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Microsoft is retiring Teams’ Together Mode
The company wants to focus on improving video quality and performance instead of gimmicks.
Business investment growth in UK is less than half pace of US
There has been a widening divergence between the two economies since 2019
Revamped Siri will reportedly offer auto-deleting chats
The company is banking on privacy being its AI differentiator.
Windows 11 tests an adjustable taskbar and resizable Start menu
Windows 11 Insiders can choose a smaller taskbar as well.
ArXiv will ban researchers who upload papers full of AI slop
Banned authors won’t be able to submit papers for one year.
The Analogue 3D is finally getting save states
A new firmware update for Analogue’s 4K N64 clone will let you save your progress at any point during a game.
The promises and pitfalls of personalized health
Can the algorithm adjust to factor in my PMOS?
AI research papers are getting better, and it’s a big problem for scientists
Journal editors and peer reviewers are being flooded with AI-generated papers that are almost impossible to detect.
Faith and politics converge at Southern Baptist Convention meeting / Texas Monthly
Meta brings virtual writing to everyone with Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses
After launching in early access, the feature is rolling out widely.
Leaked images reveal Xbox Elite 3 controller
The Elite 3 controller appears to have new scroll wheel buttons and a removable battery.
Microsoft starts canceling Claude Code licenses
Thousands of Microsoft developers will use GitHub Copilot CLI instead
Leaked images show Microsoft’s new Xbox Cloud Gaming controller
A Brazilian regulator has published photos of an unreleased Xbox controller.
AMD’s FSR 4.1 upscaling tech is coming to older graphics cards
A performance boost for your GPU.
Dell and RAMageddon are watering down the Alienware brand
Dell’s new gaming laptop is an Alienware in name only.
Insta360’s new viewfinder turns the action cam into a retro shooter
Insta360 tries to capitalize on the tiny camera trend.
I’m obsessed with Forza Horizon 6, and I’ve barely even raced
An open world full of open roads.
Windows Update will soon automatically roll back faulty drivers
Microsoft is making Windows Update a lot less disruptive.
Microsoft’s Edge Copilot update uses AI to pull information from across your tabs
Copilotification.
AMD’s best CPU tech for gamers is coming to workstations too
AMD’s 3D V-Cache isn’t just for gaming anymore.
Instagram hits the copy button again with new disappearing Instants photos
Another new way to encourage you to post.
Mark Zuckerberg announces ‘completely private’ encrypted Meta AI chat
End-to-end encryption for AI, but not Instagram DMs.
Sony ups its new A7R VI to 66.8 megapixels and jumps the price to $4,500
It now features a fully stacked sensor for faster shooting and 8K video, making it a more do-it-all high-resolution camera.
Microsoft’s Xbox PC app hints at China expansion for Game Pass
An Xbox disc-to-digital conversion might be on the way, too
Amazon’s Panos Panay addresses new Fire phone rumors
‘If I black and white say no, I would say that was accurate. But I also think it’s misleading.’
Google announces its Chromebook successor: the Googlebook
Google has a new operating system and a new laptop platform, but no hardware just yet.
Android Auto is now one (screen) size fits all
Phone projection is getting more embedded.
Panasonic’s new Lumix L10 is a compact camera with a focus on photography
The L10 features the same sensor as the Lumix GH7 but with a fixed lens and limited video capabilities.
Anker’s fast, foldable 3-in-1 charging station is back to its best price yet
Also, you can sign up for three months of Crunchyroll for just $6.
Google’s Aluminium OS revealed in 16-minute leaked video
Is this our first look at Android on PC?
How to watch Google’s Android Show: I/O Edition today
Expect a look at Android 17 and Gemini updates.
Here’s what Mira Murati’s AI company is up to
Thinking Machines is showing off something called “interaction models.”
Govee’s new portable smart lamp is on sale for the first time
The colorful lamp also supports Matter.
Apple brings encrypted RCS chats to iPhone
Look for the “Encrypted” text when talking with your Android friends.
Google stopped a zero-day hack that it says was developed with AI
Hackers are also targeting AI agents.
A million baby monitors and security cameras were easily viewable by hackers
They should be fixed now. Hopefully.
Global Health in Transition at WHA79
Global health thinkers, doers, and decision-makers will converge in Geneva for the 79th annual World Health Assembly from May 18 to 23.
Discord adds a free Xbox Game Pass ‘starter edition’ for Nitro subscribers
Nitro members will also get discounts off Logitech and SteelSeries gear.
