theverge.com

6 access agent(s) blocked: ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Claude-SearchBot, Perplexity-User, PerplexityBot, YouBot — these keep your site out of AI answers. 10 training-data crawler(s) blocked (ClaudeBot, anthropic-ai, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, Bytespider, CCBot, cohere-ai, Diffbot, Meta-ExternalAgent, FacebookBot) — a licensing choice, not scored.

Fix · Next.js: Allow GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot in robots.txt (or remove the blanket Disallow).

No reachable sitemap.xml. Publish one and reference it in robots.txt.

Fix · Next.js: Add app/sitemap.ts (Next’s sitemap convention) and reference it from robots.txt.

No HTTP Link: response headers. Emit canonical/alternate/describedby relations so HEAD-only or stream-rendering agents get them without parsing HTML.

Fix: Emit `Link:` headers for canonical, alternate-language, and describedby relations. Agents that fetch HEAD-only or stream-render rely on these.

Visible text is 2.2% of HTML weight (19102/865614 bytes). Low. Markup may be crowding out agent-usable text.

Fix: Heavy ad or navigation markup crowds out agent-usable text. Aim for a text-to-DOM ratio above 15%.

Browser pass unavailable; HTML looks like a JS-shell (e.g. #__next / #root). Likely JS-dependent.

Fix · Next.js: Render primary content on the server: use Server Components (App Router) or getServerSideProps/SSG (Pages Router). Avoid fetching above-the-fold content in a client useEffect, since agents don’t run it.

Consent modal detected (cookielaw.org); content still visible. Verify the modal does not block first-paint for screenshot agents.

Fix: Defer cookie consent overlay until after content is visible, or render behind the primary content. Agents without JS or with ad-blocking profiles see a blank page otherwise.

# Allow AI agents (AgentSpeed-generated)
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://theverge.com/sitemap.xml

This scan shows whether an agent can read the site. One free probe asks a real assistant a real buying question and records who it cited.

This graded your homepage. Your pricing, docs, and checkout live on other pages — the ones assistants actually quote when they recommend you — and a 64/100 here means agents are already missing things on the page you polish most. The $29 Deep Scan audits the whole site against all 31 checks, then emails a PDF with every failing check and its exact fix, ranked by what costs you the most visibility. One-time, delivered in minutes, no subscription.

