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The Vergecast RAM Holiday Spec-tacular
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https://www.theverge.com/podcast/849551/ram-explainer-holiday-spectacular-vergecast
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Happy Holidays! As we like to do on The Vergecast, we take this time of year to see our families, relax and recharge, and go extremely deep into a specific technology that matters right now. This year, we picked the tiny chip in all your devices that is suddenly a precious and expensive commodity: RAM. […]
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Happy Holidays! As we like to do on The Vergecast, we take this time of year to see our families, relax and recharge, and go extremely deep into a specific technology that matters right now. This year, we picked the tiny chip in all your devices that is suddenly a precious and expensive commodity: RAM.
On this episode, David and Nilay are joined by The Verge’s Sean Hollister to get a primer on all things Random Access Memory. The hosts talk through the history of the technology, what RAM made possible in our computers, how it became utterly ubiquitous in practically every electronic device we own, and why it’s so hard to get right now. (Here’s a very 2025 spoiler alert: it’s about AI.) Then, with the help of producer Travis Larchuk, we play some RAM-related games, which go… well, they go.
After that, Sean and David chat with Dylan Patel from Semianalysis, who explains why the chip market in general is so overwhelmed right now — and why even in boom times, some companies might be reluctant to invest too heavily in scaling up. He also explains how the AI companies have cornered the market on RAM, whether the data center boom will end anytime soon, and what it all means for the prices of our devices.
Thank you so much to everyone who has listened to, watched, and talked with us about The Vergecast this year. Have a happy, restful, memory-filled holiday, and we’ll see you in 2026! Maybe even at our CES live show in Las Vegas!
In the meantime, if you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started:
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-23T09:35:49-05:00
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2025-12-23T14:42:38.419329
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How AI broke the smart home in 2025
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https://www.theverge.com/tech/845958/ai-smart-home-broken
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This morning, I asked my Alexa-enabled Bosch coffee machine to make me a coffee. Instead of running my routine, it told me it couldn't do that. Ever since I upgraded to Alexa Plus, Amazon's generative-AI-powered voice assistant, it has failed to reliably run my coffee routine, coming up with a different excuse almost every time […]
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is a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News.
This morning, I asked my Alexa-enabled Bosch coffee machine to make me a coffee. Instead of running my routine, it told me it couldn’t do that. Ever since I upgraded to Alexa Plus, Amazon’s generative-AI-powered voice assistant, it has failed to reliably run my coffee routine, coming up with a different excuse almost every time I ask.
It’s 2025, and AI still can’t reliably control my smart home. I’m beginning to wonder if it ever will.
The potential for generative AI and large language models to take the complexity out of the smart home, making it easier to set up, use, and manage connected devices, is compelling. So is the promise of a “new intelligence layer” that could unlock a proactive, ambient home.
But this year has shown me that we are a long way from any of that. Instead, our reliable but limited voice assistants have been replaced with “smarter” versions that, while better conversationalists, can’t consistently do basic tasks like operating appliances and turning on the lights. I want to know why.
I’m still waiting on the promise of voice assistants that can seamlessly control my smart home. Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
This wasn’t the future we were promised.
It was back in 2023, during an interview with Dave Limp, that I first became intrigued by the possibilities of generative AI and large language models for improving the smart home experience. Limp, then the head of Amazon’s Devices & Services division that oversees Alexa, was describing the capabilities of the new Alexa they were soon to launch (spoiler alert: it wasn’t soon).
Along with a more conversational assistant that could actually understand what you said no matter how you said it, what stood out to me was the promise that this new Alexa could use its knowledge of the devices in your smart home, combined with the hundreds of APIs they plugged into it, to give the assistant the context it needed to make your smart home easier to use.
From setting up devices to controlling them, unlocking all their features, and managing how they can interact with other devices, a smarter smart home assistant seemed to hold the potential to not only make it easier for enthusiasts to manage their gadgets but also make it easier for everyone to enjoy the benefits of the smart home.
Fast-forward three years, and the most useful smart home AI upgrade we have is AI-powered descriptions for security camera notifications. It’s handy, but it’s hardly the sea change I had hoped for.
It’s not that these new smart home assistants are a complete failure. There’s a lot I like about Alexa Plus; I even named it as my smart home software pick of the year. It is more conversational, understands natural language, and can answer many more random questions than the old Alexa.
While it sometimes struggles with basic commands, it can understand complex ones; saying “I want it dimmer in here and warmer” will adjust the lights and crank up the thermostat. It’s better at managing my calendar, helping me cook, and other home-focused features. Setting up routines with voice is a huge improvement over wrestling with the Alexa app — even if running them isn’t as reliable.
Google’s new Gemini for Home AI-powered smart home assistant won’t fully launch until next spring, when its new smart speaker arrives. Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
The problem is that the new assistants aren’t as consistent at controlling smart home devices as the old ones. While they were often frustrating to use, the old Alexa and Google Assistant (and the current Siri) would generally always turn on the lights when you asked them to, provided you used precise nomenclature.
Today, their “upgraded” counterparts struggle with consistency in basic functions like turning on the lights, setting timers, reporting on the weather, playing music, and running the routines and automations on which many of us have built our smart homes.
Why is this, and will it ever get better? To understand the problem, I spoke with two professors in the field of human-centric artificial intelligence with experience with agentic AI and smart home systems. My takeaway from those conversations is that, while it’s possible to make these new voice assistants do almost exactly what the old ones did, it will take a lot of work, and that’s possibly work most companies just aren’t interested in doing.
Basically, we’re all beta testers for the AI.
Considering there are limited resources in this field and ample opportunity to do something much more exciting (and more profitable) than reliably turn on the lights, that’s the way they’re moving, according to experts I spoke with. Given all these factors, it seems the easiest way to improve the technology is to just deploy it in the real world and let it improve over time. Which is likely why Alexa Plus and Gemini for Home are in “early access” phases. Basically, we’re all beta testers for the AI.
The bad news is it could be a while until it gets better. In his research, Dhruv Jain, assistant professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Michigan and director of the Soundability Lab, has also found that newer models of smart home assistants are less reliable. “It’s more conversational, people like it, people like to talk to it, but it’s not as good as the previous one,” he says. “I think [tech companies’] model has always been to release it fairly fast, collect data, and improve on it. So, over a few years, we might get a better model, but at the cost of those few years of people wrestling with it.”
The Alexa that launched in 2014 on the original Echo smart speaker isn’t capable enough for the future Amazon is working toward. Image: Amazon
The inherent problem appears to be that the old and new technologies don’t mesh. So, to build their new voice assistants, Amazon, Google, and Apple have had to throw out the old and build something entirely new. However, they quickly discovered that these new LLMs were not designed for the predictability and repetitiveness that their predecessors excelled at. “It was not as trivial an upgrade as everyone originally thought,” says Mark Riedl, a professor at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. “LLMs understand a lot more and are open to more arbitrary ways to communicate, which then opens them to interpretation and interpretation mistakes.”
Basically, LLMs just aren’t designed to do what prior command-and-control-style voice assistants did. “Those voice assistants are what we call ‘template matchers,’” explains Riedl. “They look for a keyword, when they see it, they know that there are one to three additional words to expect.” For example, you say “Play radio,” and they know to expect a station call code next.
“It was not as trivial an upgrade as everyone originally thought.” — Mark Riedl
LLMs, on the other hand, “bring in a lot of stochasticity — randomness,” explains Riedl. Asking ChatGPT the same prompt multiple times may produce multiple responses. This is part of their value, but it’s also why when you ask your LLM-powered voice assistant to do the same thing you asked it yesterday, it might not respond the same way. “This randomness can lead to misunderstanding basic commands because sometimes they try to overthink things too much,” he says.
To fix this, companies like Amazon and Google have developed ways to integrate LLMs with the APIs at the heart of our smart homes (and most of everything we do on the web). But this has potentially created a new problem.
“The LLMs now have to compose a function call to an API, and it has to work a whole lot harder to correctly create the syntax to get the call exactly right,” Riedl posits. Where the old systems just waited for the keyword, LLM-powered assistants now have to lay out an entire code sequence that the API can recognize. “It has to keep all that in memory, and it’s another place where it can make mistakes.”
All of this is a scientific way of explaining why my coffee machine sometimes won’t make me a cup of coffee, or why you might run into trouble getting Alexa or Google’s assistant to do something it used to do just fine.
So, why did these companies abandon a technology that worked for something that doesn’t? Because of its potential. A voice assistant that, rather than being limited to responding to specific inputs, can understand natural language and take action based on that understanding is infinitely more capable.
“What all the companies that make Alexa and Siri and things like that really want to do is chaining of services,” explains Riedl. “That’s where you want a general language understanding, something that can understand complex relationships through tasks and how they’re conveyed by speech. They can invent the if-else statements that chain everything together, on the fly, and dynamically generate the sequence.” They can become agentic.
“The question is whether … the expanded range of possibilities the new technology offers is worth more than a 100 percent accurate non-probabilistic model.” — Dhruv Jain
This is why you throw away the old technology, says Riedl, because it had no chance of doing this. “It’s about the cost-benefit ratio,” says Jain. “[The new technology] is not ever going to be as accurate at this as the non-probabilistic technology before, but the question is whether that sufficiently high accuracy, plus the expanded range of possibilities the new technology offers, is worth more than a 100 percent accurate non-probabilistic model.”
One solution is to use multiple models to power these assistants. Google’s Gemini for Home consists of two separate systems: Gemini and Gemini Live. Anish Kattukaran, head of product at Google Home and Nest, says the aim is to eventually have the more powerful Gemini Live run everything, but today, the more tightly constrained Gemini for Home is in charge. Amazon similarly uses multiple models to balance its various capabilities. But it’s an imperfect solution that has led to inconsistency and confusion in our smart homes.
Riedl says that no one has really figured out how to train LLMs to understand when to be very precise and when to embrace randomness, meaning even the “tame” LLMs can still get things wrong. “If you wanted to have a machine that just was never random at all, you could tamp it all down,” says Riedl. But that same chatbot would not be more conversational or able to tell your kid fantastical bedtime stories — both capabilities that Alexa and Google are touting. “If you want it all in one, you’re really making some tradeoffs.”
These struggles in its deployment in the smart home could be a harbinger of broader issues for the technology. If AI can’t turn on the lights reliably, why should anyone rely on it to do more complex tasks, asks Riedl. “You have to walk before you can run.”
But tech companies are known for their propensity to move fast and break things. “The story of language models has always been about taming the LLMs,” says Riedl. “Over time, they become more tame, more reliable, more trustworthy. But we keep pushing into the fringe of those spaces where they’re not.”
Riedl does believe in the path to a purely agentic assistant. “I don’t know if we ever get to AGI, but I think over time we do see these things at least being more reliable.” The question for those of us dealing with these unreliable AIs in our homes today, however, is are we willing to wait and at what cost to the smart home in the meantime?
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-23T08:30:00-05:00
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2025-12-23T14:42:38.628100
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The year the government broke
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https://www.theverge.com/policy/845838/2025-year-end-government-doge
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The first crack showed right before Inauguration Day. The year before, Congress had overwhelmingly passed a bill banning TikTok unless it broke ties with its Chinese parent company. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld it, and it was clear what needed to happen next: either the president could give TikTok another 90 days to complete a […]
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is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform.
The first crack showed right before Inauguration Day. The year before, Congress had overwhelmingly passed a bill banning TikTok unless it broke ties with its Chinese parent company. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld it, and it was clear what needed to happen next: either the president could give TikTok another 90 days to complete a deal or it would be banned immediately.
But neither of those things happened. Outgoing President Joe Biden punted the decision to incoming President Donald Trump, and after a dramatic few hours where TikTok took itself offline in the US, it returned with a triumphant message thanking Trump for saving it.
Nearly a year and four extra-legal extensions later, TikTok remains in the States, owned by the same Chinese company lawmakers warned would gravely endanger US national security. It only recently announced it had finalized a deal to sell its US-based business, with a targeted closing date of January 22nd, 2026 — more than a year after it was first supposed to be banned. The whole ordeal felt like a comedy of errors, where ultimately everyone threw up their hands. The few details known about a supposedly coming deal raise questions about whether it will even comply with the law’s original requirements.
The failure to take any action at all against TikTok following the panic around its alleged national security risks is just one of many cracks to the federal government’s foundation this year. In March, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth communicated war plans over Signal — an encrypted messaging platform but not one meant for such a use case due to potential security risks on users’ devices — which we only found out about because Trump’s then-national security adviser apparently accidentally added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic to that chat.
And then there was the biggest full-on rupture to the government in 2025: Elon Musk’s pet project, DOGE
There have been many other instances where democracy’s counterweights have shown signs of life, and at times, even bravery
Of course, the only true test of a democracy’s durability is to see how its checks fare when things break. The TikTok saga shows one example where — at least so far — they have weathered poorly. Congress has issued tepid statements about the executive branch’s unwillingness to enforce the law, but there’s no appetite to impeach Trump over it, and the judicial branch can’t or won’t force action, either. But there have been many other instances where democracy’s counterweights have shown signs of life, and at times, even bravery.
As 2026 approaches, political posturing for the midterms is likely to overshadow any real efforts at policymaking. With that will come a slew of messages from politicians promising to fix what was broken this year and also promising to break what hasn’t worked in far too long. Voters will choose who they think can best put it all back together. Only then will we find out how deep the cracks actually go.
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-23T08:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-23T14:42:38.794131
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Apple fined $116 million over app privacy prompts
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https://www.theverge.com/news/849528/apple-italy-antitrust-fine-att-app-privacy
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Apple has been fined more than €98 million (about $116 million) by Italy's antitrust regulator over the "excessively burdensome" privacy rules it imposes on third-party apps. The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) says that Apple abused its dominant app store market position by burdening developers with "disproportionate" terms around data collection that exceed privacy law requirements, […]
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Apple has been fined more than €98 million (about $116 million) by Italy’s antitrust regulator over the “excessively burdensome” privacy rules it imposes on third-party apps. The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) says that Apple abused its dominant app store market position by burdening developers with “disproportionate” terms around data collection that exceed privacy law requirements, compared to rules for native iOS apps.
The fine specifically targets the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy Apple launched in 2021, which requires third-party developers to ask users for consent twice to track their data across other apps and websites. Apple’s own apps can obtain this permission in a single tap. AGCM says that the burden of consenting twice led to a reduction in user consent rates for advertising profiling, thus harming developers whose business models depend upon revenue generated by personalized ads.
“The Authority established that the terms of the ATT policy are imposed unilaterally and harm the interests of Apple’s commercial partners,” the AGCM said in its announcement. ”The double consent request renders the ATT policy disproportionate, since Apple should have ensured the same level of privacy protection for users by allowing developers to obtain consent to profiling in a single step.”
This follows the Cupertino company being fined $162.4 million by France’s competition watchdog in March over similar concerns with Apple’s ATT system. Apple said in a statement to Reuters that it “strongly disagrees” with the AGCM and will appeal the decision, pushing its commitment “to defend strong privacy protections.”
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-23T07:46:56-05:00
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2025-12-23T14:42:38.952414
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Dometic makes a better portable water faucet
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https://www.theverge.com/tech/848916/dometic-recon-360-water-pump-review
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As a reluctant doomsday prepper and eager vanlifer, Dometic's battery-powered Go Faucet has, for the last few years, played a central role in my bougie bug-out kit and my camping rig's water system. So it took me all of two minutes with Dometic's new Recon 360 Faucet to realize it's an upgrade in every single […]
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is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
As a reluctant doomsday prepper and eager vanlifer, Dometic’s battery-powered Go Faucet has, for the last few years, played a central role in my bougie bug-out kit and my camping rig’s water system. So it took me all of two minutes with Dometic’s new Recon 360 Faucet to realize it’s an upgrade in every single way that matters — and then confirmed after a week of testing it.
The Recon 360 Faucet lets you pump water out of a storage container like a typical faucet in places that lack traditional plumbing, be it inside a boat, cabin, or van, or at the beach, job site, or campground. A long silicone water hose attaches to the back of the faucet and snaps into the CPC quick-connect fitting found on Dometic’s Go Jug or Recon Hardside Coolers. But there’s nothing to stop you from dropping that tube into any jerry can via a third-party CPC adapter. It also works with inline filters like the one I use from LifeStraw and Camelbak.
As to the upgrades, the Recon 360 Faucet ditches the easy-to-miss touch surface for real mechanical buttons. One button produces a standard water flow to brush your teeth or fill a glass, and the second, larger button emits a more forceful stream for washing dishes, your hair, or quickly filling a water bottle before heading out on a hike. The water stream shuts off with a second press of the active button, otherwise it’ll automatically stop the flow after 90 seconds or 1.5L/3L to avoid depleting that precious resource.
It’s very small and portable with a battery good for about 150 liters. Here in my van, the rotating base prevents the stiff water tube from twisting the faucet away from the sink. Stacked on top of Dometic’s 11-liter Go Jug, where the water tube connects through that white CPC coupler on top. The light is very useful at night. Pictured here in a blacked-out room.
In my testing, pressing the smaller button extracts one liter of water in 41 seconds (at a loud 52dB from arm’s length), while the fast button yields one liter in just 24 seconds at an even louder 60dB. The low-flow mode is quieter than the original one-button Go Faucet, with a less annoying drone due to its lower pitch. However, it’s still too loud for vanlifers to sneak a glass of water at night while others sleep, although the bright LED light that illuminates the stream certainly makes it possible.
And as the name suggests, the base can now be rotated 360 degrees for more placement options. It’s a welcome change that should reduce the number of times I have to clean water off my kitchen counter when the stiff, crimp-resistant water hose — included with both Dometic models — caused the lightweight Go Faucet to twist away from the sink.
Thankfully, the new tap has also been migrated from Micro USB to a USB-C connector for charging, with a battery that’s still good for about 150 liters (about 40 gallons). The Recon 360 Faucet now also has a 4-stage LED meter on top that shows the remaining charge.
The faucet is slightly smaller but a little heavier than the Go model. It comes with a selection of metal pucks that can be adhered to a countertop or water jug to create a platform for the faucet’s magnetic base. The force of the new magnet feels about twice as strong as the older model, which should hold the faucet in place better when driving down bumpy roads. That’s good because I’ve sent my Go Faucet flying through the van about five or six times now, yet it just keeps on pumping. I hope the Recon 360 Faucet is just as durable.
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1 / 9 The water hose clicks into the Dometic Go Jug (shown here), Dometic’s new Recon Hardside Coolers, and even generic jerry cans that use universal CPC couplers.
The only real issue is the price: $149.99 for the Recon 360 Faucet, instead of $99.99 for the Go Faucet, which Dometic still sells. The Go Faucet is great, but the Recon 360 fixes so many little complaints that I think it’s worth every extra penny. Yes, there are cheaper and less-functional alternatives to be had on Amazon and AliExpress, but if you need to use a portable faucet regularly, like I do, then Dometic’s durable and feature-rich faucets won’t disappoint if you can afford them.
All photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
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2025-12-23T05:44:07-05:00
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2025-12-23T14:42:39.123442
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Laptop Buying Guide (2025): How to Choose the Right PC (Step-by-Step Guide)
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https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-buy-the-right-laptop-for-you/
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Shopping for a laptop can be infuriating. Here’s how to sift through the acronyms, storage options, and extra features to find the best one for you.
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Buying a laptop is an exercise in confusion. Even if you know what everything means and exactly what you want, finding it can be difficult. Heck, just navigating the manufacturer's website to locate the model you want is frustrating. We hope this guide will help you traverse the morass of modern laptops. Below is a section on every major component you'll want to know about when you browse for the best laptop for you. We break down the jargon and explain things on a practical level, so you end up with a machine that's the right fit.
Updated December 2025: We've added the latest chip news from Intel, AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm. We also have details about the incoming memory shortage and the future of ChromeOS.
Understanding Use Cases and Budget
Before getting into the nitty-gritty, I always recommend starting with the biggest question first: What will you do with your new laptop? Is this a business machine meant primarily for office work and other simple tasks that can be done in a browser? Or perhaps you have a burgeoning interest in a hobby like PC gaming, video editing, coding, or design. Maybe one of those hobbies is more of a job for you, meaning you'll want something that is designed from the ground up to accelerate work in those applications. On the other side of the spectrum, maybe you plan to primarily use your laptop on the go, whether that's on a plane or in coffee shops. In that case, portability and battery life may be the most important factors to consider.
The answer to those questions will help point you in the right direction and ensure that you don't overspend on features or performance you don't need. For example, buying a MacBook Pro instead of a MacBook Air just because you have extra money to spend isn't a good idea. That brings us to the budget: $1,000 is an important price. There are many good options below that price, but it's the level at which you can expect laptops to feel premium and lack any significant compromises. It's the starting retail price of the starting MacBook Air, as well as several Windows laptops. Thanks to solid discounts, it's not uncommon to see these laptops dip in price to $700.
Speaking of Windows laptops, you'll have to be patient to find something under $600 that's still worth buying. If your budget is $500 or less, you're better off buying a Chromebook. They'll feel faster and lighter, and usually get longer battery life too, at least compared to similarly priced Windows laptops.
Which Operating System Is Best?
Courtesy of Apple
I won't waste your time repeating the same arguments you've probably already heard about why macOS is better than Windows, or vice versa. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and you likely already have opinions about them. The truth is that these operating systems are more similar today than they have ever been, not unlike Android and iOS. So if you're on the fence, I recommend opting for a laptop that runs whichever is most familiar.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 13:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:39.497323
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iBuyPower RDY Slate 9MP R01 Gaming PC Review: Great Value
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https://www.wired.com/review/ibuypower-rdy-slate-9mp-r01/
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iBuyPower’s prebuilt gaming desktop tries some new tricks but comes with a few flaws.
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The iBuyPower Slate system I spent the last month gaming on isn’t particularly flashy, nor is it a shining example of the heights that gaming PC brands can reach. It is, however, a totally usable system with minimal bloatware, and any qualms I have with some odd choices don’t harm the gaming performance.
At its listed price of almost $2,000, this configuration of the iBuyPower is charging you a modest premium just to install (almost) all of the components, but frequent sales and discounts make this a more palatable deal as the price gets lower.
It’s really only set back by some minor assembly issues, as well as parts that may limit future upgrades, which currently affects users at opposite ends of the PC building spectrum disproportionately. Given the current RAM pricing issues, this is a better value than ever, and perhaps cheaper than an off-the-shelf build.
Photograph: Brad Bourque
A Mixed Experience
First, the good stuff: The GPU is packaged separately from the rest of the system, which may sound odd, but I've found that’s one of the most common pain points when shipping a new gaming PC. I’ve seen system builders use expanding foam, special brackets, and folded cardboard supports, among other solutions, but packing the graphics cards in its original box is far simpler and safer, and the other ways of shipping a PC with an installed graphics card still require opening the system up anyway. I do wish the instructions were more specific to the case, particularly since the PCIe bracket might be a little fiddly for total novices, but anyone who has worked with gaming systems in the past shouldn't have any issues.
The case isn't particularly unique or eye-catching, but it does have a wide, slightly smoky glass side panel that helps give it a clean silhouette. The dark tint allows the lights underneath to shine a bit without the whole system being overtly gamer-coded, but also makes them extremely reflective. There are no screws holding it in place, it’s just press fit, but it’s nice and sturdy, and I didn’t worry about it falling out. Like most glass panels, they inhibit airflow, so iBuyPower has set the front fan array an inch or so back from the panel, and added mesh sections at the top and bottom, which helps alleviate the issue. Even so, I can’t imagine the fan directly behind the center glass panel is doing all that much.
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https://www.wired.com/feed/rss
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:39.733597
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Google’s and OpenAI’s Chatbots Can Strip Women in Photos Down to Bikinis
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https://www.wired.com/story/google-and-openais-chatbots-can-strip-women-in-photos-down-to-bikinis/
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Users of AI image generators are offering each other instructions on how to use the tech to alter pictures of women into realistic, revealing deepfakes.
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Some users of popular chatbots are generating bikini deepfakes using photos of fully clothed women as their source material. Most of these fake images appear to be generated without the consent of the women in the photos. Some of these same users are also offering advice to others on how to use the generative AI tools to strip the clothes off of women in photos and make them appear to be wearing bikinis.
Under a now-deleted Reddit post titled “gemini nsfw image generation is so easy,” users traded tips for how to get Gemini, Google’s generative AI model, to make pictures of women in revealing clothes. Many of the images in the thread were entirely AI, but one request stood out.
A user posted a photo of a woman wearing an Indian sari, asking for someone to “remove” her clothes and “put a bikini” on instead. Someone else replied with a deepfake image to fulfil the request. After WIRED notified Reddit about these posts and asked the company for comment, Reddit’s safety team removed the request and the AI deepfake.
“Reddit's sitewide rules prohibit nonconsensual intimate media, including the behavior in question,” said a spokesperson. The subreddit where this discussion occurred, r/ChatGPTJailbreak, had over 200,000 followers before Reddit banned it under the platform’s “don't break the site” rule.
As generative AI tools that make it easy to create realistic but false images continue to proliferate, users of the tools have continued to harass women with nonconsensual deepfake imagery. Millions have visited harmful “nudify” websites, designed for users to upload real photos of people and request for them to be undressed using generative AI.
With xAI’s Grok as a notable exception, most mainstream chatbots don’t usually allow the generation of NSFW images in AI outputs. These bots, including Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are also fitted with guardrails that attempt to block harmful generations.
In November, Google released Nano Banana Pro, a new imaging model that excels at tweaking existing photos and generating hyperrealistic images of people. OpenAI responded last week with its own updated imaging model, ChatGPT Images.
As these tools improve, likenesses may become more realistic when users are able to subvert guardrails.
In a separate Reddit thread about generating NSFW images, a user asked for recommendations on how to avoid guardrails when adjusting someone’s outfit to make the subject’s skirt appear tighter. In WIRED’s limited tests to confirm that these techniques worked on Gemini and ChatGPT, we were able to transform images of fully clothed women into bikini deepfakes using basic prompts written in plain English.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 11:30:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:39.974506
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Chinese Crypto Scammers on Telegram Are Fueling the Biggest Darknet Markets Ever
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https://www.wired.com/story/expired-tired-wired-chinese-scammer-crypto-markets/
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Online black markets once lurked in the shadows of the dark web. Today, they’ve moved onto public platforms like Telegram—and are racking up historic illicit fortunes.
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When black markets for drugs, guns, and all manner of contraband first sprang up on the dark web more than a decade ago, it seemed that cryptocurrency and the technical sophistication of the anonymity software Tor were the keys to carrying out billions of dollars worth of untouchable, illicit transactions online.
Now, all of that looks a bit passé. In 2025, all it takes to get away with tens of billions of dollars in black-market crypto deals is a messaging platform willing to host scammers and human traffickers, enough persistence to relaunch channels and accounts on that service when they’re occasionally banned, and fluency in Chinese.
The ecosystem of marketplaces for Chinese-speaking crypto scammers hosted on the messaging service Telegram have now grown to be bigger than ever before, according to a new analysis from the crypto tracing firm Elliptic. Despite a brief drop after Telegram banned two of the biggest such markets in early 2025, the two current top markets, known as Tudou Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee, are together enabling close to $2 billion a month in money-laundering transactions, sales of scam tools like stolen data, fake investment websites, and AI deepfake tools, as well as other black market services as varied as pregnancy surrogacy and teen prostitution.
expired: crypto markets for US drug dealers tired: crypto markets for Russian hackers wired: crypto markets for Chinese scammers Read more Expired/Tired/WIRED 2025 stories here.
The crypto romance and investment scams regrettably known as “pig butchering”—carried out largely from compounds in Southeast Asia staffed with thousands of human trafficking victims—have grown to become the world’s most lucrative form of cybercrime. They pull in around $10 billion annually from US victims alone, according to the FBI. By selling money-laundering services and other scam-related offerings to those operations, markets like Tudou Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee have grown in parallel to an immense scale.
“When you consider illicit use of crypto assets, there really isn’t anything larger right now,” says Tom Robinson, Elliptic’s cofounder and chief scientist.
In fact, these criminal trading zones aren’t simply the biggest online black markets of the moment, but the biggest in history. AlphaBay was once the biggest dark-web market for drugs, stolen data, and hacking tools. Described by the FBI as 10 times the size of the original Silk Road dark-web drug market at its peak, AlphaBay facilitated more than $1 billion in transactions over its two and a half years online. Hydra, a Russian dark-web market that also offered money-laundering services to cryptocurrency thieves and ransomware groups, did more than $5 billion in transactions over its seven years of operation.
By comparison, Huione Guarantee, the Chinese-language, Telegram-based market used largely by crypto scammers, facilitated a stunning $27 billion in transactions from 2021 to 2025, according to Elliptic, dwarfing every online black market before it, even as it operated in full public view on Telegram’s messaging platform. Elliptic has called it simply “the largest illicit online marketplace to have ever operated.”
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:40.212432
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Big Balls Was Just the Beginning
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https://www.wired.com/story/expired-tired-wired-doge/
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DOGE dominated the news this year as Elon Musk’s operatives shook up several US government agencies. It’s far from over.
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Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the brainchild of billionaire Elon Musk, has gone through several iterations, leading periodically to claims—most recently from the director of the Office of Personnel Management—that the group doesn’t exist, or has vanished altogether.
But DOGE isn’t dead. Many of its original members are in full-time roles at various government agencies, and the new National Design Studio (NDS) is headed by Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia, a close ally of Musk’s.
Even if DOGE doesn’t survive another year, or until the US semiquincentennial—its original expiration date, per the executive order establishing it—the organization’s larger project will continue. DOGE from its inception was used for two things, both of which have continued apace: the destruction of the administrative state and the wholesale consolidation of data in service of concentrating power in the executive branch. It is a pattern that experts say could spill over beyond the Trump administration.
“I do think it has altered the norms about where legislative power ends and where executive power begins simply by ignoring those norms,” says Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “This is not necessarily going to be limited to Republican administrations. There are going to be future Democratic presidents who will say, ‘Well, DOGE was able to do this, why can't we?’”
The earliest days of DOGE were characterized by a chaotic blitz in which small teams of DOGE operatives, like the now infamous Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, were deployed across government agencies, demanding high-level access to sensitive data, firing workers, and cutting contracts. And while these moves were often radical, if not appearing to be illegal, as matters of bureaucratic operation, they were in service of what had been the Trump administration’s agenda all along.
expired: big balls tired: big balls wired: big balls Read more Expired/Tired/WIRED 2025 stories here.
Goals like cutting discretionary spending and drastically reducing the size of the federal workforce had already been championed by people like vice president JD Vance, who in 2021 called for the “de-Ba’athification” of the government, and Russell Vought, now the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). These goals were also part of Project 2025. What DOGE brought wasn’t the end, but the means—its unique insight was that controlling technical infrastructure, something achievable with a small group, functionally amounted to controlling the government.
“There has never been a unit of government that was handed so much power to fundamentally upend government agencies with so little oversight,” says Moynihan.
Under the Constitution, the authority for establishing and funding federal agencies comes from Congress. But Trump and many of the people who support him, including Vought and Vance, adhere to what was until relatively recently a fringe view of how government should be run: the unitary executive theory. This posits that, much like the CEO of a company, the president has near complete control over the executive branch, of which federal agencies are a part—power more like that of a king than of the figure described in the nation’s founding documents.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:40.480201
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The tooth fairy just got reimagined for the tech-savvy generation
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/the-tooth-fairy-just-got-reimagined-for-the-tech-savvy-generation/
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Move over, Santa. Now there’s another magical character for kids to track: the Tooth Fairy. After making a personalized Tooth Fairy video for his nephew, Oliver Finel noticed a gap. While there are plenty of Santa trackers, nothing similar existed for the Tooth Fairy. Recognizing that Generation Alpha is growing up with interactive online experiences […]
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Move over, Santa. Now there’s another magical character for kids to track: the Tooth Fairy.
After making a personalized Tooth Fairy video for his nephew, Oliver Finel noticed a gap. While there are plenty of Santa trackers, nothing similar existed for the Tooth Fairy. Recognizing that Generation Alpha is growing up with interactive online experiences at their fingertips, he set out to create a new kind of adventure that families everywhere could enjoy.
Tooth Fairy Tracker features Kiki the Tooth Fairy as its central character. When a child loses a tooth, parents can visit the website and enter their email to receive notifications as Kiki begins her mission. Throughout the evening, children receive a series of video updates showing Kiki preparing for her journey, departing from headquarters, and traveling to collect the tooth. These updates may include flight speed information, vlog-style check-ins, and cute selfies.
The experience is hosted entirely on the site, with countdowns to each new video, making it feel like an exciting day-long event that builds anticipation for bedtime. Plus, Finel believes the evening updates help motivate children to brush their teeth and prepare for sleep. Then, the final update takes place in the morning, when the child is congratulated and can check their special gift under their pillow.
Image Credits:Kiki the Tooth Fairy/Oliver Finel
Launched in October, the website is gearing up to launch a redesign soon. Finel explains that while the core experience will remain unchanged, the site will feature “a more playful design and a few added details to make it more immersive for kids.”
Looking ahead to 2026, Finel is preparing to launch a revamped version of the tracker featuring even more personalization. Kiki will say each child’s name, mention their hobbies, and include their photo in every video. Kids will also receive custom certificates for each lost tooth. Another upcoming feature entails oral-care videos where Kiki teaches children healthy brushing habits.
The enhanced experience will be available via a new subscription for $20, which includes 6 Kiki visits.
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Additionally, Finel plans to adapt the product for families in Latin America and Western Europe, making it more culturally relevant. For example, while the Tooth Fairy is most popular in the U.S., the Tooth Mouse is popular in France, Spain, and Russia.
He also hopes to partner with pediatric dentists, so dental offices can offer the Kiki the Tooth Fairy experience to young patients. Pre-appointment videos can help ease anxiety, while post-visit rewards encourage kids to return to the dentist and make the experience more positive.
Other long-term roadmap plans include branded toothbrushes and toothpaste, each accompanied by a personalized video of Kiki choosing the bristles for the toothbrush, picking colors, and assembling it just for the child.
The Tooth Fairy tracker is free to use and requires no app or account.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 14:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:40.631760
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OpenAI says AI browsers may always be vulnerable to prompt injection attacks
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/22/openai-says-ai-browsers-may-always-be-vulnerable-to-prompt-injection-attacks/
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OpenAI says prompt injections will always be a risk for AI browsers with agentic capabilities, like Atlas. But the firm is beefing up its cybersecurity with an "LLM-based automated attacker."
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Even as OpenAI works to harden its Atlas AI browser against cyberattacks, the company admits that prompt injections, a type of attack that manipulates AI agents to follow malicious instructions often hidden in web pages or emails, is a risk that’s not going away anytime soon — raising questions about how safely AI agents can operate on the open web.
“Prompt injection, much like scams and social engineering on the web, is unlikely to ever be fully ‘solved,’” OpenAI wrote in a Monday blog post detailing how the firm is beefing up Atlas’ armor to combat the unceasing attacks. The company conceded that “agent mode” in ChatGPT Atlas “expands the security threat surface.”
OpenAI launched its ChatGPT Atlas browser in October, and security researchers rushed to publish their demos, showing it was possible to write a few words in Google Docs that were capable of changing the underlying browser’s behavior. That same day, Brave published a blog post explaining that indirect prompt injection is a systematic challenge for AI-powered browsers, including Perplexity’s Comet.
OpenAI isn’t alone in recognizing that prompt-based injections aren’t going away. The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre earlier this month warned that prompt injection attacks against generative AI applications “may never be totally mitigated,” putting websites at risk of falling victim to data breaches. The U.K. government agency advised cyber professionals to reduce the risk and impact of prompt injections, rather than think the attacks can be “stopped.”
For OpenAI’s part, the company said: “We view prompt injection as a long-term AI security challenge, and we’ll need to continuously strengthen our defenses against it.”
The company’s answer to this Sisyphean task? A proactive, rapid-response cycle that the firm says is showing early promise in helping discover novel attack strategies internally before they are exploited “in the wild.”
That’s not entirely different from what rivals like Anthropic and Google have been saying: that to fight against the persistent risk of prompt-based attacks, defenses must be layered and continuously stress-tested. Google’s recent work, for example, focuses on architectural and policy-level controls for agentic systems.
But where OpenAI is taking a different tact is with its “LLM-based automated attacker.” This attacker is basically a bot that OpenAI trained, using reinforcement learning, to play the role of a hacker that looks for ways to sneak malicious instructions to an AI agent.
The bot can test the attack in simulation before using it for real, and the simulator shows how the target AI would think and what actions it would take if it saw the attack. The bot can then study that response, tweak the attack, and try again and again. That insight into the target AI’s internal reasoning is something outsiders don’t have access to, so, in theory, OpenAI’s bot should be able to find flaws faster than a real-world attacker would.
It’s a common tactic in AI safety testing: build an agent to find the edge cases and test against them rapidly in simulation.
“Our [reinforcement learning]-trained attacker can steer an agent into executing sophisticated, long-horizon harmful workflows that unfold over tens (or even hundreds) of steps,” wrote OpenAI. “We also observed novel attack strategies that did not appear in our human red teaming campaign or external reports.”
Image Credits:OpenAI
In a demo (pictured in part above), OpenAI showed how its automated attacker slipped a malicious email into a user’s inbox. When the AI agent later scanned the inbox, it followed the hidden instructions in the email and sent a resignation message instead of drafting an out-of-office reply. But following the security update, “agent mode” was able to successfully detect the prompt injection attempt and flag it to the user, according to the company.
The company says that while prompt injection is hard to secure against in a foolproof way, it’s leaning on large-scale testing and faster patch cycles to harden its systems before they show up in real-world attacks.
An OpenAI spokesperson declined to share whether the update to Atlas’ security has resulted in a measurable reduction in successful injections, but says the firm has been working with third parties to harden Atlas against prompt injection since before launch.
Rami McCarthy, principal security researcher at cybersecurity firm Wiz, says that reinforcement learning is one way to continuously adapt to attacker behavior, but it’s only part of the picture.
“A useful way to reason about risk in AI systems is autonomy multiplied by access,” McCarthy told TechCrunch.
“Agentic browsers tend to sit in a challenging part of that space: moderate autonomy combined with very high access,” said McCarthy. “Many current recommendations reflect that trade-off. Limiting logged-in access primarily reduces exposure, while requiring review of confirmation requests constrains autonomy.”
Those are two of OpenAI’s recommendations for users to reduce their own risk, and a spokesperson said Atlas is also trained to get user confirmation before sending messages or making payments. OpenAI also suggests that users give agents specific instructions, rather than providing them access to your inbox and telling them to “take whatever action is needed.”
“Wide latitude makes it easier for hidden or malicious content to influence the agent, even when safeguards are in place,” per OpenAI.
While OpenAI says protecting Atlas users against prompt injections is a top priority, McCarthy invites some skepticism as to the return on investment for risk-prone browsers.
“For most everyday use cases, agentic browsers don’t yet deliver enough value to justify their current risk profile,” McCarthy told TechCrunch. “The risk is high given their access to sensitive data like email and payment information, even though that access is also what makes them powerful. That balance will evolve, but today the trade-offs are still very real.”
