Musk says he’s going to open-source the new X algorithm next week
In 2023, what was then still called Twitter, open-sourced at least portions of the code that decided what it served up in your feed. But that GitHub repository is hopelessly out of date, with the vast majority of the files appearing to be from the initial upload three years ago. Elon Musk says that in seven days, he will open-source X's new algorithm and finally give people a peek behind the curtain and possibly a technical explanation as to why your feed is 90 percent rage bait.
Elon has always made promises to open-source parts of X, and has followed through to at least some degree, including Grok-1 in 2024. But xAI is now on Grok-3, and …
These are the smart home gadgets that impressed me at CES 2026
I picked Aqara's Smart Lock U400 and Roborock's Saros Rover robot vacuum as the overall best smart home gadgets from CES 2026, but there were gazillions of other great gadgets on the show floor.
It was a banner year for smart home products, but the big trends I saw weren't about new product categories; they were about bringing better features and lower prices to smart home staples such as smart lighting, smart locks, cameras, and TVs.
This is what I expected the launch of the interoperability protocol Matter would bring. Once companies could stop spending time and money on working on integrating with half a dozen platforms, they could fo …
The FCC is letting SpaceX launch 7,500 more Starlink satellites
The FCC approved SpaceX's plan to launch an additional 7,500 Gen2 Starlink satellites on Friday. That brings the total number of satellites the company will have in orbit to around 15,000 worldwide. As part of the approval, the government is also waiving previous requirements that prevented overlapping coverage and enhanced capacity.
SpaceX originally sought approval for 30,000 satellites, but for now, the FCC is only greenlighting 15,000. The company will be on a deadline, too. The government says 50 percent of the Gen2 satellites must be launched and operational by December 1st of 2028, with the rest to follow by December of 2031. But the …
Amazfit’s Active 2 tracker and Blu-rays are this week’s best deals
The start of the year is typically a great time to snag deals on health and fitness gear, including trackers and wireless earbuds, and this week was no exception. We found plenty on sale and highlighted the best picks below. Not all of the deals are related to New Year’s resolutions, though; there are also a number of other worthwhile deals worth checking out. Despite the Consumer Electronics Show wrapping up earlier this week, we’re already seeing deals roll in, for example. And if your main goal is to unwind this weekend, we’ve spotted solid deals on Blu-rays to help you relax. Below, you’ll find all of our favorite deals from this week.
Of fitness trackers on sale right now, the deal on the Amazfit Active 2 is ideal, especially if you’re on a budget. It’s currently on sale for just $84.99 ($15 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, which is just $5 shy of its lowest price to date.
We think the Active 2 is one of the best fitness tracker you can currently buy, namely because it offers a feature set you don’t typically don’t find at this price point. It covers most of the health and fitness features people need and then some, with continuous heart rate and blood oxygen tracking, in addition to menstrual cycle tracking. You also get offline maps with turn-by-turn navigation and up to nine days of battery life — far longer than most smartwatches. It looks stylish, too, thanks to its stainless steel case and 2,000-nit OLED display that makes it seem more expensive than it is.
Read our full Amazfit Active 2 review.
Amazfit Active 2
Where to Buy:
Despite being introduced at CES 2026 just this week, Anker’s latest 45W Nano Charger is already on sale ahead of its release on January 20th. Right now, you can pick up the wall charger through Anker’s online storefront for $29.99 ($10 off) when you use promo code WS24D5XT3DV9 at checkout.
What makes the latest Nano Charger stand out from previous models its built-in display, which shows real-time charging details like power flow, charge level, and temperature at a glance. If you have an iPhone 15 or newer — or an iPad Pro released in 2020 or later — it can also adjust charging based on the device’s power needs. What’s more, it delivers up to 45W of power in a compact design with folding prongs that rotate 180 degrees, allowing you to squeeze it into smaller spaces.
