Don’t get too excited, but Mark Gurman says the styluses are being updated alongside new iPad Pros next year. In February, new EU rules go into effect that require batteries to be user-replaceable with basic tools. So maybe the next-gen Apple Pencil will be less of a nightmare to fix.
The team went up for sale following its Super Bowl win in February. After rumors that Tim Cook or Mark Zuckerberg might buy the team, Vinod Khosla has emerged as the new owner, according to ESPN. The Khosla family will have to give up its ownership stake in the 49ers first, though.
8
Verge Score
This is a smart ring for new users. Everyone else should wait until their current ring dies.
The id founder isn’t thrilled with the layoffs at the company he left in 2013. He says, “You can’t rule out the possibility that executives are idiots,” but says we shouldn’t jump to that conclusion before dropping what certainly seems like a list of things Microsoft could have done better.
Community pushback from across the US and beyond is making some companies reconsider their data center buildout plans.
Turnovers at that ChatGPT maker continue. The company’s chief futurist, Joshua Achiam, and AGI head, Fidji Simo, announced their departures earlier this week. Now Johannes Heidecke, who has overseen OpenAI’s safety efforts, is out, as ChatGPT 5.6 rolls out and raises some alarms.
Earlier this week, the president flew on the old Air Force One, according to the Times, because it lacked some security features, including anti-missile defenses. Now, the DOJ has issued subpoenas to the reporters involved in the story. The Times quickly denounced the intimidation tactics:
“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects.” - David McCraw, Lawyer for the New York Times
The Image Line CEO hits the forums and subreddits every day to keep in touch with his users.
8
Verge Score
The Hottap Go is an all-in-one hot water system that justifies its high price.
Brockman had taken over product when Fidji Simo went on medical leave, and he’ll continue those responsibilities now that Simo is stepping down from her full-time OpenAI job and becoming a “part-time advisor,” CNBC reports.
Thibault Sottiaux, the engineering lead on Codex, clarified on X that the company isn’t sunsetting its AI coding tool despite the launch of ChatGPT Work, a platform that combines both ChatGPT and Codex. Sottiaux teased some other updates coming to the Work app as well, like moving chats and projects into the sidebar.
[@thsottiaux on X (formerly Twitter)]
Google started testing Ask YouTube earlier this year, and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says it’s now rolling out on the web for users in the US starting this week.
The studio, which was hit hard by this week’s Xbox layoffs, says that it still has “the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for.”
On that note, I really recommend that you check out the new Doom expansion that launched this week — it shows just what makes id special.
Toni Schneider took over on an interim basis in March, but said in a blog post that “the interim part of the title is gone” now. He also said that the platform is working on “the ability to create smaller spaces and more private communities” in the AT Protocol ecosystem, aka the Atmosphere — something Bluesky has been talking about for a little while.
Beginning in October, subscription companies will have to give New Yorkers an easy way to cancel recurring charges. The move seeks to revive a Lina Khan-era Federal Trade Commission rule that was struck down by the courts. Khan’s consumer protection chief, Samuel Levine, now works for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
[The official website of the City of New York]
Want a cool accessory that fits the Luna Ultra and/or its detachable screen? Bambu’s new contest is incentivizing makers to build some — there are already 23 new designs. Make your own by building around the 3D models, or just using ’em to punch a camera-sized receptacle in your design.
ICYMI, here’s my story, and I have new impressions indoors: Beni is… not great at tracking people inside my dim house, but obstacle avoidance works. When I held the joystick forward (after setting speed low), Beni automatically navigated my hallway. At walls, it automatically U-turned and kept going instead of getting stuck.
He had been set to talk to CNBC’s Julia Boorstin at 12PM ET, but a little over 10 minutes past the hour, Boorstin reported that “we just got word that he has to postpone.” Right now, we don’t know if or when the interview may actually happen.
Bloomberg reports on Phia, the price comparison app launched by Bill Gates’ daughter:
Bloomberg tested the Phia mobile browser extension across more than 50 websites and found that during the checkout process, Phia opened a background tab without user interaction and injected its own referral code that overrode legitimate referrals from other publishers… This allows Phia to claim a commission for sales it did not meaningfully influence.
Phia tells Bloomberg it “has since resolved the issue.”
