Posts

How Keurig saved — and ruined — your coffee

Image
Before Keurig, the coffee in your office was almost certainly terrible. Old, burned, made by someone who would rather poorly eyeball than properly measure. Just altogether gross. After Keurig? You could make your own coffee, a cup at a time, exactly when you needed it. The single-cup brewer was an elegant solution to an extremely common problem. At least, that's how it started. On this episode of Version History , we dig into the history of the Keurig, and the ways in which the idea got vastly bigger than anyone expected. K-Cups and Keurig machines became ubiquitous in offices all across the US, then quickly began to invade our homes as well … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/OHK4iBF
Post a Comment
Read more

Vizio accidentally made the best dumb TV on the market

Image
Vizio OS works well, but you don’t even need to use it. When I first started testing Vizio's 65-inch Mini LED Quantum TV, I thought the big story was that Vizio was back and that it had a quantum-dot TV for under $398 - the cheapest on the market. Vizio's been pretty quiet since it was acquired by Walmart in 2024, so putting out a TV with quantum dots, which allow for higher brightness levels and more accurate color, at a budget price seemed like a strong comeback. But that's not the big story. While those two points are intriguing, the big news about the Mini LED Quantum TV is that Vizio accidentally made the best dumb TV on the market. Vizio Mini LED Quantum TV Where to Buy: $398 at Walmart ( … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/in4d2Gz
Post a Comment
Read more

Xbox is a disaster

Image
Gears of War: E-Day. This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the bleak state of the video game industry, follow Andrew Webster . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started Microsoft closed out Summer Game Fest with a bang. The company's annual June showcase was packed with crowd-pleasers: Halo , Gears of War , Fable , a translucent Xbox, and even some pleasant surprises like new Persona and Crazy Taxi games. It was the kind of event that harkened back to the boisterous days of E3, when the industry was in a healthier place an … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/rMOG6Hx
Post a Comment
Read more

NASA launched an emergency mission to stop the Swift Observatory from crashing to Earth

Image
Engineers from Katalyst Space Technologies testing Link. | Image: NASA/Scott Wiessinger The Swift Observatory was launched in 2004, but recent solar storms have pushed its orbit lower, and it's in danger of burning up in Earth's atmosphere as soon as this year. To try and stave off its demise , NASA has enlisted Katalyst Space Technologies. The company's Link spacecraft launched Friday with the goal of intercepting Swift, which has no propulsion system, and boosting its orbit back to its original position. Right now, Swift is circling at an altitude of 224 miles, and Link is aiming to raise that by about 150 miles. Using a three-armed spacecraft to lift a satellite 150 miles higher into orbit is challenging enough, but the spee … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/6laGRTL
Post a Comment
Read more

Hey number pad lovers, this is a keyboard we can finally agree on

Image
I’m right-hand dominant but a lefty at heart. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge I know a vocal group of people who swear by the number pad on their keyboard. And yet, for years I haven't cared about using one - until I put my hands on the Epomaker RT98 . It's a mechanical keyboard with a charming retro aesthetic, a fun CRT-like screen, VIA compatibility, a nice typing feel, and most importantly, a modular number pad that can be moved to either side. It's a clever compromise in a budget friendly-ish board, allowing you to further customize your setup without losing the functionality of the coveted "tenkey." But like many mechanical keyboards out there, it's got some unique quirks and tradeoffs. Epomaker RT98 Score: 7 Pr … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/Ra3kQiw
Post a Comment
Read more

The square-ish phone that I wanted to love

Image
A great concept that falls flat. The Ikko MindOne Pro is delightfully small. I keep calling it a square phone, which isn't quite right; the screen is square, but the phone itself is slightly rectangular. The camera flips up so you can use it for selfies - you can even open it partway to use as a stand or a kind of PopSocket. There's a Clicks-style keyboard accessory that also adds a magnetic ring and a headphone jack. I tried so hard to like it, but this phone is a miss no matter how you look at it. I used it like a normal phone. I downloaded a minimalist launcher and tried using it as kind of a dumb phone. I put the keyboard case on. I took the keyboard case off. Nothing … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/Bk7E2iJ
Post a Comment
Read more

The fanfiction community is at war with AI — and itself

Image
Fanfiction communities are trying to hunt down writers who haven’t written works with their own hands. | Image: Álvaro Bernis / The Verge Over the past week, a new fanworks movement has kicked off, with the aim to root out authors using generative AI. But the detection methods being implemented are questionable, and any fanfic writer could be caught in the crossfire. Broad distaste around the use of Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI tools has long been a thing in creative communities , including the world of fanfiction. Readers and writers have passed around tips for spotting supposedly AI-generated works, citing anything from em dashes to the broad concept of purple prose. But on June 29th, an anonymous X account called @heatedrivalryai promised a seemingly more reliable solution … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/HizUp3f
Post a Comment
Read more