The Verge
Spoot: Spotted Early keeps The Verge in one place: 29 stories so far. The section currently leads with “Spoot tried Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster glasses so you don't have to”, “Google's Pixel Tag finally surfaces, priced to poke AirTag right in the wallet”, and “Lutra's new camera sees through itself so you can see your subject”. Samsung, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster all just handed me a pair of smart glasses to try, and I can feel the collective wince from here. Spoot: Spotted Early New things, caught while they're still new and a little weird. Spoot finds fresh gadgets, clever inventions, crowdfunding campaigns,… The list below is every The Verge story on Spoot: Spotted Early, newest first.
Spoot tried Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster glasses so you don't have to
Samsung, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster all just handed me a pair of smart glasses to try, and I can feel the collective wince from here. Meta has owned this weird little resurgence, but it also earned those glasses the "pervert glasses" nickname, which is a hell of a reputation to work around. So it's a strange moment for three new contenders to show up, all running on Google's Android XR platform with Gemini baked in. Some frames lean retro chic. Others channel full *Matrix* Y2K energy. The AI demos are apparently better than expected, which is the kind of narrow detail that makes me want to poke around the spec sheet for the razor clam.
Google's Pixel Tag finally surfaces, priced to poke AirTag right in the wallet
Google's Pixel Tag is finally real, and it costs $29.99, or $99.99 for a four-pack, which is basically the same price as Apple's AirTag 2, but with a shape that's a little longer and a little thinner. It weighs 0.4 ounces, so slightly lighter than Apple's tracker, and it plugs into Google's Find Hub network. No hole for a keyring, though, which means you'll need a case or a sticky mount if you want to attach it to anything. That's a small friction point for something that's otherwise aimed straight at the AirTag's wallet. It makes me wonder how many people have been waiting for a first-party Google tracker, and whether the oblong design will actually stay put on a dog collar or a backpack.
Lutra's new camera sees through itself so you can see your subject
A camera with a hole in it. That's the HOA A1 from Lutra, and the trick is so simple it feels like a dare. Put the lens and sensor right in the center of a big open viewfinder, and suddenly you're looking at the person you're photographing instead of a screen. Eye contact. Presence. The moment, not the playback. It's reminiscent of the Godox C100, but the A1 pushes the concept further, and I respect the stubbornness. Only 100 units exist in this First Edition, launching December 1st, and preorders haven't even opened yet. That's a whisper of a product, but whispers are how the weird stuff sneaks in. If you're tired of staring at your own thumbnails, this one's worth circling back for.
The Enough Phone shrinks back to a size your thumb actually remembers
The Enough Phone has a 5.3-inch display. Your thumb remembers that size. It remembers because phones used to be this small, back before everything turned into a slab that requires two hands and a cargo pocket. Brennan Jordan and Austin Boer are making this thing, and they're halfway to their $250,000 Kickstarter goal in one day. That tells you something. People are hungry for a phone they can actually hold. The specs sound genuinely thoughtful: a 3,500mAh user-replaceable battery, 8GB of RAM, a 50-megapixel Sony sensor on the rear. It runs stock Android or the minimalist OdysseyOS, your choice. I want to know who blinks first, the backers or the shipping date. Also, if you liked Lutra's new camera that sees through itself, you'll probably enjoy watching this one squirm through the crowdfunding gauntlet.
Motorola wants sixteen hundred bucks for a phone that looks like a spider
Motorola wants sixteen hundred bucks for a phone that looks like a spider, and honestly? That green is so nice I can almost forgive the camera bump for having eight eyes. The Signature 27 is Motorola's first real attempt at a no-compromise slab flagship in years, and it's finally taking on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra instead of just making foldables that look good. The company has nailed the Razr's design, but this is different, this is daring to charge premium money without the nostalgia crutch. I'm curious whether the specs match the price tag, or if this is just a pretty face with a creepy back.
