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The $900 Ayaneo 3 is the most exciting PC handheld the company’s yet made

Ayaneo builds the best-looking handheld PCs in the business, but they’ve always been boutique. The 2023 Ayaneo 2, for example, cost $1,300 for an arguably worse experience than the $400 Steam Deck. But that experience isn’t dampening my excitement for the new 7-inch Ayaneo 3.

Not only does this one start at $900, within striking distance of the highest-end handhelds you’ll find at retail, it’s the most feature-packed portable I’ve seen — with two USB4 ports and OcuLink and RGB-ringed Hall effect joysticks and your choice of two seemingly killer screens. Perhaps most exciting: a way to finally fix a handheld’s joystick and button layout to match your ergonomic preferences!

Just watch:

Animation by Ayaneo

Ayaneo is calling the Ayaneo 3 “the world’s first modular handheld,” because there’ll be other modular options too. An extra $139 buys a set of six modules that let you swap out your joysticks for analog sticks, a six-button microswitch pad for fighting games, or even D-pads and face buttons with conductive silicone underneath for a different feel.

Image: Ayaneo

But importantly, that basic module that lets you change joystick and button orientation and swap joystick caps comes with the handheld by default, and it’s not the only feature Ayaneo is impressively cramming into the $900 kit.

While you’ll “only” get a Ryzen 8840U, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and 512GB of storage that that price — no Z2 option, and the HX 370 model starts at $1500 — you do get your choice of OLED or IPS right away.

That OLED screen is a 1080p 144Hz HDR OLED panel promising 800 nits of global brightness and 110 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, specs which suggest it could even beat the Steam Deck OLED’s excellent screen.

Image: Ayaneo

Like the Deck OLED, it unfortunately doesn’t have variable refresh rate for added smoothness — but if that’s important, the IPS panel option does! That one’s a 120Hz, 500-nit, native landscape 1080p display, according to the company, with 7ms response time and only 100 percent sRGB coverage (read: nowhere near as colorful as the OLED panel).

On top of all that, the Ayaneo 3 comes standard with both top and bottom USB4 ports, both of which are capable of 65W PD charging, plus the still-rare-on-handhelds Oculink port for eGPUs, and it takes full-length M.2 2280 SSDs for easy storage upgrades.

Plus, there’s a dedicated hardware mode switch on the bottom edge to switch the controller and virtual-mouse-and-keyboard modes. I doubt that will make up for the current state of Windows, but it could help! Also, new trigger locks for its Hall effect triggers, if you want to switch them into a hair trigger mode.

I do have a few hesitations, even without having touched the Ayaneo 3. First, the company says its modules electronically latch into the frame — you have to eject them by pressing a software button, which activates a motor to release the latch. Sounds potentially fiddly?

Second, I’m sorry to report that this 1.5-pound handheld only fits a 49 watt-hour battery, even though the Asus ROG Ally X manages to fit an 80 watt-hour pack into roughly the same weight. Fingers crossed, but I wouldn’t expect great battery life here with neither a giant battery pack nor a particularly handheld-optimized chip.

Lastly, it’s always important to point out that these products are crowdfunded, and while Ayaneo has a history of delivering its promised handhelds, they haven’t always been great — and this is the most ambitious one yet. If that sounds worthwhile, you can find the Ayaneo 3 on Indiegogo here.

The company says the handheld should ship at the end of April; here’s the whole price breakdown.

Image: Ayaneo

Here are the best robot vacuum deals right now

We’re in an age where you can realistically delegate tasks to smart hunks of metal, whether it’s a self-driving car or a robot that can clean on your behalf. Most of us probably won’t be able to afford the helpful sentient humanoids being developed in our lifetimes, but robot vacuums are an affordable way to experience that promised utopia right now.

