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PlayStation exclusives aren’t coming to PC anymore

Sony reportedly won't release its major single-player PlayStation games on PC anymore. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Hermen Hulst, who heads up PlayStation's studios business, informed employees in a town hall on Monday about the change in strategy. Schreier had previously reported on the shift in March, saying that Sony scrapped plans to launch PC versions of last year's Ghost of Yōtei and "other internally developed games." Online games will still come to multiple platforms following this change in strategy, Schreier reported at the time.

In recent years, Sony has released many of its biggest games on PC, including Spider-Man 2 …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Musk v. Altman proved that AI is led by the wrong people

The tech trial of the year, Musk v. Altman, was ultimately a fight for control. Elon Musk argued that Sam Altman, with whom he helped found the now-massive company OpenAI, shouldn't direct the future of AI. Altman's lawyers, in turn, poked at Musk's own credibility. A jury came to a verdict on Monday after just two hours of deliberation, dismissing Musk's claims due to the statute of limitations.

In a strictly legal sense, three weeks of testimony added up to nothing. But the trial offered a more damning broader takeaway: Almost nobody in this saga seems worth trusting. Some of the most powerful people in tech seem temperamentally incapable …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Walmart launches new budget-friendly Android tablets starting at $97

Walmart's Onn brand just launched a whole line of budget-friendly Android tablets that, all together, cost less in total than a single iPad Pro. As spotted by 9to5Google, the six new tablets ship with Android 16 and all but one cost less than $200.

The little Onn Core 7 is the most affordable of the bunch at just $97, which gets you a 7-inch 1040 x 600 IPS LCD display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage that's expandable with a microSD card, and, according to Walmart, up to 10 hours of battery life.

A step above that are two larger Core tablets. The Core 8.1 costs $138 and includes an 8.1-inch 1524 x 1000 IPS LCD display, 6GB of …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Dyson’s super-slim PencilWash just hit its best price to date for Memorial Day

If Dyson’s PencilVac Fluffycones made you wish the company had built something similarly slim for scrubbing the hard floors in your home, enter the recently released Dyson PencilWash. The cordless cleaner is designed to tackle spills and stains on tile and other surfaces, and right now, it’s available for a new low price of $249.99 ($100 off) from Amazon, Target, and Dyson in the run-up to Memorial Day.

Dyson PencilWash

Where to Buy:

• $349.99 $249.99 at Amazon
• $349.99 $249.99 at Target
• $349.99 $249.99 at Dyson

With its 1.5-inch-diameter handle and a design that lets it lie nearly flat, the PencilWash can easily slide under furniture and other tricky areas that bigger floor cleaners can’t reach. Built for hard surfaces like tile, laminate, and sealed wood, it uses a pressurized hydration system and a microfiber wet roller to scrub away spills while extracting dirty water with each pass, so you’re always cleaning with fresh water. There’s also a Max mode for addressing dried-on messes that are particularly tough to clean, along with a flexible neck that makes it easier to steer around obstacles.

The PencilWash is designed to be low-maintenance, too. Debris and wastewater are collected directly in the head rather than traveling up through the machine, preventing them from becoming trapped in a filter. It shouldn’t leave your floors soaking wet, either, and it comes with a sleek charging dock that lets it eke out 30 minutes per charge (you can also purchase a backup battery for $99.99). The 300ml clean water tank should be enough to cover over 1,000 square feet on the lowest hydration setting as well, after which it will need a refill.

All of the updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s battle over OpenAI

Sam Altman and Elon Musk are facing off in a high-stakes trial that could alter the future of OpenAI and its most well-known product, ChatGPT. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing AI to benefit humanity and shifting focus to boosting profits instead.

After nearly a month of the hearing that featured testimony from Musk, Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman, former OpenAI board member and mother of several of Musk’s children Shivon Zilis, and a few others, the jury deliberated for a couple of hours before returning with a verdict, deciding to dismiss all charges due to the statute of limitations.

