A college in Illinois tried to cancel its Flock contact and it refused
In April of 2025, Elgin Community College had six Flock safety cameras installed to "enhance the safety and security of students." But by September of that year, the school's administration grew concerned that Flock was sharing data with Customs and Border Patrol, that camera feeds were not properly secured, and that both law enforcement and the company's employees were abusing access to the data.
So in October of 2025, Elgin Community College requested Flock to remove its cameras. According to Elgin's President Peggy Heinrich, Flock rejected the request, saying it had not violated its contract. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, school o …
Silicon Valley is falling in line with Trump’s attempt to rename AI
When President Donald Trump announced his plans to rebrand artificial intelligence as "super intelligence," you'd be forgiven for being skeptical that it would catch on. While most of the broader population is sticking with AI, some of Silicon Valley's most powerful are falling in line and trying to give Trump the great AI rebrand he so desires.
That Elon Musk was quick to jump on board, promising to rename SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI, isn't surprising. When, hours after Donald Trump declared that "The White House considers anyone that uses the term, 'Artificial Intelligence,' as opposed to the highly accepted new and more accurate term, 'Super I …
The new Apple TV could have a built-in mic and a remote with a speaker
The latest rumors are that the new Apple TV will have a built-in microphone, while the upgraded remote will get a speaker. The mic would let users control the set-top box using Siri without having to speak into the remote or a connected HomePod device. That could also let the Apple TV serve as a simple smart home hub - controlling thermostats and locking doors - without the need to hunt for the remote.
If you happen to misplace the remote, the new integrated speaker should make it easier to track down. It could play an audio alert to guide you to its location, whether it got carelessly kicked under the couch or a child mischievously hid it …
NASA dumped over 800GB of Artemis II data online
If you thought you'd seen all there is to see from the Artemis II mission, you're wrong. This week NASA posted over 800GB worth of science data, images, and videos on the Artemis II: Sights & Sounds of Science site. The archive includes over 11,000 photos and videos, over 8.5 hours of audio, and crew-annotated images, such as the one marking where they saw impact flashes on the dark side of the Moon. Together, they offer an unprecedented view inside a historic space mission.
One of the more exciting reveals was footage of the Artemis II team telling the ground team back in Houston about its observation of impact flashes. Impact flashes have …
George A. Romero’s Season of the Witch is a slow-burn feminist occult drama
George A. Romero is obviously best known as the father of the modern zombie movie. But between inventing the genre with Night of the Living Dead and his outbreak horror, The Crazies, Romero made two much lesser-known films: There's Always Vanilla, which I'll admit I've never seen, and Season of the Witch, or, as it was originally titled, Hungry Wives.
Hungry Wives was supposed to be an exploitation film. The studio marketed it as a softcore porn, but it failed to find an audience - probably because the movie features minimal nudity, just one sex scene, and lots of talking. It was an undeniable flop upon its release in 1973. It was eventual …
Vurt wants you to look at vertical videos as a genre of their own
From Disney Plus to HBO Max, almost every major established streaming service is experimenting with ways to get into vertical content. It's clear that these companies see video-focused social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram as existential threats. In this arms race for viewers' attention, it has often felt like everyone is trying to find new ways to exist on people's phones. But a new startup thinks that the next step in vertical series' evolution is going to take place on our wide-screen televisions.
Unlike most vertical microdrama / series streaming platforms on the market that have focused on mobile viewing experiences, Vurt ha …
What to expect from Apple’s ‘Welcome Home’ event
We are quickly coming up on Apple's "Welcome Home" launch event, where we expect a host of smart home-related announcements. We are expecting refreshes to Apple TV and HomePod Mini, as well as a brand new smart home hub. We could also see the debut of a new platform called homeOS, and some partner devices from LG.
What we probably won't be seeing is the long-rumored touchscreen MacBook, which Cupertino whisperer Mark Gurman says will debut later this month.
"Welcome Home" will officially kick off in New York on October 13th at 9AM ET. Here's more about what to expect.
A proper smart home hub
Until now, Apple has primarily relied on the …
Horror is big business
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on how pervasive horror has become, follow Andrew Webster. The Stepback, arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
Resident Evil has been around for 30 years, but the survival horror series is more popular than ever. The most recent game, Resident Evil Requiem, has sold 8 million copies since it launched in February, already making it the 14th best-selling game that Capcom has ever made. At the same time, a reboot of the Resident Evil film series from Weapons director Zach Cre …
Why the LeapPad couldn’t survive the iPad
For multiple years, the hottest toy in the United States was a book. But not just any book: a smart book that could play sounds and respond to taps and help kids learn to read. It was the kind of gadget seemingly any parent could get behind, but it came with a high price - and some unexpected parenting questions.
On this episode of Version History, David Pierce is joined by The Verge's Andru Marino and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy to explain how the LeapPad worked, why it was so enticing to both kids and adults, and why the company that made it could never quite follow it up.
We're almost finished with our fifth season of Version History, all …
Learning to use local AI is exciting, overwhelming, and frustrating
I'm embarking on a journey I've so far been hesitant to go on: actually using AI on the regular. Giving my most personal data to cloud services has been a major hold up for me, but it's increasingly possible to run powerful models locally to see what they're capable of. Is this tech so useful that it's worth throwing gobs of money at a computer or a laptop with lots of overpriced RAM? I'll try to help you find out. I'm not an AI expert, it's going to be a journey for me, but maybe I can help you see if that journey is worth taking - and I'll be posting my way through it.
A big part of Apple's pitch for its new Mac desktops is how good they …