The acquisition comes after Anthropic unveiled Claude Sonnet 4.6, its best model yet for computer usage.

Anthropic has acquired Seattle-based AI computer interface builder Vercept for an undisclosed amount to help further the Claude product’s agentic abilities.

The acquisition comes just after Anthropic unveiled its latest Claude Sonnet 4.6, the company’s best model yet for computer usage.

Vercept was founded in 2024 by former Allen Institute for AI (AI2) researchers Matt Deitke, Kiana Ehsani, Ross Girshick, Luca Weihs and Oren Etzioni.

Etzioni served as AI2’s founding CEO, is the co-founder behind AI2 Incubator and a venture partner with Madrona, both of which have supported Vercept.

Shortly after emerging from stealth in early 2025, the AI start-up released its flagship product Vy, a cross-platform AI agent that enables users to control their computers with natural language for navigation of apps and content.

The start-up has raised more than $50m, including a $16m round in January 2025. Its backers include Fifty Years VC founding partner Seth Bannon – who also served as a board member on Vercept – Point Nine Capital, AI2 Incubator and Madrona.

Big Tech leaders, including former Google CEO and chair Eric Schmidt, Jeff Dean, the chief scientist at Google DeepMind, and Kyle Vogt, the founder and former CEO of Cruise, reportedly participated in the January 2025 raise.

Not all of Vercept’s founding team was pleased with the acquisition by Anthropic.

Etzioni, in a post on LinkedIn, said: “After a little bit more than a year, Vercept is throwing in the towel and giving their customers 30 days to get off the platform. Sad.” Vy is scheduled to shut down on 25 March.

In a separate post, he held lead investor Bannon as partly responsible for Vercept “failing to hire a single product [or] business person”. He alleged that the start-up’s board was led by Bannon and by CEO Ehsani, who had “zero experience”.

Meanwhile, founding member Deitke left Vercept to join Meta last summer for a pay package that reportedly amounted to $250m over four years.

Last December, Anthropic acquired the 2021-founded coding toolkit Bun to accelerate Claude Code. Bun, according to Anthropic, had improved the JavaScript and TypeScript developer experience by optimising for reliability and speed.

On Tuesday (24 February), Anthropic and DocuSign announced the integration of Claude Cowork to enable DocuSign users to create, review and manage agreements using natural language prompts.

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A new magnetic wireless power bank from Xiaomi is gaining attention – not because it’s an Android accessory, but because it feels like something Apple should have made. Its compact design, strong magnetic grip, and clean aesthetic make it look and behave like a premium iPhone-compatible accessory, offering a sleeker, more polished experience than many MagSafe alternatives.

And yes – it works flawlessly with the Apple iPhone, despite not being an Apple product.

A premium magnetic power bank that feels like it belongs to Apple’s ecosystem

Xiaomi’s new magnetic wireless power bank instantly stands out because of its ultra-thin profile, polished finish, and minimalist design. It clips onto the back of an iPhone with a firm, MagSafe-compatible lock, delivering wireless charging without wobbling or shifting in your hand.

While Apple’s official MagSafe Battery Pack was discontinued and third-party options vary in quality, Xiaomi’s take feels refined – almost intentional – with edges and materials that mimic Apple’s industrial design language more than typical Android-centric accessories.

Users who prefer pocketable designs will appreciate how easily it slips into a bag or pocket without adding bulk. The lightweight build makes it ideal for travel, commuting, or extended outdoor use, especially for iPhone models with aging batteries.

Beyond looks, the power bank is surprisingly capable

Xiaomi equips the unit with a 5000mAh battery, offering enough power to recharge most iPhones. The wireless charging surface delivers stable output, and the magnets ensure the phone stays aligned during use – a key issue for many cheaper MagSafe clones.

There’s also a wired output option for faster, cable-based charging when needed, giving it versatility for users who switch between devices. Xiaomi also includes safety layers for temperature control, foreign object detection, and overvoltage protection, making it feel dependable for all-day use.

What sets it apart is the attention to ergonomic usability. You can comfortably hold the phone while it charges, use it while gaming or streaming, or leave it in a pocket – and it still stays aligned.

Why this accessory matters in the broader market

With the iPhone’s shift to USB-C and the growing popularity of magnetic charging accessories, users are now looking for power banks that are not just functional but designed to blend seamlessly with their device. Apple’s exit from the MagSafe battery category left a gap that accessory makers are trying to fill. Xiaomi’s new wireless power bank stands out by offering a level of design polish and efficiency rare in the Android-first accessory landscape.

This also reflects a wider industry trend: top OEMs are expanding beyond traditional ecosystems. Accessories once thought to be Android-exclusive or Apple-exclusive are now intentionally designed with cross-device compatibility in mind.

For consumers, it means more options and better value without sacrificing design or performance.

Why you may care, even if you’re deep in Apple’s ecosystem

If you own an iPhone and need a reliable wireless power bank that looks premium, charges consistently, and doesn’t cost a fortune, this accessory is one of the best new options available globally. It’s especially appealing for users of the iPhone 13, 14, and 15 series, where battery life naturally declines over time.

It also appeals to travelers, students, creators, or anyone who needs clean, cable-free charging on the move. Given its slim profile, it could fit seamlessly into an existing Apple setup without feeling out of place.

Should you buy it?

