The Commodore Callback 8020 is a nostalgic rejection of modern smartphones.

The blocking of browsers might be a tipping point for me, and I'm sure others. Their FAQ basically treats it like a too-tempting cheat to get on social media. It feels a bit like I'm being parented.

That said, for anyone who just wants a phone for calls/texts and maybe GPS & music, this is pretty perfect.

"This is it. We're dead. We're going to die right here in the Waymo."

This combined with another recent article from some insiders at Tesla saying, along the lines, "You couldn't pay me to let one of these things drive me somewhere."

And yet I still know people who are just so chuffed about "never having to drive again."

EDIT: Comments have pointed out that this story is, at best, overblown and semi-fabricated otherwise. Take it with a massive grain of salt. But feel free to discuss self-driving, waymo, etc in the comments!

Other open source software gets similar treatment, with Colorado going as far as explicitly excluding code repositories and container platforms.

The integration launches in June and will automatically sync progress with the reading platform.

https://www.engadget.com/2178088/kobo-ereaders-are-integrating-with-goodreads-alternative-storygraph/

A Google Gemini-powered AI agent was given free rein to run a coffee shop in Sweden, and is quickly burning through its budget.

Hello everyone!

I did it. I reached a point where I got everything exactly how I wanted and now... Now I am dissatisfied as I look over my home lab's chaotic mess of a setup. This was my first time selfhosting things, and I learned a ton of stuff. I'll probably want to tear it down and start anew in the near future, being much tidier and mindful of what goes where.

Does anyone have any tips they want to impart to someone who's not an entire newbie but still learning stuff? Kind of a "If I could tell myself this before I set everything up, I would say..."

A reporter for The Verge was thankfully unharmed after a white hat hacker seized control of a Yarbo lawnmower robot.

Original title, which I removed for being sensationalist:

Hacker Takes Over Robot Lawnmower, Runs Over Innocent Man

Noteworthy sections

Alarmingly, the Yarbo robots all had the same root password, Makris found.

Even changing the root password wouldn’t necessarily protect owners, either, because every time a Yarbo robot updates its firmware, it resets the root password back to the default, Makris found. And there’s a twist: it appears that this backdoor for remotely accessing the robots was intentionally created by Yarbo.

The project would be more than twice the size of Manhattan and could consume more electricity than the entire state currently uses.

Some quotes near the end that I want to point out.

For his part, O’Leary has claimed, without evidence, that much of the opposition to the project was “paid” and that the meeting was filled with “professional protestors.” “We think that over 90% of the protestors are actually not people that live in Utah or Box Elder County. They’re being bussed in,” O’Leary said in a video posted on X.
He also claimed backlash on social media surrounding the project was AI-generated.

I mean sure, might as well keep using that playbook it's not like it ever stopped working, but at this point I'm shocked these assholes don't just go "And there's nothing you peasants can do about it! Mwauahahaha"

All roads lead back to the iPhone.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman might have hinted at this user experience change. In an X post shared before Kuo’s report, Altman said that it “feels like a good time to seriously rethink how operating systems and user interfaces are designed” and “(also the internet; there should be a protocol that is equally usable by people and agents).”

“Only by fully controlling both the operating system and hardware can OpenAI deliver a comprehensive AI agent service,” writes Kuo.

That comment about updating the internet's protocol really feels like a buried lede.

Maine is not moving forward with a moratorium on AI data center construction until fall 2027.

Relevant clarification from the article:

While the bill passed both houses of the Maine's legislature on April 14, and Mills has suggested she'd support a temporary moratorium, the governor wanted a bill that would exempt an existing data center project in Jay, Maine.

Vampire Survivors developer Poncle is celebrating the game's continued success by opening up multiple studios, with plans to release more than 15 games. This follows this week's release of the spinoff Vampire Crawlers.

Ecco the Dolphin: Complete is a new game from some of the creators of the original Ecco the Dolphin, that includes remasters of the first two games and a new sequel.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said developers' productivity is going through the roof — while being overseen by a nagging, micromanaging AI boss.

Huang still desperately fighting for that hotly contested 'World's Most Punchable Face' title.

A new compilation video features some rare clips of delivery robots getting their metal chassis kicked in.

The compilation was posted to TikTok and has already been removed. Raise your hand if you're surprised at all!

A couple of servers were down on Thursday morning.

archive.is link

Legislators in Maine on Tuesday passed the nation’s first statewide ban on large data centers, part of a growing backlash to the energy-intensive facilities that fuel the rise of artificial intelligence.

The measure would block the creation of new data centers that draw more than 20 megawatts of power until the fall of 2027 and establish a mechanism to study their impact on the electrical grid.
Maine’s moratorium was approved in final votes Tuesday by both houses of the state legislature. The bill will now go to Gov. Janet Mills (D) for signature.

A spokesman for Mills did not immediately respond to a query about whether she plans to approve the legislation. Mills has said she wants an exception for a data center on the site of a defunct paper mill, but legislators earlier rejected such an amendment.

Chat, is this real?

Youtube crying and throwing up because it's missing out on that sweet, sweet microtransaction money I guess.

A mandatory verification requirement Microsoft introduced in October took them out.

The company has some secrets that are now public.

TL;DR: Someone or something (Claude) published a .map file in an NPM registry.

It's been uploaded to github: https://github.com/instructkr/claw-code (EDIT: That github seems to be doing something else now? Shrug)

I found this pretty funny:

Human error was probably part of it, but it’s worth noting that the humans working on Claude Code have also been relying on the coding agent quite a bit. Back in December, Anthropic’s head of Claude Code, Boris Cherny, posted that “In the last thirty days, 100% of my contributions to Claude Code were written by Claude Code.”

In China, there's a growing market for renting smart glasses to help you cheat on your tests.

Updated title for clarity. Although I am sure there are students from many countries doing this, the article focuses on China.