Today’s floor cleaners are also more advanced than ever. In addition to vacuuming, many of the best models can now mop, allowing you to tackle both carpet and hardwood flooring. Some can automatically dispense of their trash and dirty water, too, and clean their own components without intervention. Soon, we’ll even have models that can pick up dirty laundry and purify the air in your home, preventing you from having to lift a finger.

But if you need something relatively affordable for daily cleaning, you’d be surprised how little you have to pay for premium features. Below, we’ve listed the best deals currently available on a slate of Verge-approved robot vacuums, whether you prefer a budget entry-level model from Yeedi or top-of-the-line offerings from iRobot, Dreame, and more.

Best robot vacuum deals

iRobot’s Roomba Combo j7 Plus is available from Amazon, Best Buy, and iRobot for around $599 ($600 off), which is an all-time low. The j7 Plus was once our favorite Roomba robovac, and the Combo j7 Plus builds upon the base model with an auto-retractable mop. That means it can lift its mop pads and pick up dirt from your carpets without wetting them and then vacuum / mop hardwood flooring with no mid-cycle management needed.

The mopping performance isn’t the best we’ve seen, though, and you’ll need to frequently change its 210ml water tank and detach and clean the mop pads yourself. Thankfully, it can automatically dispose of dirt using the included auto-empty dock. The Combo j7 Plus isn’t easily tripped up thanks to AI-powered obstacle avoidance, which allows it to navigate toys and pet droppings. You can also direct it to clean specific areas using Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands.

Read our Roomba Combo j7 Plus review.

The Dreame X40 Ultra is another mopping robot, and while it’s on the more expensive side, you can currently pick it up for $1,099.99 ($630 off) from Dreame and Amazon (using an on-page coupon). You’re paying a premium for 12,000Pa of suction power and a pair of removable, self-retracting mop pads, which it can automatically clean and dry on its own using the included base. It can also empty its own bin and refill its own water tank.

The Dreame X40 Ultra features an extendable side brush and mop pads, too, offering better coverage for baseboards, corners, and the underside of your furniture. It uses a combination of AI-powered cameras and “3D-structured light” (presumably based on lidar technology) to map and navigate rooms, with customizable keep-out zones and more functions available in the app. There’s also a dirt detection system that can identify messier spills and adjust its cleaning routine accordingly.

You can get the SwitchBot S10 for an all-time low of $664.99 ($535 off) at Amazon with an on-page coupon or for $699.99 ($500 off) directly from SwitchBot with code BFCM500A. The S10 is one of the most affordable robot vacuum / mop hybrids you can buy that can refill its own tank at a battery-powered base station — with the caveat that it requires hooking into your home’s plumbing. It can also dry its own mop pads and empty its bin at a separate docking bay and offers enough capacity to go up to 90 days without intervention.

Its self-cleaning roller mop is more effective than the typical pads we see in most other units, but the downside is a smaller coverage area. It only has a single roller brush for vacuuming, but its respectable 6,500Pa suction can make up for it. And while it has lidar mapping and AI-powered obstacle avoidance, we found it still has a tendency to get stuck on laundry, bath mats, and other obstacles. The S10 is also one of the few robovacs with Matter support, which effectively enables native control through Apple Home, Google Home, and Alexa (though said platforms don’t yet fully support robot vacuums).

Read our SwitchBot S10 review.

The big-wheeled Roborock Q5 Pro is down to $159.99 ($270 off) at Roborock’s online storefront and Amazon — if you’re a Prime member — which is only $20 more than its all-time low. Not only is it one of the most affordable robovacs you can buy, but thanks to its dual rubber roller brushes and 5,500Pa of suction power, the entry-level Roborock model remains one of the best we’ve found at dealing with unwanted pet hair.

The lidar-mapping Q5 Pro features voice controls, digital keep-out zones, and mopping pads with an onboard reservoir, but no self-cleaning functions. This particular SKU doesn’t include a self-emptying base, but the 770ml dust bin is one of the largest you’ll find, so you can go a few weeks without touching it. That being said, Roborock sells a version with a self-emptying dock, which is also on sale right now for $329.99 ($270 off).

