When I started at The Verge in 2014, I needed an excuse to learn about technology. My background was in covering video games, television, and pop culture, and I lacked the basic cognitive functions to hold a phone above my head without dropping

What are Snapchat Spectacles, and do I have to be a teen to wear them?

Nov 16th, 2016 21m 3s

Snapchat Spectacles, the mysterious and incredibly hyped hardware from Snap, Inc., have arrived. Vending machines for the video camera sunglasses are springing up around the country, first in California and Oklahoma, and who knows where else ne

How smartphone cameras took over the world

Oct 25th, 2016 25m 27s

In the early 2000s, the digital photography revolution made it possible for miniaturized camera hardware and image sensors to be packed into cell phones without adding a significant amount of weight. Then the iPhone was announced. As the smartp

How HTTPS is slowly but surely making the internet safer

Oct 19th, 2016 29m 42s

Over the past couple years web security has become a staple of the nightly news. The stories usually hinge on government leaks, foreign hackers, or web encryption. There’s menacing subtext that practically everything put online is vulnerable t

Why is everyone making GIFs of themselves?

Oct 13th, 2016 14m 41s

Our most sacred and special task as human beings is to document our own existence with a single-minded dedication. That's why we have massive iCloud photo libraries, 15GB of video of that really cool Springsteen concert on our phones, Instagram

How immersive haunted houses and participatory plays are making Halloween scarier

Oct 6th, 2016 24m 3s

Here at The Verge, we love Halloween and everything about it. Horror movies, non-horror seasonal movies, seasonal beverages, seasonal bots, this Pumpkin Guy, horrifying makeup tutorials, poop-shaped candy — bring it on. In particular, we love t

Why smartphone batteries explode, and why they may get worse

Sep 20th, 2016 16m 34s

Samsung has officially recalled the Galaxy Note 7 worldwide, after more than 90 of the large smartphones in the US overheated due to defective batteries. Overheating is, in this case, an understatement, as some owners have claimed their smartph

How Snapchat’s goofy faces made everyone comfortable with selfies

Sep 13th, 2016 13m 4s

I didn’t take many selfies until I downloaded Snapchat. But like so many people I’ve fallen in love with lenses, the optional tools that make my face look like a dog or an emoji or an advertisement for junk food. Now, a day doesn’t go by that I

The good and bad news of the Earth-sized planet Proxima Centauri b

Sep 8th, 2016 20m 47s

Late last month, news broke of the exoplanet Proxima Centauri b. Orbiting the closest star to our Solar System, there’s a lot to love about Proxima b since it shares a few key traits with our own home planet. But before we start making interg

A few simple tech tips for living in a dorm or a New York apartment

Aug 30th, 2016 22m 58s

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A simple explanation of No Man’s Sky and its internet-fueled controversy

Aug 25th, 2016 16m 15s

The first trailer for No Man’s Sky, published in December 2013, promised a universe with enough planets, creatures, and vegetation that it could not be fully explored by one player in a lifetime. The hype was immediate, and it only continued to

Hate going to the grocery store? Maybe it's time to try food-delivery services

Aug 17th, 2016 17m 8s

Imagine if grocery shopping was just another online subscription service, like Netflix or Spotify. You complete a survey, sharing your likes and dislikes, and the platform sends, week after week, precisely measured portions of proteins, veggies

Why Sony and Microsoft are already announcing and releasing new consoles

Aug 10th, 2016 16m 11s

A new round of video game consoles has began last week with the release of Microsoft’s One S. The slim, white hardware is a minor upgrade to the original Xbox One, and the predecessor to next year’s flashier upgrade, codenamed Project Scorpio.

Is your neighborhood the next great social media app?

Aug 2nd, 2016 19m 52s

I had never heard of Nextdoor when I lived in New York City. Social media services catering to individual neighborhoods weren’t useful in an apartment building where most tenants lasted a year, and longtime residents kept to themselves. In my f

A podcast explains the power of podcasts

Jul 26th, 2016 16m 39s

For 72 episodes, What’s Tech has invited guests to explain technology and its cultural periphery — from drones and fan fiction to ASMR and biohacking. We were bound to make a podcast about podcasts eventually. This was inevitable.For this mome

Why Pokémon Go is a hit, how it helped Nintendo, and when its moment could fizz out

Jul 19th, 2016 20m 12s

Pokémon Go had a week unlike any video game I’ve covered in my career. Here’s a collection of the posts we penned last week, ranging from players finding dead bodies to Craigslist entrepreneurs selling pre-played accounts.My friend and former

The agony and the ecstasy of life as a webcomic artist

Jul 13th, 2016 13m 36s

As a teenager, my only interaction with the world of webcomics was Achewood. Launched in 2001 and published sporadically ever since, Achewood is like Seinfeld crossed with Adult Swim. It felt for me in the early 2000s like this lone, weird thin

How The Bachelor became social media’s favorite sporting event

Jun 28th, 2016 25m 40s

"Is The Bachelor tech?" You might ask this question while listening to this week’s episode of What’s Tech, a podcast that provides introductory explainers into the many pockets of technology and the culture around them. I believe the answer is

What you need to know about doxxing, the average internet user’s nightmare

Jun 21st, 2016 30m 27s

My entire body clenches when I hear the word doxxing. Each time I write something that, for whatever reason, upsets a corner of the internet, I wonder if my personal information — phone numbers, address, social security number, credit card info

What you should know about torrenting

Jun 14th, 2016 16m 8s

I was a teenager in the days of Napster and LimeWire, when illegal files flowed through the internet like free hamburgers through a freshman dormitory orientation session. I didn't understand the legality of file sharing, let alone the technica

How a computer the size of a credit card is changing education — and GameBoy emulators

Jun 7th, 2016 15m 59s

For longer than I would like to admit, I thought Raspberry Pi was a dessert. I'm not proud of that. Fortunately, I eventually learned what Raspberry Pi actually is, and though it's not nearly as tasty, it's just as exciting: an affordable, cust

How people play Nintendo games on a computer, and why that's probably illegal

May 31st, 2016 19m 20s

Whether or not you've used a video game emulator yourself — and if you have, it's okay, I'm not gonna snitch — it's impossible to deny their prevalence. Since the age of modern computing, people have figured out how to use code to mimic game co

What are graphics cards, and why do you want one?

May 24th, 2016 28m 3s

Graphics cards! So hot right now. Whether it's the slow realization that jumping on board with the 2016 VR revolution requires a tricked-out gaming rig you'd never previously have dreamed of stashing under your desk, or the blitz of hype surrou

Everything you wanted to know about Drake, but were too afraid to ask

May 17th, 2016 27m 21s

Share on Facebook Tweet Share PinDrake is a former child actor, current pop star, and the secular god of memes — even if he denounces that last label. Born Aubrey Drake Graham, the Canadian celebrity has been inescapable, not just for fans

Why movie theaters should and shouldn't be afraid of VOD

May 10th, 2016 28m 9s

A couple weeks ago, my friend and colleague Bryan Bishop visited Las Vegas for a flashy conference called CinemaCon, where movie studios and theater owners discuss the future of the film industry — a future that isn't as predictable as it used