Animal Crossing: New Horizons added just enough to suck me back in
Animal Crossing: New Horizons added just enough to suck me back in

Animal Crossing has always been anti-instant gratification. By design, you have to take your time, wait for days to pass in real time, and complete a seemingly endless list of chores to build a meaningful life with your animal friends. The slowness is part of its appeal. But with New Horizons, some of that slowness […]

Minnesota wants to win a war of attrition
Minnesota wants to win a war of attrition

As masked and armed men in combat armor swarmed throughout the Twin Cities, Gov. Tim Walz took to primetime television to ask Minnesotans to film ICE. The videos, he said, would “create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans – not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution.” […]

RFK Jr.’s new food pyramid could be a disaster for the environment — if Americans actually follow it
RFK Jr.’s new food pyramid could be a disaster for the environment — if Americans actually follow it

The Trump administration announced last week that it wants Americans to consume more protein, churning out a colorful illustration of an inverted food pyramid that prominently features a big, red steak, a wedge of cheese, and a carton of whole milk at the top and claiming it’s “ending the war on protein.” It may seem […]

What Apple and Google’s Gemini deal means for both companies
What Apple and Google’s Gemini deal means for both companies

For years, Apple and Google have had a will-they-won’t-they type of relationship, as far as which AI company Apple would pick to underpin its Siri virtual assistant and give it new AI-fueled personalization and agentic capabilities. Apple has spent the last year or two playing the field, reportedly considering working with OpenAI or Anthropic to […]

America’s new era of energy imperialism is about more than oil 
America’s new era of energy imperialism is about more than oil 

President Donald Trump has no shame in admitting what he wants to get out of attacking Venezuela and threatening other energy resource-rich nations. “We’re gonna get the oil flowing the way it should be,” he said January 3rd, soon after his administration stunned the world with what many policy experts and Democratic lawmakers are calling […]

Influencer content is fuel for an internet-obsessed administration
Influencer content is fuel for an internet-obsessed administration

Just a day after publishing a 40-minute video alleging fraud at Minnesota daycare centers, Nick Shirley had the vice president’s attention. In Shirley’s video, he and another man identified only as “David” roam Minneapolis with cameras and microphones, demanding entrance to daycare centers they say are operated by members of the local Somali community. With […]

Grok is undressing children — can the law stop it?
Grok is undressing children — can the law stop it?

Grok began 2026 as it began 2025: under fire for its AI-generated images. Elon Musk’s chatbot has spent the last week flooding X with nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes of adults and minors. Circulating screenshots show Grok complying with requests to put real women in lingerie and make them spread their legs, and to put small children […]

Power bank feature creep is out of control 
Power bank feature creep is out of control 

There was a time not too long ago when buying a power bank was as easy as choosing the cheapest portable battery that could charge your phone and quickly slip into your pocket, purse, or backpack. The hardest part was deciding whether it was time to ditch USB-A ports. Recently, however, brands have been slathering […]

No, Microsoft didn’t rebrand Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot
No, Microsoft didn’t rebrand Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft has got the internet confused, again. Over the past couple of days posts on Reddit, Hacker News, and X have claimed Microsoft has rebranded Microsoft Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot. As much as Microsoft loves to shove its Copilot branding everywhere, Office hasn’t been renamed to “Microsoft 365 Copilot app.” The confusion comes from […]

Meet the new tech laws of 2026
Meet the new tech laws of 2026

As usual, 2025 was a year of deep congressional dysfunction in the US. But state legislatures were passing laws that govern everything from AI to social media to the right to repair. Many of these laws, alongside rules passed in past years, take effect in 2026 – either right now or in the coming months. […]