19 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Terrence O'Brien

Terrence O'Brien

Weekend Editor

Weekend Editor

    More From Terrence O'Brien

    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    Spotify’s CEO bragged that it’s paying its best developers not to code.

    During the company’s Q4 earnings call, Gustav Söderström revealed that Spotify had fully embraced vibe coding. AI is coming for a lot of jobs, and software developer is high on the list of those in danger. Still, it’s shocking that the top devs at Spotify haven’t written any code in 2026. Per Business Insider:

    “When I speak to my most senior engineers — the best developers we have — they actually say that they haven’t written a single line of code since December… They actually only generate code and supervise it.” - Spotify CEO Gustav Söderström

    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    Polymarket ran a popup ‘free grocery store’ in NYC because it has ‘market’ in its name.

    Curbed described the scene as “bleak” and noted that many waiting in line for the promised free Tide Pods and milk (which was apparently purchased at an Aldi before being stocked on the popups’ oddly orderly shelves) had never heard of Polymarket and didn’t intend to place bets there. When Curbed asked why:

    Because of the word market within Polymarket, per Josh Tucker, a company executive. Get it? Daf Orlovsky, a creative director, said it could work — “these ideas that don’t seem possible could be brought to life at tech-market speed,” he said.

    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    Deezer is giving users more control over their infinite algorithmic Flow playlists.

    Flow Tuner lets users pick which genres are included in a Flow session, rather than just disliking individual songs. It’s a hamfisted way to customize your algorithm, but the specificity of Deezer’s options are impressive: Metalcore, Balkan Folk, Schlager. This is well beyond your basic buckets like rock and pop.

    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    Elon Musk might be violating sanctions against Iran with X Premium accounts.

    The Tech Transparency Project identified several Iranian government agencies and officials enjoying the perks of X Premium accounts. Normally, Premium requires a paid subscription, which could violate US sanctions. Suspiciously, when Wired flagged some of those accounts to X, they were stripped of their blue checkmarks:

    X did not respond to a request for comment, but within hours of WIRED flagging several X accounts belonging to Iranian officials, their blue checkmarks were removed. The rest of the accounts identified by TTP but not shared with X continue to display a blue checkmark.

    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    Super Beatmaker is the roguelike TTRPG for music making I need in my life.

    The world of affordable plugins, sample library subscriptions, and a particularly virulent case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) has me making less music, not more. YouTuber and producer Jon Makes Beats is developing a TTRPG that battles decision paralysis with dice rolls and a Dungeons & Dragons-like rule system.

    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    A space crab made of rocks would die for Ryan Gosling in the final Project Hail Mary trailer.

    The adaptation of Andy Weir’s best-selling novel is hitting theaters on March 20th. But, before that, we’re getting our clearest look yet at Rocky, the alien that befriends Gosling’s Ryland Grace. This trailer really ramps up the drama and… wait, why is Grace teaching Rocky to dance?