Anker Nano Charger (45W, Smart Display, 180° Foldable)
Where to Buy:
If it’s cold outside and you’d rather stay in, you can currently snag three 4K UHD Blu-ray discs for $33 through January 19th at Amazon — or $11 per movie. Over 150 titles are on sale, ranging from newer films like Superman and Wicked to older hits like Inception, The Thing, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Scarface, with the discount applying at checkout. Just keep in mind that you’ll need a 4K Blu-ray player — like Panasonic’s UB820-K or DP-UB420-K — or a disc-based Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 to watch them.
Three more of this week’s best deals
- The last-gen Shokz OpenRun Pro are still available at a new low price at Amazon and Best Buy, where you can buy them for $109.95 ($50 off). The open-ear buds wrap around your ears, allowing you to still hear surrounding sounds on busy streets while running or cycling. They also feature an IP55 rating for sweat and water resistance and weigh a mere 29 grams, making them more comfortable for long workouts than your traditional pair of in-ear buds.
- Deals on Donkey Kong Bananza are rare, but this week both Walmart and Amazon are selling the physical version for $62.99 ($8 off), which matches the game’s all-time low. The colorful 3D platformer is arguably the best Nintendo Switch 2 titles thus far, and though it does feature some unexpected political undertones, they certainly don’t deter from the game’s creative, playful experience. Read our review.
- You can buy Google’s latest Nest Learning Thermostat starting at $219.89 ($60 off) at Walmart. The fourth-gen smart thermostat is capable of learning your routine and automatically adjusts your heating and cooling schedule, so you can set it and forget it. It also features a large, well-designed display that offers a bevy of info at a glance, including the time, weather, temperature, and even an outdoor air quality index score. Plus, it supports the newer Matter protocol and comes with a remote temperature sensor, which lets you focus on heating and cooling specific rooms. Read our review.
I’ve never used a trackball, but Keychron’s Nape Pro looks like the perfect one
Keychron announced new mechanical keyboards with marathon battery life at CES, but this trackball stole the spotlight. The Nape Pro is Keychron's first trackball, and its slender frame means it can work on your desk in multiple ways. You can keep it to the right or left of a keyboard like a traditional trackball, or you can tuck it in front and use it without moving your hands from the keys.
That positioning makes it a bit like a giant Lenovo TrackPoint, typically found on ThinkPad laptops but sometimes used on dedicated keyboards. And it should allow you to move your cursor, turn the Nape Pro's rotary dial, or press one of its six fully-pr …
I replaced Windows with Linux and everything’s going great
Greetings from the year of Linux on my desktop.
In November, I got fed up and said screw it, I'm installing Linux. Since that article was published, I have dealt with one minor catastrophe after another. None of that has anything to do with Linux, mind you. It just meant I didn't install it on my desktop until Sunday evening.
My goal here is to see how far I can get using Linux as my main OS without spending a ton of time futzing with it - or even much time researching beforehand. I am not looking for more high-maintenance hobbies at this stage. I want to see if Linux is a wingable alternative to Microsoft's increasingly annoying OS.
Ho …
We tried to get humanoid robots to do the laundry
At CES this year, humanoid robots appeared to be closer than ever to moving into our homes. LG introduced CLOiD, a household robot it says can handle chores like preparing food and loading the washing machine. SwitchBot showed off the Onero H1, another home helper built to tackle everyday tasks, and Boston Dynamics, WIRobotics, Zeroth, and others debuted even more impressive humanoids.
Advances in robotics and AI have made robots smarter and more capable than ever. The question is whether they're capable enough to do our chores. We already have robots that vacuum our floors and mow our lawns - but there's one job they haven't mastered: laun …
What’s on your desk, Stevie Bonifield?
