technology
Tesla says it delivered its first car autonomously from factory to customer
This might be a bigger deal than the robotaxis. Tesla said it completed its first fully autonomous vehicle delivery from factory to customer. A video posted on X shows the vehicle — a Tesla Model Y — leaving the company’s Austin Gigafactory, driving on the highway, passing through suburban sprawl and residential neighborhoods, before arriving […]
The Supreme Court just upended internet law, and I have questions
Age verification is perhaps the hottest battleground for online speech, and the Supreme Court just settled a pivotal question: does using it to gate adult content violate the First Amendment in the US? For roughly the past 20 years the answer has been "yes" - now, as of Friday, it's an unambiguous "no." Justice Clarence […]
Squid Game’s uneven season 3 leaves the door wide open
The third and final season of the industry-defining Squid Game confidently delivers each new round of the deathly games with spectacularly brutal aplomb - but its attempts at worldbuilding are disappointingly tired and uneven. Some of Squid Game's most interesting dynamics from the first two seasons - the politics among the masked guards, the organ-harvesting […]
Facebook is starting to feed its Meta AI with private, unpublished photos
For years, Meta's trained its AI programs using the billions of public images uploaded by users onto Facebook and Instagram's servers. But apparently, Meta has decided to try training its AI on the billions of images that users haven't uploaded to those servers. On Friday, TechCrunch reported that Facebook users trying to post something on […]
How vulnerable is critical infrastructure to cyberattack in the US?
Our water, health, and energy systems are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattack. Now, when tensions escalate - like when the US bombed nuclear facilities in Iran this month - the safety of these systems becomes of paramount concern. If conflict erupts, we can expect it to be a "hybrid" battle, Joshua Corman, executive in residence for […]
Tesla recently lost two key execs
Yesterday, reports from Forbes and CNBC said that Musk had fired Omead Afshar, who formerly led operations in North America and Europe and was a close confidant of Musk’s. (Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal also reported that Afshar left the company, but did not say he was fired.) The firing follows a major slump […]
Logitech says all its webcams work with Nintendo Switch 2, save one
If you’re looking for a webcam that works with the Nintendo Switch 2’s new GameChat mode that lets you video chat with friends and see their faces within games, it looks like the biggest brand in PC accessories is still your best bet. Logitech is the first webcam maker to confirm to The Verge that […]
Porn age-gating is the future of the internet, thanks to the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has upheld a Texas law requiring age verification to access adult websites, saying despite First Amendment claims, the law “only incidentally burdens the protected speech of adults.” The ruling, in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, opens the door to age-gating in states nationwide. The court ruled in Texas’ favor by a margin […]
Low-income broadband fund can keep running, says Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ruled that the funding mechanism behind a key broadband subsidy program for schools and underserved areas can continue operating. In a decision issued on Friday, the Supreme Court rejected claims that Congress and the FCC’s implementation of the fund is unconstitutional. The program, known as the Universal Service Fund (USF), helps subsidize […]
Redwood Materials is giving old EV batteries a second life as microgrids
Redwood Materials is repurposing old EV batteries into energy storage systems that cost “substantially less” than brand new storage projects, the company said Thursday. The electric vehicle battery recycling and manufacturing venture, which was founded by Tesla’s former chief technologist, has created a new division called Redwood Energy to manage these projects. The aim is […]
Meta says it’s winning the talent war with OpenAI
During a company-wide all-hands meeting on Thursday, some of Meta's top executives were asked about the "$100 million signing bonuses" that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed they had been offering to poach his employees. "Sam is just being dishonest here," Andrew Bosworth, Meta's CTO, said at the meeting when asked about Altman's remarks. "He's suggesting […]
Apple overhauls EU App Store rules following penalty
Apple has introduced new App Store changes in the EU in an attempt to avoid being further penalized under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). On Thursday, the company announced a new tier system for its Store Services fee that’s applied to purchases made outside apps, and it will only give developers access to […]
