This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they’re going to change your life. Optimizer arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 10AM ET. Opt in for Optimizer here. On TikTok, it’s disturbingly easy to find videos of […]
For the past two decades, there’s been a clear first step for anyone who starts experiencing new medical symptoms: Look them up online. The practice was so common that it gained the pejorative moniker “Dr. Google.” But times are changing, and many medical-information seekers are now using LLMs. According to OpenAI, 230 million people ask…
Natural Cycles, the company behind a controversial FDA-cleared birth control app, is replacing its thermometer with a wristband that measures skin temperature, heart rate, and movement during sleep. The newly launched wristband costs $129.99 and syncs with the Natural Cycles app, which uses an algorithm to determine a person’s “daily fertility status.” Users can already […]
The Trump administration announced last week that it wants Americans to consume more protein, churning out a colorful illustration of an inverted food pyramid that prominently features a big, red steak, a wedge of cheese, and a carton of whole milk at the top and claiming it’s “ending the war on protein.” It may seem […]
OpenAI and Anthropic have each launched healthcare-focused products over the last week.
Earlier this month, The Guardian published an investigation that showed Google was serving up misleading and outright false information via its AI overviews in response to certain medical inquiries. Now those results appear to have been removed. According to the original report: In one case that experts described as “really dangerous”, Google wrongly advised people […]
This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest phones, smartwatches, apps, and other gizmos that swear they’re going to change your life. Optimizer arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 10AM ET. Opt in for Optimizer here. At CES 2026 this week, people […]
There’s never a shortage of exciting and innovative tech at CES. A superthin TV and tri-folding phone are cool and all, but sometimes the weirdest gadgets are the ones that make us go “huh.” Luckily, there was plenty of wacky stuff on the show floor this year, and we’ve rounded up some of the most […]
Withings isn’t done with CES 2026 announcements just yet. The French health tech company just announced a new partnership with Abbott. In the first quarter of the year, Abbott Lingo users will be able to view their glucose data within the Withings app. Lingo is Abbott’s over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor (CGM) for nondiabetic people. Withings […]
At last year’s CES, Eli Health announced the Hormometer – an at-home hormone test for cortisol that utilized saliva and a smartphone. For this year’s show, the company is back and expanding into testosterone and progesterone. Eli Health isn’t changing up how its Hormometer works. You still stick a thin cartridge attached to a wand […]