I keep forgetting the MacBook Pro has a touchscreen
I keep forgetting the MacBook Pro has a touchscreen, which is honestly the most Apple thing about it. For a week, I've been testing this new 16-inch PROLED Pro, and my brain keeps circling back to the slimmer design, the improved display, that Dynamic Island. Then I remember: I can just reach out and poke the glass. Steve Jobs said touch laptops were a bad idea. A subset of users demanded one anyway. Apple delivered, but not in the obvious way. It's a quiet rebellion, buried in a machine that otherwise feels like a familiar friend. That tension is the razor clam here. If you like your tech with a side of historical irony, this one's for you.
Anker's new window cam watches your yard without ever leaving the house
Anker's new Eufy Window Camera E10 sticks to your glass and stares at the yard instead of the living room. It's a clever pivot: install it against a window with the included mounting sticker, let it cut glare and reflections, and skip the weatherproofing entirely because it never has to survive a rainstorm. At $79.99, it costs more than twice as much as the Wyze Window Cam that did this first nearly a year ago. The E10 costs more, but it also gets to ask a different question: what if your security camera never had to live outside? If you're curious about other gadgets that refuse to be normal, check out our coverage of Nothing's new AI device, it ships next month with no screen, just questions.
Nothing's new AI gadget ships next month with no screen, just questions
Nothing CEO Carl Pei posted on X that the company's first AI-native device ships next month, and he's being weird about it on purpose. No screen. Couldn't have been an app. That's the whole pitch so far, a tool with personality, but one you can't look at. It's a bold move from a company that made its name on translucent shells and blinking lights, and it raises the exact question Spoot loves: what does it actually do? Pei isn't saying yet, just teasing an ambiguous black rounded shape in a single image. The Verge has the full story. If you're in the mood for more hardware that hides its cleverness, Peak Design's new chargers want you to stop settling for cheap plastic, a different kind of refusal to do things the obvious way.
Peak Design's new chargers want you to stop settling for cheap plastic
Peak Design finally got tired of the cheap plastic brick in your bag. The same company that made you rethink how a backpack buckle should feel is now coming for your charger. Its new Wireless Kickstand Travel Battery costs $99.95 and wants to prove that even the stuff you plug in deserves better materials and smarter design. CEO Peter Dering says we accepted that everyday electronics should be disposable and just good enough, and he's clearly done accepting that. The battery includes a built-in kickstand, which is the kind of detail that makes you wonder why nobody thought of it sooner. Peak Design isn't the first to make a premium charger, but it might be the one that makes cheap plastic feel embarrassing.
I built the $50 AI Tamagotchi Meta wants you to buy
Mark Zuckerberg wants you to carry a jolly AI helper around like a Tamagotchi this holiday season, and Meta made it look stinking cute with a squishy little face. The Muse Charm costs real money, though, and I won't be buying one. Because we have Muse Charm at home. My version cost $50, and I decided the learning experience was worth it. No cameras. No 5G cellular radio. But it really talks to Muse, has cute avatars, doubles as a pocket watch and a remote camera viewfinder, and can theoretically control my smart home if you inject a lot of extra vibe code. Weeks of tinkering later, it's the kind of scrappy, curious project that makes you wonder what else hides in a $50 bill.
Akai teased a keyboard that wants you to break it open
Akai teased a keyboard on Instagram this week, and then immediately said, basically: please break this thing open. The new MPC Sample Key shares most of the same controls as the MPC Sample, three context-sensitive encoders, a big main encoder, but it's built for pitched sample playback, not drum chopping. That chop button from the MPC Sample is gone. What remains is a device that wants the modding community to crawl inside its software and make it weirder, better, theirs. The Verge has exclusive images, but no price or launch date yet. So this is a promise on a render. Still, a keyboard that *wants* you to hack it? That's the kind of detail you scroll past. Don't.
Apple finally lets you poke a MacBook screen and we have the video
The glowing Apple logo is back. That alone is enough to make a certain kind of person sit up a little straighter, but Apple also finally, *finally* let you touch a MacBook screen. The new MacBook Pro has a PROLED XDR touch display, a tandem OLED panel hitting 2,000 nits at 120Hz, with a hole-punch webcam instead of that notch. It weighs as little as three pounds. Apple CEO John Ternus teased the returning logo on X, and now there's video of the whole thing in action. It took them long enough. If you're wondering whether this is the real deal or just another iPad-with-a-keyboard situation, go watch the footage. And while you're poking around, check out our piece on the iPad Mini that shed weight, gained OLED and a whole new reason to stare.