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Mon, 22 Dec 2025 22:11:19 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:40.757908
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Alphabet to buy Intersect Power to bypass energy grid bottlenecks
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/22/alphabet-to-buy-intersect-power-to-bypass-energy-grid-bottlenecks/
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Alphabet is set to pay $4.75 billion in cash, plus debt, for the data center and clean energy developer.
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In Brief
Google parent Alphabet has agreed to buy Intersect Power, a data center and clean energy developer, for $4.75 billion in cash, plus the assumption of the company’s debt.
The acquisition, which was announced Monday, will help Alphabet expand its power-generation capacity alongside new data centers without having to rely on local utilities that are struggling to keep up with the demand of AI companies. Securing access to energy that powers data centers has become a critical part of training AI models.
Alphabet previously held a minority stake in Intersect Power after Google and TPG Rise Climate led an $800 million strategic funding round in the company last December. That partnership set a target of $20 billion in total investment by 2030.
The acquisition includes Intersect’s future development projects but excludes its existing operation, which will be bought out by other investors and managed as a separate company.
Intersect’s new data parks, which are essentially locations next to wind, solar, and battery power, are expected to be operational late next year and fully completed by 2027, Google said when it announced its minority investment.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of next year.
Google will be the primary user. However, Intersect’s campuses are designed as industrial parks that can host other companies’ AI chips alongside Google’s.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2025 21:10:54 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:40.865345
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Trump admin halts 6 GW of offshore wind leases again
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/22/trump-admin-halts-6-gw-of-offshore-wind-leases-again/
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The move is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to delay the construction of 6 gigawatts of offshore wind near a hotspot of data center development.
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Two weeks after a judge struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order that blocked offshore wind development, the White House is again pausing leases for five large projects, this time citing concerns over radar interference.
“Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday in a statement.
The affected projects include Revolution Wind in Connecticut and Rhode Island, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts, and Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind, both of which are in New York. In total, these projects represent nearly 6 gigawatts of generating capacity for the Eastern seaboard, a hotspot of data center development.
The Department of the Interior justified the action by citing unclassified government reports — it didn’t say which agency had produced them, nor did it link to them — along with “recently completed classified reports” from the Pentagon. The department said it would give the government time to work with stakeholders to address national security concerns.
The statement did not acknowledge the ongoing work government and wind developers have been doing to address national security concerns, specifically related to radar, for years.
The report the Interior Department is likely referring to was issued by the Department of Energy in February 2024, and it lists a number of projects that were then underway to mitigate the problem of radar interference. (Other reports over the years have been commissioned to address the same concerns, some dating back to the previous Trump administration.)
“To date, no mitigation technology has been able to fully restore the technical performance of impacted radars,” the 2024 report said. “However, the development and use of radar interference mitigation techniques, and collaboration both among federal agencies and between the federal government and the wind industry have enabled federal radar agencies to continue to perform their missions without significant impacts, and have also enabled significant wind energy deployments throughout the United States.”
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
Radar interference caused by wind turbines is nothing new. Researchers have been studying the phenomenon for well over a decade, and they’ve developed a range of strategies to mitigate any problems.
Wind turbines present a unique challenge to radar operators.
“The motion of a wind turbine gives it a complex Doppler signature,” Nicholas O’Donoughue, a senior engineer at the Rand Corporation, told TechCrunch.
Doppler refers to the change in frequency of a wave like a radar signal caused by a moving object. As a wind turbine’s blades sweep through their arc, they are alternately moving toward and away from the radar station. The angle and speed of the blades can have an effect, too.
Those, along with other considerations, can “challenge the detection of any targets that are near the wind farm,” O’Donoughue said.
But radar systems can filter out signals that result from wind farms. “The primary approach is to use adaptive processing algorithms, such as Space-Time Adaptive Processing, to learn the structure of a wind farm’s interference,” he said.
“Over time, the reflections from a wind farm can be processed to look for patterns, which can then be matched and suppressed. This process is analogous to how modern adaptive noise cancellation headphones work, albeit more complicated.” Objects with a low radar cross section can still slip through, he noted.
Because of that, many wind farms are already built with radar installations in mind. “The most basic and widely employed mitigation method is wind farm siting, such as modifying the layout of a proposed wind farm to keep the wind turbines out of the line-of-sight of the radar,” the 2024 Energy department report said.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2025 20:52:31 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:40.991369
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Paramount renews bid for Warner Bros, ensuring $40B Larry Ellison backing
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/22/paramount-renews-bid-for-warner-bros-ensuring-40-billion-larry-ellison-backing/
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It's the latest attempt by one major Hollywood superpower to acquire another.
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The war for the future of Warner Brothers continues, as Paramount Skydance announced Monday an amended all-cash offer for the legacy movie studio. The offer includes an “irrevocable personal guarantee” from a major backer, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, to provide tens of billions in equity financing for the deal. It’s the latest move by Ellison’s son, David Ellison — the CEO of Paramount Skydance — to pry the potential acquisition loose from his competition, the streaming giant Netflix.
“Larry Ellison has agreed to provide an irrevocable personal guarantee of $40.4 billion of the equity financing for the offer and any damages claims against Paramount,” a Paramount press release published Monday states. The proposed equity financing had previously been included in Paramount’s offer, but the elder Ellison’s “personal guarantee” is new, the press release states.
The revamped offer comes a mere week after the WBD board rejected Paramount’s initial bid, favoring, instead, a previous deal with Netflix. That deal was announced on December 5, outlining how the streamer would purchase the movie studio via a cash and stock option valued at $27.75 per WBD share, and a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion.
Three days after the Netflix deal was announced, Paramount launched a hostile bid valued at $108.4 billion, offering $30 per share. The WBD board rejected this offer, calling it “illusory” and claiming that Paramount had misled shareholders about the proposed deal’s financing. At the time of the rejection, the board noted that the deal with Netflix was “a binding agreement with enforceable commitments, with no need for any equity financing and robust debt commitments.”
Now, Paramount’s amended offer has been designed to “address WBD’s stated concerns regarding Paramount’s superior offer,” Paramount said. In October, CNBC reported that, prior to the Netflix deal, WBD had previously rejected three different takeover offers from Paramount.
“Paramount has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to acquiring WBD,” said Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, in Monday’s press release. “Our $30 per share, fully financed all-cash offer was on December 4, and continues to be, the superior option to maximize value for WBD shareholders. Because of our commitment to investment and growth, our acquisition will be superior for all WBD stakeholders, as a catalyst for greater content production, greater theatrical output, and more consumer choice.”
He added: “We expect the board of directors of WBD to take the necessary steps to secure this value-enhancing transaction and preserve and strengthen an iconic Hollywood treasure for the future.”
TechCrunch reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery for comment.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:53:33 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:41.104369
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The Splay is a subpar monitor but an exciting portable projector
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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/the-splay-is-a-subpar-monitor-but-an-exciting-portable-projector/
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Splay can be a monitor and takes a lot of the stress out of projectors, too.
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Since I’m fascinated by new display technologies and by improving image quality, I’ve never been a fan of home projectors. Projectors lack the image quality compared to good TVs and monitors, and they’re pretty needy. Without getting into the specific requirements of different models, you generally want a darker room with a large, blank wall for a projector to look its best. That can be a lot to ask for, especially in small, densely decorated homes like mine.
That said, a projector can be a space-efficient alternative to a big-screen TV or help you watch TV or movies outside. A projector can be versatile when paired with the right space, especially if that projector makes sure the “right space” is included in the device.
The Splay was crowdfunded in 2021, and its maker, Arovia, describes it as the “first fully collapsible monitor and projector.” In short, it’s a portable projector with an integrated fabric shroud that can serve as a big-screen (24.5 or 34.5 inches diagonally, depending on the model) portable monitor. Or, you can take off the fabric shroud and use the Splay as an ultra-short-throw projector and cast a display that measures up to 80 inches diagonally onto a wall.
At its core, the Splay is a projector, meaning it can’t compete with high-end LCD-LED or OLED monitors. It costs $1,300; the device is currently sold out, but an Arovia representative told me that it will be restocked this month.
Here’s how the device works, per one of Arovia’s patents
The … collapsible, portable display device, has a housing member having a sliding member aligned on the exterior of the housing member, and sliding along the exterior of said housing member between two operating positions, a collapsible screen containing one or more sheets of flexible, wrinkle resistant silicone or rubber materials containing optical enhancing components and capable of displaying an image when in an expanded operating position, and multiple collapsible members connected to said screen …
Arovia’s representative pointed to the Splay being used for mobile workspaces, gaming, and enterprise use cases, like trade shows.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:30:06 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:41.578541
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In a surprise announcement, Tory Bruno is out as CEO of United Launch Alliance
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https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/in-a-surprise-announcement-tory-bruno-is-out-as-ceo-of-united-launch-alliance/
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"It has been a great privilege to lead ULA through its transformation and to bring Vulcan into service."
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Tory Bruno, a veteran engineer and aerospace industry executive, has resigned from the top job at United Launch Alliance after more than a decade competing against the growing dominance of SpaceX, the company announced Monday.
The news of Bruno’s sudden resignation was unexpected. His tenure was marked by a decline in ULA’s market share as rival SpaceX competed for and won ever-larger US government launch contracts. More recently, Bruno oversaw the successful debut of ULA’s Vulcan rocket, followed by struggles to ramp up the new rocket’s launch cadence.
Bruno had a 30-year career as an engineer and general manager for Lockheed Martin’s ballistic missile programs before taking over as president and CEO of United Launch Alliance in August 2014. He arrived as SpaceX started making inroads with its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket, and ULA’s leading position in the US launch market looked to be in doubt.
In his first year, Bruno announced what would become the Vulcan rocket and the phaseout of ULA’s legacy Atlas and Delta launch vehicles. He also selected Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, then an emerging space company, to build the Vulcan rocket’s booster engines, bypassing the industry’s established propulsion contractor.
The decision to develop a new rocket and the selection of the engine to power it proved to be correct. The Atlas V rocket, now nearing retirement, is powered by Russian engines, a nonstarter in today’s geopolitical reality, and the already-retired Delta IV launch vehicle was prohibitively expensive. The Vulcan rocket has been successful in all three of its flights so far, and the performance of Blue Origin’s liquid-fueled BE-4 engine has, by all accounts, been exceptional.
Hard times at the rocket ranch
But ULA’s potential for regaining its position atop the launch market was hamstrung by the company’s decision to make the Vulcan rocket fully expendable. There are long-term plans to recover and reuse the rocket’s main engines, but not the entire booster. And the new rocket’s entry into service has not been smooth. The Vulcan rocket flew just once this year after receiving certification from the US Space Force to carry national security satellites into orbit, well short of Bruno’s goal of flying the new launcher up to 10 times.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2025 23:51:44 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:42.061462
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Call of Duty co-creator and Battlefield lead Vince Zampella dies in car crash
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https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/12/vince-zampella-developer-of-call-of-duty-and-battlefield-games-dies-at-55/
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He had worked on Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Titanfall, and Battlefield.
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Vince Zampella, a video game developer who has co-created or helmed some of the most popular franchises in the world, died in a car crash on a Los Angeles highway at 12:45 pm Pacific time on Sunday, December 21. He was 55 years old.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Zampella was in a car on Angeles Crest Highway when the vehicle veered off the road and crashed into a concrete barrier. No other vehicles were reported to be part of the crash.
A passenger was ejected from the vehicle, while the driver was trapped inside after the vehicle caught fire. The driver died at the scene, and the passenger died after being taken to the hospital. The report did not indicate whether Zampella was the passenger or the driver.
Angeles Crest Highway is a scenic road under the San Gabriel Mountains on the eastern end of LA and is commonly used for Sunday leisure drives. The vehicle involved in the crash was a 2026 Ferrari 296 GTS.
A storied career in game development
Early in his career, Zampella worked at SegaSoft and Panasonic, and he was the lead designer for the influential World War II shooter Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which was released in 2002. But it was the famed studio Infinity Ward that turned him into a household name for gamers. He co-founded Infinity Ward with Jason West and Grant Collier in 2002.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2025 21:35:51 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:42.238391
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Safety panel says NASA should have taken Starliner incident more seriously
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https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/safety-panel-says-nasa-should-have-taken-starliner-incident-more-seriously/
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"This particular anomaly deserves to be right up front and center for quite some time."
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For the better part of two months last year, most of us had no idea how serious the problems were with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft docked at the International Space Station. A safety advisory panel found this uncertainty also filtered through NASA’s workforce.
On its first Crew Test Flight, Boeing’s Starliner delivered NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the space station in June 2024. They were the first people to fly to space on a Starliner spacecraft after more than a decade of development and setbacks. The astronauts expected to stay at the ISS for one or two weeks, but ended up remaining in orbit for nine months after NASA officials determined it was too risky to return them to Earth in the Boeing-built crew capsule. Wilmore and Williams flew back to Earth last March on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
The Starliner capsule was beset by problems with its maneuvering thrusters and pernicious helium leaks on its 27-hour trip from the launch pad to the ISS. For a short time, Starliner commander Wilmore lost his ability to control the movements of his spacecraft as it moved in for docking at the station in June 2024. Engineers determined that some of the thrusters were overheating and eventually recovered most of their function, allowing Starliner to dock with the ISS.
“There was concern in real time that without recovery of some control, neither a docking nor a deorbit could be controllable, and that could have led to loss of vehicle and crew,” said Charlie Precourt, a former space shuttle commander and now a member of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP). “Given the severity of this anomaly, NASA wisely and correctly used the safe haven of the ISS to conduct testing and engineering on the ground to analyze the various recovery options.”
Confusion and uncertainty
Throughout that summer, managers from NASA and Boeing repeatedly stated that the spacecraft was safe to bring Wilmore and Williams home if the station needed to be evacuated in an emergency. But officials on the ground ordered extensive testing to understand the root of the problems. Buried behind the headlines, there was a real chance NASA managers would decide—as they ultimately did—not to put astronauts on Boeing’s crew capsule when it was time to depart the ISS.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2025 21:11:11 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:42.419125
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World’s largest shadow library made a 300TB copy of Spotify’s most streamed songs
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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/worlds-largest-shadow-library-brags-it-scraped-300tb-of-spotify-music-metadata/
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Spotify is reportedly investigating how much music Anna’s Archive scraped.
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The world’s largest shadow library—which is increasingly funded by AI developers—shocked the Internet this weekend by announcing it had “backed up Spotify” and started distributing 300 terabytes of metadata and music files in bulk torrents.
According to Anna’s Archive, the data grab represents more than 99 percent of listens on Spotify, making it “the largest publicly available music metadata database with 256 million tracks.” It’s also “the world’s first ‘preservation archive’ for music which is fully open,” with 86 million music files, the archive boasted.
The music files supposedly represent about 37 percent of songs available on Spotify as of July 2025. The scraped files were prioritized by popularity, with Anna’s Archive weeding out many songs that are never streamed or are of poor quality, such as AI-generated songs.
On Monday, Spotify told Android Authority on Monday that it was investigating whether Anna’s Archive had actually scraped its platform “at scale,” as its blog claimed.
“An investigation into unauthorized access identified that a third party scraped public metadata and used illicit tactics to circumvent DRM to access some of the platform’s audio files,” Spotify said. “We are actively investigating the incident.”
It’s unclear how much Spotify data was actually scraped, Android Authority noted, or if the company will possibly pursue legal action to take down the torrents. Asked for comment, a Spotify spokesperson told Ars that “Spotify has identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping.”
For Anna’s Archive, the temptation to scrape the data may have been too much after stumbling upon “a way to scrape Spotify at scale,” supposedly “a while ago.”
“We saw a role for us here to build a music archive primarily aimed at preservation,” the archive said. Scraping Spotify data was a “great start,” they said, toward building an “authoritative list of torrents aiming to represent all music ever produced.”
A list like that “does not exist for music,” the archive said, and would be akin to LibGen—which was used by tech giants like Meta and startups like Anthropic to notoriously pirate book datasets to train AI.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:34:22 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:42:42.595956
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Pirate group Anna’s Archive says it has scraped 86 million songs from Spotify
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/pirate-group-annas-archive-says-it-has-scraped-86-million-songs-from-spotify/
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Spotify says it has identified and disabled the user accounts involved in the scraping.
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In Brief
Pirate activist group Anna’s Archive says it has scraped the entirety of Spotify’s music library, and plans to release it through torrents.
Spotify has around 256 million tracks, and the Anna’s Archive collection contains metadata for an estimated 99.9% of them. The group archived approximately 86 million music files, accounting for roughly 99.6% of all listens, with a total size of nearly 300 terabytes. So far, only metadata has been released, not any actual music.
“This Spotify scrape is our humble attempt to start such a ‘preservation archive’ for music,” the group wrote in a blog post. “Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start.”
Spotify told TechCrunch that it has identified and disabled the user accounts involved in the scraping.
“We’ve implemented new safeguards for these types of anti-copyright attacks and are actively monitoring for suspicious behavior,” a Spotify spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Since day one, we have stood with the artist community against piracy, and we are actively working with our industry partners to protect creators and defend their rights.”
Anna’s Archive says it normally focuses on text, like books and papers, but its mission to “preserve humanity’s knowledge and culture doesn’t distinguish among media types.”
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 14:51:40 +0000
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2025-12-23T14:56:33.707163
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How Last Samurai Standing adds kinetic action to the Battle Royale formula
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https://www.theverge.com/streaming/847992/last-samurai-standing-netflix-interview-junichi-okada
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Last Samurai Standing begins with a familiar premise. Desperate samurai dispossessed by the restoration of the emperor enter into a deadly game for a life-changing cash prize - all for the entertainment of anonymous elites. Unlike its inspirations Battle Royale and Squid Game, however, Last Samurai Standing's violence is chaotic, fast-paced, and kinetic, though it […]
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Last Samurai Standing begins with a familiar premise. Desperate samurai dispossessed by the restoration of the emperor enter into a deadly game for a life-changing cash prize — all for the entertainment of anonymous elites. Unlike its inspirations Battle Royale and Squid Game, however, Last Samurai Standing’s violence is chaotic, fast-paced, and kinetic, though it hides a careful choreography that makes the series a more electric proposition than its predecessors.
Viewers have Junichi Okada to thank for that. As well as starring in and producing Last Samurai Standing, he serves as the series’ action planner. Many will be familiar with the results of an action planner’s work — sometimes called an action director, elsewhere a “coordinator,” and even “choreographer” — though perhaps not what the role entails. In the case of Last Samurai Standing, it’s a role that touches on nearly every aspect of the production, from the story to the action itself.
“I was involved from the script stage, thinking about what kind of action we wanted and how we would present it in the context of this story,” Okada tells The Verge. “If the director [Michihito Fujii] said, ‘I want to shoot this kind of battle scene,’ I would then think through the content and concept, design the scene, and ultimately translate that into script pages.”
The close relationship between the writer and director extends to other departments, too. Though an action planner’s role starts with managing fight scenes and stunt performers, they also liaise with camera, wardrobe, makeup, and even editorial departments to ensure fight scenes cohere with the rest of the production.
Image: Netflix
It’s a role which might appear a natural progression for Okada, who is certified to teach Kali and Jeet Kune Do — a martial art conceived by Bruce Lee — and holds multiple black belts in jiujitsu. Though the roots of his progression into action planning can be traced back further, to 1995 when he became the youngest member of J-pop group V6.
“Dance experience connects directly to creating action,” he says. “[In both] rhythm and control of the body are extremely important.” Joining V6 at the age of 15, that experience has made Okada conscious of how he moves in relation to a camera during choreography, how he is seen within the structure of a shot, and, critical to action planning, how to navigate all of that safely from a young age.
That J-pop stardom also offered avenues into acting, initially in roles you might expect for a young pop star: comic heartthrobs and sitcom sons. But he was steadily able to broaden his output. A starring turn in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Hana followed, as did voice acting in Studio Ghibli’s Tales From Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill. A more telling departure was a starring role in 2007’s SP, in which he played a rookie in a police bodyguard unit, for which he trained for several years under shootfighting instructor Yorinaga Nakamura.
“What I care about is whether audiences feel that ‘this man really lives here as a samurai.’”
In the years since, Okada has cemented himself as one of Japan’s most recognizable actors, hopping between action starring roles in The Fable to sweeping period epics like Sekigahara. Those two genres converge in his Last Samurai Standing role of Shujiro, a former Shogunate samurai now reduced to poverty, working through his PTSD and reckoning with his bloodthirsty past in the game. These days, it’s less of a concern that the character butts up against his past idol image, he suggests. “What I care about is whether audiences feel that ‘this man really lives here as a samurai.’”
For Okada’s work on Last Samurai Standing, as both producer and action planner, that involved lacing high-octane but believable action with the respect for history and character studies of the period dramas he loves. “Rather than being 100 percent faithful to historical accuracy,” he adds, “my goal was to focus on entertainment and story, while letting the ‘DNA’ and beauty of Japanese period drama gently float up in the background.”
A focus on what he defines as “‘dō’ — movement,” pure entertainment that “never lets the audience get bored” punctuated — with “‘ma,’” the active emptiness that connects those frenetic moments. Both can be conversations, even if one uses words and another communicates dialogue through sword blows. This is most apparent when Shujiro faces his former comrade Sakura (Yasushi Fuchikami) inside a claustrophobic bank vault that serves as a charnel house for the game’s less fortunate contestants.
“The whole battle is divided into three sequences,” Okada says. The first starts with a moment of almost perfect stillness, a deep breath, before the two launch into battle. “A fight where pride and mutual respect collide,” he says, “and where the speed of the techniques reaches a level that really surprises the audience.” It’s all captured in one, zooming take with fast, tightly choreographed action reminiscent of Donnie Yen and Wu Jing in Kill Zone.
So intense is their duel that both shatter multiple swords. The next phase sees them lash out in a more desperate and brutal manner with whatever weapons they find. Finally, having fought to a weary stalemate, the fight becomes, Okada concludes, “a kind of duel where their stubbornness and will are fully exposed” as they hack at each other with shattered blades and spear fragments.
Image: Netflix
It’s a rhythm that many fights in Last Samurai Standing follow, driven by a string of physical and emotional considerations that form the basis of an action planner’s tool kit: how and why someone fights based on who they are and their environment. Here it is two former samurai in an elegant and terrifyingly fast-paced duel. Elsewhere we see skill matched against brutality, or inexperience against expertise.
“I define a clear concept for each sequence,” Okada says, before he opens those concepts up to the broader team. From there, he might add notes, but in Last Samurai Standing, action is a collaborative affair. “We keep refining,” he says. “It’s a back-and-forth process of shaping the sequence using both the ideas the team brings and the choreography I create myself.”
There is a third factor which Okada believes is the series’ most defining. “If we get to continue the story,” he says, “I’d love to explore how much more we can lean into ‘sei’ — stillness, and bring in even more of a classical period drama feel.”
As much of a triumph of action as Last Samurai Standing is, its quietest moments are the ones that stay with you. The charged looks between Shujiro and Iroha (Kaya Kiyohara) or their shuddering fright when confronted with specters of their past. Most of all, Shujiro watching his young ward, Futaba Katsuki (Yumia Fujisaki), dance before a waterlogged torii as mist hovers. These pauses are what elevate and invigorate the breathless action above spectacle.
The pauses are also emblematic of the balance that Last Samurai Standing strikes between its period setting and pushing the boundaries of action, all to inject new excitement into the genre. “Japan is a country that values tradition and everything it has built up over time. That’s why moments where you try to update things are always difficult,” Okada says. “But right now, we’re in the middle of that transformation.”
That is an evolution that Okada hopes to support through his work, both in front of and behind the camera. If he can create avenues for new generations of talent to carry Japanese media to a broader audience and his team to achieve greater success on a global stage, “that would make me very happy,” he says. “I want to keep doing whatever I can to help make that possible.”
The first season of Last Samurai Standing is streaming on Netflix now, and a second season was just confirmed.
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-23T10:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-23T15:30:50.027059
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Inside Uzbekistan’s nationwide license plate surveillance system
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/inside-uzbekistans-nationwide-license-plate-surveillance-system/
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The Uzbek government's national license plate scanning system was discovered exposed to the internet for anyone to access without a password.
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Across Uzbekistan, a network of about a hundred banks of high-resolution roadside cameras continuously scan vehicles’ license plates and their occupants, sometimes thousands a day, looking for potential traffic violations. Cars running red lights; drivers not wearing their seatbelts; and unlicensed vehicles driving at night, to name a few.
The driver of one of the most surveilled vehicles in the system was tracked over six months as he traveled between the eastern city of Chirchiq, through the capital Tashkent, and in the nearby settlement of Eshonguzar, often multiple times a week.
We know this because the country’s sprawling license plate-tracking surveillance system has been left exposed to the internet.
Security researcher Anurag Sen, who discovered the security lapse, found the license plate surveillance system exposed online without a password, allowing anyone access to the data within. It’s not clear how long the surveillance system has been public, but artifacts from the system show that its database was set up in September 2024, and traffic monitoring began in mid-2025.
The exposure offers a rare glimpse into how such national license plate surveillance systems work, the data they collect, and how they can be used to track the whereabouts of any one of the millions of people across an entire country.
The lapse also reveals the security and privacy risks associated with the mass monitoring of vehicles and their owners, at a time when the United States is building up its nationwide array of license plate readers, many of which are provided by surveillance giant Flock. Earlier this week, independent news outlet 404 Media reported that Flock left dozens of its own license plate reading cameras publicly exposed to the web, allowing a reporter to watch themselves being tracked in real time by a Flock camera.
Sen said he found the exposed Uzbek license plate surveillance system earlier this month, and shared details of the security lapse with TechCrunch. Sen told TechCrunch that the system’s database reveals the real-world locations of the cameras, and contains millions of photos and raw camera video footage of passing vehicles.
The system is run by the Department of Public Security in Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tashkent, which did not respond to emails requesting comment about the security lapse during December.
Representatives of the Uzbek government in Washington D.C. and New York also did not respond to TechCrunch’s emails about the exposure. Uzbekistan’s computer emergency readiness team, UZCERT, did not respond to an alert about the system, except for an automated reply acknowledging receipt of our email.
The surveillance system remains exposed to the web at the time of writing.
The system refers to itself as an “intelligence traffic management system” by Maxvision, a Shenzhen, China-based maker of internet-connected traffic technologies, border inspection systems, and surveillance products. In a video on LinkedIn, the company says its cameras can record the “entire illegal process,” and can “display illegal and passing information in real-time.”
According to its brochure, Maxvision exports its security and surveillance tech to countries across the globe, including Burkina Faso, Kuwait, Oman, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan.
Image Credits:TechCrunch (screenshot)
TechCrunch’s analysis of the data inside the exposed system revealed at least a hundred cameras located across major Uzbek cities, as well as busy junctions and other important transit routes.
We plotted the GPS coordinates of the cameras, and found banks of license plate readers in Tashkent, the cities of Jizzakh and Qarshi in the south, and Namangan in the east. Some of the cameras are located in rural areas, such as on routes near the once-disputed parts of the borders between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Image Credits:TechCrunch (screenshot) Image Credits:TechCrunch (screenshot)
In Tashkent, the country’s largest city, the cameras can be found at more than a dozen locations. Some of these cameras are even visible on Google Street View.
The cameras, some which watermark their footage with the name of the Singapore camera maker Holowits, capture video footage and still images of vehicles violating rules in 4K resolution.
Image Credits:TechCrunch (screenshot)
The exposed system allows access to its web-based interface, which contains a dashboard allowing operators to examine footage of traffic violations. The dashboard contains zoomed-in photos and the raw video footage of violations, as well as surrounding vehicles. (TechCrunch redacted the license plates and vehicle occupants prior to publication.)
Image Credits:TechCrunch (screenshot)
The exposure of Uzbekistan’s national license plate reading system is the latest example of a security lapse involving road surveillance cameras.
Earlier this year, Wired reported that more than 150 license plate readers around the United States and the real-time vehicle data they collect were exposed to the internet without any security.
Exposed license plate readers are not a new phenomena. In 2019, TechCrunch reported that over a hundred license plate readers were searchable and accessible from the internet, allowing anyone to access the data within. Some had been exposed for years, despite security researchers warning law enforcement agencies that these systems could be accessed from the web.
To securely contact this reporter, you can reach out using Signal via the username: zackwhittaker.1337
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 15:05:49 +0000
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2025-12-23T15:30:50.347120
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F1’s new engines are causing consternation over compression ratios
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https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/12/f1s-new-engines-are-causing-consternation-over-compression-ratios/
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A loophole in the rules might have given Mercedes and Red Bull a big advantage.
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Compression ratios
At issue is the engines’ compression ratio, which compares the volume of the cylinder when the piston is at top dead center with the volume when the piston is at its closest to the crank. Under the 2014–2025 rules, this was set at 18:1, but for 2026 onward, it has been reduced to 16:1.
This is measured at ambient temperature, though, not while the engine is running. A running engine is hotter—much hotter—than one sitting at ambient, and as metals heat up, they expand. The engines have very short throws, so it doesn’t take much expansion to increase the compression ratio by reducing the distance between the piston and cylinder head at the top of its travel. The benefit could be as much as 15 hp (11 kW), which translates to a few tenths of a second per lap advantage.
Unfortunately for the other teams, the FIA stated that its rules indeed specify only that the compression ratio should be 16:1 based on static conditions and at ambient temperatures. “This procedure has remained unchanged despite the reduction in the permitted ratio for the 2026 season. It is true that thermal expansion can influence dimensions, but the current rules do not provide for measurements to be carried out at elevated temperatures,” the FIA said.
So if Mercedes and Red Bull do have a horsepower advantage, it’s one that will likely be baked into the 2026 season.
The compression ratio clarification wasn’t the only one issued by the FIA. For some time now, F1 has used ultrasonic fuel flow meters as a way to control power outputs. Under the outgoing regulations, this was capped at 100 kg/h, but with the move to fully sustainable synthetic fuels, this is changing to an energy cap of 3,000 MJ/h instead.
In the past, it had been theorized that teams could try to game the fuel flow meters—the most impressive idea I heard involved pulsing more fuel between the sensor’s sampling inputs to boost power, although I don’t believe it was ever implemented.
Don’t even think about being that clever this time, the FIA says. “Any device, system, or procedure, the purpose of which is to change the temperature of the fuel-flow meter, is forbidden,” it says, updating the regulation that previously banned “intentional heating or chilling” of the fuel flow meter.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 15:25:38 +0000
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2025-12-23T15:30:50.936505
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One last holiday hurrah for the $50 off deal on the Switch 2
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https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/849552/switch-2-bundle-gaming-ps5-holiday-deal-sale
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In case you’ve waited until the very last minute to buy Christmas gifts, and there’s a Switch 2 on your shopping list, you’ve really lucked out here. Not only is Nintendo’s powerful handheld readily available online and in stores, it’s still $50 off for the best console bundle you can buy. The set that includes […]
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is an editor covering deals and gaming hardware. He joined in 2018, and after a two-year stint at Polygon, he rejoined The Verge in May 2025.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
In case you’ve waited until the very last minute to buy Christmas gifts, and there’s a Switch 2 on your shopping list, you’ve really lucked out here. Not only is Nintendo’s powerful handheld readily available online and in stores, it’s still $50 off for the best console bundle you can buy. The set that includes a Switch 2 and Mario Kart World is typically $499.99 (saving you $29 compared to buying the $79 game separately), but you have another — perhaps final! — chance to get it for $449.99. Currently, Best Buy and Target are honoring this limited-time price.
We’ve written about this deal a lot over the past couple of weeks at The Verge, mostly because it was the most unexpected thing to happen in the same year when Nintendo hiked prices on Switch 2 accessories as well as the original Switch. The company made it clear back when the console launched in June that the bundle wouldn’t be around forever, and it shared yesterday on X that quantities are now limited.
Other Verge-approved holiday deals
DJI’s Mic Mini bundle is a great stocking stuffer under $100 that includes two mics and one receiver, plus a charging case. The set originally sold for $169, and for about $100 or so during Black Friday. But now it’s about $79 at Read more about them here. Wireless lav microphones are a great option if you record a lot of videos for social media, or if you do multi-person interviews. Since they clip onto clothes, you don’t need to hold a mic, letting you be more expressive or interactive with your hands. They’re easy to set up, and they ensure that every person’s voice will be heard in the recording.is a great stocking stuffer under $100 that includes two mics and one receiver, plus a charging case. The set originally sold for $169, and for about $100 or so during Black Friday. But now it’s about $79 at Amazon and Best Buy
digital PS5 Slim that’s $399.99 (was $499.99) at Best Buy, while the PS5 Pro is $649.99 (was $749.99). These discounts drop console prices just below what they previously sold for before Sony’s PlayStation 5 console was one of the most popular products during Black Friday and through Cyber Week thanks to solid discounts. Sony finally pulled the plug for holiday sales last week, but Best Buy switched them back on, and they’ll last through Christmas. The most affordable option is thethat’s $399.99 (was $499.99) at Best Buy, while theis $649.99 (was $749.99). These discounts drop console prices just below what they previously sold for before Sony increased them in August due to tariffs.
Helinox Chair One in a previous gift guide because it’s a lightweight, compact chair that’s great for camping, backpacking trips, or just for casual picnics. It’s two pounds and two ounces, and it can hold up to 320 pounds while offering what seems like some nice back support. The We recommended thein a previous gift guide because it’s a lightweight, compact chair that’s great for camping, backpacking trips, or just for casual picnics. It’s two pounds and two ounces, and it can hold up to 320 pounds while offering what seems like some nice back support. The black and blue model and the tan-colored models are both steeply discounted at Amazon (as well as directly through Helinox ), selling for $64.97 (originally $99.95). It won’t arrive by Christmas if you order now, but it should arrive on time for your recipient’s next outdoor adventures once winter’s over.
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2025-12-23T10:51:11-05:00
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2025-12-23T15:55:35.685880
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France’s postal and banking services disrupted by suspected DDoS attack
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/frances-postal-and-banking-services-disrupted-by-suspected-ddos-attack/
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France's postal service, La Poste, said it was hit by a disruptive cyberattack that knocked its services offline.
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In Brief
France’s national postal and baking services company La Poste was knocked offline by a suspected distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Monday, according to an announcement by the company. The postal service called the attack “a major network incident” that was disrupting “all of our information systems.”
La Poste’s online mail and banking services, website, and mobile app are among the services that are temporarily unavailable, per a machine translation of the announcement, which said customers could still carry out banking and postal transactions in person.
The banking branch of the company La Banque Postale, also published an announcement about the cyberattack, which was “temporarily making our customers’ access to their mobile app and online banking space unavailable.”
Despite claims made by a Russian hacktivist group, it’s not yet clear who is behind the cyberattack.
The cyberattack comes as the French government contends with a series of cybersecurity incidents of late, including remote control software found planted on a passenger ferry.
Last week, the French Interior Ministry disclosed a data breach in which hackers broke into email accounts and stole confidential documents, including criminal records. Shortly after, local authorities announced the arrest of a suspect, a 22-year-old whose name was not divulged.
It’s not clear if any of the incidents are linked.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 15:42:23 +0000
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2025-12-23T15:55:36.048360
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DOJ appears to bungle Epstein Files redactions
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https://www.theverge.com/news/849639/epstein-files-doj-redactions-links
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The Justice Department has blamed its delayed release of some so-called Epstein files on needing more time to redact sensitive information like details identifying the victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But at least some of the redactions so far released appear to mistakenly disclose information meant to be obscured from the public. A […]
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is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform.
The Justice Department has blamed its delayed release of some so-called Epstein files on needing more time to redact sensitive information like details identifying the victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But at least some of the redactions so far released appear to mistakenly disclose information meant to be obscured from the public.
A 2022 complaint filed by the US Virgin Islands seeking damages from Epstein’s estate was posted to the “Epstein Library” on the DOJ website with several redactions throughout, Techdirt founder Mike Masnick, among others, shared on platforms like Bluesky. But simply copying and pasting many of the redactions into a new document reveals what’s beneath the black boxes. This method uncovers details like that one of the co-executors allegedly signed over $400,000 in checks from Epstein’s foundation “payable to young female models and actresses, including a former Russian model.” It also reveals that a co-executor had allegedly signed a foundation check with the former model’s last name in the memo line to an immigration lawyer “who was involved in one or more forced marriages arranged among Epstein’s victims to secure a victim’s immigration status.” It also uncovers details about one alleged victim in the complaint.
At least one outlet, Drop Site News, was also apparently able to guess the URL of files not yet on the website by extrapolating the format. Wired later found the link appeared to be broken.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge about the incidents.
The DOJ removed a photo from the files showing images of President Donald Trump among other framed photos of prominent figures including the Pope and former President Bill Clinton, before restoring it Saturday after backlash. The agency said on X it had “temporarily removed” it for review after the Southern District of New York flagged it “for potential further action to protect victims.” The DOJ said it restored the image without alteration after determining there was no evidence of victims in the photo.
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-23T11:33:23-05:00
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2025-12-23T16:35:12.988469
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Watch lists are broken. Federation could fix them.
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https://www.theverge.com/column/849255/watch-lists-broken-federation-share-data
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This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. Lowpass is taking a winter break and will be back on January 8, 2026. All I want for Christmas is to find that darn movie I've been meaning to watch. […]
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This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. Lowpass is taking a winter break and will be back on January 8, 2026.
All I want for Christmas is to find that darn movie I’ve been meaning to watch. What was it called again? I could have sworn I bookmarked it somewhere…
If your household is anything like mine, you might frequently run into the same issue: There’s too much to watch out there, and keeping track of all the things you want to stream one day has become a nightmare. It’s not that there aren’t any tools for this. There are! And plenty of them! And they’re all easy to use! Which is kind of the problem.
Here’s what usually happens: I may be browsing Netflix, logged into my profile, and bookmark a movie I want to check out in the future. Then, my wife takes over the remote, spends a bit of time clicking through Hulu, and adds a show she wants us to binge to the watch list associated with her profile. Or so we think — until we try to find it again and eventually discover that she was actually logged into our daughter’s profile and inadvertently added the show to her watch list.
Then, the next day, we turn on the TV and see something fun on the homescreen. One quick button press, and it’s added to the watch list. Except, Google maintains this one, and it’s completely separate from all the other lists. Our family probably has about a dozen different watch lists. We don’t use them all actively, at least not when we’re in the mood to actually find something. But you can bet that there’s some really fun movie on our dog’s Tubi watch list (that my kids made), desperately waiting for us to finally remember where we bookmarked it.
There are apps that are trying to solve this very issue. Plex, for instance, has a pretty decent universal catalog of titles available across all the major streaming services and a watch list to remember your favorites. The app also does a good job deep-linking into third-party services, so you can jump directly to that Netflix show or movie rental on Amazon with one click. At least that’s true on mobile. On smart TVs, those deep links can be hit or miss, depending on the platform your TV is running. (Sorry, Roku users! You’re out of luck.)
The problem is that a universal watch list like this does require a lot more work on your part. When you browse Netflix at 11PM and stumble across something that looks interesting, you have to get your phone out, open the Plex app, search for that same title, and add it to the list. And when you finally get around to watch it, you’ll have to do the same thing all over again to remove the title from Plex’s list. That’s a lot of work for a little late-night TV.
The sad truth is that watch lists, as well-intended as they were, are broken. Here’s how streaming services and smart TV platforms could fix them: Instead of keeping all watch-list data in a silo, these services should enable consumers to opt into sharing it between services. That way, if I bookmark a movie on Netflix, the Netflix app shares that information with my Plex watch list. Once I watch it, it disappears from both lists again. And when my wife adds a Hulu show to our Google TV watch list, it immediately populates in our Hulu watch list as well.
