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“Win Back Fans”: Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Plunges as Microsoft Admits It Is Losing
Tech giant Microsoft ($MSFT) has not exactly made a lot of friends lately with some of its moves, and Microsoft is apparently starting to feel the impact in the bot...
OnePlus has reportedly been merged with Realme as the downward spiral continues
Amid plenty of evidence that OnePlus is shutting down or at least limiting its global operations, the brand has apparently...
Apple might ditch MagSafe on future iPhones, per bizarre rumor
MagSafe is a fan-favorite iPhone feature, but a bizarre rumor this week says Apple is apparently debating whether to remove...
Hatsune Miku gets glowing fishing rod and reel in wild new collab
Hatsune Miku is officially getting her own fishing gear, because apparently even the virtual pop star needs her own tackle box.
Slay The Spire 2 Dev Sets Record Straight On Controversial Boss
Even though The Doormaker is apparently the easiest Act 3 boss in Slay the Spire 2, Mega Crit still want to make sure the fight isn't "too abrasive against certain playstyles"
New iPhone Ultra schematics leak, showing prior reports didn’t do it justice
The iPhone Ultra is apparently even sleeker than previous leaks had claimed.
Thunder guard Jalen Williams leaves Game 2 win over Suns with apparent hamstring injury
Jalen Williams missed extended time in the regular season with a separate hamstring injury, too.
'The Idea Is Not Dead' - Xbox Boss Explains Why She's Still Keen On A Mobile Store
It seemed to have been killed off, but apparently not!
Samsung’s next pair of Galaxy Buds surface with apparent open-ear design
Samsung has a new pair of Galaxy Buds in the works, “Galaxy Buds Able,” which appear to have an open-ear...
PlayStation legend Shuhei Yoshida says Jim Ryan fired him because he didn't listen to him
Why did Sony push Shuhei Yoshida out of his role leading PlayStation's first-party games? He'd overseen some huge successes. Well, apparently, he didn't listen.
Man City v Arsenal: Team news
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola seems to have settled on a starting XI for the run-in, naming the same side that beat Chelsea last Sunday. It means full-back Nico O'Reilly is fit to start after hobbling off at Stamford Bridge with an apparent hamstring issue. There is a return to the squad for John Stones, who has not featured since 7 March in the FA Cup win over Salford.
Trump taps Texas’ top public health official as CDC chief medical officer
Jennifer Shuford, an infectious disease physician who oversaw the country’s largest measles outbreak in 30 years, is among a slate of CDC nominations with no apparent ties to the anti-vaccine movement.
Trump taps Texas’ top public health official as CDC chief medical officer
Jennifer Shuford, an infectious disease physician who oversaw the country’s largest measles outbreak in 30 years, is among a slate of CDC nominations with no apparent ties to the anti-vaccine movement.
Who Speaks for God? Darwinists Do, Apparently
Center for Science and Culture Senior Fellow Stephen Dilley explores this curious phenomenon in his talk at the 2025 Dallas Conference on Science and Faith.
Costco Is Randomly Selling Big Switch 2 Games For Just $30
Pokémon Legends Z-A and more are apparently being sold for just $30
Rumor: New Resident Evil Requiem music found in datamine, Mercenaries could be on the way
Fans have apparently found new music in Resident Evil Requiem's files via a datamine and the game could be getting a Mercenaries mode.
Neanderthal Babies Were Apparently Built Different and Reached Toddler Size in Only Six Months
A 50,000-year-old infant skeleton reveals our extinct cousins grew up surprisingly fast to survive
UCLA battling against letup in middle of spring practices
This week features spring practices six through eight, and Bob Chesney noticed a dip in energy. The difference first became apparent on Tuesday, in small but noticeable ways.
Seeing women govern encourages support for women in politics – with no apparent backlash among men
After the main Namibian party started alternating candidates between men and women, female representation in the National Assembly nearly doubled.
Suspect Was in Apparent Mental Health Crisis During Attack on Sam Altman’s House
The San Francisco Public Defender’s office said 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama was in the midst of acute mental illness when he attacked the OpenAI CEO’s home and offices, and was “overcharged” by local and national authorities.