The Super Mouse swaps buttons for a touchscreen you can't see
There's a touchscreen under your palm now, and you can't see it. Arctic Fox Technologies calls it the Super Mouse, and it replaces the usual scatter of shortcut buttons with a smooth surface that learns your gestures instead. It wants to be your trackpad, your macro pad, your streaming controller, even, if you thumb-type faster than you keyboard, a smartphone-sized stand-in for your full keyboard with swipe typing included. The boxy shape won't win ergonomics awards, but that's not the point. The point is consolidation: one peripheral that does the work of several, assuming the invisible touchscreen actually delivers. It's on Kickstarter now. Preorder with the usual crowdfunding caveats, we've watched too many campaigns stall to pretend otherwise.
Brick Night costs more than double because it knows where you sleep
Brick, the company that made a $59 brick you tap your phone against to stop using apps, just released a bigger, pricier version that knows where you sleep. The Brick Night costs $129, more than double, and uses Bluetooth to automatically block your selected apps when you walk into your bedroom. No tapping required. It sets a location zone up to 25 feet by 25 feet, runs on two CR2477 batteries, and targets the specific doomscrolling that happens after you've already crawled under the covers. That's a clever pivot from the original's tap-to-block mechanic, and honestly, the price bump makes sense if it actually keeps you off Twitter at 2 a.m. The catch? You still have to set it up and admit you need it.
Atari VCS finally closes its store, ending a decade-long death crawl
February 1st, 2027. That's the date the Atari VCS software store finally goes dark, and honestly? It's a miracle it lasted this long. This console was a decade-long saga of delays, name changes, and crowdfunding backers being politely assured their retro box wasn't doomed. The VCS was a Linux-based, AMD-powered mini PC wearing a 2600-inspired shell with no cartridge slot. It could emulate a pile of classic Atari games out of the box, and its store promised more. But the store never became a destination. The VCS was always a strange, noble, slightly feral idea that never quite caught the scent of the mainstream. It asked who still wanted Atari enough to buy a whole new box for it, and the answer turned out to be: not enough.
Coolpad steals the foldable's screen without the folding trick
The Coolpad Cool X Wide has a screen that's basically the same size as a closed Galaxy Z Fold 8 or an iPhone Duo, but it doesn't fold. It just sits there, being wide, and that's the whole point. The folding-phone aesthetic, that tall, tablet-like aspect ratio, is bleeding into regular slab phones, and Coolpad is the first to catch it without the hinge tax. No crease anxiety, no $2,000 price tag, no repair bills that make your eye twitch. It's available for preorder in China for 999 yuan, which is roughly $140. That's absurd. It makes you wonder why everyone else is still building folding phones for people who just want a big screen that fits in a pocket.
Voxel's $20K legs will find your lost keys and fold your laundry
Twenty thousand dollars for a droid butler that ships in 2028, and you can put down two hundred right now to hold your spot. That is a very long runway, and a very big number, and Tuesday Labs is asking you to trust that its bi-pedal robot will eventually find your keys and fold your laundry. Voxel has the arms for it, and the vision system, but the gap between a reservation and a robot that actually navigates your hallway is a canyon. I want to believe in the bipedal home helper, I really do, but I've seen too many crowdfunding campaigns evaporate. The smart ring people over at Oura are at least shipping something you can wear today. For now, Voxel is a promise on a payment plan.
Oura's smart ring learns two new tricks for measuring how hard your heart works
Oura's smart ring just picked up two new cardiovascular tricks, and honestly, it's about time someone asked what your heart is *doing* during a workout, not just how fast you went. Cardio Effort measures how hard your cardiovascular system actually worked, which is a much more interesting number than calories burned or mile splits. The automatic VO2 Max tracking, previously called Cardio Capacity, returns as well, now baked into the Gen 3 and later rings for anyone with an active membership. This is the kind of granular data that makes you wonder why we spent so long staring at pace charts. If you're also curious about surfaces that measure you back, check out our coverage of Wyze's new scale, which uses conductive glass so your feet can land anywhere.
