3 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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News

All the news you need to keep up with the latest developments in the tech world, from product announcements and live events to tariffs, policies, and regulations. Tech touches every aspect of daily news, and our experts are here to keep you informed on what happens and how it all affects you.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Google Docs’ built-in AI assistant can now pull information from Gemini Notebook.

When you type the “@” symbol into the bottom Gemini bar in Docs, you’ll now see a list of Gemini Notebooks. Select one, and Gemini will draw from those sources to generate a document from your prompt.

Tom Warren
Tom Warren
Qualcomm will finally support Linux on Snapdragon X2 chips.

“For many years developers have asked us for one thing, Linux on Snapdragon. We heard you,” says Kedar Kondap, SVP and general manager of compute and gaming at Qualcomm. Speaking at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit, Kondap says Linux support with Debian will be available “at the end of this year” for Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X2 series of chips. Qualcomm is upstreaming core drivers, including for its Hexagon NPU and Adreno GPU. Ubuntu support is also coming in the first half of 2027.

Image: Qualcomm
Tom Warren
Tom Warren
Microsoft Ink Canvas is an AI-powered digital sketchpad.

Microsoft is launching a new digital sketchpad app for Windows next month. Microsoft Ink Canvas will be available first on the new Surface Pro 12-inch, and other supported devices on October 13th. It supports sketching with pen or touch, and includes AI image generation and summaries. It’s essentially an AI-powered version of the various digital whiteboard apps Microsoft has created over the years.

Microsoft Ink Canvas will be available to download on October 13th.
Microsoft Ink Canvas will be available to download on October 13th.
Image: Microsoft
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
You can now command ChatGPT Voice to do more things from your phone.

After launching its upgraded voice mode on desktop, OpenAI is bringing ChatGPT Voice’s agentic capabilities to its mobile app. With the update, you use your voice to ask ChatGPT to perform tasks across connected apps — like checking your email or summarizing a file in Google Drive — from your phone or CarPlay.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
iFixit’s Steam Frame teardown finds Valve’s headset is surprisingly repairable.

Although accessing the cooling fan requires quite a bit of disassembly and swapping out the battery involves a brief battle with glue, iFixit says Valve has applied the same “repair-friendly thinking” to the Steam Frame’s design as it did with the Steam Deck helping to potentially prolong the headset’s lifespan.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
The Stream Deck Neo’s smallest screen is getting more useful.

With the new Stream Deck 7.6 update, Elgato is expanding the limited functionality of the $99.99 Neo’s Infobar screen beyond a clock and page indicators. You’ll now be able to make it show other useful info like weather forecasts, what’s playing on Spotify, your PC’s CPU and GPU stats, and when your AI agent needs your attention.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
The new pro version of Switchbot’s compact robovac has double the suction power.

We called the K11 Plus the best robot vacuum for small spaces, but Switchbot’s upgraded K11 Plus Pro could be an even better option. For $399.99 you get a boost from 6,000Pa to 12,000Pa of suction potentially making it a more potent autonomous cleaner for apartments with multiple pets or spill-prone kids.

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The Switchbot K11 Plus Pro robot vacuum cleaning a dirty wood floor near a sofa.
Image: Switchbot
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Ad-free Disney Plus is reportedly getting a price hike to $21.49 per month.

Disney is also raising prices on its ad-free Hulu plan, ad-free Hulu and Disney Plus bundle, and the standalone ad-supported subscriptions for each, Bloomberg reports. It says Disney could start notifying subscribers about the price increase as soon as today, exactly one year after an earlier Disney Plus price hike and just a month after ESPN raised prices.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
YouTube’s Coachella broadcast deal extended through 2030.

Along with a bunch of AI news today, YouTube music exec Lyor Cohen announced a renewed agreement with concert promoter Goldenvoice to keep streaming both weekends of the Coachella music festival for the next four years.

This continues an arrangement that will hit 15 years next April, despite Bloomberg’s report of competing bids from the likes of Netflix and Amazon. It also says that in the future we’ll see more pre-event programming, as well as mini-documentaries and other videos about artists between sets.

promotional image with the Coachella logo over people watching TV
Image: YouTube
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
YouTube will let you make multiple personalized AI feeds.

This builds on the feature introduced in May which allows users to build a custom video feed based on AI prompt descriptions of your interests, moods, or favorite topics. The expansion means you can create and save more than one custom feed to your home screen, with YouTube saying it’ll be available for users in the US on web, mobile, and TVs “soon.”

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
CRKD’s tiny wireless gamepad with drift-resistant thumbsticks is now available.