Musk was a cofounder of OpenAI and claims that Altman and Brockman tricked him into giving the company money, only to turn their backs on their original goal. However, OpenAI claimed that “This lawsuit has always been a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor” in a bid to boost Musk’s own SpaceX / xAI / X companies that have launched Grok as a competitor to ChatGPT.

In his lawsuit, Musk asked for the removal of Altman and Brockman, and for OpenAI to stop operating as a public benefit corporation.

People to Know

Plaintiff

Elon Musk — plaintiff, OpenAI cofounder and now CEO of rival xAI

Steven Molo — lead counsel for the plaintiff

Jared Birchall — manager of Musk’s family office

Shivon Zilis — former OpenAI board member who shares multiple children with Musk

Defendant

Sam Altman — defendant, CEO of OpenAI 

William Savitt — lead counsel for the defendant

Greg Brockman — president of OpenAI as well as a cofounder 

Ilya Sutskever — former chief scientist at OpenAI and a cofounder

Judge

Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers — aka YGR, trial judge

Here’s all the latest on the trial between Musk and Altman:

• The jury has delivered a unanimous verdict.
• An observer has just been ejected from the court by the US marshals.
• C. Paul Wazzan is the expert called by Musk to determine damages.
• Musk v. Altman proved that AI is led by the wrong people
• Closing time
• “I told you in my opening statement you wouldn’t hear very much from Microsoft, and you haven’t.”
• “I feel like I’m going to miss you all,” Savitt tells the jury.
• Savitt calls out the fact that Musk is abroad with President Trump today.
• Savitt says Musk has “selective amnesia.”
• Behold, the Elon Musk jackass trophy
• Savitt is talking about the statute of limitations.
• Here’s the jackass trophy that the jury didn’t get to see.
• We are back from our break. William Savitt is taking it home for the OpenAI defense.
• Tesla AI is evidence of Musk’s failure, Eddy says.
• “The documents tell the truth here,” Eddy says.
• Eddy suggests that Musk’s donated Teslas were, effectively, bribes.
• Eddy is, wisely, leaning hard on chronology in explaining their defense.
• Sarah Eddy is giving the closing argument for OpenAI.
• Molo is done presenting Musk’s closing argument.
• For all of the very irritating testimony about “the blip,” Molo hasn’t convincingly connected it to his case.
• Molo is now attempting to make a case against Microsoft.
• During our break, the jurors were out of the room, and the lawyers were beefing again.
• We are back on the millions and billions of OpenAI equity that employees have interest in.
• This is kind of choppy.
• Molo is now suggesting that the “crown jewels” of OpenAI are its IP.
• Musk’s early money meant “a great, great deal,” Molo says. Inarguable!
• Molo calls Shivon Zilis, mother of Musk’s children, “the most even-keeled, even-tempered witness at the trial.”
• Ah we are back at the museum store funding the museum.
• Perhaps Mr. Molo is unfamiliar with xAI.
• Fair enough, Mr. Molo.
• I see why Molo is leaning on the spoken testimony.
• Molo is now calling out Altman’s testimony.
• Molo is suggesting that Greg Brockman’s conduct makes him untrustworthy.
• Molo has begun his closing statement for Elon Musk, who is in China.
• YGR is now reading aloud the instructions to the jury.
• The monitor has left the courtroom.
• We are now having a fight about a new, large monitor that has appeared on the Musk table.
• “They didn’t give us page numbers, your honor.”
• Musk left the country with President Trump despite a judge’s orders.
• Microsoft and OpenAI rest.
• In the most boring expert testimony yet, Louis Dudney, a forensic accountant, testified about how those funds were spent.
• The shade we are getting in here is incredible.
• The cross is focusing on Coates’ pay.
• John Coates, OpenAI’s expert witness, is running a demolition derby on Musk’s expert witness.
