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Mario Kart World 1.7.0 update out now, new Knockout Tour routes added
Mario Kart World has just received a hefty 1.7.0 update. Nintendo Switch 2 users should be seeing the version roll out now. This update brings quite a lot to the table, with the headliner being two new routes in knockout tour. They have also added the ability to use unlocked stickers in photo mode, balance adjustments, and a whole lot...
The Lasting Consequences of Bad Climate Science
The retirement of flawed baseline emissions scenarios will initiate changes across energy policy, regulation, and law.
Political parties can now spend unlimited money supporting candidates, after Supreme Court overturns decades of precedent
A huge amount of money flows into campaigns in the United States. For 20 years, the Supreme Court has been loosening rules for who can contribute and how much. It just loosened the rules again.
The invasive fern that science misidentified for decades
Salvinia molesta can double its biomass in 36 hours. It spreads across ponds, lakes and slow-moving waterways in a smothering green mat, blocking sunlight, consuming oxygen and collapsing the ecosystems ...
“Big Brother: Unlocked” announces hosting shakeup and new game twist
Taylor and Derrick are back, but with a new cohost.
Supreme Court strikes down limits on party spending in federal elections
The court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections.
The John Rogers Contrarian Playbook: How Envista, MSG Entertainment, and Smucker Stack Up for Retirement Investors
John Rogers built his fortune hunting unloved stocks that the market abandoned too soon, but three of his favorite contrarian bets look very different when filtered through the lens of retirement income and low volatility.
Goodman: He could have been an international spy, but chose a different path
The soccer culture of Birmingham, Alabama, that produced Chris Richards has an unlikely origin story.
GTA 6 Could Skip 60 FPS Entirely, as Rockstar’s Insane Detail Forces a 30 FPS Lock Even on PS5 Pro
With GTA 6, Rockstar Games is set to raise the bar for what is possible to achieve on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S much like the studio did with Red Dead Redemption 2, but this is likely coming at a price. Although the highly anticipated next entry in the series is rumored to feature a performance mode running at 60 FPS, it is extremely unlikely this is real, as, according to the tech experts at Digital Foundry, the level of detail shown in the latest footage would make it very difficult to scale everything down to allow for 60 […]
Weird Science: Space enthusiasts helping train AI system to unlock deep secrets of spiral galaxies
Led by Dr. Patrick Treuthardt of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, the project asks everyday volunteers to review automated, color-coded maps of spiral galaxy arms.
'Staying away from the middle will be hardest': Sachin Tendulkar's emotional message to Ben Stokes after retirement
Sachin Tendulkar led heartfelt tributes to Ben Stokes following his retirement from international cricket. Tendulkar lauded Stokes' fearless approach, match-winning ability, and inspirational leadership, calling him one of England's finest all-rounders and captains. Stokes, who bowed out after a Test series loss, expressed contentment with his decision, citing years of physical and mental demands as the primary reason for stepping away.
Supreme Court's ruling in Cook case backs Federal Reserve's independence
The Supreme Court on Monday said the Federal Reserve, unlike any other agency in Washington, has a measure of independence from the presidency and day-to-day politics.
Plutonium compound unlocks rare topological quantum behavior with potential nuclear science applications
Plutonium is one of the most complex elements in the periodic table. First synthesized and isolated in 1940 by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, plutonium has been studied closely ...
KC council wants to crack down on unlicensed businesses that lead to violence
A city law change is being considered weeks after a shooting at an unregistered nightclub.
Netflix and Superheroes Are Having a Rough Stretch on Streaming....
