Tech

He said he sometimes used strong language at work, but might have said something like, “Don’t be a jackass.” So in addition to being hilarious, the trophy also makes him look like a liar.

The new black-and-white Kindle Scribe without a glowing display has been MIA since it was announced last September. But according to an updated listing on Amazon’s store, it will finally be available starting on June 10th at 10AM ET for $429.99, giving the recently-announced Remarkable Paper Pure some more competition.

There is a trophy that OpenAI has brought in, that’s half of a donkey — the back half — and says, “Never stop being a jackass.” It’s a commemoration OpenAI employees bought for another employee that Musk called a jackass on the way out on his last day. Musk’s team does not want the trophy in evidence.

Google is sure to tell us that the web is healthier than ever next week at IO, but out here on the streets everyone knows search traffic is collapsing — a phenomenon we’ve been calling Google Zero for years now. Well, here’s Conde Nast CEO Roger Lynch on TBPN saying they are assuming all search traffic will be zero from now on. I’m just saying — give us credit for naming the concept, bro.

After being announced in August, 2024, Subvert opened its doors on May 12th, 2026. It’s a music co-op where over 20,000 artist members are the owners. They set the policies, and there are no fees. It’s also one of the few platforms to ban AI content and training. Definitely check it out.

I can still be easily sucked into a book of cross section artwork, so it’s fascinating to see the process of how the complex illustrations are made. Artist John R. Mullaney condensed the long process of creating a cross section of The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter into a timelapse that’s four minutes well spent.

Discord has announced some big improvements available now in its Linux client. Phoronix notes that they include official support for more distros, support for hardware-accelerated video encoding, improved screen capture, better power efficiency on Steam Deck, support for Discord’s official auto-updater, and more.

The home security company launched two new products today: the Ring Spotlight Cam (2nd Gen) at $169.99 and the Ring Floodlight Cam (2nd Gen) at $199.99. Both feature Ring’s Retinal 2K video resolution, bringing higher-res support to Ring’s base models.

The new extended scene from episode 4 of Pluribus doesn’t include any major revelations, but it is an entertaining three minutes of Rhea Seehorn tripping out.

When it announced the new Googlebook laptops yesterday, a few commenters noticed the name seemed familiar, but only one realized just how familiar.

That’s the pitch for the 17 Max, a new phone Xiaomi is teasing on Weibo. It looks exactly like the regular Xiaomi 17, but has a 6.9-inch display — the same size as the 17 Pro Max and Ultra. That’s all we know so far, but it launches in China this month.

In case you missed it, yesterday’s Android Show stream included a brief list of every phone with current and confirmed plans for AirDrop support in Quick Share. Google also told The Verge that Xiaomi is planning support this year, though we don’t yet know to which phones.

It seems that x86 hardware will be part of Google’s new laptop platform, although Intel doesn’t specify what processors it’ll be using:

Lenovo is announcing a new ThinkPad X13 Gen 7, launching this month with Intel Panther Lake and AMD Gorgon Point chips. The X13 starts at $1,499 and weighs as little as 2.03 pounds / 0.93kg. Lenovo also boasts the X13 scores a 9/10 repairability rating from iFixit.

Last year, EchoStar agreed to offload 65Mhz of its spectrum to SpaceX for its direct-to-cell service, while AT&T snapped up 50Mhz of its spectrum to build out its 5G network. Now it’s official, with the FCC noting that SpaceX will be able to use its spectrum for “terrestrial, space-based, and hybrid network architectures.”

Kolter laid out OpenAI’s different safety groups: the safety systems team, which works on guardrails and evaluations; the preparedness team, which deals with OpenAI’s preparedness framework; the alignment team, which helps train models on ways that “align with human values”; the model policy team, which develops the model spec; and other teams focusing on investigations. When speaking about the controversial dissolution of OpenAI’s superalignment team and AGI readiness team, he said some of that research is being done by other teams.

Dr. Jeremy “Zico” Kolter said that so far, there have been two times when the committee “formally requested a delay of models.”

Anyway, he’s a member of the nonprofit board of the OpenAI foundation, but not the for-profit. He’s a safety expert.

He’s a Carnegie Mellon prof who focuses on safety and security.

Altman said — and evidence in the direct showed — that Altman had made sure Musk knew about Microsoft. “I would often have to remind Musk of things, but this one I assumed we had talked about enough times that he would remember,” Altman says. Of Musk’s attitude toward OpenAI, he says, “we were kind of left for dead.”

And that Musk hasn’t sued any of them. Softbank’s investment is bigger — so is Nvidia’s and so is Amazon’s. That’s all from Microsoft.

In response, Altman texted, “I agree this feels bad — we offered you equity when we established the cap profit, which you didn’t want at the time but we are still very happy to do any time you like.” Molo tries to ask if this is a bribe — if Altman is trying to say that if Musk lets him get away with stealing from a charity, he’ll split the loot. Savitt objects, YGR sustains.

Granted we’d all be dead as a result because who can keep up with this but... Drink every time:

In a January filing spotted by MacRumors, Apple disclosed its purchase of Color.io — a grading tool used by filmmakers and photographers — and the hiring of its sole developer. Color.io shut down last year after its creator, Jonathan Ochmann, said he’s “been offered an opportunity to work alongside a company whose products have shaped and inspired me.”

Molo says, isn’t he saying you stole a charity? Altman looks confused. “No?”