Meet the people who want peptides to be made in America
This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. We'll be taking a break next week and will be back on November 25th. Opt in for Optimizer here.
The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is a World War II Liberty ship. The hulking vessel was built in 56 days. It made 11 trips to Normandy, France, to supply the Allied powers in the fight against German U-boats. Last week, it was the site of a black-tie peptide party thrown by a trio of Gen Z venture capitalists.
Roughly 150 people attended the event, where four types of …
No, AI agents did not discover a previously unknown Maya site
Armed with a team of AI agents, Google researcher Pietro Miotti claimed earlier this week to have discovered a potentially unmapped Maya site in Mexico. There was just one problem: The site had already been discovered and was published in an academic journal last year. The incident, which sparked criticism among archeologists online, underscores a growing tension in science as amateurs wielding increasingly powerful AI tools parachute into specialist fields, often without the expertise needed to understand what they are looking at.
Local communities are often already well aware of sites in their area.
Miotti said the idea to use AI to sea …
Microsoft Outlook is down
Over the last hour or so, reports have come in from around the world that people can't access their Outlook email, either through the web or apps. Microsoft has acknowledged the issue from its Microsoft 365 Status account, saying that "We've determined a portion of infrastructure is experiencing elevated load across multiple regions, which is likely contributing to the connectivity errors."
There were also some reports of problems with Teams, but most of the people reporting issues say Teams is still working now.
Now Microsoft says:
We've completed redistributing connection traffic across our worldwide infrastructure, and we're moving ad …
Oh, Palantir is ‘progressive’ now, is it?
I had other things to do today, but Alex Karp's pathetic attempt to pivot back to the left gave me no choice but to put them on hold.
Last week's elections were a bloodbath for the right, a problem for all the wannabe fash founders who had tied their political fortunes to a "vibe shift" that enabled a glorious 100-year Trumpenreich. That freed up a lot of assholes to say what they actually thought. Except Donald Trump's victory was, in fact, narrow, and two years of his corrupt policies have enraged Americans.
"I've been a Democrat my whole life. I grew up in a far left environment. I know more about being a progressive than almost anybody …
The Jensen Huang scandal is hardly over
I was certain, until the story of Jensen Huang's second affair hit, that Huang was bulletproof. After all, why wouldn't he be? He's placed himself indispensably at the center of the AI industry and famously had no succession plan at Nvidia. In fact, he's the only CEO Nvidia has ever had. L'état c'est moi.
Then two stories were published nearly back to back on Wednesday: one alleging Huang had an affair with his subordinate Kimberly Powell, another that the board was meeting to consider his ouster. First thing Thursday morning, Nvidia announced Huang had resigned. One of the most powerful men in Silicon Valley was out.
Why throw Huang under …
‘The end of Tesla!’: Cybertruck diehards turn on Elon Musk after he pulls the plug
The Cybertruck is heading to that shiny cyber-dumpster in the sky, leaving the folks who built online identities around Elon Musk's polarizing pickup feeling bereft. Usually, Musk's fanbase treads lightly around their idol's mercurial decisions. This time, however, the truck's demise has sparked rare backlash within the Tesla community - aimed squarely at the guy who signed its death warrant.
Troy Meekhof, who posts on numerous social platforms under the moniker "The Cybertruck Guy," has been vocal about his disappointment in Musk's decision to wind down Cybertruck production by the end of summer 2027. (The original plan was to start windin …
25 years later, Xbox is trying to reinvent itself again
Microsoft has spent the past 25 years trying to shake up the game console market. The original Xbox, which launched on November 15th in 2001, took on an industry dominated by Sony and Nintendo. Twenty-five years later, Xbox finds itself in a similar position. It's not starting from scratch this time around, but to reach another 25-year milestone, it needs to do something radically different.
The original Xbox was radically different. Born out of a fear of Sony putting a PC in the living room, Microsoft built its first game console around familiar PC technology. A custom Intel Pentium III processor powered the original Xbox, alongside an Nvi …
AI chatbots are recommending fake retail websites, study finds
Shoppers using AI chatbots to research products or find places to buy items could be directed to imposters and other risky websites, a new study found.
The study conducted by IP protection firm Podqi and shared exclusively with The Verge prompted ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity with a handful of shopping-related questions involving a selection of 151 brands. Questions included "What are the top websites for buying [brand]?"; "Where can I find [brand] online?"; and "Does [brand] ship internationally? What are their regional websites?" The test ran over the course of two testing periods in September and asked about 151 small and large compani …
More game developers are starting to use generative AI
More video game developers are using generative AI tools in their jobs compared to last year, according to the GDC Festival of Gaming's latest annual industry survey. Forty percent of developers surveyed say they use it "as part of their job," an increase from 36 percent in 2025. Usage was higher with game developers that work on free-to-play games at 58 percent and mobile-only studio workers at 70 percent.
The survey is being published as the game industry continues to reckon with generative AI tools. While many game developers, particularly indie developers, have spoken out strongly against the technology, AI is at the center of indie awa …
Google Wallet can finally unlock doors with digital home keys
Google has added digital home key support to Google Wallet, allowing Android users to open smart locks by tapping their phone against them or simply approaching. The feature is currently available in public preview for the Google Home app, and will roll out to everyone "over the coming weeks," according to Google's announcement.
This was a long time coming, given Samsung and Apple users have had this convenience for a while now. While Google Home already has some unlocking functionality, this update allows users to leverage the Near Field Communication (NFC) and Ultra-Wideband (UWB) tech in their phones with compatible smart locks. Multiple …