20 May 2026
‘Solve all diseases,’ you say?
This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they’re going to change your life. This week’s issue is a special early edition tied to The Verge’s Google I/O coverage. You can expect our next issue at its usual time next Friday. Opt in for Optimizer here.
20 May 2026
Meta begins job cuts in Israel as global layoffs in the name of AI mount
Dozens of Meta Israel employees received dismissal notices on Wednesday, as the US tech titan embarked on a wave of layoffs aimed at trimming 10 percent of its global workforce to offset investing billions of dollars toward AI infrastructure.
18 May 2026
Communities are blocking billions in data centers. Big Tech has wagered $1 trillion otherwise
The town of Saline, Michigan, didn’t want a $16 billion data center in its backyard. Residents voted against it. Weeks later, as Fortune ‘s Sharon Goldman reported , construction began anyway.
18 May 2026
Startup making reusable emergency housing wins MIT $100K competition
A startup making emergency housing cheaper and faster to deploy won this year’s MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition on May 12.
17 May 2026
Former Microsoft VP says Microsoft missed the AI wave like the internet and mobile, as Copilot scales back in Windows 11
Former executive says Microsoft missed the AI race Microsoft’s aggressive, multi-billion-dollar push into artificial intelligence was supposed to be a flawless victory. The integration of Copilot into Windows 11, Microsoft 365, and GitHub was designed to usher in a new era of agentic computing . Yet, beneath the polished keynote presentations and massive infrastructure investments, a dramatically…
13 May 2026
Stock Market Today (LIVE): Wholesale Inflation Shocks Markets but Chip Stocks Rally as Jensen Huang Joins Trump in Beijing
Jensen Huang Hunts for Superintelligence 11:30 am -- NVDA +2.5% Nvidia ( NVDA +2.75% ) is doubling down on reinforcement learning through a deep engineering partnership with British startup Ineffable Intelligence.
12 May 2026
Googlebook Is Google’s New AI-Powered Laptop Platform Built on Android
Almost exactly 15 years since Google introduced Chromebooks and ChromeOS —which ushered in a wave of cheap, functional, web-based laptops that would come to dominate the US education market—the company has announced a new laptop platform called Googlebook. It's built around artificial intelligence and Android, and while it isn't replacing Chromebooks, it could give the company a more meaningful…
12 May 2026
SAG-AFTRA Reveals Details of 4-Year Agreement With Studios, Including Merged Pension Plan
Following approval from its national board, SAG-AFTRA has released the details of its tentative bargaining agreement with Hollywood studios and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which like the one ratified by the Writers Guild of America will last four years instead of the usual three.
11 May 2026
Japan opens unmanned lab where humanoids, robots conduct experiments
A Japanese university has launched a robotics laboratory where machines now conduct medical experiments previously performed by human researchers. The facility developed by the Institute of Science Tokyo operates with 10 robots, including the humanoid Maholo LabDroid, and no on-site human staff. The university plans to expand the number of robots over time while combining automation systems with…