• Museum gift shop metaphor found dead in a ditch.
• We’re listening to an expert witness, David Hemel, a law professor at NYU.
• During Elon Musk’s all-hands Q&A before departing OpenAI, Achiam said he felt Musk wanted to “race towards AGI.”
• Achiam is running circles around this lawyer on cross, without doing the annoying things other witnesses have done.
• Okay, it’s time for the cross of Achiam.
• “I think he was just upset that he had been challenged,” Achiam said. “This was not friendly.”
• During the all-hands, Musk expressed concerns about what would happen if DeepMind got to AGI first,
• “It was a bit like seeing Bigfoot through Plexiglass,” Achiam says of seeing Elon Musk in the office.
• Ilya Sutskever would get up on tables to give speeches in the early days of OpenAI.
• Achiam talked about the roles of Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever in OpenAI’s early days.
• Josh Achiam described what it was like to work at OpenAI in 2017.
• Achiam started at OpenAI as an intern in the summer of 2017, and became a full-time employee in December.
• Hi my name is Josh Achiam and welcome to “will we see the jackass trophy?”
• Fairly stupid choice by Musk’s lawyers to go after Microsoft’s major decision rights.
• Musk cross. I guess we are now going to have a fight about due diligence.
• “Our due diligence found no conditions related to Elon Musk,” Wetter says.
• Mike Wetter for Microsoft is taking the stand now.
• Scott, who is wearing sneakers and a black crew neck under his blazer, seems quite pleasant on cross.
• We are now getting cross-examination from Musk’s lawyer.
• Microsoft’s CTO Kevin Scott is on the stand.
• Microsoft doesn’t want any of this
• In his testimony, Musk said he never called anyone a jackass.
• Incredible evidence dispute this morning.
• Sam Altman was winning on the stand, but it might not be enough
• About 200 people work on safety at OpenAI.
• The chair of OpenAI’s safety and security committee said they’ve formally delayed its model releases.
• Irritatingly, no one has asked him why he’s called “Zico.”
• Microsoft establishes that OpenAI has other investors…
• We see the Musk “bait and switch” texts again.
• What if we had a drinking game for this trial?
• Musk says, “This is a bait and switch” in a October 2022 text chain.
• Molo is not doing especially impressive lawyering here.
• Molo asked Altman if he’d ever fire himself as CEO of the OpenAI for-profit.
• “The blip” again.
• Well, I do love a long inquiry into the linear nature of time.
• The difference between Musk and Altman on cross is really stark.
• Ronan Farrow’s article is brought up.
• This cross is spicy!
• Mr. Molo is going directly in at Altman: “Do you always tell the truth?”
• “If I knew how difficult and painful this was going to be, I never would have tried,” Altman said.
• We are now talking about Altman’s investments.
• “I had poured the last years of my life, and I was watching it be destroyed,” Altman said.
• “I was in this like fog of war, I didn’t know what was going on,” Altman says of what happened next.
• We are now onto “the Blip.”
• Sam Altman says Elon Musk’s mind games were damaging OpenAI
• OpenAI has raised “approximately $175 billion” in investment, Altman says.
• Altman seems to be getting into his testimony…
• Musk didn’t invest in the OpenAI for-profit because “he was no longer going to invest in any startups he did not control.”
• It looks like Sam Altman discussed the for-profit OpenAI with Elon Musk in detail.
• “Unlike a lot of other meetings with Mr. Musk, this was a good vibes meeting.”
• Now into Shivon Zilis. Altman says he retained her on the board to try to keep friendly relations with Musk.
• “I was annoyed” when Elon Musk tried to recruit talent from OpenAI, Altman said.
• Musk resigned because he had lost confidence in OpenAI “and did not believe we were going to be successful.”
• Musk suspended his quarterly donations in 2017. That left OpenAI in “a very tough position.”
