Two great new repairable gadgets
Two great new repairable gadgets

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 141, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I’m newish here too, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been getting back into the Installer groove, trying out some ergonomic Switch […]

ICYMI: here’s the week’s 7 biggest tech news stories from the major GTA 6 leaks to Meta’s $1.4 trillion lawsuit
ICYMI: here’s the week’s 7 biggest tech news stories from the major GTA 6 leaks to Meta’s $1.4 trillion lawsuit

The week’s biggest tech news stories from Google, Meta, Rockstar and more for August 22, 2026.

How Cisco is confronting the security crisis of agentic AI

“There are shadow agents running in almost every environment we look at,” warns Cisco’s VP of product for identity, who oversees the company’s Duo Agentic Identity product designed to solve the problem.

HoverAir’s transforming modular drone has already been halted in the US
HoverAir’s transforming modular drone has already been halted in the US

I am so sorry, fellow US gadget fans: the FCC’s drone ban appears to have struck again. The HoverAir Versa – a baby steadycam with snap-on propeller wings that transform it into a drone – has already stopped taking US orders just three days after its Indiegogo debut, and may be forced to abandon shipping […]

TikTok will pay $400 million to settle DOJ child privacy lawsuit
TikTok will pay $400 million to settle DOJ child privacy lawsuit

The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that TikTok will pay $400 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2024 over allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In the lawsuit, the DOJ alleged that TikTok collected data from children without notifying parents or obtaining consent and did not delete the accounts […]

GTA 6 Leaks Prompt Take-Two to Seek Subpoenas for Microsoft, Discord Data

The requests target Discord accounts and a GitHub repository connected to the ongoing GTA 6 leak investigation.

Over 1 million people have clicked LinkedIn’s AI slop button
Over 1 million people have clicked LinkedIn’s AI slop button

LinkedIn actually announced a “Seems like AI slop” button on July 30th, and the company says that a lot of people have already used it. According to a Thursday post from chief product officer Hari Srinivasan, “over a million people” have clicked on the button, which is accessible from the three dots menu on a […]

Apple is laying off staffers working on the Vision Pro and Siri
Apple is laying off staffers working on the Vision Pro and Siri

Apple is laying off staff on the Siri and the Vision Pro teams, according to Bloomberg. The cuts include “largely shutting down” a Vision Pro gaming team and “reducing the size” of the team that makes Vision Pro immersive content, the publication says. More than 200 jobs were cut. Apple said in a statement to […]

Walmart is finally adding Apple Pay and Google Pay
Walmart is finally adding Apple Pay and Google Pay

Walmart will soon allow you to pay for your items with Google Pay or Apple Pay. In an announcement on Friday, Walmart says it’s going to bring tap-to-pay capabilities to “select” Walmart and Sam’s Club locations starting August 24th, before rolling out support to all US stores by the end of 2026 and gas stations […]

TechRadar’s weekly crossword — puzzle #4, Friday, August 21

This week’s TechRadar Crossword puzzle is here, so come test your general tech knowledge and see where you place on the leaderboard.