Tidal won’t pay royalties on AI-generated music but isn’t banning it outright
Tidal shared its new policies regarding AI-generated music today and how the platform plans to "protect artists" and "inform listeners." Instead of banning it outright, starting on July 15th Tidal will label tracks it has identified as being 100 percent AI-generated with an icon. But starting today those tracks will no longer be monetizable. "Tidal's priority is ensuring royalties go to original works directly produced, written, and performed by people. We will therefore not knowingly attribute royalties to music we identify as wholly AI-generated," the company's announcement reads.
The platform didn't specify what tools it's using to iden …
Sony’s next-gen PlayStation will go ‘beyond the living room’
Sony hinted in a recent Q&A with investors that the next generation PlayStation will offer some kind of experience that lets you play games outside of your living room.
Here's the relevant portion from the transcript, emphasis mine:
Q: How can you bring back to the PlayStation platform users who migrated to gaming PCs during the COVID period? In aiming for profit growth, are there limitations on what can be done in the short term, or do you see the potential for more significant changes with the next-generation platform?
A: PlayStation has long been strongly associated with the idea of playing in the living room. However, in recent yea …
OpenAI is teasing new hardware… for Codex
OpenAI is releasing some sort of device related to its AI-powered coding tool, Codex, on July 15th. In a video posted to X on Monday, OpenAI shows a square-shaped device with several buttons, alongside the caption, "Your favorite Codex shortcuts are getting an upgrade."
This isn't the mysterious AI-powered device OpenAI is working on with former Apple designer Jony Ive, however. As shown in the teaser, OpenAI is launching the device in partnership with Work Louder, a company that sells an array of mechanical keyboards and macro pads with mappable keys, dials, and switches.
The silhouette of the device shown by OpenAI looks a bit like Work …
At $499, Apple’s M3-powered iPad Air is a good deal
Most of Apple’s price increases have gone into effect, resulting in iPads and other products costing hundreds more than they did a few days ago. If last week’s Prime Day sale wasn’t a good time to consider buying an iPad, we found a deal worth considering that’s just under $500 right now. The 128GB iPad Air that has the M3 processor, plus both Wi-Fi and 5G cellular support, costs $499 at Best Buy. At just $50 more than the base iPad (now $449, up from $349), it’s a significantly faster and all-around better tablet.
11-inch iPad Air M3
The last-gen 11-inch iPad Air features Apple’s fast M3 chip with GPU upgrades like dynamic caching for smoother performance in demanding apps. It also supports the Apple Pencil Pro and the newest Magic Keyboard, which features a larger build and a 14-key function row. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
While the last-gen Air matches the base iPad’s 11-inch screen size, the Air has a laminated, antireflective coating, plus a wider color gamut. In other words, it’s the better choice for entertainment or for creating content. In terms of specs, its M3 processor leaps ahead of the A16 with more cores, not to mention Apple Intelligence support (as well as support for iPadOS 27 coming later this year). It also boasts Apple Pencil Pro support.
It stacks up well compared to the newer M4 Air, too, which now starts at $749 for the Wi-Fi model, and a whopping $899 for the cellular. The M3 processor is only slightly slower, it has 8GB of memory instead of 12GB, and its wireless radio is older, but it’s otherwise nearly identical, for much less money. $500 for the M3 Air is a steal.
Read our iPad Air (M3) review.
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July 4th sales are typically a precursor to what we’d see during a mid-July Prime Day, but obviously things are flipped around this year. Last week’s big Prime Day sale is over, yet there are a number of familiar deals still poking around in the week leading up to the nation’s birthday. Best Buy is hosting its own 4th of July sale, for example. And, if you’re on the hunt for tech and gear for the outdoors, REI is hosting a sale on products that will last through the week. There are even some Apple deals you can get, some of which are selling at pre-price hike levels.
We’ll be logging the best July 4th sales we find this week below, keeping the list updated with notable discounts as we spot them.
Baseus AM52 power bank (with built-in cable)
Through June 30th, Verge readers can get a low price on the best, fastest Qi2 10,000mAh power bank around. This AM52 features a built-in USB-C cable and a soft-touch MagSafe-ready magnet.