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David Pierce Jul 25 The US is charging an American citizen for wiping his phone at the border Terrence O'Brien Is this e-reader case a gun? Mack DeGeurin Synth historian Oli Freke will spend big on a good bicycle Terrence O'Brien What Surrounds Us will make you think a lot about circles Jay Peters The US is charging an American citizen for wiping his phone at the border Terrence O'Brien Is this e-reader case a gun? Mack DeGeurin Synth historian Oli Freke will spend big on a good bicycle Terrence O'Brien What Surrounds Us will make you think a lot about circles Jay Peters The latest Quick Posts Don’t sleep on these / All the tech that helps catch some Zzzs. Forget expensive sleepbuds. Buy this pillow instead A lo-fi solution for hi-fi side-sleepers. Thomas Ricker Anker’s latest sleepbuds can silence snoring Good for side-sleepers but ANC kills battery life. Thomas Ricker My $5,000 smart bed needs to shut the hell up It told my spouse to drink alcohol nightly and wants us to battle for sleep supremacy. Victoria Song Ozlo Sleepbuds hands-on: resurrected and I’ve slept so good They’ve got everything that made the discontinued Bose Sleepbuds good, plus a few new tricks. Victoria Song Behind the scenes / Conversations with people who make the movies and shows you watch. The sci-fi movie that imagines AI isn’t so dystopian after all An interview with ‘Sheep in the Box’ director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Robyn Kanner Sinners’ cinematographer wants you to feel the Mississippi Delta’s vastness To bring Sinners to life, director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw had to focus on the big picture. Charles Pulliam-Moore We talked to the guy running the Mad Men puke hose Special effects foreman Shannon Thompson explains the invisible work that goes into TV. Charles Pulliam-Moore Werner Herzog is in IMAX, on AI, and over 3D The director made one of the greatest 3D films of all time. He explains why he’ll never do that again. Kevin Nguyen Most Popular 1 The US is charging an American citizen for wiping his phone at the border Terrence O'Brien Jul 26 2 Marvel announces Ryan Gosling as Ghost Rider, a new Black Panther, and more Terrence O'Brien Jul 26 3 Apple is banking on privacy to set its smart glasses apart Terrence O'Brien Jul 26 4 The vertical video takeover is here David Pierce Jul 26 5 Forget expensive sleepbuds. Buy this pillow instead Thomas Ricker Jul 25 Well, well, well / Wellness hype and the tech world combine in these stories pulled from the Optimizer newsletter. Empathy for the optimizers Clowning on the longevity king is fun, but it ignores why people biohack in the first place. Victoria Song The manosphere’s testosterone obsession reaches the highest levels of US military Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced mandatory testosterone screenings, but it’s a symptom of a larger fixation. Victoria Song ‘Wellness’ feels like it’s losing all meaning in health tech Oura is lobbying for relaxed wearables regulation. It has a point, but is regulation even the problem here? Victoria Song Welcome to the wellness surveillance state We’ll take your blood and urine, please. Victoria Song Doohickeys of note / A selection of gizmos and gadgets that have caught our attention lately. A touchscreen and light make the new X4 Pro the best version of Xteink’s tiny e-readers The $99 X4 Pro costs almost as much as a Kindle, but it’s a tempting alternative if you prioritize portability. Andrew Liszewski The Light Flip is a minimalist flip phone with a point to prove It’s not quite a dumbphone, but it’s definitely not a smartphone. And that’s kind of the whole point. David Pierce Lego’s Donkey Kong arcade machine lets Mario jump endless barrels — Miyamoto is reportedly happy Nintendo had one special request, too. Sean Hollister Halliday’s latest smart glasses feature a much-improved display The Gen 2 glasses are pitched as a camera-less tool for work meetings. And thankfully, they won’t hurt your eyeballs. Victoria Song Latest Following Dominic Preston 23 minutes ago Civilizational decline. Vertical video has been taking over for years, and David Pierce says the conquest may now be complete . It didn’t have to be this way. gregorsmith: I’m old enough to remember when Google Camera app put a rotate device icon on screen if you tried to shoot vertically Every day we stray further from gods light Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily . Jess Weatherbed 23 minutes ago Google is working on a live translation widget. Android Authority found and enabled the home screen widget after digging through the latest version of the Google Translate app, which could make Android’s “Live Translate” feature easier to access, and keep it working if you close the app. We don’t know when (or if) it’ll roll out, but this is what the widget currently looks like: Jess Weatherbed 46 minutes ago Don’t let AI do the talking for you. The Wall Street Journal reports that a growing number of young adults are using chatbots to navigate social situations — including in-person conversations and chats with romantic partners. Experts warn that such behavior could exacerbate social anxiety by preventing people from trusting their own judgement. Young Adults Are Letting AI Do Their Talking for Them—Even in Person [ The Wall Street Journal ] Thomas Ricker An hour ago Amazon wants to launch 5,105 new direct-to-device satellites. The FCC application was submitted on Saturday. The low-Earth orbit satellites would communicate directly with unmodified mobile phones and IoT devices, and operate in concert with Amazon’s burgeoning Leo constellation (which requires a dish for connectivity) and the Globalstar system used by iPhones that Amazon is acquiring . Amazon Leo confirms 5,105 satellites scheme [ Advanced Television ] Jess Weatherbed Two hours ago AppleCare One comes to the UK, France, Germany and Australia. It’s the first expansion outside the US for the service, which covers multiple Apple devices against loss, theft or accidental damage under a single subscription. Availability opens on August 4th, with prices starting at £16.99 / €20.99 / $29.99 AUS per month to cover up to three products. Apple brings AppleCare One to the UK, streamlining coverage [ Apple Newsroom (United Kingdom) ] Robert Hart Two hours ago The Kimi K3 countdown is on. Weights for Moonshot AI’s latest model are set to drop at 11AM ET, according to Hugging Face. That clearly targets the US (it’s 11PM in China) and could have major implications for American AI. Moonshot rocked the industry when it claimed the model could go toe-to-toe with the best from OpenAI and Anthropic at a fraction of the cost. Thomas Ricker 6:38 AM UTC Here comes the Chinese RAM. Chipmaker Changxin Technology Group is now the m

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