Tech
Microsoft blocks emails that contain ‘Palestine’ after employee protests
Microsoft employees have discovered that any emails they send with the terms "Palestine" or "Gaza" are getting temporarily blocked from being sent to recipients inside and outside the company. The No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) protest group reports that "dozens of Microsoft workers" have been unable to send emails with the words "'Palestine," "Gaza," and […]
OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI hardware company
OpenAI is buying io, a hardware company founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and several other former engineers from his time there, including Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan. Ive won’t be joining OpenAI, and his design firm, LoveFrom, will continue to be independent, but they will “take over design for all […]
Energy efficiency rollbacks could cost Americans $43 billion in higher utility bills
The Trump administration’s attempts to gut 12 energy efficiency standards could cost Americans billions of dollars in higher electricity bills. The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that it plans to rollback dozens of policies in what it called its “largest deregulatory effort in history.” While the DOE claims that getting rid of “burdensome and […]
Microsoft blames Apple for its delayed Xbox mobile store
A year ago Xbox president Sarah Bond revealed that Microsoft was planning to launch a new Xbox mobile web store in July 2024. That never happened. I’ve been wondering what the hold up has been over the past year, and it seems we might have an answer: Apple. Microsoft filed an amicus brief late on […]
Miniot returns with a sleeker Wheel 3 vertical turntable
The original Wheel vertical turntable was a bust, the Wheel 2 redemption, and now the small mom and pop team at Miniot is back for a victory lap with the Wheel 3. It can play your record collection upright on its stand, laid flat on a table, or hung on a wall. Inside the handmade […]
DNA Giant 23andMe To Be Acquired After Bankruptcy
23andMe is being acquired by Regeneron, after it was put up for auction in March. The deal now awaits court approval.
Fortnite is finally back on US iPhones
Fortnite is once again available on the iOS App Store in the US, according to Epic Games. You can get it from the App Store here. Epic says it has returned to the Epic Games Store and AltStore as well. Apple kicked Fortnite off the App Store nearly five years ago after Epic Games added […]
Chicago Sun-Times publishes made-up books and fake experts in AI debacle
The May 18th issue of the Chicago Sun-Times features dozens of pages of recommended summer activities: new trends, outdoor activities, and books to read. But some of the recommendations point to fake, AI-generated books, and other articles quote and cite people that don’t appear to exist. Alongside actual books like Call Me By Your Name […]
FTC v. Meta: The antitrust battle over WhatsApp and Instagram
The long-awaited antitrust trial between Meta and the Federal Trade Commission kicked off on April 14th. Over about two months, DC District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg is hearing arguments about whether then-Facebook illegally monopolized the market for “personal social networking services” through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC first brought the case […]
Xreal teases Project Aura smart glasses for Android XR
The Google smart glasses era is back, sort of. Today, Google and Xreal announced a strategic partnership for a new Android XR device called Project Aura at the Google I/O developer conference. This is officially the second Android XR device since the platform was launched last December. The first is Samsung’s Project Moohan, but that’s […]
‘Shadow Labyrinth’ Puts ‘Pac-Man’ & The Mysterious Swordsman On A Dark Twisted Metroidvania-Inspired Adventure
On paper, based on its premise alone, Shadow Labyrinth should be dead on arrival, but after going hands-on with Bandai Namco's upcoming game, we left PAX East wanting to play more of this unlikely take on an iconic video game character.
Republican lawmakers could soon kill clean energy jobs in their home states
Renewable energy has driven a manufacturing boom in the US, but that’s all at stake as Congress weighs cuts to Biden-era tax incentives. Solar, wind, and battery companies have announced plans to either create or expand 250 manufacturing facilities since August 2022. That’s when Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), considered the biggest federal […]
