The enforcer that could break up Apple and Google is facing upheaval
The sudden firing of two high-ranking antitrust officials this week is signaling upheaval at an agency responsible for arguing some of the biggest tech monopoly cases in decades. Two top deputies to Department of Justice Antitrust Division chief Gail Slater were fired earlier this week for what a DOJ official would only explain as “insubordination” […]
The ‘Epstein files’ implosion bleeds into foreign policy
While the summer doldrums have hit Washington, the MAGA influencers can never truly go on vacation, especially if they’ve spent their careers promising to reveal the truth about Jeffrey Epstein. Although their politicians are now in power, they’re getting stonewalled, and in the absence of juicy “Epstein files” to feed to their audiences, a new […]
The best fitness trackers and watches we’ve tested
Fitness trackers have come a long way from the simple bands that tracked steps and little else. Modern trackers can monitor everything from your heart health to how well you’ve recovered from a hard bout of training. Even flagship smartwatches, which used to be lackluster trackers, have become pretty adept workout companions. Whatever your fitness […]
Time Flies is a short meditation on the meaning of life
I didn’t expect a brief game about flies to make me emotional. But when I finished Time Flies, I nearly began to cry. Time Flies initially seems very silly. You play as a little buzzing fly that has to try and accomplish a bucket list of tasks before it, well, kicks the bucket, something that […]
I tried ‘Bricking’ my phone to fix my brain
Fixing my eroded attention span has been a journey. Brick has sort of helped. “We need to talk.” Nobody likes to hear those words from their spouse. Especially when it’s delivered in a grave tone as you rot on a couch in a grubby blankie, staring like a zombie while doomscrolling. “Wut?” I said, very […]
Nintendo Switch prices are going up after this weekend
Nintendo is raising the price of the original Switch “family of systems and products,” the company announced on Friday. Along with the first-generation Nintendo Switch, the price change also affects the Switch OLED, Switch Lite, and “select” accessories. Nintendo hasn’t confirmed what the new prices are, but updated listings on Target’s website pointed out by […]
Itch.io has begun restoring NSFW content, but only if it’s free
There’s a new turn in the itch.io story. In a forum post, itch.io creator and founder Leaf Corcoran has notified users that the company has begun the process of restoring thousands of NSFW pages that were deindexed — that is, content that has been removed from search results and recommendation lists. The catch is that […]
The $299 Halo smart glasses will remember the names of people you meet
Brilliant Labs’ new Halo smart glasses weigh just over 40 grams. | Image: Brilliant Labs Startup Brilliant Labs has announced a successor to its $349 open-source Frame smart glasses, which debuted early last year with features like AI-powered translations and the ability to identify what you were looking at. Its new $299 Halo smart glasses […]
Eyes of Wakanda feels like fanfiction turned into Marvel history
Ryan Coogler’s first Black Panther feature set itself apart by pushing audiences to think about how comic book heroes and villains would fit into a world shaped by horrors like the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Black Panther and its 2022 sequel, Wakanda Forever, used their characters to comment on our reality’s complicated and oftentimes ugly history […]
IRS head says free Direct File tax service is ‘gone’
The Trump administration may have just axed the IRS Direct File program. During a summit earlier this week, IRS Commissioner Billy Long said the free tax filing service is “gone,” adding that “big beautiful Billy wiped that out,” as reported earlier by Bloomberg Law. President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill includes a provision to establish […]