Xiaomi’s new wireless power bank is already rolling out globally through its online store and regional partners. As the magnetic charging category continues to grow – especially with Apple expected to expand Qi2 support across future devices – more brands will likely release premium, iPhone-friendly accessories with similar design polish.

For now, this sleek wireless power bank stands as one of the nicest options you can buy for your iPhone, even if it didn’t come from Cupertino.

There was a time before portable TVs and personal media players when the idea of putting coin-operated TVs everywhere, from restaurants to airports and laundromats, would have seemed like a solid business model. Thus was born the Vend-o-Vision by Mini-TV USA, which presented itself as a cash earner for businesses and a way to make their customers even happier. One of these new-in-box units recently made its way over to [Mark] of the SpaceTime Junction YouTube channel.

This unit is very simple, with what appears to be an off-the-shelf Panasonic black-and-white TV with UHF and VHF reception capability, inside a metal box that contains the timer mechanism, which is linked to the coin mechanism. Depending on a physical slider with three positions, you get anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes per quarter, with the customer having to tune into the station themselves using the TV’s controls. A counter mechanism is provided as an option.

As would be expected from a new-in-box unit, after chiseling off the 30-odd-year-old Styrofoam packaging, it fires right up and works fine. Of course, it’s a small black-and-white TV, so it’s not incredibly useful, and clearly wasn’t even back in 1989 when the Vend-o-Vision first appeared.

After some finagling with adapters, [Mark] gets everyone’s favorite movie playing on the tiny screen, giving us the first glimpse of what it would have been like to gaze at this miracle of technology back around the early 1990s in a noisy laundromat or restaurant. One can hardly imagine why it didn’t catch on.

We can see a patent for this appear in a 1990 scan of the USPTO’s gazette, where it’s listed as being first in commercial operation on the 29th of November 1989. The system was short-lived, however, with in 1995 the FTC settling with the company for deceptive practices, as the company had overinflated the projected earnings per TV when it started flaunting it at tradeshows in 1990. A few years prior, Mini TV USA appears to have already ceased operations, making these remaining Vend-o-Vision quite rare indeed. These types of coin-operated TVs were usually in public places or hotels. But we’ve seen coin-operated TVs that briefly appeared in homes, too.

In a 9,000-word expose, a writer for Harper’s visited San Francisco’s young entrepreneurs in September to mockingly profile “tech’s new generation and the end of thinking.”

There’s Cluely founder Roy Lee. (“His grand contribution to the world was a piece of software that told people what to do.”) And the Rationalist movement’s Scott Alexander, who “would probably have a very easy time starting a suicide cult…”

Alexander’s relationship with the AI industry is a strange one. “In theory, we think they’re potentially destroying the world and are evil and we hate them,” he told me. In practice, though, the entire industry is essentially an outgrowth of his blog’s comment section… “Many of them were specifically thinking, I don’t trust anybody else with superintelligence, so I’m going to create it and do it well.” Somehow, a movement that believes AI is incredibly dangerous and needs to be pursued carefully ended up generating a breakneck artificial arms race.
There’s a fascinating story about teenaged founder Eric Zhu (who only recently turned 18):

Clients wanted to take calls during work hours, so he would speak to them from his school bathroom. “I convinced my counselor that I had prostate issues… I would buy hall passes from drug dealers to get out of class, to have business meetings.” Soon he was taking Zoom calls with a U.S. senator to discuss tech regulation… Next, he built his own venture-capital fund, managing $20 million. At one point cops raided the bathroom looking for drug dealers while Eric was busy talking with an investor. Eventually, the school got sick of Eric’s misuse of the facilities and kicked him out. He moved to San Francisco.

Eric made all of this sound incredibly easy. You hang out in some Discord servers, make a few connections with the right people; next thing you know, you’re a millionaire… Eric didn’t think there was anything particularly special about himself. Why did he, unlike any of his classmates, start a $20 million VC fund? “I think I was just bored. Honestly, I was really bored.” Did he think anyone could do what he did? “Yeah, I think anyone genuinely can.”
The article concludes Silicon Valley’s investors are rewarding young people with “agency”. Although “As far as I could tell, being a highly agentic individual had less to do with actually doing things and more to do with constantly chasing attention online.” Like X.com user Donald Boat, who successfully baited Sam Altman into buying him a gaming PC in “a brutally simplified miniature of the entire VC economy.” (After which “People were giving him stuff for no reason except that Altman had already done it, and they didn’t want to be left out of the trend.”)

Shortly before I arrived at the Cheesecake Factory, [Donald Boat] texted to let me know that he’d been drinking all day, so when I met him I thought he was irretrievably wasted. In fact, it turned out, he was just like that all the time… He seemed to have a constant roster of projects on the go. He’d sent me occasional photos of his exploits. He went down to L.A. to see Oasis and ended up in a poker game with a group of weapons manufacturers. “I made a bunch of jokes about sending all their poker money to China,” he said, “and they were not pleased….”

“I don’t use that computer and I think video games are a waste of time. I spent all the money I made from going viral on Oasis tickets.” As far as he was concerned, the fact that tech people were tripping over themselves to take part in his stunt just confirmed his generally low impression of them. “They have too much money and nothing going on…” Ever since his big viral moment, he’d been suddenly inundated with messages from startup drones who’d decided that his clout might be useful to them. One had offered to fly him out to the French Riviera.
The author’s conclusion? “It did not seem like a good idea to me that some of the richest people in the world were no longer rewarding people for having any particular skills, but simply for having agency.”