Tech

Let me just explain the demo that got me excited about Surf, a new browser coming from a startup called Deta. Max Eusterbrock, one of Deta’s cofounders, shared his screen with me over Zoom and asked me to pick a YouTube video. I told him to search for Cleo Abram’s latest, about digging through the center of the Earth. “Do …

This year’s Spotify Wrapped has arrived. As you look at your stats for 2024, you’ll find a few new features you can use to interact with your data, including one that lets you listen to and share an AI-generated podcast summarizing your listening habits. Spotify built this feature using Google’s AI note-taking tech, NotebookLM, which can generate a podcast with …

Growl is a startup launching a wall-mounted fitness device that uses a combination of projectors and sensors to give you a life-size boxing coach to train with. Unlike similar interactive trainers such as the Lululemon Mirror or Tonal, the Growl encourages physical interactivity with its screen that doubles as a punching bag you can actually hit. However, just like those …

Fantasian was an easy game to recommend when it launched in 2021. Developed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Mistwalker studio, Fantasian was an approachable old-school roleplaying game that had a lot of clever ideas, along with an adorable aesthetic thanks to its world made out of hand-crafted dioramas. There was just one problem: it was exclusive to Apple Arcade, …

When the South Korean president declares martial law on Tuesday night, I am fairly drunk, as is much of the city. By sheer coincidence, I am working from Seoul that week, and I have just met up with my boss — also, coincidentally, passing through the city while on vacation — for drinks. My boss’s boss texts me at 10:49PM …

Though it started out pretty chill, over the years, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp steadily became bloated with monetization. There were all kinds of things to spend real money on, including loot boxes for unlocking rare items. When I logged in to the game last week after months away, my screen was dominated by notifications vying for my attention, most of …

The Department of Energy preliminarily approved another loan to help fund the construction of electric vehicle battery factories in the US. This time, a joint venture between Stellantis and Samsung SDI will receive $7.54 billion to build two EV battery plants in Kokomo, Indiana. The project is expected to create 3,200 jobs, as well as 2,800 operations jobs at the …

Eve’s Android app has finally arrived, but it only supports the Eve Thermo at launch. | Image: Eve Systems Eve Systems has finally launched its first Android app — over two years after announcing it was working on one. This week, the once Apple-only smart home device maker launched the Eve for Matter app on the Google Play Store. The …

Despite only officially launching the game in spring of this year, Ubisoft has already announced that it’s ending development and sunsetting its free-to-play team-based shooter XDefiant. Like Hyper Scape before it, XDefiant had high expectations, with Ubisoft touting more than 1 million players in its closed beta last year. Now, it will disappear quickly, as it’s no longer accepting new …

After announcing plans to acquire Vizio in February, Walmart officially owns the company after the $2.3 billion transaction closed on Tuesday. The retail giant says the acquisition will help bolster its advertising business, as Platform Plus — the TV-maker’s advertising and data division — “accounts for all the company’s [Vizio’s] gross profit.” The deal has raised concerns among privacy advocates, …