The Yeedi Cube is currently down to an all-time low of $299.99 ($260 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon for $190 off. It’s not easy to find a self-emptying / self-cleaning vacuum at this price, as those features are typically only available on robots that cost upward of $600 or more.

With 5,100Pa of suction power, the Cube can tackle most common vacuuming scenarios, though its single hybrid rubber / bristle brush can get easily tangled with pet hair. It mops better than most models in its range, however, namely because its vibrating microfiber pads can actually scrub your floors. The Cube uses lasers for object avoidance, too, though it’s not as effective for navigation as those with lidar and AI smarts. It can avoid large furniture and other objects, but it might need your help rerouting around cables, toys, and laundry. Still, we found it navigates better than most other robots under $300.

Rivian will add hands-free driver assist to vehicles this year, ‘eyes-off’ next year

Rivian is planning to launch a hands-free driving assistant system for its electric R1T and R1S vehicles later this year, followed by an “eyes-off” version in 2026, reveals Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe in a press roundtable interview according to a post on Rivian Forums and reported by Electrek. The first part of the system sounds like it will work similarly to Ford’s Blue Cruise or GM’s Super Cruise software, which are Level 2 assistants that only work on highways fully mapped by each manufacturer.

It’s unclear if current Gen 1 and Gen 2 Rivian vehicles will support the upcoming hand-free assistant software or if it will come to upgraded models or the upcoming R2 SUV.

Gen 2 vehicles already come with exclusive features like matrix headlights and an upgraded light bar that can change colors, which Scaringe says could be used as an indicator to let others know a Rivian is operating autonomously, according to a Rivian Forum user. Gen 2 vehicles also come with a newer Rivian Autonomy Platform, which might mean Gen 1 vehicles aren’t going to get some of the upcoming advanced ADAS features.

Currently, Rivian trucks have available “Driver Plus” advanced driver assistant systems (ADAS) that work similarly to Tesla’s standard Autopilot software in that they enable lane keeping and auto speed up / slow down on highways. However, like other Level 2 systems, you still need to pay attention to the road.

In an email to The Verge, Rivian’s product communications manager, Courtney Richardson, confirms Scaringe’s comments about the upcoming ADAS upgrades in the interview yesterday. Richardson says there are no further details to add at this time. Currently, only Mercedes-Benz ships a Level 3 autonomous system that works in some states in the US, which allows drivers to look away from the road.

Mark Zuckerberg wants you to know he has a big AI data center, too

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expects to spend as much as $65 billion on AI in 2025 as part of a “massive effort” to further the company’s AI ambitions. Part of the plan includes a Louisiana data center that Zuckerberg says “is so large it would cover a significant part of Manhattan,” he wrote on Threads today.

The announcement reads like a response to the big AI data center news touted by competitors earlier this week. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump joined OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison as they announced Project Stargate, a $500 billion joint venture that will build sprawling AI data centers in Texas and other parts of the country. City documents seen by Bloomberg suggest the Texas data center will be as big as New York’s Central Park.

Meta started building its $10 billion AI data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana last December, and its construction is expected to continue through 2030. The data center is one of many Meta started working on last year to power its open-source large language model Llama. Aside from Meta, tech giants including OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia are spending billions to scale up their data-hungry AI efforts.

Zuckerberg said he expects to end the year with over 1.3 million GPUs, while “significantly” growing the company’s AI team. “This will be a defining year for AI,” Zuckerberg wrote. “In 2025, I expect Meta AI will be the leading assistant serving more than 1 billion people, Llama 4 will become the leading state of the art model, and we’ll build an AI engineer that will start contributing increasing amounts of code to our R&D [research and development] efforts.”

Meta’s censoring of abortion information is nothing new

Earlier this week, several posts on the Instagram page of Aid Access, an abortion pill provider, were inaccessible to the public. Some images were blurred out, with no option to click through and view the post. Others appeared simply as a gray square with nondescript alt text, as if the image didn’t load.

