Whack-a-drone
Whack-a-drone

In Pasadena, California, there’s a cute red brick courtyard where one storefront isn’t like the rest. The glass doors open onto a sparse industrial hallway, which leads to a sunlit foyer with a large spiral staircase. Go up, and you’ll see a typical coworking space: open tables, healthy snacks, a collection of meeting rooms with […]

The right-wing boomers protesting data centers have a lot in common with the left
The right-wing boomers protesting data centers have a lot in common with the left

On a gray, humid Saturday morning in central Florida, a little under a dozen people gathered outside the Spring Hill Branch Library to protest the construction of a hyperscale data center in their community. There was no immediate threat – the Hernando County commission had unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on such developments in June […]

Meta made its own AI detection system. It should have just used Google’s
Meta made its own AI detection system. It should have just used Google’s

IIn March, Meta’s Oversight Board called on the company to “meet its public commitments and employ its own tools” to help quell the spread of deceptive generative AI content across platforms. Meta responded in July by introducing Content Seal – an invisible watermarking technology that flags images generated by the company’s new AI model. But […]

Neill Blomkamp’s new zombie AI ‘film’ is just slop warmed over
Neill Blomkamp’s new zombie AI ‘film’ is just slop warmed over

On Monday, District 9 and Gran Turismo director Neill Blomkamp unveiled his latest project: a 13-minute sci-fi short titled Nightborne that’s loosely based on Peter Watts’ 2014 novel Echopraxia. The short comes from Blomkamp’s new AI startup / production company, Barley Studios, and features characters whose voices and faces are modeled after human actors. But […]

Instagram will let users endlessly swap the audio on old posts
Instagram will let users endlessly swap the audio on old posts

There’s a symbiotic – and sometimes frustrating – relationship between social media sites and the creators that depend on them. Platforms need influencers’ and creators’ content to keep consumers on their apps; the creators, in turn, need to be able to reach those audiences to justify creating their content in the first place. Creators want […]

Samsung can’t afford to play it safe with Apple’s first foldable looming
Samsung can’t afford to play it safe with Apple’s first foldable looming

Tomorrow’s foldable-centric Galaxy Unpacked event looks like it will be Samsung’s biggest in years. The company is expected to launch new versions of its Fold and Flip phones while also introducing a brand new Fold form factor that’s shorter and wider. It would be the second upheaval to Samsung’s foldable lineup in less than 12 […]

The Odyssey turned me into an IMAX believer
The Odyssey turned me into an IMAX believer

After seeing Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey for the first time early last week, I came away impressed, but somewhat conflicted about two of the film’s more fantastical set pieces. While those scenes were beautifully crafted and tremendously acted, there was something a little bit off about the way they hit my eye. I spent days […]

SpaceX in your index fund, explained
SpaceX in your index fund, explained

Index funds are touted as one of the safest ways to invest. Rather than picking and choosing individual stocks, index funds let you bet on the market as a whole. So what happens when a company like SpaceX – a giant gamble, and, in my opinion, terribly overpriced – is fast-tracked into the Nasdaq-100? Does […]

I hate that I don’t hate this song made with Suno
I hate that I don’t hate this song made with Suno

I would never go so far as to say there’s no place for AI in music (I’m a fan of Holly Herndon, after all). But I generally find music made with generative AI to be offensively boring, especially the outputs of Suno. So I’m having a bit of a tough time processing the fact that […]

The grueling, 630-mile road race where the only fuel is sunlight
The grueling, 630-mile road race where the only fuel is sunlight

On July 19th, dozens of teams of high school students will begin a five-day, 630-mile road race from Fort Worth to Fort Stockton in Texas. But this is not your typical contest. The students design and build the cars themselves, using off-the-shelf parts and 3D printed materials. The winner is the team that accumulates the […]