Los Thuthanaka’s Wak’a is a mellower follow-up to last year’s surprise Pitchfork favorite
Los Thuthanaka basically came out of nowhere last year to capture Pitchfork's album of the year with their self-titled debut. Because it wasn't available on streaming, it largely flew under the radar. I honestly kind of forgot about it until Pitchfork gave it the number one spot in its year-end list. In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure how, though. Los Thuthanaka sounds like nothing else. It's joyous, jagged, and sounds like it's being blasted out of a broken Bluetooth speaker in your neighbor's backyard - it's glorious.
The follow-up EP Wak'a turns down the tempo and smooths some of the sharper edges. It uses the same sound palette of blo …
Suno is a music copyright nightmare
AI music platform Suno's policy is that it does not permit the use of copyrighted material. You can upload your own tracks to remix or set your original lyrics to AI-generated music. But, it's supposed to recognize and stop you from using other people's songs and lyrics. Now, no system is perfect, but it turns out that Suno's copyright filters are incredibly easy to fool.
With minimal effort and some free software, Suno will spit out AI-generated imitations of popular songs like Beyoncé's "Freedom," Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," and Aqua's "Barbie Girl" that are alarmingly close to the original. Most people will likely be able to tell the dif …
I let Gemini in Google Maps plan my day and it went surprisingly well
You may be familiar with Gemini as the thing that's in every Google service you use - whether you want it or not.
While it's been a constant, sometimes unwelcome presence in Gmail for at least the past year, it's a relatively new addition to Maps. And you know what? It's kind of great.
To put it to the test, I had Gemini plan a day-long itinerary for me around the city. After an hour or so of having Gemini find stuff for me - playgrounds near the new light rail extension, kid-friendly restaurants with vehicle themes, you get the gist - I was impressed. Some of the suggestions were obvious, but I also bookmarked a handful of spots not on m …
Is the Slate Truck too minimal for its own good?
The first thing you notice about the Slate Truck is its size. It's small, surprisingly so. In a country where trucks often come with their own zip code, Slate's pickup is refreshingly puny, measuring 174.6 inches long, 70.6 inches wide, and 69.3 inches tall, with a curb weight of approximately 3,602 pounds (1,634kg). As a reference point, it's nearly the same size as Marty McFly's 1985 Toyota SR5 from Back to the Future.
But inside, that diminutive feeling disappears, as I found myself with ample amounts of head- and legroom. As a relatively tallish guy (over 6 feet) who often feels cramped in most vehicles, I couldn't believe the amount o …
How the Amazon Echo learned to talk — and listen
Jeff Bezos badly wanted a voice computer. He had been saying so publicly since the very early days of Amazon, telling anyone who would listen about why voice might make it easier and more natural to interact with technology. (And to buy stuff from Jeff Bezos.) But when a team at Amazon set out to actually make the voice computer a reality, they encountered a seemingly endless series of hard problems. Eventually, though, they created two products, the Echo speaker and the Alexa voice assistant, that would help bring a new kind of computer to millions of people.
On this episode of Version History, we tell the story of the Echo's development i …
Grammarly’s sloppelganger saga
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the ups and downs of AI, follow Stevie Bonifield. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
Most people probably know Grammarly for its browser extension that suggests how to spruce up your emails, but over the past few years, it's been eyeing bigger ambitions. In October, the company formerly known as Grammarly made a public pivot to rebrand as an AI company called Superhuman. The new name was adopted from Superhuman Mail, an AI email platform that Grammarly acquired i …
A folk musician became a target for AI fakes and a copyright troll
In January, folk artist Murphy Campbell discovered several songs on her Spotify profile that did not belong there. They were songs that she had recorded, but she'd never uploaded them to Spotify, and something was off about the vocals.
She quickly surmised that someone had pulled performances of the songs she posted to YouTube, created AI covers, and uploaded them to streaming platforms under her name. I ran one of the songs, "Four Marys", through two different AI detectors, and it seemed to support her suspicions with both saying it was probably AI-generated.