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) I have a quick prediction before we start today’s article: You might see this data in future news articles. Not my specific charts or analysis, but the core trend I’ve been monitoring—Netflix is having a lackluster Q2—will become inescapable. Often, folks want to know “What does the data say?” Well, that’s what it says. I haven’t seen this analysis hit the trades really yet, but I have a feeling some other outlets are going to start making this case soon. Remember, you read it here first. You probably have read about the problems facing superhero films at the box office this weekend. Well, this week, I explore whether superheroes are dying on TV as well! And the data says: definitely maybe! We have a lot to cover in today’s Streaming Ratings Report, which covers the two weeks of 18-May and 25-May. Today, I’m just looking at TV, like Netflix’s disappointing Q2, superhero shows underwhelming, a few TV shows dropping off the charts, The Pitt finally ending its epic run on the viewership charts (and whether “view counts” change its status as one of the biggest shows of all time), all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Tomorrow, I’ve got a great rundown of the film side of things. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, Showlabs, TV Time trend data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of May 18th to May 31st, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Netflix’s Q2 Slump Continues Having analyzed streaming ratings for going on half a decade, I have learned to trust my gut, but I’m always relieved when I can find actual data to back it up. For example, after a string of very popular shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Night Agent came out, week after week, in January and February, my gut wondered if Netflix had enough new and returning TV shows to sustain them throughout the year. Since then, Netflix’s post-March slate of shows has not impressed me. This week seemed to feature a potential new hit, but then, like a classic Duffer Bros. TV show, there was a twist. I speak of The Boroughs, Netflix’s latest (and last) Duffer Bros. produced show. The pitch is “Stranger Things with older actors”. And it topped the Nielsen charts: With just two weeks of viewership, The Boroughs would have been a top 25 debut show last year: But here’s the twist: Netflix has already cancelled The Boroughs! What happened? Likely a few things. First, the show didn’t do as well globally as it did in the US. As What’s on Netflix showed, it lagged behind several other shows that got cancelled. Second, its completion rate was likely low; after an initial burst of interest, it quickly dropped off on the Samba TV and Luminate charts. Third, the Duffer Bros. left Netflix for Paramount, and that may have factored into Netflix’s decision here. (Though I tend to believe that if a show is doing well, Netflix would have kept greenlighting seasons.) Still, just because I can explain why Netflix may have cancelled this show doesn’t mean I’m justifying it. In particular, as I’ve noted before, Netflix is losing a lot of their bigger shows as they reach their natural ends, and they need to replace those shows. This show had the hallmarks of a big new genre show, and it’s their biggest hit of the last few months (in the US at least), but now it’s done. Netflix’s other show this week—The Four Seasons, the second season of the “hit” show from last year—definitely disappointed. Its sophomore season had about half the viewership of the first, only 12.7 million hours. It also only had a two week run on Samba TV, and its numbers were all down on Luminate too. In other words, even with two successes, the Q2 slump for Netflix looks real: I could add to the list of disappointments: Both Lord of the Files and Man on Fire had short runs on the Nielsen charts. Running Point’s sophomore season also opened to about half its viewership, similar to The Four Seasons. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’s second season—see below—didn’t even make any of the three viewership charts I track, unlike the first season. Netflix is absolutely having a dismal second three months of 2026. If this Nielsen data is any indication, and I think it is, I think this will show up in Netflix’s engagement report, and maybe even their financial outcomes. And the rest of June doesn’t look much better. We have two hit shows coming back—Sweet Magnolias, one of their quietest big shows, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a big hit for them in 2024—but the other big swings are limited series crime thrillers i.e. no future season potential. Like I said above, sometimes when I uncover a juicy nugget like this, other outlets end up writing very similar articles mimicking the data without credit. We’ll see if that happens this time! Share Television - The State of Superhero Shows on Streaming When I first heard the pitch for Spider-Noir—a Sony TV show on Prime Video that binge-released eight episodes first on MGM+ then on Prime Video two days later—I had my doubts. It’s a live-action Spider-Man show set in the 1930s, starring Nicholas Cage, based on a cameo of a character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. No, seriously, that’s the pitch. That could either go terrifically well or horribly wrong. Great because, Spider-Man. He’s the biggest superhero we have. I’ve seen tracking numbers that put the new _Spider-Man: Brand New Da_y as the blockbuster of the year and initial pre-sales back that up. And yet this Spider-Noir pitch feels very esoteric. (Also, the eight-episode binge release feels very “Amazon copying Netflix” again.) So what’s the data say? And what does this say about the future of superhero shows?
Trump unloads after Supreme Court upholds late mail-in ballots in Mississippi
Trump slams Supreme Court ruling allowing late mail-in ballots, demands Congress pass the SAVE Act requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship.
