Technology

Elon Musk calls Trump’s budget bill a ‘disgusting abomination’

Elon Musk calls Trump’s budget bill a ‘disgusting abomination’

Last week, Elon Musk’s media tour included telling CBS Sunday Morning he was “disappointed” by the Republican domestic policy bill backed by President Trump. Now, the former White House employee is calling it a “disgusting abomination” and claiming that Congress is making America bankrupt in posts on X on Tuesday. Elon’s problem isn’t the provisions we noted that would strip state legislatures of AI oversight and scale back consumer protection and climate initiatives, while funding increased border surveillance. Instead, he claims, “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly…
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How college students built the fastest Rubik’s Cube-solving robot yet

How college students built the fastest Rubik’s Cube-solving robot yet

The student-built Purdubik’s Cube set a new Guinness World Record by solving a Rubik’s Cube in just 0.103 seconds. | Photo: Matthew Patrohay / Purdue University A team of Purdue University students recently set a new Guinness World Record with their custom robot that solved a Rubik's Cube in just 0.103 seconds. That was about a third of the time it took the previous record-setting bot. But the new record wasn't achieved by simply building a robot that moves faster. The students used a combination of high-speed but low-res camera systems, a cube customized for improved strength, and a special…
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The Verge’s 2025 Father’s Day gift guide

The Verge’s 2025 Father’s Day gift guide

Father's Day rules. It's a day to celebrate all that dads have contributed to the people, homes, and communities that they're a part of. Being a dad is a lot of work - something I can vouch for, being a relatively new one myself - so for Father's Day, why not give dear old dad a token of appreciation and love? Whether your dad prefers practical or clever gifts, we think you'll be pleased with the selection of picks below. As usual, we lean pretty heavily on tech, but there are several non-tech suggestions that most dads will be happy…
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Trump pulls Musk ally’s NASA Administrator nomination

Trump pulls Musk ally’s NASA Administrator nomination

Just one day after Elon Musk’s public departure from his role as a White House employee, the Trump Administration pulled its nomination of Musk ally Jared Isaacman to become the new NASA Administrator. First reported earlier on Saturday by Semafor, citing anonymous sources, the move has been confirmed by White House spokesperson Liz Huston. The New York Times reports, based on three unnamed sources, that Trump “told associates he intended to yank Mr. Isaacman’s nomination after learning that he had donated to prominent Democrats,” including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. Isaacman, the billionaire founder and CEO of a payments company, Shift4,…
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Xbox cofounder J Allard is working on ‘breakthrough’ devices at Amazon

Xbox cofounder J Allard is working on ‘breakthrough’ devices at Amazon

Amazon has a new ZeroOne team focused on “breakthrough” devices, and it’s led by Xbox cofounder and former Microsoft executive J Allard, CNBC reports. Based on a job listing for the team, one of those products is a smart home device. J Allard was one of the main faces of the original Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles, and during his nearly 20-year tenure at Microsoft, he also worked on the Zune MP3 player, Kin phones, and Courier tablet prototype. He joined Amazon to focus on “new ideas” in late 2024. Job listings for his ZeroOne team at Amazon include senior…
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A Kaiser Permanente systems outage has pharmacies relying on pen and paper

A Kaiser Permanente systems outage has pharmacies relying on pen and paper

Healthcare company Kaiser Permanente is dealing with a system outage that is forcing its hospitals and pharmacies to fill out prescriptions with pen and paper — and is slowing down services at other parts of the company, too. “Kaiser Permanente is currently experiencing network interruptions, at one of our data centers, which is impacting some of our applications,” Kaiser Permanente spokesperson Kathleen Campini Chambers says in a statement to The Verge. “All of our clinical facilities are operational. However, members may be facing delays in certain services such as lab, radiology, and pharmacy online and in our facilities. We deeply…
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How to scan documents using your iPhone

How to scan documents using your iPhone

Converting paper documents into digital formats means you've got backups of your paperwork should you ever need them. It can also help you clear out a substantial amount of clutter from your home or office - perhaps a whole filing cabinet's worth. It's now easier than ever to scan documents using today's phones - a large flatbed scanner is no longer needed as it was in the past. Receipts, business cards, bills, and any other kind of printed material can be stored digitally. If you've got an iPhone, you can do this straight from the built-in Notes or Files apps.…
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The Nintendo Switch 2 sure seems to work just fine with a USB mouse

The Nintendo Switch 2 sure seems to work just fine with a USB mouse

You’ll be able to use a USB mouse with the Nintendo Switch 2 in at least one game, as a Koei Tecmo developer commentary video for the upcoming Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition revealed this week. That’s great news if your wrists, like mine, started preemptively cramping the first time you saw video of someone tipping a Joy-Con 2 controller on its edge for mouse mode. While demonstrating the game’s use of the Joy-Con 2 as a mouse, producer Michi Ryu stops and plugs in a USB mouse. The Switch 2 displays a message that says a mouse has been…
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Elden Ring is getting a film adaptation

Elden Ring is getting a film adaptation

Elden Ring will soon be more than just a hit video game. On Thursday, Bandai Namco and A24 announced a live-action Elden Ring film directed by Alex Garland. Japanese developer FromSoftware released Elden Ring across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC in 2022, while a version for the Nintendo Switch 2 is set to be released this year. The action RPG became an instant hit, and puts you in the role of a Tarnished tasked with restoring the Elden Ring by defeating various challenging bosses throughout the Lands Between. The Elden Ring spinoff Nightreign is coming out on May 30th, 2025. Garland…
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Tech CEOs are using AI to replace themselves

Tech CEOs are using AI to replace themselves

An image of Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski’s AI-generated avatar. Tech company CEOs aren’t just making their companies AI-first: this week, they’re using AI avatars to replace themselves in earnings calls. Buy-now-pay-later company Klarna featured the AI version of CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski in an 83-second video about its Q1 2025 results, as reported by TechCrunch. The video’s description says that his “AI avatar” is presenting the results, and the AI avatar kicks off the video by saying that “it’s me, or rather, my AI avatar.”  Klarna has already been vocal about how it uses AI in its business, with…
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