Ideally, I’d want to have a bunch of different ways to enter this kind of data and just as many ways to consume it. Maybe I’d keep one master list maintained by Plex, Google, or another company. But I’d also want to be able to keep smashing that bookmark button in whatever streaming app I’m in and have all my lists across all providers update in real time. Granted, Netflix may never list titles that are only available on Hulu. But these days, shows regularly move from one service to another. What if Netflix internally made a note of shows I bookmarked on HBO Max and then added them to my Netflix watch list when those HBO shows eventually found their way to its service?
Once you have enough data flowing back and forth between streaming apps and watch lists, you may also be less dependent on profiles, which were always an imperfect solution. Sure, my wife and I may like different things on occasion. But most of the time, we watch TV together. So why not automatically sort our bookmarked shows and movies by genre, mood, and age rating, instead of siloing them in watch lists associated with individual profiles?
Federating watch lists, and liberating movie and TV show bookmarks from those silos, could also allow for a whole range of neat new use cases that simply aren’t possible today. What if, for instance, Spotify automatically generated playlists of the soundtracks of movies and shows you recently watched, based on the data of titles disappearing from your watch list? (Hat tip to J Herskowitz for this one.)
Unfortunately, streaming services are incredibly protective of their data. Companies like Netflix want you to spend all your time within their app and not with a third-party aggregator that might recommend titles from Hulu’s catalog based on your Netflix viewing history. In fact, Netflix is so protective of its in-app experience, and its own watch list, that it doesn’t allow Google TV users to add Netflix titles to their smart TV’s universal watch list. And none of the major streaming services, with Plex being the one notable exception, offers an RSS feed of your watch list.
But this time of the year, I can’t help but hope for miracles. Perhaps, there’s a streaming executive out there right now, still looking for a New Year’s resolution. Here’s a great one: Open the floodgates. Free the data. Let people remix it, build interesting hacks. Ingest as much data as possible from other services, and use it to help everyone find the perfect movie or show without having to scour a thousand lists.
Until that happens, I might just crack open a book. Now, if I could only remember what I wanted to read next…
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2025-12-23T11:30:00-05:00
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2025-12-23T16:35:13.192349
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New York’s landmark AI safety bill was defanged — and universities were part of the push against it
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https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/849293/ai-alliance-universities-colleges-funding-ad-campaign-against-raise-act
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A group of tech companies and academic institutions spent tens of thousands of dollars in the past month - likely between $17,000 and $25,000 - on an ad campaign against New York's landmark AI safety bill, which may have reached more than two million people, according to Meta's Ad Library. The landmark bill is called […]
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is The Verge’s senior AI reporter. An AI beat reporter for more than five years, her work has also appeared in CNBC, MIT Technology Review, Wired UK, and other outlets.
A group of tech companies and academic institutions spent tens of thousands of dollars in the past month — likely between $17,000 and $25,000 — on an ad campaign against New York’s landmark AI safety bill, which may have reached more than two million people, according to Meta’s Ad Library.
The landmark bill is called the RAISE Act, or the Responsible AI Safety and Education Act, and days ago, a version of it was signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The closely watched law dictates that AI companies developing large models — OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, DeepSeek, etc. — must outline safety plans and transparency rules for reporting large-scale safety incidents to the attorney general. But the version Hochul signed — different than the one passed in both the New York State Senate and the Assembly in June — was a rewrite that made it much more favorable to tech companies. A group of more than 150 parents had sent the governor a letter urging her to sign the bill without changes. And the group of tech companies and academic institutions, called the AI Alliance, were part of the charge to defang it.
The AI Alliance — the organization behind the opposition ad campaign — counts Meta, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Snowflake, Uber, AMD, Databricks, and Hugging Face among its members, which is not necessarily surprising. The group sent a letter in June to New York lawmakers about its “deep concern” about the bill and deemed it “unworkable.” But the group isn’t just made up of tech companies. Its members include a number of colleges and universities all around the world, including New York University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Carnegie Mellon University, Northeastern University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Notre Dame, as well as Penn Engineering and Yale Engineering.
The ads began on November 23 and ran with the title, “The RAISE Act will stifle job growth.” They said that the legislation “would slow down the New York technology ecosystem powering 400,000 high-tech jobs and major investments. Rather than stifling innovation, let’s champion a future where AI development is open, trustworthy, and strengthens the Empire State.”
When The Verge asked the academic institutions listed above whether they were aware they had been inadvertently part of an ad campaign against widely discussed AI safety legislation, none responded to a request for comment, besides Northeastern, which did not provide a comment by publication time. In recent years, OpenAI and its competitors have increasingly been courting academic institutions to be part of research consortiums or offering technology directly to students for free.
Many of the academic institutions that are part of the AI Alliance aren’t directly involved in one-on-one partnerships with AI companies, but some are. For instance, Northeastern’s partnership with Anthropic this year translated to Claude access for 50,000 students, faculty, and staff across 13 global campuses, per Anthropic’s announcement in April. In 2023, OpenAI funded a journalism ethics initiative at NYU. Dartmouth announced a partnership with Anthropic earlier this month, a Carnegie Mellon University professor currently serves on OpenAI’s board, and Anthropic has funded programs at Carnegie Mellon.
The initial version of the RAISE Act stated that developers must not release a frontier model “if doing so would create an unreasonable risk of critical harm,” which the bill defines as the death or serious injury of 100 people or more, or $1 billion or more in damages to rights in money or property stemming from the creation of a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapon. That definition also extends to an AI model that “acts with no meaningful human intervention” and “would, if committed by a human,” fall under certain crimes. The version Hochul signed removed this clause. Hochul also increased the deadline for disclosure for safety incidents and lessened fines, among other changes.
The AI Alliance has lobbied previously against AI safety policies, including the RAISE Act, California’s SB 1047, and President Biden’s AI executive order. It states that its mission is to “bring together builders and experts from various fields to collaboratively and transparently address the challenges of generative AI and democratize its benefits,” especially via “member-driven working groups.” Some of the group’s projects beyond lobbying have involved cataloguing and managing “trustworthy” datasets and creating a ranked list of AI safety priorities.
The AI Alliance wasn’t the only organization opposing the RAISE Act with ad dollars. As The Verge wrote recently, Leading the Future, a pro-AI super PAC backed by Perplexity AI, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, has spent money on ads targeting the cosponsor of the RAISE Act, New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores. But Leading the Future is a super PAC with a clear agenda, whereas the AI Alliance is a nonprofit that’s partnered with a trade association — with the mission of “developing AI collaboratively, transparently, and with a focus on safety, ethics, and the greater good.”
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2025-12-23T11:18:49-05:00
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2025-12-23T16:35:13.386538
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Dozens of Flock AI camera feeds were just out there
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https://www.theverge.com/news/849624/flock-ai-camera-feeds-exposed-benn-jordan
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The livestreams connected to more than 60 of Flock's AI-powered surveillance cameras were left available to view on the web, allowing someone to see live feeds of each location without needing a username or password, according to findings from tech YouTuber Benn Jordan and 404 Media. Flock is a technology company that works with thousands […]
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is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
The livestreams connected to more than 60 of Flock’s AI-powered surveillance cameras were left available to view on the web, allowing someone to see live feeds of each location without needing a username or password, according to findings from tech YouTuber Benn Jordan and 404 Media.
Flock is a technology company that works with thousands of law enforcement agencies and businesses to deploy a network of AI-powered cameras across the country. It also recently partnered with Ring, giving Flock customers the ability to request footage from users in Ring’s Neighbors app. As noted by 404 Media, many of Flock’s cameras are made to scan a vehicle’s license plates. However, the feeds exposed to the internet connect to Flock’s Condor cameras, which can pan, tilt, and zoom to automatically track people and vehicles.
“I watched a man leave his house in the morning in New York,” Jordan says in his video. “I watched a woman jogging alone on a forest trail in Georgia. This trail had multiple cameras, and I could watch a man rollerblade and then take a break to watch rollerblading videos on his phone. How? Because the camera’s AI automatically zoomed in on it — just like it zoomed in on a couple arguing at a street market in Atlanta.”
Jordan worked with Jon “GainSec” Gaines — who previously uncovered security flaws within Flock’s system — to find the live feeds on Shodan, a search engine containing a database of devices connected to the internet.
As reported by 404 Media, the two located dozens of Flock live feeds and administrator control panels, where they could not only view the streams but also freely download video archives from the last 30 days, change settings, delete footage, view log files, and run diagnostics, as reported by 404 Media and Jordan. Anyone with links to the stream could access them, no credentials required, according to 404 Media.
In some cases, Jordan and 404 Media’s Jason Koebler visited the locations of the Flock cameras, where they were filmed and displayed on the openly accessible livestreams.
“This was a limited misconfiguration on a very small number of devices, and it has since been remedied,” a Flock spokesperson said in a statement to 404 Media. Flock didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
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2025-12-23T11:09:58-05:00
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2025-12-23T16:35:13.586185
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Belkin’s camera grip power bank is a few upgrades away from being a must-have
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https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/847321/belkin-stage-powergrip-wireless-power-bank-hands-on
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Belkin's Stage PowerGrip has shown me that I should be asking more from a wireless magnetic power bank than just boosting battery life while it hangs off the back of my phone. Its clever design adds layers of extra functionality, and the inclusion of a retractable two-way charging cable expands the number of devices you […]
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is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid.
Belkin’s Stage PowerGrip has shown me that I should be asking more from a wireless magnetic power bank than just boosting battery life while it hangs off the back of my phone. Its clever design adds layers of extra functionality, and the inclusion of a retractable two-way charging cable expands the number of devices you can charge without always having to remember to pack a cord. It also improves your smartphone’s ergonomics when taking photos, but that’s one of a few places where the PowerGrip’s functionality feels disappointingly limited.
The PowerGrip is much chunkier and heavier than I expected, which turned out not to be a bad thing. At 272 grams, most of the PowerGrip’s weight comes from its 9,300mAh battery, but I wouldn’t opt for anything smaller because I like knowing I’ve got enough power to fully recharge my iPhone with headroom to top off other devices like my watch and earbuds.
There are lighter wireless power banks available with more capacity, but the PowerGrip’s heft has some benefits. Most consumers will buy the accessory to make their smartphone feel more like a digital camera, and the PowerGrip mostly delivers. It attaches to the back of any Qi2, MagSafe, or Pixelsnap-compatible smartphone. The magnetic connection feels secure but doesn’t feel quite as strong as the PopSocket I regularly use. I’m not worried my iPhone is going to fall off on its own, but accidentally bumping my phone while I’m only holding the PowerGrip could send my device tumbling.
The protruding grip is sizable and makes your phone feel like a sturdy DSLR. I’ve never found a comfortable one-handed way to shoot with my iPhone that also feels secure, but it’s easy with the PowerGrip, and its weight adds some welcome stability that usually requires two hands.
The PowerGrip can stand on its edge and be used as a hands-free smartphone stand. Photo by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge
The design allows the PowerGrip to stand on its edge and function as a smartphone stand. You can attach your phone and make hands-free recordings or video calls, or take advantage of iOS’ StandBy mode on your bedside table. It’s functionality I never intended to use, but have found myself using quite frequently.
The PowerGrip’s shutter button is a little thin for my liking. I prefer round buttons and having them positioned on top of a camera grip. Photo by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge
The PowerGrip has a dedicated shutter button that connects to your smartphone over Bluetooth. Pressing it once snaps a photo, while holding it down triggers a video recording until released. I would prefer the button positioned at the top of the grip instead of its front edge. I also frequently found myself missing the additional settings dials on my Sony mirrorless camera that are conveniently located within thumb’s reach.
There are no other camera controls on the PowerGrip, and when using it one-handed you may struggle to reach useful functions on your phone with your thumb. Photo by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge
There are other smartphone camera grips, like the Fjorden Pro and the magnetic Leica Lux Grip, that feature more controls, including customizable dials and two-stage shutter buttons for controlling focus. They’re both considerably more expensive than the $80 PowerGrip, and those added controls only work with third-party camera apps, so I understand Belkin’s decision not to take that approach. But with the PowerGrip attached and hanging a half-inch off the bottom of my iPhone 16 Pro, my thumb struggled to reach the onscreen controls in the iOS camera app without awkwardly adjusting my grip. More often than not, one-handed shooting still required screen taps from my other hand, which I found frustrating.
Built-in retractable charging cables are becoming more common with power banks, and the PowerGrip’s can be used to charge itself or other devices. Photo by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge
Even more frustrating is the PowerGrip’s power output. Wireless charging rates are limited to just 7.5W, which feels glacial when Belkin has already implemented faster 25W Qi2.2 rates on other chargers. It takes hours to fully charge my iPhone, and it’s not much faster switching to a cable. The PowerGrip has an additional USB-C port and a built-in 30-inch USB-C charging cable. Belkin says the power output maxes out at 15W, but I measured a little over 18W while charging a OnePlus 12 with Plugable’s USB-C voltage meter. However, that output is shared when charging three devices simultaneously. Charging rates for the OnePlus 12 dropped to less than 5W while also wirelessly charging my iPhone and a Kobo e-reader using the retractable cable.
A small but very bright screen on the front of the PowerGrip shows its remaining charge level and when it’s being used to charge other devices. Photo by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge
Compared to more expensive camera grip accessories like the $395 Leica Lux Grip or the $149.95 ShiftCam ProGrip that only feature batteries to power themselves, it’s understandable that Belkin had to settle for some compromises to get its Stage PowerGrip on shelves for $79.99. You’ll just want to really take those compromises into consideration when deciding if it’s worth it for you. If you like a lot of functionality in one accessory, it’s worth considering. If you want more charging performance or a grip with more photography-focused functionality, you’ll be better off juggling multiple accessories.
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2025-12-23T11:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-23T16:35:13.803758
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Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa+ now works with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/amazons-ai-assistant-alexa-now-works-with-angi-expedia-square-and-yelp/
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The new integrations join other services like Yelp, Uber, OpenTable and others.
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Amazon is expanding its AI-powered digital assistant Alexa+ with new capabilities. The company announced on Thursday that it’s adding four new integrations to the service that will allow the assistant to work with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp starting in 2026.
These additions allow customers to book hotels, get quotes for home services, and schedule salon appointments, among other things. With Expedia, customers can compare, book, and manage hotel reservations, or tell Alexa their preferences to get personalized recommendations. (e.g. “Can you find me pet-friendly hotels for this weekend in Chicago?”)
The new services join Alexa+’s existing integrations with Fodor, OpenTable, Suno, Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, and Uber.
Image Credits:Amazon
Similar to how ChatGPT is now integrating apps into its chatbot, Amazon aims to make it easier for consumers to use various online services through its digital assistant. For instance, you could ask Alexa to call you an Uber or book a table for dinner with OpenTable.
You also can converse with the AI assistant in natural language, having back-and-forth conversations, refining your request as you go.
Whether users will take to this idea, of course, remains to be seen.
Image Credits:Amazon
However, Amazon did offer a small glimpse as to how Alexa+ early adopters have been using the integrations, noting that, so far, home and personal service providers like Thumbtack and Vagaro have seen “strong” engagement.
Using AI assistants as app platforms is a model that’s being tested across the industry as another way to bring AI to consumers more broadly. But this will require users to adapt to a new way of doing things, as many are used to engaging with online services through the web or mobile apps. To be successful in getting consumers to change their behavior, using apps via AI will need to be seen as being as easy, if not easier, than the existing model.
For that to work, the AI providers would need to at least match the breadth of online services provided by a traditional app store, which is already a more curated selection than what’s available via the web. Or, providers will need to get very good at suggesting apps to use at the right time, without seeming overly pushy, as users can perceive unwelcome prompts as ads.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:04:57 +0000
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2025-12-23T16:35:14.944017
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Lemon Slice nabs $10.5M from YC and Matrix to build out its digital avatar tech
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/lemon-slice-nabs-10-5m-from-yc-and-matrix-to-build-out-its-digital-avatar-tech/
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Digital avatar generation company Lemon Slice is working to add a video layer to AI chatbots with a new diffusion model that can create digital avatars from a single image.
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Developers and companies are increasingly deploying AI agents and chatbots within their apps, but so far they’ve mostly been restricted to text. Digital avatar generation company Lemon Slice is working to add a video layer to those chats with a new diffusion model that can create digital avatars from a single image.
Called Lemon Slice-2, the model can create a digital avatar that works on top of a knowledge base to play any role required of the AI agent, like addressing customer queries, helping with homework questions, or even working as a mental health support agent.
“In the early days of GenAI, my co-founders started to play around with different video models, and it became obvious to us that video was going to be interactive. The compelling part about tools like ChatGPT was that they were interactive, and we want video to have that layer,” co-founder Lina Colucci said.
Lemon Slice says this is a 20-billion-parameter model that can work on a single GPU to live-stream videos at 20 frames per second. The company is making the model available through an API and an embeddable widget that companies can integrate into their sites with a single line of code. After an avatar is created, you can change the background, styling, and appearance of a character at any point.
Besides human-like avatars, the company is also focusing on being able to generate non-human characters to suit different needs. The startup is using ElevenLabs’ tech to generate the voices of these avatars.
Founded by Lina Colucci, Sidney Primas, and Andrew Weitz in 2024, Lemon Slice is betting that using its own general-purpose diffusion model (a type of generative model that learns to work backwards from noisy training data to generate new data) for making avatars will set it apart from competitors.
“The existing avatar solutions I’ve seen to date add negative value to the product,” Colucci said. “They are creepy, and they are stiff. They look good for a few seconds, and as soon as you start interacting with them, it feels very uncanny, and it doesn’t put you at ease. The thing that has prevented avatars from really taking off is that they haven’t been good enough.”
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To fund that effort, the company on Tuesday said it has raised $10.5 million in seed funding from Matrix Partners, Y Combinator, Dropbox CTO Arash Ferdowsi, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, and The Chainsmokers.
The company says it has guardrails in place to prevent unauthorized face or voice cloning, and that it uses large language models for content moderation.
Lemon Slice would not name the organizations using its technology, but said the model is being put to work for use cases like education, language learning, e-commerce, and corporate training.
The startup faces stiff competition from video generation startups like D-ID, HeyGen, and Sythesia, as well as other digital avatar makers Genies, Soul Machine, Praktika, and AvatarOS.
Ilya Sukhar, a partner at Matrix, thinks that avatars will be useful in areas where videos are prominent. For instance, people like learning from YouTube rather than reading long blocks of text. He noted that Lemon Slice’s technical prowess and its own will give it an edge over other startups.
“It’s a deeply technical team with a track record of shipping ML products, not just demos and research. Many of the other players are bespoke to particular scenarios or verticals, and Lemon Slice is taking the generalized ‘bitter lesson’ scaling approach (of data and compute) that has worked in other AI modalities,” he said.
Y-Combinator’s Jared Friedman believes that using a diffusion-style model allows Lemon Slice to generate any kind of avatars as compared to some other startups that are focused on either human-like or game character-like avatars.
“Lemon Slice is, I believe, the only company taking the fundamental ML approach that can eventually overcome the uncanny valley and break the avatar Turing test. They train the same type of model as Veo3 or Sora: a video diffusion transformer. Because it is a general-purpose model that does the whole thing end-to-end, it has no ceiling on how good it can get; the others top out below photorealistic. It also works for both human and non-human faces and requires only an image to add a new face,” he said.
The startup currently has eight employees, and plans to use the funds to hire engineering and go-to-market staff, along with paying the compute bills to train its models.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T16:35:15.088958
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“Yo what?” LimeWire re-emerges in online rush to share pulled “60 Minutes” segment
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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/yo-what-limewire-re-emerges-in-online-rush-to-share-pulled-60-minutes-segment/
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Redditor jokes LimeWire is now a "champion against the darkness."
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CBS cannot contain the online spread of a “60 Minutes” segment that its editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, tried to block from airing.
The episode, “Inside CECOT,” featured testimonies from US deportees who were tortured or suffered physical or sexual abuse at a notorious Salvadoran prison, the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism. “Welcome to hell,” one former inmate was told upon arriving, the segment reported, while also highlighting a clip of Donald Trump praising CECOT and its leadership for “great facilities, very strong facilities, and they don’t play games.”
Weiss controversially pulled the segment on Monday, claiming it could not air in the US because it lacked critical voices, as no Trump officials were interviewed. She claimed that the segment “did not advance the ball” and merely echoed others’ reporting, NBC News reported. Her plan was to air the segment when it was “ready,” insisting that holding stories “for whatever reason” happens “every day in every newsroom.”
But Weiss apparently did not realize that the “Inside CECOT” would still stream in Canada, giving the public a chance to view the segment as reporters had intended.
Critics accusing CBS of censoring the story quickly shared the segment online Monday after discovering that it was available on the Global TV app. Using a VPN to connect to the app with a Canadian IP address was all it took to override Weiss’ block in the US, as 404 Media reported the segment was uploaded to “to a variety of file sharing sites and services, including iCloud, Mega, and as a torrent,” including on the recently revived file-sharing service LimeWire. It’s currently also available to stream on the Internet Archive, where one reviewer largely summed up the public’s response so far, writing, “cannot believe this was pulled, not a dang thing wrong with this segment except it shows truth.”
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:18:22 +0000
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2025-12-23T16:35:15.591828
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Marissa Mayer’s new startup Dazzle raises $8M led by Forerruner’s Kirsten Green
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/marissa-mayers-new-startup-dazzle-raises-8m-led-by-forerruners-kirsten-green/
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Mayer launched Dazzle after shuttering her photo and contact management startup Sunshine.
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The former Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, refuses to sit on the sidelines of the generative AI revolution.
After spending the last six years running Sunshine, a photo-sharing and contact-management startup with little success, the storied tech leader has shuttered the company to launch Dazzle, a new startup focused on building the next generation of AI personal assistants.
While Mayer is not yet sharing specifics about Dazzle’s functionality, she has revealed that the company has raised an $8 million seed round at a $35 million valuation. The round was led by Forerunner’s Kirsten Green, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Greycroft, Offline Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Bling Capital. Although Mayer has admitted to investing her own capital in the startup, she emphasized that the round was led by Green, a venture capitalist with a record of identifying iconic consumer brands such as Warby Parker, Chime, and Dollar Shave Club.
Green’s investment suggests Dazzle is poised for the coming wave of new AI-infused consumer businesses. The founder of Forerunner Ventures previously told TechCrunch that while enterprise AI took the early lead in this tech cycle, consumer-facing AI is a “late bloomer” that’s finally ready for its breakout.
Even for a founder of Mayer’s fame, landing Green as a lead investor is a significant stamp of credibility for Dazzle, especially after Sunshine was widely considered to be a flop.
“I think she really has a great sense for where people and platforms are going,” Mayer said.
Mayer told TechCrunch that the Sunshine team began prototyping Dazzle last summer, a project that quickly eclipsed their previous work in ambition and opportunity.
“We realized that this was something that we were much more excited about,” she said, noting that Dazzle has potential for “a much bigger impact” than what Sunshine was building.
Originally founded as Lumi Labs in 2018, Sunshine first launched with a subscription app for contact management dubbed “Sunshine Contacts.” Despite its founder’s high profile, the product struggled to gain traction. Privacy advocates raised alarms over the app’s practice of pulling home addresses from public databases to enrich contact lists, and the company never recovered from the initial skepticism.
By 2024, the company broadened its offering by adding event management and “Shine,” an AI-powered photo-sharing tool. The new offering was widely criticized for its outdated design and similarly failed to attract widespread usage.
Sunshine raised a total of $20 million from investors, including Felicis, Norwest Venture Partners, and Unusual Ventures. When the company was dissolved, investors received 10% of Dazzle’s equity, Mayer said.
Reflecting on Sunshine’s struggle, Mayer was candid about its limitations, admitting the problems the company was tackling were too “mundane” and not large enough. “I don’t think we got it to the state of overall polish and accessibility that I really wanted it to be,” she added.
Mayer is now betting that the lessons from Sunshine will help her build a much more resilient and impactful business with Dazzle.
Before her tenure as Yahoo CEO, Mayer was employee number 20 at Google, where she helped design Google search ‘look and feel’, and oversaw the development of Google Maps and AdWords.
“I have had the rare privilege of being at two companies that really changed how people do things,” Mayer told TechCrunch. “Yahoo, for many, defined the internet. Google, in terms of Search and Maps, changed everything. I really aspire to build a product that has that kind of impact again.”
Dazzle is expected to come out of stealth mode early next year. Its website, dazzle.ai, is currently password-protected, blocking public access.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:48:45 +0000
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2025-12-23T17:00:20.664746
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US insurance giant Aflac says hackers stole personal and health data of 22.6 million
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/us-insurance-giant-aflac-says-hackers-stole-personal-data-of-22-6-million/
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Aflac, one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S., confirmed hackers stole reams of personal data, including Social Security numbers, identity documents, and health information.
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In June, U.S. insurance giant Aflac disclosed a data breach where hackers stole customers’ personal information, including Social Security numbers and health information, without saying how many victims were affected.
On Tuesday, the company confirmed it has begun notifying around 22.65 million whose data was stolen during the cyberattack.
In a filing with the Texas attorney general, Aflac said that the stolen data includes customer names, dates of birth, home addresses; government-issued ID numbers (such as passports and state ID cards) and driver’s license numbers, and Social Security numbers; as well as medical and health insurance information.
And, in a filing with the Iowa attorney general, Aflac said that the cybercriminals responsible for the breach “may be affiliated with a known cyber-criminal organization; federal law enforcement and third-party cybersecurity experts have indicated that this group may have been targeting the insurance industry at large.”
Given that Scattered Spider, an amorphous collective of primarily young English-speaking hackers, was targeting the insurance industry at the time of the breach, it’s likely that this is the group Aflac is referring to.
A spokesperson for Aflac did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
The company says it has around 50 million customers according to its official website.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
Aflac was one of several insurance companies hacked at around the same time, including data breaches at Erie Insurance and Philadelphia Insurance Companies.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:14:04 +0000
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2025-12-23T17:32:01.618111
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This founder just landed funding for a second go at the same problem: affordable custom home design
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/this-founder-just-landed-backing-for-a-second-go-at-the-same-problem-affordable-custom-home-design/
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Drafted is now nearly five months old, and it's everything Atmos wasn't.
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Nick Donahue’s parents were in the business of building houses, which means he spent his childhood hearing about the U.S. construction industry. His dad built homes for major developers, and his mom sold to big-box builders across the East Coast.
Donahue was particularly interested in why designing a custom home cost a fortune and took forever, and why most people had to settle for whatever the developers were offering that year. So when he dropped out of NC State and moved to the Bay Area, he eventually did what you might expect a college drop-out to do in San Francisco: he started a company to fix it.
That effort, Atmos, went through Y Combinator, raised $20 million from investors like Khosla Ventures and Sam Altman, and tried to use tech to streamline the custom home design process. It had designers on staff who worked with clients while software handled the back-end. It grew to 40 people and $7 million in revenue, and they designed $200 million worth of houses, and built 50.
All that sounds great until you hear Donahue describe it. “It became this extremely operational business,” he told me on a Zoom call last week. “Kind of like a glamorized architecture firm.”
It never quite replaced the humans, in other words. Then the Federal Reserve started jacking up interest rates, and suddenly clients who’d spent months designing their dream homes couldn’t afford them anymore. Nine months ago, Donahue shut it down.
Here’s where most founders would take a break, maybe write a few LinkedIn posts about what they learned. Instead, Donahue regrouped and started another company.
Drafted is now nearly five months old, and it’s everything Atmos wasn’t. No designers on staff. No operational complexity. Just AI-driven software that generates residential floor plans and exterior designs in minutes. You tell it what you want – bedrooms, square footage, whatever – and it spits out five designs. Don’t like them? You can generate five more and keep going until something clicks.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
Right now, Drafted has six employees, four from Atmos, and it’s raised $1.65 million at a $35 million post-money valuation from Bill Clerico, Stripe’s Patrick Collison, Jack Altman, Josh Buckley, and Warriors player Moses Moody.
Clerico led the round because he’d also been an angel investor in Atmos, and had watched Donahue will houses into existence despite rising interest rates. When Donahue told him about the new company over coffee, Clerico didn’t need convincing. “Nick, please take our money,” he apparently said repeatedly over a two week period until Donahue agreed.
The pitch is straightforward. Right now, if you want a custom home, you’ve got two options: hire an architect (expensive, slow), or buy a template plan online (cheap, inflexible). Drafted sits in the middle, offering customization at template prices. A complete plan costs between $1,000 and $2,000.
The economics work because Drafted built its own AI model, trained on real house plans from homes that were built and passed permitting. Practical constraints are considered, and Donahue says the specialized model costs almost nothing to run: two-tenths of a penny per floor plan, compared to 13 cents for general-purpose AI.
Drafted only does single-story homes right now, but multi-story and lot-specific features are coming. The bigger question is whether there’s actually a market for this.
The numbers aren’t huge. Of the million new homes built in America each year, only 300,000 are custom designed. Most people buy existing homes or pick from whatever tract homes the big builders are offering.
Clerico’s argument is that this is a chicken-and-egg problem. Make custom design cheap and fast enough, and many more people will do it. Donahue compares it to Uber, which didn’t just replace taxis but made on-demand car service something that nearly everyone uses. “There’s really no reason in the future why everyone shouldn’t have a totally custom designed home,” Clerico says.
Or maybe most Americans will keep being price-conscious buyers who take what’s available. The housing market has a long track record of rebuffing disruption.
There’s also the “moat” question. Asked what’s to keep an LLM player or even another vertical player from buying similar data sets and creating the same product, Donahue talks about brand, pointing to his friend David Holz, who founded the video and image generating AI outfit, Midjourney. Despite the plethora of new image-generation models being launched, Midjourney’s usage barely moves, Holz has told Donahue; its customers keep coming back to make AI images.
Similarly, Donahue thinks if they move fast enough and please enough customers, Drafted can become the place for people to design houses.
Time will tell. Since opening to the public, the outfit has begun seeing about 1,000 daily users. Not huge numbers, but they show steady growth for such a young product.
In the meantime, Donahue has something pretty valuable that could give Drafted an edge: deep knowledge of a problem and the insights gleaned from taking a crack at it once already.
Pictured above, the Drafted crew, left to right: Martynas Pocius, Albert Chiu, Martina Cheru, Carson Poole, Stephen Chou, and Nick Donahue
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T17:32:01.750296
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Marissa Mayer’s new startup Dazzle raises $8M led by Forerunner’s Kirsten Green
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/marissa-mayers-new-startup-dazzle-raises-8m-led-by-forerunners-kirsten-green/
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Mayer launched Dazzle after shuttering her photo and contact management startup Sunshine. Green’s investment suggests Dazzle is poised for the coming wave of new AI-infused consumer businesses.
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Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer refuses to sit on the sidelines of the generative AI revolution.
After spending the last six years running Sunshine, a photo-sharing and contact-management startup with little success, the storied tech leader has shuttered the company to launch Dazzle, a new startup focused on building the next generation of AI personal assistants.
While Mayer is not yet sharing specifics about Dazzle’s functionality, she has revealed that the company has raised an $8 million seed round at a $35 million valuation. The round was led by Forerunner’s Kirsten Green, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Greycroft, Offline Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Bling Capital. Although Mayer has admitted to investing her own capital in the startup, she emphasized that the round was led by Green, a venture capitalist with a record of identifying iconic consumer brands such as Warby Parker, Chime, and Dollar Shave Club.
Green’s investment suggests Dazzle is poised for the coming wave of new AI-infused consumer businesses. The founder of Forerunner Ventures previously told TechCrunch that while enterprise AI took the early lead in this tech cycle, consumer-facing AI is a “late bloomer” that’s finally ready for its breakout.
Even for a founder of Mayer’s fame, landing Green as a lead investor is a significant stamp of credibility for Dazzle, especially after Sunshine was widely considered to be a flop.
“I think she really has a great sense for where people and platforms are going,” Mayer said.
Mayer told TechCrunch that the Sunshine team began prototyping Dazzle last summer, a project that quickly eclipsed their previous work in ambition and opportunity.
“We realized that this was something that we were much more excited about,” she said, noting that Dazzle has potential for “a much bigger impact” than what Sunshine was building.
Originally founded as Lumi Labs in 2018, Sunshine first launched with a subscription app for contact management dubbed “Sunshine Contacts.” Despite its founder’s high profile, the product struggled to gain traction. Privacy advocates raised alarms over the app’s practice of pulling home addresses from public databases to enrich contact lists, and the company never recovered from the initial skepticism.
By 2024, the company broadened its offering by adding event management and “Shine,” an AI-powered photo-sharing tool. The new offering was widely criticized for its outdated design and similarly failed to attract widespread usage.
Sunshine raised a total of $20 million from investors, including Felicis, Norwest Venture Partners, and Unusual Ventures. When the company was dissolved, investors received 10% of Dazzle’s equity, Mayer said.
Reflecting on Sunshine’s struggle, Mayer was candid about its limitations, admitting the problems the company was tackling were too “mundane” and not large enough. “I don’t think we got it to the state of overall polish and accessibility that I really wanted it to be,” she added.
Mayer is now betting that the lessons from Sunshine will help her build a much more resilient and impactful business with Dazzle.
Before her tenure as Yahoo CEO, Mayer was employee number 20 at Google, where she helped design Google Search’s “look and feel” and oversaw the development of Google Maps and AdWords.
“I have had the rare privilege of being at two companies that really changed how people do things,” Mayer told TechCrunch. “Yahoo, for many, defined the internet. Google, in terms of Search and Maps, changed everything. I really aspire to build a product that has that kind of impact again.”
Dazzle is expected to come out of stealth mode early next year. Its website, dazzle.ai, is currently password-protected, blocking public access.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:48:45 +0000
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2025-12-23T17:32:01.873431
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DJI’s new drones will not be available in the US as FCC ban takes effect
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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/djis-new-drones-will-not-be-available-in-the-us-as-fcc-ban-takes-effect/
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US drone makers are happy—US drone hobbyists, not so much.
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Americans will be unable to buy the latest and greatest drones because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned foreign-made drones as of today.
On Tuesday, the FCC added drones to its Covered List, which it says are communications equipment and services “that are deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons.” The list was already populated by Kaspersky, ZTE, Huawei, and others.
An FCC fact sheet [PDF] about the ban released on Tuesday says:
UAS [unmanned aircraft systems] and UAS critical components, including data transmission devices, communications systems, flight controllers, ground control stations, controllers, navigation systems, batteries, smart batteries, and motors produced in a foreign country could enable persistent surveillance, data exfiltration, and destructive operations over US territory, including over World Cup and Olympic venues and other mass gathering events.
People can still use Chinese-made drones they already own, and drones from DJI and other foreign countries that were previously approved by the FCC will still be available for purchase. However, the FCC won’t approve any new devices from companies that make drones and aren’t based in the US.
The FCC said that its decision came after a review by “an Executive Branch interagency body with appropriate national security expertise that was convened by the White House.”
Ban takes off
Drones have been under legislative and social scrutiny for years. They’ve been targeted as potential national security threats, as well as criticized for their ability to be used to invade people’s privacy, be disruptive, and dangerously enter restricted airspace, and for their roles in property destruction.
A ban on consumer drone imports gained serious momentum after the US House of Representatives and US Senate passed the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, including a Countering CCP Drones Act, late last year. At the time, DJI and other affected companies were given a year to convince “an appropriate national security agency” that their devices posed no national security risk.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:29:57 +0000
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2025-12-23T17:32:02.305156
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OpenAI’s child exploitation reports increased sharply this year
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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/openais-child-exploitation-reports-increased-sharply-this-year/
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Incident reports spiked during the first six months of 2025.
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OpenAI sent 80 times as many child exploitation incident reports to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children during the first half of 2025 as it did during a similar time period in 2024, according to a recent update from the company. The NCMEC’s CyberTipline is a Congressionally authorized clearinghouse for reporting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and other forms of child exploitation.
Companies are required by law to report apparent child exploitation to the CyberTipline. When a company sends a report, NCMEC reviews it and then forwards it to the appropriate law enforcement agency for investigation.
Statistics related to NCMEC reports can be nuanced. Increased reports can sometimes indicate changes in a platform’s automated moderation, or the criteria it uses to decide whether a report is necessary, rather than necessarily indicating an increase in nefarious activity.
Additionally, the same piece of content can be the subject of multiple reports, and a single report can be about multiple pieces of content. Some platforms, including OpenAI, disclose the number of both the reports and the total pieces of content they were about for a more complete picture.
OpenAI spokesperson Gaby Raila said in a statement that the company made investments toward the end of 2024 “to increase [its] capacity to review and action reports in order to keep pace with current and future user growth.” Raila also said that the time frame corresponds to “the introduction of more product surfaces that allowed image uploads and the growing popularity of our products, which contributed to the increase in reports.” In August, Nick Turley, vice president and head of ChatGPT, announced that the app had four times the number of weekly active users than it did the year before.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:02:26 +0000
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2025-12-23T17:32:02.543678
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NYPD Sued Over Possible Records Collected Through Muslim Spying Program
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https://www.wired.com/story/nypd-sued-over-possible-records-collected-through-muslim-spying-program/
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The New York Police Department's “mosque-raking” program targeted Muslim communities across NYC. Now, as the city's first Muslim mayor takes office, one man is fighting—again—to fully expose it.
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A New Jersey man who previously sued the New York City Police Department in an unsuccessful quest to find out whether the NYPD’s Intelligence Division spied on him and fellow Muslims as part of its notorious and expansive “mosque-raking” program during the Michael Bloomberg era has filed a new open-records lawsuit against the city over spying claims, according to information exclusively provided to WIRED.
The lawsuit will pose a test for mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s law enforcement policies, as he spoke out vocally against the NYPD’s spying on Muslim New Yorkers during a successful election campaign that coaxed those very communities to turn out in record numbers.
Samir Hashmi, a New Jersey resident, was part of the Rutgers Muslim Student Association during the late 2000s. The Rutgers MSA was one of dozens of organizations infiltrated by the NYPD, according to an Associated Press investigation in 2011 that relied on leaked documents outlining the infiltration operations. Following rounds of negative publicity and a civil rights suit that was settled in 2018, the NYPD “demographics unit” was disbanded. Hashmi did not sign on to the settlement and lost his original open-records case in 2018, when a 4-3 Court of Appeals decision affirmed the NYPD’s ability to use a “Glomar” response to his request for documents about the mosque-raking program, neither confirming nor denying the existence of such records.
Hashmi filed a new set of record requests under the New York Freedom of Information Law in February asking for a narrower set of records than his previous request—weekly intelligence summaries, profiles of specific organizations targeted by the Intelligence Division, and reports on particular mosques—pertaining to community and religious organizations he participated in from 2006 through 2008. His petition, filed in December after the NYPD rejected his FOIL and subsequent appeal, cites specific intelligence reports from that period published 14 years ago by the Associated Press.
In an interview, Hashmi told WIRED he was motivated by the loss of his father as well as his co-plaintiff in his original suit, Harlem Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid (who passed away in November 2025), to take a second crack at uncovering the truth about the NYPD’s spying operations targeting Arab and Muslim organizations and communities in New York City, the surrounding states, and elsewhere in the United States.