WATCH: Bill Maher says Vance interview critics wouldn’t be happy unless he ‘punched him in the nose’
Bill Maher dismisses backlash over his JD Vance interview on "Real Time with Bill Maher," saying critics wouldn't be happy unless he punched Vance.
'Werwulf' trailer: Robert Eggers and Aaron Taylor-Johnson unleash the beast within
Get ready for the spookiest trailer you'll see today.
The strangest transfer story of 2026 starts with a loophole
By entering the portal as a track athlete, he unlocked a path most football players never consider.
Sharks Sign Kesselring, How To Unlock His Potential?
The San Jose Sharks have signed Michael Kesselring. The Sharks signed the 26-year-old defenseman to a three-year, $13.5 million contract ($4.5 million AAV), buying up two of his UFA seasons. There were no trade protections. Kesselring was a pending RFA. The #SJSharks signed recently acquired 26 y/o RFA RD Michael Kesselring to 3 year $4.5M […] The post Sharks Sign Kesselring, How To Unlock His Potential? appeared first on San Jose Hockey Now.
At Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas, fear is always in season
Your nightmare awaits at the AREA15 year-round attraction.
AI could unleash ‘single greatest productivity revolution’ if Washington avoids overreach: report
The Unleash Prosperity report, titled "Boomsday Not Doomsday," argues AI could help ease housing costs, boost productivity and move workers into higher-value roles.
Being broke costs you 13 IQ points, according to science. Here's the number that changes everything.
CreditNinja reports that saving your first $10,000 unlocks financial stability, improving decision-making and reducing stress, ultimately boosting cognitive function.
Iran Might Be The Unluckiest Sports Team Ever
After two late goals in another game sealed Iran’s fate, Team Melli was left to rue one of the most brutal exits in World Cup history.
Bullseye! Enormous 'bow and arrow' galaxy is unlike anything radio astronomers have ever seen — Space photo of the week
Astronomers and citizen scientists have discovered RAD-BAARG, a radio galaxy with a striking bow-and-arrow shape, offering a rare direct view of a galaxy falling into the environment of a galaxy cluster.
Scientists finally explain why these wild boars stay more radioactive than Chernobyl's wolves - Futura-Sciences
What explains this surprising finding? The answer appears to be a complex mix of history, ecology, and diet. Bavaria’s wild boars mainly feed on underground fungi that absorbed radioactive fallout from both the notorious Chernobyl disaster and Cold War-era nuclear testing. Unlike wolves, which sit higher on the food chain...
Federal health officials recall chicken, other items in Washington
The Washington State Department of Health recalled chicken, pasta salad and raisins for potentially containing unlisted ingredients.
Tired of long waits? Mochi Health offers virtual care starting at $39
Mochi Health now offers full-service virtual care with unlimited visits, flexible pharmacy options and plans starting as low as $39.
Ex-Trump adviser John Bolton expected to plead guilty in classified information case
Bolton to plead guilty charges that he unlawfully retained sensitive national security information in agreement that includes $2.25m fine
Scientists stunned by signs of ancient life in a place no one expected
Scientists exploring ancient seafloor rocks in Morocco discovered mysterious wrinkle patterns where they were never expected to occur. These structures are normally linked to microbial mats in shallow, sunlit waters, yet the rocks formed hundreds of feet below the surface in darkness. Evidence indicates that chemosynthetic microbes created the wrinkles, revealing that deep-ocean microbial ecosystems may have been more widespread than previously thought.
