Ohio blogger found guilty of harassment for sending Shrek nude to senator
A jury found an Ohio political blogger guilty of telecommunications harassment after he sent an explicit image of Shrek to a Republican state senator. On Friday, a judge ordered DJ Byrnes, owner of political commentary blog The Rooster, to pay a $200 fine, according to a report from the Columbus Dispatch.
Byrnes texted Ohio Sen. Jerry Cirino in May after he dropped out of the state's Senate presidential race. As reported by the Columbus Dispatch, Byrnes sent a nude image of Shrek alongside the message: "Good to see you finally made your humiliation public, Young Mussolini! THE PATRIOTS CAUCUS sends its regards!!!!!!!!!!"
Cirino filed a pol …
‘Pure insanity’: Mathematicians will need years to make sense of OpenAI’s latest drop
"Staggering." "Overwhelming." "Unprecedented." "Surreal." "Pure insanity."
Those were among the descriptions more than three dozen mathematicians reached for in conversations with The Verge as they tried to make sense of the flood of mathematical results OpenAI abruptly dropped on the field this week. Amid the awe, excitement, and uncertainty over the sheer scale of the deluge was a deep-seated anxiety over what it all means - and what comes next. For all their different reactions, researchers agreed that simply understanding what OpenAI had released could take years, let alone figuring out where the mathematicians themselves fit in the fi …
Brendan Carr says he’ll let Pete Hegseth decide whether TV networks can air the public execution
FCC chairman Brendan Carr said he will defer to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on whether TV networks can air the planned execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan by firing squad.
The Pentagon has said the execution will be livestreamed, suggesting it'll appear on an online platform beyond the FCC's jurisdiction. But it's common for broadcast TV networks to air live video of government events, and Carr's agency does have a say over what happens on public airwaves.
"My understanding is it's not on broadcast TV, so I don't think there's a role for the FCC one way or the other," Carr said in a CNBC interview today. "But I trust …
Nikon microscopic video competition winner disqualified for using generative AI
Nikon says the video that originally won first place in its Small World in Motion contest "did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI." BBC reports that the original first place video from Dr. Ning Xu claimed to show "tiny, hair-like structures called cilia moving in the airway of a child with the respiratory condition PCD." Nikon said last week that it was reviewing the video following skepticism online about its authenticity.
In a comment on LinkedIn, Dr. Xu admitted to using AI for the video: "An unsupervised neural-network method was subsequently used for AI-assisted post-processing to distinguish and visualize f …
Google teases Fitbit Edge launch next week
It looks like Google is getting ready to take the wraps off its rumored Fitbit Edge next Monday. In a post on X, Google posted a picture of what appears to be the side of the fitness tracker, with the caption: "Get an Edge on your health. 10.12.26."
A trove of Fitbit Edge leaks has surfaced over the past couple of weeks. So far, details shared by Dealabs and Android Headlines suggest that the upcoming device could feature a 1.34-inch always-on OLED touchscreen, built-in GPS, and several other sensors, including an accelerometer, barometer, altimeter, and gyroscope. It may also come with optical sensors for measuring heart rate and blood oxy …
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is down to $950 after Prime Day
Amazon has the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra in black with 256GB of storage discounted to $949.99, a healthy discount from its usual price of $1,399.99. This phone’s standout feature is the adjustable privacy display, which can hide your entire screen, or just portions of it, from onlookers and strangers. It doesn’t meaningfully hurt the screen’s performance otherwise, and it’s only noticeable at steep angles, and it includes a built-in stylus for writing or drawing.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Samsung’s 6.9-inch S26 Ultra is the only model in the lineup with the new privacy display, designed to limit what people around you can see on your screen. It also includes the S Pen and upgrades the camera hardware, adding dual telephoto lenses alongside a 200-megapixel main sensor. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Even beyond the privacy display, the S26 Ultra is an impressive flagship phone for mobile enthusiasts. The upgraded camera hardware makes a big difference when it comes to photo quality, particularly in low lighting conditions. For better or worse, it’s still a sizable phone, with a 6.9-inch AMOLED display, but it’s slimmer and more comfortable than the S25 Ultra.
Read our Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review.
Amazon’s new Kindles appear to have a light leak problem
Some users are reporting that the new Kindles have a light leak issue that is especially apparent when using dark mode. The latest base-model Kindles have a flush bezel that gives them a sleek appearance and looks great… as long as you keep the lights on. But things can change once you turn down the lights and turn up the brightness on the e-reader.
In some cases, users see shadows around the edges of the screen, or even visible LED strips. The issue appears to affect both the plastic and aluminum models in all colors. Some minor glowing around the edges might be a byproduct of the combination of front lighting and a flush screen. But Reddi …
Microsoft tries to spark new life into Windows
When Microsoft released Windows 11 five years ago, it felt like an operating system that was still being renovated, a work in progress. You'd think by now that those renovations would be complete, with Microsoft turning its attention to Windows 12. Instead, Windows 11 feels like it's here to stay, forming the foundation for Microsoft's next big ambition: transforming Windows into an agentic OS.
At a Windows and Surface event this week, Microsoft laid out its plan to bring AI agents to Windows, including hybrid intelligence that lets Windows take advantage of free local models instead of expensive cloud ones. "I think today is the day we'll …
Frances Haugen hopes The Social Reckoning will inspire more whistleblowers
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen was mostly unfazed watching Oscar-winning actress Mikey Madison play a character named after her in The Social Reckoning, except for one thing: the wrist warmers.
In Aaron Sorkin's new thriller, the fictional Haugen - who, like her nonfictional counterpart, leaks thousands of documents to Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz - habitually dons the accessories. It's a character quirk that reflects real life, where they're a way to deal with the effects of a vasoconstrictive disorder. "I've figured out lots of ways to minimize how much of an obstruction this is," she tells The Verge in an interview. …
Apple and LG leak shows new ‘tap to control’ HomeKit features
A post on X from "pdfu," who has previously posted leaks and renders of suspected Apple features and LG smart home gear, shows new details of rumored Apple Home accessories from LG. According to the new leak, they could include an NFC-based "Proximity Control" feature that pops up a hint for a device's controls in the iPhone's Dynamic Island, simply by putting the phone close to it. The post also says it's executed using the Matter protocol, but appears to be an Apple Home-specific feature, and follows yesterday's leak showing a "tap to setup without power" pairing feature and other upcoming devices.