iRobot’s bankruptcy isn’t the end — it’s a reboot, says its CEO
The news that the maker of the Roomba robot vacuum, iRobot, filed for bankruptcy this week came as no surprise. Its CEO, Gary Cohen, had been warning investors all year that the company could run out of cash unless a buyer was found. When its last potential deal fell through, bankruptcy became inevitable. But Cohen says this is not the end for iRobot; instead, he sees it as the beginning of a new chapter for the company, one he hopes will turn it back into a competitive market leader and potentially take it into new, greener territory.
Cohen was brought on in early 2024 to turn the company around when cofounder and CEO Colin Angle stepped d …
How Atlas Obscura plans to embrace the 3D web
This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.
Atlas Obscura has been crowdsourcing strange and wonderful places from all around the world since its founding in 2009. To date, the site's users and editorial staff have collected and curated articles and photos for over 32,000 such places, ranging from abandoned theme parks to hidden beaches to Japan's Cat Island. Atlas Obscura's community has created over 93 million lists throughout the years, and the company has been releasing books and podcasts to further highlight the obsc …
Microsoft’s holiday Copilot ad is wrapped in empty promises
Microsoft is at it again with another round of ads showing people talking to Copilot AI on their computers. This time it's holiday-themed, including a cameo from the big man in red. The 30-second TV spot asks if you're "ready for the holidays" and features actors in various festive home settings asking Copilot for some ho-ho-ho-help with everything from holiday lighting and cooking to oversized outdoor decorations.
Just like the last time I tested Copilot Vision and Voice Mode, I made a list of all the prompts in Microsoft's ad and I'm checking them twice. Or as many times as I can stomach before hitting the nog.
In the new ad, Copilot off …
Micron says memory shortage will ‘persist’ beyond 2026
Micron, one of the three biggest memory suppliers in the world, forecasts rough months ahead for the global RAM supply. As part of its earnings report released on Wednesday, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said "tight industry conditions" across DRAM and NAND flash memory are expected to "persist through and beyond" 2026 as AI drives up demand.
With the AI boom in full swing, Micron is making more money than ever as companies like OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and Google fill their data centers with powerful chips that come packaged with high-bandwidth memory (HBM). It once again reported record revenue of $13.64 billion this past quarter, a sizeable …
‘All chaos and panic’: Nilay answers your burning Decoder questions
Welcome to our end-of-year Decoder special! Senior producers Kate Cox and Nick Statt here. We’ve had a big year, including nearly 100 episodes, a new YouTube channel, an ad-free podcast feed, and a slate of great guest hosts while Nilay was on parental leave. It’s been a lot.
We’ve also had a lot of great questions and comments this year from you, our audience. It’s now an annual tradition for us to turn the tables on Nilay for our final episode of the year, so we pulled together all the feedback we’ve received on topics like CarPlay, Monday episode guest suggestions, and — of course — AI. We also received a lot of great questions over the last few weeks asking about how Decoder is put together, what topics we should focus on in the future, and how we think about the format and structure of the show itself.
Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Decoder wherever you get your podcasts. Head here. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here.
So today, we welcomed Nilay to Decoder, to grill him on all these questions and more and also to get his thoughts on the past 12 months: What he’s liked, what he wants to improve, and how he’s making decisions for Decoder in the new year.
When we did this last year, our top two most frequently asked questions were very straightforward. First: Why isn’t Decoder on YouTube? Thankfully, we fixed that one. We launched the Decoder YouTube channel in October, and we now publish full video episodes every week, starting with our classic Monday interview format. We also got asked a lot about an ad-free podcast option last year, and we’re happy to say that also since October, Verge subscribers now have access to ad-free audio feeds.
We’ve received some feedback about making our Thursday explainer episodes full video, too. Trust us — we’re working on it. It’s a little more complicated and resource-intensive, and so it’s going to take some time to iron out the kinks. Beyond that, we’re very excited to experiment more with format, video, and even live production in 2026. (Come join us live at CES on January 7, at the Brooklyn Bowl!)
If you’d like to check out some of the past Decoder episodes and news stories we talked about in this episode, check out the links below. Happy New Year, and thanks for listening! We’ll be back with all new episodes in mid-January.
- Answering your biggest Decoder questions, 2024 edition | Decoder
- The DoorDash Problem | Decoder
- How decision-making will change when AI answers are cheap and (too) easy | Decoder
- Why GM will give you Gemini — but not CarPlay | Decoder
- Rivian CEO: ‘We’re really convicted’ about skipping CarPlay | Decoder
- How SharkNinja took over the home, with CEO Mark Barrocas | Decoder
- Why Tubi CEO Anjali Sud thinks free TV can win again | Decoder
- Disney accuses Google of ‘massive’ copyright infringement following deal with OpenAI | The Verge
Questions or comments about this episode? Hit us up at decoder@theverge.com. We really do read every email!