Windows 11 is getting a macOS-like speed boost
The speed boost is similar to macOS and Linux
Forza Horizon 6 has been leaked and cracked a week before its release
The source of the leak appears to be an unencrypted Steam preload.
Logitech’s tiny folding mouse improves upon the laptop trackpad
The design looks like a flip phone.
Cricut’s $99 craft cutting machine helped me feel creative again
You’ll make things quickly, eventually.
Letter: Science corrects itself, but doesn’t issue an apology
For 20 years, climate scientists fed the public a steady diet of apocalyptic projections — flooded cities, mass extinctions, a planet on the verge of collapse. What they didn’t prominently disclose was that most of those projections w…
Dyson’s powerful 360 Vis Nav robovac is down to $279.99 for a limited time
The deal runs through May 11th.
Quantum dot TVs beat RGB LED TVs, says the company that makes QDs for TVs
Quantum dot TVs still hold on edge over RGB LED.
Asus chases Elgato with its own secondary touchscreen display
How small is too small for a sidekick display?
Discord is back after a major outage.
For more than an hour on Friday, many people were having trouble connecting to Discord, with the platform showing a message saying that there were “increased API errors.” Discord confirmed it was investigating issues at 3:08PM ET, and by 6:38PM ET, it reported that all “critical functionalities have recovered for all users.” Updates: Discord says the issues are resolved. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/slack-upload-1778269131728.png?quality=90&strip=all]
PlayStation sees AI as a ‘powerful tool’ to help make games
However, AI is meant to “augment” its teams’ capabilities, not replace them.
Google Fitbit Air preorders come with a second band for free
An easy way to save on an accessory you might otherwise buy.
Boox’s new page-turning e-reader remote is a tiny two-button keyboard
The Tappy can be used to flip pages, skip tracks, or doomscroll without having to touch your device.
What’s the role of a simple fitness band in the AI health era?
AI health coaches complicate everything.
Sony’s PS5 sales plummet amid price rises and a memory crisis
PS5 sales dropped by 46 percent year-over-year.
Apple’s AirPods with cameras for AI are apparently close to production
The new headphones might help you decide what to make for dinner.
Valve is fighting Steam Controller scalpers with a new reservations system
You’ll have another chance to buy one of Valve’s new controllers.
Did Microsoft just tease a new Xbox UI?
Microsoft is working on a more consistent Xbox UI across consoles, PC, and cloud gaming.
Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo could be at risk from rising RAM prices
Is RAMaggedon coming for the MacBook Neo?
OpenClaw and Claude can put your AI-generated podcasts in Spotify
Your own personal AI podcast feed.
Google’s taking a big swing at AI health with the Fitbit Air
RIP Fitbit, long live Google Health?
Nintendo announces a new Star Fox for the Switch 2
The company revealed the game during a surprise Direct presentation.
5 ways the Iran standoff could end
Is the US on the verge of a deal with Iran or a return to war?
Xbox changes continue with new console boot animation
Microsoft’s new Xbox CEO continues to make changes that are designed to please fans.
Google’s AI search summaries will now quote Reddit
You know, that thing many of us were already looking for manually.
Remarkable’s next E Ink digital notepad skips the color screen
Remarkable’s latest attempt to make paper notebooks extinct.
Energizer’s new coin batteries won’t cause ingestion burns if swallowed
Energizer’s new coin batteries are safer to swallow, but please avoid that.
Chrome’s AI features may be hogging 4GB of your computer storage
You can take steps to delete it though.
Google Home’s Gemini AI can handle more complicated requests
Give Gemini multiple smart home requests at once.
Microsoft’s new Xbox shake-up is all about platform changes
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is bringing more technical expertise into the Xbox platform team.
Bose takes a swing at Sonos with its new home speakers
The small Ultra speaker in particular is impressive.
Microsoft is finally ditching the junk MSN feed in Windows widgets
It’s part of an effort to fix Windows 11
LG Display has a 27-inch 5K OLED screen.
If you thought 4K at 166ppi was endgame, I have news: 27-inch OLED screens are going 5K, too. LG Display’s new panel at SID 2026 only does 120Hz right now, with full-screen brightness of 250 nits, but way more pixels and “a newly designed RGB stripe structure that enhances the aperture ratio.” No photos yet. Samsung Display has a 27-inch 5K OLED, too.
Valve just imported 50 tons of game consoles in two days
We dug into import records for extra hints.
