Technology

2024: a year in art on The Verge

Published

1 year ago

December 31, 2024

The Verge art team was busy this year, creating illustrations, photographs, and interactive designs to match stories about underwater sea cables, competitive Excel, parental anxiety, AI companions, and so much more. Here’s a look back at 20 of our favorite projects from 2024, with comments from those of us who worked on the project.

2004 was the first year of the future

In a special issue on the year 2004, The Verge looked 20 years back to examine how 2004 was “the year of the future,” setting in motion the internet as we know and use it today. Cath Virginia absolutely crushed the hub design (with three skins! Remember skins?), Graham MacAree built the smoothest pages, and Amelia Holowaty Krales took the early aughts photos of my dreams. This package is both a love letter to a time we all saw ourselves for the first time online and a capsule of what we hope it can become again: a place for play, creativity, and connection. – Kristen Radtke, creative director

Photography by Go Takayama

For Josh Dzieza’s feature on the hundreds of thousands of miles of internet cables at the bottom of the world’s oceans — and the people who fix and tend to them — we created an immersive electric blue world of maps and schematics. It’s great to have an opportunity to mash up data visualizations and maps along with stunning original photography, and Go Takayama’s intimate photos of these seafaring men give a face to an essential but otherwise invisible job. – Kristen Radtke, creative director

Photography by Stormy Pyeatte

The visuals for these pieces are one of my proudest Verge projects. Stormy Pyeatte’s ethereal style of floral photography and projection mapping makes for a rhythmic and mesmerizing feature design — it almost makes you want to fall in love. – Cath Virginia, senior designer

We started this story trying to figure out how on earth a bunch of Excel nerds ended up on ESPN. We ended up discovering exactly how powerful, versatile, and important spreadsheets really are and the power they confer when you can reduce the world to rows and columns. In the process, our brilliant design team found yet another way to build a spreadsheet: to use rows and columns to tell the story, and depict its characters, in their natural habitat. – David Pierce, editor-at-large

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Every once in a while, we go bananas on a special-edition print project, and for our subscription launch this year, we somehow convinced our colleagues to pose in 1980s office wear for our Content Goblins magazine. It’s an issue about the enshitification of the internet, so I basically lobbed as much goop and slime on top of the design as possible. Our A/V producer Andrew Marino was the real MVP of this project for letting us turn him into a literal goblin. – Kristen Radtke, creative director

Today’s smart homes: the hopes and the realities

The occupant of a home filled with “smart” technology — speakers, lights, a robovac — sits by the window and ignores the tech in favor of gazing at the trees and clouds outside. Adrián Astorgano’s vibrant art gives us a moving (both figuratively and literally) picture of how today’s smart homes are useful and even preferable, but not an end in themselves. –Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor

Getting Kristen Radtke’s beautiful comic up on the site was an interesting challenge: how do we preserve the artwork and animation without compromising on performance? I think the amount of work done to optimize the piece ultimately paid off in the user experience. It’s our smoothest comic yet. – Graham MacAree, senior engineer

I love everything that Samar Haddad makes, especially how she breaks down complex topics step by step in clever visual ways. For this short series on AI in sports, she created a massive suite of graphics in a cool retro vibe. I hate sports, and I love this series. – Kristen Radtke, creative director

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales; design by Maeve Sheridan and Cath Virginia

Creating the lede images for our gift guides is a big job each year. We source all the products, create distinct sets for each guide, and try to keep things fresh for the whole suite. I love the joyful scenes photographer Amelia Holowaty Krales created this year with prop stylist Maeve Sheridan, with bold, poppy wrapping papers designed by our senior designer Cath Virginia. You can even buy your own custom Verge wrapping paper from our merch store. – Kristen Radtke, creative director

Searching for color at Pantone’s all-brown party

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales

I was so excited to head to a party with Verge senior photographer Amelia Holowaty Krales: one, because it meant we were both off the hook for bedtime with our respective kids, and two, because she can communicate a vibe so sharply through her lens. Her photos from the Pantone Color of the Year party are visual arguments in themselves, and her use of double exposures throughout perfectly communicates the branded extravaganza of the evening. – Kristen Radtke, creative director