First announced last March with shipping in late June, the tiny Atom Plus is finally available from retailers like Amazon for $29.99. It’s slightly wider than the 8BitDo Micro but CRKD’s palmable gamepad adds a symmetrical pair of tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) thumbsticks and two pairs of full-size shoulder buttons.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

1/3Image: CRKD
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
LinkedIn is cracking down on fake employees.

The platform is testing a way for users to verify their profile by getting people they’ve actually worked or studied with (who are already verified) to vouch for them. LinkedIn is also testing a feature for company pages that forces users claiming current employment to verify themselves, and companies can now instantly remove fake employees from search results.

A screenshot of a LinkedIn user profile showing colleague verification.
Colleagues that verify other users will appear on their LinkedIn profile if verification is granted, so it’ll look bad if the verifiers were lying about knowing their work history.
Image: LinkedIn
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Pornhub’s age checks are being investigated in the UK.

Ofcom is taking a deeper look at Pornhub provider Aylo’s compliance with online safety rules. The media watchdog’s enforcement director George Lusty says, “We expect tech firms to ensure age checks are highly effective before introducing them.” Aylo relies on Apple’s age verification system, which is not being scrutinized under the investigation.

“We are concerned that Aylo may not have conducted sufficient due diligence and testing before implementing its new age assurance process. As a result, we are concerned that Aylo’s process may not be highly effective at preventing children from seeing pornography.”

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
An endurance watch with solar on both sides.

Des Yap did some initial testing of the new $649.99 T-Rex Dual Solar from Amazfit — the first endurance watch with a bright and colorful OLED to be fitted with teeny-weeny solar panels. The ring around the display can extend life a bit, but the larger rear panel around the heart-rate sensor can add a few percentage points of charge when you arrive at camp, or when the watch is slung off a running vest, so maybe you can leave your ultralight power bank home on your next multi-day adventure.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
State of Decay developer Undead Labs announces layoffs as it goes independent.

While Undead Labs is avoiding closing as Xbox’s assortment of developers continues to shrink, the studio announced on LinkedIn that “Unfortunately, today we are also saying goodbye to a significant number of our colleagues. It’s difficult to reach this moment knowing that not everyone who helped get us here gets to make the rest of the journey with us.”

Its blog post earlier said that State of Decay 3 development “remains actively underway,” targeting a 2027 release on Xbox, Game Pass, PC, and PlayStation.

Xbox is barely Xbox anymore

Andrew Webster
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
The original smart oven goes dark.

Today, Weber shut down June Oven’s cloud servers, leaving ovens that cost up to $1,500 unable to do anything beyond basic functions.

Owners were notified in July that September 22 would be the end, cutting off remote control via the app, live camera viewing, AI food recognition, and software updates. The ovens still work through their built-in touchscreens, including local food recognition, but support for repairs and parts is also done.

Weber bought June in 2021 and quickly discontinued the ovens, folding June’s technology into Weber Connect. It says it won’t open-source the app because the IP is used in current and potentially future products.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
California will fine creators for sneaky political ads.

Over the weekend, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will penalize creators for failing to disclose paid political content, with fines reaching up to $5,000 per violation, The New York Times reports.

Though the FTC requires influencers to disclose product advertisements, it doesn’t have the same rules for paid political content, which has become widespread in recent campaigns.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Texas puts data center permits on hold.

Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop granting permits to data centers while the state finishes an audit of the facilities that want to connect to its electric grid. Last week, Abbott also told state regulators to “impose legal consequences” on data centers that don’t disclose information about water usage.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
OpenAI launches faster and more efficient GPT-6 Sol and Luna models.

The two models come packaged with GPT-6 Astra’s advancements in professional work, accuracy, coding, computer use, and alignment, but with higher usage limits and lower costs, according to OpenAI.

ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu customers can access both models in ChatGPT Work and Codex, while free and Go users can only use GPT-6 Luna.

GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna’s performance in professional work.
GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna’s performance in professional work.
Image: OpenAI
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Earth’s Changelog highlights the good news around the world you probably missed.

If you need an alternative to all the soul-destroying news filling your feeds all day long you can point your browser to Changelog.earth which is a variation on video game patch notes that instead highlights all the positive progress our planet is making. Believe it or not, good things are still happening.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Valve is beta testing a new high bandwidth, low latency video codec that uses your GPU.

It may not benefit every setup, the company warns, but Pyrowave is a new Steam Remote Play high bandwidth, low latency video codec now available in Steam beta on macOS, Windows, and Linux. It uses “5-10 times the amount of bandwidth of other streaming codecs,” but leverages your PC’s GPU to “encode and decode frames to achieve extremely low end to end latency with a good network.”