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Richard Lawler
Imran Ahmed is suing Marco Rubio and other federal officials to fight their sanctions barring him from the US.

The Trump administration just sanctioned five people, including Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) founder Imran Ahmed, over their work in content moderation and anti-disinformation. On Wednesday he filed a lawsuit (pdf) to stop their “unconstitutional attempt to arrest and expel him.”

Ahmed:

My life’s work is to protect children from the dangers of unregulated social media and AI and fight the spread of antisemitism online. That mission has pitted me against big tech executives – and Elon Musk in particular – multiple times. I am proud to call the United States my home. My wife and daughter are American, and instead of spending Christmas with them, I am fighting to prevent my unlawful deportation from my home country.

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Richard Lawler
Stranger Things fandom drama strikes one more time.

In an Elite Daily interview ahead of this week’s penultimate release, series star Gaten Matarazzo referenced the “Stonathan” pairing and said he liked the idea behind “Steddie” fanfics.

But saying the “Byler” shipping between Will and Mike, was “very funny. I see them as just very good friends,” seemingly went too far for some, with social media posts targeting the interviewer, and some even claiming it was a fake quote.

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Richard Lawler
DOJ explains an Epstein hoax to PopBase and claims it has a million unreleased files.

The feds have spent the last day or so replying to @PopBase on X and sloppily redacting documents. Now it’s claiming “The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI have informed the Department of Justice that they have uncovered over a million more documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case,” which could take weeks to release.

The FBI has confirmed this alleged letter from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is FAKE. The fake letter was received by the jail, and flagged for the FBI at the time. The FBI made this conclusion based on the following facts: -The writing does not appear to match Jeffrey Epstein’s. -The letter was postmarked three days after Epstein’s death out of Northern Virginia, when he was jailed in New York.
Screenshot:DOJ (X)
How AI broke the smart home in 2025 

The arrival of generative AI assistants in our smart homes held such promise; instead, they struggle to turn on the lights.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
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External Link
Richard Lawler
Nvidia pays a reported $20 billion for most of the AI chip startup Groq.

CNBC reports Nvidia isn’t buying all of Groq, which has inference AI tech that IBM’s CEO recently told us “looks like it’ll be 10x cheaper” than GPUs.

Nvidia’s getting a non-exclusive license, and members of the team, like Google TPU creator and Groq CEO Jonathan Ross, and former Autonomic CEO Sunny Madra.

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Richard Lawler
Waymo is working on a Google Gemini-powered in-car AI assistant.

In addition to an update for its power outage problem, Waymo is also working on an AI Ride Assistant. That’s according to security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who found details on the bot’s system prompt from Waymo’s mobile app code.

Details of the Waymo bot’s protocol for reassuring a rider who expresses anxiety, and a sample response reading “I understand it can feel different being driven this way. Please be assured that the Waymo Driver sees all around the vehicle and is designed to maintain a safe distance from everything it sees. Your safety is our absolute highest priority.”
The Waymo Ride Assistant’s “reassurance_protocol”
Screenshot: Jane Manchun Wong
The Verge’s 2025 holiday gift guide

A curated mix of tech-y standouts, everyday favorites, and other delights for everyone on your list.

Verge Staff
The Verge’s 2025 in reviewThe Verge’s 2025 in review
Entertainment
Entertainment
Barbara Krasnoff
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External Link
Richard Lawler
Nvidia tests of Intel’s 18A chip manufacturing process “stopped moving forward.”

In the spring, Reuters broke the news that Nvidia and Broadcom were testing Intel’s 18A process for chip production, but in a profile today of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, the outlet now says Nvidia’s test has ended, regardless of their new $5 billion deal.

The report doesn’t say why, but in October, Intel CFO David Zinsner said 18A yields were “not where we need them to be to drive the appropriate level of margins,” and that it could be 2026 or 2027 before that changes.

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Youtube
Richard Lawler
“...like e pluribus unum.”

Once you’ve watched the Pluribus (or, actually, Plur1bus?) season finale and read through Andrew Webster’s review, it’s time for Apple TV’s 20-minute behind-the-scenes video with Vince Gilligan & Co.

The best shows and movies to stream on Netflix in 2025The best shows and movies to stream on Netflix in 2025
Entertainment
The Verge’s 2025 in review
Ash Parrish
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Youtube
Thomas Ricker
Apple’s foldable gets Prossered.

