Doodle generative compositions in your browser with Musical Spirograph
Doodle generative compositions in your browser with Musical Spirograph

I remember having a Spirograph as a kid and being obsessed with it. Its geometric patterns are hypnotic and gorgeous. I also love generative music composition. So bringing those two things together in a browser tab, I’m hooked. Musical Spirograph is a relatively simple concept. A set of points dash around the screen according to […]

Amazon just hiked the prices for Echo, Fire TV, and Kindle products by up to 60 percent
Amazon just hiked the prices for Echo, Fire TV, and Kindle products by up to 60 percent

Citing “significant increases in memory and storage component costs,” Amazon has raised prices on Echos, Kindles, Fire TVs, and Eeros by up to 60 percent, as first reported by Fortune. The cheapest products in Amazon’s lineup were hit hardest, with the Echo Dot smart speaker jumping from $49.99 to $79.99. The Fire TV Stick 4K […]

An okay laptop with 16GB of RAM is better than a nice laptop with 8GB, and this $520 HP OmniBook proves it
An okay laptop with 16GB of RAM is better than a nice laptop with 8GB, and this $520 HP OmniBook proves it

Laptop prices are out of whack. $500 used to get you a tolerable laptop, and $900 got you a really good one. They often had similar CPU, RAM, and storage options because that stuff was comparatively cheap; the difference was often in build quality and screen rather than power. But RAMageddon has thrown everything off. […]

Two great new repairable gadgets
Two great new repairable gadgets

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 141, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I’m newish here too, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been getting back into the Installer groove, trying out some ergonomic Switch […]

ICYMI: here’s the week’s 7 biggest tech news stories from the major GTA 6 leaks to Meta’s $1.4 trillion lawsuit
ICYMI: here’s the week’s 7 biggest tech news stories from the major GTA 6 leaks to Meta’s $1.4 trillion lawsuit

The week’s biggest tech news stories from Google, Meta, Rockstar and more for August 22, 2026.

How Cisco is confronting the security crisis of agentic AI

“There are shadow agents running in almost every environment we look at,” warns Cisco’s VP of product for identity, who oversees the company’s Duo Agentic Identity product designed to solve the problem.

HoverAir’s transforming modular drone has already been halted in the US
HoverAir’s transforming modular drone has already been halted in the US

I am so sorry, fellow US gadget fans: the FCC’s drone ban appears to have struck again. The HoverAir Versa – a baby steadycam with snap-on propeller wings that transform it into a drone – has already stopped taking US orders just three days after its Indiegogo debut, and may be forced to abandon shipping […]

TikTok will pay $400 million to settle DOJ child privacy lawsuit
TikTok will pay $400 million to settle DOJ child privacy lawsuit

The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that TikTok will pay $400 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2024 over allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In the lawsuit, the DOJ alleged that TikTok collected data from children without notifying parents or obtaining consent and did not delete the accounts […]

GTA 6 Leaks Prompt Take-Two to Seek Subpoenas for Microsoft, Discord Data

The requests target Discord accounts and a GitHub repository connected to the ongoing GTA 6 leak investigation.

Over 1 million people have clicked LinkedIn’s AI slop button
Over 1 million people have clicked LinkedIn’s AI slop button

LinkedIn actually announced a “Seems like AI slop” button on July 30th, and the company says that a lot of people have already used it. According to a Thursday post from chief product officer Hari Srinivasan, “over a million people” have clicked on the button, which is accessible from the three dots menu on a […]