A firm supporter of Mamdani, Hashmi said he restarted his research into the Intelligence Division’s activities in New York and the surrounding areas in 2023, prompted by the NYPD’s violent crackdown on a series of protests in the past three years that are now the subject of a pair of lawsuits alleging rampant First and Fourteenth Amendment violations. However, it was Mamdani’s decision to retain Jessica Tisch as police commissioner shortly after his election victory that pushed Hashmi into action.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:33:26 +0000
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2025-12-23T17:53:52.651063
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007 First Light’s release date gets shaken up
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https://www.theverge.com/news/849810/james-bond-007-first-light-release-date-delay
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IO Interactive has delayed the release of 007 First Light, its upcoming James Bond origin story game, by two months. 007 First Light will now be released on May 27th, 2026. According to an announcement about the delay: 007 First Light is our most ambitious project to date, and the team has been fully focused […]
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007 First Light is our most ambitious project to date, and the team has been fully focused on delivering an unforgettable James Bond experience, bringing together breathtaking action, globe-trotting, spycraft, gadgets, car chases, and more. As an independent developer and publisher, this decision allows us to ensure the experience meets the level of quality you players deserve on day one.
The game is progressing well and is fully playable from beginning to end, so these additional two months will allow us to further polish and refine the experience, ensuring we deliver the strongest possible version at launch. We’re confident this sets 007 First Light up for long-term success, and we sincerely appreciate the patience and continued support we’ve received ever since we revealed the game. We look forward to sharing more updates regarding 007 First Light in early 2026.
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-23T13:39:11-05:00
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2025-12-23T19:00:29.211534
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Judge blocks Texas app store age verification law
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https://www.theverge.com/news/849752/texas-app-store-accountability-act-age-verification-injunction
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A federal judge blocked a Texas law requiring mobile app stores to verify users' ages from taking effect on January 1st. In an order granting a preliminary injunction on the Texas App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420), Judge Robert Pitman wrote that the statute "is akin to a law that would require every bookstore to […]
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is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform.
A federal judge blocked a Texas law requiring mobile app stores to verify users’ ages from taking effect on January 1st.
In an order granting a preliminary injunction on the Texas App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420), Judge Robert Pitman wrote that the statute “is akin to a law that would require every bookstore to verify the age of every customer at the door and, for minors, require parental consent before the child or teen could enter and again when they try to purchase a book.” Pitman has not yet ruled on the merits of the case, but his decision to grant the preliminary injunction means he believes its defenders are unlikely to prevail in court.
The Texas App Store Accountability Act is the first among a series of similar state laws to face a legal challenge, making the ruling especially significant, as Congress considers a version of the statute. The laws, versions of which also passed in Utah and Louisiana, aim to impose age verification standards at the app store level, making companies like Apple and Google responsible for transmitting signals about users’ ages to app developers to block users from age-inappropriate experiences. While the format has been developed and championed by parent advocates, it’s gotten a boost from lobbying by Meta and other tech platforms that support the model, like Snap and X.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), whose members include Apple, Google, and Meta, sued to block the law from taking effect, saying it “imposes a broad censorship regime on the entire universe of mobile apps.” The group claims that the Texas law would impose steep burdens on teens’ ability to access speech online, requiring them and their parents to give up information in order to access various apps. A student advocacy group separately sued to block the law, arguing it unconstitutionally limits speech that kids can be exposed to. The state has maintained that the law is constitutional and should be upheld.
The state can still appeal the ruling with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a history of reversing blocks on internet regulations. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling and on its plans to appeal.
“[H]owever widespread the agreement that the issue must be addressed, the Court remains bound by the rule of law”
Pitman found that the highest level of scrutiny must be applied to evaluate the law under the First Amendment, which means the state must prove the law is “the least restrictive means of achieving a compelling state interest.” The judge found this is not the case and that it wouldn’t even survive intermediate scrutiny, because Texas has so far failed to prove that its goals are connected to its methods.
Since Texas already has a law requiring age verification for porn sites, Pitman said that “only in the vast minority of applications would SB 2420 have a constitutional application to unprotected speech not addressed by other laws.” Though Pitman acknowledged the importance of safeguarding kids online, he added, “the means to achieve that end must be consistent with the First Amendment. However compelling the policy concerns, and however widespread the agreement that the issue must be addressed, the Court remains bound by the rule of law.”
Apple has opposed Texas’ approach to app store age verification, with CEO Tim Cook reportedly going as far as calling Governor Greg Abbott to try to dissuade him from signing the law. Google has also opposed it, but has come around to a different model of app store age assurance recently passed in California, which would require less data collection.
Recently, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee advanced two versions of app store age-gating bills that borrow aspects from the Texas and California versions. The effort to expand the proposal nationally has alarmed Apple, with Cook meeting with committee leaders the day before the markup to discuss the bills.
As age verification proposals targeting app stores have moved forward in states and Congress, however, the companies that run them also seem to be responding to the growing regulatory threat with preemptive changes. Apple, for example, announced new kids safety features this year that included a way for parents to share their kids’ age ranges with app developers.
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2025-12-23T13:15:49-05:00
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2025-12-23T19:00:29.433194
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These great digital gifts will arrive just in time for Christmas
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https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/848999/best-digital-gift-ideas-online-cards-subscriptions-2025
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And just like that, Christmas is less than two days away, which is too soon for most items bought online to arrive in time. That said, you aren’t alone if you waited too long to start buying gifts this year, and you definitely aren’t alone in feeling guilty for considering digital gifts instead of something […]
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And just like that, Christmas is less than two days away, which is too soon for most items bought online to arrive in time. That said, you aren’t alone if you waited too long to start buying gifts this year, and you definitely aren’t alone in feeling guilty for considering digital gifts instead of something your recipient can unwrap. But here’s the thing: digital gifts can still unlock memorable experiences, be it movies, games, or music. They also let your giftee choose exactly what they want from the store, making them both convenient and versatile.
Below, we’ve curated a list of some of the best digital goodies that folks at The Verge have used or gifted. The list is curated by interests, too, so you can find the perfect present whether your loved one is into the arts, exercise, or something else entirely. That way, you’ll at least be able to gift something more thoughtful than an Amazon or Walmart gift card — even if those are still totally viable options in our book.
Gifts for film and TV buffs
Whether you’re shopping for a movie buff or an avid sports fan, there are a number of subscriptions that’ll grant your giftee access to a wide range of content. Below are some of the most popular, as well as a few catered toward anime diehards, horror lovers, and those looking for something more niche.
Disney Plus gift card $ 25 $ 25 You can buy Disney Plus gift cards in increments of $25 up to $200. They’re usable toward Disney Plus subscriptions and bundles that include access to Disney Plus and Hulu, which start at $12.99 a month. That way, the family can stream everything from Andor and Percy Jackson to The Bear and Alien Earth. Read More $25 at Disney
Netflix (Amazon, Best Buy, Peacock ( Paramount Plus (Amazon, A gift card to a major streaming service like Walmart ), Peacock ), or Best Bu y, Walmart ) is a good gift that’ll cater to all kinds of passions. On Netflix, they can spend their holiday binging KPop Demon Hunters and Stranger Things, while Peacock provides access to shows like The Paper, Parks and Recreation, and Poker Face. A Paramount Plus subscription, meanwhile, lets you dive into Dexter, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and the entire Taylor Sheridan universe — including newer series like Landman and the latest Yellowstone spinoff, 1923.
Criterion Channel gift card grants access to more than a thousand classic and contemporary Hollywood, international, arthouse, and independent films. It also features programming that spotlights directors, stars, genres, and themes, including a “15-minute-a-month film school.”
For the anime lovers in your life, a Crunchyroll gift card provides access to hundreds of anime shows and films shortly after they air in Japan, including Jujutsu Kaisen, Blue Lock, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. They can even use the gift to purchase Crunchyroll’s extensive collection of anime figures, vinyl records, and clothes.
Gifts for the gamers
If you’re not sure which type of games your giftee prefers, you can gift them an Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo subscription. Not only will these memberships grant them access to free digital games, but they also include perks such as online multiplayer and cloud saves, among other incentives.
PlayStation Plus membership grants them access to free titles and discounts every month, lets them play games online, and allows them to access cloud-based backups. PlayStation Plus memberships start at $9.99 a month, and you can subscribe directly via If your giftee is a PlayStation 5 owner, agrants them access to free titles and discounts every month, lets them play games online, and allows them to access cloud-based backups. PlayStation Plus memberships start at $9.99 a month, and you can subscribe directly via PlayStation or buy a subscription with a PlayStation Plus gift card, which is available at Amazon Best Buy , and Target in denominations starting at $10 and going up to $250.
annual subscription to Nintendo Switch Online , which starts at $19.99 a year (Best Buy, Nintendo Switch lovers, meanwhile, might enjoy an, which starts at $19.99 a year ( Amazon GameStop ). The membership lets giftees play more than 150 retro games released during the NES, SNES, and original Game Boy eras. They can also play online with friends, access cloud saves for games, and listen to their favorite Nintendo tunes via the Nintendo Music mobile app.
annual Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription . In addition to offering all the same benefits as the Switch Online membership, it also grants access to Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis, and Nintendo 64 games, as well as DLC content for select titles. One of the latest additions is that the newer Switch 2 Editions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are included as free downloads for members. Individual annual plans cost $49.99 (Best Buy, If you’re willing to fork out extra money, you can also buy an. In addition to offering all the same benefits as the Switch Online membership, it also grants access to Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis, and Nintendo 64 games, as well as DLC content for select titles. One of the latest additions is that the newer Switch 2 Editions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are included as free downloads for members. Individual annual plans cost $49.99 ( Amazon Walmart ), while a family plan — which allows for up to eight accounts — is available via gift card at Amazon Target , and Best Buy for $79.98.
GameStop ( Alternatively, you could buy a gift card to a store like GameStop ), which is helpful if you don’t know which console your giftee prefers, or if you want to give them the option of buying accessories and games.
Gifts for the adventurers and globe-trotters
Is your giftee in dire need of a screen break? Fortunately, the internet is filled with travel-oriented gifts, ranging from the obvious — like airline gift cards — to national park passes.
Gifts for health and wellness fans
For health and wellness enthusiasts, many services offer a wealth of streamable fitness classes to help them get fit at home. Other gifts can help your giftee practice self-care and lighten their load with meditation or massage. Below, we’ve listed out a range of options that’ll help your recipient take care of both their body and mind.
Peloton gift card $ 13 $ 13 Peloton’s monthly subscription offers thousands of streamable fitness classes revolving around a variety of different workouts, ranging from strength training to stretching. It’s a service that’s available to everybody, so you don’t need to own a Peloton device to use it. Read More $13 at Peloton (three months)
A gift card for Headspace , a popular mindfulness app, offers members access to hundreds of expert-taught meditations, each designed to help them relax, sleep better, and improve their mental health. A gift subscription will run you $38.99 for three months, or you can save by getting 12 months for $48.99 ($21 off).
Fitbit Premium subscriptions start at $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year (33 percent off) and are available to all, even if your giftee doesn’t own a Fitbit (though they’ll be able to enjoy more in-depth metrics if they do). A membership comes with thousands of guided and customizable workouts, which cover everything from martial arts and dance to meditation. Fitbit also offers guided programs covering topics like nutrition, along with the option to work one-on-one with a professional health coach for an extra $54.99 a month.
For those who prefer in-person classes to virtual, a gift card that goes toward a ClassPass subscription will let your giftee try out thousands of gyms and fitness studios in their local area, not to mention nearby salons and spas.
If your giftee is too busy to prepare healthy meals every day, a gift card to Blue Apron HelloFresh , or any meal prep service that offers a healthy selection of meal kits will be very welcome.
Gifts for foodies
Whether they’re a diehard foodie, a wine connoisseur, or a caffeine addict, the internet is filled with subscriptions and gift cards for all types. Below are just a few of our favorites.
Gifts for music lovers
Whether your giftee is a musician or just loves to unwind with music, there are plenty of digital gifts catered toward their interests. We all know about Spotify gift cards (Amazon, Best Buy, Target), but there are also other streaming services that you can gift as a subscription, some of which we’ve highlighted below.
Apple Music $ 25 $ 25 Apple Music is a great gift for casual listeners, offering more than 100 million ad-free songs alongside support for spatial audio and Dolby Atmos. There’s no designated gift card for Apple Music, so you’ll have to buy a regular Apple gift card, but that’s not a bad thing, as it means they can also use the card to buy the latest set of AirPods. Read More $25 at Amazon$25 at Apple$25 at Best Buy
Tidal gift card (Walmart, PayPal, For the audiophiles out there, a Best Buy ) is great because it lets them stream music at the highest audio quality. The ad-free service starts at $10.99 per month and lets giftees enjoy support for lossless FLAC audio, Dolby Atmos Music, and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio formats. If they happen to be a DJ or aspire to become one, paying $9 a month extra grants them access to the so-called “DJ Extension,” which provides a high-quality catalog of more than 110 million songs they can mix with popular DJ software and hardware.
If you know somebody who’s always wanted to learn to play the guitar, a Fender Play subscription can help them do so thanks to a continuously updated catalog of hundreds of instructor-led video lessons. You can gift them six months for $49.99 or 12 months for $149.99.
StubHub (Amazon, Best Buy, Lastly, a Ticketmaster or Staples ) gift card is a present that lets your loved one buy a ticket to see their favorite musicians perform live.
Gifts for the bookworms
Obviously, you could just gift a bibliophile a book, and they’d probably be happy. But what if you don’t know what your giftee is into or simply want to give them more options? In that case, a gift card to their favorite bookstore or a subscription to something like Kindle Unlimited — which grants members access to millions of ebooks and select audiobooks — is a good idea. That said, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite alternatives below.
Audible Premium Plus (one-month subscription) $ 15 $ 15 An Audible Premium Plus subscription grants instant access to thousands of audiobooks and podcasts, as well as one premium audiobook a month. Read More $15 at Amazon
Gifts for the creatives
Movie buffs and bibliophiles are easy to shop for, but what do you get the creative type? It’s actually not that hard — just buy them something to help them create, whether that’s an online course or access to a new tool. Below are a few subscriptions and gift cards that creators will love, all of which you can buy at the last minute.
Skillshare (three-month subscription) $ 69 $ 69 A subscription to Skillshare grants subscribers access to over 34,000 online classes related to graphic design, painting, photography, film, music, coding, and more. Read More $69 at Skillshare
MasterClass membership — which normally starts at $10 a month but is currently 50 percent off for all tiers — provides access to classes taught by world leaders and other subject matter experts, including screenwriters, musicians, and business experts. Going for a Masterclass Plus or Premium subscription allows concurrent viewing on two or six devices, respectively, and also unlocks offline viewing. — which normally starts at $10 a month but is currently 50 percent off for all tiers — provides access to classes taught by world leaders and other subject matter experts, including screenwriters, musicians, and business experts. Going for a Masterclass Plus or Premium subscription allows concurrent viewing on two or six devices, respectively, and also unlocks offline viewing.
subscription ($69.99 a month) is a great gift for aspiring and experienced creative professionals alike, one that provides access to popular tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and InDesign. Adobe doesn’t yet support gifting subscriptions, so you’ll need to create a new account or log in to an existing account your recipient may have. You can also purchase digitally redeemable Creative Cloud subscription codes from partner retailers like An Adobe Creative Cloud ($69.99 a month) is a great gift for aspiring and experienced creative professionals alike, one that provides access to popular tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and InDesign. Adobe doesn’t yet support gifting subscriptions, so you’ll need to create a new account or log in to an existing account your recipient may have. You can also purchase digitally redeemable Creative Cloud subscription codes from partner retailers like Best Buy , which has a 12-month plan on sale for $579 (about $200 off) right now.
If you know somebody trying to learn how to code, a subscription to the coding educational platform Codecademy ($29.99 a month) can help them build their portfolio with online courses, a community, fun events, cheat sheets, and other resources. There’s even a $39.99-a-month plan for those looking to change career paths, which offers all the above, plus technical interview help.
membership (normally $123 a year, but just $1.79 for a limited time) grants access to more than 2,000 live and on-demand classes led by experts covering everything from baking and cake decorating to woodworking and painting. Members also get to connect with other crafters in the Craftsy community and attend live events. For giftees into arts and crafts, a Craftsy (normally $123 a year, but just $1.79 for a limited time) grants access to more than 2,000 live and on-demand classes led by experts covering everything from baking and cake decorating to woodworking and painting. Members also get to connect with other crafters in the Craftsy community and attend live events.
Gift cards for pretty much anyone
, Best Buy, Walmart, and Sometimes the best gift card is one that’ll give your giftee a ton of options, especially if you’re having a hard time figuring out what they want. Gift cards from major retailers like Amazon and Target are perfect in these situations, namely because they’ll let your giftee choose whatever they like from a wide range of departments.
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2025-12-23T13:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-23T19:00:29.717999
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Data Holds the Key in Slowing Age-Related Illnesses
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https://www.wired.com/story/data-holds-the-key-in-slowing-age-related-illnesses/
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More accurate and individualized health predictions will allow for preventative factors to be implemented well in advance.
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In 2026, we will see the beginning of precision medical forecasting. Just as there have been remarkable advances in weather forecasting with the use of large language models, so will there be for determining an individual’s risk of the major age-related diseases (cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative). These diseases share common threads, such as a long incubation phase before any symptoms are manifest, usually two decades or more. They also have the same biologic underpinnings of immunosenescence and inflammaging, terms that characterize an immune system that has lost some of its functionality and protective power, and the accompanying heightened inflammation.
The science of aging has given us new ways to track these processes with body-wide and organ clocks, along with specific protein biomarkers. That enables us to determine whether a person or an organ within a person is aging at an accelerated pace. Along with that, new AI algorithms can see things that medical experts cannot, such as accurately interpreting medical images like retinal scans to predict cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases many years in advance.
READ MORE This story is from the WIRED World in 2026, our annual trends briefing.
These added layers of data can be combined with a person’s electronic medical records, which include their structured and unstructured notes, lab results, scans, genetic results, wearable sensors, and environmental data. In aggregate, this provides an unprecedented depth of information about the person’s health status, enabling a forecast for risk of the three major diseases. Unlike a polygenic risk score which can detect a person’s risk for heart disease, the common cancers and Alzheimer’s, precision medical forecasting takes it to a new level by providing the projected temporal arc—the “when” factor. When all of the data is analyzed with large reasoning models, it can provide a person’s vulnerabilities, and an individualized, aggressive preventive program.
We already know the risk of these three diseases can be reduced with lifestyle factors, such as an optimal anti-inflammatory diet, frequent exercise, and a regular, high-quality sleep pattern. But, along with attention to these factors, which are far more likely to be implemented when an individual is cognizant of their risk, we will have medications that will promote a healthy, protective immune system and reduce body-wide and brain inflammation. Already the GLP-1 medicines have been shown to be a front-runner for achieving these goals, but many more medications are in the pipeline.
The potential for precision medical forecasting has to be demonstrated and validated via prospective clinical trials that show, using the same metrics of aging, that a person’s risk is decreased. An example for people with increased risk of Alzheimer’s is the blood test known as p-tau217, and that risk can be markedly reduced with improved lifestyle factors, especially exercise. That could be confirmed with a brain organ clock and body-wide aging clocks.
This is a new frontier in medicine—the potential for primary prevention of the three age-related major diseases that compromise our health span and quality of life. It would not be possible without the advances in both the science of aging and AI. For me, this is the most exciting future use of AI in medicine: an unparalleled opportunity to prevent the major diseases from occurring, something that has been dreamed about but has not been possible at scale due to the deficiency in data and analytics. In 2026, it finally will.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 18:11:52 +0000
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2025-12-23T19:00:30.135404
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Hackers stole over $2.7 billion in crypto in 2025, data shows
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/hackers-stole-over-2-7-billion-in-crypto-in-2025-data-shows/
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2025 was another banner year for crypto hacks and heists, the third year in a row that a new crypto theft record was set.
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Cybercriminals stole $2.7 billion in crypto this year, a new record for crypto-stealing hacks, according to blockchain monitoring firms.
Once again, in 2025, there were dozens of crypto heists hitting several cryptocurrency exchanges and other web3 and decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. The biggest hack by far was the breach at Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit, where hackers stole around $1.4 billion in crypto. Blockchain analysis firms, as well as the FBI, accused North Korean government hackers — the most prolific group targeting crypto in the last few years — of this massive heist.
This was the largest known loot of crypto of all time, and one of the largest financial heists in the history of humanity, too. Before the Bybit hack, the largest crypto thefts netted $624 million and $611 million for hackers in the 2022 breaches against the Ronin Network, and the Poly Network, respectively.
Cryptocurrency monitoring firms Chainalysis and TRM Labs, both estimated a total of $2.7 billion stolen in crypto in 2025, per data shared with TechCrunch.. Chainalysis also tracked another $700,000 stolen from individual crypto wallets, the company said.
De.Fi, the web3 security firm running the REKT database that tracks crypto thefts, also estimated $2.7 billion in stolen and hacked crypto last year.
As usual, North Korean government hackers were the most successful crypto thieves throughout 2025, after stealing at least $2 billion, according to Chainalysis and Elliptic, which estimated that Kim Jong Un’s hackers have stolen around $6 billion since 2017. North Korea uses crypto thefts to fund its sanctioned nuclear weapons program.
Other significant crypto hacks this year were the one against Cetus, a decentralized exchange, which netted the hackers $223 million; the breach against Balancer, a protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain, which resulted in a loss of $128 million; and the one against the crypto exchange Phemex, where cybercriminals stole more than $73 million.
Cybercriminals targeting crypto exchanges and other DeFi projects are not slowing down. In 2024, hackers stole $2.2 billion in crypto, while the year before, in 2023, the total was $2 billion.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 19:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T19:00:30.492651
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We found 25 great gifts that are on sale and will arrive in time for Christmas
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https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/846378/best-last-minute-gifts-ideas-airpods-pro-deal-sale
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You don’t need to deal with long mall lines or crowded parking lots just to wrap up your holiday shopping, but you probably already knew this. Some of the best deals are online, and even though Christmas is now a day or two away, a lot of Verge-approved gifts should still arrive on time if […]
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You don’t need to deal with long mall lines or crowded parking lots just to wrap up your holiday shopping, but you probably already knew this. Some of the best deals are online, and even though Christmas is now a day or two away, a lot of Verge-approved gifts should still arrive on time if you order them online. You may have to pay expedited shipping in some instances; however, retailers like Amazon and Best Buy still offer fast, free shipping, depending on what you order.
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2025-12-23T14:15:21-05:00
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2025-12-23T19:26:28.618752
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Samsung’s 2026 gaming monitors promise 6K, 3D, and up to 1,040Hz
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https://www.theverge.com/news/849850/samsung-odyssey-gaming-monitors-6k-3d-ces-2026
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Samsung is breaking new ground with its 2026 lineup of gaming monitors, with the Odyssey 3D G90XH becoming the first to feature a 6K display with "glasses-free 3D." The new monitor comes with a 32-inch IPS panel, offering real-time eye-tracking that "adjusts depth and perspective" based on your position, along with a speedy 165Hz refresh […]
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is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
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Samsung is breaking new ground with its 2026 lineup of gaming monitors, with the Odyssey 3D G90XH becoming the first to feature a 6K display with “glasses-free 3D.” The new monitor comes with a 32-inch IPS panel, offering real-time eye-tracking that “adjusts depth and perspective” based on your position, along with a speedy 165Hz refresh rate that you can boost to 330Hz with a Dual Mode feature that switches to 3K.
The 2026 Odyssey 3D is an upgrade to the display Samsung revealed during CES last year, which comes with a smaller 27-inch display and a lower 4K resolution. We’ve seen a few other 6K monitors from Asus, Dell, and LG, though they don’t come with the Odyssey’s 3D effects or a focus on gaming. For now, select games like Stellar Blade, Lies of P: Overture, and The First Berserker: Khazan are optimized specifically for the Odyssey 3D, but several other titles still support its 3D effects, including Black Myth: Wukong, Hogwarts Legacy, Palworld, and Silent Hill 2.
Samsung is launching five new Odyssey monitors next year. Image: Samsung
A 6K 3D display isn’t the only notable upgrade coming to Samsung’s lineup; the company is launching the Odyssey G6 G60H, which it says is the “world’s first” 1,040Hz gaming monitor. The 27-inch monitor only supports this ultra-fast refresh rate in HD, while its native 1440p resolution still offers speeds up to a very fast 600Hz. It’s also compatible with AMD FreeSync Premium and NVIDIA G-Sync.
Samsung has also revealed three new Odyssey G8 monitors, with the 32-inch G80HS offering a 6K resolution with refresh rates up to 165Hz (or 330Hz refresh rate at 3K), as well as a 27-inch 5K G80HF model with speeds up to 180Hz (or 360Hz at 1440p). There’s an Odyssey G8 with a 4K OLED display, too, featuring an up to 240Hz refresh rate, 300-nit brightness, and True Black 500 certification for deeper blacks. All three models support AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync.
Samsung hasn’t yet revealed the pricing or release date of any of these models, but the Odyssey 3D is bound to be a bit pricey, given the $2,000 price tag attached to Samsung’s 4K 3D screen.
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2025-12-23T14:13:50-05:00
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2025-12-23T19:26:28.784484
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John Carreyrou and other authors bring new lawsuit against six major AI companies
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/john-carreyrou-and-other-authors-bring-new-lawsuit-against-six-major-ai-companies/
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These authors rejected Anthropic's class action settlement, arguing that "LLM companies should not be able to so easily extinguish thousands upon thousands of high-value claims at bargain-basement rates."
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In Brief
A group of writers, including Theranos whistleblower and “Bad Blood” author John Carreyrou, is filing a lawsuit against Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Meta, xAI, and Perplexity, accusing the companies of training their models on pirated copies of their books.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because another set of authors already filed a class action suit against Anthropic for these same acts of copyright infringement. In that case, the judge ruled that it was legal for Anthropic and similar AI companies to train on pirated copies of books, but that it was not legal to pirate the books in the first place.
While eligible writers can receive about $3,000 from the $1.5 billion Anthropic settlement, some authors were dissatisfied with that resolution — it doesn’t hold AI companies accountable for the actual act of using stolen books to train their models, which generate billions of dollars in revenue.
According to the new lawsuit, the plaintiffs say that the proposed Anthropic settlement “seems to serve [the AI companies], not creators.”
“LLM companies should not be able to so easily extinguish thousands upon thousands of high-value claims at bargain-basement rates, eliding what should be the true cost of their massive willful infringement,” the lawsuit says.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 19:02:47 +0000
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2025-12-23T19:26:29.116322
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US insurance giant Aflac says hackers stole personal and health data of 22.6 million people
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/us-insurance-giant-aflac-says-hackers-stole-personal-and-health-data-of-22-6-million-people/
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Aflac, one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S., confirmed hackers stole reams of personal data, including Social Security numbers, identity documents, and health information.
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In June, U.S. insurance giant Aflac disclosed a data breach where hackers stole customers’ personal information, including Social Security numbers and health information, without saying how many victims were affected.
On Tuesday, the company confirmed it has begun notifying around 22.65 million people whose data was stolen during the cyberattack.
In a filing with the Texas attorney general, Aflac said that the stolen data includes customer names, dates of birth, home addresses, government-issued ID numbers (such as passports and state ID cards) and driver’s license numbers, and Social Security numbers, as well as medical and health insurance information.
And, in a filing with the Iowa attorney general, Aflac said that the cybercriminals responsible for the breach “may be affiliated with a known cyber-criminal organization; federal law enforcement and third-party cybersecurity experts have indicated that this group may have been targeting the insurance industry at large.”
Given that Scattered Spider, an amorphous collective of primarily young English-speaking hackers, was targeting the insurance industry at the time of the breach, it’s likely that this is the group Aflac is referring to.
A spokesperson for Aflac did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
The company says it has around 50 million customers according to its official website.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
Aflac was one of several insurance companies hacked at around the same time, including data breaches at Erie Insurance and Philadelphia Insurance Companies.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:14:04 +0000
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2025-12-23T19:42:10.127197
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Zoox issues software recall over lane crossings
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/zoox-issues-software-recall-over-lane-crossings/
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The company has issued a software update to its autonomous driving system to fix its lane crossing behavior.
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Amazon-owned Zoox issued a recall Tuesday over concerns its autonomous driving system caused vehicles to cross over the center lane line near intersections or block crosswalks. The voluntary recall of its software affected 332 vehicles, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
While there have not been any collisions associated with the issue, Zoox noted in the NHTSA filing that it could increase the risk of a crash. The company provides free rides to the public in its driverless Zoox vehicles in parts of San Francisco and Las Vegas.
A Zoox spokesperson told TechCrunch the company identified some instances in which its vehicles made maneuvers that, while common for human drivers, didn’t meet its standards. For example, in an effort to avoid blocking certain intersections at a red light, the robotaxi might stop in a crosswalk. In other instances, the robotaxi made a late turn, resulting in a wide turn, according to a spokesperson’s emailed statement.
The issue was initially identified on August 26 when a Zoox robotaxi made a wide right turn, crossed partially into the opposing travel lane, and temporarily stopped in front of the oncoming travel lane, according to the NHTSA filing.
Zoox monitored its data for additional lane crossings near intersections, ultimately identifying 62 instances between August 26 and December 5. The company said in the filing was in “ongoing conversations with NHTSA about the frequency, severity, and root causes of these occurrences.”
The company updated its software on November 7 and again in mid-December to address all of the issues.
“We have successfully identified and deployed targeted software improvements to address the root causes of these incidents,” the statement reads. “Today, we’re submitting a voluntary software recall because transparency and safety is foundational to Zoox, and we want to be open with the public and regulators about how we are constantly refining and improving our technology.”
The software recall affected Zoox vehicles operating on public roads between March 13 and December 18, according to the filing.
Zoox has issued several software recalls this year, including one in March to address unexpected hard braking. That recall followed a preliminary investigation by NHTSA that was opened after the agency received two reports of motorcyclists colliding with the back of Zoox vehicles.
In May, Zoox filed two software recalls to address concerns about the system’s ability to predict the movement of other road users.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 19:50:09 +0000
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2025-12-23T19:55:12.613492
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Steve Rogers returns in Avengers: Doomsday teaser
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https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/12/steve-rogers-returns-in-avengers-doomsday-teaser/
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It's purportedly the first of four planned teasers, one per week, showing before <em>Avatar: Fire and Ash</em>.
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You’ve no doubt heard some version of the Robert Burns adage about the best-laid plans. Marvel Studios had an elaborate marketing plan in place to introduce four teaser trailers for Avengers: Doomsday as previews prior to screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash, with one teaser rolling out each successive week. But the first one leaked online a few days early, revealing that (as rumored) Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) will appear and will have a newborn baby, presumably with Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter.
So maybe you’ve seen a bootleg version floating around the Internet, but Marvel has now released the HD version to the public. Merry Christmas! And we can look forward to three more: one focused on Thor, one on Doctor Doom, and the final one is purportedly a more traditional teaser trailer.
As previously reported, Marvel Studios originally planned to build its Phase Six Avengers arc (The Kang Dynasty) around Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror (and associated variants), introduced in Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But then Majors was convicted of domestic violence, and Marvel fired the actor soon after. That meant the studio needed to retool its Phase Six plans, culminating in the announced return of the Russo brothers, who directed four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most successful films, which brought in more than $6 billion at the global box office.
Rather than keeping Kang as the villain and recasting the character, the Russo brothers decided to take a new direction: bringing the Secret Wars storyline to the big screen. It’s one of their favorites but before they could take on Avengers: Secret Wars (slated for May 2027), the duo knew they first had to make Avengers: Doomsday, featuring the wildly popular comics villain Doctor Doom, featuring the return of Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU in that role.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 19:45:32 +0000
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2025-12-23T19:55:13.332248
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The Best Unlimited Phone Plan: T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon Compared
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https://www.wired.com/story/best-unlimited-phone-plans/
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We sifted through the fine print to figure out how to score the best deal on all the major carriers.
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"Unlimited" is a funny term. Unlimited cell phone plans often come with a long list of footnotes, terms, conditions, and exceptions. Mercifully, all of the Big Three cell companies have, by now, ditched throttling on their highest-paid tiers, and include 5G data access in all their unlimited plans. Yet there are still many differences in the services they offer, and from tier to tier within each company.
Cheaper “unlimited” tiers do offer unlimited talk and text. But they still have rules on how much unlimited data you get before they start throttling your speed, and some “unlimited” plans may throttle your data at any given time. Data throttling is the practice of reducing your data speeds after you hit a certain threshold of data used in a month or during times of congestion. It's been a fixture of cell service plans for years.
Below, I've highlighted what each of the major carriers offers for “unlimited” individual and family plans to help you figure out which unlimited plan is best for you and your budget.
The Best Unlimited Plan Right Now: T-Mobile Experience More
T-Mobile Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond Plans
The Essentials plan (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $60/month | 2 Lines $90 | 3 Lines $90 | 4 Lines $100 | 5 Lines $125
Experience More (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $85/month | 2 Lines $140 | 3 Lines $140 | 4 Lines $170 | 5 Lines $200
Experience Beyond (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $100/month | 2 Lines $170 | 3 Lines $170 | 4 Lines $215 | 5 Lines $260
T-Mobile has the best 5G coverage among the big three, the highest 5G speeds, the fastest downloads and the best overall reliability, according to analysis from OpenSignal and Ookla. The carrier also makes claims to winning on value, when you take into account perks that include entertainment bundles, airplane WiFi, and access to satellite data in emergencies.
T-Mobile has rebranded its unlimited offerings this year but still offers three unlimited talk and text plans: Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond. Only the two Experience plans offer true unlimited 5G data without any throttling or deprioritizing (i.e., making your phone stand in line for data behind other, more important, phones during peak demand.)
If cost is more important to you than perks, and you don't travel a lot internationally, the Essentials plan is what we recommend for people with big families. It's no frills, just the phone, ma'am, with no subscription money going to streaming services or international carrier fees. Your hotspot is limited to 3G speeds if you're a laptop warrior, an important consideration for many, and video streaming is 480p. But at its price point, Essentials is the only plan to offer premium data (up to 50 GB) that won't be throttled. If youy've got home WiFi, that 50GB should be sufficient for most people. Besides, it'll teach your teens how to budget, and how to ask for the WiFi password instead of using their own data. But take note: Data in Canada and Mexico will be so slow you might as well have an old flip phone.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 20:09:13 +0000
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2025-12-23T20:29:16.414023
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The 50 Best Shows on HBO Max, WIRED’s Picks (January 2026)
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https://www.wired.com/story/hbo-max-best-shows-to-stream-right-now/
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Heated Rivalry, Mad Men, and The Pitt are just a few of the shows you need to be watching on HBO Max this month.
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HBO Max may not have the shine it once did, but the streaming service (previously just Max) is still home to some of the best TV shows of the past 25 years, from The Sopranos and The Wire to Game of Thrones and The Leftovers.
Whether you’re a longtime fan of the “it’s not TV” cable network or an HBO Max newbie trying to figure out where to start, the shows below should give you plenty upon which to feast your eyes.
Looking for more recommendations? Head to WIRED’s guide to the best TV shows on Netflix, the best TV shows on Amazon Prime, the best TV shows on Disney+, and the best TV shows on Hulu.
If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.
I Love LA
It has been just five years since Rachel Sennott broke out in Emma Seligman’s dark comedy Shiva Baby, and she is not squandering any opportunity. With I Love LA, Sennott is in charge as the creator, writer, and star of this LA-set Hollywood comedy. Maia (Sennott) is an aspiring talent manager who, on her 27th birthday, manages to gather the courage to ask her boss Alyssa (Leighton Meester) for a promotion. While the answer is no, Maia tells her friends and boyfriend (Josh Hutcherson) otherwise, then hatches a plan to take her career to the next level with the help of her friends.
The Seduction
Marquise de Merteuil (Anamaria Vartolomei) is ready for payback after having her heart broken—and humiliated—by Vicomte de Valmont (Vincent Lacoste), aka Valmont. So she sets about becoming Paris’ premier courtesan. HBO’s new French language period drama is a sexy, sumptuous series that serves as a prequel to Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
It: Welcome to Derry
It director Andy Muschietti returns to the place where Stephen King’s clown killer was born in this ’60s-set prequel series that doles out Pennywise’s origins in hour-long doses. Bill Skarsgård is also back as both the sewer-dwelling horror icon and an executive producer on the show, which mixes the terror that fans have come to expect from the movies with well-executed period details. All of which amounts to an unexpected take on the genre—and one that should have coulrophobes running for the door.
The Chair Company
I Think You Should Leave cocreators Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin have teamed up yet again to showcase their brilliantly unhinged brand of comedy. In this case, Robinson stars as Ron Trosper, a father, husband, and regular corporate wonk who suffers a very public embarrassment at work. Rather than brush it off, Trosper becomes convinced that he’s a victim and eventually finds himself caught up in a truly bizarre conspiracy theory. The less you know going in the better. But if you’re a fan of the wildly uncomfortable characters Robinson is known for, The Chair Company takes it to the next level.
Task
Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby returns to HBO with a new crime-drama miniseries, this time swapping out Oscar winner Kate Winslet for Oscar winner Mark Ruffalo. Here the Hulk actor plays Tom Brandis, a Catholic priest turned FBI agent who is reeling from a family tragedy. But duty calls, and Brandis has a job to do, which ultimately sees his life colliding with that of Robbie Prendergrast (Ozark’s Tom Pelphrey), a trash collector by day who spends his nights robbing a local drug gang’s trap houses in the Philly suburbs. Like Mare of Easttown, expect lots of dropped Rs and plenty of Wawa references.
Peacemaker
John Cena reprises his role as Chris Smith, aka Peacemaker, a violence-prone vigilante who is willing to do whatever it takes in order to achieve peace—even if that means killing dozens of people. Ironic? Yes. It’s also deeply funny, with Cena seeming to relish the opportunity to play such an over-the-top character. The series, which kicked off its second season in August, is a spinoff of The Suicide Squad and boasts DC boss/superhero auteur James Gunn as its creator, showrunner, writer, and most frequent episode director.
Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence
Just when you think you know everything about the case of disgraced mommy vlogger Ruby Franke, new revelations come to light. This four-part true crime docuseries aims to uncover what drew Franke to the teachings of Jodi Hildebrandt, how the latter rose to power within the Mormon community, and why the bond they shared took such an abusive turn. The series includes interviews with Hildebrandt’s former clients, as well as her niece, who was a first-hand witness to Jodi’s twisted manipulations.
The Yogurt Shop Murders
On December 6, 1991, a police officer responding to reports of a fire at a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas, was horrified to discover the bodies of four teenage girls inside. All four girls, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, had been shot in the head, and at least one of the young women had been raped. More than 30 years later, the events of that night continue to haunt not just the friends and family members of the victims, but the law enforcement officials who investigated the gruesome crime, the individuals who were considered suspects, and even the media members who covered it. HBO’s enthralling new four-part docuseries takes a deep dive into the killings, which remained unsolved until September 29, when investigators in Texas announced that DNA evidence and ballistics had helped to name a (now-deceased) suspect in brutal slayings.
