In January, Colorado lawmakers introduced a proposal to make operating systems collect users’ ages and pass them to app developers. The bill, SB26-051, had clearly been designed for commercial platforms like iOS and Android – one of numerous plans to age-gate the internet through users’ devices. It was intended to provide information that would let […]
Google announced its new Googlebook laptop platform yesterday, and so far I’ve been left asking, “Why?” Why is Google blowing up its Chromebook and ChromeOS platform for this? I’ve been excited by the prospect of Android and ChromeOS unifying under the long-rumored Aluminium OS. The theory was that Aluminium might unite Android and ChromeOS under […]
No one paid attention to the gunshots that echoed through the convention center. They were real enough, and so were the screams that accompanied them, in the sense that they were recordings of real people who, like guest stars on Law and Order, reenacted scenarios that had clearly been plucked from the headlines: a kidnapping, […]
At its peak, the Androscoggin paper mill in Jay, Maine, a rural town about 67 miles northwest of Portland, employed about 1,500 people – until a pulp digester exploded in 2020, forcing the mill to close permanently. In 2023, the 1.4 million-square-foot facility was purchased through a joint venture by JGT2 Redevelopment and a number […]
The vast majority of the world’s data – emails, financial transactions, the internet – is carried by fiber optic cables that run along the ocean floor and converge at a few narrow choke points. Periodically, policymakers will release reports noting that this arrangement seems risky, but these routes are the shortest, often in use since […]
In late April, Palantir – the software company that, in recent years, has perhaps become best known for its defense industry contracts and work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement – announced that it would be adding new products to its merch store. The latest offering was a cotton chore coat. At $239 and in bright […]
A baby’s eyes peer directly into the camera lens. A kid with a striped shirt looks up, then away. A boy in a policeman’s costume, a gold star on his chest. A messy bedroom that reminds me of my own daughters, with an unmade bunk bed, a little girl’s hat and headband, and Hello Kitty […]
Substack, the once buzzy newsletter platform, is losing a new swath of writers to rival platforms most people haven’t heard of. Just last month, The Ankler, one of Substack’s most popular publications, left for a platform that gives it more control over its site. Others who have departed Substack within the past year voiced similar […]
When OpenAI was busy experimenting with AI-powered gaming bots, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman were in the early days of forming an AI partnership. Court documents from the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial have provided a rare look at the communications between Microsoft’s top executives about investing in OpenAI and fears […]
It’s been a real good news / bad news week for Nintendo. Out of nowhere on Wednesday, the company announced a lush remake of Star Fox 64, jolting the dormant franchise to life and helping to fill out a relatively sparse lineup for the Switch 2 for the rest of the year. But then on […]