Microsoft fires employee protestor who called AI boss a ‘war profiteer’
Microsoft has fired one of the employees who disrupted the company’s 50th-anniversary event. In an email seen by The Verge, Microsoft told Ibtihal Aboussad that their employment has been terminated due to “acts of misconduct.” Aboussad was one of two protesters that interrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event on Friday by calling Microsoft’s AI CEO, Mustafa […]
Waymo: ‘no plans’ to use in-car camera data for targeted ads
Waymo has “no plans” to use footage from cameras inside its robotaxis to train AI models for targeted ads, spokesperson Julia Ilina said in an email to The Verge. Ilina was responding to an unreleased page from Waymo’s privacy policy that appears to offer customers the ability to opt-out from having their “personal information,” including […]
You can borrow and resell Nintendo’s Switch 2 game-key cards
Following the reveal of Nintendo’s new game-key cards during its Nintendo Switch 2 event last week, we’re finally getting more details about why they exist and how they can be used. Although they don’t contain a physical copy of a game, Nintendo’s Tetsuya Sasaki explained to GameSpot that game-key cards aren’t permanently tied to a […]
That massive GitHub supply chain attack? It all started with a stolen SpotBugs token

But this mystery isn't over yet, Unit 42 opines

That massive GitHub supply chain attack that spilled secrets from countless projects? It traces back to a stolen token from a SpotBugs workflow - exposed way back in November, months earlier than previously suspected.…

The insanity of being a software engineer
Software gets more complicated. All of this complexity is there for a reason. But what happened to specializing? When a house is being built, tons of people are involved: architects, civil engineers, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, interior designers, roofers, surveyors, pavers, you name it.
Whoopsie daisy Bitcoin!
Sure, the stock market is melting down after the US declared a global trade war. But have you considered that crypto is also melting down? Starting around April 6, the Bitcoin price fell off a cliff — and is sitting at $78,800 as of this writing, after touching a low of about $74,000. That’s quite […]
Google TV remotes are getting a ‘Free TV’ button
Google TV streaming devices will be required to have a “Free TV” or “Live TV” button on their remotes that opens up the Live tab where you can watch free, ad-supported TV channels via Google TV FreePlay, a company spokesperson confirmed to Android Authority.  “Google TV gives users access to a wide range of free […]
Apple’s Darwin OS and XNU kernel deep dive
Apple’s Darwin operating system is the Unix-like core underpinning macOS, iOS, and all of Apple’s modern OS platforms. At its heart lies the XNU kernel – an acronym humorously standing for “X is Not Unix.” XNU is a unique hybrid kernel that combines a Mach microkernel core with components of BSD Unix.
Trump doubles down, vows to make Chinese imports even more expensive for Americans

World War Fee: President to up tariffs on Middle Kingdom goods to 104% from 54%

President Donald Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on Chinese goods by a further 50 percent this week, meaning imports from the Middle Kingdom into America would have a 104 percent levy. And buyers are expected to pick up the extra cost.…

Alleged Scattered Spider SIM-swapper must pay back $13.2M to 59 victims

Crummy OPSEC leads to potentially decades in prison

Noah Michael Urban, 20, of alleged Scattered Spider infamy, has pleaded guilty to various charges and potentially faces decades in prison.…

Here are the best streaming service deals available right now
So far, 2025 has been a great year for watching new, must-see TV shows and movies on subscription services. But if you, like many of us, have more concurrent subscriptions than you care to admit, you’ll agree that keeping up with the latest each month is expensive. They may not cost as much as most […]
Major publishers call on the US government to ‘Stop AI Theft’
Hundreds of publishers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Verge parent company Vox Media, are running an ad campaign this week urging the government to protect content from AI. The campaign, called Support Responsible AI, is run by the News/Media Alliance trade association and consists of several ads that […]
Trump tariffs thwart TikTok takeover as China digs in heels

Video app's future once again caught between trade war and political whiplash

A deal to sell off TikTok's US operations to White House-approved owners appears to have hit a tariff-shaped roadblock, with the Chinese government signalling it won't allow the move.…