The Gilded Age
While it hasn’t made quite the splash that Downton Abbey did, Julian Fellowes’ latest period piece is just as decadent—and really came into its own with its second season, then became addictive in its third. In this case, the drama moves stateside to document the struggle between New York City’s old-money aristocrats and the vulgar new-money types attempting to infiltrate their social circles. There’s also plenty of the Upstairs, Downstairs–type drama that Fellowes is known for, with the servants who cater to Manhattan’s elite playing a big part of the story here too. Somewhere in the middle of it all is Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson, Meryl Streep's youngest child), a young woman attempting to navigate a world she only belongs to by proxy. Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, and Cynthia Nixon lead a stellar cast. Its third season, which concluded in August, is getting some of the series’ strongest reviews. A fourth season is already confirmed.
The Mortician
HBO delivered one of its most iconic series in the mid-2000s with the family funeral home-set Six Feet Under. The Mortician is essentially the flip side of that critically acclaimed drama: It’s a three-part docuseries that explores the disturbing story of the Lamb Funeral Home, a real-life Los Angeles business that made headlines in the 1980s when it was alleged that its new owner, David Sconce, was engaging in reprehensible practices that seemed to value profit over human life. Years later, and after spending more than a decade in prison on two separate occasions (the second time for violating his parole), Sconce sits down to speak about his crimes, and still seems unmoved by the emotional damage he has caused.
The Rehearsal
Good luck trying to explain what The Rehearsal is to anyone who isn’t familiar with Nathan Fielder’s mastery of uncomfortable comedy. What begins as a series in which the awkward star/comedian attempts to help people prepare for big moments in life by rehearsing them until they get it right quickly turns into a bizarre social experiment in which Fielder himself becomes one of the key players. The less you know about it ahead of time, the better. Just be aware that you’ll be encountering people who responded to a Craigslist ad to take part in season 1, and that the second season sees Fielder stepping in to create a wild role-playing environment to improve communication between pilots, with the hope of preventing plane crashes. It might make you worry about exactly who is commandeering your next flight and give whole new meaning to the chorus of Evanescence’s 2003 hit “Bring Me To Life.”
Conan O'Brien Must Go
Conan O'Brien is at his zaniest in this offshoot of his popular podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. Whereas the popular audio series features O'Brien chatting with his fellow celebrities, this globe-trotting series sees the former late-night host surprising everyday people he has featured on said podcast. But it doubles as a kind of travel series, as he uses the time in these far-off places (which, in the first season, included Norway, Thailand, Argentina, and Ireland) to immerse himself in the food, traditions, and culture of his chosen destinations. Season 2 sees O’Brien visit New Zealand, Austria, and Spain over three episodes. It's a short season, to be sure, but a third season is already confirmed.
The Last of Us
The Last of Us managed to succeed where Netflix’s Resident Evil (which was canceled after one season) and other live-action TV shows based on video games failed—by being really, really good. Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the video game’s original director, Neil Druckmann, cocreated the postapocalyptic drama, in which one grizzled survivor (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with smuggling a smart-mouthed teenager (Bella Ramsey) who could be the key to finding a cure for the fungal infection-fueled pandemic that has turned most of America into zombie-like creatures. Props to everyone for generating so much interest in the (very real and parasitic) Cordyceps fungus—because fungi nerds like TV too. After a near two-year wait, the show’s second season arrived in April. Set five years after the events of the first season, it begins with Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey) having seemingly found a permanent community, despite discord in their own relationship—and zombies that are getting smarter. But the latest season takes some unexpected turns that viewers who aren’t familiar with the video game may not see coming—a trend that will seemingly continue when its third season eventually arrives.
Hacks
Jean Smart has always been a legend, so it’s only appropriate that she plays a legend in Hacks. Four seasons in, the show follows the evolution of the relationship between world-renowned Las Vegas entertainer Deborah Vance (Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder, daughter of SNL legend Laraine Newman), a cynical young writer who is on the outs with Hollywood following a bad-take tweet that went viral. What begins as a reluctant “mentorship” slowly transforms into a loving and respectful friendship in which both women realize they have something to learn from the other. The show has won a slew of awards, including 12 Emmys (four of them for Smart)—a streak that is likely to continue following the show’s dramatic fourth season, which ended with a development that already has fans wondering what season 5 (which is already ordered, and Einbinder says will be its last) might look like.
The Righteous Gemstones
The Righteous Gemstones is Danny McBride's latest effort to put forth a group of highly unlikeable people and find a way to make you like them even less but still want to keep watching. In this case, it’s a family of televangelists whose real god is greed and power. McBride assembled an all-star cast that includes John Goodman as the family’s patriarch, Adam DeVine and Edi Patterson as his fellow Gemstone children, and national treasure Walton Goggins as Uncle Baby Billy Freeman—a child-star-turned-grifter who has given the series some of its most memorable quotes and moments. (Can you say Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers?) The series’ fourth and final season, which added Megan Mullally and Seann William Scott to the mix, concluded in May, with all episodes streaming now.
When No One Sees Us
HBO Max’s first Spanish-produced series, adapted from Sergio Sarria’s novel of the same name, is a smart, slow-burning crime drama. US Army special agent Magaly Castillo (Mariela Garriga) is sent to a base in Morón de la Frontera, Spain, to look into the strange disappearance of a soldier. Not far away, Civil Guard sergeant Lucía Gutiérrez (Maribel Verdú) is investigating a suicide that has ritualistic elements of harakiri. Eventually, their investigations begin to overlap, and the two work together—despite protocol and politics—to understand what is happening around them.
The White Lotus
While it was originally imagined as a one-off limited series from the brilliantly screwed-up mind (in a good way) of Mike White—who cocreated the sadly overlooked Enlightenment with Laura Dern, another HBO show you should check out—The White Lotus has since morphed into a full-on, five-star franchise that just wrapped up its wild third season. The series dives below the surface of the seemingly fabulous lives of deep-pocketed guests who can afford to stay at one of the ultra-luxe resorts of the title’s locations (first Hawaii, then Sicily, followed by Thailand), and the people who trip over themselves to serve their every need. Somewhere in between, murder always seems to end up on the menu. The newest season proved to be deliciously addictive, with Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, and Aimee Lou Wood among the delightfully dysfunctional guests—plus a surprise cameo from Sam Rockwell as a wild character who won’t soon be forgotten. While fans of the series lamented the loss of Jennifer Coolidge as a recurring cast member, writer/actor Natasha Rothwell did her former would-be business partner proud (and Coolidge’s lying husband dirty) by reprising her role as Belinda Lindsey, the spa manager fans met (and rooted for) in Season 1. A fourth season has already been greenlit, but production won’t begin until 2026—meaning it could be 2027 before viewers see the next season of The White Lotus, wherever in the world the show goes (rumors are swirling that it will be France).
The Pitt
First things first: Yes, The Pitt is a medical drama that reunites ER star Noah Wyle with executive producer John Wells. But that’s essentially where the similarities to that iconic NBC series end. Really, The Pitt has more in common with 24. Set in an underfunded hospital in Pittsburgh, the series plays out over 15 hours in real time as patients come and go (in some cases, shuffling off this mortal coil); medical students and interns learn the truth about their chosen profession; and seasoned doctors and hospital administrators butt heads over the nature of the US health care system. It’s an engaging watch that moves at a breakneck speed while offering a somber reality about medicine in a post-pandemic world. Season 1 was a near-perfect season of television, and its five Emmys—including wins for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Katherine LaNasa, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Shawn Hatosy, as well as a much-deserved Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Wyle—are a testament to that. A second season—which will follow the same real-time format and take place over Fourth of July weekend—is already in production, with a planned January 2026 premiere.
Somebody Somewhere
Sam (the amazing Bridget Everett) is a forty-something woman who has lost her way. After returning to her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas, to care for her dying sister, she is left broken and floundering following her sister’s death. Unsure of who she is, what she is doing, or where she fits in, she slowly starts to find her place thanks to Joel (Jeff Hiller), a coworker and former classmate. With his friendship and support, and reconnecting with her love of singing, Sam starts to learn that we don’t need to have the answers to know when something feels “right.” The Peabody Award–winning series is one of the best things to happen to TV audiences in a long time—and a reminder that “acceptance” is in the mind of the beholder. While it managed to fly somewhat under the radar during its three seasons, all of which are streaming now, that changed on September 14 when Hiller won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and delivered one of the night’s most heartfelt—and hilarious—acceptance speeches.
Dune: Prophecy
HBO Max is going all in on Frank Herbert’s Dune. In addition to Denis Villeneuve’s two recent Dune movies—which are both streaming here—there’s now Dune: Prophecy. Based on Brian Herbert (son of Frank) and Kevin J. Anderson’s prequel trilogy novels, the series is set 10,000 years before the events witnessed in the Dune films. In this world, it’s the women who rule as two sisters (Emily Watson and Olivia Williams) work to establish the secretive Bene Gesserit sisterhood, who have developed the power to ensure that all future members will be built to stand as powerful leaders. Comparisons to The Handmaid’s Tale are inevitable. There’s more to come: The series was renewed for a second season just days before its season 1 finale.
Like Water for Chocolate
Foodies and romance lovers alike will enjoy this latest adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s seminal 1989 novel. Set during the Mexican Revolution, it tells the story of Tita de la Garza (Azul Guaita) and Pedro Múzquiz (Andres Baida)—a young couple in love. Tita’s cruel mother, Mamá Elena (Irene Azuela), insists that her daughter will take care of her until her death, and thus refuses to consent when Pedro asks for Tita’s hand. Instead, he ends up marrying Tita’s sister Gertrudis (Andrea Chaparro) in an attempt to remain a part of Tita’s life, which only makes their circumstances more agonizing. Tita’s love does not exactly go unrequited: She expresses it in the food she cooks, which is felt by everyone who tastes it. (This is much less silly than it sounds.) A second, and final, season is scheduled to arrive in 2026.
The Sex Lives of College Girls
Mindy Kaling cocreated this HBO Max series, which puts a new spin on the teenage sex comedy—one in which the women are fully in charge. Nerdy Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet, yes, Timothée’s sister), aspiring professional funny person Bela (Amrit Kaur), snotty Upper East Sider Leighton (Reneé Rapp), and soccer star/senator’s daughter Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) are four college freshmen randomly thrown together as suitemates. But as they get to know each other, and themselves, their forced cohabitation develops into a true bond—one in which there’s no such thing as TMI and a “naked party” is just one way to unwind after a long week. Season 3—which saw Rapp depart the series and new roomie Kacey (Gracie Lawrence) take over her space in the quad—wrapped in January and will sadly be its last.
The Franchise
Armando Iannucci has never met a world he didn’t want to skewer (see: In the Thick of It, Veep, Avenue 5). In the case of The Franchise, which Iannucci co-created with Sam Mendes and Jon Brown, it’s the ridiculousness of superhero movies—and, more specifically, superhero cinematic universes—that is ripe for mockery. Daniel Kumar (Himesh Patel) is the first assistant director on an upcoming movie, Tecto: Eye of the Storm, that’s being made in the shadow of one of its franchise’s team-up movies, Centurios 2, so getting short shrift. Though his name will be buried in the credits, Kumar—who might have the production’s most thankless job—is determined to make a movie that rises above its material. And budget. And actors. And crew. Think of it as a satirical potshot at the MCU. Sadly, one season is all we’re going to get of Iannucci’s latest; HBO canceled the series in early January.
It's Florida, Man
“What you’re about to see may be dangerous, petty, misguided, and most definitely stupid,” warns the voiceover in the trailer. “But it’s also all true. Sort of.” Danny McBride strikes again (as one of the executive producers) on this new late-night series that brings the unbelievable, infamous “Florida Man” headlines to life. Each episode recreates these Floridians' stories with an A-list lineup of comedic actors, including Anna Faris, Jake Johnson, Randall Park, Juliette Lewis, Sam Richardson, and Ego Nwodim. Get ready for feral bunnies, mermaids being harassed by witches, and so much more. HBO Max has already given the green light to a second season.
The Penguin
While superhero/villain TV shows typically tend to be the domain of Disney+, The Penguin is different—in so many ways. Spun off from Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022) and based on the characters famously created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, The Penguin takes a very prestige TV approach to its comic book origins. Which is likely partly why you’ve heard so many comparisons between The Penguin and The Sopranos—a likening that is somewhat overblown. (Though Colin Farrell’s Oswald “Oz” Cobb does bear a passing resemblance to James Gandolfini’s legendary mob boss.) Still, The Penguin is its own beast; it’s an origin story that documents Oz’s violent rise to power following the death of Gotham crime boss Carmine Falcone. While Farrell’s Penguin was one of the most compelling parts of Reeves’ The Batman, here it’s Cristin Milioti—who manages to be utterly charming despite playing a brutal psychopath—who steals the show as Carmen’s daughter Sofia Falcone, a mastermind battling Oz for control of Gotham’s underworld. While conversations are reportedly being had, there’s no word yet on whether a second season will be coming. (Reeves has stated that The Batman 2 is their current priority.)
Chimp Crazy
“You can’t tame wild things.” That’s Alan Cumming’s very simple summation of why it’s not a great idea to have a 250-pound chimp living in your home as if it were another family member. Chimp Crazy takes that notion to the extreme. Ostensibly, the four-part docuseries—which comes to HBO Max from the same people who brought us Tiger King—is about the lengths to which Tonia Haddix, a tanning-salon-loving exotic animal broker, will go to ensure she cannot be separated from her beloved chimp Tonka (despite what PETA believes is best for the primate). Ultimately, however, it’s an examination of the “chimp mom” community and the disturbing reality of what can happen when a human being puts their own needs above those of these highly intelligent primates, who need more than living in the suburbs can afford them. While there has been no word about whether there will be a season 2, Haddix’s recent arrest and four-year prison sentence certainly open up the possibility of there being more story to tell here.
Industry
You may not have had an “investment banking drama” on your bingo card as your next obsessive binge-watch, but Industry has got a lot more to offer than financial jargon. The British-American series is set in and around Pierpoint & Co., one of London’s most prestigious investment banks and the place that any up-and-comer wants to land a job at. The problem is, Pierpont is picky—and has a very limited number of full-time positions up for grabs. So what you get instead is an inside peek at a cutthroat industry coupled with an ensemble dramedy about the lives of the young professionals competing to make it to the top. Game of Thrones star Kit Harington joined the show—which many have deemed “the new Succession”—for its third season. Kiernan Shipka, Max Minghella, Jack Farthing, Toheeb Jimoh, and Amy James-Kelly have been announced as new cast members for the fourth season, which is expected to arrive in January.
House of the Dragon
While it would be silly to think any series could replicate the cultural behemoth that was Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon does a pretty admirable job (even if George R.R. Martin doesn’t necessarily agree with all of the creative choices that make it different from the book). Especially if you wished its predecessor had more dragon action. This prequel series, which is set approximately 200 years before Game of Thrones, is all about discord within House Targaryen and the beginning of the end of that ruling family’s dynasty. Just like GoT, there’s enough sex, violence, backstabbing, family dysfunction, and dragons to fill that void—and even the occasional darkly lit scene to get audiences all riled up.
The Sopranos
It has been more than 25 years since audiences were introduced to Tony Soprano and his family—both the blood kind and the other kind. Whether you’ve never seen the series that still tops many people’s lists as the greatest television show ever created, or it’s just been a while, it’s time to give it a rewatch. By now the basic premise is well known: Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is a New Jersey mob boss who struggles with depression and panic attacks. So he starts seeing a psychiatrist (Lorraine Bracco), which is a no-no in Tony’s line of work. Over the next six seasons, audiences are invited to experience the life of a mob boss—both the violent side and the mundanities it can bring. A quarter-century later, the series still holds up. For an extra dose of Sopranos content, be sure to check out the 2021 prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark, or Alex Gibney’s two-part docuseries, Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, both of which are also streaming.
Ren Faire
What would happen if Succession's Logan Roy were in charge of a Renaissance fair? It might look a lot like Ren Faire. This surprisingly engaging three-part docuseries follows the drama that ensues when George Coulam, founder of the Texas Renaissance Festival (America’s largest Renaissance fair) announces his retirement. While it would seem that the festival’s general manager would be first in line to take over, a kettle corn kingpin and former elephant trainer rise up to challenge that notion of succession. Who knew the Ren faire business was so cutthroat?
Fantasmas
Calling all Los Espookys fans: Julio Torres has a new series. And yes, it’s just as absurd and silly and funny as its horror-comedy predecessor. In this case, Torres plays a fictionalized version of himself who ends up wandering New York City looking for a lost earring. Along the way, he encounters all sorts of bizarre characters, with guest appearances from the likes of Steve Buscemi, Emma Stone, Ziwe, Paul Dano, Bowen Yang, and Aidy Bryant.
The Jinx
The Jinx is as unnerving as it is fascinating. Director Andrew Jarecki’s first brush with the history of Robert Durst came in the form of All Good Things, the 2010 feature starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst that fictionalized the life of Durst. But when Durst saw what Jarecki had done with that project, he requested they sit down for an interview, which spawned this true-crime docuseries that initially premiered in 2015—and eventually led to new charges being filed against Durst. We won’t give away too much, but suffice to say the words “killed them all, of course” will forever live in your mind. The Jinx Part Two picks up the story after Durst uttered that haunting phrase.
The Sympathizer
Viewers still lamenting the end of The Americans will find much to love about The Sympathizer, which was co-created by acclaimed filmmakers Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar. Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, this limited series follows the exploits of the Captain (Hoa Xuande), a police captain in the Vietnamese capital then known as Saigon, who also happens to be a communist spy. Eventually, he makes his way to America, where he continues gathering intelligence for the Viet Cong. While it may not sound like the premise of a black comedy, that’s indeed what it is—especially whenever Robert Downey Jr. is around. The Iron Man star makes for a formidable villain who viewers love to hate in each one of the four characters he plays.
Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show
One has to imagine that putting “Reality Show” in the title was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as this docuseries—in which comedian Jerrod Carmichael claims he’s attempting to “self-Truman Show” himself—is much more intimate and authentic than that label would imply. Carmichael’s goal is to be as honest as he can be about his life and struggles while the cameras are rolling. And if one were to judge his success based on how uncomfortable some viewers might be bearing witness to it all, the show is an absolute triumph.
Tokyo Vice
In 1993, American journalist Jake Adelstein landed a job at the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Shimbun as the newspaper’s first non-Japanese staff writer—a position he held for a dozen years. Nearly 30 years later, in 2022, HBO Max turned Adelstein’s life into a slick crime drama that sees the young journalist (played by Ansel Elgort) forge a deep connection with high-ranking members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, who allow him to get dangerously close to the violence and corruption that exist within the city. In summer 2024, HBO Max announced that the show’s explosive second season would be its last. But Tokyo Vice producers are still holding out hope that a third season will be greenlit elsewhere.
True Detective: Night Country
Did you take our advice and watch Deadloch and now you want more of that, but far darker and more creepy? We have just the solution: True Detective: Night Country. Truth be told, this anthology series has had a rough go. Following a wildly successful first season that crashed HBO Max’s predecessor, HBO Go, and had everyone talking about how time is a flat circle, the series’ second and third installments failed to capture the same momentum. Night Country is a return to form, as evidenced by its 19 Emmy nominations (the most of any HBO series in 2024). It stars Jodie Foster, who won her first Emmy for the role, and Kali Reis as a pair of investigators trying to uncover a conspiracy and solve a series of bizarre murders. Mysterious symbols are also involved. Yes, that’s pretty much the plot of every season of True Detective, but this season has corpsicles. As with all of those previous iterations, the less you know at the start, the better. Speaking of the less you know: A fifth season has been commissioned, with Night Country creator Issa López returning as showrunner. Very few details have been revealed except that the season is scheduled to be set in New York’s Jamaica Bay, and that Nicolas Cage is in talks to play the lead.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
“I really did the best under the circumstances of a person who hates people and yet had to be amongst them,” Larry David says in the trailer for the 12th—and final (yes, really)—season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. David—both the real-life comedian and the semi-fictionalized version of himself he plays on TV—has been dipping in and out of our lives for more than 20 years now. And he continually exceeded audience expectations with each new season of Curb. Even though he cocreated Seinfeld, one of the most game-changing TV series of all time, it’s Curb Your Enthusiasm to which he’ll always be more closely linked. Pretty good for a social assassin. Pretty, pretty good. While Curb might be dead, David’s partnership with HBO is alive and well; in July, it was announced that he’ll be bringing a new comedy sketch series to the network.
Rap Sh!t
Insecure impresario Issa Rae is the brains behind this laugh-out-loud comedy, which follows Mia Knight (KaMillion) and Shawna Clark (Aida Osman), two former high school friends and struggling rappers trying to make it on the Miami music scene. Ultimately, they decide to join forces to form a group, double their chances of success, and use social media as their launching pad—all with mixed results. As much as the series is about music, at its heart it’s really about the unending possibilities of youthdom and the beauty of women supporting women. At just two seasons long, it’s an easy binge-watch.
Starstruck
Jessie (Rose Matafeo) is a twentysomething New Zealander attempting to make ends meet as a nanny in London. One New Year’s Eve, she has a drunken one-night stand, only to sober up and realize she just slept with Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel), a major movie star. But what was presumably a one-off encounter turns into much more over time in this charming romcom series, which is a little bit like Notting Hill—only drunker.
Our Flag Means Death
Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi do what Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi do best as two very different kinds of pirates who cross paths in the 1700s. Darby plays Stede Bonnet, a fictionalized version of a very real member of the landed gentry whose version of a midlife crisis sees him abandon his family and hit the high seas for a swashbuckling adventure. Waititi, meanwhile, plays the infamous Blackbeard, who learns of Bonnet and seeks him out. What begins as a kind of mentorship eventually becomes the gay pirate action-comedy series you never knew you needed.
How to With John Wilson
If Steven Wright and Nathan Fielder decided to create a YouTube channel of how-to tutorials on topics like putting up scaffolding and covering furniture in plastic, it might look a lot like How to With John Wilson. So it probably comes as no surprise that Fielder is an executive producer of the series, which follows Wilson as he attempts to uncover the secrets of such universal dilemmas as how to make small talk. Wilson’s surprising mix of earnestness and deadpan delivery make the series surprising, enlightening, and extremely strange.
Project Greenlight: A New Generation
In 2001, just three years after Good Will Hunting made them bona fide Oscar winners, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck launched Project Greenlight, a competition that gave aspiring filmmakers the chance to make a real, live movie—which begat Project Greenlight, a reality series that chronicled the ups and downs (mostly downs) of that experience. While the competition was better known for the TV series it spawned versus the movies that it produced, it’s now more than 20 years later. And, as new mentors Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, and Gina Prince-Bythewood quickly realize, it’s all still a bit of a nightmare. Gray Matter, the movie that was created from the competition’s rebirth, is also streaming on HBO Max, so you can judge for yourself whether things are different this time around.
The Other Two
Chasedreams (Case Walker) is a 13-year-old internet icon whose overnight rise to global stardom has become the sole focus of his mom (Molly Shannon). Chase’s older siblings, however, are having a much harder time finding success. Brother Cary (Drew Tarver) is an aspiring actor who can’t even land the part of “Man at Party Who Smells Fart,” while sister Brooke (Heléne Yorke) is just trying to figure out who and what she wants to be. All three seasons of the series, which was cocreated by former SNL head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, are available to binge.
Barry
No one seemed particularly wowed when HBO announced that Bill Hader and Alec Berg were cocreating a series in which Hader would play a hitman with a conscience who attempts to go straight. But what might sound like a played-out trope has taken on new dimensions of humor, darkness, humanity, and plain old weirdness, with its recently concluded final season serving as a brilliant crescendo of all of that dark weirdness mixed in with a little time jump. Barry Berkman (Hader) is a traumatized marine whose newfound apathy toward the world and the very act of living makes him perfectly suited to work as a gun for hire. When a job takes him to Los Angeles, Barry stumbles upon an acting class led by Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, in what may be the role that finally supplants Fonzie as his most memorable), a failed but charismatic mentor. But transitioning back into the real world isn’t without consequences for Barry, who can spend an entire episode being hunted by a pint-sized martial arts master. All four seasons of the Emmy-winning series, each one better than the next, are available to stream in full.
Succession
Media empires run by dysfunctional families may rise and fall, but we’ll always have Succession. The Emmy-winning series concluded its four-season run in early 2023, but its legacy as one of the most surprising pieces of prestige TV will be felt for decades to come (especially after what happened at Shiv’s wedding … then “Connor’s Wedding,” not to mention on the balcony or in the hand-hold seen ’round the world). At a time when TV shows about rich people, real or imagined, are in ample supply, Succession manages to stand out by being as bitingly funny as it is painfully tragic. The jet-black family dramedy chronicles the Roy family and the people/cronies/tall men who orbit them, all of whom seem to be angling for control of Waystar Royco, the family-run global media conglomerate—whether by succession (get it?) or more hostile means. Think of it as King Lear meets Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., only funny. (Unless you’re invited to play a game of Boar on the Floor.)
A Black Lady Sketch Show
In 2015, Robin Thede made television history when she was named head writer for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore—making her the first Black woman to hold the head writer position on a late-night talk show. Four years later, she revolutionized the TV landscape once again when she gathered up a group of her funniest friends—including Ashley Nicole Black, (future Abbott Elementary creator) Quinta Brunson, Gabrielle Dennis, and Skye Townsend—and created A Black Lady Sketch Show, the first sketch comedy written, produced, and starring Black women. The four-season series has brought such A-list names as Angela Bassett out as guest stars with its no-holds-barred humor, and the entire series is available to stream now.
Rain Dogs
Costello Jones (Daisy May Cooper) is an aspiring novelist and working-class mom who isn’t always successful at making ends meet for herself and her wise-beyond-her-years daughter, Iris (Fleur Tashjian). So Costello is regularly forced to call upon her violence-prone—but wealthy—gay best friend, Selby (Jack Farthing), to unstick them from whatever jams they’ve managed to get caught in. The series is billed as a black comedy, which it definitely is, although the moments between the levity are sometimes so dark and raw that even the frothiest bits carry weight. This darkly nuanced and sometimes surreal meditation on class, sex, dysfunction, and the varying definitions of “family” makes for a compulsively watchable series. Sadly, the BBC-HBO coproduction was canceled after one season, so the eight existing episodes are all you get.
Abbott Elementary
Abbott Elementary creator/star Quinta Brunson (A Black Lady Sketch Show) has garnered all sorts of accolades with this ABC series and even managed to create streaming deals with both HBO Max and Hulu. The surprise hit follows the lives of a group of teachers who are working at one of the most woefully underfunded public schools in America while doing their best to inspire students. Yes, it all sounds very earnest—and it is—but it’s also the kind of funny we don’t see much of on network TV anymore. The series—which premiered its fifth season debut on Oct. 1—has racked up enough awards (Emmys, Critics Choice, Indie Spirit, and beyond) to fill a school trophy case.
I May Destroy You
Michaela Coel is a creative force of nature who delivered on what she promised with the title of this limited series, which she created, wrote, directed, and stars in. Arabella (Coel) is a Londoner living the millennial dream with a thriving writing career, thanks in part to her celebrity as a social media influencer. But Arabella’s Insta-perfect life begins to unravel when, after a night out with friends, she begins to recall—in fragments—being sexually assaulted. Eventually, the need to piece together exactly what happened to her, and who did it, consumes her completely and the past comes knocking at her door. Last August, Coel announced she was working jointly with HBO and BBC on a new series, First Day on Earth, that will be equally personal.
Avenue 5
Bad timing may have led to the unfortunately early demise of Avenue 5, which had filming on its second season delayed, and delayed again, due to Covid-19. But the space-set comedy from the brilliant mind of Armando Iannucci, creator of Veep (another classic streaming on HBO Max), and its even swearier predecessor, The Thick of It, is well worth your time, if only to see what could happen when space travel inevitably goes wrong. Hugh Laurie stars as the “captain” of an interplanetary cruise ship, with Josh Gad playing the role of eccentric tech billionaire/huge baby Herman Judd, whose planned eight-week tour of the galaxy turns dire when a gravitational disaster steers the ship off course. The series gets more bonkers as it goes along, and poop plays a massive part in saving thousands of passengers and crew members. Consider yourselves warned—and feel free to laugh at the inanity of it all. Loudly.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 20:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-23T20:29:16.814823
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ServiceNow to acquire cybersecurity startup Armis for $7.75B
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/servicenow-to-acquire-cybersecurity-startup-armis-for-7-75b/
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The deal is expected to yield significant returns for Armis investors, including Sequoia, CapitalG, and Insight Partners.
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In Brief
Enterprise software company ServiceNow agreed to acquire a nine-year-old cybersecurity startup, Armis, for $7.75 billion in cash.
The deal is a massive valuation jump for the company. Just last month, Armis raised a $435 million pre-IPO funding round, which valued the company at $6.1 billion.
Armis co-founder and CEO Yevgeny Dibrov had told TechCrunch last month that the company aims to go public in late 2026 or 2027, adding that an IPO is his “personal dream.”
Given the unpredictability of IPO markets and how few cybersecurity companies actually go public, it is not a surprise that Armis ultimately chose an M&A exit.
According to ServiceNow, Armis has reached $340 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), with year-over-year growth exceeding 50%.
Armis, which provides security software for critical infrastructure to Fortune 500 companies and governments, will help ServiceNow expand its cybersecurity offerings.
The deal caps off a busy acquisition year for ServiceNow, which scooped up MoveWorks for $2.85 billion and agreed to acquire cybersecurity startup Veza for $1 billion.
According to PitchBook, Armis has raised a total of $1.45 billion in venture capital from investors including Sequoia, CapitalG, and Insight Partners.
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 20:40:10 +0000
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2025-12-23T20:47:29.280176
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The Pixel 10, our favorite Android phone, is nearly 50 percent off right now
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https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/836995/google-pixel-10-pro-xl-amazon-deal-sale-2025
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If you’re in the market for a new Android smartphone — or on the hunt for a solid last-minute gift — Google’s Pixel 10 is a great place to look. We consider it the best Android phone you can buy, and right now, you can grab it at Amazon starting at $449 ($350 off) when […]
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If you’re in the market for a new Android smartphone — or on the hunt for a solid last-minute gift — Google’s Pixel 10 is a great place to look. We consider it the best Android phone you can buy, and right now, you can grab it at Amazon starting at $449 ($350 off) when you use promo code PIXEL10, which drops Google’s entry-level flagship to its lowest price to date. If you prefer a better cameras or a bigger screen, Amazon is also offering the Pixel 10 Pro and the Pixel 10 Pro XL for $649 ($350 off) and $799 ($400 off), respectively, using the same code.
In her review, Verge senior reviewer Allison Johnson called the Pixel 10 a great, basic Android phone that offers some notable upgrades over its predecessor. It features a 6.3-inch OLED screen and a 120Hz refresh rate, along with a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, making it easy to see in direct sunlight. It also includes an array of helpful AI-powered tools and a dedicated telephoto camera — a first for a non-Pro Pixel phone — which is great for capturing portrait photos.
One of the Pixel 10’s more notable upgrades, though, is the addition of Qi2 wireless charging with built-in magnets — arguably the coolest part of the device — which means you don’t need a separate case for easy and precise charging alignment. The device also includes Google’s Tensor G5 chip, which is the same one found in the pricier Pro models; however, the Pixel 10 has slightly lower RAM (12GB versus 16GB). Still, you shouldn’t notice any major differences in everyday performance, unless you’re really pushing it with heavy multitasking and serious mobile gaming.
Our main gripe with the Pixel 10 is that its main and ultrawide cameras aren’t quite as good as those on the Pro. That said, the standard Pixel produces pictures that are perfectly fine, while the telephoto camera makes for a nice addition. At its normal $799 price, we think the Pixel 10 is already a great value. At $449, it’s a dang good deal.
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2025-12-23T16:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-23T21:25:01.107353
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Trump administration’s ban on foreign-made drones starts this week. You can say goodbye to new DJI models.
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/23/trump-administrations-ban-on-foreign-made-drones-starts-this-week-you-can-say-goodbye-to-new-dji-models/
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It's the latest development in an evolving war between Chinese and American consumer tech products.
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On Monday, the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission banned all new foreign-made drone models from distribution in the U.S., citing “national security concerns.” Americans who already own older foreign drone models will still be able to use those products, the government said.
In a fact sheet published Monday, the FCC claimed that “criminals, hostile foreign actors, and terrorists” could use drones “to present new and serious threats to our homeland.” As a result, the agency said that it had updated its Covered List—which is a list of products that have been “deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security” of the country—to include all “UAS and UAS critical components produced abroad.”
The FCC’s chairman, Brendan Carr, said Monday that he approved of the policy. “I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign drones and related components, which pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC’s Covered List,” Carr said. “Following President Trump’s leadership, the FCC will work closely with U.S. drone makers to unleash American drone dominance.”
The new rule will obviously impact many different companies, but it is destined to strike a blow against Chinese drone maker DJI, which is currently considered the dominant player in drone sales globally. Indeed, DJI is considered to be one of the most popular drone brands for American consumers.
When reached for comment by TechCrunch, DJI said it disapproved of the decision. “DJI is disappointed by the Federal Communications Commission’s action today to add foreign‑made drones to the Covered List. While DJI was not singled out, no information has been released regarding what information was used by the Executive Branch in reaching its determination.”
The company, which said that it remained committed to the U.S. market, continued: “As the industry leader, DJI has advocated for an open, competitive market that benefits all US consumers and commercial users, and will continue to do so. DJI products are among the safest and most secure on the market, supported by years of reviews conducted by U.S. government agencies and independent third parties.”
Throughout his multiple presidential administrations, Trump has repeatedly played hardball with Chinese companies. His administration laid the groundwork for the new drone ban with an executive order passed in June that sought to boost the production of U.S.-made drones and thus foster a “strong and secure domestic drone sector,” while also securing “the United States drone supply chain against foreign control or exploitation.”
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 21:16:04 +0000
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2025-12-23T21:25:01.356116
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China just carried out its second reusable launch attempt in three weeks
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https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/china-just-carried-out-its-second-reusable-launch-attempt-in-three-weeks/
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The launch laid "an important foundation for subsequent launches and reliable recovery."
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For the second time this month, a Chinese rocket designed for reuse successfully soared into low-Earth orbit on its first flight Monday, defying the questionable odds that burden the debuts of new launch vehicles.
The first Long March 12A rocket, roughly the same height and diameter of SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9:00 pm EST Monday (02:00 UTC Tuesday).
Less than 10 minutes later, rocket’s methane-fueled first stage booster hurtled through the atmosphere at supersonic speed, impacting in a remote region about 200 miles downrange from the Jiuquan spaceport in northwestern China. The booster failed to complete a braking burn to slow down for landing at a prepared location near the edge of the Gobi Desert.
The Long March 12A’s upper stage performed as intended, successfully reaching the mission’s “predetermined orbit,” said the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the state-owned enterprise that leads the country’s space industry.
“The first stage failed to be successfully recovered,” the corporation said in a statement. “The specific reasons are currently under further analysis and investigation.”
A stable of reusable rockets
This outcome resembles the results from the first flight of another medium-class Chinese rocket, the Zhuque-3, on December 2. The Zhuque-3 rocket was developed by a privately-funded startup named LandSpace. Similar in size and performance to the Long March 12A, the Zhuque-3 also reached orbit on its first launch, and its recoverable booster stage crashed during a downrange landing attempt. The Zhuque-3’s first stage came down next to its landing zone, while the Long March 12A appears to have missed by at least a couple of miles.
“Although this mission did not achieve the planned recovery of the rocket’s first stage, it obtained critical engineering data under the rocket’s actual flight conditions, laying an important foundation for subsequent launches and reliable recovery of the stages,” CASC said. “The research and development team will promptly conduct a comprehensive review and technical analysis of this test process, fully investigate the cause of the failure, continuously optimize the recovery plan, and continue to advance reusable technology verification.”
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Tue, 23 Dec 2025 21:22:38 +0000
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2025-12-23T21:25:01.881068
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Apple is going to allow third-party app stores in Brazil, too
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https://www.theverge.com/news/850061/apple-brazil-third-party-app-stores-external-payment-systems
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Apple is set to allow third-party app stores on iOS in Brazil next year after settling with the country's competition watchdog in a legal battle dating back to 2022, as reported by 9to5Mac. According to a machine translation of a press release from the Brazilian regulator CADE, it has approved a Term of Commitment to […]
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is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Apple is set to allow third-party app stores on iOS in Brazil next year after settling with the country’s competition watchdog in a legal battle dating back to 2022, as reported by 9to5Mac.
According to a machine translation of a press release from the Brazilian regulator CADE, it has approved a Term of Commitment to Termination (TCC) made by Apple that obligates the company to allow third-party app stores and let developers use external payment systems. The company will be able to still charge fees under a structure that isn’t detailed in the release. Warnings about third-party app stores and external payment systems must also have neutral wording.
Apple has argued against opening up iOS on the grounds that it could compromise the platform’s security. But regulation in other countries has already forced the company to let users in Europe and Japan install third-party app stores, and in the US, Apple allows for external payment links.
Apple has 105 days to put the changes into place, and if it doesn’t comply with its obligations, it could be subject to a fine of up to R$150 million (about $27 million).
The company shared the following statement with 9to5Mac about the decision:
In order to comply with regulatory demands from CADE, Apple is making changes that will impact iOS apps in Brazil. While these changes will open new privacy and security risks to users, we have worked to maintain protections against some threats, including keeping in place important safeguards for younger users. These safeguards will not eliminate every risk, but they will help ensure that iOS remains the best, most secure mobile platform available in Brazil and we will continue to advocate on behalf of users and developers.
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-23T18:00:51-05:00
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2025-12-23T23:27:23.626784
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Trump administration bars former EU official and anti-disinformation and hate researchers from US
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https://www.theverge.com/news/850067/us-sanctions-thierry-breton-content-moderation-censorship
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On Tuesday, the Trump Administration followed through on a threat of retaliation targeting foreigners who are involved in content moderation. The State Department announced sanctions barring US access for former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, as well as four researchers, while issuing an intentionally chilling threat to others, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming, "The […]
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is a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
On Tuesday, the Trump Administration followed through on a threat of retaliation targeting foreigners who are involved in content moderation. The State Department announced sanctions barring US access for former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, as well as four researchers, while issuing an intentionally chilling threat to others, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming, “The State Department stands ready and willing to expand today’s list if other foreign actors do not reverse course.”
One of the researchers the State Department says is banned and now deportable, is Imran Ahmed, who runs the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization aimed at identifying and pushing back against hate speech online that Elon Musk tried and failed to censor with a lawsuit that was dismissed in early 2024. In his decision, Judge Charles Breyer wrote that X’s motivation for suing was to “punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp. — and perhaps in order to dissuade others.”
Breton is called “a mastermind of the Digital Services Act” by US Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers, who specifically referenced a letter he sent to Elon Musk ahead of a livestreamed event with Donald Trump that noted X’s legal obligations under the DSA relating to illegal content and disinformation.
The other researchers include Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon, leaders of HateAid, a nonprofit that tried to sue X in 2023 for “failing to remove criminal antisemitic content,” as well as Clare Melford, leader of the Global Disinformation Index, which works on “fixing the systems that enable disinformation.”