• When it was time to get more capital, Musk was pushing OpenAI to be acquired by Tesla.
• A particularly “hair-raising moment” for Altman was a succession plan from Musk.
• Elon Musk has control issues, Altman says.
• Sam Altman takes the stand in trial against Elon Musk
• OpenAI has called Sam Altman as a witness.
• Taylor says the reason OpenAI Foundation has been able to do more work is the recapitalization.
• Bret Taylor is back on the stand.
• We’ve talked about how this case isn’t just for whatever happens in the court…
• Bret Taylor has been asked to slow down twice.
• “OpenAI is decidedly not profitable,” Taylor said.
• There’s “a lot of tension” between LLMs and what Taylor calls “content companies”…
• Plantiff rests. OpenAI calls its first witness, Bret Taylor of OpenAI Foundation.
• Ilya Sutskever says he was uncomfortable with Musk’s large ownership demand.
• Sutskever’s testimony is kind of a snooze so far.
• Satya Nadella is excused.
• A lot of people contact Satya Nadella about their boards, apparently!
• Microsoft’s lawyer is now back with Nadella.
• We are discovering that Satya Nadella knows very little about the OpenAI nonprofit.
• I can’t speak for the jury but I am very, very sick of hearing about “the blip.”
• “Not consistently candid” press release about Sam Altman’s firing is what Molo is citing as why Nadella should have known why Altman was fired.
• We are arguing now about risk and return.
• “I don’t want to be IBM and OpenAI to be Microsoft.”
• We are on cross, with Steven Molo for Musk.
• Satya Nadella seemed to forget he currently served on the board of a nonprofit.
• What is Copilot?
• During Altman’s ouster, Satya Nadella tried to reassure investors everything would not “crumble.”
• “Below them, above them, around them.”
• “We have each other’s phone numbers,” Nadella says of Musk.
• Nadella tells us that before the OpenAI partnership, Google was its biggest AI competitor.
• Satya Nadella is taking the stand, in a navy suit and a light blue tie with a white shirt.
• Jury is here. We are now finishing a video deposition from Friday about the OAI deal with MSFT.
• 👑
• We are having an arugment about evidence.
• Musk v. Altman week two recap.
• Microsoft was worried OpenAI would run off to Amazon and ‘shit-talk’ Azure
• Mira Murati’s deposition pulled back the curtain on Sam Altman’s ouster
• Oh this tack is more effective. Then OpenAI lawyer is going after Columbia…
• This cross of Schizer is pretty weak.
• Basically everything Schizer is saying is couched as a hypothetical…
• We are now hearing from David Schizer, one of Musk’s expert witnesses.
• We are still listening to McCauley.
• Tasha McCauley is testifying now in a video deposition.
• “Do you have any idea how you ended up in this courtroom?”
• I am having a hard time taking Rosie Campbell seriously.
• We are now hearing from Rosie Campbell, a former OpenAI employee.
• OpenAI’s board discussed merging with Anthropic during “the Blip.”
• Helen Toner is now talking about the board’s decision-making process.
• YGR is back on the bench.
• Musk’s biggest loyalist became his biggest liability
• We are going through the removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI in detail.
• Toner is relating how Sam Altman’s firing happened.
• Toner says she found out about ChatGPT by seeing screenshots on Twitter.
• Making AI models is “more like alchemy than chemistry,” Toner says.
• We are now looking at Helen Toner’s deposition.
• Microsoft would like to be excluded from this narrative.
• “It’s not in my neurons,” Zilis says, instead of “I don’t remember.”
• Sarah Eddy, an attorney representing OpenAI, got sarcastic with Zilis.
• Shivon Zilis brainstormed possible scenarios for AI.
• Musk offered Sam Altman a board seat at Tesla…
• Shivon’s emails aren’t great for Musk.
• The big sticking point for Brockman and Sutskever was control.
• Sam Altman loves exclamation marks.
• Mira Murati tells the court that she couldn’t trust Sam Altman’s words