Wyze drags the scale's brain up to eye level, and your feet can finally land anywhere
Wyze took the smart scale's brain and hoisted it up to eye level, which feels both obvious and overdue. The new Ultra BodyScan Plus keeps the retractable handle from last year's model but moves the 4.3-inch color display onto it, so you're not craning your neck toward your toes to see whether your muscle mass actually moved. The conductive indium tin oxide coated glass means your feet can land anywhere and still get BIA readings, which is the kind of forgiving design that real bathrooms need. It costs $149, about $30 more than the original, and ships in black or white starting today. The handle still does the segment breakdown across arms, legs, and torso. If you're already deep in smart home gadgetry, Shelly's new radar tracker might be the next tab you open.
Shelly's new radar tracks ten bodies without ever turning on a lens
Ten bodies. No lens. No recording. That's the quiet magic of the Shelly Presence Gen4, a mmWave radar sensor that tracks people and pets through rooms and large spaces without ever turning on a camera. It's the kind of privacy-forward smart home gadget that makes you wonder why more companies aren't doing this. The $84.99 price is reasonable, especially since there's no subscription attached, which feels increasingly rare these days. It can sit on a shelf with its built-in stand or mount permanently, and it's available now through Shelly's store, with Amazon and Best Buy presumably following soon. The radar approach is clever: presence detection without the surveillance creep. If you're building out a privacy-conscious smart home, this one deserves a tab left open.
Amazon's Bee wearable grows a wallet, and the price tag grows with it
A $50 always-listening AI wearable that summarized every conversation you had was already a lot to swallow. Now Amazon is doubling down: the Bee Frontier arrives at $74.99, and the Bee Eclipse, a credit-card-shaped gadget that snaps onto your phone, will cost $99.99 when it lands. That's a subscription waiting to happen, and sure enough, there's a new one to go with them. The pitch is staying present, which is a funny way to describe a device that records your day so you can review it later. But the Eclipse is clever hardware, and the Frontier is a proper update. The real question is whether anyone actually wants a permanent transcript of their small talk. If you're curious about gadgets that track without watching, Shelly's new radar does exactly that, minus the lens.
Apple finally built a smart home hub, and it brought some friends
Apple finally built a smart home hub, and it brought some friends. The HomeView is Apple's first smart display, and it arrives with a 7-inch squircle design that looks like a gargantuan smart speaker grew a face. It costs $299 and preorders are open, which is nice because Apple has been threatening to make a smart display for years and years without ever actually doing it. The HomePod Mini 2 also finally exists after nearly six years, coming in at $149 with preorders open and a Friday launch date. Spoot already has a tab open on that one. The whole "Welcome Home" event dropped a slate of new smart home and security accessories too, built with trusted third-party manufacturers. It is the most serious hardware push Apple Home has seen in a long time.
The M6 Mac Mini finally stops pretending it costs that much
The M6 Mac Mini finally stops pretending it costs that much. Apple's latest pint-sized powerhouse debuted at $899, a full $300 jump from the M4's launch price, and for a machine that's mostly unchanged apart from a 20 percent faster chip, that stung. But October Prime Day just clawed $119 off the base model, bringing it to $779.99 at Amazon. That's the first real discount on this thing, and it flips the math completely. Best Buy is still asking $799 for the older M4 version with the same 256GB storage and 16GB RAM, which now feels like a trap. Don't get that one. The M6 is faster, cheaper, and finally priced like the sensible little box it always was. If you've been circling, this is the tab to keep open.
Apple's smart-home anchor finally has a date, and a mini entourage to match
October 13th. Circle it, charge the HomePods, and clear a spot on the wall. Apple's long-rumored smart home hub finally has a date, and it's bringing a mini entourage. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the new 6-inch display hub, which mounts or sits like a tiny countertop Picasso, will debut alongside a fresh HomePod mini and an upgraded Apple TV. The whole crew is built to flex Siri AI, Apple's overhauled assistant. The hub is reportedly about as thick as an iPhone, with bezels that'll make you nostalgic for older iPads. That's a delightfully chunky little anchor. It's a new category for Apple, so the skepticism is warranted, but the specs here feel right. The real question is whether Siri finally catches up.