One of the best 4K QD-OLED gaming monitors is cheaper than ever
Alienware’s 27-inch 4K QD-OLED, the AW2725Q, hit shelves about a month ago. It was the first of several faster, better models to launch after being announced at CES 2025, with a 240Hz refresh rate, VRR, and a high 166 pixels per inch display. In short, it rules, so I’m tickled to find it already selling […]
The White House’s group chat screwup is even more ridiculous than we thought
Last month, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a Signal group chat about a military strike in Yemen planned for later that day. Now, sources inside the White House have apparently told The Guardian that an internal investigation revealed the roundabout way that happened: Siri was being helpful.  When national security adviser Mike Waltz […]
The see-through Beats Studio Buds Plus are on sale for less than $100
Apple’s AirPods Pro are some of the best wireless earbuds money can buy, but only if you’re embedded in Apple’s ecosystem. If you want a cheaper pair of earbuds that play well with both iOS and Android devices, the Beats Studio Buds Plus are a great alternative. They usually run $169.95, but right now you […]
Nintendo’s Switch 2 upgrade packs for Zelda will cost $9.99
Nintendo’s hoping to relieve some of the sticker shock it gave fans with its game pricing with the news that the Switch 2 upgrades for both Legend of Zelda games will only cost $10 if you already own them. The games are priced for the Nintendo Switch 2 at $69.99 for Breath of the Wild […]
SpaceX scores $5.9B lion's share of Space Force launch contracts

ULA wins $5.4B and Blue Origin $2.4B

The US will spend $5.9 billion on Elon Musk's SpaceX in the name of national security. United Launch Alliance (ULA) follows with $5.4 billion, and Blue Origin is set to receive $2.4 billion.…

GM’s UK design team imagines an electrified Corvette
General Motors is revealing a futuristic new electric-powered Corvette concept imagined by a new UK-based design team in Birmingham, England. The team developed a hypercar design inspired by the aviation industry, with a highly sculptured, aerodynamic design; powered gullwing doors; and an augmented windshield display for the driver. This Corvette concept comes from a “creative […]
Google’s AI Mode can now see and search with images
Google is adding multimodal capabilities to its search-centric AI Mode chatbot that enable it to “see” and answer questions about images, as it expands access to AI Mode to “millions more” users. The update combines a custom version of Gemini AI with the company’s Lens image recognition tech, allowing AI Mode Search users to take […]
The Last of Us season 2 is a brutal, bloody expansion of the game
The first season of HBO’s The Last of Us wasn’t just one of the most impressive video game adaptations to date, it was also one of the most faithful. The show did a remarkable job of replicating the characters, locations, and moments of the game, to the point that it felt like it was just […]
Death Stranding movie nabs director of Pig and A Quiet Place: Day One
The Death Stranding movie, an adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s supernatural UPS delivery guy walking simulator, has its director. A24 has announced that Michael Sarnoski will both direct and write the project. Sarnoski’s previous work includes directing the surprisingly stunning Nicolas Cage drama Pig and monster movie thriller A Quiet Place: Day One. Death Stranding, released […]
22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive
Search for “SimCity 4” on YouTube, and you’ll see players constructing multilevel highway interchanges and intricate railroad networks, or maybe even a swooping flyby of a sprawling metropolis. None of these features came with the original game, which was released just after the turn of the millennium. They’ve been developed slowly and painstakingly over the […]
Please sir, may we have some Moore? Doesn't look that way

We're on a roadmap to nowhere. Come on inside

Opinion  Nvidia has just shown off its vision of the near future in the shape of its Blackwell Ultra. Aptly for a company that helps gamers explore dystopian science-fiction hellscapes, Nvidia's actual future involves vast, heat-soaked stacks of silicon, guzzling energy by the half-gigawatt.…

Getting the firmware of a VTech/LeapFrog LeapStart/Magibook
This is a very small blog post about my first reverse engineering project, in which I don’t really reverse engineer anything yet, but I am just getting started! A family member asked me to add additional book data to the LeapStart he bought for his son, this is the starting point here.
Nintendo confirmed the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons don’t use Hall effect joysticks
After several days of not providing a direct answer about the technology used in the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons, Nintendo has finally confirmed that the new console’s controllers do not employ anti-drift Hall effect joysticks. When asked about the technology inside the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons that “feels so different to the original Switch’s analog stick” during […]
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’s new trailer is one big leap of faith
After multiple delays, Chris McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is finally making its way into theaters this summer, and Ethan Hunt is giving his all in the movie’s new trailer. Though it’s filled with footage from previous movies, the new trailer teases a bit of how Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is about to […]
UK bans fake reviews and ‘sneaky’ fees for online products
The United Kingdom has banned “outrageous fake reviews and sneaky hidden fees” to make life easier for online shoppers. New measures under the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumer Act 2024 came into force on Sunday that require online platforms to transparently include all mandatory fees within a product’s advertised price, including booking or admin charges. […]
WhatsApp tests letting you block people from exporting your chats
WhatsApp is testing a new “advanced chat privacy” option that lets you control whether others you’re chatting with can easily export your chats or automatically save media you send them, reports WABetaInfo. The feature appeared in a recent app beta on iOS, and WABetaInfo spotted the toggle in an Android beta on Friday as well. […]
Chrome to patch decades-old flaw that let sites peek at your history