Ozone Ascent: Mega Rayquaza Timed Research
From Saturday, July 25, at 10:00 a.m. to Sunday, July 26, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. local time free Timed Research will be available to all Trainers that rewards a Meteorite that enables you to Mega Evolve Rayquaza! Complete the research tasks to earn a Meteorite, an encounter with Rayquaza, and more. Unlike other Mega-Evolving Pokémon, […]
It's Xbox's turn (again), as console prices keep going up
Microsoft announced a price hike for the Xbox Series consoles today, the third in little over a year. Effective August 1, the Xbox Series S, which launched in 2020 for $300, will cost $500 in the U.S. The Xbox Series X, which launched in 2020 at $500, will go for $800. This follows a round of PlayStation 5 price increases from Sony this spring, and a slow-motion increase for Nintendo’s Switch 2, which will kick in in the U.S. in September. (Mind you, there were also eight video game industry price hikes in six months of 2025). The chart up top shows the sudden ascent of console prices over the past year, a sudden surge in an already unusual hardware generation. Prices had been flat for years, now “up” is the new “flat.” Game console prices used to go down across the length of a console generation, but not this time around. Microsoft’s explanation for the new price hike today: We hoped another price increase would not be necessary, and we have spent the last several months working with suppliers on options. Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027. The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles. Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are typically not sold at a profit, but instead for less than they cost to make. This is an issue well beyond game consoles. Apple announced price hikes on its computers and tablets today as well. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: Brutal Bungie cuts Bungie laid off “most” of its Destiny development team and some developers who worked on Marathon, the newest game from the struggling Sony-owned studio. A WARN notice issued by Sony to Washington State, where Bungie is based, tallied cuts impacting 292 workers, effective next month. That’s strictly for Bungie/Sony jobs in Washington and wouldn’t account for any elsewhere. The video I clipped below shows the redacted list of Bungie cuts filed to Washington State officials. As you’ll see, I had to scroll for a while… In a note emailed to PlayStation workers and published online, PlayStation game studios chief Hermen Hulst offered the following explanation for these latest cuts at Bungie: This is painful news, especially for talented colleagues whose roles have been eliminated. This decision was made only after extensive discussion and careful consideration, and I want to provide some context on how we arrived here. Over the past several months, together with Bungie leadership, we reviewed the studio’s long-term direction, development priorities, resource needs, and role within our broader portfolio strategy. We explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals. In 2022, Sony bought Bungie for $3.7 billion. The studio’s marquee game, the multiplayer live service shooter Destiny 2 was losing popularity at the time. Its next game Marathon, released earlier this year, has been well-reviewed but had a slow start. Bungie is renowned for making great shooter games, and Destiny fans have mourned the wind-down of Destiny 2. They’ve also expressed bewilderment over reports that Destiny 3 is not, per Bloomberg, immediately in the cards.
Dunleavy vetoes some health and education increases approved by Alaska lawmakers
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy canceled funding increases for a variety of state health and education programs on Wednesday, vetoing a combined $57.8 million in general-purpose money from state budget bills passed by the Legislature.
Graham Platner backs legal maneuver using Maine law to rein in political spending
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner wants to overturn the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections by any means possible. He supports a constitutional amendment and ethics rules on the high court, which the Sullivan oyster farmer included in his latest policy rollout […]
Supreme Court strikes down Hawaii law requiring permission to carry guns in stores and hotels
The high court's 6-3 decision means people can carry guns onto privately owned property like shopping malls and gas stations, unless the owners specifically say guns are banned at their establishments.
How should European scientists respond to the US AI kill switch?
Earlier in June, Europe’s worst fears of technological dependence were confirmed when the White House ordered the AI firm Anthropic to stop non-US citizens using its leading models. This kill-switch moment crystalised anxieties in Brussels that the continent, lagging the US on the creation of leading-edge AI models, is now a technological of vassal of Washington. The shock has specific implications for European scientists and universities. Some governments are now worried that with AI being integrated into labs, Donald Trump now has his finger hovering over an off switch for European science. “Having restrictions on this tool, it can have an impact on our own research,” said France’s research minister, Philippe Baptiste, at the VivaTech conference in Paris on June 18.Baptiste, himself a former academic, said that colleagues in mathematics had recently warned him they were now cut off from leading-edge US models, risking their work. “This model is not available anymore now because of the US restriction, and for the first time this had an impact on mathematics,” a field where large language models (LLMs) are making a significant contribution, said Baptiste. So, should European scientists avoid relying on US models in the future? Or would this be a self-harming overreaction? And how is AI being used in science, anyway? What happened?On June 12, it emerged that Washington, citing cybersecurity concerns, had ordered Anthropic to stop non-US citizens using two models: Claude Mythos 5, and Claude Fable 5, a version of Mythos but with guardrails to prevent abuse. Anthropic said Washington’s concerns were overblown. But forced to follow the order, yet with no way to check who was using the models, the company suddenly shut down access for everyone, US citizens included. There’s still no agreement