Slack can now vibe-code interactive charts and reports inside chats
A new feature coming to Slack will allow you to build interactive reports, polls, dashboards, presentations, microsites, and other tools directly inside a chat. With Slackforce Surfaces, you can describe to Slackbot what you need, and it will use AI to gather information from relevant conversations and connected apps, like Google Drive or Salesforce, to create it.
Once Slackbot creates a Surface, you can share it with colleagues and pin it to channels, allowing other people to view it, interact with it, and leave comments. In one example shared by Slack, a user asks Slackbot for help creating an arcade-themed visualization of AI token usage …
Schools are catching on to Big Tech’s playbook
It's the hot new thing in tech, and it's where all the jobs are. Students who don't learn to use it fall behind. And to help them catch up in time, its creators are graciously providing the resources and curriculum for learning it, often pro bono.
That's the narrative AI companies are pitching schools on right now, but according to New York Times education technology reporter Natasha Singer, it's also how the tech industry has built its influence in classrooms for the past 15 years.
In a new book, Coding Kids, Singer details how tech companies took a central role in promoting computers and coding skills in education, promising computer sci …
Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is over half off at under $20
Looking to take full advantage of your 4K television, but your current streaming stick doesn’t have the right features? Through September 13th, you can grab an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K from Woot for just $16.09 when you use the coupon code FIRE30 at checkout. With support for Wi-Fi 6 and 2GB of memory, it’s fast enough for streaming movies or playing games with Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia GeForce Now. While this is the 2023 model, it’s functionally identical (and also has the same specs) to the current Fire TV Stick 4K Plus that costs considerably more. It received a name change in late 2025 to differentiate it from the more basic 4K Select model.
Like the other 4K Fire TV sticks, the 2023 model supports a huge variety of streaming services and apps, and the Alexa Plus voice assistant feature lets you quickly find a show or movie without having to scroll through each one. With support for Dolby Vision, HDR10 Plus, and Dolby Atmos, you won’t have to compromise on video or audio quality during your next movie night.
Other deals to consider
- Green Man Gaming has the Steam version of Resident Evil Requiem on sale for $41.64, with the full discount showing up once you add it to your cart. This iteration of the game tasks players with investigating a series of murders related to the 1998 Raccoon City incident, a core piece of lore for the series, and it alternates between perspectives. Read our review.
- You can grab a two-pack of Ring Alarm Contact Sensors at Amazon for $20, a $10 discount compared to what they usually cost (but half off their original price). These sensors easily install onto window or door frames with either adhesive or screws, and send signals to the Ring Alarm Base Station when opened or closed. They have a three year battery life, with replaceable batteries once they finally run out.
- The Lenovo Idea Tab Pro is on sale for $279.99 at Best Buy, $180 off its usual price. The 12.7-inch Android tablet features a 2944 x 1840 display, with a variable refresh rate up to 144Hz, great for scrolling the web, or even some light gaming. The deal also includes the Lenovo Tab Pen Plus, which has over 4,000 sensitivity levels for a natural feel while drawing or taking notes.
Electric air taxis get the green light for test flights in Texas
A new federal program to test the feasibility of electric, hybrid-electric, and autonomous aircraft kicks off today in Texas - before the rules governing this new technology have even been finalized.
Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration's Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) selected eight state-led projects to serve as some of the first public tests of these new aircraft. The first one kicks off today in Texas, featuring three eVTOL companies: Joby, Beta, and Wisk.
For the next week, these companies will conduct test flights demonstrating future routes …
Universal Music is launching an AI music platform with ElevenLabs
Universal Music Group is launching a new AI-powered platform that will allow users to draw from its catalog of licensed music to create song remixes, mashups, and new takes on tracks, according to an announcement on Thursday. The record label is developing the platform through a multiyear licensing agreement with ElevenLabs, a company that specializes in AI voice and music generation.
Artists can choose whether to participate in UMG and ElevenLabs' upcoming platform, which marks yet another AI deal for the record label. UMG is currently developing an AI music platform with Udio and has struck AI licensing deals with Spotify, Nvidia, and Kla …
Where to preorder the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4
The iPhone Duo was the unequivocal star of Apple's "Surprise and shine" event, but not for people who were mostly paying attention for news on wearables. Thankfully, Apple had a lot to share about its new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. There's no update to the SE model for 2026, which isn't necessarily a bad thing (the SE 3 rules). Also, no price changes either, which can't be said for the entire iPhone lineup.
While both new watches look similar to their predecessors, there are a number of updates under the hood that might intrigue some people enough to warrant a preorder. My colleague Victoria Song got hands-on with both smartwatches, …
Wolverine on the PS5 goes back to a simpler (and bloodier) style of action game
Marvel's Wolverine captures just how angry its lead character is. The latest PS5 exclusive from Spider-Man developer Insomniac, Wolverine is a straightforward action game that is at its best when you're (literally) slicing through enemies or thrust into a sequence pulled from a blockbuster movie, like climbing the fuselage of a plane as it careens toward land or racing a motorcycle across rain-slicked city streets. It's the kind of game that can really get your heart rate rising, and keeping Logan mad is a key part of the strategy. In many ways, it's a throwback to straightforward action titles of the past - and it's a refreshing change of p …
Meta’s Muse AI works and creeps me out
Meta has launched its new Muse assistant, marking the company's first real foray into AI-powered productivity tools. The company says its AI agent can "take the busywork off your plate" by helping you with online shopping, emails, trip-planning, and more. I decided to try out the new tool and see how well it performed - especially from a company that previously prioritized entertainment over productivity. Though the AI assistant generally worked as I expected it to, the unnerving amount of information it autonomously gleaned about me largely overshadowed my experience.
One of the first tasks I assigned Muse, which carries out actions using …
Another big James Talarico interview is punted to YouTube due to FCC threats
Jimmy Kimmel will be interviewing Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico "under unusual circumstances," posting the interview directly to YouTube, rather than airing it on TV during Jimmy Kimmel Live. In Wednesday night's episode, Kimmel said this was out of concern for retaliation from the Trump administration's FCC:
[Trump's] FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations based on simple, traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings, it would seem they don't like. And so, out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas who woul …
The iPhone Duo’s hardware doesn’t look special, but its software might be
With the iPhone Duo, Apple has pulled off a familiar trick. It arrives into a mature Android foldable market with a handful of hardware features we've mostly already seen elsewhere, but paired with a level of software polish that makes a lot of them feel new again. It's those software flourishes that have me excited to try the iPhone Duo when it launches next month, but I'm less convinced that its hardware will be anything special.
If Apple had gotten there first, the Duo's biggest surprise would have been its squat, wide, passport-inspired shape. But its slow-moving supply chain meant that Huawei, Samsung, and Xiaomi all managed to beat Ap …