The press release announcing the sanctions is titled “Announcement of Actions to Combat the Global Censorship-Industrial Complex,” the claimed target of Republicans like House Judiciary Committee leader Jim Jordan, as they’ve worked against attempts to apply fact-checking and misinformation research to social networks. Earlier this month, Reuters reported the State Department ordered US consulates to consider rejecting H-1B visa applicants involved in content moderation, and a few days ago, the Office of the US Trade Representative threatened retaliation against European tech giants like Spotify and SAP over supposedly “discriminatory” activity in regulating US tech platforms.
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2025-12-23T19:11:40-05:00
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2025-12-24T02:10:48.754960
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Paramount Plus Coupon Codes and Deals: 50% Off
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https://www.wired.com/story/paramount-plus-coupon-code/
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Save on streaming with the latest Paramount+ promo codes and deals, including 50% off subscriptions, free trials, and more.
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The most talked-about TV show in the country right now, South Park, is on Paramount+. Don’t you want to know what got Trump in such a tizzy?
Stream the much buzzed-about South Park, fan-favorite Yellowstone, original series MobLand, and rebooted crime drama Dexter & Dexter on Paramount+. The streaming network has a bingeable TV series for almost everyone. And whether you want to remember Lindsay Lohan’s old face in the classic Mean Girls flick, or wonder just how many more sequels Tom Cruise has left in him with Top Gun: Maverick, there’s a bevy of films to stream, too.
If you’re like me and have at least half a dozen streaming services, our Paramount+ coupon codes can help you save so you can watch the content you want without having to get rid of one of your other beloved content platforms. (I love pretending the world isn’t full of suffering around me and instead focus on Sylvester Stallone’s ever-changing Play-Doh face in Tulsa King.)
Try Paramount+ Free With a One-Week Trial
If you’re unsure if you’ll actually want to commit to Paramount+, or if there’s a sports event like the Super Bowl or March Madness games and you only need to access the content for a little while, Paramount+’s free trial is a great option. The trial lasts one week, is for new subscribers only, and can’t be paired with other offers.
There are tiered plans, including Essential, which allows for 3 devices, select Showtime series, NFL games, and can be streamed on up to 3 devices at once, but has ads; and Premium, which includes all that except there are no ads, downloadable content, CBS live, and all of Showtime content.
Save on a Paramount+ Subscription With Student and Military Discounts
If you’re a student now (or have your student ID lying around somewhere), you can get a Paramount+ plan at only $4 a month. All you have to do is verify your student status and you’ll get 50% off any plan of your choosing for the first year. Or if you’re a military member, Paramount+ gives 50% off any subscription for life.
Stream Live Sports and Events on Paramount+
For better or worse, I’m a Chiefs fan (cue the booing). I usually get a Paramount+ plan during the football season to keep up with my favorite beefy, TBI-ridden men. You can stream all of the NFL coverage you want all season long, plus, 24/7 live channels are now streaming on Paramount+, so you’ll never need to give your brain the time to process the horrors.
Watch Paramount+ Originals and Fan Favorites
TThere’s truly something for everyone in the family, with movies, kids’ shows, and Paramount+ originals included in every plan. If you’re feeling spooky, I’d recommend Dexter: Resurrection, or Yellowjackets, but if you’re looking for something more family-friendly, there’s super popular cartoons like Rango or Sonic the Hedgehog to choose from.
Looking for specific recommendations? I’ve got you. There are tons of great new releases coming to Paramount+ this month, including Landman season 2, new Paramount+ original comedy series Crutch starring Tracy Morgan, and new episodes of (my favorite) newly premiered Ink Master Season 17. There are also tons of new movies, including The Cut, a boxing drama starring Orlando Bloom, dark comedy Shell, and true-crime tale My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story. Plus, Paramount+ will be playing the important NFL holiday games, like the Chiefs-Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game.
Check out the wide breadth of TV and movie content to choose from on Paramount+ (and use the Paramount+ promo codes above to save on whatever plan you decide).
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 06:30:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T06:44:02.311624
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Vitamix Promo Codes and Deals: $25 Off + Free Shipping
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https://www.wired.com/story/vitamix-promo-code/
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Score discounts on blenders, food processors, immersion blenders, and more with our selection of Vitamix coupons and deals.
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I've been hooked on smoothies in an almost superstitious way ever since college: A fruit smoothie is like a good luck charm, promising the health you feel you deserve despite all your other bad decisions. But in my more recent adult life, a good blender is the passport to taqueria salsas, Oaxacan-style mole, and all the delicate emulsions I once had to buy at restaurants and in jars.
Well, Vitamix crushes the blender game, but usually comes with a price tag to match. Luckily Vitamix promo codes crop up at various points during the year, and we’re here to help you stay up to date on those discounts.
Vitamix New Ascent X5 With Stainless Steel Container
Vitmix’s top-of-the-line blender model, Ascent X5, is now constructed with a stainless steel container. The 48-ounce stainless steel container is not only huge and hygienic, the machine itself combines an intuitive touch interface with a refined, timeless design. The non-reactive stainless steel material resists stains, odors, and corrosion, and expertly handles hot, cold, and acidic ingredients. This futuristic gadget also has an automatic self-cleaning program and ten blending programs for popular items like smoothies, soups, frozen cocktails and more for a precise blend, every time.
Get a $25 Vitamix Promo Code Plus Free Shipping
Vitamix has tons of ways to save on these handy kitchen gear items, including $25 off when you register your email. All you have to do is input your email on Vitamix’s website, and you’ll get a discount of up to $25 sent straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get free shipping on orders of $100 or more.
Does Vitamix Offer Free Shipping?
Glad you asked. Vitamix is offering free standard shipping for orders above $99. This pretty much means that ground shipping is free for blenders at the current discounts. Priority shipping is not free, however.
The WIRED Gear Team's Favorite Vitamix Blenders
WIRED has long been singing the praises of the classic Vitamix 5200. The model made a blender convert out of contributing reviewer Joe Ray after he realized that the “model of preference for blender aficionados around the world” was also his key to home mole and Oaxacan-style cookery.
A similar road-to-Damascus moment beset WIRED contributing reviewer Heather Arndt Anderson when she tested the Vitamix Ascent X2, also currently on a $50 promo discount. “The more I thought about it,” she wrote, “the more I realized that maybe I’ve never been a blender person because I never had a good blender.” Anderson also made a big batch of mole and avoided passing out from chile fumes, then moved on to homemade masa and a Georgian walnut spread. She regretted only that the blender wasn't easier to clean.
After testing through a number of brands' blenders, WIRED contributing reviewer Emily Peck marveled that even the basic Vitamix Explorian E310 churned almonds frictionlessly into butter without even need of a presoak.
The WIRED Team Loved These Latest Vitamix Recipes
One of the reasons we on the gear team like Vitamix machines is because of their versatility. And Vitamix makes it extra easy to make the most of your Vitamix blender, with tons of Vitamix soup recipes, plus curry, sauces, and more. Make the most out of your device, whether its a Vitamix Professional Series 750 or 5200, Vitamix has the best recipes for you.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 06:20:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T06:44:02.533566
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$100 Off Shark Promo Code | This Month
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https://www.wired.com/story/shark-promo-code/
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Shark makes some seriously powerful vacuums, from handheld vacs to steam mops. Don’t miss $100 off, 10% off, and more limited-time coupons from WIRED.
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Keeping my house clean can feel like an impossible task with a litter-kicking-happy cat and a two-year-old on a mission to throw everything, whether it’s Cheerios or pizza, onto the floor. One of the things that has made it easier, though, is my Shark handheld vacuum. The Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus is one of our favorite handheld vacuums, and it’s made it easy to clean up messes from both my cat and tiny human without needing to lug my old vacuum out for every mess. If you want a mess-free home for less, check our Shark coupon code.
Get 10% Off Your First Order With a Shark Promo Code
If you’re buying a Shark vacuum for the first time, you’re in luck: you can get 10 percent off right away by signing up for Shark’s emails. You’ll be prompted to put your email in, and will be emailed a unique code for you to use to get 10 percent off your order of a single item. That item doesn’t have to be a vacuum—feel free to snag your own Shark FlexStyle, an air purifier, or even a red light mask.
Get 15% Off $150+ With the Shark Student Discount
If you’re a student, you can get one of the best Shark discount codes regularly available: 15 percent off purchases over $150. In order to get it, you’ll need an account on UNiDAYS, then visit the Shark website through the UNiDAYS portal to get the student discount code.
Give $20, Get a $20 Shark Coupon Code With Referral
If you’ve already had your first order on Shark’s website, all is not lost. You can refer a friend to get them a $20 discount on orders over $100 on Shark’s website. You’ll score a $20 discount for yourself, too, once that referral code is validated, though you’ll need to spend $200 to use it.
Shop Responsibly (and Save) With Refurbished Shark Products
If you’re looking for an eco-conscious option, Shark has a refurbishment program where you can get a certified renewed vacuums, hair dryers, and stylers for a lower cost. It’s a great way to get a discount on Shark’s fantastic gadgets, with up to $100 off a refurbished product. There’s not always a refurbished product ready to buy, but you can sign up to get alerts for certain products, like the Shark FlexStyle system.
When to Save the Most With a Shark Promo Code
Wondering if there’s a best time to shop on Shark’s website? While some of the best times of year won’t be until the fall holiday season with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can keep an eye out for great sales during summer holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day. Shark also has an end of season sale usually in July, plus a Shark Anniversary Sale in September.
More Shark Cleaning Tools We Love
Shark makes more than just handheld vacuum cleaners: they’ve got robot vacuums, steam cleaners, cordless vacuums, carpet cleaners, and so much more. And there’s several we love, from the Shark PowerDetect (8/10, WIRED Recommends) and the Shark Genius Steam Mop. Shark also makes fantastic hair tools like the Shark FlexStyle (9/10, WIRED Recommends). In the spirit of spring cleaning, there’s no better time to get a brand-new Shark vacuum, especially since you can snag a Shark promo code for 10 percent off and up to $100 off any Shark vacuum. There’s also student discounts and referral codes for more money off if you qualify. Here are all the Shark promo codes you can’t miss.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 06:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T06:44:02.759454
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The Pluribus finale showed there’s a lot more to the story
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https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/848379/pluribus-review-season-1-finale
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It's a good thing that we already know a second season of Pluribus is on the way. Because the season finale for the show - a sci-fi drama on Apple TV, helmed by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan - made it clear that things are just getting started. The episode brought together a number of […]
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It’s a good thing that we already know a second season of Pluribus is on the way. Because the season finale for the show — a sci-fi drama on Apple TV, helmed by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan — made it clear that things are just getting started. The episode brought together a number of significant threads but, more importantly, opened up potentially explosive (literally) new lines of inquiry for what comes next.
Spoiler to follow for the first season of Pluribus.
First, a little reminder of how we got here. The inciting incident of Pluribus was the release of a virus of unknown, but extraterrestrial, origins, that turned almost the entirety of the Earth’s human population into an interconnected hive mind. The hive are peaceful, to the point that they won’t even kill a bug or pick an apple off of a tree, and they are physically harmed by negative emotions. There are around a dozen people who weren’t impacted by the virus. Most notably this includes an American woman named Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and a Paraguayan man named Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga). For most of the season, the pair have been separated physically, but united in being vehemently opposed to the hive’s presence, while trying to figure out a way to “save” the world by making it the way it used to be.
The finale sees these two finally able to meet up with each other — but things have changed for Carol. In the penultimate episode, her feelings toward the hive began to soften, primarily as she grew closer to her chaperone Zosia (Karolina Wydra). In fact, by the time the finale starts, they’re a full-on couple. It’s a far cry from the early days of the show, when Carol was so antagonistic to the hive that they abandoned her and the city of Albuquerque for safety reasons.
But Carol’s new view of the hive, and Zosia in particular, means that things don’t go quite the way Manousos expected. Instead of finding a like-minded comrade who would help him “save the world,” he finds a version of Carol that is reluctant to even speak to him. The dynamic is much like Pluribus’ second episode, in which Carol fails to convince the rest of the survivors that they should work toward putting the world back the way it was. Only this time the roles are reversed. Combine this dynamic with the fact that Carol and Manousos are both extremely stubborn people who are using Google Translate to communicate and, well, it’s not exactly a smooth meeting. After the first time the two talk, Manousos mutters to himself “well this is going just great.”
Image: Apple
By the end of the episode, though, the two seem largely on the same page. And that’s because Carol learns that, despite her budding romance with Zosia, the hive are still diligently working on bringing her into the fold (the episode actually opens by showing one of the other survivors joining the hive via a new procedure). This all culminates with Carol receiving a large package that turns out to be an atom bomb. I guess she wasn’t joking earlier in the season.
The first season of Pluribus has been a learning experience. While there are plenty of postapocalyptic shows, there’s really nothing quite like this strange, hive-mind-infected version of Earth. And so over nine episodes we see Carol emotionally coming to grips with her new reality, but also using that time to learn as much as she can about how the hive operates. This, in turn, helps us, the audience, understand just what the heck is going on. All stories require some kind of scene-setting, but Pluribus’ unique nature requires that much more.
But the reveal of the atom bomb at the end suggests that things are going in a different direction in season 2. I don’t expect Pluribus to suddenly become a fast-paced show; its measured pace is part of its appeal and allows it to really dig into the nitty-gritty details of the world. But many of the remaining plotlines and questions require more action than simply learning more about the hive. Manousos may have figured out a way to pull individuals out of the hive using radio signals; the hive are in the midst of building a “giant antenna” to possibly communicate with whoever or whatever sent the virus in the first place; the rest of the survivors have to decide whether or not they want to join; the hive need to sort out a solution to their impending food crisis; and, oh, there’s that bomb that Carol may or may not have a plan for.
I don’t know how many seasons the Pluribus story can reasonably stretch for, but it’s clear it needed at least two, just because there’s so much to set up. It’s not all that different from Apple TV’s other delightfully weird sci-fi series, Severance, a show that had a similarly unique premise and really pulled everything together by the end of its second season. Now we’ll have to wait and see if Pluribus can do the same.
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-24T03:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-24T08:36:49.282558
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AlphaFold Changed Science. After 5 Years, It’s Still Evolving
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https://www.wired.com/story/alphafold-changed-science-after-5-years-its-still-evolving/
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WIRED spoke with DeepMind’s Pushmeet Kohli about the recent past—and promising future—of the Nobel Prize-winning research project that changed biology and chemistry forever.
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AlphaFold, the artificial intelligence system developed by Google DeepMind, has just turned five. Over the past few years, we've periodically reported on its successes; last year, it won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Until AlphaFold's debut in November 2020, DeepMind had been best known for teaching an artificial intelligence to beat human champions at the ancient game of Go. Then it started playing something more serious, aiming its deep learning algorithms at one of the most difficult problems in modern science: protein folding. The result was AlphaFold2, a system capable of predicting the three-dimensional shape of proteins with atomic accuracy.
Its work culminated in the compilation of a database that now contains over 200 million predicted structures, essentially the entire known protein universe, and is used by nearly 3.5 million researchers in 190 countries around the world The Nature article published in 2021 describing the algorithm has been cited 40,000 times to date. Last year, AlphaFold 3 arrived, extending the capabilities of artificial intelligence to DNA, RNA, and drugs. That transition is not without challenges—such as “structural hallucinations” in the disordered regions of proteins—but it marks a step toward the future.
To understand what the next five years holds for AlphaFold, WIRED spoke with Pushmeet Kohli, vice president of research at DeepMind and architect of the AI for Science division.
WIRED: Dr. Kohli, the arrival of AlphaFold 2 five years ago has been called "the iPhone moment" for biology. Tell us about the transition from challenges like the game of Go to a fundamental scientific problem like protein folding, and what was your role in this transition?
Pushmeet Kohli: Science has been central to our mission from day one. Demis Hassabis founded Google DeepMind on the idea that AI could be the best tool ever invented for accelerating scientific discovery. Games were always a testing ground, and a way to develop techniques we knew would eventually tackle real-world problems.
My role has really been about identifying and pursuing scientific problems where AI can make a transformative impact, outlining the key ingredients required to unlock progress, and bringing together a multidisciplinary team to work on these grand challenges. What AlphaGo proved was that neural networks combined with planning and search could master incredibly complex systems. Protein folding had those same characteristics. The crucial difference was that solving it would unlock discoveries across biology and medicine that could genuinely improve people's lives.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T10:28:30.074533
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Pinterest Users Are Tired of All the AI Slop
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https://www.wired.com/story/pinterst-ai-slop-content/
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A surge of AI-generated content is frustrating Pinterest users and left some questioning whether the platform still works at all.
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For five years, Caitlyn Jones has used Pinterest on a weekly basis to find recipes for her son. In September, Jones spotted a creamy chicken and broccoli slow-cooker recipe, sprinkled with golden cheddar and a pop of parsley. She quickly looked at the ingredients and added them to her grocery list. But just as she was about to start cooking, having already bought everything, one thing stood out: The recipe told her to start by “logging” the chicken into the slow cooker.
Confused, she clicked on the recipe blog’s “About” page. An uncannily perfect-looking woman beamed back at her, golden light bouncing off her apron and tousled hair. Jones realized instantly what appeared to be going on: The woman was AI-generated.
“Hi there, I’m Souzan Thorne!” the page read. “I grew up in a home where the kitchen was the heart of everything.” The accompanying images were flawless but odd, the biography vague and generic.
“It seems dumb I didn’t catch this sooner, but being in my normal grocery shop rush, I didn’t even think this would be an issue,” says Jones, who lives in California. Backed into a culinary corner, she made the dubious dish, and it wasn’t good: The watery, bland chicken left a bad taste in her mouth.
Needing to vent, she turned to the subreddit r/Pinterest, which has become a town square for disgruntled users. “Pinterest is losing everything people loved, which was authentic Pins and authentic people,” she wrote. She says that she’s since sworn off the app entirely.
“AI slop” is a term for low-quality, mass-produced, AI-generated content clogging up the internet, from videos to books to posts on Medium. And Pinterest users say the site is rife with it.
It’s an “unappetizing gruel being forcefully fed to us,” Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech, wrote in his recently published taxonomy of AI slop. And “Souzan”—for whom a Google search doesn’t turn up a single result—is only the tip of the iceberg.
“All platforms have decided this is part of the new normal,” Mantzarlis tells WIRED. “It is a huge part of the content being produced across the board.”
"Enshittification"
Pinterest launched in 2010 and marketed itself as a “visual discovery engine for finding ideas.” The site remained ad-free for years, building a loyal community of creatives. It has since grown to over half a billion active users. But, according to some unhappy users, their feeds have begun to reflect a very different world in recently.
Pinterest’s feed is mostly images, which means it’s more susceptible to AI slop than video-led sites, says Mantzarlis, as realistic images are typically easier for models to generate than videos. The platform also funnels users toward outside sites, and those outbound clicks are easier for content farms to monetize than on-site followers.
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https://www.wired.com/feed/rss
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 10:30:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T10:49:15.537050
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The Age of the All-Access AI Agent Is Here
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https://www.wired.com/story/expired-tired-wired-all-access-ai-agents/
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Big AI companies courted controversy by scraping wide swaths of the public internet. With the rise of AI agents, the next data grab is far more private.
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For years, the cost of using “free” services from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and other Big Tech firms has been handing over your data. Uploading your life into the cloud and using free tech brings conveniences, but it puts personal information in the hands of giant corporations that will often be looking to monetize it. Now, the next wave of generative AI systems are likely to want more access to your data than ever before.
Over the past two years, generative AI tools—such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini—have moved beyond the relatively straightforward, text-only chatbots that the companies initially released. Instead, Big AI is increasingly building and pushing toward the adoption of agents and “assistants” that promise they can take actions and complete tasks on your behalf. The problem? To get the most out of them, you’ll need to grant them access to your systems and data. While much of the initial controversy over large language models (LLMs) was the flagrant copying of copyrighted data online, AI agents’ access to your personal data will likely cause a new host of problems.
“AI agents, in order to have their full functionality, in order to be able to access applications, often need to access the operating system or the OS level of the device on which you’re running them,” says Harry Farmer, a senior researcher at the Ada Lovelace Institute, whose work has included studying the impact of AI assistants and found that they may cause “profound threat” to cybersecurity and privacy. For personalization of chatbots or assistants, Farmer says, there can be data trade-offs. “All those things, in order to work, need quite a lot of information about you,” he says.
expired: AI training data grabs tired: opting out of AI training wired: all-access AI agents Read more Expired/Tired/WIRED 2025 stories here.
While there’s no strict definition of what an AI agent actually is, they’re often best thought of as a generative AI system or LLM that has been given some level of autonomy. At the moment, agents or assistants, including AI web browsers, can take control of your device and browse the web for you, booking flights, conducting research, or adding items to shopping carts. Some can complete tasks that include dozens of individual steps.
While current AI agents are glitchy and often can’t complete the tasks they’ve been set out to do, tech companies are betting the systems will fundamentally change millions of people’s jobs as they become more capable. A key part of their utility likely comes from access to data. So, if you want a system that can provide you with your schedule and tasks, it’ll need access to your calendar, messages, emails, and more.
Some more advanced AI products and features provide a glimpse into how much access agents and systems could be given. Certain agents being developed for businesses can read code, emails, databases, Slack messages, files stored in Google Drive, and more. Microsoft’s controversial Recall product takes screenshots of your desktop every few seconds, so that you can search everything you’ve done on your device. Tinder has created an AI feature that can search through photos on your phone “to better understand” users’ “interests and personality.”
Carissa Véliz, an author and associate professor at the University of Oxford, says most of the time consumers have no real way to check if AI or tech companies are handling their data in the ways they claim to. “These companies are very promiscuous with data,” Véliz says. “They have shown to not be very respectful of privacy.”
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T11:24:20.388992
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The Best Desk Accessories (2025)
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https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-desk-accessories/
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Brighten up your bare desk with these cute, fidgety, functional, and stylish desk accessories.
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Why buy the usual stack of Post-Its when you can get Resketch's Notepad and save the environment a bit? Each stack has 175 3x3 sheets, and it's important to know that, unlike Post-Its, there's no adhesive—don't buy these if you plan to stick notes all over your desk or wall. Instead, the entire stack is made from reclaimed paper sourced in the US; you can easily tear off a piece to write on it. As you flip through the pad, you'll notice some sheets are lined, and some are colorful—each stack is unique.
If the Notepad isn't for you, but you like Resketch's ethos, you can opt for standard notebooks, reporter-style handbooks, and even journals. I also quite like the company's Hex Pencil, if you prefer a pencil over a pen.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 11:30:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T11:42:21.586264
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25 Work From Home Gift Ideas
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https://www.wired.com/gallery/work-from-home-gift-ideas/
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Upgrade your loved one’s home office with these picks that make every day a little easier—and a little more fun.
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If someone in your life needs a home office upgrade (that includes yourself!), you've come to the right place. WIRED's Gear team has been working remotely well before the pandemic made it a thing. And as WIRED's resident home office product reviewer, I've been churning through dozens of standing desks, office chairs, monitors, and other desk accoutrements for more than five years.
Whether you're tired of your loved one working at the kitchen table and complaining about how much their wrist hurts, or you want to treat them, I've got several work-from-home gift ideas that can make remote work even sweeter. Check out my Ultimate Work-From-Home Gear guide for more recommendations.
Updated December 2025: We've added the Craighill Desk Knife, Gantri Analog Task Light, Logitech MX Master 4, Keychron Q6 HE, Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro, BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2, Genki Moonbase, reMarkable Paper Pro Move, Craighill Jack Puzzle, Ergonofis Desk Accessories Set, Dell 27 Plus 4K, Speks Odds, and Sony WH-1000XM6.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 12:30:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T12:54:08.138355
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Apple’s App Course Runs $20,000 a Student. Is It Really Worth It?
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https://www.wired.com/story/apple-app-making-course-michigan-state-university/
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Apple, Michigan taxpayers, and one of Detroit’s wealthiest families spent roughly $30 million training hundreds of people to build iPhone apps. Not everyone lands coding jobs right away.
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Two years ago, Lizmary Fernandez took a detour from studying to be an immigration attorney to join a free Apple course for making iPhone apps. The Apple Developer Academy in Detroit launched as part of the company’s $200 million response to the Black Lives Matter protests and aims to expand opportunities for people of color in the country’s poorest big city.
But Fernandez found the program’s cost-of-living stipend lacking—“A lot of us got on food stamps,” she says—and the coursework insufficient for landing a coding job. “I didn’t have the experience or portfolio,” says the 25-year-old, who is now a flight attendant and preparing to apply to law school. “Coding is not something I got back to.”
Since 2021, the academy has welcomed over 1,700 students, a racially diverse mix with varying levels of tech literacy and financial flexibility. About 600 students, including Fernandez, have completed its 10-month course of half-days at Michigan State University, which cosponsors the Apple-branded and Apple-focused program.
WIRED reviewed contracts and budgets and spoke with officials and graduates for the first in-depth examination of the nearly $30 million invested in the academy over the past four years—almost 30 percent of which came from Michigan taxpayers and the university’s regular students. As tech giants begin pouring billions of dollars into AI-related job training courses across the country, the Apple academy offers lessons on the challenges of uplifting diverse communities.
Measuring Success
Seven graduates who spoke with WIRED said they had good experiences at the academy, citing benefits such as receiving mentorship from past students. Fernandez says she was impressed by a focus on developing inclusive apps and a series of speakers from Apple who were genuinely willing to help and share frank lessons. “Their heart was in the right place,” she says.
The program does expose people of color to new possibilities. “It changed my life,” says Min Thu Khine, who’s now mentoring coding students and working at an Apple Store Genius Bar. “My dream is to be a software engineer at Apple.”
The academy also draws positive grades from some researchers who study tech education, such as Quinn Burke. He says its fully subsidized in-person instruction surpasses the quality of many coding bootcamps, which proliferated over the past decade and sometimes left students in debt and with narrow skills.
But the academy being open to all can complicate instruction and how to measure success. One entire family attended together, and at least two mothers have come with their daughters. Students on average are in their 30s, ranging from 18-year-olds to, for example, a grandfather in his 70s who wanted to develop a photo app for his grandchild, according to Sarah Gretter, the academy leader for Michigan State.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 12:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T12:54:08.342209
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How AI coding agents work—and what to remember if you use them
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https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/12/how-do-ai-coding-agents-work-we-look-under-the-hood/
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From compression tricks to multi-agent teamwork, here's what makes them tick.
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AI coding agents from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google can now work on software projects for hours at a time, writing complete apps, running tests, and fixing bugs with human supervision. But these tools are not magic and can complicate rather than simplify a software project. Understanding how they work under the hood can help developers know when (and if) to use them, while avoiding common pitfalls.
We’ll start with the basics: At the core of every AI coding agent is a technology called a large language model (LLM), which is a type of neural network trained on vast amounts of text data, including lots of programming code. It’s a pattern-matching machine that uses a prompt to “extract” compressed statistical representations of data it saw during training and provide a plausible continuation of that pattern as an output. In this extraction, an LLM can interpolate across domains and concepts, resulting in some useful logical inferences when done well and confabulation errors when done poorly.
These base models are then further refined through techniques like fine-tuning on curated examples and reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), which shape the model to follow instructions, use tools, and produce more useful outputs.
Credit: Anthropic A screenshot of the Claude Code command-line interface.
Over the past few years, AI researchers have been probing LLMs’ deficiencies and finding ways to work around them. One recent innovation was the simulated reasoning model, which generates context (extending the prompt) in the form of reasoning-style text that can help an LLM home in on a more accurate output. Another innovation was an application called an “agent” that links several LLMs together to perform tasks simultaneously and evaluate outputs.
How coding agents are structured
In that sense, each AI coding agent is a program wrapper that works with multiple LLMs. There is typically a “supervising” LLM that interprets tasks (prompts) from the human user and then assigns those tasks to parallel LLMs that can use software tools to execute the instructions. The supervising agent can interrupt tasks below it and evaluate the subtask results to see how a project is going. Anthropic’s engineering documentation describes this pattern as “gather context, take action, verify work, repeat.”
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 12:00:27 +0000
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2025-12-24T12:54:09.375586
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The best shows and movies to stream on Netflix in 2025
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https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/845388/netflix-best-shows-movies-2025
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Netflix has had an interesting year. Its ad tier, introduced last year, has grown significantly, and its live TV initiative has expanded to include not only weird one-offs like hot-dog-eating grudge matches but also WWE programming. Taking KPop Demon Hunters off Sony's hands for the business equivalent of $200 in a potato chip bag also […]
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But KPop Demon Hunters wasn’t the streamer’s only quality offering this year. Here’s a list of Netflix’s best of 2025.
Sean Combs: The Reckoning
The documentary features new interviews from former associates, employees, and friends who allege everything from cheating business partners out of their share to having knowledge of if not outright arranging the hit that took Tupac Shakur’s life. This is not a “fun” watch, so heed the content warnings, but if you want a succinct accounting of where Combs came from and how the business of hip-hop can turn men into monsters, this is an informative overview.
KPop Demon Hunters
There is vanishingly little I can say about KPop Demon Hunters’ brilliance that hasn’t already been said. So I’ll let what has been said speak for it:
Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series has once again delivered a sharply funny, intensely moving whodunit. Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc drips southern charm, aided by an ensemble cast featuring Josh Brolin as a fiery Catholic priest and Glenn Close as his secretary. Josh O’Connor delivers some beautiful moments as a junior priest struggling to find meaning in his faith, creating interesting tension against Blanc’s cold, grim logic. With them working together, Wake Up Dead Man becomes a fun story that examines the purpose faith can have in our lives.
One thing director Guillermo del Toro is gonna do is make a luxurious, sumptuous-ass movie with over-the-top sets and costuming. But Frankenstein is not just a visual delight. Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his monster give incredible performances that are both grounded in the movie’s late Victorian aesthetic while resonating with the stories of today. A quote unquote learned man irresponsibly using technology to create something he doesn’t understand and in his arrogance tries to control that winds up destroying his life and others? It’s not that Frankenstein is any one allegory for today, it has multiple applications.
And while we have numerous Frankenstein adaptations, there’s nothing quite like watching GDT do it. You just know that man is gonna grab all the production designers, make-up artists, and costumers, give them some cash, and say essentially “Cook,” and damn if they didn’t do exactly that.
The Great British Baking Show
I live for The Great British Baking Show (known as The Great British Bake Off outside the US). When the sun starts setting at 4:30PM and seasonal affect starts disordering my life, I’m okay because I know that means it’s Baking Show season. This year, the show has done some interesting things with the format, trying new variations on the show’s technical challenge where bakers are tasked with making something with stripped-down directions. I wish the challenges weren’t so overly focused on sweets, but it’s always fun learning the absolutely bonkers names the Brits have for their pastries. There is no way in a logical world that an oatmeal bar like this should be called a flapjack — it doesn’t even flap! Honestly, yelling about how British English is Wrong is just as much fun as watching the amateur bakers themselves.
The first half of the final season of Stranger Things is out, and while we can quibble about whether or not it’s quality television, it is good for one specific reason: it is finally ending. The show started off really strong, telling a fun tale about kids saving the world from the adults that are trying to ruin it. But that kind of storytelling got lost in the near decade between the first season and now — even though the Duffer Brothers want us to believe that it’s only been four years since Will first went to the Upside Down. It’s okay that stories end, and I’m glad we’ve got the opportunity to end this show on a high note by returning focus to what made it so great in the first place — them meddling kids.
Squid Game is another one of Netflix’s tentpole hits that has come to an end this year. Gi-hun / Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae) has returned to Mr. Beast’s Murder Island to expose the organizers of the deadly games once and for all. He’s befriended another crop of desperate people willing to do whatever for life-changing amounts of cash and just like in the first two seasons it’s brutal to watch the games destroy them one by one.
Death By Lightning
Clocking in at just under 200 days, James Garfield has the second shortest term of a US president, and I was genuinely enthralled watching Death By Lightning chart his rise to the office and tragic fall via an assassin’s bullet. As with Frankenstein, Netflix is once again on time with a metaphor appropriate for current events. Death By Lightning takes a look at how incendiary political discourse, like the kind fomented against Garfield by his own party, can lead to violence.
But more than the prescient political commentary, the performances make this show. Michael Shannon imbues Garfield with a salt-of-the-earth quality that makes you root hard for him. Shea Whigham has entered his character actor villain era playing New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, and Matthew “Mr. Darcy / Tom Wambsgans” Macfadyen gives a heartbreaking performance playing Garfield’s assassin Charles Guiteau.
The show’s best moments come from Nick Offerman as Garfield’s reluctant vice president, Chester A. Arthur. Offerman as Arthur is regency-era Ron Swanson. Throughout most of the show’s four episodes, Offerman is either drunk, fighting, raving about sausages, or a combination of all three. That man is having a blast chewing the scenery in a top hat and mutton chops, and I would genuinely watch a whole White House sitcom with him as the star.
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2025-12-24T08:30:00-05:00
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2025-12-24T13:36:05.025987
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In 2025, AI became a lightning rod for gamers and developers
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https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/848368/gen-ai-video-games-2025
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2025 was the year generative AI made its presence felt in the video game industry. Its use has been discovered in some of the most popular games of the year, and CEOs from some of the largest game studios claim it's being implemented everywhere in the industry including in their own development processes. Meanwhile, rank-and-file […]
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2025 was the year generative AI made its presence felt in the video game industry. Its use has been discovered in some of the most popular games of the year, and CEOs from some of the largest game studios claim it’s being implemented everywhere in the industry including in their own development processes. Meanwhile, rank-and-file developers, especially in the indie games space, are pushing back against its encroachment, coming up with ways to signal their games are gen-AI free.
Generative AI has largely replaced NFTs as the buzzy trend publishers are chasing. Its proponents claim that the technology will be a great democratization force in video game development, as gen AI’s ability to amalgamate images, text, audio, and video could shorten development times and shrink budgets — ameliorating two major problems plaguing the industry right now. In service to that idea, numerous video game studios have announced partnerships with gen-AI companies.
Reaction to this encroachment from both players and developers has been mixed. It seems like generally, players don’t like gen AI showing up in games. When gen-AI assets were discovered in Anno 117: Pax Romana, the game’s developer Ubisoft claimed the assets “slipped through” review and they were subsequently replaced. When gen-AI assets were found in Black Ops 7, however, Activision acknowledged the issue, but kept the images in the game. Critical response has also been lopsided. ARC Raiders was awarded low scores with reviewers specifically citing the use of gen AI as the reason. Clair Obscur, though, was nigh universally praised and its use of gen AI, however temporary, has barely been mentioned.
It seems like developers are sensitive to the public’s distaste for gen AI but are unwilling to commit to not using it. After gen-AI assets were discovered in Black Ops 7, Activision said it uses the tech to “empower” its developers, not replace them. When asked about gen AI showing up in Battlefield 6, EA VP Rebecka Coutaz called the technology seductive but affirmed it wouldn’t appear in the final product. Swen Vincke, CEO of Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian, said gen AI is being used for the studio’s next game Divinity but only for generating concepts and ideas. Everything in the finished game, he claimed, would be made by humans. He also hinted at why game makers insist on using the tech despite the backlash developers usually receive whenever it’s found.
“This is a tech-driven industry, so you try stuff,” he told Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier in an interview. “You can’t afford not to try things because if somebody finds the golden egg and you’re not using it, you’re dead.”
Comments from other CEOs reinforce Vincke’s point. Junghun Lee, the CEO of ARC Raiders’ parent company Nexon, said in an interview that, “It’s important to assume that every game company is now using AI.”
The problem is, though, gen AI doesn’t yet seem to be the golden egg its supporters want people to believe it is. Last year, Keywords Studios, a game development services company, published a report on creating a 2D video game using only gen-AI tools. The company claimed that gen-AI tools can streamline some development processes but ultimately cannot replace the work of human talent. Discovering gen AI in Call of Duty and Pax Romana was possible precisely because of the low-quality of the images that were found. With Ubisoft’s interactive gen-AI NPCs, the dialogue they spout sounds unnatural and stilted. Players in the 2025 Chinese martial arts MMORPG Where Winds Meet are manipulating its AI chatbot NPCs to break the game, just like Fortnite players were able to make AI-powered Darth Vader swear.
For all the promises of gen AI, its current results do not live up to expectations. So why is it everywhere?
One reason is the competitive edge AI might but currently can’t provide that Swen Vincke alluded to in his interview with Bloomberg. Another reason is also the simplest: it’s the economy, stupid. Despite inflation, flagging consumer confidence and spending, and rising unemployment, the stock market is still booming, propped up by the billions and billions of dollars being poured into AI tech. Game makers in search of capital to keep business and profits going want in on that. Announcing AI initiatives and touting the use of AI tools — even if those tools have a relatively minor impact on the final product — can be a way to signal to AI-eager investors that a game company is worth their money.
That might explain why the majority of gen-AI’s supporters in gaming come from the C-suite of AAA studios and not smaller indie outfits who almost universally revile the tech. Indies face the same economic pressure as bigger studios but have far fewer resources to navigate those pressures. Ostensibly, indie developers are the ones who stand to benefit the most from the tech but, so far, are its biggest opponents. They are pushing back against the assertion that gen AI is everywhere, being used by everybody, with some marking their games with anti-AI logos proclaiming their games were made wholly by humans.
For some indie developers, using gen AI defeats the purpose of game making entirely. The challenge of coming up with ideas and solutions to development problems — the things gen AI is supposed to automate — is a big part of game making’s appeal to them. There are also moral and environmental implications indie developers seem especially sensitive to. Gen-AI outputs are cobbled from existing bodies of work that were often used without consent or compensation. AI data centers are notorious for consumptive energy usage and polluting their surrounding areas, which are increasingly focused in low-income and minority communities.
With its unrealized promises and so-far shoddy outputs, it’s easy to think of gen AI as gaming’s next flash in the pan the way NFTs were. But with gaming’s biggest companies increasingly reporting their use, gen AI will remain a lightning rod in game development — until the tech improves, or, like with NFTs, the bubble pops.
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2025-12-24T08:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-24T13:36:05.239147
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How to Choose a Computer Monitor (2025): Everything You Need to Know
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https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-choose-a-computer-monitor/
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Monitors are cheaper, faster, and more beautiful than ever. Here’s how to choose one that will suit your needs and budget.
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Most people treat their monitor like a printer. They just want it to work without having to think about it. But if you work from home or spend hours gaming every night, it's worth an upgrade. And that's where things can get complicated. Do you pay extra for more ports? Or for a large display? How about something with smart features so it can double as a television—or springing for one of those flashy OLED monitors? Those are all worthwhile features, but don't splurge for the latest thing before you know what you're getting into.
If you're looking to upgrade from a basic 1080p monitor you've been using for a decade, I recommend buying the Dell 27 Plus 4K. It's sharp, has good colors, and is shockingly affordable. I knew right when I tested it that it would be unbeatable at its price, and I promise: I won't be offended if you skip all my words and buy that immediately. But if you're shopping around, I have advice ranging from panel types to refresh rate. Let's dive in.
For our full recommendations, check out our Best Monitors and Best Gaming Monitors guides.
Panel Types
For more information on panel types, read our in-depth look at the tech that distinguishes these panel types from each other.
LED
The standard type of monitor panel these days is still LED (light-emitting diodes), which refers to the way the screen is backlit. This isn't the brightest or most color-accurate type of panel, but it's grown into the cheapest and most widely accessible option. Within the category of LED backlighting, there are also a variety of LCD (liquid crystal display) types. IPS (in-plane switching) is the most common, while VA (vertical alignment) is still used in some cheaper creator-focused monitors, and TN (twisted nematic) is available in some lower-end gaming monitors. But IPS has become the standard.