on how to restore broad access. But last week, Bloomberg reported that select US companies, and the US government, still had access to Mythos despite the ban, but the EU’s cybersecurity agency Enisa had been shut out. Class division of researchersIn the longer term, access outside the US should be restored, said Marcel Salathé, co-director of the AI centre at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL), because a permanent restriction would be financially ruinous to US AI firms. “Even Trump will eventually budge to economic pressure,” he said.However, US AI firms might end up operating rather like banks, doing due diligence on users of their leading-edge AI models, he went on.European scientists are unlikely to fall foul of such checks, he said. But having a Chinese postgraduate in their lab, or doing a type of research the US disapproved of, could potentially result in access being denied. “It will create a sort of class division of researchers,” he said. More than frontier modelsHowever, successfully deploying AI in science is about far more than just having access to leading LLMs such as Mythos.Instead, many science-specific tools, most famously Alphafold, which predicts protein folding structures, require “far less” computing power to train than frontier models, well within the capabilities of European supercomputers, according to a recent analysis by the Arq Foundation, a Brussel-based AI think tank. Instead, tools such as Alphafold are possible because certain fields, like protein folding, weather prediction or astronomy, have large, clean, standardised datasets that can be used to train predictive models. Rather than compute, “data is the central constraint for AI for science,” the report says. For example, a less powerful physics model trained on CERN’s data “will be more valuable than the best model without certain data,” said Bengüsu Özcan, author of the report. European advantage?Europe could therefore steal a march by using its scientific data and infrastructure to create models US digital giants cannot. “They might actually match or go even beyond what these big [US] companies are doing,” said Özcan.Indeed, some European start-ups hope to create automated testing labs to create the kind of standardised data that could speed up the discovery of new materials. Materials scientists say there’s currently too little data to train models. AI scientistsHowever, even if the bottleneck for AI in science is often data, rather than compute, being at the mercy of the US for LLM access could still become a problem for European scientists. A new class of “AI scientists” based on leading LLMs is also emerging, Özcan’s report says.Unlike domain-specific tools like Alphafold, these try to automate day-to-day scientific work, by providing an overarching tool that coordinates specific models to synthesise existing literature, generate hypotheses or run analysis of data. The problem for Europe, however, is that these tools are sometimes based on US leading models. Google Deepmind’s AI Co-Scientist, for example, is built on Google’s Gemini LLM. Systematic failureThese scientific automation tools are still in their early stages, and still exhibit “systematic failures on scientific tasks,” Özcan’s report says. One of the problems is that the messy, day-to-day process of scientific discovery is largely not documented, meaning LLMs don’t have a good source of data to learn how scientists actually work. Meanwhile, some tasks, such as literature synthesis, don’t typically require access to leading edge models.However, the performance of AI scientific assistants could improve as companies such as Google pour resources into developing them. Rely on US“Unfortunately, for scientific assistants, there is not much we can do right now except rely on US frontier AI,” said Antoine Bosselut, a natural language processing expert based at EPFL. Chinese-built open models, which can run on local computers, lessening the risk of a shutdown, are touted as one alternative to US dependence. There’s also Mistral, once seen as Europe’s main AI hope, but the Paris-based company has seen its recent models fall behind in performance. But the Chinese alternatives are generally not as capable as US frontier AI models, said Bosselut, unless paired with fiddly, custom tools that allows them to act as independent agents. “Most scientists do not have the time,” he said. Don’t jump ship yetAlthough the kill switch moment is seen a warning shot for European scientists, it doesn’t mean labs should abandon US AI tools immediately. “I do not think the right response is simply to abandon US-based models and systems under the banner of sovereignty or independence,” said Mattias Björnmalm, secretary general of the Cesaer university association. “That would be an overreaction.”Related articlesEuropean sovereignty in AI requires ‘ugly trade-offs,’ say experts Robotic lab start-up makes case for €500M EU-funded materials testing facilityAI in science: is it useful? Instead, European researchers need to ask themselves whether they’re becoming dependent on technology that could be turned off in Washington, said Özcan. “They might not see this today, but they should really start asking this question,” she said. European researchers need a plan B, said Salathé. “I would recommend to every researcher, very proactively explore alternatives.”Own toolsIn addition, Björnmalm and others want European research institutions to develop their own scientific AI tools.Instead of signing AI deals with US digital giants, European universities should be using this money to create their own models, which may end up being superior for research, said Sabine Leonelli, an expert on the use of AI in science at the Technical University of Munich. “Universities in Europe seem to be happy to sign commercial contracts with US companies on the assumption [their AI tools] are better,” she said. But US frontier LLMs are typically opaque, and have been developed without independent scientific input, she said. “This is not good enough for science.”Last year, Swiss researchers released Apertus, an LLM designed to be completely transparent, from its development methods to its training data. The idea is that this makes scientific tools built on top of the model far more reproducible than with closed, commercial alternatives.“Europe needs more of this: serious capacity-building that gives researchers, universities and companies credible options,” said Björnmalm.
