United States
The Verge
Who is Picea Robotics, Roomba’s new owner?
iRobot, the owner of the Roomba robot vacuum, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stating that it will be acquired by its contract manufacturer, Picea Robotics. The Chinese-based company assumed iRobot's $190 million loan earlier this month and, under the terms of iRobot's restructuring, will waive that debt, along with the $161.5 million iRobot owes […]
📢 Published on 📅 15 December 2025 🕒 8:52 am
iRobot files for bankruptcy
After 35 years, the maker of the Roomba robot vacuum filed for bankruptcy protection late Sunday night. Following warnings issued earlier this year that it was fast running out of options, iRobot says it is entering Chapter 11 protection and will be acquired by its contract manufacturer, the Chinese-based Picea Robotics. The company says it […]
📢 Published on 📅 15 December 2025 🕒 6:11 am
You need to listen to Sudan Archives’ violin opus for the club
My introduction to Sudan Archives was the song "Nont for Sale" from her first EP Sink in 2018. I've been a die-hard fan ever since. With each album, she finds new ways to sculpt the sound of her violin, contorting it in defiance of expectations. Athena found her in conversation with it, leaving its timbre […]
📢 Published on 📅 14 December 2025 🕒 11:45 pm
Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting
Grok's track record is spotty at best. But even by the very low standards of xAI, its failure in the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia is shocking. The AI chatbot has repeatedly misidentified 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who heroically disarmed one of the shooters, and claimed the […]
📢 Published on 📅 14 December 2025 🕒 9:24 pm
Absynth is back and weirder than ever after 16 years
Absynth is something of a cult classic in the soft synth world. It was originally released in 2000, and quickly found an audience among the growing cadre of people making music on computers. But its last major update, Absynth 5, was released in 2009, and Native Instruments officially discontinued the instrument in 2022, citing a […]
📢 Published on 📅 14 December 2025 🕒 7:00 pm
Inside the high drama of the iPhone 4
By 2010, the iPhone era was in full swing. Smartphones were still a new and unfinished idea - the iPhone had only just gotten copy and paste! - but it was clear that these big slabs of glass were going to change the way we did pretty much everything. Apple was also already on an […]
📢 Published on 📅 14 December 2025 🕒 3:30 pm
The end of OpenAI, and other 2026 predictions
Here's a thought: what if the next-generation Siri is awesome? Not just awesome for setting timers and dictating text messages (though that would be nice), but so awesome and fun to talk to that people actually start falling in love with their iPhones. We may not be prepared for what happens next. On this episode […]
📢 Published on 📅 14 December 2025 🕒 2:29 pm
I’m finally beginning to trust Microsoft’s handheld Xbox
I still wouldn't buy an Xbox Ally, and I still don't think the tweaked version of Windows that shipped with it is ready for primetime. The Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) needs work. But two months after I panned the cheaper $600 white Xbox Ally and wasn't quite sold on the $1,000 black one, one […]
📢 Published on 📅 14 December 2025 🕒 2:00 pm
A new old idea about video stores
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 109, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you're staying warm, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about Google Maps and shopaganda and life as a pop […]
📢 Published on 📅 14 December 2025 🕒 1:00 pm
AI image generators are getting better by getting worse
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on smartphones and digital imagery - real or otherwise - follow Allison Johnson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Remember the early days of […]
📢 Published on 📅 14 December 2025 🕒 1:00 pm