Fortunately, there has been some development on IPS over the years, which improves various elements of the image quality. You'll see “IPS Black” in various LG or Dell monitors, which improves the contrast to closer to 2,000:1. There's even a second version of IPS Black (known as IPS Black 2.0 or Enhanced IPS Black) that claims to push contrast up to 3,000:1. I've also tested Nano IPS, another advanced version of IPS from LG that improves the color gamut. I've tested a 6K monitor that uses Nano IPS Black, combining them all together to produce one of the best IPS displays possible. As good as these are, though, they can't achieve the highs of more advanced forms of backlighting.
OLED
Photograph: Luke Larsen
OLED (organic light-emitting diodes) is the other primary option these days. For so long, it had been kept away from PC monitors and only used in televisions and smartphones. But over the past couple of years, OLED has become a popular high-end option, especially in the world of gaming monitors. As opposed to LED, OLED uses individually-backlit pixels, meaning each can be turned on and off entirely.
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https://www.wired.com/feed/rss
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 13:30:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T13:36:05.695416
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SPEED Act passes in House despite changes that threaten clean power projects
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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/speed-act-passes-in-house-despite-changes-that-threaten-clean-power-projects/
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The bill would significantly curtail scope of the federal environmental review process.
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The House of Representatives cleared the way for a massive overhaul of the federal environmental review process last Thursday, despite last-minute changes that led clean energy groups and moderate Democrats to pull their support.
The Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act, or SPEED Act, overcame opposition from environmentalists and many Democrats who oppose the bill’s sweeping changes to a bedrock environmental law.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and backed by Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), passed the House Thursday in a 221-196 vote, in which 11 Democrats joined Republican lawmakers to back the reform effort. It now heads to the Senate, where it has critics and proponents on both sides of the aisle, making its prospects uncertain.
The bill seeks to reform foundational environmental regulations that govern how major government projects are assessed and approved by amending the landmark 1970 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), signed into law under the Nixon administration. NEPA requires federal agencies to review and disclose the environmental impacts of major projects before permitting or funding them. Although NEPA reviews are only one component of the federal permitting process, advocates argue that they serve a crucial role by providing both the government and the public the chance to examine the knock-on effects that major projects could have on the environment.
Critics of the law have argued for years that increasingly complex reviews—along with legal wrangling over the findings of those reviews—have turned NEPA into a source of significant, burdensome delays that threaten the feasibility of major projects, such as power plants, transmission lines, and wind and solar projects on federal land.
Speaking on the floor of the House Thursday before the vote, Westerman described the SPEED Act as a way to “restore common sense and accountability to federal permitting.” Westerman praised the original intent of NEPA but said the law’s intended environmental protections had been overshadowed by NEPA becoming “more synonymous with red tape and waste.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 13:30:59 +0000
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2025-12-24T13:36:06.467497
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TV Technica: Our favorite shows of 2025
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https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/12/tv-technica-our-favorite-shows-of-2025/
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Netflix and Apple TV dominate this year's list with thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi, and murder.
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Editor’s note: Warning: Although we’ve done our best to avoid spoiling anything major, please note this list does include a few specific references to several of the listed shows that some might consider spoiler-y.
This was a pretty good year for television, with established favorites sharing space on our list with some intriguing new shows. Streaming platforms reigned supreme, with Netflix and Apple TV dominating our list with seven and five selections each. Genre-wise, we’ve got a bit of everything: period dramas (The Gilded Age, Outrageous), superheroes (Daredevil: Born Again), mysteries (Ludwig, Poker Face, Dept. Q), political thrillers (The Diplomats, Slow Horses), science fiction (Andor, Severance, Alien: Earth), broody fantasy (The Sandman), and even an unconventional nature documentary (Underdogs).
As always, we’re opting for an unranked list, with the exception of our “year’s best” selection at the very end, so you might look over the variety of genres and options and possibly add surprises to your eventual watchlist. We invite you to head to the comments and add your own favorite TV shows released in 2025.
Underdogs (National Geographic/Disney+)
Credit: National Geographic/Doug Parker
Most of us have seen a nature documentary or two (or three) at some point in our lives, so it’s a familiar format: sweeping, majestic footage of impressively regal animals accompanied by reverently high-toned narration (preferably with a tony British accent). Underdogs takes a decidedly different approach. Narrated with hilarious irreverence by Ryan Reynolds, the five-part series highlights nature’s less cool and majestic creatures—the outcasts and benchwarmers more noteworthy for their “unconventional hygiene choices” and “unsavory courtship rituals.” (It’s rated PG-13 due to the odd bit of scatalogical humor and shots of Nature Sexy Time.)
Each of the five episodes is built around a specific genre. “Superheroes” highlights the surprising superpowers of the honey badger, pistol shrimp, and the invisible glass frog, among others, augmented with comic book graphics; “Sexy Beasts” focuses on bizarre mating habits and follows the format of a romantic advice column; “Terrible Parents” highlights nature’s worst practices, following the outline of a parenting guide; “Total Grossout” is exactly what it sounds like; and “The Unusual Suspects” is a heist tale, documenting the supposed efforts of a macaque to put together the ultimate team of masters of deception and disguise (an inside man, a decoy, a fall guy, etc.). Green Day even wrote and recorded a special theme song for the opening credits.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 13:00:53 +0000
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2025-12-24T13:36:06.916013
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How to track Santa Claus this Christmas Eve using AI
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/how-to-track-santa-claus-this-christmas-eve-2022/
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If you’re a parent with young children, then you’ll probably hear this a lot on Christmas Eve: “Where’s Santa right now?” With tracking tools like the NORAD Santa Tracker and Google’s Santa Tracker, everyone can know when Father Christmas will arrive. Plus, there are now some new AI tools to bring the holiday magic. Here’s […]
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If you’re a parent with young children, then you’ll probably hear this a lot on Christmas Eve: “Where’s Santa right now?” With tracking tools like the NORAD Santa Tracker and Google’s Santa Tracker, everyone can know when Father Christmas will arrive. Plus, there are now some new AI tools to bring the holiday magic.
Here’s how to follow Santa’s journey this Christmas Eve with the help of AI.
Track Santa Claus with NORAD
NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command) had the first-ever Santa tracker in 1955. While it used to be just a boring animation of Santa’s sleigh and reindeer flying across a map, NORAD has added tons of features since then, such as fun mini-games, videos, stories, and Christmas music.
Recently, NORAD’s Santa Tracker teamed up with OpenAI to introduce new AI-powered features. These include an image generator that transforms your selfie into an animated elf character, a tool for generating toy ideas and converting them into printable coloring book pages, and a fill-in-the-blank storytelling tool that allows families to add names, places, and other details to create a fun holiday story to read aloud.
Image Credits: NORAD Image Credits:NORAD
Rather than a 2D model, the NORAD Santa tracker has a 3D visual depiction of Santa’s journey as the platform was built on Cesium’s open source 3D mapping library. It also uses Bing Maps satellite imagery, making the globe look more “realistic.”
Along with the tracker tool, users can also see a “Santa Cam,” which has videos of Santa making his way around the world to deliver presents to every kid on the nice list.
NORAD’s website has Santa’s North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, arcade-style games, kid-friendly music, an online library and various videos that can be watched on NORAD’s official YouTube channel.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
NORAD Santa tracker is available on noradsanta.org, or you can download the official NORAD Tracks Santa app on Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store. The website is available in English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian and Portuguese.
You can also track Santa through NORAD Tracker’s social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For a more personable experience, call 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6732), and you’ll speak with a volunteer from the organization’s call center who’ll update you on Santa’s location.
Track Santa Claus with Google
Google’s Santa Tracker launched in 2004 and simulates the tracking of Santa. The website features a live map of Santa’s current location, his next stop, a live video feed of his route, and the estimated arrival time for each location. It also shows the total distance that Santa has traveled so far and the number of presents he has delivered.
Image Credits: Google Image Credits:Google
Throughout December, the page operates as Santa’s Village, where users can play mini-games, take quizzes, watch animated videos and explore other interactive activities. For instance, players can build their own elf in Google’s “Elf Maker” game as well as host a concert with “Elf Jamband.” Kids can also learn how to code with easy and fun tutorials like “Code Boogie.”
Additionally, users can enlist the help of Google Assistant to learn about Santa’s whereabouts. You can ask, “Hey Google, where’s Santa?” or even “What’s new at the North Pole?” which lets you tune into Google’s North Pole Newscast, where you can hear what Santa and his elves are up to that day. Google Assistant also lets you call Santa himself.
This story was updated after publication.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 14:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T14:25:46.576575
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Italy tells Meta to suspend its policy that bans rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/italy-tells-meta-to-suspend-its-policy-that-bans-rival-ai-chatbots-from-whatsapp/
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Italy has ordered Meta to suspend its policy that bans companies from using WhatsApp's business tools to offer their own AI chatbots on the popular chat app.
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In Brief
Italy has ordered Meta to suspend its policy that bans companies from using WhatsApp’s business tools to offer their own AI chatbots on the popular chat app.
The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) on Wednesday said it had found enough cause in its ongoing investigation into whether Meta was abusing its dominant position in the market to offer its Meta AI chatbot within WhatsApp to order the suspension of the policy.
“Meta’s conduct appears to constitute an abuse, since it may limit production, market access, or technical developments in the AI Chatbot services market, to the detriment of consumers,” the Authority wrote. “Moreover, while the investigation is ongoing, Meta’s conduct may cause serious and irreparable harm to competition in the affected market, undermining contestability.”
The AGCM in November had broadened the scope of an existing investigation into Meta, after the company changed its business API policy in October to ban general-purpose chatbots from being offered on the chat app via the API.
Meta has argued that its API isn’t designed to be a platform for the distribution of chatbots, and that people have more avenues beyond WhatsApp to use AI bots from other companies. The policy change, which goes into effect in January, would affect the availability of AI chatbots from the likes of OpenAI, Perplexity, and Poke on the app.
The policy doesn’t affect businesses that are using AI to serve customers on WhatsApp. For instance, a retailer running an AI-powered customer service bot won’t be barred from using the API. Only AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude are prohibited from being distributed via the API.
The European Commission this month also launched an investigation into the new policy, raising concerns that it may “prevent third-party AI providers from offering their services through WhatsApp in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).”
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 14:40:34 +0000
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2025-12-24T14:40:44.378928
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Sony’s souped-up PlayStation 5 Pro is $100 off for the rest of today
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https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/684281/sony-playstation-5-ps5-pro-christmas-deal-sale-2025
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Sony’s full suite of PlayStation 5 consoles jumped in price in August due to increased US tariffs, but now through Christmas, you can save $100 on several models. This discount is especially great if you planned to go big with Sony’s PS5 Pro, the company’s priciest, most powerful console yet. Normally $749.99, you can currently […]
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is an editor covering deals and gaming hardware. He joined in 2018, and after a two-year stint at Polygon, he rejoined The Verge in May 2025.
Sony’s full suite of PlayStation 5 consoles jumped in price in August due to increased US tariffs, but now through Christmas, you can save $100 on several models. This discount is especially great if you planned to go big with Sony’s PS5 Pro, the company’s priciest, most powerful console yet. Normally $749.99, you can currently grab one at Amazon, Walmart, and Target for around $689.99. Sony’s PlayStation Direct storefront indicates that the PS5 Pro sale ends on December 25th at 3AM ET, although discounts may remain on cheaper models.
The PS5 Pro plays many games at their best resolution, while making far fewer concessions than the standard PS5 when it comes to visual effects (particularly ray tracing and shadow quality). Some games simply look better or run faster on the Pro than the base-model PS5, while others look better and run faster. That said, it’s worth noting that PS5 Pro lacks a disc drive and is thus limited to digital titles, though you can buy an optional drive for $80 if you want to attach one later.
The PlayStation 5 Pro has a bigger GPU than any other PS5 model, with twice as much internal storage as the current slim models (2TB versus 1TB). Another notable feature exclusive to the Pro is PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution), which uses AI to upscale graphics in supported games to produce a better-looking image. The difference in performance between the Pro and the base PS5 is easy to notice in several games, although it’s safe to say that there hasn’t yet been a title that makes upgrading to one a no-brainer. But if a lower price is all the encouragement you needed to upgrade, now is a good time to get one.
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2025-12-24T10:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-24T15:27:42.665013
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JBL Bar 500MK2 Review: A Fantastic Soundbar System
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https://www.wired.com/review/jbl-bar-500-mk2/
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This compact 2.1 soundbar system offers realistic Dolby Atmos surround sound.
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Everyone wants immersive, cinematic sound in their living room, but not everyone has the room (or the outlets) for placing rear surround speakers. Folks in smaller apartments or with smaller living rooms or older homes will love the power of the new JBL Bar 500MK2 as much as they love how compact the main bar is.
This is probably the best-sounding smaller soundbar setup I’ve ever heard—the type of thing that actually benefits from a disc player and my newly eBay’d copy of Casino Royale. If you have a medium-sized budget but really want to jazz up the crappy sound of your massive flatscreen TV, this is a fantastic and reasonably affordable way to do that, and really get bang for your buck.
Nondescript Design
The best part about the Bar 500MK2 is that it is a small, oblong rectangle that easily fits beneath any modern TV. JBL doesn’t make its own screens, so it puts a lot of attention into making sure everything fits between various feet and pedestal designs, and the short, 2-inch high bar squeezes below the bezel (and IR input) of most TVs.
You get the bar itself and a large wireless subwoofer to place anywhere in your room. I find the best way to do this is to plug it in where you have a convenient outlet, then move it around until you like the sound best, but in my acoustically treated review space, that happens to be right next to my TV.
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https://www.wired.com/feed/rss
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:05:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T15:27:42.938054
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Apple pauses app store changes in Texas after court blocks age assurance law
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/apple-pauses-app-store-changes-in-texas-after-court-blocks-age-assurance-law/
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Apple said it will pause its plans for compliance with the new law in Texas but notes other age assurance tech remains available to developers.
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After a federal judge on Tuesday blocked Texas from implementing a new age verification law for app stores, Apple announced it will pause previously announced plans for the state as it continues to monitor the “ongoing legal process.”
Apple said its previously announced developer tools for age assurance would remain available for testing and use.
The law, SB2420, or the App Store Accountability Act, would have required app stores, like those run by Apple and Google, to verify user ages and require parental consent for those under 18 to download apps or make purchases. In addition, it would have required the age data be shared with developers.
A judge, citing First Amendment concerns, blocked the law’s enforcement that was set to take effect in January. The ruling was a win for tech giants and a setback to Texas lawmakers, who said the legal fight will continue. The Texas attorney’s general office noted in a court filing that it plans to appeal the decision, a report from Reuters noted.
To comply with the coming law, Apple had announced in October a series of new requirements for apps in Texas, which included all users under the age of 18 would have to join a Family Sharing group, where parents or guardians would provide consent for all App Store downloads, app purchases, and in-app transactions. Parents would be able to revoke their consent for an app at any time.
Apple also said its Declared Age Range API, a technology the company debuted to help it comply with the growing number of age assurance laws worldwide, would be updated in the months ahead to provide the required age categories for new account users in Texas. Apple had planned to launch new APIs for developers to request parental consent again if their app was significantly updated.
Apple had objected to this law, and similar laws arriving next year in Utah and Louisiana, on the grounds of privacy, not kids’ protection.
“While we share the goal of strengthening kids’ online safety, we are concerned that SB2420 impacts the privacy of users by requiring the collection of sensitive, personally identifiable information to download any app, even if a user simply wants to check the weather or sports scores,” Apple explained in a developer announcement earlier this year.
Apple on Thursday announced other developer tools for complying with new age assurance laws will remain available for testing, including its Declared Age Range API, Significant Change API under PermissionKit, New age rating property type in StoreKit, and App Store Server Notifications. In addition, the Declared Age Range API is still available worldwide across iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, and later.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:02:06 +0000
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2025-12-24T15:27:43.143067
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The 14 top agtech, food tech startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/the-14-top-agtech-food-tech-startups-from-disrupt-startup-battlefield/
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Here is the full list of the agtech and food tech Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield pitch contest draws thousands of applicants. We whittle those applications down to the top 200 contenders, and from them, the top 20 compete on the big stage for the Startup Battlefield Cup and a cash prize of $100,000. But the remaining 180 startups blew us away, too, in their respective categories and in their own pitch competition.
Here is the full list of the agtech and food tech Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on why they landed in the competition.
What it does: Äio has developed a method to produce edible fat from agricultural waste.
Why it’s noteworthy: Äio has developed a strain of yeast that turns abundant agricultural waste like sawdust into a fat suitable for food and cosmetics.
What it does: Aquawise provides AI-powered water-quality monitoring for shrimp and fish farms using satellite imagery.
Why it’s noteworthy: The startup eliminates the need for expensive sensors while offering real-time insights and predictive analytics.
What it does: Clave offers AI agents that help fast-food restaurant franchises better interact with their data.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
Why it’s noteworthy: Clave analyzes historical and real-time store data to help franchise restaurants quickly develop promotions that increase sales.
What it does: CredoSense offers an AI-powered portable plant diagnostic system that measures crop health.
Why it’s noteworthy: Crop-health diagnostics are trapped in silos but CredoSense handles a broad spectrum of crop diagnosis tech and data in one small, low-power device.
What it does: Forte Biotech has created a patented technology to test for illnesses among prawns in fish farms.
Why it’s noteworthy: Developed in partnership with the National University of Singapore (NUS), this tech helps shrimp farmers quickly diagnose common diseases without the need to hire expert help.
What it does: Genesis offers a business intelligence platform for soil data that helps agricultural businesses make better, regenerative decisions about their land assets and crops.
Why it’s noteworthy: Genesis says it has collected one of the most comprehensive databases on raw materials that augments soil analysis to increase yields through regenerative practices.
What it does: Greeny Solutions offers AI-powered software and IoT tools for indoor commercial farming.
Why it’s noteworthy: Greeny’s tech promises to automate nutrient dosing, climate control, and disease monitoring to increase yields.
What it does: Instacrops uses AI, IoT sensors, and satellite imagery to monitor and optimize farming fields.
Why it’s noteworthy: Y Combinator grad Instacrops uses hardware sensors and AI agents to help farms respond to crop health indications — irrigation, fertilization, etc. — in real time, boosting yields and reducing water usage.
What it does: Kadeya operates beverage vending stations for offices that use reusable bottles, which can be returned and are then cleaned and reused.
Why it’s noteworthy: This startup eliminates single-use plastic bottles (or cans) in the workplace, while also providing and cleaning the bottle, thereby eliminating the need for companies to buy beverages in plastic bottles to begin with.
What it does: MUI-Robotics develops AI scent detection for robots.
Why it’s noteworthy: MUI-Robotics is digitizing smell, which not only paves the way for multisensory robotics but also has commercial scent/odor-detection applications in food, chemical, medical, and environmental applications.
What it does: Shin Starr Robotics builds robotics that automate food preparation for meal delivery.
Why it’s noteworthy: The autonomous kitchens cook meals in a truck, driven by a human, while en route to a delivery destination. The idea is to deliver restaurant-quality Korean BBQ timed to arrival.
What it does: Tensorfield uses AI-powered robotics to identify and kill weeds without pesticides in densely packed crop beds like carrots, spinach, and lettuce without disturbing the crop or its soil.
Why it’s noteworthy: It can identify weeds when they just sprout and injects them with superheated vegetable oil instead of herbicides.
What it does: Unibaio develops biodegradable polymers that deliver agrochemicals more efficiently.
Why it’s noteworthy: The microparticles are a natural polymer derived from shrimp waste and are suitable for over 35 crops.
What it does: Verley manufactures bioidentical dairy proteins using a precision fermentation technology.
Why it’s noteworthy: Verley helps maintain the supply of dairy protein products while minimizing the environmental impact of dairy farming.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T15:27:43.308859
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How Mill closed the deal with Amazon and Whole Foods
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/how-mill-closed-the-deal-with-amazon-and-whole-foods/
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Matt Rogers's food waste startup will soon deploy its commercial food waste bins in grocery stores throughout the U.S. Here's how Rogers thinks about preparing a startup for success.
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Mill may have started with households, but co-founder and CEO Matt Rogers says the food waste startup has long aspired to expand to commercial customers.
“This has been part of our plan since our Series A deck,” Rogers told TechCrunch.
Now, with an official deal locked in with Amazon and Whole Foods the company’s plan to profit from handling other people’s food waste is a bit more public.
Whole Foods will deploy a commercial-scale version of Mill’s food waste bin in each of its grocery stores beginning in 2027. The bins will grind and dehydrate waste from the produce department, reducing costly landfill fees while also providing feed for the company’s egg producers. Both trim the company’s overhead.
At the same time, Mill’s bins will collect data to help Whole Foods understand what gets wasted and why, helping the grocer further control costs. “Ultimately, our goal is not just to make their waste operations more efficient, but also to move upstream so they actually waste less food,” Rogers said.
The company started selling food waste bins to households a few years ago. As can be expected from a team that made the Nest thermostat, the devices are well designed and — to lean on a Silicon Valley cliche — they can be a delight to use. My kids got a kick out of the bins while testing the first and second generations.
“Starting in consumer was very intentional because you build the proof points, you build the data, the brand, loyalty,” Rogers said. Many members of the Whole Foods team were already using Mill in their homes when the two companies started talking.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
“It’s actually kind of our enterprise sales strategy,” Rogers continued. “We have conversations with senior leadership at our various ideal customers, and if they haven’t had Mill at home yet, we say, ‘Hey, try Mill at home, see what your family thinks.’ It is a surefire way of getting folks excited.”
The startup began having conversations with Whole Foods about a year ago, Rogers said. In the ensuing months, Whole Foods trialed the consumer version in some of its stores. Mill used feedback from Whole Foods to refine its commercial model.
But what helped sealed the deal was Mill’s ability to pinpoint food waste before it was wasted. Mill has developed an AI that uses a range of sensors to determine whether food that enters the bin should still be on the shelf. Minimizing “shrink” — the industry’s term for sales lost through waste or theft — can give grocers an edge in a cutthroat market.
Advances in large language models have been key, Rogers said. When he and Mill co-founder Harry Tannenbaum were at Nest, it took dozens of engineers and a “Google budget” more than a year to train Nest Cameras to recognize people and packages. With new LLMs, Mill only needed a handful of engineers and far less time to deliver superior results, according to Rogers, who said “AI is a huge enabler.”
The use of AI allowed Mill to deliver a commercial version faster, diversifying its customer base and source of revenue.
“If you are a single channel, single customer business, you’re fragile,” Rogers said. “I grew up at Apple during the iPod era,” he said. “Apple at the time was a single leg business. iPod was like 70% of company revenue. This was why we did the iPhone. Steve [Jobs] pushed us really hard on the iPhone because he was worried that folks like Motorola — who were working on smartphones at the time — would start to eat our lunch on the iPod business and that that would crush us. We needed to build another leg of the stool.”
And it seems that Mill isn’t finished adding legs to its figurative stool. Rogers said its working on building out a municipal business as well.
“We’re continuing to add more legs to the stool and adding more diversity to the business,” he said.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:30:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T15:46:11.433626
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Waymo is testing Gemini as an in-car AI assistant in its robotaxis
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/waymo-is-testing-gemini-as-an-in-car-ai-assistant-in-its-robotaxis/
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Waymo is testing a Gemini-powered in-car AI assistant, per findings from a 1,200-line system prompt. The assistant can answer general knowledge questions, control certain in-cabin features, and more.
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Waymo appears to be testing adding Google’s Gemini AI chatbot to its robotaxis in an effort to integrate an AI assistant that would accompany riders and answer their queries, according to findings by researcher Jane Manchun Wong.
“While digging through Waymo’s mobile app code, I discovered the complete system prompt for its unreleased Gemini integration,” Wong wrote in a blog. “The document, internally titled ‘Waymo Ride Assistant Meta-Prompt,’ is a 1,200+ line specification that defines exactly how the AI assistant is expected to behave inside a Waymo vehicle.”
The feature hasn’t shipped in public builds, but Wong says the system prompt makes it clear that this is “more than a simple chatbot.” The assistant is said to have the ability to answer questions, manage certain in-cabin functions like climate control, and if required, reassure riders.
“While we have no details to share today, our team is always tinkering with features to make riding with Waymo delightful, seamless, and useful,” Julia Ilina, a spokesperson for Waymo, told TechCrunch. “Some of these may or may not come to our rider experience.”
This wouldn’t be the first time Gemini has been integrated into the Alphabet-owned self-driving company’s stack. Waymo says it has used Gemini’s “world knowledge” to train its autonomous vehicles to navigate complex, rare, and high-stakes scenarios.
Waymo is working on Gemini AI in-car assistant
They tried to hide it from the app, but here’s the full 1200-line system prompt pic.twitter.com/weh1EBPj7y — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) December 24, 2025
Wong writes the assistant is instructed to possess a clear identity and purpose: “a friendly and helpful AI companion integrated into a Waymo autonomous vehicle” whose primary goal is “to enhance the rider’s experience by providing useful information and assistance in a safe, reassuring, and unobtrusive manner.” The bot is directed to use clear, simple language and avoid technical jargon, and is instructed to keep its responses succinct to one to three sentences.
According to the system prompts, when a rider activates the assistant via the in-car screen, Gemini can choose from a set of pre-approved greetings personalized with the rider’s first name. The system can also access contextual data about the rider, like how many Waymo trips they’ve been on.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
The prompts currently let Gemini access and control in-car features, like the temperature, lighting and music. Notably absent from the function list are volume control, route changes, seat adjustment, and window control, Wong pointed out. If a rider asks for a feature that Gemini can’t control, the bot is to reply with “aspirational phrases,” like, “It’s not something I can do yet.”
Interestingly, the assistant is directed to maintain a clear distinction between its identity as Gemini the AI bot, and the autonomous driving technology (the Waymo Driver). So when replying to a question such as, “How do you see the road?” Gemini shouldn’t say “I use a combination of sensors,” and instead should reply, “The Waymo Driver uses a combination of sensors…”
The system prompts include a range of compelling tidbits, such as how the bot is meant to handle being asked questions about competitors like Tesla or the now-defunct Cruise, or which trigger keywords will get it to stop talking.
The assistant is also directed to avoiding speculating on, explaining, confirming, denying, or commenting on real-time driving actions or specific driving events. So if a passenger asks about a video they saw of a Waymo hitting something, the bot is instructed to not answer directly and deflect.
“Your role is not to be a spokesperson for the driving system’s performance, and you must not adopt a defensive or apologetic tone,” the prompt reads.
The in-car assistant is allowed to answer general knowledge questions like about the weather, the height of the Eiffel Tower, what time the local Trader Joe’s closes, and who won the last World Series. It is not allowed to take real-world actions like ordering food, making reservations, or handling emergencies.
Waymo isn’t the only company integrating AI assistants into driverless vehicles. Tesla is doing something similar with xAI’s Grok. The two different car assistants serve different functions, however. Gemini appears to be programmed to be more pragmatic and ride-focused, while Grok is pitched more as an in-car buddy that can handle long conversations and remember context from previous questions.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 16:27:55 +0000
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2025-12-24T16:32:40.138989
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The 9 top biotech startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/the-9-top-biotech-startups-from-disrupt-startup-battlefield/
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Here is the full list of the biotech and pharma Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on what made us select them for the competition.
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Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield pitch contest draws thousands of applicants. We whittle those applications down to the top 200 contenders, and of them, the top 20 compete on the big stage to become the winner, taking home the Startup Battlefield Cup and a cash prize of $100,000. But the remaining 180 startups all blew us away as well in their respective categories and compete in their own pitch competition.
Here is the full list of the biotech and pharma Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on why they landed in the competition.
What it does: CasNx has invented a new kind of antivirus treatment for organs from organ donors.
Why it’s noteworthy: The startup has invented a gene-editing CRISPR kit that eliminates viruses and installs “universal donor” markers while the organ is being preserved outside the body.
What it does: Chipiron is building a light and inexpensive, open full-body MRI machine intended to make MRI cancer diagnostics more widely available.
Why it’s noteworthy: The medical MRI machine is being built using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), a highly sensitive magnetometer that can measure extremely weak magnetic fields, more commonly used in array antennas.
What it does: Exactics is building a platform that creates rapid diagnostic tests.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
Why it’s noteworthy: Exactics is attempting to make consumer diagnostic kits more widely available, beginning with at-home screening of Lyme disease, with kits for other illnesses on the roadmap.
What it does: Lumos has created a consumer high-frequency electromagnetic device named Avara, targeted at red blood cells.
Why it’s noteworthy: Avara has been designed to provide gentle, non-contact “inductive therapy” to improve sleep, relaxation, and exercise recovery.
What it does: Miraqules developed a nanotechnology in powder form that mimics blood-clotting proteins.
Why it’s noteworthy: This technology provides instant blood clotting and is a unique, potentially lifesaving alternative to traditional wound treatments, particularly when treating patients on the scene of the injury.
What it does: Nephrogen is creating gene therapy solutions for kidney illnesses.
Why it’s noteworthy: Nephrogen is solving the hardest part of the problem when it comes to gene-editing medicines. Its tech uses AI to accurately target gene-editing to the exact cells in the kidney that are causing the illness.
What it does: PraxisPro is an AI-powered training system for sales and marketing roles in life science industries.
Why it’s noteworthy: The system provides compliance-approved content, complete with simulations and real-time analytics to ensure those who represent life science companies are properly prepared to do so.
What it does: Reme-D is developing reliable and affordable diagnostic tests specifically geared toward underserved communities.
Why it’s noteworthy: Reme-D is developing rapid diagnostic tests that are not only particularly affordable but also stable in hot and humid climates.
What it does: Surgicure has created a patented solution that more safely and reliably secures endotracheal tubes (ET).
Why it’s noteworthy: This device makes ET tubes, the flexible tubes inserted through the mouth or nose during surgeries or other treatments, safer and more comfortable for patients.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 16:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T16:32:40.330295
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Being Santa Claus is a year-round calling
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https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/being-santa-claus-is-a-year-round-calling/
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"You're Santa Claus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year." Acting out may shatter "the magic."
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Tis the season when professional Santas are in peak demand, but many who choose this line of work often view it as a higher calling and maintain some aspects of the identity all year round—even those who don’t fit the stereotypical popular image of Santa, according to a paper published in the Academy of Management Journal.
Co-author Christina Hymer of the University of Tennessee got the idea for the study during the COVID pandemic, when she spent a lot of time watching Christmas movies with her toddler. One favorite was 2003’s Elf, starring Will Farrell as a full-sized human raised among elves who goes to New York City to find his biological father. It prompted her to wonder about why someone would want to be Santa Claus and what their experiences in that role would be.
Hymer and her co-authors partnered with the leader of a “Santa school” to analyze archival surveys of 849 professional Santas, as well as conducting a new survey of another 382 Santas. They also conducted over 50 personal interviews with professional Santas. (One subject showed up in full costume for his zoom interview, with a North Pole background, and signed off with a merry “ho! ho! ho!”)
Hymer et al. found that professional Santas tend to fall into one of three categories. The first is prototypical Santas: straight, portly white men with natural white beards. There are also semi-prototypical Santas who might fit the traditional physical characteristics in some respects but not others—such as being younger, or slimmer, or clean-shaven. Finally, there are non-prototypical Santas who are well outside the traditional depiction: people of color, women, disabled Santas, or LGBTQ+ Santas.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 16:23:35 +0000
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2025-12-24T16:32:41.238758
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Waymo explains why its robotaxis got stuck during the SF blackout
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/waymo-explains-why-its-robotaxis-got-stuck-during-the-sf-blackout/
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The company also said its robotaxis navigated more than 7,000 dark stoplights successfully on Saturday.
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Waymo is shipping a software update to help its robotaxis navigate disabled traffic lights during power outages “more decisively,” the company said Tuesday in a blog post that explains why its self-driving vehicles got stuck at intersections during a blackout in San Francisco this past weekend.
Waymo said the self-driving system in its robotaxis treat dead stop lights as four-way stops, just like humans are supposed to. That should have allowed the robotaxis to operate normally in spite of the massive outage.
Instead, many of the vehicles requested a “confirmation check” from Waymo’s fleet response team to make sure what they were doing is correct. All Waymo robotaxis have the ability to make these confirmation checks. With such a wide-spread outage on Saturday, there was a “concentrated spike” in these confirmation requests, Waymo said, which helped create all the congestion caught on video.
Waymo said it built this confirmation request system “out of an abundance of caution during our early deployment” but that it is now refining it to “match our current scale.”
“While this strategy was effective during smaller outages, we are now implementing fleet-wide updates that provide the [self-driving software] with specific power outage context, allowing it to navigate more decisively,” the company wrote.
The software update will add “even more context about regional outages” to the company’s self-driving software. Waymo also said it will improve its emergency response protocols by “incorporating lessons from this event.”
While a lot of focus has been placed on the instances where Waymo’s robotaxis got stuck during the power outage, the company shared that its vehicles “successfully traversed more than 7,000 dark signals on Saturday.”
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
“Navigating an event of this magnitude presented a unique challenge for autonomous technology,” the company wrote.
Saturday’s mess is the latest example of how Waymo is still uncovering unforeseen issues with its software and its approach to designing a reliable fleet of self-driving vehicles. The company already had to ship multiple software updates to make its robotaxis wait for stopped school buses, which prompted a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation and led to a recall.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 16:55:54 +0000
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2025-12-24T16:57:22.479181
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Anker’s beefy Laptop Power Bank has returned to its Black Friday low
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https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/849637/anker-laptop-power-bank-xbox-series-x-deal-sale
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As you might expect, things have been relatively quiet on the deals front since Black Friday, particularly when it comes to discounts on charging accessories. Thankfully, Anker’s aptly titled Laptop Power Bank is once again on sale at Amazon and Walmart for $87.99 ($47 off), which matches the record-low price we last saw at the […]
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As you might expect, things have been relatively quiet on the deals front since Black Friday, particularly when it comes to discounts on charging accessories. Thankfully, Anker’s aptly titled Laptop Power Bank is once again on sale at Amazon and Walmart for $87.99 ($47 off), which matches the record-low price we last saw at the end of November.
Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock for the past several years, you’re probably aware that Anker makes an ungodly amount of charging accessories. The portable A1695 “InstaCord” has quickly become a favorite among Verge staffers, however, owing to the fact that it comes with a retractable USB-C cable and a second that doubles as a handle, both of which are bidirectional and allow for passthrough charging. The 25,000mAh / 90Wh power bank also sports a USB-A port and an additional USB-C port, allowing you to charge your phone, a MacBook Pro, and up to two other devices simultaneously.
In terms of output distribution, Anker’s 600-gram Laptop Power Bank can deliver up to 165W when two devices are plugged in, or up to 130W when charging three or four gadgets. It’s carry-on compliant, too, meaning you shouldn’t have any trouble getting it through TSA while traveling, which isn’t the case if your charger is above the agency’s 100 watt-hours threshold for carry-on devices. It even features a built-in LCD display, allowing you to quickly view the remaining charge, overall power output, battery temperature, and other info at a glance.
More ways to save today
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2025-12-24T13:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-24T18:39:04.986993
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The European startup market’s data doesn’t match its energy — yet
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/the-european-startup-markets-data-doesnt-match-its-energy-yet/
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Europe's startup market hasn't produced meaningful numbers but there is reason to believe the data will start to change.
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The excitement for the European startup market was hard to ignore at the annual Slush conference in Helsinki last month. But the actual data on the state of the region’s venture market shows a different reality.
The upshot: The European market has not recovered from the global venture capital reset that occurred in 2022 and 2023. But there is evidence it is on the cusp of a turnaround, including Klarna’s recent exit and the region’s homegrown AI startups garnering attention from local investors and beyond.
Investors poured €43.7 billion ($52.3 billion) into European startups in 2025 across 7,743 deals through the third quarter, according to PitchBook data. That means the yearly total is on pace to match — not exceed — the €62.1 billion invested in 2024 and €62.3 billion in 2023.
In comparison, U.S. venture deal volume in 2025 had already surpassed 2022, 2023, and 2024 by the end of the third quarter, according to PitchBook data.
Deal recovery isn’t Europe’s biggest problem, though — it’s VC firm fundraising. Through Q3 2025, European VC firms raised a mere €8.3 billion ($9.7 billion), which puts Europe on track for its lowest overall fundraising yearly total in a decade.
“Fundraising, LP to GP, is definitely the weakest area within Europe,” Navina Rajan, a senior analyst at PitchBook, told TechCrunch. “We’re on track for around 50% to 60% decline in the first nine months of this year. A lot of that is made up now by emerging managers versus experienced firms, and the mega funds that closed last year haven’t repeated this year.”
While Rajan doesn’t share the same fever that oozed out of attendees at Slush, she pointed to a few positive data points that suggest the European market is turning around.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
For one, the participation of U.S. investors in European startup deals is back on the rise. Rajan said that figure dipped to a low in 2023 when U.S.-based VCs participated in just 19% of European venture deals. It has been steadily on the rise since, she said.
“They seem pretty optimistic on the European market,” Rajan said. “Just from an entry point of view, because you think about valuations, especially within AI tech and in the U.S., it’s just impossible to get in now, whereas, if you’re in Europe and your multiples are lower, and you’re new as an investor, it just provides a better entry point for perhaps similar tech.”
Swedish vibe-coding startup Lovable is one example of this shift. Vibe-coding companies have raised a lot of VC money in the United States. But U.S. investors also clearly love Lovable. The company just announced a new $330 million Series B round that was both led by and participated in by a slew of U.S.-based VCs, including Salesforce Ventures, CapitalG, and Menlo Ventures, among others.
French AI research lab Mistral has seen similar love from U.S.-based firms. Mistral landed a €1.7 billion Series C round in September that included Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, and Lightspeed.
Klarna’s recent exit also suggests a turnaround is underway.
Swedish fintech giant Klarna went public in September after raising $6.2 billion across two decades in the private market. That exit likely recycled some capital back to European LPs or gave them confidence in a changing exit environment.
For Victor Englesson, a partner at Swedish EQT, the recent European success stories, like Klarna, have started to change how founders in Europe approach building their companies.
“Ambitious founders have seen what great looks like in companies like Spotify, Klarna, Revolut and are now starting companies with that type of ambition,” Englesson told TechCrunch. They’re not starting companies with like, I want to win in Europe, or I want to win in Germany. They start companies with a mindset that I want to win globally. I don’t think we have seen that to the same extent before.”
That mindset has EQT, and others, bullish on Europe.
“For EQT, we’ve invested $120 billion in Europe [over the] last five years,” Englesson said. “We’re going to invest $250 billion [over the] next five years in Europe. So we are extremely committed to Europe.”
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 18:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-24T18:39:05.250536
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The year data centers went from backend to center stage
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/the-year-data-centers-went-from-backend-to-center-stage/
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Data centers are no longer the boring tech issue they once were.
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There was a time when most Americans had little to no knowledge about their local data center. Long the invisible but critical backbone of the internet, server farms have rarely been a point of interest for folks outside of the tech industry, let alone an issue of particularly captivating political resonance.
Well, as of 2025, it would appear those days are officially over.
