acceleration,” which is also a general benefit of EVs since they are known to provide instant torque. In March, Cadillac teased an all-electric V-Series concept vehicle called the “Opulent Velocity” to celebrate the subbrand’s 20th anniversary. You can get V-Series performance trims on multiple Cadillac vehicles, including the Escalade.

Image: Cadillac
Lyriq-V gets a V-Series badge on the rear.

First launched in 2022, the Cadillac Lyriq is not only the brand’s first EV but its most affordable one right now: starting at $59,990 (RWD) with destination and before tax, license, and dealer fees. Cadillac’s other EVs include its pricey bespoke Celestiq sedan and Escalade IQ; later this year, the company plans to launch its entry-level Optiq, while the three-row Vistiq is due early next year.

The 2026 Cadillac Lyriq-V | Image: Cadillac

Cadillac is launching a new performance version of its all-electric Lyriq SUV. The new 2026 Lyriq-V, the luxury automaker’s first EV to get a V-Series badge, will come to North America, Australia, and New Zealand to start, plus other markets later. The specific launch date and pricing have not yet been revealed, but we can expect 2026 model-year vehicles to be available this time next year.

In an email to The Verge, Cadillac production communications representative Katie Minter wrote that the company will share more information on the features and specifications of Lyriq-V in early 2025.

Although we barely know anything about the Lyriq-V, GM says that V-Series vehicles are AWD standard and have “instantaneous acceleration,” which is also a general benefit of EVs since they are known to provide instant torque. In March, Cadillac teased an all-electric V-Series concept vehicle called the “Opulent Velocity” to celebrate the subbrand’s 20th anniversary. You can get V-Series performance trims on multiple Cadillac vehicles, including the Escalade.

Image: Cadillac
Lyriq-V gets a V-Series badge on the rear.

First launched in 2022, the Cadillac Lyriq is not only the brand’s first EV but its most affordable one right now: starting at $59,990 (RWD) with destination and before tax, license, and dealer fees. Cadillac’s other EVs include its pricey bespoke Celestiq sedan and Escalade IQ; later this year, the company plans to launch its entry-level Optiq, while the three-row Vistiq is due early next year.

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