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Richard Lawler
Nintendo finally gets into the 2025 wrap-up game.

Long after Spotify’s Wrapped, or other annual data look-back features from PlayStation and Steam (but not Xbox), Nintendo has announced its Switch 2025 Year in Review tracker.

Other than sharing your results with the #NintendoSwitch2025 hashtag, there’s also an option to select GOTY, or go even further back in your Switch / Switch 2 history to the first game you played.

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Icons of familiar items from the Mario gamesl ike a Star and question mark block
Screenshot: Nintendo.com
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Stevie Bonifield
Google is bringing a useful Meet feature for hybrid meetings to iOS and Android.

Google is adding Meet’s automatic conference room detection feature to the Meet and Gmail mobile apps. First launched on laptops last year, it uses silent ultrasound signals that are picked up by your phone’s mic to automatically check you into your conference room and prompt you to join Meet calls with your device in Companion mode, avoiding annoying feedback or other problems.

Screenshots of Google Meet’s automatic conference room detection feature running on the Meet mobile app
Now Android and iOS users will automatically get the “Companion mode” prompt in conference rooms.
Image: Google
Inside the White House shitposting machine

A political comms professional breaks down Trump’s meme media strategy.

Tina Nguyen
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External Link
Emma Roth
Netflix is reportedly considering an all-cash offer for Warner Bros.

As reported by Bloomberg, the revised deal would replace Netflix’s existing agreement to acquire WBD’s studio and streaming business in a cash and stock transaction. The rumored change comes as Paramount continues to press WBD to accept its “superior” $108 billion all-cash deal for the entire company.

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Sean Hollister
The Lego Smart Brick debate has been brewing for decades, David and I agree.

That’s me on The Vergecast, debating the finer points of our CES 2026 Best in Show: the Lego Smart Brick. Why is it smart, and is it an affront to the imagination? Spoiler: my wife isn’t convinced! And did David make the pew-pew sounds when he was a kid? Tune in.

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External Link
Emma Roth
Micron says its decision to shut down Crucial is meant to “help” consumers.

During an interview with Wccftech, Micron VP of marketing Christopher Moore says the company is still serving consumers “through different channels,” such as focusing on supplying DRAM modules to device manufacturers like Dell and Asus:

Our viewpoint is that we are trying to help consumers around the world. We’re just doing it through different channels. We still have a very sizable business in the client and mobile markets... I think it’s really important for people to understand we are still servicing the consumer market.

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External Link
Lauren Feiner
Most teens still want to use their phones in school.

This might not be a shock to anyone who’s known or been a teen, but many still oppose sweeping efforts to pry their phones away during the school day, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Still, they’re slightly more open to phone bans during class than all day.

Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards

X’s deepfake porn feature clearly violates app store guidelines. Why won’t Apple and Google pull it?

Elizabeth Lopatto
The Bone Temple turns 28 Years Later into a terrifying crisis of faith

Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later sequel turns the franchise on its head with a story about spirituality in the end times.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
The best phone to buy right nowThe best phone to buy right now
Gadgets
Gadgets
Allison Johnson
The best noise-canceling headphones to buy right nowThe best noise-canceling headphones to buy right now
Tech
Tech
John Higgins and Chris Welch
What we learned from CES 2026What we learned from CES 2026
Tech
Tech
Thomas Ricker
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External Link
Tina Nguyen
Give me your tired, your poor, your parasocial followers yearning for content:

Thanks to Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies, it’s much harder for high-skilled tech workers to apply for the American H-1B visa these days. But a new type of tech worker visa is on the rise: Onlyfans creators and influencers are increasingly applying for (and receiving) O-1 visas, which were once reserved for individuals with “extraordinary ability or achievement” in fields such as the arts, motion pictures, television, sciences, education, business, or athletics.

Mercedes temporarily scraps its Level 3 ‘eyes-off’ driving featureMercedes temporarily scraps its Level 3 ‘eyes-off’ driving feature
Transportation
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The Verge
Verge Staff
The Verge’s CES crew is hosting an AMA for subscribers today.

Now that they’re returned from and processed CES 2026, they’ll be fielding your questions starting at 3PM ET. Stop by!

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Youtube
Jay Peters
Leon!

Capcom will show off more about Resident Evil Requiem, which will co-star a grizzly Leon Kennedy, in a new Resident Evil showcase on January 15 at 5PM ET. The game is launching soon, on February 26th.

Snatching Maduro was all about the spectacle

Real people died while Trump treated war like a meme stock.

Elizabeth Lopatto and Sarah Jeong
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External Link
Stevie Bonifield
Warhammer publisher Games Workshop has banned its staff from using AI in content and designs.

GW won’t be making AI-generated Warhammer products any time soon, the Financial Times reports.

“We will be maintaining a strong commitment to protect our intellectual property and respect our human creators,” GW CEO Kevin Rountree says, adding that, among its senior managers, “none are that excited about [AI] yet.”

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Youtube
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Something huge is coming to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2.

A mysterious kaiju is stirring up trouble in this new teaser for season 2 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. The new creature seems bigger than King Kong and more menacing than Godzilla, but we’ll have to wait for the season’s premiere on February 27th to learn the monster’s name.

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External Link
Stevie Bonifield
The creator of Signal Messenger is taking on ChatGPT next.

The latest project from Moxie Marlinspike is Confer, an AI chatbot that claims to offer end-to-end encryption, as spotted by Ars Technica. It looks like ChatGPT, but it works like Signal — the platform’s developers can’t access, sell, or share user data, or even train the AI on it.

How Lego’s Smart Brick worksHow Lego’s Smart Brick works
Podcasts
Podcasts
David Pierce
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The Verge
Emma Roth
Slackbot is more like an AI assistant now.

An update rolling out today will allow Slackbot to do things like summarize information across multiple channels, help you sort through messages, and find time to schedule meetings with colleagues. The updated Slackbot is coming to Business Plus and Enterprise Plus customers following last year’s test.

The best robot vacuums we’ve tested for 2026The best robot vacuums we’ve tested for 2026
Tech
Tech
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
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External Link
Jay Peters
Brazil’s competition regulator is investigating WhatsApp’s new terms that block rival AI chatbots.

ChatGPT and Copilot will be removed from WhatsApp in Brazil because of the terms, which go into effect on January 15th. The terms will be suspended in Brazil for now, according to a machine translation of CADE’s announcement.

Meta is excluding Italy from the ban because of an order from its antitrust watchdog.

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