Rockstar has officially confirmed Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders go live June 25, with the game itself landing in mid-November — and we still don't know the price, which feels intentional and a little cheeky. The GTA Online and Trilogy discounts running alongside the announcement are a nice way to re-engage the existing player base while everyone waits. Pre-ordering before a price is confirmed is a personal call, but at least the release window is now real.
Engadget →Adobe is pushing Firefly AI deeper into Premiere, Photoshop, and Illustrator — not just as a one-off tool but as an agentic assistant that can string tasks together inside the apps you already live in. For anyone who makes things for a living, this is the kind of integration that actually changes daily workflows rather than just showing up in a keynote slide. Worth trying in beta before writing it off or fully committing.
9to5Mac →Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 got hit with US export controls after a panicked Friday phone call chain involving Andy Jassy, Scott Bessent, and a 90-minute ultimatum — and the model is still offline for everyone as a result. The whole situation is a crash course in what happens when AI regulation is improvised rather than designed: chaotic, arbitrary, and arguably more damaging to American AI competitiveness than the thing it was meant to prevent. The Decoder interview is long but worth the read if you want to understand the new political weather around frontier AI.
The Verge →RAMageddon claims another victim: the iPhone 18 Pro is reportedly heading toward a $1,399 starting price, up from $999, thanks to unprecedented RAM and storage cost increases. Apple has apparently confirmed price hikes are coming, and the WSJ has the early estimates. If true, this is the biggest iPhone price jump in the device's history — not a rumor to dismiss.
9to5Mac →The Kindle Colorsoft Essentials Bundle — e-reader, leather cover, and USB adapter — has dropped to $182.97 from $334.97, which is an all-time low for the combo and a genuinely good deal on a color E Ink reader we like. The color screen earns its keep beyond comics: four-color highlighting, better cover browsing, and an IPX8 rating mean it holds up as a daily reading device. Prime membership required, and the sale is live now ahead of Prime Day proper.
The Verge →The XGIMI MemoMind One apparently has solid smart glasses hardware underneath an AI that Engadget describes as — their word — creepy, in the sense that it's actively monitoring your environment in ways that feel more surveillance than assistant. Good form factor, uncomfortable soul: a useful heads-up for anyone tempted by the category. Smart glasses are genuinely interesting right now, but the AI layer is where the differences really live.
Engadget →Smart appliances come with an expiration date that has nothing to do with whether they still keep your food cold — software support ends, and suddenly your $2,000 fridge is running unpatched firmware and losing features. This piece walks through what to expect when a manufacturer pulls the plug, from degraded cloud features to real security exposure. It's essential reading for anyone shopping connected appliances, and a useful gut-check for anyone already living with one.
Engadget →Smart Home
For the stretcherAmazon's best-reviewed Alexa speaker — the Echo Dot Max, with a dedicated tweeter and woofer, AZ3 processor, and built-in Zigbee/Matter/Thread hub — is down to $64.99, which is $35 off and an all-time low ahead of Prime Day. It's a legitimate smart home hub disguised as a speaker, and the reviewer's top pick in the Alexa lineup. If you've been dragging your feet on setting up a Matter ecosystem or just want a capable room speaker that does a lot more than play music, this is a reasonable moment to pull the trigger.
The Verge →Tim Cook has confirmed that Apple products are getting more expensive, citing an ongoing RAM shortage that's made current pricing 'unsustainable.' He didn't name specific products or timelines, but the Mac Mini already quietly lost its $599 entry point and the 512GB Mac Studio quietly disappeared — so the repricing is already in motion. If you've been eyeing an Apple machine, this is the clearest signal yet that waiting might cost you more.
Engadget →The Trump administration invoked 'national security authorities' to cut off Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models from all foreign nationals — including users inside the US and Anthropic's own employees — without publicly explaining the legal basis. It's reportedly the first time US export controls have been used to restrict access to an AI model this way, and the move has rattled allied governments enough that some are now talking about building their own frontier AI alternatives. Whatever you think about AI policy, this is a genuinely new kind of precedent, and it's moving fast.
The Verge →VSCO is swinging hard at Adobe with Studio Pro, a new iOS app built for high-volume editing work — weddings, events, sports — with batch editing, style matching, and RAW support coming later. The catch is a $500-per-year subscription, which puts it squarely in professional billing territory and well above what most casual photographers would entertain. It's a genuinely interesting product for working photographers, but the price tag means this one earns its keep or it doesn't.
The Verge →Google has officially started removing Manifest V2 extensions from Chrome, which is the architecture that powers the most capable ad-blockers like uBlock Origin. If you've been happily blocking ads for years, your setup is about to get a lot less effective — and switching to Firefox or another MV2-friendly browser is now a genuinely practical option worth considering. This one matters whether you care about privacy, performance, or just not watching pre-roll ads.