• Zilis’ past emails mentioned in court proceedings include her referencing a potential “conversion to for-profit” for OpenAI.
• This is getting interesting.
• Zilis sent Altman a text message of support after his 2023 ouster.
• Zilis said another concern she had about Altman related to OpenAI’s potential deal with Helion.
• Also in the spirit of clarifications this morning…
• Zilis said she had major concerns about OpenAI’s board not being notified in advance of ChatGPT’s release.
• Zilis said that the fallout from Altman’s 2023 ouster changed her view of OpenAI’s Microsoft deal.
• When asked how much Musk works per week, Zilis laughed.
• Musk’s team has called Shivon Zilis.
• Murati says problems with Altman persisted after he returned to the company.
• “OpenAI was at catastrophic risk of falling apart” when Altman was fired, Murati says.
• We are seeing video testimony from Mira Murati’s deposition.
• We are clearing up “a few inaccuracies from yesterday.”
• We are taking care of some matters before the jury comes in.
• Microsoft and OpenAI’s definition of AGI was just revealed.
• The jurors look as bored as I feel.
• Brockman steps down. We are looking at the video deposition of Robert Wu.
• Brockman is telling the truth about considering removing Musk from the board.
• Every time Molo makes a summary of Brockman’s testimony, Brockman objects to it.
• We are now fighting about “Either go do something on your own or continue with OpenAI as a non-profit.”
• One other thing I don’t understand…
• Molo is trying to reiterate what he did more effectively yesterday.
• “You had no problems answering your lawyers’ questions,” Molo is practically yelling.
• Molo asks Brockman if Musk was “being mean” to him.
• We are back to quibbling.
• We are now discussing the OpenAI Foundation layoffs.
• Microsoft is done, bless them.
• Microsoft is now getting to talk to Brockman.
• The blip.
• We are now discussing Shivon Zilis.
• We are now going through the assorted releases of GPT models.
• When Musk resigned, he gave a speech to OpenAI’s employees that might have been demoralizing…
• One observation from Brockman and Sutskever’s emails.
• We are now recontextualizing more entries from Brockman.
• There were discussions between Brockman, Altman, and Sutskever about removing Musk from the board.
• We are back from a break.
• “I thought he was going to hit me,” Brockman says of Musk.
• Elon Musk doesn’t love anything he can’t control.
• Sam Altman discussed an equal equity split…
• We are now discussing Brockman’s journal.
• Brockman talks Dota 2.
• Elon Musk tried to get Bill Gates to donate to OpenAI.
• First sidebar of the trial.
• OpenAI had layoffs at Musk’s insistence.
• Greg Brockman tells the court that while at OpenAI, he and three others worked at Tesla.
• YGR is on the bench.
• Google’s AI architect lived rent-free in Elon Musk’s head
• OpenAI’s president does ‘all the things,’ except answer a question
• Jury is sent out for the day.
• We are hearing about the early days of OpenAI.
• Early worries about Musk came from Ilya Sutskever.
• Brockman is describing his bromance with Altman.
• “I do all the things.”
• Brockman says we are 80 percent of the way to AGI.
• Open AI’s direct examination of Brockman is pretty sedate so far… aside from Tesla.
• OpenAI’s lawyers are now getting their shot at Brockman.
• For real, I think nerds should not testify in court.
• We are now looking at Brockman’s other financial dealings.
• We finished with the Microsoft investment pretty quickly.
• Altman didn’t return after we took our break.
• We are presently having a fight about purple boxes.
• We have been doing the same question for perhaps the last five minutes.
• “Financially what will take me to $1B?”
• “His story will correctly be that we weren’t honest with him in the end about still wanting to do the for profit just without him.”
• Greg Brockman’s journal: “it’d be wrong to steal the non-profit from him.”