Aid Access connects patients with doctors who provide abortion pills via telehealth appointments, and the posts that were blocked from being viewed included instructions for performing at-home abortions using pills. The issues on Instagram — first reported by Jessica Valenti — also reportedly made it difficult to find the Aid Access account using the app’s search function.

By Thursday evening, Meta had restored a handful of Aid Access posts, though some appear to still be missing. This latest incident is just another example of how Meta has restricted abortion information online for years. It also comes in the middle of Meta’s right-wing pivot, as the company has begun allowing more transphobic, racist, and otherwise hateful content on its platforms as it courts Donald Trump.

Image: Meta

Image: Meta

Medication abortions in the first trimester of pregnancy can safely be done at home, according to the World Health Organization. Licensed providers like those working with Aid Access have prescribed abortion pills to hundreds of thousands of patients. Thanks to shield laws, which protect healthcare workers who provide the procedure, patients in states where abortion is banned or restricted can also order abortion medication.

Social media is an important place for patients to seek information about abortions, says Rebecca Davis of Hey Jane, which offers virtual reproductive care like abortions and birth control.

“[Patients] will often turn to social media to just make sure we’re legit,” says Davis, who leads marketing at the company. “We’ve spent a lot of time and energy to really build up our social presence, so we’re verified on Instagram, we’re verified on TikTok.”

Hey Jane encountered restrictions on Instagram in recent days as well. Davis says the group has gotten messages that its Instagram profile was not easily accessible through the app’s search features. The Verge was able to replicate the issue: typing in “heyjane” or “hey jane” did not display the account as suggested. Users would need to know the account’s full handle, @heyjanehealth, in order for it to appear as a suggestion.

“We know that by not showing up in these searches we’re directly impacting people who are actively seeking this very timely, essential healthcare from getting the information that they need to make decisions,” Davis told The Verge.

Meta spokesperson Erin Logan told The Verge in an email that abortion rights groups are experiencing “a variety of issues — some due to correct enforcement, as well as over enforcement.” Logan said the company prohibits the sale of pharmaceutical drugs on Meta platforms without a LegitScript certification. (Hey Jane is among the providers certified with LegitScript.) Logan said these incidents were not the result of recent Meta policy updates.

“We’ve been quite clear in recent weeks that we want to allow more speech and reduce enforcement mistakes — and we’re committed to doing that,” Logan added, though no specifics were mentioned. Regarding issues encountered by Hey Jane, Logan directed The Verge to Meta’s policies, which state that content promoting the use of pharmaceutical drugs is allowed on the platform but may not be eligible for recommendation.

In recent weeks, Meta has rolled back its policies for what users can and can’t say on its platforms, opening the floodgates for more hate speech and offensive content under the guise of “free expression.” But providers have long had information about abortion restricted or removed, according to groups like Amnesty International and Repro Uncensored. Davis from Hey Jane says this isn’t the first time the group’s Instagram profile has been invisible in search: something similar happened in 2023, when fake Hey Jane accounts were appearing in search instead.

Even though abortion access groups have encountered issues on Meta platforms, Davis says it’s not as simple as moving to another social media site. Many patients use Instagram and other platforms like TikTok to find urgent information.

“While this moment certainly points to the value in diversifying the platforms that we’re on, that doesn’t necessarily mean that people who are seeking abortion care are going to be off of these platforms,” Davis says.

Threads is offically getting ads

Your Threads feed will soon have ads. On Friday, Meta announced that it’s rolling out a “limited, early test of ads in Threads,” and the test will happen with a “handful of brands in the US and Japan,” according to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri.

Image: Meta

Ads on Threads will appear as images between posts in your home feed. “As we learn from this test, we will monitor to see how it’s going before filling out more broadly,” Meta says.