JD Vance says Trump's post of himself as Jesus was 'a joke'
Vice President JD Vance said President Trump's social media post apparently portraying himself as Jesus was "a joke."
Trump, 79, Raises Fresh Health Concerns After Unbelievable Mix-Up
Donald Trump’s critics are pointing to one explanation for the president’s apparent mix-up of Jesus Christ and a Red Cross doctor: cognitive decline. After the president, 79, was lambasted—including b...
Random: Borderlands 4 Physical Switch 2 Version Apparently Surfaces In The Wild
Development on the Nintendo version was paused
Rumour: Fable Has Apparently Been Delayed Internally, But May Still Launch In 2026
"They are worried about the launch of GTA6"
Santee business owner arrested after threatening to shoot deputies
Authorities spotted Robert Sanford, 43, apparently armed with a handgun, entering his business suite on Rockville Street
“AI polls” are fake polls
A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.
Borderlands 4 Nintendo Switch 2 copies apparently spotted in the wild despite the game being put on hold indefinitely
There’s been an interesting development with the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Borderlands 4 as the game has now been spotted at retail. You may originally recall that the port was planned for release last October. However, it was delayed just a few days before release. Then in February, we heard that development had been paused. That brings us to...
Grim new economic numbers highlight how Trump is losing leverage against Iran
The week began with President Donald Trump saber-rattling like we’ve never seen before. He threatened apparent war crimes and to end a “whole civilization” if Iran didn’t meet his demands.
Trump Totally Wants to Appoint His Own Pope, Doesn’t He?
Apparently, the White House and the Vatican are feuding. The historical precedents for this kind of power struggle are so absolutely delicious.
Apple Apparently Still Undecided on iPhone 18 Pro Dynamic Island
Apple is weighing two options for the iPhone 18 Pro's Dynamic Island, and a final decision has yet to be made, according to the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
Woman escapes kidnapping, drives to Polk County sheriff’s office after business owner killed
The Nebraska State Patrol has released new details as the investigation continues into an apparent murder and attempted suicide in Polk County.
Apple faces supply chain problem as MacBook Neo demand exceeds expectations
The new MacBook Neo has apparently been a smash hit, and Apple will likely talk up its success at its...
Microsoft: Copilot AI is for 'entertainment purposes only,' not 'important advice'
The company has baked its AI assistant into everything from Word to Windows, but it's apparently only for fun.
In a state that bans online sports betting, why is California allowing people to bet on politics?
Online sports betting is illegal in California but as of right now, it’s apparently legal for most people to bet on politics.
Trump endorsed this MAGA congressman's twin. Will he make history?
Trever Nehls could replace his twin brother Rep. Troy Nehls, a loyalist to President Donald Trump. Can the MAGA heir apparent make history?
Thieves smash through 8-liner business wall to reach ATM after deputies' raid.
The owner of an 8-liner game room is out of luck—and apparently out a lot of money. Her business has been hit twice: Bexar County deputies shut it down last week, and then last night thieves struck. The owner tells our Pachatta Pope she didn't think she was doing anything illegal.
Apple Reportedly Planning to Launch iMac With OLED Display
Apple is preparing to launch an iMac featuring an OLED panel with higher brightness, according to ZDNet Korea. Apple has apparently requested that Samsung Display, LG Display, and other suppliers produce 24-inch OLED panel samples suitable for a future iMac model using their mass-production facilities. This would be the biggest ever OLED display offered on an Apple device.
Killing off the Regional Transportation District
This column is appearing the same day state Sen. Matt Ball (D) of Denver and his legislative co-sponsors unveil legislation implementing many of the recommendations advanced by last summer’s RTD Accountability Committee. Although it isn’t readily apparent, they have allowed themselves to be enlisted in a plot that will likely lead to the bankruptcy and […]
iOS 27 Rumored to Feature All-New Siri App With 'Extensions' Feature
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman discussed Apple's upcoming AI plans in more detail. As he reported last week, this will apparently include a Siri app with a so-called "Extensions" feature across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. With the Siri app, the report said that iPhone, iPad, and Mac users would be able to interact with Apple's assistant in both text and voice modes.