Scientists have just unlocked the secrets of an ancient scroll torched by Mount Vesuvius
After a centuries-long struggle, scholars managed to read five feet of text, using machine-learning methods they hope can unlock further discoveries.
ENTERTAINMENT: Musical premieres; library program covers Black musicians
Experience the premiere of "Cotta Blue," a theatrical musical inspired by the Mississippi Delta, featuring music, awards, and a post-show jam session at the Ritz Theatre in Malvern.
We’ve Been Wrong About Sunlight for Decades—Here’s What the Science Says
We've been demonizing sunlight for years. A new book by Rowan Jacobsen digs into the science—and says we've got it all wrong.
As Blockbusters Loom, Monkey Business at the Supreme Court
An unlikely trio of justices issued a slashing critique of plea bargains that included several references to orangutans.
Could mountains be key to unlocking hydrogen’s potential?
Researchers assessed likelihood gas was produced during creation of Alps, Pyrenees and Baetic mountains
Dodgers Unleashing Shohei Ohtani Despite Recent Injury Concerns
The Dodgers will allow star Shohei Ohtani to hit and pitch on Wednesday vs. the Twins despite a run of complications over the last few weeks.
A review argues the family dog may become science’s unlikely ally against autism
This peer-reviewed Perspective synthesizes a decade of research on a surprising candidate for autism science: the laboratory Beagle. Drawing together scattered studies, the review authors argue that dogs carrying engineered changes in the Shank3 gene reproduce core human features of autism spectrum disorder, including social withdrawal, altered sensory responses, and reduced attention to the eyes of a face. The synthesis assembles, for the first time in one place, the parallels between mutant dogs and autistic people, alongside early signals that oxytocin, a psychedelic, and a third compound may soften these traits. The authors frame the dog as a complementary, ethically governed model, not a replacement for existing ones.
Tax audit measure qualifies for November ballot
The measure is scheduled to be certified for the ballot on June 25 unless it is withdrawn by its proponent before then
Automakers could halt car sales in California without delay in vehicle tracking law
A group representing major automakers warned on Tuesday that car companies may be forced to halt sales of both new and used vehicles in California on July 1 unless the state delays vehicle technology rules that aim to prevent perpetrators of domestic violence from tracking survivors.
