Sony’s Souped-Up PlayStation 5 Pro Is $100 Off for the Rest of Today
Sony is offering a $100 discount on its PlayStation 5 Pro, reducing the price to roughly $689.99 from $749.99 until December 25 at 3 AM ET. The Pro model, the most powerful PS5 variant, features a larger GPU, 2 TB of SSD storage, and AI‑driven PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). It ships without a built‑in disc drive, though an external drive can be added for $80. The limited‑time price cut makes the high‑end console more accessible during the holiday shopping season.
In 2025, AI Became a Lightning Rod for Gamers and Developers
In 2025 generative AI moved from experimental prototypes to mainstream video‑game releases, appearing in titles hailed as game of the year. Major publishers such as Ubisoft, EA, and Microsoft announced partnerships with AI firms to generate dialogue, NPC behavior, and...
How AI Broke the Smart Home in 2025
In 2025, generative‑AI‑powered voice assistants like Alexa Plus and Google Gemini for Home still falter at routine smart‑home tasks, often failing to turn on lights or start coffee. While they offer richer conversational abilities and can handle complex commands, their reliance...
Indie Game Awards Retracts Expedition 33 Prizes Due to Generative AI
The Indie Game Awards stripped Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of its Game of the Year and Debut Game honors after discovering the studio used generative AI art during development. The awards body enforces a strict no‑AI rule for nominations, prompting the reallocation...
Microsoft Made Another Copilot Ad Where Nothing Actually Works
Microsoft released a holiday‑themed Copilot ad that depicts the AI flawlessly handling smart‑home lighting, recipe scaling, and HOA compliance, but the showcased scenarios rely on fictional companies and staged interactions. Independent testing revealed Copilot frequently hallucinating UI elements, misreading instructions,...
Grok Is Spreading Misinformation About the Bondi Beach Shooting
xAI’s Grok chatbot has been spreading false information about the Bondi Beach shooting, repeatedly misidentifying hero Ahmed al Ahmed and sharing fabricated stories. The misinformation includes a fake article naming a non‑existent IT professional, misattributed images, and unrelated video clips,...
Apple Loses Contempt Appeal in Epic Case
Apple lost its appeal of the district‑court contempt order in the Epic Games antitrust case. The Ninth Circuit affirmed Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ finding that Apple deliberately violated a 2021 injunction by restricting external payment links and imposing a 27% fee....
New York’s New Law Forces Advertisers to Say when They’re Using AI Avatars
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation requiring advertisers to clearly disclose the use of AI‑generated avatars in commercial spots. The law also mandates consent from heirs or executors before a deceased person’s likeness can be used for profit. Violations...
Google Says It Will Link to More Sources in AI Mode
Google announced that its AI‑powered search feature, AI Mode, will start embedding more in‑line links to source articles, accompanied by AI‑generated snippets that explain each source’s relevance. The links will sit above a carousel of related content, giving users clearer...
Chatbots Are Struggling with Suicide Hotline Numbers
A recent test of popular AI chatbots revealed mixed performance on suicide‑prevention prompts. ChatGPT and Google Gemini instantly supplied accurate, location‑specific crisis numbers, while Replika, Meta AI, and several others either ignored the request, gave irrelevant US hotlines, or required...
Figma Adds More Photoshop-Like AI Tools for Image Editing
Figma has introduced three AI‑powered image editing tools—Erase object, Isolate object, and Expand Image—directly within Figma Design and Draw. The tools work with the existing lasso selection to instantly remove or separate elements and to extend backgrounds using generative AI,...
A Pay-to-Scrape AI Licensing Standard Is Now Official
The RSL Collective released Really Simple Licensing 1.0, an open specification that expands the robots.txt file to let publishers set licensing and payment rules for AI crawlers. Backed by Yahoo, Ziff Davis and O’Reilly Media, the standard is now supported by Cloudflare,...
Aurora Will Have ‘Hundreds’ of Driverless Trucks on the Road by the End of 2026, CEO Says
Aurora CEO Chris Urmson announced that the company will scale from a handful of autonomous trucks to hundreds by the end of 2026, after postponing its commercial launch to April 2025. The firm currently runs five fully driverless trucks on...
ChatGPT Can Now Use Adobe Apps to Edit Your Photos and PDFs for Free
Adobe has embedded free Photoshop, Acrobat, and Express apps inside ChatGPT, allowing users to edit images, PDFs, and designs via natural‑language prompts. The integration, launched on December 10, 2025, works across desktop, web, and iOS, with Android support arriving soon for Photoshop...
I’m Obsessed with Redfin’s AI Search
Redfin has rolled out an AI‑powered search tool that lets users query listings in plain language, instantly generating tailored property results. The feature appears as a new prompt on the site’s search bar and leverages large language models to interpret...
IFixit’s FixBot Helps with Repairs ‘the Way a Master Technician Would’
DIY repair platform iFixit has released a new mobile app for iOS and Android that bundles its extensive repair guide library with a battery‑health monitor and an AI chatbot called FixBot. FixBot draws on iFixit’s guides, PDF manuals and user...