Reform candidate in Wales steps down after apparent Nazi salute
Party announces Corey Edwards’ decision to quit Senedd election campaign on grounds of mental health
Rumor: Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and new Star Fox game coming this year, no 3D Mario until 2027
Insider NateTheHate has provided an update on a variety of Nintendo projects, including rumors about Zelda remake, a new Star Fox game, and the lack of a 3D Mario in 2026. This comes from a new podcast published today. It’s claimed that Star Fox will be making a return on Nintendo Switch 2 this summer. Apparently it’ll be a classic...
Devil May Cry 5 seemingly coming to Nintendo Switch 2, getting new Devil Hunter Edition
Devil May Cry 5 has apparently been leaked for Nintendo Switch 2 with the console getting a new Devil Hunter Edition.
Slow roll! Islam Makhachev not fighting until August
Islam Makhachev won’t be fighting over International Fight Week, according to UFC CEO Dana White. Makhachev’s manager was on TMZ Sports yesterday discussing the No. 1 pound for pound fighter and welterweight champion’s next move. He implied a July fight was ‘a done deal,’ but that’s apparently not the case. White came out on social […]
Nintendo's Apparently Cutting US Switch 2 Output After Lower Than Expected Holiday Sales
Quarterly productions revised
Anthropic's Claude Can Now Control Your Computer
The developer is boosting Claude's agentic capabilities in an apparent effort to compete with platforms like OpenClaw.
Watch sperm whale headbutt another for no apparent reason
Researchers have captured extraordinary footage of sperm whales randomly headbutting each other, confirming anecdotal reports from mariners and whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Data Is at the Heart of What Public Health Does
Data is key to protecting the health and safety of a community, from identifying and tracking disease outbreaks to ensuring that water is safe to drink. Data is also vital to understanding where resources are most needed. This value is especially apparent to the officials charged with protecting public health, such as Dr. Janet Berreman, Kauai’s (Kauaʻi’s)* district health officer.
Microsoft Is Finally Ready to Make Windows 11 Less Terrible After Bloating It With AI Crap
Less Copilot, better search, and more taskbar customization are apparently in the pipeline.
Spring Position Battles: Cornerback
If there’s one constant across the Mizzou defense entering the 2026 season, it’s transition — and nowhere is that more apparent than at cornerback. Like nearly every other defensive position group, the Tigers lost a massive amount of production at corner this offseason. Both starters from last fall, Dreydon Norwood and Toriano Pride, Jr., have […]
'Apparently Not Good Enough for Investors' — Crimson Desert Publisher Stock Price Plunges Nearly 30% Amid 78 Metacritic Score
Pearl Abyss, publisher and developer of Crimson Desert, has seen its stock price plunge nearly 30% in what is seen as a reaction to review scores.
The Rams apparently wanted A.J. Brown, too
Things got close, but no deal between the Rams and Eagles.
This Week in Gaming (Week 12)
Welcome to week 12 and a jam cram packed week of rather big new releases. We kick off this week with a AAA release which is an open-world action-adventure that supposedly takes place in a desert, yet apparently not at all. This is followed by a very blocky looking RPG, several deadly sins, a cube of...
Galaxy S26 Ultra display causing eye strain and headache; Samsung is apparently investigating
Are Galaxy S26 Ultra eye strain and headache reports real or just noise? Privacy Display is the headline feature of the new Ultra phone; it’s a great invention, but hit with a slew of complaints that almost every Samsung flagship does. The new Privacy Display is supposed to be the hero feature on the S26 […]
Bracketology: Michigan, Arizona lurking as Duke looks shaky in race for No. 1 overall seed at NCAA Tournament
The Blue Devils' apparent vulnerability makes the race for the No. 1 overall seed interesting
Tech billionaires reportedly plotting $500M fund to reshape California politics
(KRON) — Apparently stung by efforts to bring a proposed “billionaire tax” to the ballot next fall, tech billionaires are reportedly plotting an effort to reshape California polit…
Samsung’s mobile division could see first-ever loss in a bleak smartphone market
As the smartphone market’s immediate future continues to look quite bleak, Samsung’s mobile division could apparently be facing its first-ever...
