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Sun, Mar 15, 2026, 11:21 PM EDT

Tech

AI Summary

  • Meta is reportedly planning significant layoffs, potentially impacting up to 20% of its workforce, amidst broader industry consolidation and strategic realignments.
  • AI advancements continue to dominate headlines, with developments ranging from ByteDance pausing its AI video generator launch to concerns about AI's role in mass casualty risks and its use in training on human emotion.
  • The edtech sector is seeing consolidation, with Unacademy slated for acquisition by upGrad, signaling a shift in the online education landscape.
  • Apple's new MacBook Neo is garnering attention for its repairability, while other hardware news includes Rivian's perspective on robotics and Honda's decision to cease EV production.
  • The intersection of technology and national security is highlighted by the US Army's substantial contract with Anduril and discussions surrounding AI's potential use in military planning and data analysis.

TechCrunch


Hacker News


Engadget

  • Playdate games to check out before the Catalog's 3-year anniversary sale ends 4 hours ago by Cheyenne MacDonald
    Video Games, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Cheyenne MacDonald

    If your Playdate wishlist is anything like mine (endless), here's a good excuse to actually go ahead and free some of those games from limbo: Panic is running a sale across the Playdate Catalog to celebrate its three-year anniversary. Sure, the majority of Playdate games are pretty cheap as is, but they can still add up when you're on a wild purchasing spree. Ask me how I know! The sale started on March 5 and goes until March 19 at 1PM ET (10AM PT), so take advantage of the discounts while you can.  There are 423 games available in the Catalog

  • Arc Raiders replaced some of its AI-generated voice lines, using professional actors instead 9 hours ago by Jackson Chen
    Software, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Jackson Chen

    In an unexpected twist, humans have taken some jobs back from AI. Embark Studios' CEO Patrick Söderlund recently told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio "re-recorded" some of the AI-generated voice lines in Arc Raiders with human voices, only after its successful launch in October. "There is a quality difference," Söderlund told GamesIndustry.biz. "A real professional actor is better than AI; that's just how it is." With Arc Raiders' player count peaking at nearly half a million users on Steam, the game's breakout success was still marred by its use of text-to-speech AI. While there was no generative AI used for the visuals of

  • Anthropic is doubling Claude's usage limits during off-peak hours for the next two weeks 11 hours ago by Jackson Chen
    Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Jackson Chen

    To capitalize on Claude's recent spike in popularity, Anthropic is offering a limited-time promotion that doubles usage limits for anyone using its AI chatbot during off-peak hours. From March 13 to March 27, users on Free, Pro, Max, and Team plans will get double the usage limits in a five-hour window when using Claude outside weekday hours between 8 AM and 2 PM ET. According to Anthropic, the promotion is automatic, and users don't have to enable anything to get the benefits. > A small thank you to everyone using Claude: We’re doubling usage outside our peak hours for the next

  • ByteDance has reportedly suspended the global rollout of its new AI video generator a day ago by Cheyenne MacDonald
    Media, Celebrities, Arts & Entertainment, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Cheyenne MacDonald

    A month after Seedance 2.0's launch in China sparked cease-and-desist letters from Disney and Paramount Skydance over its use of copyrighted materials, its developer ByteDance has reportedly hit pause on the release of the AI video tool in other regions. According to The Information, which spoke to two anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter, ByteDance has suspended Seedance 2.0's global rollout. Engadget has reached out to ByteDance for comment and will update this story if we hear back with more information.  Seedance 2.0 caught heat from Hollywood studios almost immediately upon its release, after user-generated videos including a viral AI

  • Spotify’s new Taste Profile feature lets users fine-tune their algorithm’s recommendations a day ago by Jackson Chen
    Media, Arts & Entertainment, Social & Online Media, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Jackson Chen

    You're responsible for your own Spotify algorithm now. On stage at SXSW, Spotify's co-CEO, Gustav Söderström, announced the Taste Profile feature, which allows users to personally customize exactly what they want to listen to, whether it's music, audiobooks or podcasts. This AI-powered feature is still in beta, and it will be available to Premium users in New Zealand in the coming weeks. From its short video demo, Spotify's Taste Profile feature will show you a summary of your listening habits and offer a "Tell us more" prompt at the bottom. With the new prompt, users can inform the AI what they


The Verge

  • Aether OS is a computer in a browser built for the AT Protocol 8 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    News, Tech, Web

    Aether OS puts a full-fledged desktop in your browser that ties directly into the AT Protocol. That means it connects to your Bluesky account and other public records. It offers a pretty full suite of apps, 42 in total, covering text editing, task management, and social media. There's even a rudimentary tracker for making chiptunes, a DAW, and a video editor. Of course, part of the appeal is also the cyberpunk good looks that draw obvious inspiration from The Matrix. Right now, the project is in alpha, and there are a lot of rough edges. Documentation is also basically non-existent. So, if

  • Sotomayor’s Wabi Sabi is the funnest record of 2026 11 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Column, Entertainment, Music, Music Review

    Can’t. Stop. Dancing. | Image: Wonderwheel Recordings Shout out to subscriber N_Gorski for today's pick. They popped into the comments on last week's recommendation to ask what I thought of the new Sotomayor record. Well, I hadn't actually heard it yet, but now I'm obsessed. The group consists of siblings Raul and Paulina Sotomayor from Mexico City. Wabi Sabi is their first record since 2020's Origenes, and it is pure joy. You can look back through everything I've recommended over the last several months, and "fun" is not how you'd describe most of it. But that's what Wabi Sabi is - it's

  • AI Czar David Sacks wants Trump to ‘get out’ of Iran 13 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Business, News, Policy, Politics

    He might have realized he’s about to lose a lot of money. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images David Sacks, the White House's AI and crypto czar, has warned that a continued war in Iran could be catastrophic. On the All In podcast, Sacks said that "we should try to find the off-ramp." He expressed concern that Iran could demolish oil and gas infrastructure across the Middle East, but more alarmingly, that it could start targeting desalination plants, which provide water to much of the region, and could lead to an even larger humanitarian crisis. Sacks has never made

  • AI companies want to harvest improv actors’ skills to train AI on human emotion 13 hours ago by Hayden Field
    AI, OpenAI

    If you've got strong creative instincts, the ability to authentically portray emotion, and are capable of staying true to a character's voice throughout a scene, there's a job listing calling for your experience. The catch: You won't be performing in a theater, a film studio, or an underground performance space. You'd be using your talents to train an AI model for "one of the leading AI companies," according to the open role posted by Handshake, a company that provides training data to OpenAI and other labs. Handshake AI is one of a handful of companies of its kind, scrambling to provide more

  • Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are the choice — if you have a Galaxy phone 14 hours ago by John.Higgins
    Headphone Reviews, Reviews, Samsung, Tech

    The Galaxy Buds Pro 4 are a nice improvement over the Buds 3, but still require a Galaxy device to use all their features. Samsung promised "more than a design refresh" for its new top-end Galaxy Buds - it added upgraded woofers for improved, dual-amped hi-fi sound, a new blade design, clearer call performance, and better noise cancellation. Ultimately, while the $249.99 Galaxy Buds 4 aren't a huge leap forward over the previous model, they keep what was good about the Buds 3 and improve on most of what wasn't - as long as you use Samsung Galaxy devices. That's because, much


Wired


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