Android Authority →iFixit has launched a Community Repair Hub to help you find local Repair Cafés and Fixit Clinics — volunteer-run events where people actually help you fix what you already own, for free or cheap. It's a quiet but genuinely useful resource for anyone who'd rather not landfill a device because of a cracked screen or a dead battery. The stretcher in your life will want to bookmark this one.
iFixit News →The AirPods Pro 3 — Apple's best earbuds yet, with improved bass, stronger ANC, and some light fitness tracking — are down to $169, a full $80 off and the lowest they've ever been. No Prime membership required, and Best Buy is matching. If you've been sitting on the fence since launch, this is the most compelling the math has looked.
9to5Toys →Paramount+ is offering new and returning subscribers two months of either its Essential or Premium plan for 99 cents each — two bucks total gets you ad-free access to the Star Trek catalogue, South Park, Freaks and Geeks, live NFL on CBS, and more. Just set a calendar reminder before it auto-renews at $9 or $14 a month, because that's the only catch here. If you've got a show to finish or a series to binge, this is a genuinely good short-term deal.
The Verge →Google's Android Switch tool in Android 17 is getting a serious glow-up: it can now pull your iMessage history, homescreen layout, and more when jumping from iPhone — reportedly more than you even get switching between Android phones. There's still the matter of iMessage itself not following you over, but the friction of switching just got meaningfully lower for anyone who's been on the fence.
9to5Google →Smart Home
For the adopterAfter what felt like an eternity of waiting, Google's new Home speaker is here at $99, shipping June 25th with 360-degree audio and deeper Gemini integration baked in. It's a direct shot at the Echo lineup and positions Google back in a smart speaker conversation it had largely gone quiet in. Pre-orders are open today in 18 countries.
9to5Google →With RAM prices climbing and Windows laptops getting pricier, the reviewer bought a MacBook Air pre-emptively — but after spending time with Lenovo's new Snapdragon X2 Yoga Slim 7x, wishes they'd waited. These machines apparently hit a sensible price-to-performance ratio even in a tough market, which is genuinely good news for anyone who wants to stay in the Windows ecosystem without overpaying. Worth a close look if you're in the market for a new laptop right now.
9to5Google →Verizon is dangling a $30/month flat-rate plan for new customers, but the fine print does some heavy lifting: you need autopay, you need to be switching carriers, and you need to opt into a new loyalty program through the My Verizon app before the activation fee waiver kicks in. Existing customers get the plan at $45/month, which is a notable gap. Read the full terms before you get excited — 'simplicity' is doing a lot of work in that name.
The Verge →Adobe's June update to Lightroom and Photoshop is low-key but genuinely useful: Assisted Culling graduates from early access with a new Face View mode, Topaz Labs' noise-aware sharpening is now available without leaving Lightroom, and Photoshop's Remove tool can now run its generative AI model fully on-device and offline. That last one matters if you care about not sending your images to Adobe's servers, or if you just work somewhere with spotty Wi-Fi. Sony a7R VI RAW support is also in there.
dpreview →Samsung's 49-inch Odyssey G9 — a 240Hz ultrawide curved gaming monitor that pulls double duty as a productivity screen — has hit its all-time low price of $665, which is over $300 off. For anyone who's been eyeing an ultrawide setup but couldn't stomach the usual ask, this is a meaningful drop on a well-regarded panel. Stretchers who've been waiting for the right moment: this is a strong one.
Android Authority →Android 17 is rolling out now to Pixel phones, bringing bubble multitasking windows, a 50/50 split gaming mode for foldables, and Wear OS 7 with Live Updates and a battery life bump for Pixel Watches. It's a solid, well-rounded update rather than a jaw-dropper — Ars Technica's framing of 'don't expect monumental changes' feels right. Gemini Intelligence features are still coming later in the year, so there's more to look forward to.
Ars Technica →DPReview's full verdict is in on the $4,499 Sony a7R VI, and the short version is: best full-frame image quality you can buy, full stop, with a stacked sensor that finally lets the R-series keep up at events and wildlife shoots without sacrificing the resolution and dynamic range its core audience lives for. It's not an a1 II — rolling shutter and 4K softness are real caveats — and Sony's menus remain an acquired taste. If landscape and studio work are your world, your a7R V is probably still fine; if you've been waiting to add speed to that resolution, this is the upgrade.
dpreview.com →iFixit cracked open the Trump Mobile T1 and found exactly what the exterior suggested: it's a gold-painted, rebranded HTC U24 Pro, a phone manufactured in Taiwan, not America. The teardown is a straightforward piece of parts-identification journalism, and the answer it arrives at is about as surprising as finding out a hot dog is mostly not what's advertised. Worth reading for anyone curious about what's actually inside the $500 novelty.
iFixit News →Viltrox's AF 28mm F4.5 Chip has finally landed for L-mount at $99, and at 15mm thick and 60g it is genuinely, absurdly small — the kind of lens that transforms a Panasonic S9 or Sigma BF into something you can actually pocket. The fixed F4.5 aperture is the real trade-off to know going in: you get autofocus and a slide-lever lens cap, but zero aperture control. For L-mount shooters who've been waiting for a pancake option, the wait is over.
dpreview.com →