Buc-ee’s is loved by shoppers, so why did it get red-flagged by the Better Business Bureau? Here’s what you need to know
Despite its popularity with loyal customers, apparently the growing Texas-based gas station chain isn’t so great at responding to complaints.
Apple 'HomePad' to Offer Magnetic Snap-to-Wall Feature and More
Apple's upcoming "HomePad" will offer a magnetic snap-to-wall feature and more, according to the leaker and prototype collector known as "Kosutami". In a new post on X, Kosutami said that one of the HomePad prototypes features a MagSafe-like snap-to-wall capability, along with doorbell integration. It is said to be heavily reliant on Apple Intelligence. They apparently saw this prototype in person.
An AI Company Apparently Inspired by ‘the Sims’ Wants to Revolutionize Public Opinion Research
Figuring out what people think and feel is hard. But what if you just use digitally simulated people?
Amazon down for tens of thousands of users in apparent outage
Shoppers are reporting Amazon on Downdetector, saying the problems ranged from checkout and payment failures to incorrect or fluctuating prices.
Andy Dick Gives Health Update After Apparent Overdose, Says He Woke Up in Ambulance
The comedian recalled the moment during his 'Howie Mandel Does Stuff' podcast appearance on March 3
Andy Dick says his heart stopped after apparent overdose, now has '5 to 7 holes' in his brain
Andy Dick says that his heart stopped after he suffered an apparent overdose in December, and a recent CAT scan showed he has '5 to 7' holes in his brain as he maintains sobriety.
Man in apparent mental health crisis taken by ICE from hospital, transferred out of state
A 27-year-old man, who is a citizen of Mexico was taken by ICE agents from a hospital and out of state against the advice of medical professionals who diagnosed him with acute mental illness.
Apple Accidentally Leaks 'MacBook Neo,' Its Rumored Low-Cost Laptop
Apple apparently uploaded (and promptly deleted) a regulatory document to its website for a MacBook Neo. Will we see it at tomorrow's Apple event?
Trump Administration, in Apparent Reversal, Tries to Continue Fight Against Law Firms
The administration told a court on Monday that it was abandoning its defense of executive orders targeting the firms. But on Tuesday, the Justice Department appeared to abruptly change its position.
PSA: Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen Switch Version Apparently Fixes Legendary Beast Glitch
Good news, trainers
PSA: Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen Switch Version Apparently Fixes Legendary Dog Glitch
Every dog has its day
Trump administration drops suits against law firms with ties to Democrats and other Trump foes
The Trump administration has decided to drop its prolonged court fights against four law firms with ties to Democrats, after it had sought and failed to cut out the firms’ access to the federal government as part of an apparent retribution campaign by President Donald Trump.
Two found dead at Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital in apparent murder-suicide, police say
The hospital remained in lockdown as a security measure late Sunday evening.
Patient, visitor dead after apparent murder-suicide at Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital Sunday night
At this time, WBRC has confirmed that there was a shooting, but details are limited.
Homewood Police investigating apparent murder-suicide at Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital
At this time, WBRC has confirmed that there was a shooting, but details are limited.
Where have the blade lights gone on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro?
Samsung has removed the blade lights from the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro for no apparent reason, after making them a signature of last year's model.
Election observers raise concerns over secret ballot breaches at Gorton and Denton byelection
Democracy Volunteers say they saw 32 cases of apparent collusion – the highest levels in its 10-year history
China's $112 billion cargo gap shows record U.S. tariff evasion
Business owners, shipping merchants, trade attorneys and former customs officials are sounding the alarm over a surge in apparent tariff fraud.
Study identifies medical conditions that could predict future Alzheimer’s disease
The findings could suggest ways to intervene before clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease become apparent.
Nintendo offering refunds for poor Xenoblade Chronicles X Switch 2 upgrade
Nintendo has apparently started refunding those who have asked for their money back for the disappointing Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade. There have been numerous…
Some studios still struggling to obtain Nintendo Switch 2 dev kits to start 2026
While the situation has improved since the launch and pre-launch period, some studios are apparently still struggling to obtain launch kits to make games for Nintendo Switch 2. Arkaden spoke with a number of developers in different parts of the world and reports that they are still “largely unavailable.” The information comes from some teams who previously released games on...
