Tech — Pete

Ars Technica Oct 21 · 4 min read

SpaceX to attempt Starship catch on next flight, with eye on rapid cadence increase

"We have had significant constructive engagement with the FAA."

Ars Technica Oct 21 · 5 min read

The $15 billion ad-powered AI startup your doctor may already be using

OpenEvidence is booming despite questions about accuracy and ads.

The Guardian — Technology Oct 21 · 5 min read

‘I’m always being real’: what on earth persuades disgraced people like Elizabeth Holmes to let the cameras in?

With You Can See Everything, Holmes joins other such high-profile subjects as Lance Armstrong, Imelda Marcos and Anthony Weiner to allow film-makers to document their lives. But do they ever come out well? In You Can See Everything, convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes invites film-makers Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim into her home in a supposed act of “radical transparency”. Holmes is filmed, along with her partner, Billy Evans, and their two young children, in the weeks before starting a prison sentence for defrauding Theranos investors. “The best way for people to see who she is,” Evans says, “is to give as much access as possible into our daily lives”. It may also be the best way to market “Theranos 2.0”, which the couple are working on during filming. But the documentary questions whether Holmes is presenting her authentic self or a manufactured persona. Fielder speaks for the audience when he asks Holmes in a tense exchange whether she’s “being real” with him. “I’m always being real,” she says. That question of authenticity is at the heart of documentary film-making. You Can See Everything is as much about the ambiguous relationship between film-maker and subject as it is about Holmes herself. There is often a power struggle over narrative control in documentaries, with both sides of the dynamic wanting different outcomes from the final film. Watching You Can See Everything inevitably prompts the question: why would Holmes, days before she heads to jail, invite the scrutiny of a film crew? Continue reading...

The Guardian — Technology Oct 21 · 2 min read

New prize launches for books co-written with AI

After months of controversy over the possible use of AI by winners of prestigious awards, the Prix Pascal de Littérature IA is rewarding fiction written with the help of language models A prize for AI-written books has launched this week. The Prix Pascal de Littérature IA invites submissions of manuscripts co-written with AI tools, with the winner promised publication. Continue reading...

The Guardian — Technology Oct 21 · 7 min read

‘The audience gets to be in on it’: How narrative-led gameplay is Call of Duty’s greatest weapon

As video games chase spectacle, Modern Warfare 4 makes a case for putting character and consequence at the heart of its biggest battles • Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here In these strange, subdued weeks before the much-anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto VI, there have still been some welcome surprises. Onimusha: Way of the Sword revived a half-forgotten samurai action series with much aplomb, while Silent Hill: Townfall transported all of the franchise’s bloody, dread-filled psychological horror to … the picturesque Scottish coast. Even more shocking to games writers , though, is the fact that the forthcoming Modern Warfare 4 has one of the best Call of Duty campaign modes for at least six years – and might even be up there with the original Modern Warfare trilogy. The setting is an invasion of South Korea by its northern neighbour – a setup that could have fuelled a hundred instantly forgettable Netflix films, but has proved controversial in a video game. The authoritarian regime has a new (fictitious) ruler and a powerful experimental weapon, which it’s not afraid to use as the opening gambit in an explosive attack. You take on the role of Park Hyun Jun, a conscripted South Korean soldier who, along with his small unit of similarly inexperienced grunts, gets caught in the firestorm as cities burn and enemy paratroopers fill the skies. Continue reading...

The Guardian — Technology Oct 21 · 7 min read

The best Kindles in the UK for every bookworm and budget – tested

Whether you want a colour screen, somewhere to scribble notes or a child-friendly model, here’s what we recommend from Amazon’s e-reader range • The best e-readers From that fresh paperback smell to the wrinkles in the spine, nothing beats a real book. But if you’re sick of the space they take up in your home, or the weight they steal from your holiday luggage allowance, it might be worth considering an Amazon Kindle. It can fit thousands of weighty reads into as little as 158g, and as tech goes, it’s almost immune to the sort of pathological time-wasting features that come with modern phones and tablets. Amazon Kindles have been available in the UK for more than 15 years, so they’re an old-school gadget at this point. But in 2024, the biggest update yet arrived: colour, which added an important extra option to the existing Kindle lineup, alongside readers for children, for note-taking and for tighter budgets. Continue reading...

404 Media Oct 21 · 8 min read

Someone Opened a CashApp In Her Name. She Faces Years in Prison

Amanda Smith spent three nights in jail after a Facebook Marketplace scam led to a CashApp account in her name. She says she didn't make it.

404 Media Oct 21 · 2 min read

Chestnuts Roasting on a Data Center

An endangered American chestnut grove faces a new threat: A massive data center.

404 Media Oct 21 · 13 min read

The Chestnut Grove Caught in the Middle of A Years-Long Data Center Fight

A small grove of historic American chestnut trees has become the site of resistance against an AI data center in West Virginia.

Ars Technica Oct 21 · 7 min read

Review: Carrie is a triumphant remix with one major flaw

Mike Flanagan's re-imagining of Stephen King's classic is well worth watching.

Ars Technica Oct 21 · 7 min read

The past, present, and future share a show floor at Pinball Expo 2026

Flipping through the highlights in and around Pinball Expo 2026.

The Guardian — Technology Oct 21 · 7 min read

The best gifts for nine-year-olds, picked by nine-year-olds and parents

Popcorn makers, Lego Fortnite and the coolest water bottle around … surprise the mini tween in your life with our pick of the top gifts and toys • The best gifts for eight-year-olds The start of the tween years, nine years old, is a sweet spot between curiosity and growing independence, making it a fun, though sometimes tricky, age to buy for. Kids at this age are up for a challenge, whether that means trying a trickier craft set, playing a more complex game or stepping up their sporting interests. Pitch a gift right and you’ll not only get the whoop of joy when they first receive it, but something that will hold their interest and help them develop their skills, interests and hobbies over time. Continue reading...