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All roads lead to cable

This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on streaming platforms, FAST channels, and the future of entertainment, follow Charles Pulliam-Moore . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started Before Netflix fully committed to becoming a streaming service and leaving DVDs behind , the company experimented with the idea of giving its subscribers a physical box that could access high-resolution digital copies of movies. Films would have been downloaded to the box in the evening and become available to users the next day. But … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/rmOfuPQ
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The colorful, unique Hyte X50 PC case is $50 off

The Hyte X50 is a PC case that really stands out from the typical black box design, and it’s $50 off at the company’s site until September 21st, 2026, bringing the price down to $99.99. This attractive case supports motherboards from ITX all the way up to the E-ATX form factors, and GPUs that are up to 430mm long, which should cover even the biggest options available. The standout feature is a massive curved glass panel that spans the left face and top of the case, giving it a unique, eye-catching look. It’s easy to build in, supports a wide variety of components and cooling setups, and has a thoughtful, refined design. Hyte X50 Where to Buy: $149.99 $99.99 at Hyte Unlike a lot of cases with big glass panels, the X50 has excellent airflow, with louvered fins along the back for ventilation, a porous mesh front, and plenty of spots for radiators and fans. It comes in a variety of bold colors, too, like the lavender-adjacent “taro milk” and trendy “...

Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn’t kill everyone????

Today on Decoder , we’ve got the first of a two-part series on the future of business, and I’m talking with Jonathan Kanter, the former antitrust chief for the US Department of Justice in the Biden administration. These days, he’s both a professor of law at WashU and professor of technology policy at Carnegie Mellon. The biggest story in tech right now is the spiraling debate about AI safety and regulation . Researchers at the big AI labs including Anthropic and Google DeepMind have quit in noisy ways, saying the models pose real threats and safety isn’t being taken seriously across the industry. Other researchers have said the chance of AI killing us all is greater than 10 percent, and the CEOs of all these companies have issued various calls to slow down development and develop regulation, including asking for antitrust exemptions so they can all coordinate on safety issues. That is a lot of ideas, and I am especially curious about the antitru...

The AI regulation smackdown isn’t over

At the start of this week, the who's-who of AI seemed - at least tentatively - on the side of AI regulation. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had proposed a three-step plan for slowing AI development, including by embedding third-party evaluators in labs, coordinating across the domestic industry, and forging international agreements potentially with government assistance. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, and even SpaceX CEO Elon Musk publicly seemed to agree on aspects of all three things. Anthropic and OpenAI had already been dropping hints that they and other labs were working on some kind of … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/XtlHgw9

This cartridge-playing Game Boy clone is smaller and cheaper than Analogue’s Pocket

FunnyPlaying, a Chinese company known for its Game Boy and GBA upgrade kits, has announced a new handheld that plays original Nintendo cartridges and ROMs. The FPGB Mini's cartridge support is limited to the Game Boy and Game Boy Color so it isn't as capable as the Analogue Pocket that's also compatible with the GBA and Sega Game Gear. What still makes the FPGB Mini a tempting alternative is its extremely pocketable design resulting in a handheld only slightly wider than a Game Boy cartridge, and its cheaper price. Following recent price hikes the Analogue Pocket is now $239.99 while the FPGB Mini is currently discounted from $89.99 to $69. … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/CgUPqVm

Flash floods can strike without warning — this new technology could change that

On the morning of June 9th, Laura Lin was working from her home in Lanesville, a rural southern Indiana town about 15 miles from the Kentucky border. She was on a Zoom call, unaware that the heavy rain outside was beginning to flood her yard. "I look over to where the barn is over there, and I see pieces of my wood floating, and I was like, 'What?' And I immediately was like, 'I have to go.' Close my laptop, and I get my kids up, and I'm like, 'Something's wrong,'" Lin recalls. Lin and her family got out safely and sheltered at a neighbor's house, but Lanesville got over 8 inches of rain within just a few hours that day , way over the thre … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/tMAnGp0

Spotify’s Fresh Finds Forward gives artists free studio time and more

Getting added to Spotify's Fresh Finds playlists can be a huge break for artists trying to cut through the noise on streaming. Now Spotify is launching a program called Fresh Finds Forward , which aims to give artists the tools to capitalize on that exposure. Artists added to any Fresh Finds playlist after January 1st, 2026, can join the program and get 12 months of additional resources, the most extravagant of which is free studio time for US-based artists at Electric Lady Studios in NYC, The Lighthouse at Ocean Way Nashville, or Spotify Studios in LA. Beyond that, artists will get early access to Spotify tools and features, priority access … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/VcUsrWK