T.C. is a Senior Editor at The Verge, where he has obsessed over headlines and internet speeds since 2011. Prior to The Verge, he worked in the nation’s capital as an advocate for the National Park System, which continues to be America’s best idea. (The internet is a close second.) Ethics statement: T.C. is the creator of Quest, a tabletop roleplaying game. As such, he is not involved in any kind of coverage of tabletop games for The Verge.
Trump has once again escalated his capricious assault on journalism. The president said today that “effective immediately” he is banning CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House, and threatened for “other fake news media outlets to follow.” In 2025, he banned the Associated Press during a temper tantrum over its refusal to go along with his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not clear what set the president off this time.
The team behind Apple’s new foldable basically gave a second keynote to GQ, and snagged a couple brief statements from new CEO John Ternus. “Steve [Jobs] talked about the intersection of technology and liberal arts, and I think iPhone Duo is a perfect example of that,” Ternus told GQ.
Don’t hold your breath, but the government may effectively reverse course on killing a Biden-admin program that helped people file their taxes for free without having to use infamous third parties like TurboTax. (Democrats have wanted to bring it back, which could make this a little awkward for Trump.)
The Washington Sun reports this could be part of a broader “America.gov” effort that may also let people renew passports and conduct business through an AI agent. It sounds good until you learn that a bunch of former DOGE folks are working on it. Yes, that includes “Big Balls.”
[The Washington Sun]
As New Scientist reports, researchers have named a new species of cat — the “tilcayo” — which lurks on the slopes of the Andes mountains in South America. It’s apparently the first new named species of cat in over a century. Regarding this news, Verge staff have been observed noting disappointment that it’s a wild species, because why can’t we all have one at home? Here, kitty kitty.
There’s a truly wild report today from Futurism about a trio of brothers who have built a content empire filled with fakery, including completely fabricated writers with huge credentials. Apparently they’re getting massive web traffic from this scheme. Maybe it’s a good thing Google is going to zero.
In an age where we all need to touch grass more than ever, I am deeply saddened to hear that author Annie Dillard has died. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is one of the most stunningly beautiful books I’ve ever read — I always keep a few copies on hand to gift to strangers because it’s so meaningful. If you need a break from the relentless tech news cycle, please gift yourself this amazing work and revel alongside the author at the majesty, terror, and redemption provided by our natural world.
[The New York Times]
Haters said it was too woke and would go broke, but Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey crossed the billion-dollar mark and hasn’t looked back. Nonetheless, competitors — including Elon Musk — threatened counterprogramming built with AI. Well, the time has come for one of these projects, which is a 150-minute AI-generated film hosted by Fountain 0, available as of today. If you don’t want to pony up for admission, we’ll let you know our thoughts on the film soon.
[Fountain 0]
Apparently that’s what Flock cameras are silently telling themselves about every two minutes. 404 Media and Wired collaborated on reporting about hackers who broke inside the surveillance cameras and picked through their custom Android apps, data collection habits, and machine vision methods. Flock doesn’t seem happy, and the hackers are trying to “keep a low profile.”
