Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Richard LawlerApr 11, 2023

AI isn’t just for chatbots — it’s also for rendering PC games at 4K resolution and ridiculous framerates.

Or so Nvidia says, promoting DLSS AI scaling technology while AMD touts the hand-coded algorithms behind FSR 2. Watch this video below to see Hardware Unboxed pit man vs. machine learning in 26 games.

Still, if you prefer more AI, check today’s Cyberpunk 2077 update — besides the new Overdrive Mode lighting, it also adds Nvidia DLAA AI-powered anti-aliasing, as well as XeSS AI scaling for Intel GPUs.

I promise I didn’t make up any of those words.

Richard LawlerApr 11, 2023

Promises, promises.

The beginning of the end for “legacy” verified blue checks who aren’t paying to buy Twitter Blue benefits was supposed to be April 1st.

There’s no indication much changed on that date, but now Musk has listed a “final” date for removing legacy check marks — April 20th. Yes, it’s 4/20. Get it?

Of course, Musk also promised ad revenue splits for creators that never appeared, and said Twitter was done with layoffs before proceeding with more rounds of layoffs, so we’ll just wait to see what happens.

Richard LawlerApr 11, 2023

Judge denies Elizabeth Holmes’ latest attempt to stay out of jail.

Judge Edward Davila denied the Theranos founder’s request to go free while appealing her fraud conviction(s), according to a report by NPR.

Holmes’ 11-year sentence is scheduled to begin on April 27th. However, as Yahoo Finance points out, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco could decide that she can remain free on bail for now.

Although the Court finds that Ms. Holmes is not a flight risk or a danger to the safety of the community, it is unable to find that she has raised a “substantial question of law or fact” that if “determined favorably to her on appeal would be likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial.”

Image: US District Court, San Jose

Richard LawlerApr 11, 2023

Good morning! Would you like to start your day with some arithmetic?

If the answer is yes, the New York Times is testing a math puzzle game that could add one more thing on top of your daily Wordle streak or get you into a new habit if you’ve dropped the guessing game.

Digits is available this week as a limited beta, so good luck!

Instructions for the New York Times’ new game digits, telling players they can combine numbers (shown in a grid of circles) to reach the target number at the top. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide any of the six numbers to get as close to the target as you can. You do not have to use all of the numbers. Select a different number to start a new operation.

How to play “Digits”

Image: New York Times

Richard LawlerApr 10, 2023

SpaceX updates its Mars mission demo reel.

It’s been a few years since Elon Musk and SpaceX showed off early designs of Starship and proclaimed it would enable humans to travel to Mars.

You should go back and watch that 2016 reveal, then check out this five-minute CG video SpaceX just posted, again showing the Starship launching, refueling, and reaching an outpost on Mars. The video’s still all renderings and possibilities, but with an orbital flight test for Starship possibly around the corner, it feels a little different.

Richard LawlerApr 10, 2023

System update.

Get your fresh and (mostly) security updates, both for anyone with a Google Pixel phone on Android 13, as well as folks running Apple devices on previous-generation software, like iOS 15 and macOS Big Sur or Monterey.

Google’s Android security notes are here, while Apple’s security notes for iOS / iPadOS 15.7.5, macOS 11.7.6, and macOS 12.6.5 show it addresses flaws fixed in last week’s iOS 16.4.1 update, which Apple says “may have been actively exploited” so you should update ASAP.

Richard LawlerApr 10, 2023

Guess who’s back?

Us, after a long holiday weekend, but also Billy McFarland, the tech bro influencer / fraudster behind Fyre Festival, aka one of the worst pop culture moments that you’d maybe just started to forget about.

McFarland was released last fall after serving a few years in prison and is apparently ready to sell people on another dream to pay off the millions in restitution he still owes for the old one — a disaster big enough that it made our lists for worst pop culture moments of 2017 and tech flops from the last decade.

Richard LawlerApr 7, 2023

It is, once again, Bandcamp Friday.

Yes, I checked. Before you log off, remember that today you can buy some music and put a few more coins into artists’ pockets than you do by streaming.

There’s more info on Bandcamp Friday here.

Richard LawlerApr 5, 2023

Cash App creator and former Square CTO Bob Lee has died.

The San Francisco Chronicle and KGO-TV report that Bob Lee died Tuesday. According to the local police officers responded at around 2:35AM local time and found Lee suffering from apparent stab wounds.

Known for working on Android and creating Cash App during his time with Square, the 43-year-old Lee was serving as the chief product officer of a crypto startup, MobileCoin.

Friends stunned after tech executive, creator of Cash App, killed in stabbing in San Francisco

[San Francisco Chronicle]