The latest iPad Air is $400 for the first time and arrives by Christmas
If you have $400 and want an iPad, your options are usually kind of limited to either just the base iPad, or better yet, the latest iPad Mini — if it happens to be on sale when you’re shopping (it is now, but that’s not always the case). But right now, you should consider getting the 128GB version of Apple’s 11-inch iPad Air with the capable M3 processor. At Target, multiple colors of this model are $399.99, beating the previous low of $449.99 we’ve seen during large-scale deal events. Currently, no other retailer is matching this price. This sale ends Saturday night.
11-inch iPad Air M3
The new 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:
$400 is a sweet price for this model, as it debuted in early 2025 for $600. In terms of how it stacks up to other iPad models, Verge editor-at-large David Pierce said in his impressions that the M3 Air is “exactly what you think it is. Which is fine.” I know, that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but it’s been a while since iPads peaked in terms of utility, design, and fast performance. This one carries the torch in Apple’s tablet dominance, and its M3 processor means it’ll be a fantastic tablet for longer than any other iPad at the $400 price point. Read our in-depth impressions.
Other Verge-approved deals
- Sony’s phenomenal Astro Bot is down to $39.99 for the holidays. The PS5-exclusive title belongs in any gamer’s catalog, with platforming gameplay that should feel familiar to anyone who’s ever played a 3D Super Mario game. It riffs on the formula is some highly original ways and takes full advantage of the delicate rumble motors in the DualSense controller. You can snag this title on disc at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart for $39.99 (usually $59.99). Every new PS5 comes with Astro’s Playroom preinstalled, which is a good, yet small taste of what you get with Astro Bot. Read our review.
- Another great discount is happening on a new Apple product. The AirPods Pro 3 are back down to $199.99 at Amazon, which is a $50 discount off their original price. This model came out recently, and iPhone owners won’t find a better set of wireless active noise-canceling earbuds at this price. Compared to the AirPods Pro 2, these have improved sound and more effective noise cancellation. They also include XXS as an eartip size option, totaling five sizes in the box. Read our review.
- Costco members can score a $150 off deal on SimpliSafe’s 13-piece security system. Normally $349.99, it’s $199.99 for members. The set includes a base station, a key pad, a motion sensor, eight entry sensors to equip on window and door frames, plus two of SimpliSafe’s Outdoor Camera Series 2 cams. The outdoor cameras boast 1080p capture with a 140-degree field of view and colorized night vision. As for the motion sensor’s sensitivity, it can detect movement within 35 feet, with a 90-degree field of view. This set comes with a three-month trial of SimpliSafe’s professional monitoring, though its suite of monthly plans range from around $20 and up. If you don’t have a Costco membership, you can sign up for one here.
The best gifts for dads that have everything (but deserve more)
What do you get the man who says he has everything? It's a tough question - and one you have a limited amount of time to answer, given the holidays are nearly upon us. You could try dropping subtle hints or asking friends and family for suggestions, but they might save their best ideas for themselves. Fortunately, if you're struggling to come up with something, we have more than a few ideas.
With the help of Verge staffers, we've compiled suggestions for dads of every make and model. We've collected great ideas for music-loving dads, whiskey aficionados, and anyone looking to top off all of their gadgets at once.
BioLite Site Lights
If d …
2025 was the beginning of the end of the TV brightness war
Much like the audio industry's compression-driven loudness war, which reached its distortion-fueled apex (and not the good kind) with Metallica's Death Magnetic in 2008, the television industry has been having its own battle the past couple of years: the brightness war. Sparked by the introduction of HDR and its higher brightness mastering levels, brands began to push display technology to achieve the necessary light output for HDR movies.
As we hit the 10th anniversary of HDR's introduction (to the consumer space, at least), 2025 felt like a new crescendo in the "who can be brighter" back-and-forth between brands. Not only did we get our f …
Trump Media is merging with a nuclear fusion company
Trump Media, the company that runs social network Truth Social, is pivoting to nuclear fusion. It has announced a merger with California-based fusion power company TAE Technologies and plans to start construction on a fusion power plant in 2026.
Trump Media & Technology Group will become the holding company of the new organization, though shareholders from each company will own approximately half of the newly formed firm, which the companies say will be valued at more than $6 billion. President Trump previously owned a majority share in Trump Media, but transferred that to a trust managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr., before taking office i …
It’s the great AGI rebrand
The cringe comes for us all, and for all our hot new turns of phrase. "Rizz" lost its luster when grandparents started asking about its meaning. Teachers who dressed up as "6-7" on Halloween drove a nail into the coffin of Gen Alpha's rallying cry. And tech CEOs who once trumpeted the quest for "artificial general intelligence," or AGI, are jumping ship for any other term they can find.
Until recently, AGI was the ultimate goal of the AI industry. The vaguely defined term was reportedly coined in 1997 by Mark Gubrud, a researcher who defined it as "AI systems that rival or surpass the human brain in complexity and speed." The term still ty …