17 relaxing video games to help you destress

Roland just released the Aira Compact P-6, a battery-powered sampler with a built-in microphone for capturing ideas quickly. There’s also a USB-C port and analog inputs for plugging in a higher-grade mic, a smartphone or an actual computer for even more sampling opportunities. Roland calls it a “roving recorder,” likely because it’s nearly small enough…

Looking for some peace of mind when it comes to keeping tabs on your home? We’ve spotted some steep discounts on home security systems and cameras that are sure to help, regardless of your budget. Here are some top picks: Best home security deals Best overall deal SimpliSafe wireless home security system (8 piece) $143.99…

In 2000, my long-suffering mother took my brother and his friends to the local theater for a showing of Pokémon the Movie 2000. The boys were six or seven and had happily been swept up in the burgeoning cultural phenomenon dubbed “Pokémania.” My mother, perplexed by the whole affair, read a book in the back…

Who is afraid of little old Taylor Swift? After Tuesday night, Republicans should be. After the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on Sept. 10, Swift took to Instagram to publicly endorse Harris. But she didn’t stop there. The popstar also added a custom voter registration link to her…

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta has acknowledged that all text and photos that adult Facebook and Instagram users have publicly published since 2007 have been fed into its artificial intelligence models. Australia’s ABC News reports that Meta’s global privacy director, Melinda Claybaugh, initially rejected claims about user data from 2007 being leveraged…

Disney’s current promo runs through September 27th and extends to both new and returning subscribers. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Like most streaming services, the price of a Disney Plus is about to go up in the not-so-distant future. Fortunately for those dreading the $2 price hike — which is due to…

Image: The Flappy Bird Foundation A self-described “team of passionate fans committed to sharing the game with the world” says it’s acquired the rights to Flappy Bird, the iconic mobile game whose creator took it offline less than a year after it was released. Now, “The Flappy Bird Foundation Group” will relaunch the game on…

TL;DR: Enjoy 5 years of privacy, security, and ad-free browsing with AdGuard VPN for $34.97 through September 29. Opens in a new window Credit: AdGuard AdGuard VPN $34.97 $359.40 Save $324.43 5-year subscription Get Deal Navigating the internet without protection is like leaving your front door wide open. But with AdGuard VPN, you can lock…

Completing Elden Ring and its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is no mean feat with hundreds of bosses to take on, never mind actually navigating through the twists and turns of the sprawling open-world environment in order to get to them. While you may be accustomed to FromSoftware’s mechanics by now, especially if you’ve played…

SAVE $150: As of September 12, get a refurbished pair of Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones at Bose. Opens in a new window Credit: Bose Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones (Refurbished) $279.00 at Bose $429.00 Save $150.00 Get Deal Time for a new pair of headphones? You’ve got tons of options. But if you don’t mind spending…

SAVE UP TO $24: For a limited time, subscribe to Disney+ Basic with ads for just $1.99 a month for three months. That’s $8 off the regular price of $9.99 per month, or $24 in total savings. Opens in a new window Credit: Disney Disney+ Basic $1.99 at Disney+ $9.99 Save $8.00 Get Disney+ Basic…

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images We’ve been covering the rise of AI image editing very closely here on Decoder and at The Verge overall for several years now — the ability to create photorealistic images with nothing more than a chatbot prompt has the potential to completely reset our cultural relationship with…

An aerial photo of a warehouse next to homes in Bloomington, California. | Photo by Wes Reel for The Verge The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just handed communities a powerful new way to hold nearby warehouses accountable for the pollution they create. Until recently, air quality regulations largely overlooked tailpipe pollution choking neighborhoods near sprawling…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge These days, there are so many digital subscriptions out there — music, movies, fitness, cloud storage, software, podcasts, audiobooks, Patreons, security cameras, AI bots, and more — that it’s perfectly understandable if you start losing track of what exactly you’re signed up for. To make things even more…

A decade after its untimely demise and countless clones later, the original Flappy Bird is coming back. Under the banner of the Flappy Bird Foundation, some dedicated fans acquired the rights to the viral mobile hit, per a press release. Flappy Bird will return to iOS and Android as native mobile apps in 2025. But…