Stevie Bonifield is a news writer here at The Verge and, they say, “I cover a little bit of just about everything, from the FCC to AI shopping tools to Linux.” Before joining our news team, they wrote weekend news for PC Gamer and did reviews, news, features, and guides for Laptop Mag, along with some stories for Tom’s Guide, IGN, TechRadar, and XDA. “I’ve been reading (and watching) The Verge since I was in high school,“ they add, ”so it’s pretty exciting to be part of the team now.“
Outside of writing, Stevie says “I also love gaming, reading, and TTRPGs (tabletop roleplaying games). As you’ll probably be able to tell from my workspace, I’m kind of a total nerd.”
Let’s begin with the basics. Where is your work space located?
My desk and work space are in my bedroom. I share my apartment with a roommate, so we both work from our bedrooms so we don’t distract each other during the day. I don’t really mind not having a separate office — it means I only have to worry about decorating and managing one space instead of two. I recently moved to New Jersey from Pittsburgh, PA, so I’m still getting everything set up here.
Could you tell us about your desk and your chair?
I’m using a VIVO 3-stage adjustable desk with a VIVO 60-inch desktop and a Haworth Breck chair. I got both when I moved last month, so I haven’t been using them for long, but I like them so far.
This is actually a standing desk, which I’ve never used before. I got it so I could have my desk height pretty low — I’m on the shorter side and most desks are too high for me. This one goes all the way down to 24 inches, lower than even I need, which is really nice. The option to use it as a standing desk is a cool perk, even though that isn’t what I bought it for. My cable management under the desk still needs some cleaning up, but I’m working on it! I have a VIVO clamp-on cable management net containing most of it for now.
I like the Haworth Breck so far, but it’s a pretty basic chair. Like my desk, a big part of why I got this one is its height range. It’s extremely difficult for me to find decent desk chairs that go as low as I need them to (without requiring a footrest). This one has a minimum seat height of around 15 inches and has adjustable seat depth, both of which I’ve really appreciated. That said, I wish it had a headrest.
Tell us about the various tech devices you’re using.
My setup is a little crazy because I have three different computers running to my two monitors.
My gaming PC lives on the floor under my desk. It’s currently temporarily out of commission because I’m having a hardware issue. Unfortunately, my RAM seems to be on the fritz, which is pretty bad timing considering the current RAM pricing nightmare. Most of it is still working, though! It has an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X CPU, an AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPU, an Asus ROG Strix B650-A motherboard, and a pair of 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 RAM sticks (which apparently need to be replaced, after less than a year of use).
That’s also my Linux PC — it’s currently running Fedora 41 with the Cinnamon desktop environment, but I’m updating to Fedora 43 soon and planning to switch to the KDE Plasma desktop environment.
Hanging off the side of my desk are my work and personal laptops, both the M4 MacBook Air. My laptops are only connected to my left monitor, which is a 27-inch 1440p Viewsonic Omni (VX2728J-2K). My gaming PC is connected to both monitors. I mainly play games on the right monitor since it has better color accuracy. It’s a 27-inch 1440p Asus ROG Strix gaming monitor (XG27ACS).
Neither one of my monitors is anything fancy, but both are good enough for my needs. Between the two, I would probably recommend the ROG one more, although I’m not a huge fan of the buttons being located on the back since I need those to swap input modes so I can switch to my Mac. When I’m working during the day I usually have my work laptop running on the left monitor and my Linux PC on the right monitor. My keyboard and mouse I chose specifically because they make it easy to jump between all my devices.
I’ve reviewed quite a few keyboards, so it’s a little ironic that the one I’m using now I actually haven’t reviewed. It’s the Nuphy Halo75 V2 with Nuphy’s Mint switches. It sounds and feels great, works really smoothly with macOS, and I can jump between my laptops and PC with a quick keyboard shortcut. The battery life could be a bit better, but admittedly I leave the RGB on, so that’s probably not helping. Overall, though, I really like the design and sound quality on the Halo75 — it’s one of the only keyboards I’ve tried that I’m happy with out-of-the-box without making any DIY customizations.