Anthropic Is Bringing Claude Code to Slack
Anthropic has rolled out Claude Code inside Slack as a beta research preview, letting users tag Claude on coding‑related messages to invoke the AI directly. The integration pulls context from the Slack thread and any authenticated code repositories, eliminating the...
Square’s Product Chief on the Death of the Penny and the Future of Money
Square’s product chief Willem Avé explained Block’s recent functional re‑org, which now lets Square share engineering talent with sister units like Tidal. The new "Square 3.0" roadmap focuses on embedding deterministic AI that turns large‑language‑model insights into reliable back‑office automation...
A Very Human Vision for Going All-In on AI
Founder Sari Azout discusses how Sublime, a curation platform centered on human taste, is leveraging AI to augment rather than replace creativity. The Vergecast episode highlights Sublime’s AI‑driven discovery features and its new Podcast Magic tool, which runs entirely on...
AI ‘Creators’ Might Just Crash the Influencer Economy
Influencer Jeremy Carrasco warns AI‑generated videos are flooding TikTok and Instagram, threatening the creator economy. He highlights tell‑tale signs such as wobbly eyes, “Sora Noise,” and inconsistent backgrounds that expose low‑quality AI clips. Monetization of AI content can yield modest...
Elon Musk Says Tesla Drivers Can Text While Driving, but They Absolutely Should Not
Elon Musk announced that Tesla's upcoming Full Self‑Driving (FSD) version 14.2.1 could allow drivers to text in certain traffic situations, despite existing laws prohibiting the practice. The comment follows months of hype about an unsupervised, Level 2 system that still requires...
It’s Code Red for ChatGPT
OpenAI has issued an internal “code red” as Google’s Gemini and other rivals close the gap on large language model capabilities. CEO Sam Altman called for a renewed focus on ChatGPT’s core features to maintain market leadership. The move highlights...
Waymo’s Robotaxis Are Under Investigation for Passing Stopped School Buses
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a new investigation into Waymo after video and school‑district reports showed its robotaxis driving past stopped school buses in Austin, Texas. The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation has requested detailed data on...
Facebook and Instagram Have a New Hub to Help Get Hijacked Accounts Back
Meta announced a new centralized support hub for Facebook and Instagram designed to streamline account‑hijack recovery. The hub aggregates reporting tools, recovery options, and an AI‑driven assistant that offers instant, personalized guidance. It launches globally on iOS and Android, with...
Apple Announces Even More Major Executive Turnover
Apple announced that environmental and policy vice president Lisa Jackson will retire in late January 2026, and that Meta’s chief legal officer Jennifer Newstead will replace long‑time general counsel Kate Adams on March 1, 2026. The reshuffle also moves government‑affairs responsibilities to...
Amazon’s Dynamic Pricing Is Causing Chaos for School Budgets
School districts are paying roughly 17% more for basic supplies because Amazon Business uses dynamic pricing that can swing dramatically from day to day. The Institute for Local Self‑Reliance documented cases where identical items cost three times more for one...
Google’s AI Model Is Getting Really Good at Spoofing Phone Photos
Google’s new visual AI model, Nano Banana Pro, produces images that closely resemble phone‑camera photos, complete with realistic exposure, depth of field, and sensor noise. The system can pull real‑world facts from Google Search, allowing it to add context‑specific details like period‑accurate...
AI Chatbots Can Be Wooed Into Crimes with Poetry
A study by Italy’s Icaro Lab shows that framing illicit requests as poetry can bypass safety filters in AI chatbots. Researchers crafted 20 poetic prompts and tested them on 25 models from Google, OpenAI, Meta, xAI, Anthropic and others, achieving...
Meta Could Ax up to One-Third of Its ‘Metaverse’ Budget Next Year
Meta is considering slashing up to 30% of its metaverse budget for next year, targeting projects within Reality Labs such as Quest headsets and Horizon Worlds. The move follows more than $70 billion in losses reported by the division since early...
Proton Now Has an End-to-End Encrypted Spreadsheet App
Proton has launched Proton Sheets, an end‑to‑end encrypted spreadsheet application integrated into its Proton Drive suite. The tool offers real‑time collaboration, a familiar Excel‑like UI, and supports CSV and XLS imports while ensuring only users can decrypt the data. Access...
Yahoo Is Using AI to Recap Football Games in Real Time
Yahoo Sports has launched Game Breakdowns, an AI-powered feature that delivers real‑time game summaries, play‑by‑play streams, and suggested follow‑up questions for NFL matches. Currently in beta and limited to Fantasy Plus subscribers, the tool pulls statistical data, fan commentary, and journalist...
The EU Is Probing Meta over WhatsApp’s AI Chatbot Restrictions
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into Meta for restricting third‑party AI chatbots on WhatsApp. The new policy, effective October 15 for new AI services and January 15 2026 for existing ones, blocks competitors while keeping Meta’s own AI accessible....
Get Ready for an AI Country Music Explosion
AI music platform Suno is reshaping Nashville’s songwriting process by turning a simple voice memo into fully produced country demos within seconds. Songwriters can now bypass costly studio musicians, paying a $96 yearly fee instead of $500‑$1,000 per demo, dramatically...