2 killed, 7 wounded in a street shooting after a fight in Richmond's entertainment district
Police in Richmond, Virginia, say an apparent fight on a street in an entertainment district has ended with a shooting that killed two people and wounded seven others.
OpenAI’s iPhone killer device leaks with designs and pricing
This is apparently the awesome device that OpenAI and former Apple designer Jony Ive have been working on. It doesn't sound great.
As Google Home Speaker reboot nears, OpenAI reportedly launching smart speaker with camera
OpenAI is apparently working on a new smart speaker due to launch in 2027, according to a new report. The...
FCC’s Bad Bunny Super Bowl findings are not good for ‘unserious snowflake’ congressman
Things were apparently not as bad as he made them seem.
Indigenous mental health leader in California dies in apparent murder-suicide
A 59-year-old Indigenous woman, a well-known mental health advocate in Northern California’s Humboldt County, was discovered dead in an apparent murder-suicide earlier this…
California mental health advocate killed by her husband, officials say
A mental health advocate was killed by her husband in an apparent murder-suicide.
Guns and mental health struggles. What the apparent online footprint of the Canada school shooter tells us
The suspect in Canada’s Tumbler Ridge mass shooting posted about guns and hunting on her YouTube channel and appeared to have written about her struggles with mental health online, according to social media posts.
Report Reveals iOS 26.4 Beta Release Date
Apple is set to release the first beta version of iOS 26.4 later this month, providing the first real-world look at the Apple Intelligence features promised at WWDC 2024, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims. Gurman revealed the timing in his "Power On" newsletter. Barring further delays, the first beta version of iOS 26.4 is apparently set to release to developers during the week of February 23. The update will "include some components" of the long-anticipated improvements to Siri.
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Investment and Statecraft: The International Politics of Sovereign Wealth Funds - Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
In 1953, Kuwait established the world’s first sovereign wealth fund to invest the country’s oil revenues and generate returns that would reduce its reliance on a single resource. Since then, over 100 separate funds have been created to preserve national wealth and ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. Today, they manage over $10 trillion in global assets. In this discussion with GJIA, political economist Kathryn Lavelle explains the increasingly novel dynamics that surround fund behavior and what the world can come to expect from their growing presence in international financial markets. GJIA: When it comes to the roles sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) play in global markets and politics, what would you say makes them unique? Kathryn Lavelle: Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) operate on behalf of governments as investors. That in itself is a strange relationship. Within them, a core contest takes place between the state’s interests (or sovereign) part of the dynamic, and the money interests (or wealth) part of it, and these two aspects are frequently in contradiction, serving fundamentally different goals. SWFs are also quite fascinating because when you talk to the people who manage these funds, they have an interest in convincing you that the decisions are made almost exclusively on a financial basis—they really will go to great lengths to differentiate their government owners and those who make the management decisions. At the same time, these people ultimately answer to someone in power. Therefore, for most SWFs, it remains deeply unclear who is actually making the investment decisions and for what purposes. Of course, it is not always clear how other vehicles, such as hedge funds and private equity make the decisions they do, but I think what a lot of people find particularly disconcerting about SWFs is that they seem to act on behalf of people who have a different identity from their own. People who could be trying to manipulate politics and markets in a way that would have a long-term effect on their own populations. Regular investors come and go at will, and they only share an interest in profit as far as most of us understand. However, SWFs have that extra “sovereign” part right behind them that obscures their true interest. GJIA: These funds can be found in countries all across the globe, in both authoritarian states and democracies. Would you say SWFs differ in their goals and structures between regime-type? KL: It is not necessarily regime type that makes the goals and structures of SWFs different. It has to do with their economies. Let’s look at a country like China. There’s going to be a debate about exactly how to characterize the regime, but it is a country with many different kinds of sovereign wealth funds, and a particularly opaque state connection to each. At one time, some of the state-owned Chinese oil companies created specialized investment vehicles listed outside Chinese markets that excluded parts of the firms that were more associated with human rights violations. At the same time, the China Investment Corporation (CIC)—China’s largest SWF—draws a lot of concern, not necessarily because of its investment activities, but because of the dynamics of global politics. So, I