Ok, let’s be honest, it’s not much of a competition. The AI songs suck, and it’s pretty easy to tell which is human and which is AI when compared side by side. But the diary-style detailing of the songwriting process for both illustrates just how low-effort AI music is.
Revisiting rumors from earlier this year, Deadline and TheWrap report the adaptation of EA’s long-running FPS series would be directed and written by frequent Tom Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie. According to TheWrap, Sony is a “frontrunner,” following a bidding war that also included Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon MGM Studios, Universal, and Netflix.
Paramount, meanwhile, is already working on a film version of Call of Duty.
Buying used PC parts to dodge price hikes could come with a catch, like the hardware ban a Reddit user claims they got stuck with after trying to run Valorant with a pre-owned Ryzen 7 5800X3D. The CPU was reportedly already blacklisted in the Vanguard anti-cheat system because its previous owner was flagged for cheating.
To prevent it from happening on your phone, Apple has issued a carrier settings update and is encouraging users to install iOS 27.0.1, 9to5Mac reports. However, if your phone is affected and has lost service, you have to get the phone replaced.
The DOJ has charged Greg Lui with conspiracy, money laundering and smuggling over an alleged years-long scheme to sneak export-controlled Nvidia GPUs into China by re-exporting them from other countries, like Malaysia or Singapore. Four people were arrested last year for similar Nvidia smuggling allegations.
[U.S. Department of Justice]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Opt Out October tips go over settings to change in AI tools and browsers, decentralized social media platforms to try out, and suggestions for more private alternatives to popular apps. There’s also a guide on how you can switch to Linux, which could potentially save an old Windows 10 PC, like my ThinkPad, on top of improving your data privacy.
[Electronic Frontier Foundation]
The Galaxy A57 5G now starts at $599 on Samsung’s official website, up from $549, and $100 more than the previous A56 5G, Android Authority reports. Samsung bumped up the starting prices on the other A series phones by $20 to $40, after its Galaxy S26 phones also got a $100 price hike.
[Android Authority]
Elon Musk loyalist, former OpenAI board member, Neuralink executive, and mother of four of his children, Shivon Zilis, quote-tweeted a post about him unfollowing her on X, the social media platform that he owns, saying, “It’s hard to go from in love to let go in a week with no warning, but that’s just how it is sometimes.”
There’s more if you want to go read it, but that is your decision.