• Brockman is not doing himself any favors.
• Brockman’s cross-examination isn’t as testy as Musk’s, but he’s also pushing back on a lot of questions.
• Is sending stuff to Sam Teller and Shivon Zilis the same as sending it to Musk?
• Brockman and Altman’s alliance?
• “Is Demis Hassabis evil?”
• Greg Brockman is talking about the earliest days of OpenAI.
• Greg Brockman and Sam Altman have just entered the courtroom.
• We’re done with Russell.
• “The age of abundance for Elon.”
• Oh now we have some meat.
• Elon Musk’s expert doesn’t follow him on X.
• I am befuddled by this expert testimony.
• We are dealing with the cross now.
• Sure is lucky that mentions of Grok’s safety issues got limited.
• Individual vs. systemic risk.
• We now have a very boring expert witness testifying to AI risks.
• Stuart Russell is here to tell us about AI.
• “I need that today. That’s good. I like that.”
• Greg Brockman won’t be asked about Musk’s threat.
• Elon Musk tried to settle before the trial — and got threatening.
• Musk v. Altman is getting a live audio stream next week.
• OpenAI Tesla receipts and other Musk v. Altman documents.
• All the evidence revealed so far in Musk v. Altman
• Here’s how Gabe Newell and Hideo Kojima ended up in the Musk v. Altman evidence.
• The craziest part of Musk v. Altman happened while the jury was out of the room
• Jury is being dismissed early so YGR can deal with an objection to Birchall’s testimony.
• Birchall is actually very funny outside of court? Good for him.
• We are now hearing about the pause in quarterly donations.
• We’re back.
• Second break of the day.
• Birchall cross.
• Elon Musk confirms xAI used OpenAI’s models to train Grok
• Birchall has just been asked about the four Teslas.
• Birchall testifies about Musk’s contributions to OpenAI.
• A woman in the gallery has lowered a sleep mask over her eyes and is attempting to sleep.
• Musk steps down. He may be recalled.
• We are on re-cross. Musk is getting testy again.
• The Microsoft investment comes back up.
• And we’re back.
• We’re in break — and I just checked out something interesting.
• Elon Musk’s robot army definitely will not kill you.
• Musk insists he wasn’t kneecapping OpenAI.
• Musk seems notably more subdued today.
• “At least change the name,” Musk says he told Altman.
• Elon Musk v. Capitalism.
• An “ongoing conversation” around open source.
• We’re still talking about whether Musk read the term sheet.
• The jurors have been seated.
• Musk has just entered the courtroom.
• “Issues of extinction are excluded.”
• Good morning!
• Elon Musk’s worst enemy in court is Elon Musk
• Freedom!
• Unfortunately we will not be talking about safety details of any specific product.
• The jury is leaving for the day. “I suspect it’s a nice day out there,” YGR says.
• MechaHitler might be a bad look for the AI safety defender.
• Musk’s broader AI safety commitment (or lack thereof) comes up.
• This is so testy.
• Did Musk even read the OpenAI term sheet?
• Musk asked Shivon Zilis to stay “close and friendly” with OpenAI to keep info flowing.
• Musk says xAI probably won’t be the first to get to AGI.
• We’re back from a break, talking about SpaceX and xAI.
• Don’t worry about Tesla’s robot army!
• “You mostly do unfair questions.”
• “It’s a free country.”
• “Will you answer my question?”
• Musk’s desire for control comes up again.
• “This is a hypothetical.”
• Did Musk initially envision OpenAI as a corporation?
• Musk is being combative on cross already.
• “I did say that I would commit up to a billion dollars, yes.”
• Is Tesla really not working on AGI?
• Musk is returning to the stand.
• At times, being a judge is much like being a kindergarten teacher.
• We’re on a break.
• “I mean, all due respect to Microsoft, do you really want Microsoft controlling digital superintelligence?”
• “What’s going on here this is a bait and switch.”
• A Musk-Altman spat about Microsoft.
• Musk really cannot help himself.
• “Capped profit” wasn’t an issue, even when Microsoft got involved.