Where to Buy:
Asus ROG Falcata
The Falcata is stuffed with features (wired / wireless connectivity, split ergo design, Hall effect customization), and it’s a bargain to get it all at Best Buy’s 4th of July pricing. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
11-inch iPad Air M3
The last-gen 11-inch iPad Air comes with Apple’s M3 chip and GPU upgrades. It’s available in dark gray, blue, purple, and a “starlight” cream shade. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
LG C5 OLED TV
LG’s C5 features a 120Hz panel, along with four HDMI 2.1 ports and support for both AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync. The gamer-friendly TV also packs all the hallmarks of a modern OLED, including deep black levels and sublime contrast.
Where to Buy:
Apple AirTags (second-generation)
Apple’s latest AirTag features an upgraded ultra-wideband chip for more precise location tracking, a noticeably louder speaker, and an expanded Bluetooth range. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
OhSnap MCON controller
The MCON is one of the best mobile controllers for iPhones. While too big for most pockets, its slide-out design is satisfying, and its folding grips make it a bit more comfortable than Backbone’s controller. Watch Sean’s hands-on.
Where to Buy:
Osprey Poco Child Carrier
Backpacks make it easy to carry precious cargo, but for a relatively new dad’s most precious cargo — their tiny kiddo — Osprey’s Poco child carrier is a must-have backpacking accessory. It’s comfortable for the kid, and the built-in sunshade and rain protector can keep them relaxed and dry while dad does all the hard work.
Where to Buy:
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
The Nova Pro Wireless aims to be the one headset to rule them all. It features multiple ways to connect wirelessly, active noise cancellation, great sound quality, and swappable batteries. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Samsung microSD Express Card for Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch 2 has 256GB of storage, but that won’t get you very far if you’ve built up a medium-sized digital game library. Samsung’s Nintendo-branded 256GB microSD express card doubles the console’s available storage.
Where to Buy:
Motorola Razr 2025
Look, you could get something boring yet good like Google’s Pixel 10A. Or, for less, you can get a more versatile folding Android phone that has multiple screens.
Where to Buy:
Apple HomePod (second-gen)
Sure, it’s not technically a deal, but rather the pre-price hike amount. Most other retailers are no longer offering the HomePod at this price.
Where to Buy:
Glocusent LED Neck Reading Light
Glocusent’s LED Neck Reading Light is a great personal book light that illuminates what you’re reading without bothering others. It even has adjustable brightness and warmth settings to dial it in to your liking.
Where to Buy:
Nex Playground
The Nex Playground is a motion-controlled console that connects to your TV and uses a built-in camera and AI to track your movements as you play. Designed for ages five and up, it comes with games like Fruit Ninja and Whack-a-Mole Deluxe. You can download more games, including titles featuring popular characters like Elmo, with a paid Play Pass subscription.
Where to Buy:
Insta360 X5
The Insta360 X5 is a powerful 360-degree camera that offers a larger sensor and new image processing. It can capture 4K footage at up to 120fps or 8K footage at up to 30fps, producing sharp video with rich colors. It also features more durable lenses than prior models, which you can swap out if they get damaged. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Peak Design Everyday Sling Bag (3L)
Wear it over your shoulder or around your hip. The Everyday Sling Bag has two large and four small internal pockets to hold items, each with a waterproof bottom liner.
Where to Buy:
Keychron K2 HE keyboard
Keychron’s Hall effect keyboard allows for adjustable, per-key actuation points and rapid trigger support. You can also set dynamic keystrokes (the ability to trigger several different functions depending on how far you press or release a key).
Where to Buy:
Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp
The Uplighter is one of the most fascinating floor lamps you can get. It can supply normal light, or you can customize its top-mounted lights to display various colors and soothing patterns across your wall and ceiling. Read Sheena’s hands-on.
Where to Buy:
Kobo Libra Colour
The Libra Colour is one of the first e-readers from Kobo with color. It packs physical-page turning buttons, stylus compatibility, and supports a broad range of file formats, while making it easy to borrow books from the Overdrive library system. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones
They might cost $50 more than their predecessor, but the latest iteration of Sony’s best-in-class noise-canceling headphones up the ante in every way. Sony made subtle improvements to every facet of the WH-1000XM6, from sound quality to ANC performance, while wisely bringing back the foldable, travel-friendly design last seen on the XM4.