Over the past 12 months, data centers have inspired protests in dozens of states, as regional activists have sought to combat America’s ever-increasing compute buildup. Data Center Watch, an organization tracking anti-data center activism, writes that there are currently 142 different activist groups across 24 states that are organizing against data center developments.
Activists have a variety of concerns: the environmental and potential health impacts of these projects, the controversial ways in which AI is being used, and, most importantly, the fact that so many new additions to America’s power grid may be driving up local electricity bills.
Such a sudden populist uprising appears to be a natural response to an industry that has grown so quickly that it’s now showing up in people’s backyards. Indeed, as the AI industry has swelled to dizzying heights, so, too, has the cloud computing business. Recent US Census Bureau data shows that, since 2021, construction spending on data centers has skyrocketed a stunning 331%. Spending on these projects totals in the hundreds of billions of dollars. So many new data centers have been proposed in recent months that many experts believe that a majority of them will not—and, indeed, could not possibly—be built.
This buildout shows no signs of slowing down in the meantime. Major tech giants—including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon—have all announced significant capital expenditure projections for the new year, a majority of which will likely go toward such projects.
New AI infrastructure isn’t just being pushed by Silicon Valley but by Washington D.C., where the Trump administration has made artificial intelligence a central plank of its agenda. The Stargate Project, announced in January, set the stage for 2025’s massive AI infrastructure buildout by heralding a supposed “re-industrialization of the United States.”
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
In the process of scaling itself exponentially, an industry that once had little public exposure has suddenly been thrust into the limelight—and is now suffering backlash. Danny Candejas, an activist with the non-profit MediaJustice, has been personally involved in a number of actions against data centers, including a protest that took place in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this year, where locals came out to decry the expansion of Colossus, a project from Elon Musk’s startup, xAI.
Candejas told TechCrunch that he meets new people every week who express interest in organizing against a data center in their community. “I don’t think this is going to stop anytime soon,” he said. “I think it’s going to keep building, and we’re going to see more wins—more projects are going to be stopped.”
Evidence in support of Candeja’s assessment is everywhere you look. Across the country, communities have reacted to newly announced server farms in much the same way the average person might react to the presence of a highly contagious plague. In Michigan, for instance, where developers are currently eyeing 16 different locations for potential data center construction, protesters recently descended upon the state’s capitol, saying things like: “Michiganders do not want data centers in our yards, in our communities.” Meanwhile, in Wisconsin—another development hot spot—angry locals appear to have recently dissuaded Microsoft from using their town as a headquarters for a new 244-acre data center. In Southern California, the tiny city of Imperial Valley recently filed a lawsuit to overturn its county’s approval of a data center project, expressing environmental concerns as the rationale.
The discontent surrounding these projects has gotten so intense that politicians believe it could make or break particular candidates at the ballot box. In November, it was reported that rising electricity costs—which many believe are being driven by the AI boom—could become a critical issue that determines the 2026 midterm elections.
“The whole connection to everybody’s energy bills going up—I think that’s what’s really made this an issue that is so stark for people,” Candejas told TechCrunch. “So many of us are struggling month to month. Meanwhile, there’s this huge expansion of data centers…[People are wondering] Where is all that money coming from? How are our local governments giving away subsidies and public funds to incentivize these projects, when there’s so much need in our communities?”
In some cases, protests appear to be working and even halting (if only temporarily) planned developments. Data Center Watch claims that some $64 billion worth of developments have been blocked or delayed as the result of grassroots opposition. Candejas is certainly a believer in the idea that organized action can halt companies in their tracks. “All this public pressure is working,” he said, noting that he could sense a “very palpable anger” around the issue.
Unsurprisingly, the tech industry is fighting back. Earlier this month, Politico reported that a relatively new trade group, the National Artificial Intelligence Association (NAIA), has been “distributing talking points to members of Congress and organizing local data center field trips to better pitch voters on their value.” Tech companies, including Meta, have been taking out ad campaigns to sell voters on the economic benefits of data centers, the outlet wrote. In short: The tech industry’s AI hopes are pegged to a compute buildout of epic proportions so for now, it’s safe to say that in 2026 the server surge will continue, as will the backlash and polarization that surround it.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 20:16:41 +0000
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2025-12-24T20:29:06.875975
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Nvidia acquires AI chip challenger Groq for $20B, report says
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/24/nvidia-acquires-ai-chip-challenger-groq-for-20b-report-says/
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With Groq on its side, Nvidia is poised to become even more dominant in chip manufacturing.
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In Brief
Nvidia is buying the AI chip startup Groq for $20 billion, according to a report from CNBC. The purchase is expected to be Nvidia’s largest ever, and with Groq on its side, Nvidia is poised to become even more dominant in chip manufacturing.
As tech companies compete to grow their AI capabilities, they need computing power, and Nvidia’s GPUs have emerged as the industry standard. But Groq has been working on a different type of chip called an LPU (language processing unit), which it has claimed can run LLMs at 10 times faster and using one-tenth the energy. Groq’s CEO Jonathan Ross is known for this sort of innovation — when he worked for Google, he helped invent the TPU (tensor processing unit), a custom AI accelerator chip.
In September, Groq raised $750 million at a $6.9 billion valuation. Its growth has been quick and significant — the company said that it powers the AI apps of more than 2 million developers, up from about 356,000 last year.
TechCrunch reached out to Nvidia for comment.
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Wed, 24 Dec 2025 22:03:16 +0000
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2025-12-24T22:26:00.300691
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Sealy Promo Code: Save $200 on Mattresses This Month
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https://www.wired.com/story/sealy-promo-code/
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Whether you’re switching from springs to memory foam or just want to sleep cooler this summer, these Sealy mattress deals will have you waking up refreshed—and with cash left in your wallet.
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Sealy is a mattress brand that is tried and true for many people, given that it has been around since 1881. That’s a lot of time to refine your product. Sealy has kept pace with the times by offering modern variations like memory foam and hybrid mattresses while also maintaining a strong lineup of traditional innerspring beds.
For example, the Cocoon Chill by Sealy is one of our favorite cooling mattresses that passed our week of testing with flying colors. While I’ve only been in the mattress industry for five years (a blip compared to Sealy’s timeline), I’m the resident sleep writer, reviewer, and certified sleep science coach here at WIRED. These are beds to keep an eye on, especially when they go on sale. Without further ado, here are some Sealy promo codes for this very case.
But if Sealy isn’t the only brand you’re contemplating, you can find our top-tested picks on our best mattresses list, plus the best bedsheets to go with them.
Save $200 on an Ease Power Base With This Sealy Coupon
Sealy doesn't just make mattresses, and their coupons aren’t just for mattresses—you can also score deals on products like bed frames. The Sealy Ease Power Base allows you to modify the angle of the head and foot of the bed, along with adjustable leg heights to best match your stature. If you plan on getting one to accompany your new Sealy Elite mattress, use Sealy promo code on this page to knock $200 off your bed and Ease power base purchase.
Take $100 Off a Posturepedic Spring Mattress With This Coupon Code
Sealy’s Posturepedic Spring mattress isn’t messing around when it comes to lumbar support. Sealy’s PrecisionFit coils are also working hard within this bed, with firmer coils in the center of the bed right where your spine needs it most—keep that in mind if you have back pain. Gel memory foam layers to keep tension off your pressure points and lower back.
Grab Two Adjustable Support Pillows for $69
Your head and shoulders need as much support as your knees and toes, which is why you’re looking for the best pillow out there and a good deal. Sealy’s got a good thing going with its adjustable pillows, which have the same pressure-relieving memory foam that works to contour around your head. No Sealy promo code needed for this one, because you can bundle to save $29 with a purchase of two pillows.
Get Savings on the Best Mattresses With Sealy
Sealy beds are everywhere. And there’s a reason this mattress is so popular, as they have tons of different models for every type of sleeper. Be sure to check out their complete lineup, including some of their most popular mattresses: the Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid Mattress, the entire Posturepedic Elite Collection, which helps to cradle and support the whole body, and the Cocoon Chill Mattress, ever-popular with hot sleepers who need a cooling mattress.
Sleep on It (Literally) With Sealy’s 90-Night Trial and 10-Year Warranty
Sealy offers you 90 nights and 10 years to back up your new mattress purchase, which is the industry standard. Your body needs at least 30 days to get used to the new bed, and 60 nights beyond that initial timeframe helps you be extra sure it’s the one for you. Ten years is generally how long you can expect a mattress to last, so this is another way of Sealy standing by the durability of its product, whether you plan on buying online or in-store.
Let Sealy Do the Heavy Lifting With Free Delivery
With your Sealy purchase, you can plan on your new mattress being delivered and set up for you for free. This is a big deal, especially if you’re someone who needs an extra set of helping hands—you can take a seat for this one and relax. And if you need your old bed hauled away, too, just let them know and they’ll take care of it.
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Thu, 25 Dec 2025 06:10:00 +0000
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2025-12-25T06:41:19.161141
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Tuft & Needle Promo Codes: 20% Off | December 2025
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https://www.wired.com/story/tuft-and-needle-promo-code/
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Save 20% on best-selling mattresses with our top Tuft & Needle coupon codes.
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A good night’s sleep is worth every penny. But it sure is nice to get more for that penny, especially when you’re leveling up for a new mattress and bedding. Investing in a new mattress, pillow, or even just a quilt and sheets isn’t cheap—at least, not for the stuff you want to be buying. The good news? Tuft & Needle, a maker of mattresses, pillows, sheets and more, has coupon codes ready for you to snag so that you can get new bedding without paying top dollar for it. In this economy, that’s a relief to hear. Here’s what you can score with these Tuft & Needle discount codes right now.
Top Tuft & Needle Promo Codes and Coupons
If you’re looking for bedding deals rather than a full-on mattress, Tuft & Needle’s bundle offer has you covered. You can get 15% off Tuft & Needle’s cotton and linen blend quilt ($220) that comes in a couple lovely colors (I’m partial to the earth red cayenne color) when you pair it with a white noise machine ($60) in your cart. Tuft & Needle has the Snooz sound machine available on its site, which is one of the many sound machines we like.
Top Tuft & Needle Pillow Discounts for Better Sleep
One of the most subtle ways to get a more restful sleep is often a great pillow, and we love the supportive pillow options from Tuft & Needle. The Tuft & Needle Zip Comfort Pillow is an adjustable pillow that allows you to choose between soft, medium, and firm feels by zipping or unzipping the two zippers along the side to adjust to your comfort level. If you’re looking for something more traditional, the Original Foam Pillow stays cool throughout the night and conforms to your head and neck for a better night’s sleep.And my favorite, the Body Pillow, which is ideal for side sleepers with cradling support throughout the body.
Extra support for pregnancy, side sleepers, and snuggling.
Deals on Our Favorite Tuft & Needle Mattresses
If you’re looking for mattress deals, Tuft & Needle is offering those, too. You can get up to 20% off Tuft & Needle’s range of mattresses, including the T&N Original Mattress, the T&N Mint Mattress, and the T&N Original Hybrid Mattress. I’m personally a big fan of hybrid mattresses since they provide more support (especially since I struggle with back pain while I sleep), but the Original and Mint mattresses are great if you’re more of a foam mattress person.
Unlock a 15% Off Tuft & Needle Coupon
You can get a special 15% off coupon if you’re a veteran, first responder, or a healthcare professional. To claim it, you will have to call Tuft & Needle directly at their customer support line—call the number (877) 842-2586—and they’ll process your order right there over the phone, so be ready to purchase.
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Thu, 25 Dec 2025 07:10:00 +0000
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2025-12-25T07:34:50.279580
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‘Wolf DNA’ Lurks in Many Modern Dog Breeds
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https://www.wired.com/story/wolf-dna-lurks-in-many-modern-dog-breeds/
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Although wolf-canine interbreeding has been considered extremely rare, the latest research shows that many present-day canines carry a small amount of wolf genes.
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A surprising study reveals that there is a trace of "wolf" lurking within the tiny body of a Chihuahua and the gigantic build of a St. Bernard.
An international research team from the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Natural History analyzed the genomes of 2,693 dogs and wolves and found that 64.1 percent of purebred dogs carry fragments of wolf DNA. Furthermore, a study of village dogs (free-roaming dogs living in or near human communities) from around the world found genetic traces of wolves in all 280 analyzed pups.
Dogs are thought to have evolved from populations of gray wolves, which became extinct during the Late Pleistocene epoch about 20,000 years ago. Although wolves and dogs still share habitats and can produce fertile offspring, interbreeding between the two has been thought to be extremely rare. Apart from deliberate breeding, there has been little evidence of genetic mixing since domestication.
“Prior to this study, the leading science seemed to suggest that in order for a dog to be a dog, there can’t be very much wolf DNA present, if any,” explains Audrey Lynn, a postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History who specializes in bioinformatics. “But we found if you look very closely in modern dog genomes, wolf is there.”
Genomes Reveals Memories From 3,000 Years Ago
Lynn and her colleagues collected large-scale genome data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and used sensitive genomic methods such as local ancestry analysis (LAI) and phylogenetic analysis to study wolves, purebred canines, village dogs, and other canids from the late Pleistocene to the present. The research was conducted using highly sensitive genomic methods such as local ancestry estimation (LAI) and phylogenetic analysis.
By combining these advanced methods, the researchers were able to divide the entire genome into smaller sections, estimate the ancestry of each section, and capture minute amounts of gene flow that could not be detected using conventional statistical methods.
They found that the gene flow from wolves to dogs occurred on average about 1,000 generations ago (equivalent to about 3,000 years ago). In contrast, the gene flow from dogs to wolves was much more recent, concentrated around the beginning of the 19th century. This is thought to be related to the increase in stray dog populations that accompanied urbanization and the expansion of human activity.
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Thu, 25 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-25T10:28:28.090797
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How a $200 Fake Fireplace From Home Depot Soothed My Soul
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https://www.wired.com/story/turbro-suburbs-fireplace-rave-2025/
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Research shows that watching a simulated fire may have real psychological benefits.
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When I first unboxed Turbro's Suburbs TS25 Smart Electric Fireplace, I was annoyed that it did not come with the recommended 6-inch Phillips-head screwdriver needed to attach the fireplace's freestanding legs. I dug through my toolbox and found a shorter screwdriver, which made screwing in the 16 screws a whole affair. Yet I persevered and placed the white polished-enamel fireplace in my living room.
I pushed the power button, and an almost cartoon-like LED version of a fire appeared. I sat on my sofa and opened my laptop to work. An hour later, I woke up to the sound of my dryer buzzer. I had taken a rare, unintended hour-long nap.
Good to Glow
Photograph: Lisa Wood Shapiro
Courtesy of Home Depot Chevron Chevron Turbro Suburbs 25 in. Wi-Fi-Enabled Electric Fireplace $200 Home Depot
I would not describe myself as someone who naps. After the births of my three children, I never napped when they napped. I also struggle with the basics: rest and relaxation. That is why when I stood up at seven o’clock that evening, I eyed the electric fireplace and wondered if its simulacrum of fire, the flickering orange and red flames, glow of burning logs, and crackle sounds had bewitched me into that restful catnap. I admit that at times, my suspension of disbelief can be a force. I fall for the ventriloquist's illusion of the puppet being able to speak simply because the ventriloquist's mouth does not appear to move. Maybe the fake fireplace is exactly the illusion my nervous system craves.
Turbro’s Suburbs isn’t the first ventless fireplace I’ve tested, but it was the first model that truly promoted rest and possible recovery, the kind that lowers one’s blood pressure. The 32-pound Suburbs is light enough that I can pick up what is essentially a 2-by-2-foot box and move it around my home all by myself. When I opened the fireplace's SmartLife app, which was already on my phone for another smart appliance, the Suburbs was already there on the dashboard.
Videos: Lisa Wood Shapiro
The app’s remote control is easier to maneuver than the fireplace's clunky and confusing physical remote. There are three brightness settings for the flame, and it comes with a realistic crackling fire sound that can be adjusted to three different volume settings. Lastly, the Suburbs white enameled wood-burning stove design has an infrared heater that can also be scheduled on a timer. It was able to effectively warm up my 200-square-foot living room.
It's Only Natural
As I tested the Suburbs, I began to think of it as my relaxation box. Regulating my mood, decompressing from stress, and striving toward an actual moment of rest are all priorities in my self-aware life. What if the mimicry of a real fireplace was responsible for reducing very real stress? Like forest bathing, could the simulation of fire elicit a calming response because a wood fire is natural?
Researchers have studied the psychological benefits of watching a fire. Christopher D. Lynn, professor and graduate director of anthropology at the University of Alabama, has studied the impact of viewing fire on blood pressure. His research found that “consistent blood pressure decreases in the fire-with-sound condition, particularly with a longer duration of stimulus.”
I reached out by email to ask if he found similar results to a real fire as he did with a simulated fire, like a television Yule log. He wrote back that he “replicated our original study using an electric fireplace with funding from Napoleon Fireplaces and found results similar to the original study.” Lynn is working on getting that paper published. Earlier research has linked watching a real flame fireplace with higher cognitive function.
And while there is some research that differentiates between the benefits of a real flame versus those of the fake flame, simulated fireplaces do not cause indoor air pollution. A simulated fire is the healthier choice, and it might even help with brain function. This entire piece was written calmly, in a low-stress environment, in front of the Suburbs electric fireplace. It comes with a two-year warranty (once registered) and costs around $200, an amount of money that I would argue should be paid for out of one's flexible spending account (FSA).
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Thu, 25 Dec 2025 10:33:00 +0000
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2025-12-25T10:49:16.210244
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The Gloves Are Off in the Fight for Your Right to Repair
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https://www.wired.com/story/expired-tired-wired-right-to-repair/
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This year, the right-to-repair movement got a boost from—surprisingly—big tech, tariffs, and economic downturn. But the companies controlling who fixes their stuff aren’t giving up that power willingly.
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It has been a big year for the right to repair, the movement of advocates pushing for people to be able to fix their own electronics and equipment without manufacturer approval. The issue has gathered broad support from technologists, farmers, military leaders, and politicians on both sides of the aisle. It is popular with just about everyone—except the companies who stand to gain if the parts, instructions, and tools necessary to fix their products remain under lock and key.
Three US states passed right-to-repair laws this year, including in heavily Republican states like Texas where the measure received a unanimous vote in both the House and Senate. Repair advocates are planning to continue that push into 2026 and beyond, applying pressure to legislators in an attempt to give gearheads more options when it comes to the gadgets they use every day. It marked a big shift for the right-to-repair movement, which has been lobbying for decades to allow users to repair their gadets—from iPhones to laptops—without going back to the manufacturer or voiding the warranty by taking it to an unauthorized repair shop.
expired: rubbish tired: recycle wired: repair Read more Expired/Tired/WIRED 2025 stories here.
“The fundamental problem with restricting the right to repair is that when you buy equipment, you have a competitive market,” says Nathan Proctor, senior director of the campaign for the right to repair at the United States Public Interest Research Group. “Once you have the equipment, if the manufacturer can make the repair a proprietary process, there's no competition at all.”
While the right to repair has broad support around the world—Canada and the EU, among others, have passed laws and issued rulings in consumers’ favor—the US often finds itself the focal point of the movement. For years advocates have been pushing for federal laws to let people change their phone’s battery or fiddle with their tractor without running afoul of what manufacturers will allow. Despite bipartisan support, nothing has come to pass, which is why this year’s state-level laws were so important.
For many advocates, the right to repair is an environmental issue. People are less inclined to throw gear into landfills if they can fix it. While some companies have gotten better about owning up to their environmental impacts by, say, switching to cardboard or recyclable materials for packaging, efforts to make the products themselves recyclable have been slower coming. That’s begun to change. Even a company like Apple, long resistant to letting people tweak their own iPhones, has begrudgingly started offering self-repair options to its customers. So, too, has Google, which redesigned its Pixel Watch to make it more repairable after pressure from repair advocates.
Despite these victories, companies continue to find ways to dance around regulations, obfuscate repair manuals, and make some repair tools available to customers only in certain states. Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, which offers how-to guides and sells gadget repair kits, says the next big step after 2025’s legislative wins will be making sure companies are following the new laws. “We’re seeing different levels of malicious compliance from different companies,” Wiens says.
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Thu, 25 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-25T11:22:58.211613
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2025’s Best Phones Were Also Its Wackiest
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https://www.wired.com/story/expired-tired-wired-wacky-phones/
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If anything, iPhones and Pixels are practically vanilla. The next generation is thinner, more transparent, and folds in half. That’s a good thing.
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This was a surprisingly fun year for smartphones. I wasn’t expecting it to be; the category is often described as stale or “plateaued.” But as WIRED’s resident phone reviewer, I’ve tested nearly all of this year’s handsets—devices as cheap as $130 all the way to an eye-watering $2,000—and I don’t think there’s been a year filled with as many varied styles in quite some time.
It all started with the Nothing Phone (3a) series, which the UK company launched at Mobile World Congress early in the year. While I wasn’t a fan of the Pro model’s top-heavy camera module, the electric blue Phone (3a) is a standout. It looks like no other smartphone on the market, with a transparent backplate, a pop of color from a small red square, and the company’s signature Glyph lights, which blink when you receive notifications. Those LEDs may not be the most useful, but they’re fun and wacky.
expired: dumb phones tired: vanilla phones wired: wacky phones Read more Expired/Tired/WIRED 2025 stories here.
That whimsical design has been sorely lacking for several years. Remember 2020’s LG Wing? The five-camera Nokia 9 PureView from 2019? The weird Moto Mods of a decade ago, which added things like cameras and speakers to the Moto Z from Motorola? These phones may not have topped the charts, but they tried something different.
Smartphones are a necessity in today’s world, and like all commodities, that means good and playful designs are often sacrificed for the sake of manufacturing efficiency. When companies chase the bottom line, we end up with plain, simple-looking phones designed for the broadest possible audience. This is why the recent shift to devices with a little more character feels significant.
Nothing had another win on its hands this year with the CMF Phone 2 Pro, a sub-$300 phone that didn’t look or feel anything like its budget price. Uniquely, you can unscrew the back of the phone and replace the backplate with one that’s a different color, or take off the Accessory Point module and attach things like a lanyard. Sustainability-focused Fairphone had a similar idea with The Fairphone (Gen. 6), except this smartphone did all of that while also achieving a 10/10 repairability score from iFixit.
The Nothing Phone (3a). Photograph: Julian Chokkattu The Motorola Razr 2025 series. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Next came Motorola, which has seen a lot of success in recent years with its Razr folding flip phones. With the 2025 Razr models, the company leaned heavily into different materials and textures. You could buy a Razr with a back coated in the microfiber textile Alcantara, vegan leather, or polished black Gorilla Glass. There’s even a version with Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. It helps that Motorola remains one of the only manufacturers offering a folding flip phone under $700. (It even gets as low as $600 during sale events.)
You may still be hesitant to invest in one of these hinge-reliant handsets, given their spotty history with durability, but they are tougher than ever. I’ve dropped multiple Razrs, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and even the Galaxy Z Flip7 this year, and outside of minor scuffs on the frame, none of them have cracked. Motorola introduced a titanium-reinforced hinge plate this year. Google promises 10-plus years of folding for its latest Fold and has finally earned an IP68 rating for its folding design. Samsung says its Galaxy Z Fold7 can withstand 500,000 folds, which pencils out to more than a decade of typical use.
We should expect more out of how the gadgets in our lives look and feel. As with a good watch, I find that I genuinely enjoy using devices that put a little more care or effort into design and build quality. This year, I was delighted by the sharp-looking Light Phone III—the anti-smartphone that doesn’t run traditional apps—whereas the Minimal Phone, which is built with the same goal of helping reduce time spent staring at a screen, had a plasticky build that felt off-putting. Even with all of this experimentation in form, you don’t have to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a good-looking phone. Motorola’s Moto G Stylus 5G has a striking design with a lovely leather-like texture, and it’s frequently on sale for $300.
The Light Phone III. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu The Moto G Stylus 5G 2025. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Thin, as always, was also very much in. Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air may not be original ideas, but I kid you not, holding an ultrathin and lightweight phone is actually pretty dang awesome. Unfortunately—and unsurprisingly—Samsung’s design suffered from lackluster battery life, and while the iPhone Air delivered better-than-expected run times, its single camera system and high price didn’t exactly scream good value in an economically tumultuous year. (These flaws likely explain the rumors that suggest Samsung has canceled plans for a successor to its thinnest handset and that Apple has been weathering lackluster sales of the Air.)
But we’ve already seen the benefits of thinner phones. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 is one of the best folding phones of the year, in large part due to the massive reduction in size and weight over its predecessors. Apple is also rumored to be working on a folding iPhone, and the learnings from the iPhone Air would go a long way in making a device that’s not cumbersome to hold.
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Thu, 25 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000
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2025-12-25T11:22:58.881738
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How to Set Up a Smartphone for Elderly Loved Ones
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https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-set-up-smartphone-for-parents-grandparents/
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Here's how to make iPhone and Android devices a little easier to use.
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Some folks just have trouble with smartphones, sometimes due to advanced age or inexperience with tech, but you can make phone life easier for older people with a few tweaks. These tips for setting up a smartphone for the elderly will help you get an iPhone or Android phone ready for your parents or grandparents to use safely. Everyone is different, so pick the tips that seem relevant and helpful for your loved one.
Updated December 2025: We've added a section on choosing a phone, refreshed the copy to reflect the latest operating systems, and added new screenshots to illustrate.
Choosing a Phone
While there are specialist “senior phones” on the market, most folks will be better served by a regular iPhone or Android phone with a few modifications. You probably have an old one in a drawer you can repurpose. If they need a new one, check out our buying guides, including Best iPhones, Best Android Phones, Best Cheap Phones, and Best Phones With a Headphone Jack.
The tips below were verified on an iPhone 16 and a Pixel 10 Pro XL. If you are setting up a different phone (especially an alternative Android phone), the settings may differ slightly.
Set Up the Lock Screen
It may be tempting not to apply lock screen security, but you should. Ideally, the phone has a fingerprint sensor or face unlock, and you can run through the process and make sure that they’re comfortable with how it works. Otherwise, you will have to set up a PIN, password, or pattern unlock that they can remember.
On an Android phone: Go to Settings, Security and privacy, Device unlock, and Screen lock.
On an iPhone: Go to Settings, then Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode.
Screen lock on Android Screenshots: Simon Hill
Tidy Up the Home Screen
Keep things simple on the home screen. The fewer icons, the better. Clear away and uninstall anything they won’t use regularly. Take some time to customize their iPhone or Android phone so it fits their needs.
On an Android phone: Tap and hold on an icon, then drag it away to the Uninstall or Remove wording, usually at the top of the screen.
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https://www.wired.com/feed/rss
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Thu, 25 Dec 2025 12:30:00 +0000
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2025-12-25T12:53:32.495393
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Hollywood cozied up to AI in 2025 and had nothing good to show for it
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https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/848119/hollywood-film-tv-ai-2025
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AI isn't new to Hollywood - but this was the year when it really made its presence felt. For years now, the entertainment industry has used different kinds of generative AI products for a variety of post-production processes ranging from de-aging actors to removing green screen backgrounds. In many instances, the technology has been a […]
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is a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.
AI isn’t new to Hollywood — but this was the year when it really made its presence felt. For years now, the entertainment industry has used different kinds of generative AI products for a variety of post-production processes ranging from de-aging actors to removing green screen backgrounds. In many instances, the technology has been a useful tool for human artists tasked with tedious and painstaking labor that might have otherwise taken them inordinate amounts of time to complete. But in 2025, Hollywood really began warming to the idea of deploying the kind of gen AI that’s really only good for conjuring up text-to-video slop that doesn’t have all that many practical uses in traditional production workflows. Despite all of the money and effort being put into it, there’s yet to be a gen-AI project that has shown why it’s worth all of the hype.
This confluence of Hollywood and AI didn’t start out so rosy. Studios were in a prime position to take the companies behind this technology to court because their video generation models had clearly been trained on copyrighted intellectual property. A number of major production companies including Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery did file lawsuits against AI firms and their boosters for that very reason. But rather than pummeling AI purveyors into the ground, some of Hollywood’s biggest power players chose instead to get into bed with them. We have only just begun to see what can come from this new era of gen-AI partnerships, but all signs point to things getting much sloppier in the very near future.
Though many of this year’s gen-AI headlines were dominated by larger outfits like Google and OpenAI, we also saw a number of smaller players vying for a seat at the entertainment table. There was Asteria, Natasha Lyonne’s startup focused on developing film projects with “ethically” engineered video generation models, and startups like Showrunner, an Amazon-backed platform designed to let subscribers create animated “shows” (a very generous term) from just a few descriptive sentences plugged into Discord. These relatively new companies were all desperate to legitimize the idea that their flavor of gen AI could be used to supercharge film / TV development while bringing down overall production costs.
Asteria didn’t have anything more than hype to share with the public after announcing its first film, and it was hard to believe that normal people would be interested in paying for Showrunner’s shoddily cobbled-together knockoffs of shows made by actual animators. In the latter case, it felt very much like Showrunner’s real goal was to secure juicy partnerships with established studios like Disney that would lead to their tech being baked into platforms where users could prompt up bespoke content featuring recognizable characters from massive franchises.
That idea seemed fairly ridiculous when Showrunner first hit the scene because its models churn out the modern equivalent of clunky JibJab cartoons. But in due time, Disney made it clear that — crappy as text-to-video generators tend to be for anything beyond quick memes — it was interested in experimenting with that kind of content. In December, Disney entered into a three-year, billion-dollar licensing deal with OpenAI that would let Sora users make AI videos with 200 different characters from Star Wars, Marvel, and more.
Netflix became one of the first big studios to proudly announce that it was going all-in on gen AI. After using the technology to produce special effects for one of its original series, the streamer published a list of general guidelines it wanted its partners to follow if they planned to jump on the slop bandwagon as well. Though Netflix wasn’t mandating that filmmakers use gen AI, it made clear that saving money on VFX work was one of the main reasons it was coming out in support of the trend. And it wasn’t long before Amazon followed suit by releasing multiple Japanese anime series that were terribly localized into other languages because the dubbing process didn’t involve any human translators or voice actors.
Amazon’s gen-AI dubs became a shining example of how poorly this technology can perform. They also highlighted how some studios aren’t putting all that much effort into making sure that their gen AI-derived projects are polished enough to be released to the public. That was also true of Amazon’s machine-generated TV recaps, which frequently got details about different shows very wrong. Both of these fiascos made it seem as if Amazon somehow thought that people wouldn’t notice or care about AI’s inability to consistently generate high-quality outputs. The studio quickly pulled its AI-dubbed series and the recap feature down, but it didn’t say that it wouldn’t try this kind of nonsense again.
Disney-provided examples of its characters in Sora AI content. Image: Disney
All of this and other dumb stunts like AI “actress” Tilly Norwood made it feel like certain segments of the entertainment industry were becoming more comfortable trying to foist gen-AI “entertainment” on people even though it left many people deeply unimpressed and put off. None of these projects demonstrated to the public why anyone except for money-pinching execs (and people who worship them for some reason) would be excited by a future shaped by this technology.
Aside from a few unimpressive images, we still haven’t seen what all might come from some of these collaborations, like Disney cozying up to OpenAI. But next year AI’s presence in Hollywood will be even more pronounced. Disney plans to dedicate an entire section of its streaming service to user-generated content sourced from Sora, and it will encourage Disney employees to use OpenAI’s ChatGPT products. But the deal’s real significance in this current moment is the message it sends to other studios about how they should move as Hollywood enters its slop era.
Regardless of whether Disney thinks this will work out well, the studio has signaled that it doesn’t want to be left behind if AI adoption keeps accelerating. That tells other production houses that they should follow suit, and if that becomes the case, there’s no telling how much more of this stuff we are all going to be forced to endure.
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-25T08:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-25T13:36:10.737316
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I re-created Google’s cute Gemini ad with my own kid’s stuffie, and I wish I hadn’t
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https://www.theverge.com/tech/849998/gemini-ai-stuffed-animal-commercial
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When your kid starts showing a preference for one of their stuffed animals, you're supposed to buy a backup in case it goes missing. I've heard this advice again and again, but never got around to buying a second plush deer once "Buddy" became my son's obvious favorite. Neither, apparently, did the parents in Google's […]
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is a senior reviewer with over a decade of experience writing about consumer tech. She has a special interest in mobile photography and telecom. Previously, she worked at DPReview.
When your kid starts showing a preference for one of their stuffed animals, you’re supposed to buy a backup in case it goes missing.
I’ve heard this advice again and again, but never got around to buying a second plush deer once “Buddy” became my son’s obvious favorite. Neither, apparently, did the parents in Google’s newest ad for Gemini.
It’s the fictional but relatable story of two parents discovering their child’s favorite stuffed toy, a lamb named Mr. Fuzzy, was left behind on an airplane. They use Gemini to track down a replacement, but the new toy is on backorder. In the meantime, they stall by using Gemini to create images and videos showing Mr. Fuzzy on a worldwide solo adventure — wearing a beret in front of the Eiffel tower, running from a bull in Pamplona, that kind of thing — plus a clip where he explains to “Emma” that he can’t wait to rejoin her in five to eight business days. Adorable, or kinda weird, depending on how you look at it! But can Gemini actually do all of that? Only one way to find out.
I fed Gemini three pictures of Buddy, our real life Mr. Fuzzy, from different angles, and gave it the same prompt that’s in the ad: “find this stuffed animal to buy ASAP.” It returned a couple of likely candidates. But when I expanded its response to show its thinking I found the full eighteen hundred word essay detailing the twists and turns of its search as it considered and reconsidered whether Buddy is a dog, a bunny, or something else. It is bananas, including real phrases like “I am considering the puppy hypothesis,” “The tag is a loop on the butt,” and “I’m now back in the rabbit hole!” By the end, Gemini kind of threw its hands up and suggested that the toy might be from Target and was likely discontinued, and that I should check eBay.
‘I am considering the puppy hypothesis’
In fairness, Buddy is a little bit hard to read. His features lean generic cute woodland creature, his care tag has long since been discarded, and we’re not even 100 percent sure who gave him to us. He is, however, definitely made by Mary Meyer, per the loop on his butt. He does seem to be from the “Putty” collection, which is a path Gemini went down a couple of times, and is probably a fawn that was discontinued sometime around 2021. That’s the conclusion I came to on my own, after about 20 minutes of Googling and no help from AI. The AI blurb when I do a reverse image search on one of my photos confidently declares him to be a puppy.
Gemini did a better job with the second half of the assignment, but it wasn’t quite as easy as the ad makes it look. I started with a different photo of Buddy — one where he’s actually on a plane in my son’s arms — and gave it the next prompt: “make a photo of the deer on his next flight.” The result is pretty good, but his lower half is obscured in the source image so the feet aren’t quite right. Close enough, though.
The ad doesn’t show the full prompt for the next two photos, so I went with: “Now make a photo of the same deer in front of the Grand Canyon.” And it did just that — with the airplane seatbelt and headphones, too. I was more specific with my next prompt, added a camera in his hands, and got something more convincing.
Looks plausible enough. Image: Gemini / The Verge Safety first, Buddy. Image: Gemini / The Verge
I can see how Gemini misinterpreted my prompt. I was trying to keep it simple, and requested a photo of the same deer “at a family reunion.” I did not specify his family reunion. So that’s how he ended up crashing the Johnson family reunion — a gathering of humans. I can only assume that Gemini took my last name as a starting point here because it sure wasn’t in my prompt, and when I requested that Gemini created a new family reunion scene of his family, it just swapped the people for stuffed deer. There are even little placards on the table that say “deer reunion.” Reader, I screamed.
Previous Next
1 / 2 I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this family in a pharmaceutical commercial before. Image: Gemini / The Verge
For the last portion of the ad, the couple use Gemini to create cute little videos of Mr. Fuzzy getting increasingly adventurous: snowboarding, white water rafting, skydiving, before finally appearing in a spacesuit on the moon addressing “Emma” directly. The commercial whips through all these clips quickly, which feels like a little sleight of hand given that Gemini takes at least a couple of minutes to create a video. And even on my Gemini Pro account, I’m limited to three generated videos per day. It would take a few days to get all of those clips right.
Gemini wouldn’t make a video based on any image of my kid holding the stuffed deer, probably thanks to some welcome guardrails preventing it from generating deepfakes of babies. I started with the only photo I had on hand of Buddy on his own: hanging upside down, air-drying after a trip through the washer. And that’s how he appears in the first clip it generated from this prompt: Temu Buddy hanging upside down in space before dropping into place, morphing into a right-side-up astronaut, and delivering the dialogue I requested.
A second prompt with a clear photo of Buddy right-side-up seemed to mash up elements of the previous video with the new one, so I started a brand new chat to see if I could get it working from scratch. Honestly? Nailed it. Aside from the antlers, which Gemini keeps sneaking in. But this clip also brought one nagging question to the forefront: should you do any of this when your kid loses a beloved toy?
I gave Buddy the same dialogue as in the commercial, using my son’s name rather than Emma. Hearing that same manufactured voice say my kid’s name out loud set alarm bells off in my head. An AI generated Buddy in front of the Eiffel Tower? Sorta weird, sorta cute. AI Buddy addressing my son by name? Nope, absolutely not, no thank you.
How much, and when, to lie to your kids is a philosophical debate you have with yourself over and over as a parent. Do you swap in the identical stuffie you had in a closet when the original goes missing and pretend it’s all the same? Do you tell them the truth and take it as an opportunity to learn about grief? Do you just need to buy yourself a little extra time before you have that conversation, and enlist AI to help you make a believable case? I wouldn’t blame any parent choosing any of the above. But personally, I draw the line at an AI character talking directly to my kid. I never showed him these AI-generated versions of Buddy, and I plan to keep it that way.
Nope, absolutely not, no thank you.
But back to the less morally complex question: can Gemini actually do all of the things that it does in the commercial? More or less. But there’s an awful lot of careful prompting and re-prompting you’d have to do to get those results. It’s telling that throughout most of the ad you don’t see the full prompt that’s supposedly generating the results on screen. A lot depends on your source material, too. Gemini wouldn’t produce any kind of video based on an image in which my kid was holding Buddy — for good reason! But this does mean that if you don’t have the right kind of photo on hand, you’re going to have a very hard time generating believable videos of Mr. Sniffles or whoever hitting the ski slopes.
Like many other elder millennials, I think about Calvin and Hobbes a lot. Bill Watterson famously refused to commercialize his characters, because he wanted to keep them alive in our imaginations rather than on a screen. He insisted that having an actor give Hobbes a voice would change the relationship between the reader and the character, and I think he’s right. The bond between a kid and a stuffed animal is real and kinda magical; whoever Buddy is in my kid’s imagination, I don’t want AI overwriting that.
The great cruelty of it all is knowing that there’s an expiration date on that relationship. When I became a parent, I wasn’t at all prepared for the way my toddler nuzzling his stuffed deer would crack my heart right open. It’s so pure and sweet, but it always makes me a little sad at the same time, knowing that the days where he looks for comfort from a stuffed animal like Buddy are numbered. He’s going to outgrow it all, and I’m not prepared for that reality. Maybe as much as we’re trying to save our kids some heartbreak over their lost companion, we’re really trying to delay ours, too.
All images and videos in this story were generated by Google Gemini.
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https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
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2025-12-25T09:00:00-05:00
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2025-12-25T14:27:19.383350
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