The Pixel 11 could be the next victim of the RAM shortage
The Pixel 11 could get a RAMaggedon downgrade.
Hisense aggressively cuts the price of its RGB LED TV on release day
The TV just came out and is already over 40 percent off.
Reggie Fils-Aimé says Amazon once asked Nintendo to break the law
Amazon wanted ‘obscene’ financial support to undercut Walmart.
How the internet’s favorite squirrel dad made the hottest camera app of 2026
It’s a nutty story.
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field ‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field A field that once seemed like a direct path to stable, lucrative work is becoming less certain under AI, students and faculty told Spectator. By Ria Vasishtha and Arjun Menon May 3, 2026 Shanying Liu / Deputy Illustrations Editor Asia Genawi, SEAS ’29, first encountered artificial intelligence during her sophomore year at her high school in Indiana. Back in 2023, policies on AI varied widely—even within the same district—and some schools had no guidance at all. As Genawi began to see the effects of AI trickle into her classroom, she turned to guidance from her home state’s Department of Education, which she said she found “outdated and inaccessible.” Genawi spent the rest of her high school career dedicated to the issue, including writing a 15-page memo exploring varying AI policies across Indiana schools, which she sent to every Indiana state senator and representative whose contact information she was able to find. She later helped draft a bill that would have required public high schools to establish and share their own AI policies with students in an accessible format. But with so many other bills already awaiting referral, hers never made it to committee. When Genawi arrived at Columbia to study computer science, she found that the gaps she had spent years trying to address in Indiana had followed her there. Many students and professors were also grappling with what AI meant for the field. Across Columbia’s undergraduate schools, computer science has become the most popular major—accounting for around 11 percent of degrees awarded in Columbia College, 32 percent in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and 12 percent in the School of General Studies in 2024. While the number of computer science majors in SEAS grew from 166 to 173 during the 2024-25 academic year, the total number across the three schools fell around 4.5 percent from 393 to 375, driven by declines at Columbia College and General Studies. At Barnard, it has grown to become the second most popular major as of 2025, up from third the year prior. The number of degrees awarded have grown fivefold since 2016. Faculty members and students in the department told Spectator that the surge in the major’s popularity has been driven in large part by its apparent promise of a secure, well-paid career path. However, they noted that the recent rise of generative AI has compromised the sense of stability that once defined the field, even as interest in technical skills among students persists. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2024, out of 74 majors tracked, computer science had the fifth highest unemployment rate among majors at 7 percent, while computer engineering had the second highest at 7.8 percent. “Anecdotally, people are moving away from CS as a major,” Daniel Bauer, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, said. “They’re still taking some of our classes, right, because they think they need that, but they’re instead majoring in other things.” Bauer described a field that had shifted from what he called a “nerdy outlier discipline” to one that “everyone needs,” a sign that technical skills have become a baseline expectation across industries with the emergence of AI. “A lot of people thought, ‘Oh, it’s a guaranteed path to a stable income. You get a six-figure job right out of your undergrad,’” Bauer said. Now, companies may see AI as a way to reduce demand for entry-level programmers, especially in what he calls “code monkey jobs,” roles where a large number of employees are “just writing out code nine-to-five.” Chris Murphy, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, described the current moment as the convergence of two forces: the downturn of the job market and generative AI coming onto the scene. “Things kind of started to really pick up in 2014, 16,” he said, recalling the years after the weaker 2010 market. Murphy added that this was also a period where “students were getting more experience outside of class than they were inside of class” through internships, jobs, and side projects. Murphy suggested that the earlier momentum helped make computer science feel like both an academic program and a reliable pathway into work. That feeling is harder to sustain now as the industry reconfigures, which is a shift that students are seeing firsthand. Rebecca Yu, SEAS ’27, said that during a recent internship in Big Tech, she saw that “every single tech company was racing to integrate” large language models. She added that her manager said her intern class was the first to complete their assigned projects, which she attributed to the increased efficiency that comes with AI. Frank Liu, SEAS ’29, said that with AI lowering the barrier to coding, companies now expect everyone to write code. “A lot of companies outright say if you’re not using coding in your job, you might get fired for not being productive enough,” Liu said. Yu similarly expressed that students increasingly have to accept AI being a part of industry workflow, adding that many also “make use of it to maximize their productivity.” Richard Li, CC ’28, described a “franticness” among his peers as