The Verge – Page 7

The Browser Company, maker of Arc and Dia, is being acquired

Mike Cannon-Brookes, the CEO of enterprise software giant Atlassian, was one of the first users of the Arc browser. Over the last several years, he has been a prolific bug reporter and feature requester. Now he’ll own the thing: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company, the New York-based startup that makes both Arc and the new AI-focused Dia browser. Atlassian is paying $610 million in cash for The Browser Company, and plans to run it as an independent entity.
https://www.theverge.com/web/770947/browser-company-arc-dia-acquired-atlassian

Sam Altman says ‘yes,’ AI is in a bubble

Altman compared the market’s reaction to AI to the dot-com bubble in the ’90s, when the value of internet startups soared before crashing down in 2000. “When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth,” Altman said. “If you look at most of the bubbles in history, like the tech bubble, there was a real thing. Tech was really important. The internet was a really big deal. People got overexcited.”
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/759965/sam-altman-openai-ai-bubble-interview

AOL is finally shutting down dial-up

“AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,” reads the statement by the Yahoo-owned company. “This service will no longer be available in AOL plans. As a result, on September 30, 2025 this service and the associated software, the AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser, which are optimized for older operating systems and dial-up internet connections, will be discontinued.”
https://www.theverge.com/news/757194/aol-dial-up-is-dead

Pebble is officially Pebble again

In 2016, Pebble was acquired by Fitbit for $23 million, marking the end of the first Pebble era. Along the way, Fitbit was acquired by Google. That’s important because the tech giant agreed to open-source Pebble’s software, and Migicovsky announced earlier this year that Pebble was making a comeback. However, because Migicovsky didn’t have the trademark, the new Pebble watches were initially dubbed the Core 2 Duo and the Core Time 2. “Great news — we’ve been able to recover the trademark for Pebble! Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this to work out so easily,” Core Devices CEO Eric Migicovsky writes in an update blog. “Core 2 Duo is now Pebble 2 Duo. Core Time 2 is now Pebble Time 2.”
https://www.theverge.com/news/713931/pebble-smartwatch-name-trademark-recovered

Samsung phones are getting a weird AI shopping platform nobody asked for

Glance AI, a brand owned by mobile advertising company InMobi, has announced a partnership with the Samsung Galaxy Store to roll out its e-commerce platform to Galaxy phones in the US. The company’s app centers around what it calls “a Generative AI shopping platform,” which is a serious contender for the most cursed phrase I’ve read today. The “experience” comprises both a standalone app and a lock screen component to try and sell you clothes. Crucially, the whole thing is “fully opt-in,” which, thank Christ. But even if you opt out — which you absolutely should! — this feels like a sign of things to come as advertisers try to leverage AI to sell us more stuff. Buckle up.
https://www.theverge.com/news/679541/samsung-galaxy-glance-ai-lock-screen-app

Glitch is basically shutting down

image via theverge.com

Glitch, the coding platform where developers can share and remix projects, will soon no longer offer its core feature: hosting apps on the web. In an update on Thursday, Glitch CEO Anil Dash said it will stop hosting projects and close user profiles on July 8th, 2025 — but stopped short of saying that it’s shutting down completely.
https://www.theverge.com/news/673457/glitch-coding-platform-shutting-down

Adobe is switching some Creative Cloud users to a pricier AI plan

Some of Adobe’s most expensive Creative Cloud subscriptions are about to get even pricier for users in North America. Starting from June 17th, the Creative Cloud All Apps plan will be renamed Creative Cloud Pro for users in the US, Canada, and Mexico, adding a bunch of generative AI perks in exchange for bumping up subscription costs.
https://www.theverge.com/news/670241/adobe-ai-creative-cloud-all-apps-pro-increase