Ring’s new Search Party feature has once again drawn backlash for the company. A 30-second ad that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl showed Ring cameras “surveilling” neighborhoods to locate a lost dog. In the current political climate, a prime-time ad celebrating neighborhood surveillance struck a nerve. People voiced concerns across social media that the AI-powered […]
A few weeks ago, I locked eyes with Sir Ian McKellen as he told me a story about how I was born, where I grew up, and when I would eventually die. Some of the details were a little off, but others were so unsettlingly on the money that it felt like he really did […]
Microsoft wants to design more efficient data centers using materials that allow electricity to flow with zero resistance. If these new materials, called high-temperature superconductors, can make it to market, Microsoft thinks it could be a game changer for how data centers and the energy infrastructure they connect to are built. Tech companies are facing […]
In between hobnobbing with royalty and world leaders and abusing children and young women, Jeffrey Epstein appears to have been googling himself regularly. Across several batches of documents related to the convicted sex offender made public, we see Epstein shoot off emails to associates, complaining that his digital footprint includes factual information about his crimes. […]
When you buy a new Nintendo device, there are a few things you can expect: namely, some excellent Super Mario, Pokémon, and Legend of Zelda games, and maybe a great Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, or Smash Bros. The question mark has always been the other stuff. But with the Switch 2, it doesn’t seem like […]
After a week vibe coding apps using Nothing’s Essential Apps Builder, I’m conflicted. I buy into the smartphone maker’s vision for software that adapts to you, not the other way around, but right now it doesn’t deliver. It’s hard to see how this goes from cool novelty to a reliable tool without serious refinement, and […]
Discord is about to force some of the people who use its messaging app to make a choice: Use the platform with restricted features, or prove their age. It’s a move that platforms have been slowly approaching, but Discord’s teen-by-default rollout is a stronger clampdown that could offer a glimpse at an age-gated future on […]
It feels like everyone who produced ad spots for this year’s Super Bowl with generative AI failed in terms of making gen AI seem useful or like something worth getting excited about. Though we’ve seen plenty of AI-generated commercials before (at previous Super Bowls, no less), this year’s event was oversaturated with them. That’s in […]
Kit Rocha and Courtney Milan have a knack for drawing attention to a cause. The bestselling romance novelists helped raise half a million dollars for Georgia voting rights in 2020. Now, their cause is whistles, because whistles let neighbors alert each other when they see ICE agents abducting people. They’ve helped create a group that’s […]
Thirty years ago today, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a bill credited with creating the groundwork for the modern internet, became law and set off a chain of events that would make it a lightning rod for the techlash. The statute has survived everything from the dot-com bubble to a Supreme Court challenge […]