Where to Buy:
iPad (2025)
Apple’s entry-level iPad is an excellent tablet for casual use, even if it is getting a little long in the tooth. Its high-res screen is great for watching video, and its A16 processor is still fast enough to handle light games and productivity apps. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
WhatsApp is launching usernames: here’s how to reserve yours
WhatsApp is introducing a new way to add and chat with contacts, without having to share your phone number. Usernames will launch "later this year," in a move to make the communications platform "even more private," allowing you to keep your phone number concealed from people who aren't already in your contacts.
Usernames are available to reserve starting this week, giving you time to claim a specific handle you may already be using elsewhere before the WhatsApp username feature officially launches. The username launch will be rolling out gradually over the coming months, and users will be notified when the feature is available in their cou …
Lawmakers want to ban AI companies from selling your health data
A new proposal would ban the sale of Americans' health and location information to data brokers - including information people reveal to an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Claude.
In the coming weeks, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) are planning to debut a new version of the Health and Location Data Protection Act that's better suited to the AI era. The former version of the bill, first introduced in June 2022, prohibited data brokers from collecting and selling health and location data. Four years later, it's expanded to ban other companies from selling such data to brokers, and to specifically cover …
Dbrand cancels Companion Cube because it didn’t actually ask Valve for permission
Dbrand announced Monday that it's refunding everyone who bought its Steam Machine Companion Cube, which it said it made "without a license from Valve." Dbrand announced the Portal-themed Steam Machine accessory in November and took preorders for it last Monday. But a few days later, the product had disappeared from the company's website and the teaser video promoting it had been made private after Valve contacted the company.
Dbrand says that the Companion Cube became "the second-fastest selling product in our 15-year history, behind only the Switch 2 Killswitch" after it opened preorders on June 22nd. However, Valve's legal team reached ou …
These camera-free smart glasses made me feel like Tony Stark
Xgimi, the Chinese company known for its all-in-one smart projectors, is expanding its portfolio with a new line of screen-equipped smart glasses that first debuted at CES 2026. Unlike AR glasses from companies like Meta and Snap, Xgimi’s new privacy-focused MemoMind One skip cameras for a lighter and more discreet design that helps hide their AI-powered smart functionality. After testing them for a week, I’m completely sold on the idea of having a screen floating in front of my eyes constantly feeding me useful information that no one else can see, but the MemoMind One don’t entirely deliver on my Tony Stark fantasies just yet. There’s some unique functionality I can’t get from my smart watch or phone, but I’m going to need a little more to justify dropping a half-grand (or more) on another smart wearable.
Xgimi is launching a Kickstarter for the glasses today, and the company plans to start shipping them in late July. There are three styles to choose from, and while full pricing will be $599, or $879 with prescription lenses, backing the Kickstarter discounts them to $399/$499. You can also customize the appearance of some of the styles with different colors, but that increases the price to $699/$879, which is discounted to $449/$499.
I tested a beta version with beta software and a buggy mobile app that’s missing features. So while I can’t weigh in on what the final experience will be like, after a week I was impressed with some features and frustrated with others.
Similar to the $800 Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, the MemoMind One use a pair of micro-LED projectors and transparent (but noticeable) waveguide prisms in each lens to create a display only you can see. While the Ray-Ban Display goes full color, the MemoMind One’s screen is bright green. It reminds me of the Apple II computers I used in grade school, but it doesn’t feel like I’m using dated technology because the experience of staring at a private screen hanging in midair still feels kinda futuristic. You can adjust the distance, position, and brightness of the display, and while the bright green color helps it pop and remain always visible indoors, it was hard to see outside on a sunny day if I wasn’t looking at something dark in the background to create more contrast.