• “Tesla is not pursuing AGI.”
• Musk is more on his game today.
• “After I received these reassurances that OpenAI would continue to be a nonprofit I continued to donate over $10 million.”
• “I actually was a fool who provided free funding for them to create a startup.”
• More discussion of who would own OpenAI.
• “I don’t lose my temper,” says Elon Musk.
• “2017 was a hard year, and we’ve made mistakes.”
• “I formed many for-profit tech companies, and could have done so with OAI,”
• “Crystal clear focus.”
• Sam Altman has just entered the room, right ahead of the jury.
• A member of the public just got dressed down by YGR about taking photos.
• Musk v. Altman et al. is back in session.
• In naming OpenAI, Elon Musk worried anything related to the Turing Test could mean bad PR.
• Elon Musk appeared more petty than prepared
• That’s a wrap!
• YGR scolds OpenAI for taking inconsistent positions on the origin of its name.
• Elon Musk tells the jury that all he wants to do is save humanity
• Arguments over ownership.
• Apparently OpenAI could have had an ICO.
• “I was not averse to a small for-profit,” Musk says.
• We’re reading emails between Musk and Jensen Huang.
• Musk says nonprofit was non-negotiable for OpenAI.
• We’re at the founding of OpenAI.
• Musk says he would have created something like OpenAI on his own.
• Musk recalls meeting Sam Altman.
• Sam Altman left during a break, but Elon Musk’s lawyer didn’t notice.
• “Here we are in 2026 and AI is scary smart.”
• “I have extreme concerns about AI,” says Musk.
• AI will be as smart as “any human as soon as next year.”
• Musk claims he has time for SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and the Boring Company because he works a lot.
• Musk is telling the jury he (co)founded Tesla.
• Neuralink’s long-term goal is… AI?
• “There need to be things that people are excited about that make life worth living … Being out there among the stars can excite everyone.”
• A little Musk biography.
• Elon Musk, looking funereal in a black suit with a black tie, says “it’s not okay to steal a charity.”
• Elon Musk takes the stand in high-profile trial against OpenAI
• We are back from a break.
• Elon Musk will be the first witness in Musk v. Altman.
• “Microsoft unlocked with OpenAI a virtuous cycle.”
• Microsoft enters the chat.
• “We are here because Mr. Musk didn’t get his way at OpenAI.”
• “[Musk] demanded control, he demanded the ability to make all the decisions without regard to the other founders.”
• OpenAI lawyers argue that Elon was right in the middle of discussions about a for-profit pivot.
• “Musk was furious that OpenAI succeeded.”
• OpenAI: Musk’s lawsuit is a “pageant of hypocrisy.”
• Sam Altman’s “related party conflicted transactions” are how he made money on OpenAI, Molo says.
• Technical difficulties.
• OpenAI is like a museum store that has looted the Picassos and pocketed the profits.
• AGI might be out of fashion in the AI world, but it will be at the center of this trial.
• “The defendants in this case stole a charity.”
• Musk and Altman go to court
• Good morning from the Musk v. Altman line outside the courtroom.
• Jury selection in Musk v. Altman: ‘People don’t like him’
• We have a jury.
• Elon Musk’s lawyer tried to get some jurors thrown out for disliking Musk.
• Apparently things are exciting outside.
• We have gone through the first 20 potential jurors.
• Voir dire has begun.
• The Elon Musk vs. OpenAI trial starts today.
• Elon Musk drops fraud claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman before trial.
• Musk vs. Altman is here, and it’s going to get messy
• Elon Musk is about to be a very busy boy!
• ‘Sideshow’ concerns and billionaire dreams: What I learned from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI
• Elon Musk’s xAI is suing OpenAI and Apple
• Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI
• Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and Sam Altman again