Art by Cath Virginia with photos from Getty Images

There’s a lot to call out in this great, cohesive collection of images that helped bring our physical media issue to life. But I have to put a spotlight on the floppy disk turned turntable, which is as clever as it is mesmerizing. – Andrew Webster, senior editor, entertainment

Art by Cath Virginia, assets from TurboSquid

The most recognizable part of Pitchfork — besides its logo — is its 10-point rating scale. How do you convey the diminishment of an august music publication? You just turn the volume down. – Elizabeth Lopatto, senior reporter

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Wearables — especially smart rings — tend to be small gadgets. So when it comes to art, it’s really important to think about how to make them pop on the page while also differentiating them from each other. (Let’s be real, watches and rings start to look an awful lot alike after a while.) Cue fun, colorful props and sparkly nails! – Victoria Song, senior reviewer

The Verge’s guide to the 2024 presidential election

Design by Mr.Nelson with photos from Getty Images

In one of the most depressing election cycles of all time, Wouter Tjeenk Willink, aka Mr.Nelson, did an apt job with these uncomfortably chaotic collages. – Cath Virginia, senior designer

Alexa, thank you for the music

When people grow old, they don’t stop being individuals capable of joy. Mojo Wang’s imaginative drawing of an older woman in celebration of her favorite music beautifully illustrates an article that explains how the writer’s mother used a smart speaker to enhance the final chapters of her life. – Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor

Google is further cracking down on sites publishing ‘parasite SEO’ content

Art by Cath Virginia with photos from Getty Images

I’ve spent the last few years writing about all the ways search engine optimization infiltrates Google, making for a frustrating experience for both users and website operators. This image perhaps perfectly encapsulates SEO at its worst: insidious, corrosive, and just plain gross. – Mia Sato, platforms and communities reporter

OpenAI searches for an answer to its copyright problems

Art by Cath Virginia with photos from Getty Images

Basically my favorite part of the story process is finding out what madness our art team has cooked up this time. In this case, I think I told Cath Virginia that I felt like the “it’s all Ohio” meme as I was reporting the story — it’s all copyright law and always has been. And she went galaxy brain with it. – Elizabeth Lopatto, senior reporter

How the Stream Deck rose from the ashes of a legendary keyboard

Richard Parry’s playful 3D animations perfectly express the cult status of the infamous Optimus Maximus keyboard. – Cath Virginia, senior designer

Vice was never as big and solid as Shane Smith made it seem, and the story had a cartoonish surrealness to it that was captured perfectly in Hunter French’s illustrations — whether that was the Buster Keaton-inspired lead art or Smith hawking the brand in secretive deals. Sure, there are a bunch of complicated financial details, but the art really gets to the heart of the thing, doesn’t it? – Elizabeth Lopatto, senior reporter

Photography by Liam James Doyle and Montinique Monroe

Mia Sato’s piece about a lawsuit involving two Amazon influencers is amazing, and the photographs of these two individuals are a perfect pairing. The portraits that Montinique Monroe and Liam James Doyle took in Austin, Texas, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, respectively, were individually fantastic and worked so well together, it was really hard to choose which to use. – Amelia Holowaty Krales, senior photographer

Technology

Here’s your first look at Kratos in Amazon’s God of War show

Published

7 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Here’s your first look at Kratos in Amazon’s God of War show

Amazon has slowly been teasing out casting details for its live-action adaptation of God of War, and now we have our first look at the show. It’s a single image but a notable one showing protagonist Kratos and his son Atreus. The characters are played by Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson, respectively, and they look relatively close to their video game counterparts.

There aren’t a lot of other details about the show just yet, but this is Amazon’s official description:

The God of War series storyline follows father and son Kratos and Atreus as they embark on a journey to spread the ashes of their wife and mother, Faye. Through their adventures, Kratos tries to teach his son to be a better god, while Atreus tries to teach his father how to be a better human.

That sounds a lot like the recent soft reboot of the franchise, which started with 2018’s God of War and continued through Ragnarök in 2022. For the Amazon series, Ronald D. Moore, best-known for his work on For All Mankind and Battlestar Galactica, will serve as showrunner. The rest of the cast includes: Mandy Patinkin (Odin), Ed Skrein (Baldur), Max Parker (Heimdall), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Thor), Teresa Palmer (Sif), Alastair Duncan (Mimir), Jeff Gulka (Sindri), and Danny Woodburn (Brok).