After 23 years, the privacy plumber has finally arrived to clean up this mess

A 23-year-old side-channel attack for spying on people's web browsing histories will get shut down in the forthcoming Chrome 136, released last Thursday to the Chrome beta channel.…

UiPath’s Daniel Dines on why he needed to become CEO again
Today, I’m talking with Daniel Dines, the cofounder and, once again, the CEO of UiPath, a software company that specializes in something called robotic process automation (RPA). We’ve been featuring a lot of what I like to call full-circle Decoder guests on the show lately, and Daniel is a perfect example. He was first on […]
The rise of ‘Frankenstein’ laptops in New Delhi’s repair markets
In a dimly lit, cluttered workshop in Delhi’s Nehru Place, the air hums with the sound of whirring drills and the crackle of soldering irons. Sushil Prasad, a 35-year-old technician, wipes the sweat off his brow as he carefully pieces together the guts of an old laptop. It is a daily ritual — resurrecting machines […]
Netflix is getting a Peppa Pig mobile game
Netflix is adding a Peppa Pig game to its roster of available titles for subscribers in June, the company announced on Monday. World of Peppa Pig will be available alongside new episodes of the popular children’s show in the US. “From spot the difference and interactive mini games to coloring books, dress up games and […]
Nintendo says tariffs aren’t the reason the Switch 2 costs $449.99
In addition to a new console and lineup of games, Nintendo also revealed some sticker shock at its Switch 2 event last week. The console will cost $449.99 — a big jump from the original Switch, which debuted at $299.99 in 2017. Some have speculated that the price hike was at least partly due to […]
Tribunal denies UK's attempt to keep details of Apple 'backdoor' case secret

Last month's secret hearing comes to light

Details of Apple's appeal against the UK's so-called "backdoor order" will now play out in public after the Home Office failed in its bid to keep them secret on national security grounds.…

Why some Switch 2 carts won’t have games on them
One of the stranger details that came out of last week’s big Nintendo Switch 2 event was the existence of game-key cards. They won’t be used for all releases, but essentially they’re Switch 2 cartridges that don’t actually contain a game, but instead feature a “key” that’s used for “downloading the full game to your […]
EU may target US tech giants in tariff response

By putting services in scope, €18 trillion trade bloc looks to focus tech sector minds

Speaking ahead of today's extraordinary meeting of the European Union's trade minister, a spokesperson for the French government was clear that the trading bloc's response to blanket tariffs on goods could include services, bringing US tech giants within its scope.…

Brit telcos ask suppliers to clean up emissions mess – politely, with no teeth

Digital Connectivity Forum lays out climate goals, but enforcement is strictly optional

A group of UK telecoms operators has signed a joint letter calling on their suppliers to do more on emissions targets to help combat climate change, but they face little pressure to comply.…

Legal clock ticking for Microsoft over alleged software license abuses

With weeks to meet terms of settlement agreement, engineers in Redmond still don't have a product to show CISPE

Microsoft has weeks to produce a multi-tenant hybrid cloud for service providers in Europe – a failure to do this or to even out alleged anti-competitive pricing for its software licenses could again put it in a legal dogfight with smaller rivals.…

UK stats body snoozes legacy tech overhaul as Treasury tightens purse strings

ONS acknowledges it might be a costly decision in the long run

The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) is slowing migration away from legacy systems in response to budget limitations set by HM Treasury.…

Dev loudly complained about older colleague, who retired not long after

The graybeard wasn't doing a great job and morale improved once he left. How would you handle this?