Roku May Help Fox Avoid Aggregeddon
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Scrolling through links over the last week, I stumbled across this fun headline: Wow. Formula 1 (the sport, not the docu-series) is the perfect “dog not barking”. As a reminder, each week in my Streaming Ratings Report, I call out the shows that miss every viewership chart. I dub them “dogs not barking”—like the Sherlock Holmes mystery—because without any data, we forget they even exist. This is in contrast to something like, say, a film flop—cough The Mandalorian and Grogu cough—where even underperforming at the box office is widely discussed here, there and everywhere. In the US, Formula 1 is now in “no public viewership data, so not discussed” territory. After moving to Apple TV from its former home of ESPN, basically no one talks about it. Apple did publish an initial, unsourced, unsubstantiated, (dare I say unserious) datecdote claiming more folks are watching Formula 1 on Apple than ESPN, but we haven’t gotten any updates since. This stands in contrast to when the sport streamed on ESPN, and ESPN PR provided weekly viewership figures. Formula 1 was, at best, a niche sport in America—averaging 1.3 million viewers in the Big Data Plus era—but now it’s basically anonymous. (And yeah, after moving to Apple, I very, very, very much doubt its ratings increased.) Unfortunately, that story isn’t quite big enough to warrant a section in today’s “Most Important Story of the Week” column, but I wanted to call it out, because otherwise, no one else will! Certainly, no one will write articles about the silence/ratings decline, unlike when they wrote breathless articles connecting the rise in viewership to Netflix’s Drive to Survive, including Reuters just last month. (This is a topic I’ve tried to provide a moderate/nuanced/non-hyped take since 2022.) Anyway, on to this week’s issue. I was a bit worried I didn’t have a juicy topic, then the Murdochs went out and did their Murdoch thing: buying Roku. So that’s the story of the week, and it happens to touch on quite a few themes of the streaming wars and the disruption therein. I’ll cover that, plus why more consolidation in Hollywood media looks likely, more good news on the Hollywood labor front, whether we’ll see an uptick in production in Los Angeles, some Broadway and theme park news, cellphone prices going up in the third world (and possibly everywhere), and more. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Another Big Media & Entertainment Merger The story of the week is clearly Fox is buying Roku for $22 billion. I read a lot of good strategy takes on why Fox bought this streaming TV device maker—and I’ll have mine below—but what fascinates me more is how this deal connects to quite a few themes of the streaming wars, linking to everything from the pace of M&A to “aggregeddon” to Netflix’s recent M&A actions/inactions to the shift to advertising from pure play streaming and more. The only topic I can’t really connect it to is my old theory, “never bet against Rupert Murdoch” because he isn’t the one who did this deal; his son Lachlan inked it. (Do I think he provided advice, even at his 95 years of age? Sure.) That plus I have one additional piece of strategy for all entertainment players, inspired by this deal. So let’s dive into all those topics, starting with why I like this deal. Roku is a Great M&A Buy
2026 World Cup: England, Scotland and Europe
The late-June rhythm of a World Cup is unlike anything else in the football calendar. With the group phase building towards its climax, fixtures are stacking up at a pace that leaves barely a moment t...
Unlikely Vikings Rookie Is Getting All the Buzz
For the first time in years, the Vikings acquired a deep and promising rookie class with several candidates for early […]
Advances in materials science are helping unlock secrets of nanomaterials
New instruments on the horizon promise the most precise tools yet to study and experiment on the smallest and most complex materials ever manufactured. In a paper published in the journal Nature Materials, ...
People-Powered Research With a Twist
Verify the work of an algorithm to unlock the secrets of spiral galaxies! Anyone with a smartphone or laptop can do this project.
NASA’s Cold Atom Lab is creating one of the weirdest forms of matter in space
NASA’s upgraded Cold Atom Lab is turning the International Space Station into a frontier for quantum research, creating ultra-cold matter that behaves in astonishing ways. The experiments could unlock new discoveries about the universe while paving the way for powerful future technologies in space and on Earth.
Giants Reportedly 'Pessimistic' About Rafael Devers Trade Chances
The San Francisco Giants are unlikely to move the former Boston Red Sox star this summer.
Private equity unlikely to dominate cardiology despite hype
Medaxiom CEO Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA, FACC, discusses investor's interest in buying cardiology practices, noting that PE ownership remains relatively low.
The Trump administration is threatening to cut DHS funding unless states change their election laws. Here are their demands
Tobey Maguire’s ex-wife Jennifer Meyer welcomes third baby at 49
Jennifer Meyer, the ex-wife of Tobey Maguire, has announced that she has welcomed her third child at 49 with her fiancé, Geoff Ogunlesi.
Exclusive: Trump administration uses homeland security funds to force states into election changes
The Trump administration is threatening to withhold tens of millions of dollars in federal homeland security funds from states unless they adopt a sweeping set of election changes, according to multiple sources and internal documents obtained by CNN.
From Materials Simulation to Experimental Astronomy, New NVIDIA AI Software Unlocks Scientific Discoveries
NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries, microservices and reference code accelerate AI for science.