the pace of change accelerates. He explained how “some new tool” is released regularly, noting that tools rise and fall in prominence within weeks. He has come to believe that he doesn’t need to “match that speed all the time” and keep up with every development. Li has learned that AI tools allow him to “take a breath” and “get back into the loop much easier than before” when he needs to. While some companies specifically target Columbia when hiring, sending representatives to campus career fairs and recruiting large numbers from Columbia, a computer science degree cannot be treated as a static credential, Yu described. “You can’t just get your degree and stop learning after that. You have to always be learning,” Yu said. “That is something you basically have to expect for your job.” AI has not only affected students’ decisions to major in computer science, but also reshaped how the subject is taught. Across departments, faculty members no longer treat work done outside the classroom as a reliable measure of understanding, shifting instead toward in-person exams, quizzes, and attendance checks. While homework once made up as much as 60 to 70 percent of a student’s grade in computer science classes, Murphy said that breakdown has since flipped, with exams and quizzes now accounting for the majority. “The assumption—especially among pessimists—is that they’re using it to do their homework,” Murphy said. “They take the homework assignment. They put it into generative AI. Out comes the solution. Submit solution. The end.” Murphy said that faculty members ranged in their responses from fully prohibiting AI use to actively teaching students how to effectively work with AI. He said he shifted his approach this year after his teaching assistants called his belief that students weren’t using the technology “naïve,” and now permits students to use AI on assignments. His surveys of students in his introductory classes have told a more complicated story than the one so-called pessimists offer: Around 60 to 70 percent of students who reported using AI said they used it to have concepts explained to them, to clarify assignment instructions, to generate test cases, or to create practice questions. “Those are all ways that you might have had a tutor in the past to do that, and now you have this AI essentially as your tutor,” he said. Bauer has taken a different approach, teaching students how to use AI productively without sacrificing the core principles of the discipline. “People who are trained to actually use AI tools productively, while being in charge of designing the overall project, will be very much in demand in the next couple of years,” he said. Over the past year, a working group of computer science faculty has been redesigning the introductory and intermediate programming sequence to integrate generative AI as both a subject and a tool, representatives from SEAS wrote in a statement to Spectator. The effort is “coordinated” across the department, “not course-by-course,” with a systematic assessment of how AI integration is affecting student outcomes underway to shape the next round of changes. The goal, the department explained, is for students to be able to “read, verify, and reason about code, whether they or a model wrote it.” Tony Dear, senior lecturer in the computer science department, is piloting individualized AI feedback in a discrete mathematics course, while a machine learning course is also testing a Socratic AI dialogue system designed to “guide inquiry rather than supply answers,” the statement reads. Beyond individual courses, SEAS funded seven cross-departmental faculty projects in generative AI this past academic year, spanning biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science, according to the statement. This phenomenon extends beyond the computer science department. SEAS’ new AI minor, which it announced in November 2025, reflects the University’s attempt to adapt. The minor is specifically designed for noncomputer science majors and aims to provide “essential AI knowledge” while emphasizing practical and responsible use across disciplines, according to the SEAS website. At the center of the minor is AI in Context, a course taught by a team of faculty from the departments of computer science, applied mathematics, philosophy, music, literature, and the Writing Center, the representatives told Spectator. Bauer described it as targeted at students who want to bring AI into fields like economics or biology, rather than as a path into software engineering itself. At the graduate level, SEAS announced a new Master of Science in artificial intelligence in February, with the inaugural cohort starting in the fall. While recognizing how AI has helped them navigate coursework, students also described its rise as isolating, even among members of the Application Development Initiative, one of Columbia’s largest computer science clubs. “As people start to ask AI for questions that they would normally ask students and members, it starts to isolate people” Li said. Alexa Kafka, BC ’27, echoed Li’s sentiment, pointing out that computer science has always been a collaborative discipline with code reviews and pull requests, even as AI makes independent work easier. Despite this, Kafka noted that she hasn’t been to office hours “in at least a year.” Bauer added that faculty are exploring long-term solutions to the assessment problem. “One of the things that we’re trying to do at the department or school level is to maybe move towards computerized testing facilities,” Bauer said, referring to ideas in the department to revitalize computer labs as an alternative to pen-and-paper exams. “We have to accept that this is the reality, for