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The Stepback

The Stepback is a weekly breakdown of one essential story from across the tech world. Every Sunday, we’ll bring you an exciting new story from a rotating cast of writers from every corner of The Verge extended universe. The Stepback is built to dig in deeper on the biggest stories and topics at The Verge. Subscribe to The Verge for exclusive access.

Starlink made ‘work from home’ possible from anywhere — now, I’m ready for a change

Competition is coming, but it might never catch up.

Thomas Ricker
The indie web is here to make the internet weird again

Welcome to the new old internet.

Stevie Bonifield
Apple TV wants to go big

The streamer is the place for premium sci-fi, but can it catch up with the competition?

Andrew Webster
How soapy micro dramas became Hollywood’s next big bet

Studios specializing in vertical video production are slowly but surely shaking up the entertainment industry.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
The algorithm failed music

Music recommendation algorithms were supposed to help us cut through the noise, but they just served us up slop.

Terrence O'Brien
The great tariff shakedown

We’re all paying for Donald Trump’s erratic policies.

Mia Sato
The next legal frontier is your face and AI

Things are getting weird.

Adi Robertson
The AI sexting era has arrived

What could go wrong?

Hayden Field
Welcome to the ‘papers, please’ internet

Porn is increasingly age-gated. Social media is next.

Adi Robertson
Can tap-to-pay save public transportation?

More cities are adopting OMNY-like open-loop payment systems for transit. Can it keep transit from slipping into a death spiral?

Andrew J. Hawkins
How generative AI boosters are trying to break into Hollywood

AI startups want to brute force their way into the movie business, even though the tech isn’t ready for its closeup.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Why PlayStation and Xbox are no longer about the station or the box

On Sony, Microsoft, and the future of game consoles.

Sean Hollister
Phone batteries are getting more compact, but the US is missing out

Silicon-carbon cells are leading to thinner phones with longer battery life.

Dominic Preston
Computer chips, with a side of forever chemicals

Supply, demand, and deregulation.

Justine Calma
AI agents are science fiction not yet ready for primetime

But they’re getting better.

Hayden Field
They’re trying to make deep-sea mining happen

The US is saying ‘to hell with the international mining code.’

Justine Calma
The one feature that keeps me from recommending flip phones

Dust could spell death for a foldable’s inner screen.

Allison Johnson
How big trucks and SUVs gobbled up the entire auto industry

‘Car bloat’ is what you get when companies prioritize profits over safety.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Introducing Regulator and The Stepback, our new subscriber-exclusive newsletters

We’re launching two exclusive newsletters and a partnership with Lowpass by Janko Roettgers.

Kara Verlaney