My mouse is actually one of my favorite devices right now. I’ve tested some great gaming mice, but this one is my personal daily driver and not one I reviewed. It’s the Razer Orochi V2, and I got it on sale for $35 on Amazon earlier this year. It’s nothing fancy, but the size and feel are perfect for me. Most gaming mice feel kind of enormous in my hand, but I swear Razer designed the Orochi for my palm specifically. Like my keyboard, it’s also able to jump between a Bluetooth connection and a 2.4GHz dongle. Despite the budget-friendly price, it’s a great mouse.
Underneath that I’m currently using a Matrix Blizzard mousepad. I got it on Amazon, but unfortunately, I think it’s sold out now. I wanted something with a little bit of a design going on, but not anything too detailed or distracting. This design just about perfectly fit what I was looking for. I wish it was a tad thicker, but it’s more interesting than a plain black mousepad, and that’s good enough for me.
I have two controllers on my desk, a standard Xbox controller for my Mac and the wired Razer Wolverine V2 for my gaming PC. I don’t normally like wired controllers, but I really love the Wolverine. The clicky buttons on Razer controllers are so satisfying to me, and they tend to offer consistently good performance in my experience. My favorite mobile controller is also from Razer, the Kishi Ultra.
My preferred headphones are my AirPods Pro 3. The ANC and spatial audio is fantastic for watching shows and movies on my laptop (and helps me focus when I’m working). I don’t like wearing earbuds all the time, though, so I also keep a basic pair of on-ear Sony headphones around, the WH-CH250. The audio quality on these isn’t particularly impressive, but they’re super affordable.
Last, but certainly not least, I also have a Razer Seiren V3 Chroma mic off to the side of my desk on a clamp-on mic arm I got on Amazon. I’ve been using the Seiren for a couple years now for gaming and playing Dungeons & Dragons with my online group. The audio quality could be a bit better, but it’s a significant improvement over most built-in headphone mics, and I’ve never had any bugs or issues with it. Notably, it works on Linux for me without needing any tweaks or work-arounds.
That is a great laptop holder you have at the side of your desk. What is it?
I just got that when I moved last month, and it’s one of my favorite additions to my desk setup. It’s a double-decker laptop mount I got for around $30 on Amazon and just clamps onto the side of my desk (no screws necessary!).
I wanted to free up some desk space, and this lets me keep both of my laptops nearby and out of the way at the same time. I also used a command strip to stick a USB-C hub to the back of the laptop tray, so I can quickly hop between my personal and work laptops on my external monitor by just moving over the USB-C cable and charging cable.
Great wall decorations. Tell us a bit about your Elmville map and what surrounds it.
This is the wall across from my desk that people see when I have my webcam on, so I put all my coolest stuff on it. I’m a huge fan of Dimension 20 on Dropout, so I immediately picked up one of those Elmville maps when they released them. For those who haven’t checked out Dimension 20 yet, Elmville is the main setting for Fantasy High, one of the best shows Dropout has to offer, in my humble opinion.
The smaller horizontal picture below the map is actually a page from Dropout’s 2025 Dimension 20 calendar that I got at their Madison Square Garden show last January. It’s a scene from season 2 of Fantasy High, and I just thought the artist did such a great job with it that it deserved to be framed. Off to the right above that one is a print I got from an art convention. It’s not from any show or movie as far as I know; the design just resonated with me.
The two smaller prints above the map are also from art conventions and were made by the same artist, Natasha Tara Petrović. The purple one is some cool Mothman art — I have a soft spot for cryptids and spooky stuff. The blue one is a Dark Souls print that makes the game look way cozier than it is.
And last but not least, I’ve got some Nanoleaf Elements tiles lighting up that wall. These are the first smart lights I’ve ever bought, and they’re pretty cool, especially with the more mellow wood look. I have them set to shift colors and brightness throughout the day.
You’re obviously into Star Wars and other science fiction / fantasy worlds, judging from the toys over your bookcase and the figures on that little shelf. Are you a serious fan or do you just like the genre?