GM and Hyundai executives announced a new partnership to codevelop vehicles. | Image: Hyundai Auto tie-ups are nothing new, but they have become more frequent and wide-ranging in the age of clean energy and alternate fuel sources, as companies seek to spread out the cost and risk of adopting expensive new technologies. The latest alignment…

Microsoft has said it is investigating an issue where some users may be unable to access some Microsoft 365 services, after thousands of outage reports related to the workplace productivity software. According to the outage tracking website Downdetector.com, there were nearly 23,000 incidents of people reporting issues with Microsoft 365. An additional 4,300 reported problems…

Microsoft users reported lots of issues and outages on Thursday. The issue appeared to lie with its 365 subscription, which can feature popular and necessary services like Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and more. “We’re investigating an issue where users may be unable to access multiple Microsoft 365 services,” the company posted on X. “Please look…

Google’s latest update for its AI-powered research tool NotebookLM can turn the materials you want to pore over into a podcast-like audio discussion. The new feature called Audio Overview takes information from documents you’ve uploaded and then generates a “deep dive” discussion between two AI hosts. In addition to summarizing your sources, Google says the…

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos: Getty Images Apple revealed its iPhone 16 lineup on Monday, and the big selling point was Apple Intelligence. Apple’s on-device AI system offers splashy features like the ability to rewrite emails, generate custom emoji, and a significantly upgraded Siri. But underneath it all, AI is delivering one…

French AI startup Mistral has released its first ever multimodal model called Pixtral 12B, competing with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic. The 12-billion-parameter model is capable of processing both images and text, and currently uses its existing text-based model Nemo 12B. Pixtral 12B is expected to be integrated into the company’s chatbot, Le Chat,…

Are you looking for a pair of earbuds that will let you enjoy music on your commute without costing so much you have to cut out your daily iced coffee? Well, Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 wireless earbuds are 40 percent off right now, dropping to $48, down from $80. This deal brings the earbuds to…

Apple announced a slate of new products at its keynote event on Monday (September 9), including two new AirPods 4 wireless earbuds, which succeeded the second-generation AirPods from 2019 and the AirPods 3 from 2021. While audiophiles were hoping for a major upgrade of the AirPods Max, the surprising development came from its new AirPods…

Privatey-trained astronaut Jared Isaacman emerges from the capsule. | Screenshot: SpaceX SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn astronauts successfully performed a spacewalk, marking the first done by a private company. After depressurizing SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, the billionaire funding the mission, Jared Isaacman, emerged from the spacecraft early Thursday morning. With his torso and head fully sticking outside the…

iFixit embodies the spirit of “screw it, I’ll just do it myself” that has always been a trait of some tech enthusiasts. As one of the Right to Repair movement’s proponents, the company is now flexing its muscles with an electronics product of its very own. FixHub is a USB-C powered soldering iron designed to…

The iFixit portable soldering station. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge My first USB-C soldering iron was a revelation. “You mean I can make liquid metal connections anywhere, in seconds, just by plugging this tiny stick into a USB cable?” Now, repair company iFixit is introducing its own take on the idea. It…

Illustration: The Verge Google Wallet will start beta testing a digital ID soon that works at TSA checkpoints in almost half the country, including states like New York, California, Florida, Texas, and Illinois, but Google still advises that users keep their physical ID handy. Google says it’s also working with partners to use digital IDs…

Middle-earth may be crawling with orcs, Balrogs, and Dark Wizards, but the worst villain in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is none other than Kemen (Leon Wadham). SEE ALSO: Tom Bombadil’s introduction in ‘The Rings of Power’ is right out of ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ Kemen was a somewhat minor presence…

September marks Suicide Prevention Month, a time to recognize the people impacted by suicide and suicidal thoughts, as well as the importance of working together to raise awareness and take preventive steps. A new collaboration aims to fulfill the latter, with Meta teaming up with the Mental Health Coalition to create Thrive, a signal-sharing program….

After slashing 1,900 jobs across Xbox and Activision earlier this year, Microsoft is laying off another 650 employees, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge. The cuts are again related to its Activision Blizzard acquisition and will mostly affect corporate and supporting functions, Xbox head Phil Spencer told employees.  “We have made the…