To serve you relevant ads, Meta will use your activity on Threads and Instagram, the posts you interact with, your email address, and “your activity from off Meta technologies,” according to a support page. Threads will also offer ways to customize the ads you see from your account center, along with options to skip, hide, and report them from within your feed.

Last April, Mosseri confirmed that Threads would eventually get ads, and rumors emerged that they would appear in early 2025.

The Ram 1500 Rev’s 500-mile battery option is reportedly canceled

Stellantis is reportedly canceling the 500-mile range version of the upcoming Ram 1500 Rev, leaving the electric truck with only one option that maxes out at an estimated 350 miles on a single charge. The news comes from Mopar Insiders, which got hold of internal emails telling suppliers to stop working on truck components for the larger 229kWh battery version of the vehicle, as reported by Motor Trend.

The all-electric Ram 1500 Rev was already delayed from the first half of this year to 2026 so that the automaker could focus on the launch of the also-delayed hybrid Ramcharger. Now, the Rev’s largest battery is 168kWh, which is still larger than the 131 kWh pack in Ford’s mid-tier F-150 Lightning Flash, which has an estimated 320-mile range.

We asked Stellantis to comment on the status of the long-range Ram 1500 Rev but have not heard back. Mopar Insiders received a statement from the company: “This decision was related to the recent move that created an opportunity to lead with Ramcharger technology.”

Stellantis uses the STLA Frame body-on-frame platform for both the Ramcharger and the Rev since the platform can handle electric, gas, hybrid, and hydrogen powertrains. The gas range-extended Ramcharger can go up to 690 miles on a full charge and tank.

Stellantis’ changes also come as the new Trump administration begins dismantling the Biden administration’s electric vehicle and tailpipe emissions policies. Mopar Insiders reports that another recent internal Stellantis message indicated that work on the STLA Large platform-based Chrysler C6X EV (based on the 2022 Airflow concept) is also stalled.

2025 looks like a great year for Xbox

There’s a long-running joke in the Xbox community that Microsoft will finally hit its stride with Game Pass and Xbox releases “next year.” The joke has been going around since 2018, when Microsoft made a series of big studio acquisitions to create more Xbox games and make Game Pass more appealing. Year after year, Xbox fans have been waiting for a solid 12 months of new games to play, and it now looks like 2025 is going to be that “next year” everyone has been waiting for.

The annual Xbox Developer Direct this week was nothing short of excellent, after a turbulent year for the platform in 2024. Microsoft kicked the event off with a promise that all games shown would be on Game Pass, and impressively, they’d all be Xbox Play Anywhere titles so you can buy once and play on Xbox consoles and PC. It then dropped two big surprises: Ninja Gaiden 4 and a shadow drop of the remastered Ninja Gaiden 2 Black.

Published by Xbox Game Studios, Ninja Gaiden 4 is the latest entry in a long-running franchise that’s seen a lot of success on Xbox in the past. So it’s no surprise that Team Ninja also picked Microsoft to debut the remaster of Ninja Gaiden II.

South of Midnight finally got a release...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Live translations on Meta’s smart glasses work well — until they don’t

I was in middle school the last time I took a Spanish class. I remember enough for toddler talk — phrases like “Donde está el baño?” and “mi gato es muy gordo” — but having a meaningful conversation in Spanish without a translator is out of the question. So I was genuinely surprised the other day when, thanks to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, I could have a mostly intelligible conversation with a Spanish speaker about K-pop.

Live translations were added as part of a feature drop last month, alongside live AI and Shazam. It’s exactly what it sounds like. When you turn the feature on, you can have a conversation with a Spanish, French, or Italian speaker, and the glasses will translate what’s being said directly into your ears in real-time. You can also view a transcript of the conversation on your phone. Whatever you say in English will also be translated into the other language.

Screenshot: Meta

Full disclosure, my conversation was part of a Meta-facilitated demo. That’s not truly the same thing as plopping these glasses on, hopping down to Barcelona, and trying it in the wild. That said, I’m a translation tech skeptic and intended to find all the cracks where this tech could fail.

