Wiretel

If I could only have one laptop for work and gaming, I’d get this one

I’ve loved the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 since it launched in 2020. I bought one for my wife after reading about how awesome it was on a little site called The Verge dot com. Since then, the G14 has gotten some facelifts, chip bumps, an occasional special edition, a full redesign, and a 16-inch sibling […]

Microsoft’s consumer marketing chief to leave next year

Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft, is leaving the company after 35 years. Mehdi announced his departure in an internal memo on Thursday, noting that he will leave Microsoft next year. He will remain focused on marketing for Windows, Copilot for consumers and the Microsoft 365 consumer business until […]

Law enforcement shuts down VPN service used by two dozen ransomware gangs

an illustration of an underground tunnel using mostly green, yellow and black

An international coalition of law enforcement agencies announced Thursday that they took down a popular virtual private network service used by cybercriminals and arrested its administrator.  The FBI said in an alert that First VPN was so popular that “at least” 25 ransomware gangs used the service to hide their malicious activity. Cybercriminals also relied […]

Google I/O showed how the path for AI-driven science is shifting

Just this week, Pushmeet Kohli, Google Cloud’s chief scientist, published a piece in a special AI and science issue of the journal Daedalus, writing: “We are moving toward AI that doesn’t just facilitate science but begins to do science.” With autonomous AI scientists on the horizon, it’s harder to justify massive efforts to develop super-specialized […]

Samsung’s memory chip employees negotiated $340,000 bonuses this year

Details have emerged about a tentative deal struck between Samsung and semiconductor employees who had threatened to strike. The deal reportedly makes some workers eligible for average annual bonuses of $340,000. The proposed 18-day strike had hinged on Samsung’s bonus cap for employees in the semiconductor division, and followed a substantial rise in the possible […]

How Elon Musk will increase his power through the SpaceX IPO

Elon Musk at the tenth Breakthrough Prize ceremony

Elon Musk has incredible sway over the companies he leads. And while he already calls himself “TechnoKing” at Tesla, he is a real ruler over SpaceX, wielding an unprecedented level of control over one of the most valuable companies in the world.  Musk’s monarchical grip on SpaceX was finally laid bare in the company’s IPO […]