Who, Me?  It's hard to confront the start of a working week, but each Monday morning, The Register tries to keep the weekend fun going for another few minutes by delivering a fresh edition of Who, Me? It's the column in which we take your tales of your most ticklish moments at work and share them for the amusement and/or education of your fellow readers.…

Mozilla takes pity on Firefox extension developers

Plan to standardize consent dialogs aims to lighten burden on devs, users, reviewers

Mozilla plans to make life easier for developers of Firefox browser Add-ons, aka extensions, by reducing the burden of presenting custom consent dialogs to those installing extensions.…

Meta debuts its first 'mixture of experts' models from the Llama 4 herd

Says they’re done right as they don’t lean so far left

Meta has debuted the first two models in its Llama 4 family, its first to use mixture of experts tech.…

No joke: Microsoft foolishly published inaccurate price list on April 1st

Fixed it the next day but a few lucky folk may have dodged a five percent Copilot price hike

Exclusive  Microsoft published inaccurate price lists for some of its products on, of all days, April the 1st.…

Asian tech players react to US tariffs with delays, doubts, deal-making

PLUS: Qualcomm acquires Vietnamese AI outfit; China claims US hacked winter games; India's browser challenge winner disputed; and more

Asia In Brief  Asian nations and tech companies are trying to come to terms with the USA’s new universal import tariffs and additional “reciprocal tariffs”.…

Signalgate solved? Report claims journalist’s phone number accidentally saved under name of Trump official

PLUS: Google re-patches Quick Share flaws; Critical Cisco flaw exploited; WordPress plugin trouble; and more

Infosec in Brief  How did journalist Jeffrey Goldberg’s phone number end up in a Signal group chat? According to The Guardian, US national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally saved it into the contact file of a campaign staffer who later took a job at the US National Security Council official.…

DOGE plans now reportedly include an IRS ‘hackathon’
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is planning to hold a “hackathon” next week in order to create a “mega API” for accessing Internal Revenue Service data, reports Wired. The outlet says the API would be used to move the data into a cloud platform — potentially a third-party one — to serve as […]
The best smartwatches for Android
After a long stretch of slim pickings, the last couple of years have been huge for Android smartwatches. Now there are more good options than ever. But the market is fragmented. Wear OS 5 is here for Samsung’s Galaxy Watches, Google’s Pixel Watch 3, and soon, the OnePlus Watch 3 when it ships later this […]
More than 1,300 rallies worldwide protest Trump and Musk
People are gathering in cities all over the United States and globally to protest an “illegal, billionaire power grab” by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. They’re being put on by over 150 different organizations, including civil rights groups, labor unions, and LGBTQ+ advocates, and span more than 1,300 locations. Last weekend, “Tesla Takedown” protests […]
How to use your phone as a hotspot
If you’re taking your laptop away from the safe environs of your home or office desk and still want to stay online, you’ve got a couple of choices (assuming it doesn’t have cellular connectivity built in): hunt around for a Wi-Fi network you can connect to or run a Wi-Fi hotspot from your phone. Running […]
‘Millions’ may have protested Trump and Musk yesterday
Hundreds of thousands of people signed up to attend over 1,300 “Hands Off!” protests against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk yesterday. Today, estimates from groups involved in planning the protests suggest the protesters in the US and abroad may have actually numbered in the millions. Activist group MoveOn is “estimating millions of attendees” went […]
Wi-Fi is one of the great backward compatibility success stories
My home network is a small miracle of backward compatibility, slinging data across 60-plus devices that span five generations of Wi-Fi. Everything on it, from my iPhone 15 Pro all the way down to my Nintendo Wii, manages to connect to the internet, most of it wirelessly through my router, with shockingly few issues. That’s […]
Quantum mechanics might have the solution to joystick drift
The Nintendo Switch may be remembered as much for repopularizing portable gaming as it will for a hardware issue that affected millions of gamers: joystick drift. Drifting is the most common term for an issue where joysticks detect false inputs — even when no one is touching a controller — causing unwanted movements to happen […]
Your House is like a choose-your-own adventure mystery book
Your House is a visual novel that is the closest game I’ve played to reading an actual book. In Your House, you play as Debbie, a girl who receives a mysterious postcard on her birthday with an address and a key. The address leads to a mansion that’s filled with secrets and puzzles for you […]
‘Hands Off’: Protesters deliver a sweeping message to Trump and Musk at a DC rally
Surrounding the Washington Monument Saturday were thousands of signs with messages spanning innumerable topics. “Support Ukraine,” “Beware of DOGE,” “Protect Trans Lives,” were just a few of them. Others struck a note of exasperation: “Where do I start…” The nationwide Hands Off protests this weekend turned out millions of protesters across 1,300 different events, organizers […]
One streaming app to (almost) rule them all
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 78, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, sorry everything’s about to get so expensive, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about baseball bats and work-life balance and […]
Color is a mathematical nightmare
The best method that we have for defining color is by using math. Specifically, mind-boggling mathematical models called color spaces that use geometry to assign colors as a fixed point that we can reference, ensuring the blue that I see is the same blue you see. As a creative-leaning person who can barely split a […]
2025-04-06 Airfone

We've talked before about carphones, and certainly one of the only ways to make phones even more interesting is to put them in modes of transportation.