better or worse.” But more exams, students say, does not mean better learning, nor does it reflect how computer science is actually done. “Code is so variable and can be approached in so many directions, there’s never just going to be one correct answer. There can be multiple optimal solutions,” Kafka said. Students also expressed concern that the shift toward exam-heavy grading pulls focus away from the applied, project-based work that better reflects both discipline and industry expectations. ADI has tried to respond more quickly than the curriculum can. Through a vibe coding workshop this past semester, club members said they wanted to help students understand not just that AI exists, but how to use it deliberately. “Vibe coding” refers to the practice of prompting AI to write code for a task or project, and has become widespread enough that ADI felt the gap in formal instruction was worth addressing, according to Sophia Huang, BC ’29. The workshop introduced students to the concept of context engineering, which Shaina Sahu, SEAS ’27, described as not just writing a prompt, but optimizing “the rest of the relevant information that you would feed into the model.” Without that, students said that AI-generated code can fail at scale or introduce difficult-to-detect bugs. Genawi said the shift toward AI has changed what it means to be good at computer science. “I think the shift has kind of gone towards what can you create and what can you do, instead of, what do you know,” she said. Indeed, during ADI DevFest, its annual hackathon, Li said more teams are trying to complete their projects than in years past. While sign-ups have historically outpaced submissions, Li said this is beginning to change because teams “have a tool that completes the vision for them.” While many students see AI as an equalizer that lowers the barrier to entry for coding and technical work, Murphy said it also creates new equity concerns inside the classroom around who can afford stronger tools and who already knows how to use them. “The equity issues I worry about are students who have access to paid versions of things versus free versions of things,” he said. Although popular AI models like ChatGPT and Claude have free versions available, both have paid models that can reach over $100 per month, which output different qualities of code. Murphy also pointed to differences in prior exposure to AI literacy itself. “Students who go to high schools or K-12 education, where they’re taught AI literacy, prompt engineering, context engineering, they understand how to do this, as opposed to students who go to schools who don’t teach that,” he said. “Then they come in, and then they’re somehow expected to know how to use these tools.” For Genawi, those disparities begin long before students arrive on campus. “It’s very interesting to consider how lucky you were geographically,” she said. “To be born where you were is influencing your ability to get access to these spaces.” Students like Yu, though broadly apprehensive about the future of computer science, are not without hope. “I’m optimistic, because I think if you’re truly passionate about CS, there will definitely be a place in the field to do something you want to do,” she said. Senior Staff Writer Ria Vasishtha can be contacted at ria.vasishtha@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Staff Writer Arjun Menon can be contacted at arjun.menon@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter and like Spectator on Facebook. Produced with Spectate by Emily Ta
Hannibal told not to 'antagonise' crowd at Elland Road
For a few weeks now, Burnley had made it clear Hannibal Mejbri was on the verge of his return from a hamstring injury. This season the midfielder received a four-match ban and was given a £15,000 fine after admitting to spitting at Leeds supporters during Burnley's 2-0 victory at Turf Moor back in October. Being the last name on the teamsheet, it was a long build-up to the inevitable boos which followed "Hannibal" being read out by the stadium announcer.
Anker’s discounted 2-in-1 USB-C cable is a great way to spend $15
Native Union’s isn’t half bad, either.
The things we’re building
This week’s Installer has The Steam Controller, and The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Severe Linux Copy Fail security flaw uncovered using AI scanning help
The bug works on nearly all distros since 2017.
Oh, hey, it’s Bandcamp Friday again.
You know the deal: Every dollar goes to the artist, and it’s a great excuse to overindulge in some new music. I’m picking up the new Lip Critic record. 2024’s Hex Dealer was great, and they absolutely tore shit up at the Maker Park Radio anniversary party that summer. What are you snagging? [Media: https://lipcritic.bandcamp.com/album/theft-world]
With Saros, Housemarque makes a case for doing next-gen games differently
The Finnish studio diverges from its peers.
FISA: What to know about the government’s key spy powers on the verge of expiration
The deadline to renew a powerful surveillance law has exposed deep divisions in the Republican Party and left US national security officials scrambling as the potential for blind spots in intelligence collection becomes an ever increasing possibility.
Microsoft’s DLSS competitor is now available on the Xbox Ally X handheld
Xbox Insiders get early access today
Black Female Driver Dystany Spurlock Set To Make NASCAR History
History is on the verge of being made by female driver Dystany Spurlock. Spurlock, who is Black, is set to make her NASCAR Truck Series debut next week. The Black female driver is set to drive the No. 69 truck for MBM Motorsports/Garage 66. She'll be competing at Watkins Glen. The female driver ...