The glasses were adept at translating a basic conversation about K-pop bands. After my conversation partner was done speaking, the translation would kick in soon after. This worked well if we talked in measured, medium-speed speech, with only a few sentences at a time. But that’s not how people actually speak. In real life, we launch into long-winded tirades, lose our train of thought, and talk much faster when angry or excited.

To Meta’s credit, it considered the approach to some of these situations. I had my conversation partner speak at a faster speed and a longer duration. It handled the speed decently well, though there was understandably some lag in the real-time transcript. For longer speech, the glasses started translating mid-way through before my partner was done talking. That was a bit jarring and awkward, as you, the listener, have to recognize you’re a bit behind. The experience is similar to how live interpreters do it on international news or broadcasts.

I was most impressed that the glasses could handle a bit of Spanglish. Often, multilingual speakers rarely stick to just one language, especially when in mixed-language company. In my family, we call it Konglish (Korean-English), and people slip in and out of each language, mixing and matching grammar that’s chaotic and functional. For example, my aunt will often speak several sentences in Korean, throw in two sentences in English, do another that’s a mix of Korean and English, and then revert to Korean. I had my conversation partner try something similar in Spanish and... the results were mixed.

Screenshot: Meta

On the one hand, the glasses could handle short switches between languages. However, longer forays into English led to the AI repeating the English in my ear. Sometimes, it’d also repeat what I’d said, because it started getting confused. That got so distracting I couldn’t focus on what was being said.

The glasses struggled with slang. Every language has its dialects, and each dialect can have its unique spin on colloquialisms. You need look no further than how American teens have subjected us all to phrases like skibidi and rizz. In this case, the glasses couldn’t accurately translate “no manches.” That translates to “no stain,” but in Mexican Spanish, it also means “no way” or “you’re kidding me!” The glasses chose the literal translation. In that vein, translation is an art. In some instances, the glasses got the correct gist across but failed to capture some nuances of what was being said to me. This is the burden of all translators — AI and human alike.

You can’t use these to watch foreign-language movies or TV shows without subtitles. I watched a few clips of Emilia Pérez, and while it could accurately translate scenes where everyone was speaking loudly and clearly, it quit during a scene where characters were rapidly whispering to each other in hushed tones. Forget about the movie’s musical numbers entirely.

You wouldn’t necessarily have these issues if you stuck to what Meta intended with this feature. It’s clear these glasses were mostly designed to help people have basic interactions while visiting other countries — things like asking for directions, ordering food at a restaurant, going to a museum, or completing a transaction. In those instances, you’re more likely to encounter people who speak slower with the understanding that you are not a native speaker.

It’s a good start, but I still dream of the babel fish from Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — a little creature that when plopped in your ear, can instantly and accurately translate any language into your own. For now, that’s still the realm of science fiction.

The Supreme Court’s TikTok ruling is an ominous turn for online speech

When the Supreme Court upheld a law that banned TikTok from the US, it seemed well aware that its ruling could resonate far beyond one app. The justices delivered an unsigned opinion with a quote from Justice Felix Frankfurter from 1944: “in considering the application of established legal rules to the ‘totally new problems’ raised by the airplane and radio, we should take care not to ‘embarrass the future.’”

Last Friday, the court tried to accomplish this with a narrow ruling: a decision that upheld the government’s ability to ban one service on a tight timeline, while stressing a limited scope concerning “new technologies with transformative capabilities.” Yet, amid a confounding political circus over TikTok, some legal experts believe the Supreme Court’s ruling could have a broad ripple effect on speech and tech law — they’re just not agreed on what it would be.

“Even though it’s narrowly written, it also seems clear that they want to make a mark on these kinds of questions,” says Sarah Kreps, director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University’s public policy school. University of Chicago law professor Genevieve Lakier put it more bluntly on Bluesky: “The Court...

Read the full story at The Verge.