Meta AI gets two new models as Meta releases Llama 4
Meta has announced the release of Llama 4, its newest collection of AI models that now power Meta AI on the web and in WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct. The two models, also available to download from Meta or Hugging Face now, are Llama 4 Scout, a small model capable of “fitting in a single […]
Microsoft has created an AI-generated version of Quake
Microsoft unveiled its Xbox AI era earlier this year with a new Muse AI model that can generate gameplay. While it looked like Muse was still an early Microsoft Research project, the Xbox maker is now allowing Copilot users to try out Muse through an AI-generated version of Quake II. The tech demo is part […]
Tron: Ares blends the real world with the digital in its first trailer
Disney just released the first trailer for Tron: Ares, the long-planned Tron: Legacy sequel. The minute-and-a-half trailer doesn’t say much about the story but shows plenty of the movie’s visuals, which look dark, moody, and filled with the series’ signature light trails. The trailer opens in the physical world at night, as Jared Leto’s Ares, […]
The 7 writing apps I used to start and finish my book
There’s a famous two-decade-old Paris Review interview with Haruki Murakami in which he, one of the world’s most celebrated novelists, details his daily routine. He wakes up at 4AM, works for five hours, goes for a run, reads, goes to bed, and then repeats it all over again. The rigor and repetition are the point. […]
Jaguar Land Rover pauses US shipments over Trump tariffs
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) says it’s delaying shipments to the US this month while it works out how it will deal with the wide-ranging tariffs President Donald Trump announced this week, according to The Guardian. “As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions, including […]
The best wireless earbuds to buy right now
It’s hard to buy a bad pair of wireless earbuds these days, and with constant discounts and deals wherever you look, now is as good of a time as any to splurge on the pair you’ve been eyeing. The market has come a long way since the early era of true wireless earbuds when we […]
‘Views’ are lies
Views are the most visible metric on the internet. You can see, in more or less real time, how many views something got on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and most other video platforms. X tracks views for every single thing you post, as does Threads. A view is the universal currency of success — more […]
Introducing Windows on arm. And by arm, we mean wrist

Pixel Watch 3 boots Microsoft's OS in latest feat of delightful pointlessness

Windows on Arm has been around since the Surface RT – but this is another kind of arm altogether.…

NASA doubles odds of Moon hitting near-Earth asteroid

Heads up to those living on lunar base in 2032: DUCK!!

The likelihood of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting the Moon, during Christmas 2032, has more than doubled.…

Trump’s tariffs killed his TikTok deal
Earlier this week, when it seemed as though TikTok’s fate in the US would actually be decided by April 5th, everyone — from Amazon to the founder of OnlyFans — was coming out of the woodwork to buy it. As it turns out, none of them had a chance. And now, thanks to President Donald […]
DOGE staffers are listed in the FCC directory
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has infiltrated the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an agency that has a say over resources Musk needs or could benefit from for some of his private sector business, The Verge has learned.  Three people who have been identified as DOGE staffers are listed in a public directory called […]
Ring’s founder is back at Amazon
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff returned to Amazon this week, coming back to the company just about two years after he left, Bloomberg reports. He’s now a vice president at the company, and he will be heading up the Ring, Blink, Amazon Key, and Sidewalk teams.  Siminoff is replacing Liz Hamren, who had taken over following […]
We just declared a trade war with the world
Nice economy you have there, said President Donald Trump’s administration. It would be a shame if something happened to it. The something, announced earlier this week, is a set of globally applied tariffs that make no sense on their face. No sane economist would endorse this. Through a combination of stupidity, incompetence and sheer gangsterism, […]
Trump’s TikTok delay is ‘against the law’ top Senate Intelligence Democrat says
President Donald Trump’s additional 75 day delay to TikTok’s sale-or-ban deadline leaves service providers like Apple, Google, and Oracle on shaky ground, and, according to one influential Democrat, is straight-up “against the law.” After Trump announced the extension on Friday, 12 Republican members of the House Select Committee on China, including Chair John Moolenaar (R-MI), […]
Windows Hotpatch comes to client version of Windows
Good news for Windows users, and for once there’s not a hint of sarcasm here: Microsoft has started rolling out Windows Hotpatch to the client versions of Windows. This feature, which comes from the server versions of Windows, allows the operating system to install patches to in-memory processes, removing the need for a number of restarts.
China hits back at Trump with retaliatory tariffs, export controls on rare earth minerals