Campbell was shocked, "I was kind of under the impression that we had a little b …
Buy two Nintendo Switch games, get $30 off at Target
Target is offering a great deal to some Target Circle members that knocks $30 off the cost of two Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 games. The sale is happening for the rest of the day, expiring at 2:59AM ET on April 5th. If you sign in with the free-to-join membership, you might be able to add two eligible games to your cart, then watch the prices fall at checkout.
There are 224 eligible games (some physical, some digital), and many of Nintendo’s biggest hits from the past year and beyond are here, including Switch 2-exclusive games like Donkey Kong Bananza, Kirby Air Riders, Mario Kart World, Mario Tennis Fever, and more (I didn’t see Pokémon Pokopia in the list, though).
This deal is worth hopping on whether you intend to gift these games, or just get them for yourself. Discounts on Nintendo-published games are rare, and it’s quite a nice perk that Target Circle members have in getting to choose the games they want to save on.
While each of the games that I mentioned ship on cartridges that don’t require a bunch of your console’s internal storage (just enough for save data), there are some Switch 2 games that ship on Game Key Cards. Those cartridges, once inserted into the console, simply grant you the ability to download a copy from the Nintendo eShop onto your console. Game sizes varies, but you may want to pick up a microSD Express card to add more storage on top of the Switch 2’s 256GB built-in SSD. This 256GB Samsung model is $59 at Amazon.
My dream pair of AR gaming glasses needs to have these nine features
I’ve spent months in the lab testing the latest AR glasses from Xreal and Viture. By “lab,” I mean cozied up on my couch each night, playing my Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch 2 on a huge, virtual screen that only I can see through these glasses.
Using AR glasses as a portable display for your handhelds (and other USB-C devices, like phones, tablets, and laptops) is nothing new. However, the latest versions have one must-have feature in common: three degrees of freedom, or 3DoF, which lets you anchor the screen anywhere you’d like, as opposed to having it nauseatingly wiggle with every head movement. This won’t make AR glasses worth their $400-plus costs for most gamers. But this makes them more useful if you travel a lot, or if you want a more ergonomic handheld setup.
I tested three popular models — Xreal’s $449 1S, its $649 One Pro, and Viture’s $549 Beast — and there is no best pair that everyone should buy. Each does a few things well and a few things not so well, which leaves me no other choice than to list out the ingredients that would make for one perfect pair of AR glasses for gaming.
The comfort, sound quality, and ease of use of Xreal’s glasses
All of these AR glasses are heavier and thicker than regular glasses, but Xreal’s 1S glasses are the lightest model of the bunch. On my kitchen scale, they weigh 85 grams (for comparison, the One Pro glasses weigh 91 grams, while the Viture Beast glasses are 96 grams). A small thing that’s actually a big deal is that they (as well as the One Pro) have great weight distribution and thinner temple arms than Viture’s Beast, which helps me feel less strain on my ears. It’s great that Xreal’s most affordable AR glasses are just as comfortable as its most expensive pair.
The 1S and One Pro glasses deliver better-sounding audio through their temple arms than Viture’s latest glasses. Xreal’s audio is tuned by Bose, and the glasses have balanced audio with surprisingly good low-end performance. Viture’s is tuned by Harman, and the Beast glasses pack considerably less oomph, with more emphasis on the mids and highs. Music, movies, and games are all more fun to listen to through Xreal’s glasses, even at low volumes.
The 1S and One Pro glasses have fewer buttons than Viture’s glasses, which lowers the learning curve. Xreal’s glasses have four buttons in total, all of which are along their right temple arm. To be fair, all AR glasses’ button layouts take a while to learn. But the Beast has six in total spread across both temple arms, two of which are a button rocker dedicated solely to adjusting the opacity of its electrochromic lenses — it’s overkill.
