I’m coming up on my 2-year anniversary of quitting Twitter, and, despite a (very) brief return during that period, I’ve been pretty successful in keeping it out of sight and mind.
It’s remarkable how low the stakes seem once you’ve actually moved on. And that’s a real shame, because Twitter has been — and could still be — great. It just needs a less capricious owner.
If you thought buying video game cosmetics could add up quickly, wait until you read this story from a Microsoft Flight Simulator player who started with a few peripherals and then upgraded to a real pilot’s license.
The Artemis II crew is looking mighty fine in their official portrait from NASA. We’re wishing them luck on their trip TO THE MOOOOOON!
Andy just wrote about GM’s decision to trash CarPlay and Android Auto in favor of a custom infotainment system. In my opinion, this is move is absolute trash and a huge vote against consumers in a world where smartphones are ubiquitous and essential.
I hope GM rethinks this decision. And if the company sticks with this shameless play for new subscription revenue, I hope it’s punished by consumers such that competitors become frightened to follow in GM’s footsteps.
Mozilla — creator of Firefox — is celebrating a quarter century of existence today. Check out their blog post noting the occasion for a walk down memory lane, all the way back to the days of Netscape.
[The Mozilla Blog]
The New York Times reports that TurboTax and other tax-filing companies are still trying to prevent the IRS from making its own free and easy electronic return system — a war TurboTax has been fighting for more than two decades.
Intuit told the Times that an IRS system “will cost taxpayers billions of dollars.” The company conveniently left out how much TurboTax will cost taxpayers.
[The New York Times]
It’s happening. After enduring years of a maddening cycle of conversation that boils down to “will this guy ever be held accountable for his actions”, former president Donald Trump has been indicted by a New York grand jury for alleged crimes that are yet to be laid out in full detail.
The particulars of this story aren’t something that sits squarely in The Verge’s zone of coverage, but as Trump’s circle has threatened repercussions from the indictment, we’ll be monitoring the situation across major platforms.
[The New York Times]
Remember Pebble? Exactly eight years ago, Pebble wrapped up its Pebble Time campaign on Kickstarter, raising just over $20 million for its latest smartwatch and setting a new crowdfunding record.
Remarkably, that record stood until March 31st, 2022, when author Brandon Sanderson doubled it by raising an astonishing $41,754,153 for a series of four novels. Nonetheless, eight years later, the Pebble Time still sits in the #2 spot for most funded projects on Kickstarter.
I love this detail from Valve’s Counter-Strike 2 announcement: the company has designated some classic maps as “touchstone” levels, which means that they will continue have their historical layouts preserved. Yes, that includes “Dust II”, which has been around since 2001.
If Counter-Strike is around 100 years from now, it’s probably a safe bet that Dust II will still be the same.
President Obama’s first FCC chief, Julius Genachowski, stepped down after a bruising years-long battle with ISPs over his 2010 net neutrality regulations. He then notably broke tradition by joining a private equity firm instead of immediately going to work for Comcast.
Not everybody got what they wanted during his tenure, but at least back then we had a fully functional agency that could accomplish things like blocking the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. Consolidation is back on the menu!
