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A new explainer breaks down why many viewers assume they're watching 4K content when they're not, pointing to factors like device settings, HDMI cables, subscription tiers, and per-service quality controls. It walks through specific examples including Disney+'s data usage settings, YouTube's on-demand quality selector, and Amazon Prime Video's new Ultra tier that gates 4K access behind an added fee.
Apple will hold its fall hardware event on September 9, reportedly skipping a new base iPhone 18 this year in favor of launching Pro models alongside its first foldable device, expected to be called the iPhone Ultra. The event also marks a leadership shift, coming just days after John Ternus takes over as CEO from Tim Cook, who is stepping down after nearly 15 years leading the company.
Storyteller has grown from a single Python script into a full ecosystem, including web, mobile, and e-reader plugin apps, with new versions in alpha and beta testing. At its core is an alignment algorithm that automatically matches ebook text to audiobook narration and embeds this synchronization using the EPUB Media Overlays standard, enabling word-by-word highlighted narration in supported reader apps.
A developer has published free, GPL-licensed source code for three old Windows 3.1x-era programs: a limited implementation of Conway's Game of Life, a GDI object-cleanup utility called GDI Rescuer, and a Mastermind-style game called Code Breaker. The Game of Life program notably demonstrates mixing 16-bit C with 32-bit assembly via winmem32.dll and handling palette and DIB color translation quirks of the era.
Unable to find furniture combining a workbench's depth with a living-room look, the author built a custom unit by mounting a reused desktop board atop IKEA Kallax shelving units. The project was driven by budget constraints, since custom cabinetry ran about €1,000 per unit while kitchen cabinets, though cheaper, lacked acceptable styling for a living space. The final build reused an old desk's leftover top panel secured onto the Kallax base.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has frozen further state spending on Flock's AI-powered license plate cameras, a decision made shortly before a Texas Tribune investigation exposed that the state had already spent over $30 million on the technology. That funding came largely from a $1 fee added to insurance policies, ostensibly to combat catalytic converter theft.
Anti-surveillance group Secure Justice reports that 214 cities and counties have dropped Flock Safety's license-plate camera contracts since 2021, with 90 cancellations in August alone—a fourfold jump from July. Communities from Lansing, Michigan to Pflugerville, Texas cited cost, data-sharing practices, network reach, and cases of police misuse as reasons for ending their deals. Flock says new city partnerships still outnumber cancellations roughly 10 to 1 this year.
Developer Frank Zakaria released omniflake, a meta-flake that aggregates thousands of existing Nix flakes behind a single input, letting users pull packages, overlays, or NixOS modules from any of them without manually adding separate flake URLs. The project, hosted at omniflake.com, relies on Nix's lazy evaluation and lock file mechanism to keep the massive dependency list usable, so users only pay the cost of what they actually reference.
SpaceX is set to launch NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket, with a launch window opening at 7:26 a.m. EDT. The telescope will settle nearly 1 million miles from Earth, using a 300-megapixel infrared camera and a coronagraph to map dark matter and search for Earth-like exoplanets, with all data made publicly available.
Meta is testing robots from vendors like Kinova, ABB, and Watney Robotics to perform physical data center tasks such as power-cycling servers, swapping network cables, and restarting machines. Internal workers say one arm alone could eventually take over up to 80% of certain job duties if trials succeed. The initiative has not been previously disclosed.
Building trade unions, including Steamfitters UA Local 602, are mobilizing to pressure politicians who oppose new data center construction, with leadership warning members they will withhold political support from officials seen as hostile to the industry. An internal memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal frames the fight as an 'existential moment' for the union, given how much work data centers generate in the Maryland-DC-Virginia corridor known as data center alley.
Google's newly released Pixel 11 lineup ships with several notable features—like the new Camera Looks color styles and Creator Suite tools such as a built-in teleprompter and social media grid overlays—turned off or set to basic modes by default. Reviewers note that getting the most out of the phone, particularly its camera customization and creator-focused options, requires manually digging into settings after setup.