Tech
Apple has reportedly started a small number of corporate layoffs
/ The company has stood out from the big tech crowd in not doing layoffs, but it appears that has come to an end. Apple is reportedly laying off a small number of people from one of its retail teams, according to reports from Bloomberg and Business Insider. It’s currently not clear how many people will be affected, but Bloomberg says the number is “likely very small,” and both outlets say that, internally, the company is pitching it as a way to improve its operations rather than as a cost cutting measure. Still, until now, Apple’s lack of layoffs has set it apart from many big tech companies that have announced major cuts. Those include: Apple’s layoffs seem to be on a massively smaller scale, but it appears it can no longer act as an example of a company that hasn’t resorted to laying off...
SpaceX’s Starship Will Shuttle a Massive Rover to the Moon in 2026
A startup named Astrolab has teamed up with SpaceX for its first venture into space. Announcing the news on Friday, Astrolab said that it has signed a contract with SpaceX reserving a spot on one of its Starships, which will be utilized to transport Astrolab’s Flex rover to the Moon.Billing the Flex as the “largest and most capable rover ever to travel to the Moon,” the rover is three times the size of its largest predecessor and weighs two tons, according to Astrolab. The company says that the increase in size compared to past rovers will allow for a greater depth of scientific experimentation and more commercial endeavors. Astrolab has already set up agreements to transport multiple commercial payloads.Along with carrying payloads, the rover is also designed to be able to accommodate two...
MIT’s Dribblebot Can Play Soccer on Different Terrains
MIT's Improbable Artificial Intelligence Laboratory researchers have designed a robot that can dribble a soccer ball across a handful of different terrains. Titled "Dribblebot," the four-legged machine isn't as skillful as Lionel Messi, but it does have enough intelligence and power to dribble a ball across mud, gravel, sand, and snow.The tech piece is built with a silver body and comes equipped with a camera that rests on its head that is used to detect the soccer ball. A recovery controller is built into its system that allows it to stand back up after taking a fall and switch back into ball-tracking mode.This latest bot from MIT is fashioned with sensors so the robot can detect when it's crossing snow versus gravel, and a camera sits on top of the robot's head so it can locate the socce...
Today in Twitter: where are the retweet labels, and why did Doge replace the bird?
/ My ‘Following’ timeline is full of strangers. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>The retweet label is MIA on the timeline, but it’s there when you click on a tweet. If you click into the tweet, the retweet label shows back up, and if you try to reply to it, it’ll still tag the person who retweeted it. That functionality still being around, and the fact that the labels are still there on the timeline in the iOS and Android apps, as well as TweetDeck, makes this seem more like a bug than an intentional change. As for the Doge icon showing up on the loading screen and in the upper left corner of the web UI, ...
Hulu’s redesigning its unintuitive interface
/ It’ll now have a sidebar like pretty much every other major streaming app. Good.
Google Flights’ price guarantee could pay you back if your tickets get cheaper
/ Google is putting its money on the line to prove it knows when air travel prices are at their lowest. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>It’ll only show up on flights that Google is pretty certain won’t get cheaper in the future.
Opulent, joyous, decadent: the Japanese decoden trend comes to America
Make Steve Jobs roll over in his grave with a custom rabbit strawberry glitter frosting iPhone case. A TikTok viewed nearly 650,000 times opens with green and white frosting being smeared on a plain phone case. A reading of a Creepypasta about a faceless man plays over the sped-up clip as a hand comes in and swirls frosting around the edges. One by one, plastic decorations are added — a butterfly and flowers, glitter powder, tiny pearls around the cutout for the camera lenses. The frosting isn’t edible, and the phone case isn’t simply an exercise in decorating. The TikTok is part of a maximalist design aesthetic that’s beginning to catch on in the US, where clean and minimal phone accessories are abandoned in favor of the busiest-looking cases you’ve ever seen. Every corner of a case...
Apple’s Tim Cook says AR and VR are for ‘connection’ and ‘communication’
Apple/ Tech / In a new GQ profile, Cook also weighs in on privacy, screen time, and why it’s taking so long to ship a headset.
Elon Musk’s Twitter Updates So You Can’t Tell Who Paid for a Blue Check Anymore
Elon Musk has made yet another update to Twitter. After the CEO publicly posted Twitter's "For You" recommendation algorithm, Musk has also updated verified users' descriptions so that they can no longer tell who paid for their blue check mark and who did not.Twitter previously announced that it would start removing the blue check marks from legacy verified users starting April 1. Now, only those who pay Elon Msuk $8 USD or $11 USD per month would have the checkmark badge moving forward. However, on Sunday, Twitter provided a new update, changing the language in the description of verified users so that those on the platform will be unable to tell if they paid for the check or not. Now, the text for both legacy verified accounts and Twitter Blue subscribers now reads, "This account is veri...
Secret Invasion’s latest trailer is a prelude to Marvel’s next big war
/ Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is back in black and ready for war in Secret Invasion’s new trailer. The new Marvel series premieres June 21st on Disney Plus. Nick Fury’s kept himself pretty scarce since the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, but in the newest trailer for Disney Plus’ upcoming Secret Invasion series, the man behind the Avengers Initiative is back and preparing for a war that only he can wage. Though much of Secret Invasion’s new trailer is footage we’ve seen before, a handful of new moments make clear that Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) absence hasn’t gone unnoticed on Earth in the years since the Avengers managed to reverse Thanos’ snap. While Fury’s been off-planet hiding, Skrulls loyal to him back on Earth, like Talos (Ben Mendohlson), have watched as the extremist G...
Elon Musk Publicly Posts Twitter’s “For You” Recommendation Algorithm
Following parts of its source code being leaked online, Twitter has now posted the code for the algorithm it uses to recommend users' tweets on GitHub.“Our initial release of the so-called algorithm is going to be quite embarrassing, and people are going to find a lot of mistakes, but we’re going to fix them very quickly,” CEO Elon Musk said in a Twitter Spaces. “Even if you don’t agree with something, at least you’ll know why it’s there, and that you’re not being secretly manipulated…”Musk went on to note that users will likely be able to locate mistakes in the code, pointing out how often the Twitter “community identifies and fixes those exploits.” As users find mistakes, Musk says, the team at Twitter will step in to make any necessary changes to the code.The code notably only shows how...
Huawei’s latest watch is a jab at the Apple Watch Ultra
/ The Watch Ultimate has a diving and expedition mode, multiband GPS, a new physical button, a backtrack feature, a night mode, and a forthcoming low-power mode. Hmm, where have I seen this before? a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Huawei You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out where Huawei got the inspiration for its newly announced Watch Ultimate. It’s clearly Huawei’s not-so-subtle answer to the Apple Watch Ultra, and now, we know that similarity extends to the price tag, too. Starting tomorrow, the Ultimate will retail in the UK and Europe for €749 / £700 for t...
