Stay Informed

Kimi K3, Qwen 3.8, and Anthropic's (Potential) Unravelling

Comments

Dr. Jill Lepore on why AI backlash is vital for the future

Today, I’m talking with Harvard professor and New Yorker staff writer Dr. Jill Lepore about her new book, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State, which comes out on August 25. Jill is one of the best writers there is at identifying institutional patterns in history, and Decoder is a show about systems, so this book could not possibly be more in our zone. You build systems by measuring things — gathering information, quantifying it as data, and taking action on it. And Jill’s big thesis in the book is that this kind of systemic measurement is really a dehumanizing act, one that flattens human concerns into something, well, artificial. These artificial structures touch everything — not just in the more obvious places like in apps or AI, but all the way up to politics and governance itself, and Jill’s insights here are a telling portrait of the way Big Tech and its billionaire figureheads have managed to break the very idea of the state itself. Verge subscribers, don t forget you get e

The AirPods Max 2 are down to their second-best price

There are a ton of deals available to shop today thanks to Best Buy’s “Black Friday in July” sale lasting all week. The sale typically aligns closely with Prime Day each year, but of course, Amazon’s shopping holiday happened much earlier than we expected. So it’s nice to have some deals in July. One of example of a great deal is Apple’s AirPods Max 2, which are down to $449.99 at Amazon and Best Buy, $100 off their usual price. It’s only the second time they’ve been discounted. Prime Day knocked them all the way down to $399.99, but today’s price isn’t bad at all if you missed out last month. They’re available at this price in every color. Apple AirPods Max (second-gen) Where to Buy: $549 $449 at Amazon $549 $449 at Best Buy Our review called the Max 2 a “great sequel, but not an ambitious one.” In short, not much has changed, especially in terms of design. There are some internal improvements that might make it worth it for those who have the original iteration (especially if you hav

China's open-weights AI strategy is winning

Comments

Electric air taxis go to war

Electric aviation is still in its infancy, but manufacturers are already looking beyond mere air taxi trips across cities. Today, one of the leading air taxi startups, San Jose-based Archer Aviation, unveiled a new aircraft it co-developed with defense technology company Anduril - though the platform is designed for both military and commercial uses, the companies said. The new aircraft looks like a cross between Archer's Midnight air taxi and a more established military vertical takeoff and landing aircraft like a V-22 Osprey. Anduril, which was founded by Palmer Luckey, unveiled the new variant, called Thunder, on Monday at the Farnborou … Read the full story at The Verge.

Avengers: Doomsday’s first trailer puts everyone on high alert

After months of teasing us with reminders about how large Avengers: Doomsday's cast is going to be, Marvel has finally released a proper trailer for the film. Though Robert. Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom definitely appears to be causing a lot of the chaos in Doomsday's first trailer, the movie seems like it's going to feature more than a few moments where different teams of heroes fight one another. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) seems to be the only person who understands that the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the (New) Avengers need to be more focused on dealing with their new Latverian enemy. And while Thor might not be able to rally the troops on h … Read the full story at The Verge.

Inertia-1: An Open Exploration to a Unified Motion Foundation Model

Comments

StrictlyVC returns to New York City September 10 to celebrate a huge year for the city’s startup community

For the first time since 2024, StrictlyVC is coming back to New York City — and we're bringing the kind of access you’d expect from an under-wraps event to the whole startup, VC, and dealmaking community.

TechCrunch·Jul 20, 2026

AliExpress fined almost $630 million over illegal product sales

The fine is more than double the penalty that Temu was slapped with for similar DSA violations. | Illustration: The Verge AliExpress has been hit with a 550 million (about $629 million) fine for violating Europe's Digital Services Act (DSA) rules by failing to prevent illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products from being sold on the e-commerce platform. The European Commission ruled that AliExpress didn't take effective measures to reduce the dissemination of illegal products, noting the company "allocated insufficient staff" to verify products, and failed to remove unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics for "multiple weeks" after they were detected. "The spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmful products is not … Read the full story at The Verge.

Who's Afraid of Chinese Models?

Comments

China delivers a one-two punch to America’s AI dominance

China's leading AI companies are ramping up the pressure on Silicon Valley, as Moonshot and Alibaba unveiled models they claim can go toe-to-toe with the best from OpenAI and Anthropic at a fraction of the cost. The rapid-fire releases suggest America's lead at the AI frontier is increasingly tight, just as the technology is becoming central to national security, economic power, and geopolitical influence. The opening salvo came from Beijing-based Moonshot AI, one of China's leading AI model developers, which unveiled Kimi K3 on Friday. Moonshot claims its own testing ranks it consistently above nearly every US system, trailing only OpenAI … Read the full story at The Verge.

Airbus Takes Flight from AWS

Comments