Maxim Magaziner on building faster, more reliable engineering teams
Maxim Magaziner on building faster, more reliable engineering teams

Software teams are under constant pressure to move faster. Better development tools, stronger testing frameworks, and more mature deployment systems have shortened the distance between an idea and a working product. But faster delivery also raises the …

Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft for infringement
Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft for infringement

The Seattle Times and Newsday are just the latest plaintiffs to take OpenAI to court, alleging copyright infringement. The two outlets say the company used their journalism as training data for its AI models without permission and often reproduces passages from their reporting in response to user queries. This is similar to lawsuits filed by […]

An Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami International Airport
An Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami International Airport

A plane bearing an Amazon logo overran the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday during landing, crashing into vehicles and resulting in multiple injuries. The extent of the damage or the seriousness of the injuries was not clear at the time of publication. In the aftermath of the incident, the FAA released a statement […]

Boox’s tiny Picco e-reader should land in November
Boox’s tiny Picco e-reader should land in November

Boox teased the Picco, its take on the buzzy Xteink X4 e-reader, back in July, but provided almost no details. Now, thanks to some reporting out of IFA, we’ve got a bit more info, though sadly still no price. Unlike the Xteink devices, the Picco will not have magnets on the back for attaching to […]

The Fairphone 6 Plus is the midrange phone we desperately needed
The Fairphone 6 Plus is the midrange phone we desperately needed

The Fairphone 6 Plus feels like an extremely average midrange Android phone and I couldn’t be more thrilled. The mission has always been admirable. Fairphone seeks out ethically sourced materials and offers a high degree of repairability for its devices. But the phones themselves required a lot of sacrifices, like putting up with underpowered processors […]

Flock’s AI search tool for police officers has been reverse engineered — here’s what it shows
Flock’s AI search tool for police officers has been reverse engineered — here’s what it shows

Wired has managed to uncover some of the details about how search works for police officers using Flock.

DIY plug-in solar gains momentum in the US
DIY plug-in solar gains momentum in the US

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on e-bikes, power stations, and how to work anywhere, follow Thomas Ricker. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started With a deep breath, I took […]

Explore the globe in field recordings
Explore the globe in field recordings

I love field recordings. I love making them. I love them when they’re incorporated into my ambient music. They’re great background noise for working or sleeping. But they’re also great for active listening, focusing in on the fine nuances of burbling brooks or urban chaos. Earth Garden gives you a globe to explore with real […]

iPhone Handoff will seamlessly share one number between two phones
iPhone Handoff will seamlessly share one number between two phones

When iOS 27 lands later this month, it will have a feature called iPhone Handoff that lets you switch between two phones using the same number. It was briefly mentioned during the WWDC keynote back in June, but there were no details at the time. Now there’s a demo clip showing how to set up […]

Content creators drop the ball
Content creators drop the ball

During Naomi Osaka’s match against Anastasia Zakharova at this year’s US Open earlier this week, a gaggle of ring light-wielding influencers who were packed in a luxury suite became enough of a distraction that the umpire paused the match and repeatedly asked them to quiet down. Elsewhere in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis […]