Trump Mobile’s refurbished iPhones are an unsurprisingly bad deal

Trump Mobile’s refurbished iPhones are an unsurprisingly bad deal

2023’s iPhone 15 is the most recent that Trump Mobile offers. It’s been well established that the Trump Phone doesn’t exist. But that isn’t the only phone Trump Mobile sells. It also offers a range of refurbished Apple and Samsung handsets that you can buy right now. You really shouldn’t though. I was relieved reading…

Horses is a hit, but its studio might still be in trouble

Horses is a hit, but its studio might still be in trouble

After indie narrative horror game Horses was banned from Steam two years ago, it put the studio, Santa Ragione, at risk of closure. Studio cofounder and Horses producer Pietro Righi Riva had to make a difficult phone call to the game’s director, Italian filmmaker Andrea Lucco Borlera. “I was terrified for him,” Riva said in…

The Luigi Mangione trial is all about narrative control

The Luigi Mangione trial is all about narrative control

On Monday, several dozen members of the public are lined up outside 100 Centre Street in Lower Manhattan, hoping to squeeze into the courtroom to hear testimony from witnesses called by the state against Luigi Mangione – the man accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a year ago. Despite the endless news…

Amazon’s dynamic pricing is causing chaos for school budgets

Amazon’s dynamic pricing is causing chaos for school budgets

School districts are paying extra for basic supplies thanks to unpredictable dynamic pricing on Amazon, which is costing them on average 17 percent more, according to a report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). Unlike the contracts schools and local governments would traditionally make with local suppliers, who would bid to offer the best…

Trump admin may deny H1-B visas to people who worked in content moderation, report says

Trump admin may deny H1-B visas to people who worked in content moderation, report says

The Trump administration has ordered US consulates to consider rejecting H1-B visa applicants involved in content moderation or “censorship,” according to a report from Reuters. A State Department cable viewed by the outlet says officials should check an applicant’s resume or LinkedIn profile for a job history involving moderation, fact-checking, online safety, compliance, and misinformation….

Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts

Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts

Microsoft has been publishing data about the gender, race, and ethnic breakdown of its employees for more than a decade. Since 2019 it’s been publishing a full diversity and inclusion report annually, and at the same time made reporting on diversity a requirement for employee performance reviews. Now it’s scrapping its diversity report and dropping…

Google’s AI model is getting really good at spoofing phone photos

Google’s AI model is getting really good at spoofing phone photos

These aren’t real people! | Image: Nano Banana Pro I’m starting to understand where Google’s visual AI model gets its name, because after playing around with it for a couple of days, that’s how I’d sum it up: bananas. The images it generates are so realistic it’s bananas. I feel like I’m going bananas after…

Ray-Ban’s Meta smart glasses are even cheaper than they were on Black Friday

Ray-Ban’s Meta smart glasses are even cheaper than they were on Black Friday

The last-gen model costs $155 less than the new pair. It sounds weird to say it’s a good thing if you missed the Ray-Ban Meta deal on Black Friday, but… it’s kind of true. The original Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses just fell to an even better all-time low of $224.25 ($75) at Amazon and Best Buy, which beats the Black…