Archive

The Pokémon Trading Card Game isn’t just a game, it’s an economy. Livestreamers provide vicarious dopamine hits to viewers who tune in to watch them open booster packs, and the rarest cards can resell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The game’s 30th anniversary collection just launched, putting more copies of the game’s rarest cards back into circulation. Guest host David Imel talks about the state of the Pokémon TCG market with The Verge’s film, TV and pop culture reporter Charles Pulliam-Moore.

Its delivery vehicles were cited for over a dozen violations, including double parking, speeding in school zones, blocking bus and bike lanes, and more, according to a report from ALIGN. During the same five year period, Amazon vehicles also got 13,029 reports for idling too long.

Go watch the ultra-low-budget black-and-white slapstick insta-classic Hundreds of Beavers, which Dropout’s Sam Reich calls “a masterclass in visual comedy.” Dropout mostly streams original content, but is increasingly licensing indie comedy; it launched the Don Hertzfeldt Collection last month.

Reuters found that McDonald’s is increasingly using AI to set menu prices, including by trying to predict how much customers are willing to pay. Franchisees also told Reuters they’re pressured by McDonald’s to use AI in pricing decisions.

Lola, backed by the travel conglomerate Booking Holdings, can pull data from brands like SeatGeek and Booking’s own Kayak and OpenTable. There’s a free version, but the paid plans offer various perks like savings on 4 and 5 star hotels.

Meta will also let users raise their hand if they want to participate in a conversation, and you’ll also now see live reactions floating on your screen, according to Threads boss Connor Hayes. The company initially announced live chats on Threads in April.

The company says the new topic labels in its dedicated app for Facebook groups will help you find more conversations about that topic, highlighting things like “solo travel” or “Korean food” as examples.

Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest will debut on June 6th, 2029, Variety reports. Owen Harris, an executive producer and director for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is set to direct the film.

Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 version 26H2, aka the Windows 11 2026 Update today. It’s what Microsoft calls a “small enablement package,” allowing Windows 11 users to download and install the latest release quickly with a single restart. So what’s new? Well, due to the way Microsoft releases new Windows features these days, many of the same features that have been rolling out to version 25H2 will be part of 26H2.

The $99.99 Essential Solar Security Camera is a 2K/24fps camera with an integrated 1.2-watt solar panel so you don’t need to run any wires. Just two hours of sunlight per day can charge its capacious 14,790mAh battery that can keep the camera running for up to six months between top-ups. A subscription starting at $9.99 per month isn’t mandatory but adds features like cloud storage and AI-powered smart detection.

That’s up from the 1 billion weekly users milestone ChatGPT surpassed in July.

A major update for Final Cut Camera is now available that introduces a redesign with customizable overlays and easier access to popular settings like shutter angle, white balance, and the iPhone 18 Pro’s new variable aperture. Apple Creator Studio has also been updated with new template collections and advanced selections for Pixelmator Pro plus trigonometry, statistics, and logic functions for Numbers spreadsheets.

The new plan includes the company’s highest usage limits and access to its Ultrafast mode, which allows GPT-6 Astra to deliver faster responses across its services, including ChatGPT Work and Codex. At the same time, OpenAI reopened its $200 / month tier with new usage limits.