Beijing delivers its own shock and ore

Beijing has responded to the Trump administration's latest round of import taxes with retaliatory tariffs and new restrictions on rare earth minerals.…

How big is VMS?
This question was asked during my Boot Camp presentation last fall in Boston, and over the past 35 years dozens of times people have asked, how big is VMS? That translates into “how many lines of code are in VMS”? I thought it was time to at least make a stab at pursuing some insight into the answer.
Price hikes, idled factories, layoffs: how car companies are responding to Trump’s tariffs
President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on all auto-related imports have been called “a debacle of epic proportions” and a sure-fire way to tank the auto market by crushing demand. Analysts have been predicting everything from $12,000 per vehicle price hikes to the possible “Cubanization” of the US car fleet. Now that they’ve had a […]
The best robot vacuums
Robot vacuums are impressive devices that will clean your floors well and — thanks to bigger batteries and better robot brains — rarely get tired of doing their job. Over the last few years, they have gone from being utilitarian devices that sweep your floor to full-fledged home robots that can vacuum and mop your […]
Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebrations tainted by the company’s role in the genocide in Gaza
Microsoft is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and in honour of this milestone, Bill Gates has published a blog post about the first code the company ever wrote. In 1975, Paul Allen and I created Microsoft because we believed in our vision of a computer on every desk and in every home.
Microsoft brings Copilot Vision to Windows and mobile for AI help in the real world
Microsoft is bringing its Copilot Vision feature to Windows and mobile, moving it beyond the web. Copilot Vision was a big part of Microsoft’s Copilot redesign last year, but so far, it has been limited to Edge webpages to help guide you through what you’re seeing. Copilot Vision will now be able to analyze real-time […]
Trump fires NSA boss, deputy

Intelligence chief booted after less than two years on the job

President Trump today fired the head of the NSA and US Cyber Command and his deputy.…

DOGE staffer ‘Big Balls’ has access to immigration agency’s data
Four Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers have access to the government’s data on an untold number of immigrants, FedScoop reports.  US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that handles legal immigration, recently granted access to Kyle Shutt, Aram Moghaddassi, Payton Rehling, and Edward Coristine — the 19-year-old DOGE employee who also goes by […]
Meta’s fact-checking program in the US officially ends soon
Meta’s US fact-checking program will come to an end by Monday afternoon. In a post on X, Meta’s global policy head Joel Kaplan said there will be “no new fact checks and no fact checkers” across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads by that time as the company replaces it with Community Notes. Meta first announced its […]
Microsoft CEOs interrupted by another employee protestor: ‘shame on all of you’
In the second major disruption of today’s 50th anniversary event at Microsoft’s headquarters, another employee stood up and began yelling at Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer, and Bill Gates — the company’s current and past CEOs — in protest of Microsoft’s dealings with the government of Israel. “Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” said Microsoft […]
The AI industry doesn’t know if Trump just killed its GPU supply
AI companies can’t figure out if the Trump tariffs are about to decimate them – and the fact that no one has a clear answer is sending them, and the tech industry overall, into a confusion spiral.  The markets are in disarray. Nvidia is down 7.59%, TSMC is down 7.22%. In San Francisco, sources tell […]
Starlink competition is ramping up in Ukraine
French satellite network company Eutelsat has been providing Ukraine with much-needed internet access for almost a year with the help of the German government, Reuters reports. Eutelsat’s OneWeb division operates low-orbiting satellites that communicate with terrestrial terminals for internet connectivity — similarly to rival SpaceX’s Starlink network, which has been the primary supplier of satellite […]
Trump delays TikTok ban again
Donald Trump’s initial 75-day delay against enforcement of the TikTok ban law would’ve expired this weekend, but on Friday, he announced on Truth Social that “I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.” This week, Trump announced new taxes on products coming into the US, including […]
An AlphaStation’s SROM
The AlphaStation 500 is a workstation from Digital, circa 1996. Mine is a 500 MHz model and has an Alpha 21164A processor (aka EV56). And the way it boots is weird. On your common-or-garden PC, there has always been some kind of ROM chip.
Appeals court revives lawsuit alleging IBM bilked pensioners