wouldn’t really tie differences to regime types themselves in a wholesale way, but rather to how such funds are perceived and how they are structured. Saudi Arabia’s SWF is getting all kinds of attention for its involvement in Hollywood, and this takes me right back to when I was a student in the 1980s, when people were concerned about Japanese investment entities buying assets in Hollywood. They aren’t quite the same in financial terms, but it’s the same kind of concern about foreign investment that drives people to be suspicious, and the whole idea that “foreigners are influencing Hollywood.” This holds true across industries, and it reflects where politics are in places like the United States right now. One metric we can try to look at is transparency, where all the funds will tell you, “we are transparent.” The problem you’ll keep running into with this approach is how you value things. When trying to do comparative studies of equity markets, you’ll find that every country doesn’t use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles like we do in the United States. A fund may appear opaque politically and not want people to show what they’re invested in or what their intent with that investment is, but they could also just not be able to report it because of the way it was purchased, or the kinds of shares they purchased. There are some assets out there that really are difficult to put a monetary value on. GJIA: To what extent do domestic politics shape SWF behavior in both the investing “home” country and the recipient “host” country? KL: This depends on the type of fund present and also on the extent to which voters’ political views are able to influence the fund. For example, in a democratic home state like Norway, the SWF doesn’t invest in nuclear weapons or tobacco because of social concerns, but there is a continuing debate over whether it should invest in oil, even though that’s where most of the money comes from. The degree to which Norway will continue to make those investments, and whether they contradict the government’s overall climate goals, is an open question in Norwegian politics. Because of the way the fund’s governance is structured, it may not be easy to resolve. On the other hand, some people consider pension funds, like the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) in Ohio, to be quasi-SWF. They have a very strict separation between the people who make up the management division and the fund owners. No teacher or professor would want to invest in things that may harm the future of their students. At the same time, a fund manager might see an opportunity in a diversified multinational corporation that offers a good return, despite it deriving part of its revenue from e-cigarettes. These contests are very apparent. Domestic politics can work in host countries too. A good example is Singapore’s SWF, Temasek, investing in Thailand’s telecommunications sector. If you study political economy, you already know that countries everywhere are uncomfortable with foreign ownership of their telecom sectors because a foreign entity could monitor or manipulate our communications with each other. In the case of Temasek, there was significant pushback from Thai citizens surrounding the deal, which went on to influence national political sentiment toward Singapore as a whole, underscoring the risks some SWFs may face with their investment choices. In this case, fund behavior led to the dissolution of the entire Thai government in 2006 and a subsequent coup d’état. GJIA: To address some of this unease, the Santiago Principles were established in 2009 to ostensibly promote trust and transparency. From your perspective, have these mechanisms actually changed fund behavior? KL: In international relations theory, we always like to have a clear set of norms and best practices—the orientation we want the proverbial ship to be going in. In that regard, the Santiago Principles at least got the discussion going about which direction SWFs should take at a time when people were very skittish about the growing size of these funds. Nobody wanted them to be out there and potentially destabilizing economies, so talks about disclosure, conditions for withdrawal, and the independence of managers were helpful when initiated. The biggest stumbling block was that there wasn’t exactly a good way to measure compliance with the Principles, let alone how to hold funds to them. If you read the Principles, they’re overall quite vague. In general, a fund doesn’t want to reveal how and why they make certain investment decisions because that information is proprietary—a fund makes money off of how and why it makes decisions—so how do you reconcile that with loosely-defined ideas of openness? Some decisions might have a political purpose. The bottom line is that trying to figure out and assign a score to compliance is not easy, and it is therefore the reason why the Santiago Principles never really got off the ground to the point where they could truly direct fund behavior. GJIA: Many emerging markets are looking to build their own SWFs from mineral and oil revenues. Historically, have funds shaped development trajectories in these countries? KL: I think the big story in international emerging markets investment is that the investment is increasingly no longer unidirectional. In the past multinational corporations of primarily Western background were the main form of foreign direct investment in a country. That has changed dramatically, to the point where you have companies