Room for the Moon is thrillingly weird experimental pop
For obvious reasons, I've had Moon on the mind all week. So I was trying to figure out what I should recommend this week that would thematically fit. Brian Eno's Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks is incredible, and if you haven't listened to it, go do that now. But it also seemed a bit on the nose. Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool also came to mind. But it also felt a bit obvious. Then I remembered Kate NV's Room for the Moon, a record I had on repeat in 2020.
Russian artist Kate Shilonosova chases ideas across 11 tracks inspired by Russian and Japanese pop from the '70s and '80s, as well as children's movies. This obviously leads Room for …
Rockstar Games says hack will have ‘no impact’
Rockstar confirmed on Saturday that some of its data was compromised in a breach of a third-party provider. The group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility, saying it had gained access to the company's Snowflake instances (a cloud-hosting provider popular with enterprise customers) via Anodot, a cost-monitoring and analytics service. The group is demanding a ransom by April 14th, or it will leak the data it has stolen.
In a statement provided to Kotaku, the company said that the compromised data was limited in scope and "this incident has no impact on our organization or our players."
It's unclear exactly which data was compromised, but it …
You can save $20 on the Super Mario Galaxy game bundle when you buy a Nintendo Switch 2
In celebration of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie coming to theaters, Nintendo is making it a little cheaper to get both Super Mario Galaxy games when you buy a $449.99 Nintendo Switch 2 console. Now through May 9th, you can buy a Switch 2 with Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 for $499.99 ($20 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Target. It’s a small discount, but it’s a good deal if you were planning to pick up a console and both games anyway.
Nintendo Switch 2 with Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 bundle
Where to Buy:
Amazon makes it easy to buy the game and console bundle with a single click. However, Best Buy, GameStop, and Target require you to add both the Switch 2 and either the physical or digital edition of the games to your cart to reflect the discount at checkout. In all three instances, you’ll see a promotion banner beneath the price of the Switch 2, which makes it easy to add everything at once.
For a bit of context on the Switch 2, it builds on Nintendo’s original hybrid console with a larger 7.9-inch LCD screen with a 120Hz max refresh rate, eight times the storage (256GB), and significantly snappier performance. The console now comes with magnetic Joy-Con 2 controllers, too, which double as mice in compatible games and feature a shortcut button to access Nintendo’s GameChat feature (if you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription). The Switch 2 has two USB-C ports (both support charging, but only the bottom one supports video output via the included dock), and the console is compatible with most original Switch titles. Thanks to a recent update, many Switch games will even receive a resolution and performance boost on the newer hardware, at least when playing games in handheld mode.
Meanwhile, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 are a part of a recently remastered two-pack, and both games (which originally debuted on the Wii) look much better than before thanks to an improved user interface and 4K resolution via a free Switch 2 update. The bundle also introduces some new features, including an Assist Mode, an in-game music player, and new Storybook Chapters.
You can grab a refurbished 2021 Kindle Paperwhite starting at just $49.99
We spend a lot of time at The Verge waxing poetic about the latest gadgets, but sometimes it’s the last-gen devices from several years ago that offer the better value. The 2021 Kindle Paperwhite is a great case in point — especially since you can grab it at Woot in refurbished condition with lockscreen ads, 8GB of storage, and a 90-day warranty starting at $49.99 through the rest of today, April 12th, which is about $90 off the e-reader’s original list price. Per usual, Amazon Prime members will also receive free shipping with their purchase.
The entry-level refurb models are in full working order but include a unspecified, moderate level of wear and tear — hence their “scratch and dent” designation. Thankfully, Woot is also selling non-S&D models of the 2021 Paperwhite with ads, 8GB of storage, and the same 90-day Woot warranty starting at $69.99. You can even pick up a refurbished Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition — which adds wireless charging, a sensor to automatically adjust the backlight, and four times the storage — for $99.99, or $90 off the step-up model’s original MSRP.
