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T.C. is a Senior Editor at The Verge, where he has obsessed over headlines and internet speeds since 2011. Prior to The Verge, he worked in the nation’s capital as an advocate for the National Park System, which continues to be America’s best idea. (The internet is a close second.) Ethics statement: T.C. is the creator of Quest, a tabletop roleplaying game. As such, he is not involved in any kind of coverage of tabletop games for The Verge.
It’s too late at night to eat, but you’ll still enjoy this Easter egg. Turns out if you drop Valve’s Steam Controller it will let out the legendary Wilhelm Scream — an unavoidable sound if you, like Dwight Schrute, have seen over 240 films. PCGamer verified this tiny joy, citing this Reddit post from RF3D19.
As originally reported by The Daily Princetonian and The Atlantic, Princeton University just decided to end a 133-year tradition of professors leaving the room when students are taking exams.
The dean of the faculty claimed in the proposal to amend the rules that both students and professors had “the perception that cheating on in-class exams has become widespread”, thanks in part to “the advent of generative artificial intelligence products.” At least AI has reinvigorated one job: student chaperone.
Google just introduced new 3D emoji which are causing quite a stir in our newsroom. (Early reviews from our staff aren’t great.)
Back in 2019 we covered the censorship that was hurting the sex toy industry. One of the offenders was Kickstarter, which later changed its ways and became more welcoming.
But it seems like the company has regressed. “Sexual pleasure” is now a banned concept for rewards, though Kickstarter says pleasure might be fine as long as the product is not designed for “insertion or penetration.” I want to know what’s going on over at Kickstarter HQ but I fear nobody is having fun.
[Kickstarter]
You play as Donald Trump in the new web game Epic Furious: Strait to Hell. I lost my first run within 90 seconds by trying to hold hands with Melania. Oops. I got a GAME OVER — yes, in all-caps.
Epic Furious seems to be created by the same anonymous group — “The Secret Handshake” — which installed a statue of Trump and Epstein holding hands on the National Mall.
I haven’t gotten far enough yet, but good luck surviving an encounter with Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel.
[Epic Furious]
This invention from Pablo Rochat made me cackle out loud. It’s a tripod deployed from his arms that reminds us of the chair pants from Jury Duty and the trouser bench from Community. Would anyone use this? Should anyone? You decide.
Alex Karp has Palantir; Palmer Luckey has Anduril; Peter Thiel has Mithril Capital. Together they’re like a Silicon Valley axis of cursed Lord Of The Rings references. Sons and daughters of actual Earth: hold your ground! Hold your ground!
This tome does not belong to one person, but to all. Let us together rebuild this world of LOTR references. Leave a comment with your best idea for a company that can fight against this darkness so we may share in days of peace. My idea? A company called Evenstar (Elfstone) that lets you see whether something is AI-generated.
Extra credit will be awarded to those who crack open The Silmarillion.
We just flew around the Moon, which remains an incredible feat for human beings. On this planet, I’m really psyched to print and frame the official NASA posters for the Artemis II mission. And because they’re public works you can get them for free. What a great use of taxes.
Okay: almost nobody wants a year-end “wrapped” for most things we do — food delivery, subscriptions, you name it. It’d be too embarrassing to look into that mirror. But this one seems legitimately useful to help Americans understand how their taxes are being spent. Enter Tax Wrapped, from Riley Walz. Find out how much of your money is going to health, war, and more.
[Riley Walz]