The Verge·Thursday, January 15, 2026

The Verge - Thursday, January 15, 2026

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

The best e-reader to buy right now

Any ebook reader will let you cram a Beauty and the Beast-sized library’s worth of books in your pocket, but so will your phone. An ebook reader offers a more book-like reading experience, with fewer distractions and less eye strain, and many include extra features, like adjustable frontlighting. Some really are pocketable. Others are waterproof or offer physical page-turning buttons, while a few even let you take notes. I’ve been using ebook readers for nearly a decade, and I’ve gone hands-on w

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X claims it has stopped Grok from undressing people, but of course it hasn’t

Following the proliferation of the nonconsensual sexual deepfakes on X, the platform has detailed changes to the Grok account's ability to edit images of real people. They match the changes reported on Tuesday by The Telegraph, as Grok's responses to prompts like "put her in a bikini" became censored. But in tests of the feature on Wednesday, we found that it was still relatively easy to get Grok to generate revealing deepfakes, while X and xAI owner Elon Musk blamed the problems on "user reque

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The Stream Deck Plus is back to its lowest price

The Stream Deck Plus is on sale for $159.99. If you’re looking for a simple way to streamline your workflow, the Elgato Stream Deck Plus is a handy productivity tool for automating everyday tasks. Right now, it’s on sale for $159.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, which is its best price to date. Like the standard Stream Deck, the Stream Deck Plus comes with eight programmable keys you can use to automate tasks, such as muting yourself on a video call or turning off smart lights.

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Verizon’s wireless network is down for many people nationwide

The first big outage of 2026 is here, as Verizon customers across the US, including several of our phones, complain that service has been spotty or nonexistent starting at around noon ET, with phones switching to SOS Mode and being unable to connect. This cell service outage follows a "software issue" that cut off service for many people in August for several hours, and while Verizon has acknowledged the issue, there is no word yet on when it will be fixed. Verizon: We are aware of an issue impa

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Naya Connect is a modular mechanical keyboard system for the indecisive

Naya has already shipped one successful Kickstarter for a weird keyboard. The Naya Create was an ergonomic split deck with four swappable controller addons: a touchpad, a trackball, a rotary encoder, or a 6DoF spatial mouse. The Connect takes that modular concept, applies it to a more traditional flat keyboard form factor, and expands the ecosystem to be even more flexible. And clearly, people are into the idea, because it hit its minuscule funding goal in just six minutes. The Naya Connect has

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Amazon didn’t have to go far to find its live-action Kratos

Amazon has announced the first cast member of its God of War live-action adaptation on Prime Video. Ryan Hurst, known for his work as Opie in Sons of Anarchy and Beta in The Walking Dead, will play the titular God of War, Kratos. Though the casting might come as a bit of a disappointment to the fans hopeful that Christopher Judge, Kratos' award-winning voice actor in the games, might have been tapped for the role in some fashion, Hurst has familiarity with series. He voiced Thor in God of War: R

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BMW says electric M3 will be a ‘new level’ of performance

BMW teased its forthcoming all-electric M-series performance sedan today, promising that the quad-motor M3 sports car would feature specs that are truly next level when it arrives in 2027. The M3 will have four electric motors and simulated gear shifting, a feature that is quickly becoming a must-have for electrified sports cars. BMW says the setup unlocks the benefits of both rear and all-wheel drive, with the ability to decouple the front axle. Four motors, though, is a bit of an outlier in t

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I’ve tested 30 smart locks, and these are the best

A smart lock is an easy solution to some common problems. Locked yourself out? Need to let a friend in to water the plants? Your latchkey kid lost their key? Hands are full, and it’s raining cats and dogs? A smart lock solves all of these problems and more. One of the best smart home upgrades you can make, a smart lock gives you remote control access to your house from anywhere, plus easy, key-free ways to unlock and lock your door. Smart locks also remember everything that happened, so they can

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Bose’s first-gen QC Ultra headphones have returned to their best price to date

This year’s CES introduced a bevy of unique headphones, including Fender’s first set and a pair that roll up to become a Bluetooth speaker when you want to share your music with friends. However, despite the interesting advancements, we doubt any of them will dethrone our favorite pair for travel: the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. Thankfully, the first-gen noise-canceling cans are currently on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from Bose in several colors for $279 ($150 off), matching

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Netflix’s first original podcasts star Pete Davidson and Michael Irvin

Netflix is launching its first pair of original video podcasts, hosted by Saturday Night Live alum Pete Davidson and NFL commentator and former star Michael Irvin. While The Pete Davidson Show makes its debut on January 30th, you can find Irvin's The White House on the streaming service on January 19th. The two shows will join Netflix's growing slate of video podcasts that it has licensed from Spotify, iHeartMedia, and Barstool Sports, including My Favorite Murder, The Bill Simmons Podcast, and

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