Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Richard Lawler joined The Verge as Senior News Editor in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget. He’s been a tech blogger since before the word was invented, and will never log off.

Richard LawlerSep 4

Wikipedia staffers vote to unionize.

As reported by Wired, more than 200 US-based workers at the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia, will join Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9415 after management declined to voluntarily recognize the union in July.

Organizing committee member Bryan Davis called it a “huge milestone” and said:

We continue our petition for recognition in the U.K. and hope to see more jurisdiction-specific units call for voluntary recognition in the coming weeks and months. Solidarity will continue to drive our discussions, planning, and actions as we begin working on our collective goals for contract bargaining to support all WMF workers regardless of legal jurisdiction, job duty, or hours of employment.

Richard LawlerSep 4

Watch GPT-6 Astra use your computer for you.

That seems to be the pitch behind OpenAI’s promo reel for the new AI model, putting people on a set to talk at their computer about doing things like putting together a presentation for their next season of fashion designs with instructions like “make it high end” and “make it fun,” or creating an eBay listing for a dented table they want to sell.

Welcome to the AGI era?

Richard LawlerSep 4

Andrew Tate indicted in Romania, again.

More than three years after Tate and his brother were arrested and indicted in Romania on charges of human trafficking, Reuters reports the DIICOT prosecuting unit has indicted Tate again. They’ve charged Tate for “trafficking minors, money laundering, sex with a minor and witness tampering and his brother Tristan for complicity.”

Both Tates were arrested in Miami in July after British authorities requested their extradition, and they are currently in jail in the US.

Romanian prosecutors indict Andrew Tate for trafficking minors, money laundering

[Reuters]

Steve Ballmer got suspended by the NBA because of a podcast and a jumbotron corruption scandal

Richard LawlerSep 3

Richard LawlerSep 2

The NBA suspends Steve Ballmer for a year and takes five draft picks over the Kawhi Leonard scandal.

The NBA has announced penalties from its investigation into cap circumvention allegations around the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard, and a string of companies that inked shady “endorsement” deals with the star: Aspiration, Daktronics, Boingo Wireless, and Lockton Insurance, as detailed in a report from the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

There are also fines ($30 million for the Clippers, $700,000 for Leonard), suspensions for two team execs and Leonard’s uncle, and the investigation is apparently ongoing.

THERE IS EVIDENCE OF THE CLIPPERS FUNDING AN ENDORSEMENT AGREEMENT The foregoing makes clear that the Clippers violated NBA rules in connection with the Boingo, Daktronics, and Lockton endorsement agreements with Mr. Leonard. Investigators note, however, that the Clippers’ misconduct may have been even more severe. As set forth above, the timing of the three endorsement agreements with Mr. Leonard coincides with each of the companies receiving multi-million dollar payments from the Clippers, purportedly in connection with business to be provided by these companies to the team. But these payments may in fact have been made principally to fund the endorsement deals with Mr. Leonard. Indeed, a credible witness with direct knowledge told investigators that the consulting agreement one company signed with the Clippers was in fact a ruse, designed and intended to be a vehicle for the team to provide the company with funds to be paid to Mr. Leonard. According to this witness, the company was willing to enter into such a sham consulting agreement based on the promise to win a much larger services contract with the Clippers. This confidential information came to investigators late in the investigation, and additional steps are ongoing to corroborate it.

Richard LawlerSep 2

Tim Cook’s final Apple Store visit (as CEO).

Before Tuesday’s handover, Tim Cook spoke to the staff in the store at the Apple Visitor Center. He also assured them he would be making many more Apple Store visits in the future, which Bloomberg notes comes with a salary cut, going from $3 million to $2 million annually. An SEC filing from Apple revealed Cook is in line for a compensation package worth around $47 million, while Ternus’ is about $58 million.

Richard LawlerSep 1

Rockstar introduces “the next evolution of GTA V roleplay” with Nopixel V.

Even while developing GTA VI, Rockstar has also had an eye on popular mods and RP communities for its old game, and today it revealed this trailer for Nopixel V. Announced a year ago, it builds on GTA V Enhanced for PC with a heavily modified city and support for extensive editing by players.

A closed beta for invited players opens September 8th, as we continue to wait for details about any future GTA VI multiplayer or PC options.

Richard LawlerSep 1

John Ternus sets up his twttr.

Apple’s new CEO is jumping onto social media with his registered-in-June X account on day one. No sign of a presence on Instagram or anywhere else yet.