Bjooks has published several coffee-table books exploring musical instrument design, the history of Roland, the world of guitar pedals, and more. Its latest covers the evolution of drum machines from 1959’s Wurlitzer Side Man to modern oddities from Erica Synths. There’s only two days left to back it on Kickstarter, though.
Paramount Games Studio puts all of Paramount and Skydance’s development teams under one brand. Weirdly, it will still be making two titles set in Disney universes: Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra and an untitled Star Wars game, Variety reports.
There will also be a new AAA title announced at Summer Game Fest Live later today.
Hoffman, who joined Microsoft’s board in 2017, won’t stand for reelection at the company’s next shareholder meeting, as reported earlier by Bloomberg.
In an episode of his Possible podcast with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Hoffman says he wants to focus on Manas, the AI drug development startup he co-founded last year.
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Now that Audi has an F1 team, it apparently feels ready to put the supercar label on something for the first time. A press release says it will release 499 Nuvolaris starting in the first half of 2027.
They will combine an 800 hp V8 turbocharged engine in the middle with three electric motors that can produce up to 110 kW each, capable of pushing it to an estimated 350 km/h, or 217 mph, and 0 to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds.
If you grew up enjoying Stephen Biesty’s cross-sections like me, you’ll appreciate this brilliant project from Google engineer Bryan Macomber. The website breaks down mechanical objects, like the G2 retractable pen (my favorite), the PEZ dispenser, and the Zippo lighter. I can’t wait to see what comes next. (h/t to Kottke for spotting it.)
[Mechanical Pencil]
Polymarket’s chief marketing officer Matthew Modabber used his personal PayPal account to send at least $350,000 to content creators who hyped the prediction market platform, Politico reports. Shirley and others who were paid promoted Polymarket on X with no paid content disclosures. Influencer content is a huge part of prediction markets’ media strategy — often hiding in plain sight.
There are over 330 Leo satellites already in orbit, but the 36 planned for the next Arianespace mission is still smaller than the 48 satellites Amazon was planning to launch on a Blue Origin rocket that exploded during testing last week. This batch of satellites will launch from a spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on June 17th.
After removing some features from the AI image-maker in February, Google has shut down the app completely and directs users to Gemini instead, as reported by 9to5Google. Pixel Studio launched in 2024 alongside the Pixel 9.
Telemundo’s live feed on Peacock will apparently be the first commercial deployment of the efficient Dolby AC-4 codec by a streaming platform, promising immersive stadium sound that shouldn’t overload the network. Peacock will also be streaming the World Cup in 4K and 1080p HDR, according to Dolby spokesperson Andrea Villarreal.
Update and correction: Peacock will stream the games in 4K and 1080p HDR, but won’t offer personalized audio controls as previously stated.
The GLP-1 tech boom is coming.
Quilty claims to predict box office success.
Internal documents, which were disclosed as part of a wave of child safety lawsuits filed by school districts across the US, showed:
Snapchat sent phone alerts to adolescents during school hours, urging them to share what was going on in their classrooms.
Meta paid “teen ambassadors” to promote Instagram and hand out swag to their friends at school.
TikTok gave the National PTA millions of dollars, in part to throw school events about online safety and provide favorable comments to journalists.
