Jeffrey Epstein saw promise in Bitcoin — and its far-right supporters
Jeffrey Epstein saw promise in Bitcoin — and its far-right supporters The tranche of Jeffrey Epstein emails and files released on January 30th tie the infamous pedophile, sex trafficker, and influence peddler to elite figures across the tech industry. The world of cryptocurrency is no exception. Epstein’s connections are intriguing, disturbing – and worth mapping […]
The smart lock standard that could replace your keys is finally here
The smart lock standard that could replace your keys is finally here A Galaxy smartphone using tap-to-unlock on a keypad for a Nuki smart lock. A new smart lock standard, Aliro, is bringing this functionality to all smartphones. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Aliro has officially arrived. The smart lock standard, […]
If Big Tech cared about fighting AI slop, it wouldn’t be drowning us in it
If Big Tech cared about fighting AI slop, it wouldn't be drowning us in it Progress towards reliable deepfake labelling tech is sluggish, despite all the “help” from AI providers. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images As 2025 drew to a close, Instagram head Adam Mosseri ended the year by doom-posting about […]
Trump Mobile is just Liberty Mobile in gold foil
Trump Mobile is just Liberty Mobile in gold foil Where’s the Trump phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. This week, we explain how the presidential phone company connects to an older company that’s really running the show. We’ve long known that Trump Mobile was linked to Liberty Mobile, a carrier that’s […]
Smart glasses in court are a privacy nightmare
Smart glasses in court are a privacy nightmare When Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrived at a Los Angeles courthouse on Wednesday, he did so with a team that appeared to be wearing Meta’s camera-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses. Judge Carolyn Kuhl was concerned. According to CNBC, Kuhl warned anyone recording with the glasses, “If you have […]
Prop bet
Prop bet Pondering my orb. | Cath Virginia Substack has updated its partnership with betting platform Polymarket, “introducing native tools that make it easier to share, discuss, and debate prediction market data directly on Substack.” Additionally, Polymarket will effectively pay “a cohort of creators,” including Matt Yglesias, to use its data though the newsletter platform’s […]
The executive that helped build Meta’s ad machine is trying to expose it
The executive that helped build Meta's ad machine is trying to expose it Brian Boland spent more than a decade figuring out how to build a system that would make Meta money. On Thursday, he told a California jury it incentivized drawing more and more users, including teens, onto Facebook and Instagram – despite the […]
The RAM shortage is coming for everything you care about
The RAM shortage is coming for everything you care about Maybe you’ve heard: Memory is expensive now. The price of RAM has tripled, quadrupled, even sextupled depending on the type of chip, all because AI companies are gobbling it up. But maybe you’ve thought: I don’t buy memory sticks! I don’t build my own PCs! […]
Mark Zuckerberg and his Ray-Ban entourage have their day in court
Mark Zuckerberg and his Ray-Ban entourage have their day in court Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg entered a downtown Los Angeles courthouse in largely the same way as all the attorneys, reporters, and advocates who’d come to watch his landmark trial testimony, but with one notable difference: he was flanked by an entourage that appeared to […]
Mark Zuckerberg is taking the stand as social media goes on trial
Mark Zuckerberg is taking the stand as social media goes on trial Mark Zuckerberg. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Lori Schott didn’t care what it took to haul her way from her small town in Eastern Colorado to show up to a Los Angeles courtroom where Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is […]