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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.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
AMD’s revenue jumps 38 percent from last year as Q1 data center sales hit $5.8 billion.

Data center sales are now “the primary driver of our revenue and earnings growth,” according to CEO Lisa Su. AI agents are increasing demands for CPUs, and AMD and Intel’s x86 industry group recently announced a new instruction set, AI Compute Extensions (ACE), to help close the performance gap with GPUs.

Its client and gaming revenue grew 23 percent to $3.6 billion despite lower “semi-custom revenue” for devices like game consoles.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
The Bear got a surprise prequel episode that you can watch right now.

“Gary” stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Richie) and Jon Bernthal (Mikey) and was written by the pair, according to Moss-Bachrach. It’s available now on Hulu.

It’s a small treat ahead of season five of The Bear, which will be the show’s last and is expected to debut in June.

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A promotional image for the “Gary” prequel episode set in The Bear’s universe.
Image: Hulu / Ebon Moss-Bachrach on Instagram
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta is working on an OpenClaw-like AI agent for regular people.

The agent is dubbed “Hatch” internally, The Information reports. Meta is also apparently working on an agentic shopping tool for Instagram that it wants to launch before Q4.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Valve shared the CAD files for the external shells of the Steam Controller and its puck.

With the files, people can more easily make accessories for the hardware. “Feel free to use these to make your own Puck holders, Controller sweaters, or whatever else you want to create!” Valve says on the GitLab page with the files.

Can’t wait to see what folks come up with. (And if you’re doing something cool, let me know!)

A detailed image of the Steam Controller.
Image: Valve
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
A 40,000-acre data center project was just approved in Utah, despite outcry from the community.

As reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, the planned hyperscale data center in Box Elder County, when fully completed, is expected to use 9 gigawatts of power — more than double the 4 gigawatts of power used by the state right now. The project is backed in part by Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary.

Live updates from Musk v. AltmanLive updates from Musk v. Altman
Elizabeth Lopatto and Hayden Field
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Pennsylvania sues Character.AI over chatbots pretending to be doctors.

An investigation by Pennsylvania found that some of Character.AI’s chatbots “claimed to be licensed professionals,” including one that “falsely stated it was licensed in Pennsylvania and provided an invalid license number.”

The state alleges Character.AI violated Pennsylvania’s Medical Practice Act, which says people can’t present themselves as a medical professional without a license.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Chrome on Android is increasing privacy with approximate location sharing.

For times when you don’t need a website to know exactly where you are (like when checking the weather versus finding the closest ATM) Google is introducing the option to only share your approximate location. It will launch for Chrome on Android first, but expand to the desktop browser in the coming months.

An Android smartphone displaying a screenshot of Google Chrome’s location tracking options.
Android phones will have the option to share your exact location with websites in Chrome, or only the neighborhood you’re in.
Image: Google
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
The Android Show is back ahead of Google I/O.

The next edition will take place on May 12th at 1PM ET. The link for the livestream is already up, and Google is promising that “This is going to be one of the biggest years for Android yet.”

Google I/O kicks off a week later, on May 19th.

Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
SteelSeries’ latest gaming headset includes wireless hi-res audio for $399.

The Arctis Nova Omni succeeds its best-in-class Arctis Nova Wireless from 2022. It’s more of the same (good!), but with wireless hi-res audio support (24-bit/96kHz) like the $599 Elite from last year, plus Xbox support built into every model. I’m testing it now against the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II, which also offers wireless hi-res audio and swappable batteries for $50 less. Stay tuned.

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

Image: SteelSeries
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Amazon tests AI chatbot responses in its search.

As The Information reports, Amazon is considering offering a “hybrid” mode that includes responses from its Rufus chatbot in search results for some products. Rufus can suggest and compare products like shopping modes in ChatGPT and Gemini, but Amazon says it’s more helpful for some products than others, and won’t entirely replace regular search.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Valve says it will have information on resupply for the sold-out Steam Controller “soon.”

According to Valve:

Steam Controller ran out faster than we anticipated, and we hate that not everyone who wanted one was able to get it. We’re working on getting more in stock and will have an update on expected timeline soon.

The Controller went on sale on Monday, but before long, it was going in and out of stock. For the moment, it seems like it’s totally sold out.

John Higgins
John Higgins
Bose has the first third-party speakers with Alexa Plus.

In addition to the new Lifestyle Collection speakers announced today, users of existing Bose speakers and soundbars can opt in to add generative AI-powered Alexa Plus functionality starting on May 15th.