Anthropic’s AI Bubble ‘YOLO’ Warning
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told the DealBook Summit that while the company’s technology is solid, the economic side of the AI market is fraught with timing risks. He warned that some players are “YOLO‑ing” large compute investments, especially through circular...
Apple’s Head of UI Design Is Leaving for Meta
Apple’s senior UI design leader Alan Dye is departing the company to become Meta’s chief design officer, overseeing hardware, software, and AI‑driven interfaces. He will start at Meta on December 31, while Steve Lemay, a veteran of Apple’s interface work...
Anyone Can Try to Edit Grokipedia 0.2 but Grok Is Running the Show
Elon Musk's xAI launched Grokipedia version 0.2, allowing anyone to suggest edits while the Grok chatbot reviews and implements changes. The platform, which began with 800,000 AI‑written articles locked behind a static wall, now shows over 22,000 approved edits but provides...
Google Photos Recap Will Tell You How Many Selfies You Took This Year
Google Photos has refreshed its annual Recap experience with new analytics and editing tools. The 2025 Recap now displays a selfie count, highlights users' standout hobbies, and lets Gemini‑enabled accounts see personalized year‑end insights. Users can hide specific people or...
Mirumi the Furry Companion Robot Is Now Available on Kickstarter
Yukai Engineering has opened pre‑orders for its Mirumi companion robot on Kickstarter, with shipments slated for April 2026. The plush‑furred bot, priced at ¥18,360 ($118) for early backers and rising to about $150 at retail, is designed solely to provide...
Indiegogo Is Launching ‘Express Crowdfunding’ so Creators Can Ship Things Sooner
Indiegogo announced a new "Express Crowdfunding" format that lets creators begin shipping products while their campaign is still active, eliminating the traditional wait for the pledge‑manager phase. The change stems from the platform’s recent migration to Gamefound’s technology, which was...
Google Is Experimentally Replacing News Headlines with AI Clickbait Nonsense
Google is piloting an experiment that swaps original news headlines with AI‑generated, click‑bait style titles in its Discover feed. The test has produced a mix of harmlessly terse headlines and wildly misleading ones, such as “BG3 players exploit children” and...
Google Is Bringing AI-Powered Notification Summaries to More Android Devices
Google is extending its AI‑powered notification summaries, introduced in Android 16, to Android devices beyond Pixel, starting with Samsung and other OEMs. The feature condenses lengthy chat messages and group conversations into brief snippets, but remains limited to messaging apps,...
It’s Their Job to Keep AI From Destroying Everything
Anthropic has built a nine‑person societal impacts team to surface "inconvenient truths" about its AI systems. The group developed Clio, an internal analytics platform that tracks real‑time user interactions with Claude, uncovering misuse such as explicit pornographic content and coordinated...
DRAM It! Raspberry Pi Raises Prices
Raspberry Pi announced price hikes across its single‑board computer lineup, with the 16 GB Raspberry Pi 5 climbing from $120 to $145 and other models seeing $5‑$25 increases. The company also introduced a new 1 GB Raspberry Pi 5 variant priced at $45. CEO...
Apple AI Chief Steps Down Following Siri Setbacks
Apple’s senior AI executive John Giannandrea announced his departure, ending a seven‑year tenure that began with a mandate to revamp Siri. Amar Subramanya, a former Google and Microsoft AI leader, will assume the role of vice president of AI, reporting...
Amazon and Google’s New Cloud Link Could Make It Easier to Deal with Outages
Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud have launched a private interconnect that lets customers link the two platforms in minutes via console or API. The service includes proactive failure detection and coordinated maintenance to prevent overlapping outages. It aims to...
Runway Says Its New Text-to-Video AI Generator Has ‘Unprecedented’ Accuracy
Runway unveiled its Gen-4.5 text-to-video model, touting unprecedented physical accuracy and visual precision. The new system delivers more realistic motion, weight, and fluid dynamics while better adhering to detailed prompts. Gen-4.5 is being rolled out gradually to all users, maintaining...
Why IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Is Still Hiring Humans in the AI Era
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna acknowledges that early Watson efforts were technologically sound but mis‑timed, prompting a shift toward modular, enterprise‑focused generative AI via the new Watsonx platform. He argues that AI costs will fall dramatically over the next five years...
The Race to AGI-Pill the Pope
A coalition of AI researchers and clergy, dubbed the “AI Avengers,” is urging the Vatican to treat artificial general intelligence (AGI) risks as a serious policy issue. Pope Leo XIV, a math‑trained, tech‑savvy pontiff, has already signaled interest in AI, convening...
This Deal on Smart Glasses Was Too Good for My Husband to Pass Up
Amazon slashed the price of its Echo Frames smart glasses to $115 for Cyber Monday, a steep drop from the regular $300 list price. The promotion bundles a prescription‑ready model with a free Echo Spot smart alarm clock, delivering roughly...
I Just Want AI to Rename My Photos
Raycast CEO Thomas Paul Mann envisions an AI‑powered desktop assistant that does more than chat, leveraging deep integration with macOS to manage files, rename photos, and streamline workflows. The app already combines an app launcher, file search, and note‑taking, and...
