FCC’s last Democratic commissioner doesn’t know why Trump hasn’t fired her yet

Every morning, Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez says she checks her email “to see if I’m going into work.” At a time when the federal workforce has been slashed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Gomez’s job appears to be one of the most precarious in the US government. She’s the last remaining … Read more

Reddit is looking for a new product boss

Reddit’s first-ever chief product officer, Pali Bhat, is leaving the company in “the coming months,” spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt confirmed to The Verge. Bhat, a former Google executive, joined Reddit in October 2021. “His tenure was about as clear pre / post test as we could run,” CEO Steve Huffman said in an internal message about … Read more

Disney and Universal sue Midjourney for making AI ripoffs of their biggest characters

Disney and Universal sued Midjourney on Wednesday for generating Shrek, Darth Vader, Buzz Lightyear, and a host of other copyrighted characters in the first major legal showdown between Hollywood and generative AI. The complaint, filed in a US District Court in central California, calls Midjourney’s AI image generator a “virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized … Read more

Taboola’s clickbaity chumbox is evolving into an AI chatbot

DeeperDive will appear at the top of USA Today’s homepage. Taboola, the company best known for serving up those weird, clickbaity advertisements you often find beneath online articles, has created an AI chatbot. The tool, called “DeeperDive,” is launching in beta on USA Today and The Independent, and will answer readers’ questions using information “sourced … Read more

A Steven Universe spinoff is in the works at Amazon

Though Steven Universe‘s time on Cartoon Network has come and gone, Amazon is stepping in to keep the story going. During a Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe panel at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival, Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar announced that Amazon is moving forward with a new spinoff series focused on side … Read more

The war is on for Congress’ AI law ban

“This is absurd.” That’s all Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, recalls thinking when she first heard about the proposed moratorium on state AI regulation tucked into President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” – the same funding bill that had Trump and Elon Musk recently trading barbs online. According to the bill’s … Read more

Trump claims the US-China trade war is over

President Donald Trump says he has reached a deal with China that will ensure the US receives rare earth materials, keeps tariffs at a total of 55 percent, and allows American universities to keep accepting Chinese students. Trump announced the news of the agreement on Truth Social, which he says is still “subject to final … Read more

The Switch 2’s GameChat is my new meeting room

Nintendo introduced a new hardware button to the Switch 2 specifically for chatting with your friends, and it’s undoubtedly my favorite feature on the console. Instead of using a smartphone app like the original Switch, Switch 2 users can open up a communications channel at any time with the “C” button and chat with friends, … Read more

Samsung’s fridges now recognize family members by voice

Samsung’s latest smart fridges now support multi-voice recognition powered by the company’s Bixby assistant, which can be used to bring up personalized information on the built-in smart displays based upon which member of a household is speaking. Voice identification in smart home tech is nothing new, but with no successful Samsung-branded smart speaker line of … Read more