At around 47 grams, the MemoMind One are heavier than my reading glasses but still feel lightweight and comfortable, even with the oversized end pieces on each arm stuffed with batteries good for up to 16 hours of use, charging contacts, Harman Kardon speakers, and other electronics. Most people I wore them around had no idea they had any smart features — unless I was listening to something. As much as I want to use the MemoMind One as earbud alternatives, people around me could easily hear what was playing through their speakers even at the lowest volume, including phone calls that were far from private.
Raising your head or pressing the glasses’ single button near the right hinge activates the MemoMind One’s home screen, which shows the time, battery level, date, and weather on the left with customizable info on the right. Through the app you can choose up to four different sections such as stocks, news headlines from predefined sources (you can’t add your own RSS feeds), upcoming calendar events synced from your phone, a to-do list, and notifications.
I was most excited to use the MemoMind One as a discreet alternative to constantly glancing down at my Apple Watch to check notifications or quickly respond to text messages, but the glasses are definitely not a smart watch. Most of the notifications from your phone will pop up on the glasses’ display with a condensed version of the message so you get gist of what they’re about. But there’s no way to read more than what’s in the brief notification, and you can’t respond to messages or emails through the glasses.
Pressing and holding the glasses’ button or saying “hi, Memo” lets you interact with the MemoMind One’s AI assistant through voice commands while responses are displayed as text with the option to have them read back to you. Responses typically took about four or five seconds, and I found myself using the assistant quite frequently instead of the current version of Siri on my watch. But I’ll admit I was disappointed there’s no way to privately ask the AI assistant questions to make myself seem smarter than I really am.
Double-pressing the glasses’ button brings up a Quick Launch section that can be customized with access to three different functions. These can include a teleprompter that will display and scroll a script that keeps up with your speaking cadence, captions generated on the fly while you’re watching something, and a voice recorder that shows a near real-time transcription of what glasses can hear while the mobile app can AI-generate summaries.
As a Canadian living close to Quebec with abysmal French skills, I was eager to test the MemoMind One’s live translation feature. A Dialog Mode for back-and-forth conversations is promised, but for now I was only able to test the glasses’ Listen-in Mode, which generates translated transcriptions on the display.
The speed and accuracy is good, but it’s very much dependent on how clearly the glasses’ microphone picks up the other person. Testing it with my wife speaking French from across the room required her to raise her voice above a normal volume while background noises like music playing easily tripped it up. Having quick access to the feature is convenient, but the translator can’t recognize the language being spoken, so you have to first open the mobile app and select what languages the tool is translating between.
I was similarly frustrated when trying to use the MemoMind One’s mapping feature. Glasses with a heads-up display guiding you to a location is a neat idea, but you can’t ask the AI to route you to a destination. You need to open the mobile app, and the feature is currently limited to walking and cycling directions.
Xgimi is heavily promoting the privacy aspect of the camera-free MemoMind One, but an optional feature called Moments is anything but. The glasses constantly record everything and everyone around you to generate a frequently inaccurate summary of your day. It’s supposed to serve as a sort of auto-generated journal highlighting important moments, but it gets a lot of details wrong and frequently confuses what you actually did since it’s relying solely on audio. Xgimi plans to charge $19.99/month for the premium feature, but a better upgrade is to keep Moments turned off.
I’ve no doubt glasses with screens will be a big part of our future, but I’m not yet convinced the MemoMind One’s features will make me want to wear them all day long. While they offer a few very useful features, they feel too dependent on the mobile app. If I’m going to the trouble of pulling out my phone, I’ll just use it to complete a given task. But there’s some exciting potential here in a design that doesn’t look obnoxious to wear, and I’m eager to revisit the MemoMind One once Xgimi has finalized and polished its software and features.
Photography by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge
Supreme Court allows firing of FTC commissioners, ends agency independence
The Supreme Court just placed once-independent agencies more firmly under presidential control. The court ruled in Trump v. Slaughter with a 6-3 vote that President Donald Trump had the authority to fire the Federal Trade Commission's two Democratic commissioners, even though it broke with decades of prior legal precedent at the time.
The justices have officially killed that precedent, based on a 1935 Supreme Court case known as Humphrey's Executor, which determined that independent agency commissioners could only be fired for cause. The ruling represents the latest expansion of presidential power, this time under the principle of the unita …