Panel finds plaintiffs should get a chance to prove docs not submitted too late

IBM may have seen off a lawsuit accusing it of using outdated mortality data to underfund retiree pensions, but an appeals court has now reopened the matter to further litigation.…

US tariffs: how Trump’s tax is hitting Big Tech and beyond
On April 2nd, President Donald Trump announced staggering new tariffs on imports from dozens of countries that could raise the price of almost everything you buy. It hasn’t taken long for the impact on tech to start to take shape, with Nintendo delaying preorders of the Nintendo Switch 2 and experts telling The Verge that […]
Microsoft employee disrupts 50th anniversary and calls AI boss ‘war profiteer’
A Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event to protest its use of AI. “Shame on you,” said Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, speaking directly to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. […]
DOGE has arrived at the FTC
Two members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were spotted at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week, sources tell The Verge. Gavin Kliger and Emily Bryant were seen in the building and are now listed in the FTC’s internal directory under the Office of the Chairman with their own agency emails, according […]
An immersive version of The Wizard of Oz is coming to the Las Vegas Sphere
Sphere Entertainment has announced two new immersive experiences coming to its 516-foot wide spherical venue in Las Vegas. An enhanced version of The Wizard of Oz will premiere on the Sphere’s 160,000 square foot screen on August 28th, 2025, while a new film by Academy Award-winning directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo) […]
‘Careless People’ author to testify during a Senate hearing about Facebook
Sarah Wynn-Williams, the ex-Meta employee who authored Careless People, will testify before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee next week. On Wednesday, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) said Wynn-Williams will address Facebook’s “cooperation with the Communist regime in China, including FB’s plan to build censorship tools.” Despite Meta’s attempts to silence Wynn-Williams with a gag order preventing her […]
Ukraine's techies a 'pillar of support' for national economy after Russian invasion

Experts in IT services held up while other sectors fell over the last 5 years, says report

Ukraine's technology industry has held up during Russia's invasion, with activity falling markedly less than other industries and increasing as a proportion of national exports since 2019.…

Microsoft updates Copilot with the greatest hits from other AIs
As it marks its 50th anniversary, Microsoft is updating Copilot with a host of new features all at once that bring it more in line with alternatives like ChatGPT or Claude. The AI assistant, which uses many OpenAI models, now supports memory, personalization, web-based actions, podcast creation, camera and screen analysis, deep research, and even […]
Microsoft Copilot can now use the web on your behalf
Microsoft is making changes to Copilot that will allow the artificial intelligence assistant to complete online tasks for you. Using “simple chat prompts,” these “Actions” can be performed in the background while you work on other tasks, according to Microsoft, and can do things like book restaurant reservations, event tickets, and purchase items to ship […]
FromSoftware’s Miyazaki assures fans the studio will still make single-player games
In a multi-part interview with Nintendo about newly-announced Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods, director Hidetaka Miyazaki tried to dispel worries that developer FromSoftware is shifting focus away from single-player games. The studio known for single-player dark fantasy epics like Elden Ring and the Dark Souls series is now working on two multiplayer games. As a […]
All of the news from Microsoft’s 50th Anniversary Copilot event
Microsoft is holding a 50th Anniversary Copilot livestream today at 12:30PM ET / 9:30AM PT on April 4th, the same day Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen started the company in 1975. Dubbed “Introducing your AI companion,” it’s set up for Microsoft to show off some significant updates to its Windows AI assistant. You […]
UK convicts five romance fraudsters who stole millions from duped singles

Prosecutors said individuals were scammed repeatedly until they had nothing left

Five romance scammers-turned-money launderers were convicted in the UK today after police shuttered a multimillion-pound fraud operation.…

Everything we know so far about the Nintendo Switch 2
After an agonizing wait, Nintendo finally revealed more details on the Switch 2 during a Direct presentation on the morning of April 2nd. While Nintendo told us very little in the official reveal of the console in January, the company announced during the Direct that the Switch 2 would launch on June 5th and cost […]
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