Sean Hollister

Google has spent the past year dealing with two of the biggest threats in its 25-year history: the rise of generative AI and the growing drumbeat of regulation. AI, in particular, has shaken the company to its core: it’s made big search changes, realigned the Search, Android, and hardware teams around AI, and launched its own Gemini AI model to capitalize on the opportunity. Google execs cut projects and laid off employees to refocus, and yesterday, it announced its first-ever dividend and a $…

Don’t know how I missed this the other week: Nvidia’s quietly pointing its board partners towards small GPUs again! I sincerely hope this means blower cards are back on the menu to exhaust hot air from my case. Nvidia cracked down on those years back, allegedly to avoid cannibalizing workstation GPU sales. It’s one way GPUs might head back in the right direction. [Attachment: https://wccftech.com/nvidia-partners-create-new-sff-gaming-pc-ecosystem-powered-sff-enthusiast-geforce-gpus/]

The Sony Afeela prototype is part of GT7’s free update. “Before the real vehicle is released, we would like as many people as possible to ride it in-game. Please enjoy it,” writes Sony Honda Mobility. You also get a Škoda Vision Gran Turismo concept “created exclusively for the game,” and a ’70 Chevrolet Chevelle SS454 Sport Coupe. [Attachment: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/M83KBRMSQkui1YAF02vd9aWjGYU=/0x0:2360x1573/2360x1573/filters:focal(1180x787:1181x788)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_a…

Three years later, Hasbro’s self-transforming, dancing, driving, talking, and attacking Optimus Prime finally has a villain to fight. Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, is about to arrive. For $1,200 — $899 through May 25th — its robot partner Robosen has created what could be the best auto-converting Transformer yet. Just to make sure you’re getting it: this bot automatically transforms itself into a badass remote-control tank with a gigantic auto-extending cannon that can actually fire…

Eight years ago, Valve began offering no-questions-asked refunds for any game you buy on Steam — as long as you asked for that refund within 14 days of purchase and hadn’t played more than two hours of a game. But when Valve started letting you play games ahead of their release dates with its “Early Access” and “Advanced Access” programs, it introduced a loophole: people could play for many, many hours ahead of launch and still request a refund after. Today, Valve’s closing the loophole: You…

Today, Framework is the modular repairable laptop company. Tomorrow, it wants to be a consumer electronics company, period. That’s one of the biggest reasons it just raised another $18 million in funding — it wants to expand beyond the laptop into “additional product categories.” Framework CEO Nirav Patel tells me that has always been the plan and that the company originally had other viable ideas beyond laptops, too. “We chose to take on the notebook space first,” he says, partly because Frame…

Alex told us they were coming, but it looks like Meta is flipping the switch as we speak — adding Meta AI searches alongside traditional ones in each app’s default search box. Oh, and some Ask Meta AI mini-prompts, too. If Meta AI has an answer to something you type, it’ll show a blue-violet circle next to that search result. [Attachment: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TeAR51ywcAfb-Z_RhDiEruzeUJY=/0x0:1440x1011/1440x1011/filters:focal(720x506:721x507)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/…

The Meta Quest 2 has been on sale for nearly a month, and today, Meta’s making that price permanent — $199 is the new sticker price for the virtual reality headset, the company announced today. That’s half what it originally cost in 2020, and Meta is permanently cutting the price of Quest 2 accessories like the Elite Strap with Battery (which I highly recommend) in half as well. The Quest 2 is currently being supplanted by the $500 Quest 3, of course, but it’s still an incredible entry point to…

This morning alone, they wrote about a new Game Boy cartridge with built-in rumble, how people can basically build their own GBAs now, and a true portable PlayStation (unlike that other cool thing I showed ya). The site’s from brains behind Nintendo Life, Push Square, and Pure Xbox, and it’s clearly flown under my radar too long. [Attachment: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eGPlTtKsq7lFlSUW88a9OhLKUeE=/0x0:1280x800/1280x800/filters:focal(640x400:641x401)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/fil…

Do you think a judge will make Google allow an Android version of the Epic Games Store to live inside its own Google Play Store, let the Epic Games Store have access to every app inside Google Play, and let Android users begin sideloading apps with a single tap? Because Epic’s asking for those and a whole lot more in the aftermath of Epic v. Google. On December 11th, Epic won a surprise victory against Google in federal court. A jury unanimously decided that Google had turned its Google Play ap…