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Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

    More From Richard Lawler

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Tim Walz: “Look, Elon’s on that stage, jumping around skipping like a dipshit.”

    Appearing at a campaign event in Madison, WI, with Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for vice president shared this characterization of Musk’s campaign event athleticism.

    As seen in the clip below, it doesn’t end there, though, as Tim Walz explains his view of exactly what that $1 million daily voter sweepstakes is buying the MyPillow of government contractors.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The real Matthew Metro speaks up about a viral fake video.

    The Washington Post tracked down Metro, who attended a high school where Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz taught, and confirmed somebody on X made false sexual misconduct allegations in his name in a since-deleted video from last week:

    It’s obviously not me: The teeth are different, the hair is different, the eyes are different, the nose is different.

    The video was widely called out as AI, but experts told the Post it was more likely a “cheap fake” — like a human actor doing an impersonation.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Cuba has been dealing with an island-wide power outage for hours.

    A Reuters stream showed the scene in Cuba on Friday, where the power grid crashed completely following a failure at the Antonio Guiteras Power Plant, its largest thermoelectric plant.

    CNN’s Havana bureau chief Patrick Oppman writes that after five hours, “Cubans know blackouts all too well but this one feels different.”

    Additional reports: CNN, Associated Press, CiberCuba, Granma.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Nintendo’s N64 expansion pack gets more Banjo.

    More than two years after adding Banjo-Kazooie, Nintendo has announced that on October 25th, its sequel Banjo-Tooie will join the library of classic N64 games available to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscribers.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    OpenAI and Microsoft should ask ChatGPT for ways to fix a relationship.

    This New York Times report mentions Microsoft’s investment hesitations after last year’s upheaval, that Oracle deal, and the Inflection acquihire as notable stressors on the “bromance.”

    Also, “some” at OpenAI might blame Microsoft if it’s beaten to AGI “because it hasn’t given OpenAI the computing power it needs,” while noting that successfully building AGI could activate a contract clause cutting Microsoft off from OpenAI’s tech.

    Interesting.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Amazon’s cheapest streamer gets a small update: meet the Fire TV Stick HD.

    Amazon’s new streaming stick improves the one we reviewed in 2020 with an Alexa voice remote and HDMI-ARC.

    However, it’s still limited to 1080p, and even at $34.99, you’re still probably better off waiting for another sale on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Other cheap alternatives include the Roku Express and the 4K-capable Chromecast with Google TV.

    Note: If you buy something from these links, we might get affiliate revenue.

    HDMI dongle and remote pictured, showing Alexa button and other face controls.
    Amazon Fire TV Stick HD (2024).
    Image: Amazon
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Waymo’s “clean transportation” push comes with a public transit incentive.

    Can self-driving shuttles give people a reason to ride the bus or a train? Waymo says it will test the idea with a credit for riders who connect “to or from eligible Bay Area transit stations.”

    Starting today, Waymo One riders that connect to select transit stations in San Francisco and the Peninsula will receive a $3.00 credit on their Waymo account for use on future rides. Credits will be applied to riders’ Waymo accounts when they take Waymo One to or from eligible Bay Area transit stations.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The EU deems X not “important” enough for DMA regulations.

    While platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and the App Store deal with Digital Markets Act regulations put on powerful digital gatekeepers, the service formerly known as Twitter won’t have that problem:

    Following a thorough assessment of all arguments, including input by relevant stakeholders, and after consulting the Digital Markets Advisory Committee, the Commission concluded that X does indeed not qualify as a gatekeeper in relation to its online social networking service, given that the investigation revealed that X is not an important gateway for business users to reach end users.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    NYC Verizon Fios customers were having some issues.

    New York City Verizon customers complained about problems on Monday night as they experienced slow or intermittent internet connections reflected in this data from the connectivity trackers at Netblocks.

    The number of reports on Downdetector had already been dropping, and Verizon spokesperson Ilya Hemlin confirmed it’s fixed in a statement sent to The Verge:

    On Monday evening, some Fios customers in NYC briefly experienced intermittent network issues. The issue was quickly resolved and service is operating normally.

    Update: The service is now back online.

    Real-time metrics show US internet provider Verizon (AS701) is currently experiencing a widespread outage in New York with high impact to NYC, Queens, The Bronx and Brooklyn
    Image: Netblocks (X)
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Meteorologists are getting misinformation-fueled death threats.

    Rolling Stone reports that just like FEMA, meteorologists are dealing with more pushback than they’re used to — one is quoted saying “ideas that once would have been ridiculed as very fringe, outlandish viewpoints are suddenly becoming mainstream.”

    CBS Morning meteorologist Katie Nickolaou also tweeted one example of what she’s seeing (below).