The Verge·Sunday, January 11, 2026

The Verge - Sunday, January 11, 2026

10 stories~15 min

Listen to this episode

Hear all 10 stories summarized and read aloud.

▶Play on Tera.fm

Stories Covered

How TiVo killed live TV

For a while, it seemed like everyone had a TiVo. It was a plot point on major TV shows; it had A-list Hollywood fans; it became a verb as ubiquitous as Google or Xerox. The love was well-earned, since TiVo had created a product that felt genuinely like magic. You could pause live TV. And rewind it. And even set shows to record for later, knowing they'd be there whenever you needed them. There's a reason you almost certainly don't have a TiVo now, though. The company quickly became a victim of it

Read original →

I went looking for weird phones and CES 2026 did not disappoint

Not every phone needs to be a black rectangle. It's January, which means there's a whole year of rectangular glass slabs ahead of us. But before that happens, I managed to find phones of a different shape lurking around the corners of the CES convention center halls. They weren't center stage, of course. That was reserved for robots doing laundry badly. But in the margins at tech's biggest show, I saw some glimmers of hope that the future of phones might not look as same-y as it has for the pa

Read original →

Will you have to show your ID at the app store?

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the action (and inaction) of lawmakers seeking to rein in tech platforms, follow Lauren Feiner. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started In the offline world, age verification is often as simple as flashing a cashier your driver's license to buy a pack of beer, or an adult magazine (for whoever still does this kind of thing).

Read original →

Musk says he’s going to open-source the new X algorithm next week

In 2023, what was then still called Twitter, open-sourced at least portions of the code that decided what it served up in your feed. But that GitHub repository is hopelessly out of date, with the vast majority of the files appearing to be from the initial upload three years ago. Elon Musk says that in seven days, he will open-source X's new algorithm and finally give people a peek behind the curtain and possibly a technical explanation as to why your feed is 90 percent rage bait. Elon has always

Read original →

These are the smart home gadgets that impressed me at CES 2026

A giant version of Lockin’s wirelessly charged V7 smart lock was a showstopper on the CES show floor. I picked Aqara's Smart Lock U400 and Roborock's Saros Rover robot vacuum as the overall best smart home gadgets from CES 2026, but there were gazillions of other great gadgets on the show floor. It was a banner year for smart home products, but the big trends I saw weren't about new product categories; they were about bringing better features and lower prices to smart home staples such as sma

Read original →

The FCC is letting SpaceX launch 7,500 more Starlink satellites

The FCC approved SpaceX's plan to launch an additional 7,500 Gen2 Starlink satellites on Friday. That brings the total number of satellites the company will have in orbit to around 15,000 worldwide. As part of the approval, the government is also waiving previous requirements that prevented overlapping coverage and enhanced capacity. SpaceX originally sought approval for 30,000 satellites, but for now, the FCC is only greenlighting 15,000. The company will be on a deadline, too. The government s

Read original →

Amazfit’s Active 2 tracker and Blu-rays are this week’s best deals

The start of the year is typically a great time to snag deals on health and fitness gear, including trackers and wireless earbuds, and this week was no exception. We found plenty on sale and highlighted the best picks below. Not all of the deals are related to New Year’s resolutions, though; there are also a number of other worthwhile deals worth checking out. Despite the Consumer Electronics Show wrapping up earlier this week, we’re already seeing deals roll in, for example. And if your main go

Read original →

I’ve never used a trackball, but Keychron’s Nape Pro looks like the perfect one

Put this ball under your board. Keychron announced new mechanical keyboards with marathon battery life at CES, but this trackball stole the spotlight. The Nape Pro is Keychron's first trackball, and its slender frame means it can work on your desk in multiple ways. You can keep it to the right or left of a keyboard like a traditional trackball, or you can tuck it in front and use it without moving your hands from the keys. That positioning makes it a bit like a giant Lenovo TrackPoint, typical

Read original →

I replaced Windows with Linux and everything’s going great

Is this… bliss? | Screenshot: Nathan Edwards / The Verge Greetings from the year of Linux on my desktop. In November, I got fed up and said screw it, I'm installing Linux. Since that article was published, I have dealt with one minor catastrophe after another. None of that has anything to do with Linux, mind you. It just meant I didn't install it on my desktop until Sunday evening. My goal here is to see how far I can get using Linux as my main OS without spending a ton of time futzing with

Read original →

We tried to get humanoid robots to do the laundry

At CES this year, humanoid robots appeared to be closer than ever to moving into our homes. LG introduced CLOiD, a household robot it says can handle chores like preparing food and loading the washing machine. SwitchBot showed off the Onero H1, another home helper built to tackle everyday tasks, and Boston Dynamics, WIRobotics, Zeroth, and others debuted even more impressive humanoids. Advances in robotics and AI have made robots smarter and more capable than ever. The question is whether they'r

Read original →