section
Tech
Industry, products, and the wires that hold it all together.
477 stories archived
Sony will stop making physical copies of PlayStation games in 2028
“We will own nothing, it's truly sad.”
A good little EV you won't be able to buy soon: The Volvo EX30 Cross Country
Tariffs and anti-China policies killed this little Volvo in the United States.
Scientists Asked AI to Impersonate 112 Public Figures. What Happened Next Is a ‘Dire’ Warning
Researchers discovered that people found AI impersonators to be more authentic, coherent, and relevant than the real politicians, raising alarm bells around the potential for public deception.
Ithaca's king defies the gods in final The Odyssey trailer
"You gods don't speak in ways we understand."
After spooking Trump into safety testing, Anthropic AI models get global release
US lifts curbs on Anthropic’s advanced Fable and Mythos models.
NASA inspector general suggests Boeing's Starliner will now be a decade late
Starliner's certification may be delayed to 2027, 10 years later than Boeing's original schedule.
A space history mystery: What happened to the Viking arm used 50 years ago?
A timely tale about a 50-year-old robotic arm...
No console-flation: how the thirst for AI chips is sending games console prices soaring
AI datacentres, memory scarcity and factory capacity are costing consumers –and console makers • Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here It was once a truth universally acknowledged that an ageing console in possession of good revenue must be in line for a price reduction. Those days may be over. In March, Sony announced a price increase of £90 for the PS5, while last month Microsoft informed gamers that it would be charging at least £75 more for the Xbox Series S and X consoles from August. All three were first released back in 2020. The Switch 2 will also be more expensive globally from September. The main culprit, of course, is AI, or more specifically the exploding demand for semiconductors and memory to power datacentres. Console manufacturers could once source these components cheaply, but now they’re in high demand and manufacturers can’t keep up, so deals are being struck. “Initially, the wave of price increases seen in gaming were driven by tariffs imposed by Donald Trump early last year,” says Andy Robinson, editor in chief of gaming news site VGC. “Then, in October, OpenAI announced a deal with Samsung and [Korean chip manufacturer] SK Hynix to acquire a huge portion of their DRAM output for datacentres, causing prices to increase by almost 200%. According to Xbox, those prices have since doubled again, and they’re not expected to come back down any time soon.” Continue reading...
UK likely to intervene in Paramount takeover of Warner Bros Discovery
The acquisition was approved without concessions by the Department of Justice in June.
Short story accused of being AI-written wins overall Commonwealth prize
Jamir Nazir’s The Serpent in the Grove, which critics allege has ‘obvious markers’ of AI use, was described as ‘original, poetic and deeply moving’ by the judging chair A story widely accused on social media of being written using AI has gone on to win the overall Commonwealth short story prize. Jamir Nazir’s story The Serpent in the Grove went viral after being named as a regional winner in mid-May, with critics on X and Bluesky claiming it showed “obvious markers” of AI use. The literary magazine Granta subsequently pulled out of its long-running agreement to publish the Commonwealth winners. Continue reading...
Scientists find no link between Tylenol and autism, again, after Trump warning
After Trump's claims, Tylenol usage dropped during pregnancies.
Apple ‘Hide My Email’ Vulnerability Reveals Peoples’ Real Email Addresses
”Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses,” the person who reported the issue said.
Rapid spread of AI may worsen global inequality, UN warns
Panel proses shared framework for responsible AI development as adoption grows unevenly across world A new United Nations report warns that the development of artificial intelligence may exacerbate global inequality and proposes a shared framework for how to responsibly develop AI, as adoption and investment into the technology accelerates unevenly across the world. “Access to AI tools alone does not produce equal benefit,” the report states. “Countries that rely on foreign models, cloud infrastructure and data pipelines may gain access to AI while losing practical control over its standards, safeguards and local fit.” Continue reading...
Signet City – futuristic parasites feed off 80s social realism in dystopian RPG
A preview of the forthcoming sci-fi game from Gareth Damian Martin showcases their unmistakable talent for innovation and game design Over the past decade, an impression has taken root among gamers that any real creativity and originality in the industry is to be found in the indie, rather than mainstream, sector. Gareth Damian Martin can claim some responsibility for that. Their first game, 2020’s In Other Waters, merged sci-fi and underwater xenobiology in a uniquely calming and thought-provoking manner, while Citizen Sleeper (2022) and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (2025) were full-blown sci-fi epics with ultraminimal aesthetics and a rare intelligence. Martin has broken with tradition by unveiling their next game, Signet City, far in advance of its 2027 launch. Set in a dystopian monochrome city, it’s a narrative role-playing adventure with a curious first-person perspective. “You play as a parasite,” says Martin. “And it felt natural that it should be a game where you see the world through the eyes of your hosts, very literally. You wake up in the mind of a person called Sid at the same time as she’s waking up in the river of a city. You’re coming to understand what you are, why it is that you’re in the mind of this person who doesn’t know that you’re there, along with what your capabilities are, and what the world is, through Sid.” Continue reading...
Anthropic: US has lifted export controls on Fable and Mythos AI models after security risk fears
The AI company was forced earlier this month to suspend access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for all foreign nationals Anthropic has said the US commerce department has lifted export controls on its Fable and Mythos AI models, less than three weeks after the company was ordered to suspend access to its most advanced AI models over national security risks. “We’ll begin restoring access tomorrow,” Anthropic said in a statement on X late on Tuesday. Continue reading...
June research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed
Also, the science of poop's distinctive shape, boron buckyballs, and the secret to a soccer feint.
Reddit will require you to log in to use old.reddit.com
Logged-out Old Reddit access is “significant source of abusive scraping."
Amazon blames piracy apps with malware for killing new Fire Stick sideloading
New Fire Stick OS helps Amazon block third-party homepage launchers, ad blockers.
NASA may send a backup, nuclear-powered Mars rover to the Moon
"That would be an awesome capability."
Google kills Tenor GIF API, forcing changes at X, Discord, and more
Tenor still connects to Google apps, but other platforms must look elsewhere for GIFs.
Apple takes Epic fight over app store fees to the Supreme Court
Supreme Court will weigh if Apple contempt finding in Epic case is “erroneous.”
New attack provides one more reason why AI browsers are a bad idea
Telling an LLM that 2 + 2 = 5 is enough to make it follow forbidden instructions.
Frequent AI chatbot use linked to belief in anti-vaccine myths, poll finds
Poll finds use of AI tools for health advice is correlated with belief in vaccine falsehoods, such as shots causing autism Adults in the US who frequently seek out health advice from artificial intelligence chatbots are more likely to believe myths about vaccines, according to a poll released on Tuesday by health research firm KFF. The survey, which was conducted in May and polled a representative sample of 2,480 US adults, found that use of AI tools and chatbots correlated with belief in falsehoods such as vaccines causing autism or that the measles vaccine poses more danger than the corresponding virus. The connection remained while controlling for factors such as age, race, education and political partisanship. Continue reading...
Google's new Nano Banana 2 Lite image model is its fastest and cheapest yet
They may not look as good, but Nano Banana 2 Lite images only take a few seconds to create.