Month: April 2026

I have up-close experience with Flock, as my current city, Bend, Oregon, ended its contract with surveillance company Flock Safety earlier this year, after a public campaign protesting the cams — and a few very active city council meetings. Flock’s controversial AI-powered license plate cameras were shut down, and its partnership with local law enforcement ended over privacy … Read More “When Flock Cameras Appear: Everything You Need to Know About This Surveillance Tech” »

Microsoft is reportedly ending production of its Surface Hub 3 collaborative office display and canceling plans for a Surface Hub 4, according to Windows Central. The extra-large digital whiteboard that included its own built-in PC was originally announced in 2015 ahead of the launch of Windows 10 and came in two sizes, 50 inches and … Read More “Microsoft’s finally giving up on its massive Surface Hub touchscreen displays” »

This will be the last time I go along this area of discussion for a while because it’s just going to get very old very quickly. But I wanted, in one place, a quick manifesto/rant about this position. So here we go. FUCK THE CLOUD. By the cloud, of course, I mean this idea that … Read More “FUCK THE CLOUD « ASCII by Jason Scott” »

3D printing at home has become so mainstream that blockbuster movies are releasing 3D models directly from the screen to you. With that level of popularity comes the risk that 3D printers will be used for nefarious purposes. The production of “ghost” guns — guns and gun parts that are untraceable through standard serial number … Read More “3D Printers Are Under Fire From New Ghost Gun Laws. Tell Us What You Think” »

If you’ve been waiting for Microsoft to update its Surface PC lineup—perhaps with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X2 Elite processors—I’ve got bad news for you. Microsoft is shaking up its PC lineup, but it’s doing so by instituting big price hikes. This means you’ll be paying at least $1,500 for Surface devices that launched at $1,000 just … Read More “Two-year-old Surface PCs get $300 price hikes as sub-$1,000 models go away” »

Google is adding more AI capabilities to its Chrome web browser, the company announced on Tuesday. It’s introducing a new feature called Skills, which will allow users to save and reuse their favorite AI prompts that can run across different web pages without having to type them in again. The feature ties into Google’s integration … Read More “Google adds AI Skills to Chrome to help you save favorite workflows” »

Ever repeat the same AI prompts over and over? Maybe you frequently ask a chatbot to organize your school notes or summarize meeting notes into actionable bullet points. If you find repeating your AI tasks inefficient, Google Chrome has a new feature to make your workflow more frictionless.  Starting Tuesday, Google is rolling out Skills … Read More “Chrome Now Lets You Create 1-Click Workflows With Your Favorite AI Prompts” »

*insert Godzilla screeching sound* Here’s the very first look at the next big kaiju feature. Godzilla Minus Zero will continue the story of 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which returned the franchise to the more grounded tone established in the original film, and while the new teaser trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, it suggests some … Read More “Godzilla Minus Zero stomps through New York in first teaser trailer” »