T.C. Sottek

President Obama’s first FCC chief, Julius Genachowski, stepped down after a bruising years-long battle with ISPs over his 2010 net neutrality regulations. He then notably broke tradition by joining a private equity firm instead of immediately going to work for Comcast.

Iconic star of The Wire, John Wick, Lost, Fringe, the video games Destiny and Horizon Zero Dawn, and the face of countless other roles, TMZ reports (with Variety confirming) that legendary actor Lance Reddick has died at age 60.

AP reports that Brazilian federal agents are fighting a new enemy: Starlink satellite internet service that is allegedly aiding illegal mining operations in the Amazon rainforest. Obviously illegal rainforest mining is bad, but this all smacks of the same aggro law enforcement angle against tech like encryption, which is a benefit to society and an incidental boon for some criminal activity.

Enter the Gungeon is my favorite roguelike of all time and this new cabinet version looks like such a clever take on the original game — one that evokes memories of playing Time Crisis at the movie theater growing up. The only downside? It’s about $5,643.94 more expensive than an Xbox. Who wants to pitch in?

I’m trying out a new type of Quickpost today: a look back at the Verge archives for the given day in history. On March 10th, 2012, we were all talking about Turntable.fm with great hope, because the social music platform had signed a music deal. Turntable was one of our favorite platforms ever, and as you may know, it eventually shut down for good in 2014. It since relaunched with a couple competing versions, but it just isn’t the same anymore.

Bad maps have been a years-long problem for US broadband, and, despite recent updates, an Ars Technica report makes clear that the government has a lot left to fix. The latest anecdote in this sad saga comes courtesy of Starlink, which blames the FCC for counting addresses as “served” when in reality they only have access to the ISP’s internet plan for RVs.

We’ve lost a lot of expertise in government over the past decade. The destruction of Gigi Sohn’s appointment to the FCC is the latest in a trend of asymmetrical polarization and cynicism — the rejection of an extraordinarily qualified public servant due to unchecked ambition and nihilism.

After many years, I’ve been rewatching the TNG-era Star Trek films recently, and something stood out to me in the first entry in the series: Star Trek: Generations.

Front Office Sports reports that Bezos is a finalist in talks to acquire the Washington Commanders: a sports team so frustrating that it made me personally quit NFL fandom and turn exclusively to ice hockey. Bezos’ ownership would probably be a marginal improvement on Dan Snyder’s tenure, who has been long-reviled by DC-area fans and who has plagued the region with his personal scandals.

We gathered this past Thursday at the gorgeous Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, NYC for our third Hot Pod event. I want to give a big thanks to everyone on the Verge team who made this happen, as well as our partners at Work x Work, which puts on Hot Pod Summit + On Air Fest each year. (I personally really loved the new experience at On Air Fest this year: The Podcast Experience.)