Elon Musk loses his case against Sam Altman

After around two hours of deliberation, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict in Musk v. Altman, the tech trial of the year. The group found that two claims were barred by the statute of limitations, and a third failed thanks to the dismissal of one of these.

The jury here is an advisory jury, meaning the group is installed solely to offer another opinion to the judge, and its verdict is technically not legally binding. Ultimately, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is the ultimate legal authority - and she accepted the decision.

The jury found that Musk's claim for breach of charitable trust was barred by the statute of limitatio …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google is rolling out its redesigned Workspace app icons

It's not just you - the Google Workspace apps are getting a new look. The redesigned app icons, leaked last month, are now rolling out widely, as we started noticing this morning. Users with the redesigned icons will notice they now have a gradient look that fades from lighter to darker shades, rather than being the same flat tone throughout, similar to the redesigned Google logo that launched a year ago.

Some of the icons switched from a rainbow design to a single color, like Google Chat, Meet, and Calendar, which could help all of the icons stand out a bit more from one another - or make them harder to recognize. Others haven't changed a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Sony is raising short-subscription prices for PlayStation Plus

Sony is hiking the starting price of one-month and three-month PlayStation Plus subscriptions in "select regions," blaming "ongoing market conditions." Beginning May 20th, 1-month subscriptions will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP, while 3-month subscriptions will start at $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP.

In the US, the changes result in a $1 price increase for a one-month Essential tier subscription and a $3 increase for a three-month Essential tier subscription. It's unclear if other PlayStation Plus tiers will see price hikes as well. PlayStation didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.

If you are a current su …

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Amazon Alexa Plus can now create AI-generated podcasts

Alexa Plus, Amazon's upgraded AI assistant, can now generate podcasts on "virtually any topic," according to an announcement on Monday. With the update, Amazon says you can give Alexa Plus a topic, and the AI assistant will offer an overview of what its AI hosts plan to talk about, allowing you to steer the conversation and adjust its length before it starts generating the episode.

Some "Alexa Podcast" examples shared by Amazon have two AI-generated hosts talking about the history of the Roman Empire, new music, and expectations for the World Cup. Amazon says you can also ask Alexa Plus to generate audio lessons about the Apollo missions, o …

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Philips Hue smart lights and a whole lot more are over 20 percent off

Woot is having a day-long sale on a range of tech, including a mix of new and open-box Philips Hue smart lighting. The retailer’s already-discounted prices are even cheaper today when you enter the code SAVETWENTY at checkout through midnight Central Time. The products included in the sale serve as a great introduction to setting up smart lights, or diving a little deeper.

For starters, there’s the Philips Hue Bridge Gen 2 that’s $25.60 with the code (versus $65.99 new at most), which is a required gadget for operating some Philips Hue products. For instance, you’ll need it to setup the Play HDMI Sync Box 8K ($212 with code, originally $384.99) that can sync other Hue lights to what’s showing on your TV screen. While some Hue devices fall back on Bluetooth, you’ll eventually need a Bridge if you plan to setup more than 10 lights or if you want to control lights remotely.

Philips Hue Solo Lightstrip (10-foot)

Where to Buy:

• $69.99 $40 at Woot (with code SAVETWENTY)

Other great Verge-approved deals

• Another notable product eligible for a 20 percent discount through midnight Central Time at Woot is the first-gen Amazon Kindle Scribe. The retailer has refurbished models of the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models starting at $159, and going up to $176, and $199, respectively. You can get the deal by entering the code KINDLE20 at checkout. The differences between the late 2024 model that’s on sale here and the one that arrived late last year starting at $499 may be a big deal depending on who you ask. The older model has a thicker bezel on its left side, and its 10.2-inch screen is smaller than the 11-inch display in the newer one. The discounted model at Woot includes a Premium Pen stylus for handwriting and drawing.
• GameStop has new copies of the Super Mario RPG remake for Nintendo Switch selling for just $15. The sale price extends to another first-party Nintendo Switch RPG, Mario & Luigi: Brothership. Both titles have never been more affordable, and these prices aren’t available at other retailers. There are other games available at $15 each that you might be interested in, from the likes of Diablo 4 and Monster Hunter Wilds to Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster.
• If you can’t decide whether you want a USB-C power bank or wall adapter, you can get both in a small and very cheap package at Amazon. Iniu’s 10,000mAh power bank with fold-out outlet prongs is $18.35 (originally $39.99) when you add the black model to your cart. The power bank can output top speeds of 45W via its built-in USB-C cable, or through its additional USB-C port (it also has a USB-A port). It reduces output speed to 30W while it’s plugged into your wall, but that’s still a respectable pace for many phones, tablets, and some laptops.