technology

/ Governor Ron DeSantis called for a state investigation into the company.

Who should own the screen in your car? Share this story a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-white”>Why GM picked a fight with Apple To understand where GM’s coming from, look to its new upcoming Ultifi software platform. That may not be as sexy as 0–60 mph times and tire-roasting horsepower quotes, but it’s crucial to the EV overhaul GM is currently undertaking.  Ultifi is essentially your smartphone’s OS but in car form. It will be used in GM’s next-gen EV lineup as well as its ICE vehicles, but it’s arguably more important for the former. With EVs essentially being software-driven batteries on wheels, Ultifi will allow for over-the-air updates, more advanced automated...

/ The company has stood out from the big tech crowd in not doing layoffs, but it appears that has come to an end. Apple is reportedly laying off a small number of people from one of its retail teams, according to reports from Bloomberg and Business Insider. It’s currently not clear how many people will be affected, but Bloomberg says the number is “likely very small,” and both outlets say that, internally, the company is pitching it as a way to improve its operations rather than as a cost cutting measure. Still, until now, Apple’s lack of layoffs has set it apart from many big tech companies that have announced major cuts. Those include: Apple’s layoffs seem to be on a massively smaller scale, but it appears it can no longer act as an example of a company that hasn’t resorted to laying off...

/ My ‘Following’ timeline is full of strangers. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>The retweet label is MIA on the timeline, but it’s there when you click on a tweet. If you click into the tweet, the retweet label shows back up, and if you try to reply to it, it’ll still tag the person who retweeted it. That functionality still being around, and the fact that the labels are still there on the timeline in the iOS and Android apps, as well as TweetDeck, makes this seem more like a bug than an intentional change. As for the Doge icon showing up on the loading screen and in the upper left corner of the web UI, ...

/ It’ll now have a sidebar like pretty much every other major streaming app. Good.

/ Google is putting its money on the line to prove it knows when air travel prices are at their lowest. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>It’ll only show up on flights that Google is pretty certain won’t get cheaper in the future.

Make Steve Jobs roll over in his grave with a custom rabbit strawberry glitter frosting iPhone case. A TikTok viewed nearly 650,000 times opens with green and white frosting being smeared on a plain phone case. A reading of a Creepypasta about a faceless man plays over the sped-up clip as a hand comes in and swirls frosting around the edges. One by one, plastic decorations are added — a butterfly and flowers, glitter powder, tiny pearls around the cutout for the camera lenses.  The frosting isn’t edible, and the phone case isn’t simply an exercise in decorating. The TikTok is part of a maximalist design aesthetic that’s beginning to catch on in the US, where clean and minimal phone accessories are abandoned in favor of the busiest-looking cases you’ve ever seen. Every corner of a case...

Apple/ Tech / In a new GQ profile, Cook also weighs in on privacy, screen time, and why it’s taking so long to ship a headset.

/ Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is back in black and ready for war in Secret Invasion’s new trailer. The new Marvel series premieres June 21st on Disney Plus. Nick Fury’s kept himself pretty scarce since the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, but in the newest trailer for Disney Plus’ upcoming Secret Invasion series, the man behind the Avengers Initiative is back and preparing for a war that only he can wage. Though much of Secret Invasion’s new trailer is footage we’ve seen before, a handful of new moments make clear that Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) absence hasn’t gone unnoticed on Earth in the years since the Avengers managed to reverse Thanos’ snap. While Fury’s been off-planet hiding, Skrulls loyal to him back on Earth, like Talos (Ben Mendohlson), have watched as the extremist G...

/ The Watch Ultimate has a diving and expedition mode, multiband GPS, a new physical button, a backtrack feature, a night mode, and a forthcoming low-power mode. Hmm, where have I seen this before? a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Huawei You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out where Huawei got the inspiration for its newly announced Watch Ultimate. It’s clearly Huawei’s not-so-subtle answer to the Apple Watch Ultra, and now, we know that similarity extends to the price tag, too. Starting tomorrow, the Ultimate will retail in the UK and Europe for €749 / £700 for t...

Smart Home For years, I have been waiting for an excuse to make the transition to Home Assistant. With the Home Assistant’s Zigbee and Thread dongle, I had that excuse. My smart home has been a mess for a while. Before writing this, it was a combination of a Hue hub and HomeKit, the former of which I was not terribly fond of having, and the latter I tolerate. But for a few years now, I have wanted to go convert my whole house to Home Assistant: the self-hosted home automation software. And now, with the SkyConnect Connect, a combination Zigbee and Matter / Thread dongle from Home Assistant, that transition is complete. In the process, however, I broke half of the stuff in my home. Nothing works, and I could not be happier. Home Assistant, for those of you who do not follow the Smart Home n...

/ A new Western Digital Xbox expandable storage card has been spotted at Best Buy, and it’s cheaper than the current Seagate option. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Best Buy Microsoft appears to be readying new Xbox expandable storage options from other manufacturers. A new Western Digital 1TB expansion card for Xbox Series S / X consoles has been spotted early on Best Buy, priced at $179.99. It’s the first time we’ve seen Xbox expandable storage that’s not manufactured by Seagate. Microsoft originally launched Xbox expandable storage cards nearly three years ago with its X...