As reported by The Wrap, A24 says it won’t, after all, go after a creator for using a Backrooms-adjacent wallpaper. You know, the generically yellow one. Smart move. After a Reddit user reported getting a complaint on behalf of A24, Backrooms director Kane Parsons said it “should not be happening.” A24 then said in a statement it “makes no claim over ownership over the yellow wallpaper.”
There’s a Tascam Portastudio 424 MK III!
He’s also got a Telepathic Instruments Orchid (review here), a couple of Chase Bliss pedals (Lost & Found and Mood MKII), a Hologram Electronics Chroma Console, a Moog Sub37, and an Ableton Move. Proving, once again, that you don’t need piles of fancy gear to make music. Watch the full interview here.
The author of The Second Coming lives for French press and splurges on concert tickets.
I tested four locks that unlock with a look, and while hands-free with UWB is better, if you want a sci-fi experience for your front door, facial recognition is worth considering.
9
Verge Score
The Bravia 9 II is the best RGB LED TV available with game-changing features, but I’d still buy an OLED.
As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix said in an SEC filing that it paid “approximately” $587 million to acquire a company in March — the same month Netflix announced its deal for InterPositive.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
One user even reported an AWS bill of $1.5 trillion, as reported by The Guardian. Scary!
AWS blames the root cause of the problem as “an issue with unit pricing within the estimated billing computation subsystem.” Amazon says that the billing estimates “do not reflect actual usage and charges,” and affected don’t have to take any action right now.
The Pentagon may make a deal where it would pay for billions of dollars of compute from SpaceX, according to The Wall Street Journal.
SpaceX already provides compute to Google and Anthropic, and the company wants to do more in cloud computing, the WSJ says.
[The Wall Street Journal]
“Up to” 32 staffers have been served redundancy or at-risk notices, ZA/UM says. The studio has been the subject of a lot of controversy following the launch of Disco Elysium, and it released a new game this year, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies. However, the Zero Parades’ “commercial performance has not enabled us to sustain a studio of our current size.“
Software makes up “less than 12 percent of the business,” while collectibles are “over half,” Ryan Cohen said in a Bloomberg interview. “So it’s totally, totally irrelevant.”
The numbers differ a bit in GameStop’s latest quarterly report, where collectibles were 41.8 percent of sales in Q1 2026. But they’re a growing part of GameStop’s business — the Q1 collectibles figure was a jump from 28.9 percent in Q1 2025 — which could soften the blow from the dire future for discs.
First announced at CES, the latest version of Samsung’s all-in-one home theater solution is finally available through Samsung’s online store for $1,199.99. That’s a bit steep for 430 ISO lumens and a 1080P resolution when Xgimi’s latest portable does 1,600 ISO lumens for $799, but Samsung’s can correct for distortions on uneven projection surfaces like curtains.
Bungie’s online extraction shooter, Marathon, is having a leadership change as game director Joe Ziegler announced on X that today is his final day with the company. Ziegler, former game director of Valorant, took on the role following former Marathon director Chris Barrett’s firing in August 2024.
Legend has it that we have smart home security cameras and smartphones to thank for discovering the Seattle-based treasure that is Jimothy. At least this modern cryptid doesn’t appear to be AI slop. Happy Friday.
It used to be easy to tell which photos you took on a certain day in Google Photos. I didn’t realize how much I appreciated those little visual gaps breaking up time until a new update removed them, smashburgering my photos and videos, in favor of a persistent bar hovering at the top of the screen. Thankfully, you can reinsert them by clicking the three vertical dots to the right of that floating bar, then select “Show dates in grid.”
Sources tell The New York Times that the deal could be valued at $10 billion over two years, with Anthropic paying Meta in monthly increments. Though Anthropic plans to invest $50 billion in building out its own data centers, it has already struck multibillion-dollar deals to access computing power from SpaceX and TeraWulf.
The DOJ sued Apple in 2024, but the two sides are in “early” and “active” discussions about a settlement, Bloomberg reports.
Caviar is back with yet another ridiculously expensive device, and this time, it’s a Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra with 24-karat gold plating, which is expected to appear at Galaxy Unpacked next week (sans the gold). As spotted by Engadget, Caviar doesn’t list any tech specs, but notes that its device starts with 256GB of storage.
Following its wildly successful theatrical run, Curry Barker’s Obsession is now streaming on Peacock for everyone who wants to be scared silly at home.
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the need for speed brand partnerships. EA’s original live-action trailer for Battlefield 6 immediately killed off celebrities like Zac Efron as a joke, but now the game is embracing Hollywood. Battlefield is partnering with Paramount to include Top Gun heroes (Tom Cruise excluded) as part of its upcoming season 4 update. I might just hop back in to fly the F-14 Tomcat.
Chip Motors is the latest startup with aspirations to disrupt the golf cart market. Its $15,000 EV can only go 25 mph, but it can park itself using remote operators.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced mandatory testosterone screenings, but it’s a symptom of a larger fixation.
The Google Contacts app is rolling out a new “Your info” card, which shows your image, phone number, email address, and other information — similar to “My Card” on iPhones. Tap into the card, and you’ll see an option to share your details with one of your contacts.
[Android Authority]
6
Verge Score
The new entry-level Surface Laptop 13-inch is last year’s same great hardware with less memory and a higher price.
San Francisco city attorney David Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to both companies, demanding that they remove 13 apps that can be used to generate nude images of someone without their consent, according to a report from Wired. The letters ask Google and Apple to stop “aiding and abetting” the sale of sexualized AI deepfakes, which is prohibited under California law.
Google spokesperson Dan Jackson tells The Verge that the company suspended the five Android apps cited in Chiu’s letter, adding that the Play Store “does not allow apps that contain sexual content.”