2021 Kindle Paperwhite (refurbished, with ads)
Where to Buy:
Unlike Amazon’s latest entry-level Kindle, the 11th-generation Paperwhite boasts robust IPX8 waterproofing and a 6.8-inch display, which is two inches smaller than the 7-inch screen on the newest Paperwhite. That said, it still boasts the same resolution (300ppi) as the latest model, along with adjustable color temperature, allowing you to read just as easily at night as during the day. The e-reader packs monthslong battery life and USB-C support, too, though its UI isn’t as responsive as on the latest models, nor are page turns quite as fast.
If you’re thinking about upgrading from an older model, Woot’s Paperwhite promo couldn’t come at a better time. Amazon recently announced that it will end support for pre-2012 Kindle devices on May 20th, 2026, which will prevent existing owners from purchasing, borrowing, or downloading new content via the Kindle Store (previously downloaded books will still be accessible). Amazon is offering longtime users a 20 percent discount on new Kindle devices until June 20th; however, even with the discount, you’d still be paying nearly three times as much to nab the 2024 Paperwhite.
Read our 2021 Kindle Paperwhite review.
The Hisense UR9 is a great first shot against OLED’s bow
RGB LED TVs have been the talk of the TV world this year, with models coming from all the manufacturers, and the first one of 2026 is here - the Hisense UR9. It's the first look at the viability of the new backlight technology outside of demo rooms, and it's a step above the traditional mini-LED TVs of years past. HDR is colorful and accurate, it has great brightness, and it is capable of showing colors beyond the P3 color space for movies and TV shows that have wider color. But at $3,500, the 65-inch model I reviewed is priced comparably to high-end OLEDs from LG and Samsung, which is tough competition.
Hisense released the very first RGB …
How AT&T created the most iconic phone ever
For years, even decades, virtually everyone in the United States had the same phone. Nobody really thought about it, it didn't even matter what it was called - it was just The Phone. Well, The Phone was called the Western Electric 500, and when landline phones ruled the world, the Western Electric 500 ruled the landlines. It was so ubiquitous for so long that even if you've never touched a landline, you've encountered the 500. The Phone app on your iPhone? Looks like a 500.
On this episode of Version History, we tell the story of the Western Electric 500, and the deeply strange world it came to represent. David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and pro …
The AI code wars are heating up
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the AI coding and vibe-coding booms, follow David Pierce. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
Writing code was a killer app for AI even before anyone was really talking about AI. In the spring of 2021, 18 months before the world knew the word "ChatGPT," Microsoft debuted the very first product of a partnership with a nonprofit called OpenAI: a tool called GitHub Copilot that watched developers as they wrote code and tried to autocomplete snippets and lines for them …
Allow me to explain why I love this camera that can’t shoot color
I love black-and-white photography. I also adore compact cameras you can always have by your side. So I'm a total mark for the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome, a fixed-lens camera that can't zoom and can't record color - at all. It's a formula that makes the average person ask, "Why?"
I've tested the GR IV Monochrome for over a month, taking it with me everywhere and photographing everything. Let me explain how this pricey little point-and-shoot is likely to go down as one of my all-time-favorite cameras.
Ricoh GR IV Monochrome
Score: 8
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The Netherlands is the first European country to approve Tesla’s supervised Full Self-Driving
Dutch regulators, the RDW, announced that after over a year and a half of testing, it has officially approved Tesla's Full-Self Driving (FSD) Supervised. This makes the Netherlands the first European country to authorize the use of FSD on its roads. This could open the door to wider adoption throughout the EU. Tesla's European headquarters is located in Amsterdam, so it's only fitting that the country is the first to embrace the company's FSD.
In a statement announcing the approval, the RDW said that, "Using driver assistance systems correctly makes a positive contribution to road safety because the driver is supported in their driving task …
Google says Polymarket bets showing up in News was an ‘error’
Polymarket bets started popping up in Google News alongside legitimate news articles. But now those results aren't showing, and Google says they were never supposed to. Spokesperson Ned Adriance told The Verge that "Google News is designed to show sources that create content about current issues, events, and important topics, and we have policies for sites to be eligible to appear. This site briefly appeared in Google News in error, and it is no longer surfacing in News."
The links led directly to betting markets tied to specific news events. For instance, before the results were removed, Futurism searched "will ships transit the strait," ( …