It’s unclear if Jon Prosser — Apple rumor monger and target of that Cupertino lawsuit — has his own sources, or is just regurgitating as fact reporting already done by the likes of Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo. Nevertheless, this video is a good summary of where rumors of the foldable iPhone have coalesced, less than a year before its supposed release.

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Richard Lawler
Waymo explains Saturday’s self-driving shutdown in San Francisco.

When a substation fire cut off electricity across the city, Waymo SUVs stuck at malfunctioning stoplights quickly became another headache, and now the company is explaining it as an issue of too many remote operator assistance requests:

While the Waymo Driver is designed to handle dark traffic signals as four-way stops, it may occasionally request a confirmation check to ensure it makes the safest choice. While we successfully traversed more than 7,000 dark signals on Saturday, the outage created a concentrated spike in these requests. This created a backlog that, in some cases, led to response delays contributing to congestion on already-overwhelmed streets.

Chipwrecked: Can Nvidia avoid the crash?

Nvidia has built an empire on circular deals for chips. Can anything knock it down?

Elizabeth Lopatto
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Richard Lawler
AT&T’s ‘wrapped’ says its network now averages an exabyte of data every day.

According to AT&T, the highest call day (through the beginning of December, because just like Spotify Wrapped, everyone’s data feed cuts off a bit early) was October 31st, and the most texts were sent on December 1st.

And as for how its data traffic compares to previous years:

Just ten years ago, we moved only 91 petabytes of data across our network each day. The leap to an exabyte marks an astonishing 1,000% increase over the past decade and more than 11,000% increase over the past 20 years

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External Link
Lauren Feiner
Another landlord agrees to steer clear of algorithmic rent price recommendations.

The Justice Department reached a proposed agreement with landlord LivCor to resolve claims that it illegally coordinated rent prices with other landlords using algorithmic recommendations from RealPage. The DOJ previously settled with RealPage, and two large landlords involved in the case.

These great digital gifts will arrive just in time for ChristmasThese great digital gifts will arrive just in time for Christmas
Gadgets
Gadgets
Cameron Faulkner and Sheena Vasani
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Richard Lawler
Former FTX US exec Brett Harrison raises $35 million for a “perpetual futures” exchange.

I don’t know what “AX, the financial industry’s first centralized exchange for perpetual futures on traditional asset classes,” is, but I do recognize Harrison.

He was once touting FTX Stocks, and later mentioned by the FDIC for statements about the insurance status of customers’ accounts that it considered “false and misleading,” before everything went boom.

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The Verge
Jay Peters
GeForce Now’s 100-hour cap for pretty much everyone comes into effect in January.

Active paid GeForce Now members who signed up before 2025 had been exempt, but starting January 1st, 2026, the cap is in place for them, too. Founders members will continue to have unlimited playtime, Nvidia says.

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Jay Peters
Some Amazon Fire TVs get Xbox Cloud Gaming.

“The newest models of the Fire TV 4-Series and Fire TV Omni QLED Series now feature the Xbox app built right in, with additional models coming in the future,” according to Amazon.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

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Andrew Liszewski
Ikea has made some of its Matter-compatible smart home devices even cheaper.

As the cost of some electronics continues to skyrocket, Ikea has dropped the price of several of its new smart home accessories. The Myggspray motion and Klippbok water sensors are now down to $7.99 from $9.99, and while the three-pack of the colorful two-button Bilresa remotes launched in the US for $19.99, they’re now $14.99.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Three images of Ikea’s new Matter-compatible smart home accessories.
Two of Ikea’s new Matter-compatible smart home sensors and its two-button remote are now cheaper in the US.
Image: Ikea
How Last Samurai Standing adds kinetic action to the Battle Royale formula

Junichi Okada talks about the new Netflix series and how his role as action planner touches nearly every part of it.

Geoffrey Bunting
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Youtube
Meredith Haggerty
The Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailer is online.

The short MCU clip that premiered exclusively before Avatar: Fire and Ash is finally accessible. See Chris Evans’ former Captain America drive a motorcycle, wear a jacket, and hold a baby. Didn’t Steve Rogers retire?

The film will be out on December 18th, 2026, so we have a year to wonder.

The Vergecast RAM Holiday Spec-tacularThe Vergecast RAM Holiday Spec-tacular
Podcasts
Podcasts
David Pierce
The year the government broke

2025 was the year the federal government and consumer protections were gutted.

Lauren Feiner
Dometic makes a better portable water faucet

The rechargeable Recon 360 Faucet addresses every minor complaint I had with its predecessor.

Thomas Ricker
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