Xbox’s bold plan for the future sounds nearly impossible
Xbox’s bold plan for the future sounds nearly impossible

It’s another bad week for the video game industry. Microsoft outlined a series of layoffs on Monday that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described as “the most significant restructure in Xbox history.” But buried in Sharma’s memo was a curiously optimistic statement: “I want Xbox to be one of the few companies that entertains more than […]

Can Partiful keep the party going?
Can Partiful keep the party going?

One hundred dollars will buy you 8 pounds of glitter; 10 Domino’s pizzas; 406 miniature disco balls from Temu; or 100 cans of Coors Light. For a friend’s birthday party one year, Ayla D’Silva spent $100 on sour candy and made a “sour candy salad.” Even sweeter was that she didn’t have to foot the […]

Flatbush Zombies’ Erick the Architect misses his BlackBerry keyboard
Flatbush Zombies’ Erick the Architect misses his BlackBerry keyboard

Erick the Architect is a founding member of, and the primary producer for, the legendary Flatbush Zombies. He’s toured the world, performed on Kimmel and Fallon, played Coachella, and collaborated with everyone from Joey Bada$$ and the Rza to James Blake and hardcore punk band Trash Talk. But perhaps the most unexpected collab was with […]

The fanfiction community is at war with AI — and itself
The fanfiction community is at war with AI — and itself

Over the past week, a new fanworks movement has kicked off, with the aim to root out authors using generative AI. But the detection methods being implemented are questionable, and any fanfic writer could be caught in the crossfire. Broad distaste around the use of Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI tools has long been a […]

While you’re watching the World Cup, the feds may be watching you
While you’re watching the World Cup, the feds may be watching you

It’s a big year for America. It’s the semiquincentennial, otherwise known as America250, and the United States is cohosting the World Cup. But spectators at these events – and the millions of people who live in the cities hosting them – may not realize that they, too, are being watched. From Kansas City to New […]

Anthropic wants to develop its own drugs
Anthropic wants to develop its own drugs

At the event “The Briefing: AI for Science” earlier this week, Anthropic announced Claude Science, a new “AI workbench for scientists” that pulls fragmented tools and datasets into one environment, and generates figures and visuals. Anthropic, already dominating the industry with its popular coding tools and powerful AI models, framed the launch around what it […]

Apple TV is hitting its stride
Apple TV is hitting its stride

Since its inception, Apple TV, née Apple TV Plus, has built a reputation on quality over quantity. It has far fewer shows and movies than the likes of Netflix or Disney Plus, but generally speaking, the projects it does put out are quite good. It’s a strategy that has brought comparisons to the HBO of […]

Influencer screenings aren’t going away
Influencer screenings aren’t going away

For a few days, it seemed like Universal decided that there would be no advanced screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey for influencers. But on Monday, influencers sat alongside traditional critics and journalists at special showings of The Odyssey specifically for the associated press junket. Despite what it may have looked like, Universal was not […]

Mystery box shows are complicated for everyone — even the actors
Mystery box shows are complicated for everyone — even the actors

Silo is such a complicated show that even its showrunner gets confused sometimes. While filming the final seasons of the Apple TV sci-fi thriller, Graham Yost remembers two instances where he messed up details: once it was an actor who realized that a conversation they were about to shoot should’ve already taken place, the other […]

The funeral for PlayStation discs has begun
The funeral for PlayStation discs has begun

Cody Spencer, the co-owner of the small games retail chain Pink Gorilla Games, put it well when I asked about the impact of Sony’s recent announcement that it will stop making discs for new games starting January 2028. “It’s sad to see. This decision is only a negative for gamers. We’re losing the ability to […]