JD Vance is, by his own admission, “plugged into a lot of weird right-wing subcultures.” His much-mocked comments about childless cat ladies and unassimilated Italian immigrants were made on a “masculinist” podcast. He doesn’t eat seed oils, a dietary restriction du jour on the extremely online right. When he was nominated to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate, his …
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Meta is laying off employees at WhatsApp, Instagram, and more
Meta has begun laying off employees across various departments, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, according to people familiar with the matter. Rather than a mass, companywide layoff, these smaller cuts seem to coincide with reorganizations of specific teams. Some Meta employees have started posting that they’ve been laid off. Among them is Jane Manchun Wong, who gained notoriety for …
Read More »Instagram’s ‘social library’ could keep track of that funny video someone sent you
Instagram appears to be working on a new “Social Library” section in the app where you can easily access things shared in chat threads, your collections, and posts you’ve liked, according to an image shared by developer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi. Judging from the looks of the screenshot from Paluzzi, the section will contain posts, Reels, and other media you’ve …
Read More »Apple’s new feature lets brands put their stamp on emails and calls to your iPhone
Soon, Apple will let businesses customize how they appear in emails and phone calls on the iPhone. Apple announced on Wednesday how companies using its Business Connect tool can add their brand name and logo in ways that will pop up in iPhone apps used for email, phone calls, and payments. Each registered business can confirm its info is accurate …
Read More »Amazon discontinues the last Kindle with physical buttons
Amazon has discontinued the Kindle Oasis, which was the only Kindle still available with physical page-turn buttons. The company announced a new Kindle lineup earlier today, but Amazon confirmed to IMR that it’s moving on from the Oasis. “Once current inventory of Kindle Oasis sells out online and in stores, we will not restock the device,” Amazon’s Devon Corvasce …
Read More »A day at the F1 Arcade: here’s what it’s like to drive
Confidence was my first mistake. As I plopped down in one of the 83 racing simulators in the new F1 Arcade location in Washington, DC, I told the company’s CEO, Adam Breeden, that I’d raced plenty of times before. I picked Semi-Pro difficulty, even as Breeden told me he recommends most first-time arcade visitors pick something simpler. I adjusted the …
Read More »Hades II gets a new location and new pets
The first major update for Hades II, which is still in early access, is out now, adding things like a new region, the game’s sixth and final weapon, new pets, native support for Macs with M1 chips, and more. The big feature looks to be the new region. You might be able to guess what that region is based on …
Read More »Anthropic’s CEO thinks AI will lead to a utopia — he just needs $7 billion first
If you want to raise ungodly amounts of money, you better have some godly reasons. That’s what Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei laid out for us on Friday in more than 14,000 words: otherworldly ways in which artificial general intelligence (AGI, though he prefers to call it “powerful AI”) will change our lives. In the blog, titled “Machines of Loving Grace,” …
Read More »My aging minivan needs Anker’s leaked car charger with a retractable USB-C cable
A reliable leaker has shared details and an image of an unannounced car charger from Anker that would be the first from the company to feature a retractable USB-C cable. As the proud owner of an eight-year-old minivan lacking modern amenities like built-in USB ports, this would be a welcome alternative to a glove box stuffed full of unraveled charging …
Read More »The FTC is finally making it easier to cancel your gym membership
The US Federal Trade Commission is taking action against subscriptions that are difficult to get rid of. On Wednesday, it adopted a final “click-to-cancel” rule requiring businesses to make canceling a subscription as easy as signing up. Under the rule, businesses can’t force customers to cancel a subscription using a method different from how they signed up. For example, if you signed …
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