I enjoyed reading this story about Bill Gates’ malevolent influence on the current crop of Silicon Valley megalomaniacs. If you remember his pre-Gates Foundation reputation, you will particularly appreciate it.
[The New York Review of Books]
Bandai Namco and Fender have collaborated on a limited edition version of the Player II Telecaster guitar. Its alder wood body is finished in black with a blue maze design and a dot-gobbling Pac-Man being pursued by Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde. It’s available now for $1,099.99.
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Journalist Maggie Mertens chats with other writers about their experience leaving Substack — and escaping its tax:
Big tech companies control so much of the infrastructure of our lives, and they maximize that by relying on the fact that we will gravitate toward whatever is easiest and fastest, whatever provides the “better” experience, even if that better but immediate experience is worse for us as a society in the long run.
That means Spotify-hosted shows will be able to be distributed and monetized on Apple Podcasts. In addition, the company is flipping the switch on integration with Libsyn, Podigee, Audioboom, Audiomeans, and Podspace, so users of those services can distribute and monetize their video podcasts on Spotify.
[Spotify for Creators]
Brendan Ballou discusses his new book on the rise, and hopefully fall, of forced arbitration.
The new additions include Space Invaders Virtual Collection, V-Tetris, Jack Bros., Virtual Bowling, and Vertical Force. Of the 22 games released for Nintendo’s first 3D console you can now play 12 of them using the new Virtual Boy accessory for the original Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch 2.
We asked the company to clarify what’s going on here. Maybe there’s an explanation, but I know a lot of people wouldn’t put it past Amazon to pull a stunt like this.
6
Verge Score
Motorola’s first book-style foldable offers excellent battery life and middling everything else.
The new Navigator trackpad, like the Navigator trackball, has a low profile and snaps into place on one side of the keyboard. It also supports native multitouch gestures like two-finger scrolling.
For the first six weeks it’s on sale, the trackpad will cost $99 when purchased with a Voyager keyboard. On its own, it will cost a total of $119 — $99 with a $20 shipping fee. After that, it will cost $129, even when purchased with a Voyager.
At least according to a leaked listing from Best Buy, which suggests pre-orders for the next Grand Theft Auto on May 18th. Which means we might finally find out just how much the game will cost. And hey, trailer number three would be a nice bonus, too.
[Insider Gaming]