You can use Alexa Plus to play songs, add reminders to your schedule, or ask questions, and it will respond more conversationally like other AI chatbots.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Satechi’s DIY Thunderbolt 5 SSD drive keeps cool with a tiny fan during long transfers.

The $199.99 DotDisk enclosure, available now for $199.99 through Amazon or Satechi’s online store, supports transfer speeds up to 80Gbps and is compatible with Thunderbolt 5 using an included 12-inch USB cable. Its built-in bus-powered fan helps maintain performance, but you’ll need to provide your own M.2 2280 NVMe SSD up to 8TB.

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

<em>The DotDisk enclosure draws all the power it needs from a single USB cable.</em>
<em>Satechi includes the screwriver you’ll need to open the DotDisk, as well as a thermal pad for the SSD you provide.</em>
1/2
The DotDisk enclosure draws all the power it needs from a single USB cable.
Image: Satechi
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Peter Thiel invests in a startup that’s working on floating data centers.

The $140 million funding round, led by Thiel, values Panthalassa at nearly $1 billion, according to the Financial Times. Data centers in space, data centers in the ocean… where won’t they try to put data centers?

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
The production version of Boston Dynamic’s Atlas is also impressively agile.

The company announced the latest version of its humanoid Atlast robot at CES 2026 with an immobile prototype on stage and CG animations. But despite the new Atlas being destined for Hyundai factories, a new video from Boston Dynamics reveals the robot is just as agile, flexible, and capable as previous versions.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Coinbase is cutting 14 percent of its staff.

As Reuters reports, the crypto exchange is laying off around 700 employees. CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in a letter to staff that crypto is “currently in a down market,” which, along with increasing use of AI, is pushing Coinbase to reduce costs.

Bose takes a swing at Sonos with its new home speakers

The Lifestyle Ultra speakers have big sound, can group with non-Bose speakers, and don’t need the Bose app to stream.

John Higgins
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
iPhone 17 sales are still going strong.

It was the top-selling phone in Q1 according to Counterpoint, with 6 percent of global sales. The 17 Pro and Pro Max weren’t far behind, with Samsung A series phones and the Xiaomi Redmi A5 also at the top. The Galaxy S26 Ultra just missed the cut, after launching in the middle of the quarter.

Bar chart showing the top 10 phone models for global sales in Q1 2026, with the iPhone 17 at the top
This year’s top 10 made up a record 25 percent of total phone sales.
Image: Counterpoint
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Samsung Display’s new phone screens are more colorful than ever.

New announcements made at SID Display 2026 include the “world’s widest color gamut OLED” for phones, with BT.2020-96 color coverage at up to 3,000 nits of brightness. There’s also an updated version of the health-sensing OLED it revealed in 2023, which can measure heart rate and blood pressure through the panel.

The Samsung Display Flex Chroma Pixel OLED being showcased at SID Display 2026.
Even from these images, the new Flex Chroma Pixel OLED certainly looks brighter and more vibrant than the unspecified screen model on the right.
Image: Samsung Display
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Apple is reportedly courting Intel and Samsung to build chips in the US.

Bloomberg reports that Apple has held “exploratory discussions” with the chipmakers to produce the main processors for certain devices in the US, though the Cupertino company still has concerns about using non-TSMC technology. Perhaps Intel really will return to Macs next year?

Robert Hart
Robert Hart
OpenAI mothballed plans to spin out hardware and robotics divisions.

Sam Altman considered a similar structure to Google’s Alphabet, which separates its core search business from ventures like Verily (health) and Waymo (self-driving cars), The Wall Street Journal reports. OpenAI has been cutting back on side quests ahead of a potential IPO and could revive spinout plans later on, the report says.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
FTC settles Kochava location data lawsuit.

App analytics firm Kochava and its subsidiary, Collective Data Solutions, will be prohibited from “selling, licensing, transferring, sharing or disclosing” sensitive location data without express consent from consumers. The ban settles the FTC’s lawsuit alleging that Kochava sold sensitive geolocation details that could track people seeking or performing abortions.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
A foldable iPhone dummy — on video.

Unbox Therapy published a video featuring a dummy unit of the foldable phone, which Apple is apparently set to debut this fall. I’m not sure I like the wide aspect ratio, but I guess we’ll have to see how Apple markets it if the phone is real.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Apple is turning to the Supreme Court in its legal battle with Epic.

After losing its contempt appeal in its ongoing dispute with Epic, Apple has asked for a stay in a mandate that would let the US Northern District Court of California court determine the fees Apple can charge for purchases made outside the App Store, 9to5Mac reports. Apple also plans to petition the Supreme Court to look at the case.