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District Robotaxis

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Tom Warren
Which Outlook are you?

Microsoft loves having two or more apps to do the same thing on Windows. If you’re really lucky you can find an icon for Copilot and another one for Microsoft 365 Copilot in your system tray, alongside one for Microsoft Teams and another for Microsoft Teams Personal. Scott Hanselman, Microsoft’s vice president of developer community, has an amusing take on the latest multiple app situation involving Outlook.

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Dominic Preston
Jack Dorsey’s Block is cutting jobs (again).

The company — which owns Square, CashApp, and Tidal — is reportedly laying off over 930 employees and closing its open roles. It’s the company’s second recent layoff, after cutting similar numbers in early 2024. Dorsey explained the cuts in an email sent to staff and shared by TechCrunch:

None of the above points are trying to hit a specific financial target, replacing folks with AI, or changing our headcount cap. They are specific to our needs around strategy, raising the bar and acting faster on performance, and flattening our org so we can move faster and with less abstraction.

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Youtube
Thomas Ricker
I won’t connect my dishwasher to your stupid cloud.

Excellent rant from Jeff Geerling about lazy — or worse, exploitative — home appliance companies that insist on cloud connections to enable basic features. And it’s only getting worse with initiatives like “Screens Everywhere” from companies like Samsung and LG. This trend away from physical buttons introduces privacy and security concerns, the prospect of costly repairs, and the perfect foundation for advertisements and subscriptions — maybe not now, but certainly when profits are threatened by, oh, I don’t know... global trade wars.

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Richard Lawler
The military strike groupchat scandal isn’t going away.

A day after The Atlantic EIC Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he’d been inadvertently included in a group message on Signal where Trump admin officials discussed details of an upcoming military strike, CBS News reports on an NSA warning from February that the app isn’t approved for “nonpublic unclassified” information. Despite testimony today that no classified material was shared, the NSA noted the danger posed by Russian phishing campaigns attempting to add a linked device and bypass Signal’s encryption for surveillance.

Later on Tuesday evening, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries shared a letter he’d sent to the president saying Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “should be fired immediately” over the breach, and watchdog organization American Oversight said it’s filed a lawsuit against several of the officials in the chat.

Just For You

Just For You
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    Youtube
    Chris Welch
    Don’t expect an overhauled Messages app in iOS 19.

    Front Page Tech’s Jon Prosser today offered a glimpse of what he claims is the redesigned Messages app coming in iOS 19. Based on this image, it appears we’re not in for a drastic makeover. The icons at the top left and right are now encircled by glassy round buttons, and the virtual keyboard has a similar look. Otherwise, everything’s very familiar. Considering how many people use Messages every day, it makes sense to save flashier design changes for other areas of iOS.

    Speaking of which, Prosser says he’ll have a more in-depth iOS 19 preview coming tomorrow.

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    Andrew Liszewski
    Xiaomi’s new smart door lock can disguise your voice.

    It’s almost certainly not coming to the US due to deadbolt incompatibility, but Xiaomi has launched a new smart door lock in China that includes an intercom voice changer, letting you disguise your identity while speaking with someone at the door, as spotted by Notebookcheck.

    The Smart Door Lock 2 Cat Eye Edition also features several different ways to unlock it including a fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, NFC, passwords, and a physical key.

    <em>The smart door lock offers several ways to lock and unlock it, including a fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, and a traditional key.</em>
    <em>It’s launching in China for around $207, and offers up to six months of use between charges.</em>
    <em>The voice changer can help disguise the identify of who’s at home when talking to someone at the door.</em>
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    The smart door lock offers several ways to lock and unlock it, including a fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, and a traditional key.
    Image: Xiaomi
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    Tina Nguyen
    Make Soda Great Again (sponsored by Big Soda?).

    HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has ramped up his campaign against soft drinks by launching a drive to ban food stamp recipients from using them to purchase that addictive, bubbly sweetness. Meanwhile, The Bulwark’s Will Sommer has detected what looks like the latest campaign in the curious world of MAGA paid sponcon: right-wing influencers suddenly defending soda against government regulations.

    “Is Mountain Dew nutritious and life-giving?” one influencer wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “No. But freedom of choice is.”

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    Andrew J. Hawkins
    Tesla continues to plummet in Europe.

    The company’s sales in January and February are down nearly 43 percent year over year, according to new registration data from the EU. Meanwhile, overall electric vehicle registrations are up 28 percent across the continent, as EVs capture 15.2 percent of total EU market share. People still really like EVs, just not the one associated with Elon Musk.

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    Youtube
    Charles Pulliam-Moore
    Final Destination: Bloodlines is bringing generational curses back.

    Though Final Destination: Bloodlines could have been a full-on reboot, the movie’s new trailer makes it look a proper continuation of the franchise’s original story that will bring back the late Tony Todd’s William Bludworth when it hits theaters on May 16th.

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    Jess Weatherbed
    Apple Music comes to more DJ tools.

    DJ with Apple Music allows users to access the streaming platforms’ catalog of over 100 million songs via integrations with new DJ software and hardware platforms, including AlphaTheta, Denon DJ, Numark, Rane DJ, Serato, and InMusic’s Engine DJ. Apple Music is also launching a new category that features DJ-friendly editorial playlists and curated pages for each integration partner to showcase practice materials.

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    Andrew Liszewski
    Lego brings Frodo, Samwise, Merry, Pippin, and Bilbo back to the Shire.

    Following a 6,167-piece recreation of the elven sanctuary Rivendell released in 2023, Lego is revisiting The Lord of the Rings with a new 2,017-piece version of the Shire. The set launches on April 5th for $269 and includes nine minifigures: Frodo, Samwise, Merry, Pippin, Bilbo, Gandalf, Mrs. Proudfoot, Farmer Proudfoot, and Rosie Cotton.

    Interactive play features include a dial that can make Bilbo disappear and a burning letter that turns into the One Ring.

    <em>The 2,017-piece set launches on April 5th for $269.</em>
    <em>The Lego Shire includes Bilbo’s hobbit hole home and Gandalf’s horse and cart full of fireworks.</em>
    <em>Interactive play elements include a mechanism that makes Bilbo disappear.</em>
    <em>The set comes with nine Lego minifigures, including Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf.</em>
    <em>The Shire will be available to Lego Insiders a bit early, starting on April 2nd.</em>
    <em>When purchased from Lego stores or through Lego.com between April 2nd and April 8th, the Shire will include a free 181-piece minibuild set: <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/the-lord-of-the-rings-smeagol-deagol-40761?">The Lord of the Rings: Sméagol & Déagol</a>.</em>
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    The 2,017-piece set launches on April 5th for $269.
    Image: Lego
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    Jess Weatherbed
    SteelSeries introduces two new Apex Pro keyboards.

    The $199.99 Mini Gen 3 is sporting the same Hall effect OmniPoint 3.0 key switches as the larger model that was released in September, allowing gamers to adjust actuation points from 4mm down to just 0.1mm. The TKL (tenkeyless) version of the Apex Pro Gen 3 is also now available in white for $219.99.

    1/2Image: SteelSeries