The boring, insidious world of the womanosphere
The boring, insidious world of the womanosphere

Usha Vance has a new podcast: Storytime with the Second Lady. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Each episode begins with a brief introduction, after which JD Vance’s wife reads a children’s story. The first three episodes were released Monday, and none is longer than 11 minutes – children’s books are, after all, quite short. […]

Transfer Point is a modern adventure game made with 40-year-old software
Transfer Point is a modern adventure game made with 40-year-old software

One of the year’s most intriguing games was developed using software first released 40 years ago. Transfer Point looks and plays like a classic Mac point-and-click adventure game, and there’s a very good reason for that: It was developed using World Builder, a game creation tool first released in 1986 that has since become freeware. […]

Trump’s birthright citizenship ban may fail — but the administration already got too far
Trump’s birthright citizenship ban may fail — but the administration already got too far

On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a case challenging President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order banning birthright citizenship. Justices seemed skeptical of the administration’s argument, but by taking up birthright citizenship at all, they showed how much ground nativists have gained since Trump’s first term. The 14th Amendment is […]

The Trump administration’s antitrust honeymoon is over
The Trump administration’s antitrust honeymoon is over

“It’s not personal, Sonny, it’s strictly business.” That quote was first delivered by mob boss Michael Corleone in The Godfather, but last Monday, it became the title of a speech by the Justice Department’s acting antitrust chief Omeed Assefi. At a George Washington University event co-hosted with the publication MLex, Assefi described an agency firing […]

Nintendo is weathering the storm
Nintendo is weathering the storm

Things aren’t going so well in the video game industry. Consoles are getting more expensive, games are shutting down, layoffs are prevalent, the live-service space is a mess, major platforms are entering eras of uncertainty, and AI is infiltrating the medium in frustrating ways. Finding a bright spot is rare. But amid all of that, […]

No Kings is taking back Americana
No Kings is taking back Americana

“I was hoping we were going to have a bigger crowd than this, especially with the nice weather and everything,” Michael Maria told me. “I’m a little disappointed because the last march, I think there were about 10 times as many people at this time of day.” At 11AM, the crowd at Portland’s downtown waterfront […]

Art schools are being torn apart by AI
Art schools are being torn apart by AI

When my baby brother, a 3D modelling and animation student, talks to me about his projects and studies, the pride I usually feel is becoming increasingly tainted by a growing sense of dread. As a creative professional and former design student myself, I understand all too well how fierce the competition for postgraduate jobs will […]

There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series
There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series

In the coming years, HBO wants its new Harry Potter series to become “the streaming event of the decade” as it adapts each of the franchise’s seven original books. The show could very well become a hit that captures the imaginations of a new generation of fans who weren’t there for the first wave of […]

Meta’s legal defeat could be a victory for children, or a loss for everyone
Meta’s legal defeat could be a victory for children, or a loss for everyone

Is social media not just bad, but illegally bad? Should tech companies pay for making it that way? According to two US juries – and no shortage of outside commentary – the answer to both questions is “yes.” Earlier this week, two juries – one in New Mexico, one in Los Angeles – held Meta […]

Why can’t TikTok identify AI generated ads when I can?
Why can’t TikTok identify AI generated ads when I can?

I’ve been struggling to tell whether the ads appearing in my TikTok feeds have been made with generative AI tools. As someone who spends a great deal of time scrutinizing images and videos for the usual “tells” that something was synthetically generated, some of the promotions I’ve seen have definitely sparked suspicion. For several weeks, […]