I am a huge Star Wars fan. One of my earliest memories is watching The Phantom Menace on VHS, and I’ve loved the franchise ever since. Obi-Wan is my favorite character, which I’m noticing is a bit obvious in my work space.
The lightsaber above my bookcase is Obi-Wan’s from The Phantom Menace. I’ve had it since probably kindergarten or first grade, so it’s a little beat up. And next to that I’ve got a special edition Obi-Wan Funko Pop. Then above my desk I have a Lego model of Obi-Wan’s Jedi starfighter from Attack of the Clones.
On the shelf below that I’ve managed to squeeze in the Dungeons & Dragons series minifigures I’ve collected (I’m a few shy of the full collection). These shelves ended up being way smaller than expected, so I’m planning to add more so things aren’t quite so cramped. I thought Lego did a great job with these D&D minifigures, though, and would love to see them do more D&D sets. My personal favorite from this series is the dragonborn paladin.
The other Funko Pop next to Obi-Wan is Vi from Arcane, which is a truly phenomenal show and a personal favorite of mine. I’m not much of a Funko Pop person, but I’ll get them from time to time if it’s a character I really like.
I guess I would say I’m a serious sci-fi and fantasy fan, although I tend to connect with specific series or books and stick with those. To go back to the Star Wars example, on one of the lower shelves in my bookcase, I have most of the old Jedi Apprentice books. They’ve gotten pretty hard to find, but I loved them as a kid, so I’m trying to collect them all again.
On the fantasy side of things, I love epic fantasy like Lord of the Rings, but also like some YA books, especially The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson. At the moment, I’m reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree, which is the third book in his Legends & Lattes series. Both are great, although they have drastically different tones.
You also have a rock collection!
I do! Much like a goldfish, it has grown to fill the size of its container, and now it can grow no more. I’ve always had an interest in geology and have had some of the rocks and minerals in that case since I was a kid.
I have a bunch of quartz, a geode, some copper, chalcopyrite, amazonite, dravite, moissanite, a sliver of obsidian, a lump of basalt, some feldspar and sedimentary rocks, and a bunch of smaller tumbled stones. There’s also a chunk of petrified wood in the back that I found in a streambed. My favorites are the chunk of amber in the front and the bismuth above it — I love how bismuth crystals get that neat geometric shape.
Anything else I missed that you’d like to add?
While I don’t use it for work, my Kobo Clara BW e-reader is almost always on my desk. My bookcases are pretty much full (and a bit small — I’m planning to replace them eventually), so I’ve been reading more ebooks over the past year or so.
I switched from a Kindle to a Kobo several months ago and have been loving the Kobo. The display and user experience on the Clara are better than their Kindle counterparts in my experience, and you have more freedom to add books from outside Kobo’s store and back up everything in your library on other devices. My Kobo is in my everyday carry now, although in hindsight, I wish I’d gotten one with a color display.
Photography by Stevie Bonifield
The Playdate gets its Monument Valley
Diora might be the most ambitious game I've played on the Playdate. It's all about perspective: You turn the handheld's crank to rotate your viewpoint of the bite-size 3D landscapes, which lets you peek around corners to find solutions to various puzzles. On a device with a 1-bit, black-and-white display, the miniature worlds feel miraculous, like little dioramas you can spin around in your hands. But the most impressive part is the puzzles that will have you twisting your brain as much as the crank.
In Diora you play a "network technician" traveling to various locations across a city, fixing up machinery in the wake of a strange accident. …
The CES 2026 stuff I might actually buy
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 111, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I've been reading about gerrymandering and watch conventions and John Ternus, watching F1 and Roofman and half the Mission: Impossible series on plane rides, starting and then immediately failing a daily journaling habit, getting super into the Debt Heads podcast, learning fun facts about mail processing, buying a bunch of old gadgets on eBay to fill up my video call background, and barely …