Microsoft announces Windows and Surface event for October 7th
Microsoft announces Windows and Surface event for October 7th

It’s been more than two years since the last major Windows event, so Microsoft is heading to San Francisco next month to outline the future of Windows and Surface devices. At an event on October 7th, the company says it will host a “conversation on how local AI will shape the next chapter of the […]

What if social media isn’t hurting kids?
What if social media isn’t hurting kids?

Two years ago, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt released his New York Times bestseller The Anxious Generation. The book posits that the rise of social media and smartphone use is largely to blame for the prominent decline in teen mental health since 2010. It quickly became a central rallying cry of the social media backlash. Haidt […]

How The Oregon Trail became a generational icon
How The Oregon Trail became a generational icon

Whether you played it in the back of your classroom or on your computer at home, if you were a kid in the last 30 years you almost certainly grew up playing The Oregon Trail. On the season 5 premiere of Version History, our fearless wagon leader David Pierce is joined by gaming journalist Chris […]

Meta’s new One subscriptions put a price on social media and AI
Meta’s new One subscriptions put a price on social media and AI

Shortly after launching its new do-everything AI assistant Muse, Meta’s launching subscription bundles that pair its standalone app subscriptions with extra AI usage. Some of the new Meta One bundles were in testing earlier this year, but are now available globally starting today, with several tiers for individual users, creators, and businesses. Meta says the […]

Fujifilm’s Instax Pal 2 is a tiny digital camera that may not disappoint
Fujifilm’s Instax Pal 2 is a tiny digital camera that may not disappoint

Fujifilm announced a follow-up to its tiny and quirky Instax Pal camera that debuted three years ago bundled with an instant printer. While the original Pal was a palm-sized camera with a round design that lacked a screen or viewfinder, the new Instax Pal 2 includes both in a design that looks like a miniaturized […]

This doorbell camera lets a human security guard watch your front door
This doorbell camera lets a human security guard watch your front door

DIY home security company SimpliSafe is bringing its AI-powered proactive security feature to the front door. The new SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Series 2 launches today for $199.99 and works with the company’s Active Guard Outdoor Protection (starting at $49.99 a month). This combines AI analysis with live agents to detect potential threats and respond proactively. […]

The premium AirPods 5 are the best open-ear earbuds Apple has made
The premium AirPods 5 are the best open-ear earbuds Apple has made

It’s almost a guarantee that the new version of a product will be, at best, the same price as the old one, and often (especially in the past couple years) more expensive. But that’s not what Apple did with the AirPods 5. The $149 AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case are $30 cheaper than the […]

Voicemod’s new pocket-friendly device brings real-time voice changing to your phone
Voicemod’s new pocket-friendly device brings real-time voice changing to your phone

Voicemod announced a new mobile device that expands the capabilities of the Voicemod Key dongle it launched in late 2024 as a way to bring the company’s real-time voice changing tech to consoles. While the older Voicemod Key only used a smartphone as an interface between the company’s mobile app and the Xbox, PlayStation, and […]

Microsoft issues emergency Windows 11 update to fix its record-breaking patch
Microsoft issues emergency Windows 11 update to fix its record-breaking patch

Microsoft has started rolling out an emergency out-of-band update to fix problems with its record-breaking September patch Tuesday update. The software giant patched nearly 1,000 flaws in its biggest update ever this month, but it also introduced some bugs that have affected businesses, developers, and gamers. The September patch Tuesday affected folder shares on Hyper-V-based […]

Is Big Tech’s AI slowdown a safety pact or a cartel?
Is Big Tech’s AI slowdown a safety pact or a cartel?

When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis, and SpaceX head Elon Musk loosely agreed over the weekend to slow down AI development, skeptics spotted an ulterior motive immediately. The AI titans had declared that their aim was to “pace the frontier,” signing on at least partially to a […]