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.

Judge dismisses Sam Altman’s sister’s sexual abuse lawsuit

Richard LawlerTwo hours ago

Richard LawlerOct 20

Who slowed down Ukraine’s Starlink? Trump and Musk call not-it.

After Ukraine said a Starshield slowdown had interrupted its military operations, Elon Musk claimed any limits “are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Then the president told reporters, “It wasn’t me... and I don’t think it was Elon.”

Now WSJ sources are pointing the finger back at Musk, with some claiming “Musk acted unilaterally.”

Musk Ordered Starlink Slowdown That Blindsided Ukraine

[Wall Street Journal]

TikTok has started censoring searches for popular peptides

Richard LawlerOct 20

Richard LawlerOct 16

That was quick.

According to the NYT’s sources, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is out after just five days in the role, or, by our count, less than half of a Scaramucci. Her time in the role included prediction market intrigue and claims she may have misrepresented herself as an attorney despite failing the bar exam.

Richard LawlerOct 16

You’ve got to hear both sides?

With public opinion broadly against AI data centers, the Today, Explained podcast from Vox brought on Nicole Thomas, a marketing and PR exec who represents data center companies.

The “for” arguments are familiar (tax dollars, not all data centers are XXL-sized hyperscaler AI projects, and that what is needed is more transparency), and they also look at some of the attempts to make data centers friendlier, like Microsoft’s biomimicry camouflage.

Richard LawlerOct 15

Two workers have died after an incident at Intel’s most advanced chip factory.

A suspected gas cylinder explosion at Intel’s Kiryat Gat facility in southern Israel, where it makes its most advanced chips, has killed two workers and injured a third. JPost and CTech report that police believe a gas cylinder malfunctioned while trucks were loading material into tanks, causing serious burns to the victims and a leak of nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃).

We’ve written about the risks fab workers face, including the death of a truck driver in 2024 while transporting sulfuric acid waste at TSMC’s Arizona facility, and an Intel employee who worried cost-cutting and downsizing were adding extra risk.

Two dead after explosion at Intel’s Kiryat Gat facility | CTech

[ctech]

Richard LawlerOct 14

The OpenAI engineer accused of planting a bug allegedly had a one-way ticket booked to Saudi Arabia.

Yesterday, the DOJ and OpenAI revealed that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and former Facebook employee working for OpenAI, has been arrested and charged with installing a recording device behind a TV in an executive conference room.

Now Bloomberg points out court documents showing that the day before he was arrested, prosecutors asked to seal the information, arguing that “the defendant has the means—and will have an incentive—to flee the United States sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested.”

The United States, by and through its counsel, Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas Parker, moves this Court for an order sealing the government’s application for a sealing order, the sealing order, the criminal complaint, the arrest warrant, and all attachments in the above-referenced case. Disclosure of the specified documents might jeopardize the defendant’s arrest. Indeed, the defendant, his wife, and a third family member have booked one-way tickets from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia (via Istanbul) for Monday, October 12, 2026, and the defendant has the means-and will have an incentive-to flee the United States sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested.

Image: PACER

Richard LawlerOct 14

There might be a reason Threads feels different lately.

Even if Russian or other bots continue to post on social media unabated, the head of Threads, Connor Hayes, mentioned that “We recently made a change that could increase the posts you see from those you follow. For creators, this should mean you see on average more reach to your followers.”

He didn’t specify when the algorithm change took effect, but I have an idea.

Richard LawlerOct 13

Our first look at the Apple HomeView.

We’ll have hands-on impressions shortly, but take a look at Apple’s smart display hub on table and wall-mount setups.