While production is underway on the God of War series, there’s no word on when it might start streaming.

Technology

300,000 Chrome users hit by fake AI extensions

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

300,000 Chrome users hit by fake AI extensions

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Your web browser may feel like a safe place, especially when you install helpful tools that promise to make your life easier. But security researchers have uncovered a dangerous campaign in which more than 300,000 people installed Chrome extensions pretending to be artificial intelligence (AI) assistants. Instead of helping, these fake tools secretly collect sensitive information like your emails, passwords and browsing activity.

They used familiar names like ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Assistant. If you use Chrome and have installed any AI-related extension, your personal information may already be exposed. Even worse, some of these malicious extensions are still available today, putting more people at risk without their knowing.

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More than 300,000 Chrome users installed fake AI extensions that secretly harvested sensitive data. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

What you need to know about fake AI extensions

Security researchers at browser security company LayerX discovered a large campaign involving 30 malicious Chrome extensions disguised as AI-powered assistants (via BleepingComputer). Together, these extensions were installed more than 300,000 times by unsuspecting users.

Some of the most popular extensions included names like AI Sidebar with 70,000 users, AI Assistant with 60,000 users, ChatGPT Translate with 30,000 users, and Google Gemini with 10,000 users. Another extension called Gemini AI Sidebar had 80,000 users before it was removed.

These extensions were distributed through the official Chrome Web Store, which made them appear legitimate and trustworthy. Even more concerning, researchers found that many of these extensions were connected to the same malicious server, showing they were part of a coordinated effort.

While some extensions have since been removed, others remain available. This means new users could still unknowingly install them and expose their personal data. Here’s the list of the affected extensions:

AI Assistant
Llama
Gemini AI Sidebar
AI Sidebar
ChatGPT Sidebar
Grok
Asking ChatGPT
ChatGBT
Chat Bot GPT
Grok Chatbot
Chat With Gemini
XAI
Google Gemini
Ask Gemini
AI Letter Generator
AI Message Generator
AI Translator
AI For Translation
AI Cover Letter Generator
AI Image Generator ChatGPT
Ai Wallpaper Generator
Ai Picture Generator
DeepSeek Download
AI Email Writer
Email Generator AI
DeepSeek Chat
ChatGPT Picture Generator
ChatGPT Translate
AI GPT
ChatGPT Translation
ChatGPT for Gmail

FAKE AI CHAT RESULTS ARE SPREADING DANGEROUS MAC MALWARE

These malicious tools were listed in the official Chrome Web Store, making them appear legitimate and trustworthy. (LayerX)

How the fake AI Chrome extension attack works

These fake extensions pretend to offer helpful AI features, such as translating text, summarizing emails, or acting as an AI assistant. But behind the scenes, they quietly monitor what you are doing online.

Once installed, the extension gains permission to view and interact with the websites you visit. This allows it to read the contents of web pages, including login screens where you enter your username and password.

In some cases, the extensions specifically targeted Gmail. They could read your email messages directly from your browser, including emails you received and even drafts you were still writing. This means attackers could access private conversations, financial information and sensitive personal details.

The extensions then sent this information to servers controlled by the attackers. Because they loaded content remotely, the attackers could change their behavior at any time without needing to update the extension.

Some versions could also activate voice features through your browser. This could potentially capture spoken conversations near your device and send transcripts back to the attackers.

If you installed one of these extensions, attackers may already have access to extremely sensitive information. This includes your email content, login credentials, browsing habits and possibly even voice recordings.

We reached out to Google for comment, and a spokesperson told CyberGuy that the company “can confirm that the extensions from this report have all been removed from the Google Web Store.”

BROWSER EXTENSION MALWARE INFECTED 8.8M USERS IN DARKSPECTRE ATTACK

Once installed, the extensions could read emails, capture passwords, monitor browsing activity and send the data to attacker-controlled servers. (Bildquelle/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

7 ways you can protect yourself from malicious Chrome extensions

If you have ever installed an AI-related Chrome extension, taking a few simple precautions now can help protect your accounts and prevent further damage.

