Iran is going offline to prevent purported Israeli cyberattacks

In a purported attempt to limit Israel’s ability to wage cyberwarfare, Iran has begun throttling its civilians’ access to the internet and plans to disconnect entirely from the global internet by Tuesday night. Fateme Mohajerani, a government spokesperson, said during a recent television broadcast that the speed reduction was “temporary, targeted, and controlled, aimed at … Read more

Trump is giving TikTok another ban extension

For the third time, President Donald Trump will extend the deadline for TikTok to spin out from its Chinese parent company or face a US ban. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in a statement Tuesday that Trump will sign an executive order this week extending the deadline another 90 days, landing the new … Read more

Senate confirms Trump’s FCC pick, Olivia Trusty

The Senate confirmed Republican Olivia Trusty to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday, installing another nominee by President Donald Trump and ending the brief lack of quorum at the agency. The vote was 53-45, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) being the only Democrat to vote in her favor.  Trusty will join Republican … Read more

Meta is making all Facebook videos reels

Meta is making a change to how sharing videos works on Facebook. Right now, you can share videos as a video from the post composer or as a reel, and both have different sharing workflows. In “the coming months,” however, “all videos on Facebook will be shared as reels,” according to a blog post. “Facebook … Read more

WhatsApp’s rollout of ads will change the app forever

This week, WhatsApp did something its founders said it would never do: it’s putting advertisements inside the app. It ends WhatsApp’s decade-plus run of offering an ad-free messaging and calling experience. Meta, which acquired WhatsApp in 2014, attempted to justify the decision by saying ads will be sequestered to its “Update” tab, where you’ll see … Read more

Fossil fuels are an insurance disaster  

Heatwaves, mold, and plastic pollution pose new risks to businesses and insurance companies, a new report by reinsurer Swiss Re warns. What do these things have in common? Fossil fuels make matters worse.  They release the greenhouse gases warming our planet and are the primary ingredients for plastics, of course. Swiss Re’s annual report flags … Read more

Bungie delays Marathon after alpha test feedback

Bungie announced Tuesday that it’s delaying Marathon, its new extraction shooter that had been set for a September 23rd release date. The studio isn’t providing a new release date just yet, though has promised to share it sometime this fall. The studio outlined a few “immediate focus areas” for the game. It plans to make … Read more

Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox has an AMD chip inside and is ‘not locked to a single store’

Microsoft is confirming today that it’s working on a next-gen Xbox console in partnership with AMD. Xbox president Sarah Bond made the announcement in a minute-long video posted to YouTube, promising to deliver “an Xbox experience not locked to a single store or tied to one device.” Bond says Microsoft is partnering with AMD for … Read more

Who is really behind the Trump Mobile T1 phone?

Choose your fighter. In case you missed it, the Trump Organization announced yesterday that it plans to release a $499 Trump-branded, “built in the United States” phone later this year. A spokesperson for the Trump Organization doubled down on this claim to The Wall Street Journal, saying “manufacturing for the new phone will be in … Read more

Peak Design’s new portable pro tripods can support up to 40 pounds of camera gear

Peak Design’s new tripods are designed for larger camera gear but still fold down small enough to fit in a backpack. | Image: Peak Design Peak Design has announced three new tripods with features and functionality that cater to professional photographers and videographers. The company’s first tripod was a travel model that folded to be … Read more

Blue Prince is coming to Mac

Blue Prince, the architectural mystery puzzle roguelite, is coming to a Mac near you. In a press release from the game’s publisher Raw Fury, it was announced that Blue Prince is getting an update that will add Mac support (via Steam) coming “later this year.”  Blue Prince released earlier this year and quickly became an … Read more

Adobe made a mobile app for its Firefly generative AI tools

Adobe’s Firefly apps, now available on iPhone and Android. The all-in-one platform for Adobe’s Firefly-branded generative AI models is now available on iPhone and Android devices. The new Firefly mobile app allows users to generate images and videos using text descriptions and experiment with popular AI photo editing tools, enabling creatives to generate assets for … Read more

Life with the Nintendo Switch 2

The Nintendo Switch 2 is great. In many ways, it’s exactly what we hoped for: a Switch, only better. And yet there’s something… underwhelming about it. Maybe it’s unfair, but we’ve come to expect Nintendo to consistently amaze us with either how its consoles work or the games you can play with them. In this … Read more

Microsoft should change its Copilot advertising, says watchdog

Microsoft’s Copilot advertising has been criticized by an industry watchdog for its productivity claims and confusing use of Copilot branding. The Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division (NAD) has reviewed Microsoft’s Copilot advertising, and recommended that the software giant discontinues or modifies productivity claims about Microsoft 365 Copilot and more clearly disclose the limitations of … Read more