The superior contrast and clarity of Viture’s Beast glasses
The three pairs of AR glasses that I tested use similar Sony micro-OLED screens, but Viture’s glasses are my favorite when it comes to displaying games with the same rich contrast, inky blacks, and bright highlights as would appear on the OLED TV in my living room. Just as important, picture quality looks great regardless of where you use these glasses because their optics cut down on reflections (however, they’re not “4K-like,” as Viture misleadingly advertises). The Xreal One Pro glasses are also fantastic in terms of picture quality and exhibit next to no reflections due to having high-end optics, but they’re typically $100 more — though sometimes just $50 — than Viture’s Beast.
Unfortunately, the Xreal 1S’s biggest weakness is reflections. Bright rooms make their OLEDs exhibit crushed blacks, looking more like LCDs in these scenarios. They can produce a good image in low-light scenarios, though content appears blurrier through them than with the other glasses.
The great fit and finish of Xreal’s glasses
Xreal is peerless when it comes to build quality, and its $449 1S feels just as high-end as its pricier One Pro. Both pairs have snappy metal hinge mechanisms that prevent their temple arms from opening unintentionally (the ones on Viture’s Beast quickly swing open and feel cheap). Moreover, Xreal’s glasses look more like real sunglasses than the Beast glasses do (Viture can’t resist going with a slightly gamer-y look that you’ll love or hate, though the Beast glasses look much more sophisticated than its Luma series). Yes, these traits are indistinguishable once they’re on my face, but they’re worth considering given their high cost.
The user experience is more polished across the board with Xreal’s glasses. My Steam Deck and phone are a few seconds faster to connect to the Xreal 1S and One Pro, and as mentioned before, the learning curve is lower. Xreal also currently has the better 3DoF implementation simply because the screen stays put when it’s anchored. With the Viture Beast glasses, the “anchored” screen moves, slowly sliding out of view. That’s a deal-breaker.
Xreal’s Real3D feature, which is better than I expected (in small amounts)
Xreal glasses that have the X1 chip (ones that launched in the past two or so years) now have the Real 3D feature. The mode can turn 2D content into 3D, and there’s a multi-step software slider to increase its effect. I enjoy using its mildest conversion setting more than I expected to.
The 3D effect is not as pronounced as the Nintendo 3DS’s 3D effect, but the subtle improvements are easy to notice. It works especially well in games that don’t require a ton of fast movement.
Viture’s Switch 2 compatibility
Unfortunately, no AR glasses can connect with a single USB-C cable to the Switch 2 (blame Nintendo). You need a compatible dock, one of which doesn’t exist just for Xreal glasses owners. The company canceled its Neo charging dock it announced at CES 2026 due to reliability concerns (the unit it sent me for testing still works great with my console). So, folks with Xreal glasses and a Switch 2 will need a different accessory to play.
It’s easier if you have Viture’s glasses, but not exactly affordable. Viture makes a $130 Pro Mobile Dock that works perfectly with the Switch 2 for the Beast. This dock doubles as a 13,000mAh battery so you can charge up while you game. If the Switch 2 isn’t your thing, the dock features a full HDMI port, letting you view a console’s video feed within your glasses. Video passthrough works for Xreal glasses, too, but audio didn’t work well enough for me to recommend it.
Xreal 1S
Score: 7
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Xreal One Pro
The Xreal One Pro project a huge virtual display that feels like a 171-inch screen, using micro-OLED panels, a 57-degree field of view, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Powered by Xreal’s X1 chip, the smart glasses offer low-latency tracking with optional 6DoF spatial anchoring so your screen stays fixed in place. They also feature built-in speakers and work with a wide range of USB-C devices.
Score: 8
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Viture Beast
Score: 6
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Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge
Really, you made this without AI? Prove it
"This looks like AI."
It's a phrase I dread seeing as a writer who dabbles in illustration and amateur photography. In a world where generative AI technology is increasingly adept at mimicking the work of humans, people are naturally skeptical when online platforms refuse to label even obvious AI content.
This leads me to one conclusion: maybe we should start labeling human-made text, images, audio, and video with something akin to a universally recognized Fair Trade logo. The machines sure as hell aren't motivated to label their work, but the creators at risk of being displaced most definitely are.
Fortunately, I'm not alone in my thinki …