1) Remove any suspicious or unused browser extensions

On a Windows PC or Mac, open Chrome and type chrome://extensions into the address bar. Review every extension listed. If you see anything unfamiliar, especially AI assistants you don’t remember installing, click “Remove” immediately. Malicious extensions depend on going unnoticed. Removing them stops further data collection and cuts off the attacker’s access to your information.

2) Change your passwords

If you installed any suspicious extension, assume your passwords may be compromised. Start by changing your email password first, since email controls access to most other accounts. Then update passwords for banking, shopping and social media accounts. This prevents attackers from using stolen credentials to break into your accounts.

3) Use a password manager to create and protect strong passwords

A password manager generates unique, complex passwords for each account and stores them securely. This prevents attackers from accessing multiple accounts if one password is stolen. Password managers also alert you if your login credentials appear in known data breaches, helping you respond quickly and protect your identity. Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at Cyberguy.com.

4) Install strong antivirus software and keep it active

Good antivirus software can detect malicious browser extensions, spyware, and other hidden threats. It scans your system for suspicious activity and blocks harmful programs before they can steal your information. This adds an important layer of protection that works continuously in the background to keep your device safe. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.

5) Use an identity theft protection service

Identity theft protection services monitor your personal data, including email addresses, financial accounts, and Social Security numbers, for signs of misuse. If criminals try to open accounts or commit fraud using your information, you receive alerts quickly. Early detection allows you to act fast and limit financial and personal damage. See my tips and best picks on how to protect yourself from identity theft at Cyberguy.com.

6) Keep your browser and computer fully updated

Software updates fix security vulnerabilities that attackers exploit. Enable automatic updates for Chrome and your operating system so you always have the latest protections. These updates strengthen your defenses against malicious extensions and prevent attackers from taking advantage of known weaknesses.

7) Use a personal data removal service

Personal data removal services scan data broker websites that collect and sell your personal information. They help remove your data from these sites, reducing what attackers can find and use against you. Less exposed information means fewer opportunities for criminals to target you with scams, identity theft or phishing attacks.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

Kurt’s key takeaway

Even tools designed to make your life easier can become tools for cybercriminals. Malicious extensions often hide behind trusted names and convincing features, making them difficult to spot. You can significantly reduce your risk by reviewing your browser extensions regularly, removing anything suspicious and using protective tools like password managers and strong antivirus software.

Have you checked your browser extensions recently? Let us know your thoughts by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

Anthropic refuses Pentagon’s new terms, standing firm on lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance

Published

19 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Anthropic refuses Pentagon’s new terms, standing firm on lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance

Less than 24 hours before the deadline in an ultimatum issued by the Pentagon, Anthropic has refused the Department of Defense’s demands for unrestricted access to its AI.

It’s the culmination of a dramatic exchange of public statements, social media posts, and behind-the-scenes negotiations, coming down to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desire to renegotiate all AI labs’ current contracts with the military. But Anthropic, so far, has refused to back down from its two current red lines: no mass surveillance of Americans, and no lethal autonomous weapons (or weapons with license to kill targets with no human oversight whatsoever). OpenAI and xAI had reportedly already agreed to the new terms, while Anthropic’s refusal had led to CEO Dario Amodei being summoned to the White House this week for a meeting with Hegseth himself, in which the Secretary reportedly issued an ultimatum to the CEO to back down by the end of business day on Friday or else.

In a statement late Thursday, Amodei wrote, “I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries. Anthropic has therefore worked proactively to deploy our models to the Department of War and the intelligence community.”

He added that the company has “never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner” but that in a “narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values” — going on to specifically mention mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. (Amodei mentioned that “partial autonomous weapons … are vital to the defense of democracy” and that fully autonomous weapons may eventually “prove critical for our national defense,” but that “today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons.” He did not rule out Anthropic acquiescing to the military’s use of fully autonomous weapons in the future but mentioned that they were not ready now.)

The Pentagon had already reportedly asked major defense contractors to assess their dependence on Anthropic’s Claude, which could be seen as the first step to designating the company a “supply chain risk” – a public threat that the Pentagon had made recently (and a classification usually reserved for threats to national security). The Pentagon was also reportedly considering invoking the Defense Production Act to make Anthropic comply.

Amodei wrote in his statement that the Pentagon’s “threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.” He also wrote that “should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions. Our models will be available on the expansive terms we have proposed for as long as required.”