from so-called “developing countries” taking over companies in the United States. Therefore, the landscape of international investment has changed, and I think SWFs are certainly a possibility to be the next step in the game. Historically, you didn’t need an entire financial vehicle to reinvest commodity revenues in your country, but as emerging markets get more financially sophisticated, their capacity to operate such funds has increased. SWFs would allow treasuries to move from relying on holding foreign exchange assets like cash or government bonds to having broader financial markets and targeted growth areas, while easing pressure on welfare expenditures. GJIA: With their increasing financial weight, do you see the presence of SWFs being a factor in the political choices leaders will have to make with regard to domestic and foreign policy? KL: It will depend on just how big the funds get. One of the reasons people are already apprehensive is because of their scale, and if certain SWFs in certain countries achieve a large-enough size, the presence will absolutely be cause for concern. The other factor political leaders will have to consider are their objectives. It’s not always clear how to define a SWF, or even where its activity is concentrated, but it is certainly a worry from the perspective of national security of opaque external investment. More than that, I think one of the most interesting questions going forward is whether the United States, the home to the world’s largest financial markets, will develop its own fund, for which the Trump administration announced a plan. There have also been several proposals in Congress. Were it to come into being, it would have tremendous weight. At the same time, one of the hallmarks of U.S. capitalism is a lack of government ownership of shares, so it would not be clear how such a fund would be received in domestic politics, or which direction it would take. Given how politically fragmented the country is, a Democratic administration would likely be concerned about different sectors of the economy, such as healthcare, and want investment there, rather than a Republican administration, which might prefer defense industries. No investment vehicle could thrive under conditions of such instability. Moreover, it remains unclear where the money to fund a theoretical U.S. SWF would come from. It would be a fundamentally different entity depending on whether it is financed with debt, economic surplus, commodities, or the sale of state companies, as in the case of Singapore. If it is debt, or government borrowing of some form, then the fund would have to outperform whatever the cost of that debt is, which is not an easy thing to do. I think our political leaders have enough on their plate. Our system has worked well keeping political and investment functions generally separate. We have seen different forms of business rise and fall, and even the perception of different countries, all of which funds are tied to. Unless a major SWF either starts—like in the case of the United States—or collapses—an issue that concerns the Saudis, I don’t see any political tsunamis on the horizon. . . . Kathryn Lavelle is the Ellen and Dixon Long Professor of World Affairs at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her research explores the exchange between domestic and international and political institutions with a particular emphasis on political economy and multilateralism. Dr. Lavelle’s first book, The Politics of Equity Finance in Emerging Markets, explored the political circumstances that surround large issues of stock in the developing world. After being granted tenure at Case Western, she was awarded an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship and named the William A. Steiger fellow, a designation given to the most promising political scientist in her class of fellows. While in Washington during 2006-2007, she worked on the staff of the House Committee on Financial Services on issues related to domestic and international monetary policy. Dr. Lavelle holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University; an M.A. in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia; and a bachelor’s degree in international economics from Georgetown University. She is a permanent member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Interview conducted by Sid Mehrotra. Image Credit: Jason Leung, Unsplash Content Licenses, via Unsplash
On Politics: The unwritten rule of politics Mamdani faces with 11 inches of snow
There’s little that bedevils a New York City mayor quite like a snowstorm.John Lindsay, running for re-election in 1969, could not get Queens properly plowed, and 42 people across the city would end up dead. Neither Michael Bloomberg nor Bill de Blasio encountered such carnage, but each of them faced down snow-related controversies: the billionaire Bloomberg for apparently being at his Bermuda retreat when snow struck the city in late 2010, and Bill de Blasio, in early 2014, for not allegedly sufficiently plowing the Upper East Side.Now it’s Zohran Mamdani’s turn to confront the snow. The 34-year-old newly-elected mayor, wildly popular with young leftists, must prove he can manage the city through a monster snowstorm. Partisanship is out the window. More than 11 inches fell on Central Park by the end of Sunday — a Jan. 25 record — and extreme cold is expected to remain in the city for the rest of the week.New Yorkers will, to a degree, be in danger. And it’ll be up to Mamdani to prove he can lead.