God of War Laufey Star Deborah Ann Woll Breaks Silence on a Massive 10-Year Secret: “I Still Pinch Myself”
Renowned actress Deborah Ann Woll, best known as Jessica Hamby in True Blood and Karen Page in Daredevil, has spoken with CGMagazine about her lead role in God of War Laufey as the titular character. In an interview conducted during Game Con Canada, Woll confirmed what Game Director Ariel Lawrence had revealed earlier this month: Head of Creative Cory Barlog had this game in mind even before the launch of God of War 2018, and there was already a poster featuring Laufey and Phranque (the cosmic cube). Related Story Unlocking the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro’s Real Performance Will […]
U.S. and FIFA have room for improvement as hosts for the World Cup
At this World Cup, Iran has been subjected to shifting travel restrictions and uncertainty unlike the other 47 teams.
DOJ may be able to release potentially embarrassing Biden audio recordings unless courts step in
Former President Joe Biden is in an uphill battle to try to stop the Justice Department from sharing recordings it collected of him speaking to his ghostwriter in 2016 and 2017, during which his speech and memory faltered.
Google quietly added a major high-res audio feature to Pixels with Android 17
Android 17 quietly introduces native LHDC audio support, unlocking high-res wireless audio for Pixel devices with compatible earbuds.
The Bucs unleashing Rueben Bain Jr. would help their defense
One analyst believes Tampa Bay's defense could benefit from allowing Rueben Bain Jr. to immediately play to his strengths.
Butterfly that barely ages could help unlock longevity secrets
Scientists discovered that Heliconius butterflies have evolved an extraordinary lifespan, living several times longer than closely related species. Even more surprising, some show little sign of physical decline as they age. Their unusual pollen-feeding lifestyle may play a role, but the research suggests deeper evolutionary changes are also helping them stay healthy for longer.
Scientists Finally Uncover Why Solid-State Batteries Short-Circuit
Researchers have uncovered a critical mechanism behind battery failure in solid-state batteries, offering new insights that could help unlock safer, longer-lasting energy storage technologies.
Jeff Lee explains why rodeo avoids politics and focuses on American values
Rodeo 250 production manager Jeff Lee discusses why the rodeo industry has largely avoided political controversies, unlike some musicians.
Appreciation: Sitcom mastermind James Burrows made TV feel like family
LOS ANGELES — Unlike the movies, where directors get the glory, TV directors sit lower in the hierarchy, below creators, producers and actors. In most series, which might employ several
I Finally Realized How I Know 'Sweet Magnolias' Star Brooke Elliott & It Hit Me Like a Truck
I finally realized where I knew Sweet Magnolias star Brooke Elliott from, and the answer unlocked a whole TV memory. Here's the iconic role I completely forgot about.
Scientists found a cannabis compound that relieves pain without the high
Compounds responsible for the aroma of cannabis and many other plants may offer a surprising new way to relieve chronic pain. Researchers found that several cannabis-derived terpenes significantly reduced pain in mouse models of fibromyalgia and post-surgical pain, with one terpene, geraniol, showing especially strong effects. Unlike THC, these compounds are not associated with psychoactive effects, making them a potentially attractive alternative for pain treatment.
Steelers insider hints at plan for major QB opportunity
The Pittsburgh Steelers are unlikely to forfeit a premium draft pick for Brendan Sorsby in the upcoming NFL Supplemental Draft.
How Taylor Swift\'s new single is curing my homesickness [Unscripted column]
Unlike most college students, I am not home for the summer right now.
Battenfeld: Michelle Wu’s unlikely nemesis — ex-con Dianne Wilkerson
Wilkerson, who ran for her old seat in 2022, is trying to mobilize Boston’s Black community in what could be an attempt to put together a powerful voting bloc in a future election. So she is a threat to Wu and has the potential to embarrass…
Iranian Guard’s business empire to win big if U.S. sanctions lifted
As the two sides eye a deal to end the war that could unlock billions of dollars for Iran, the elite Revolutionary Guard is poised to be one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Ancient Gem Popular With Romans And Victoria's Elite Found In New Martian Rock
An international team of scientists has discovered a completely new type of rock and the mineral garnet in a Martian meteorite fragment, unlocking fresh secrets about the geological evolution of Mars.
Real Estate Is Still a People Business
Unless you’ve been avoiding the internet for the past few years, you’ve probably noticed that artificial intelligence is everywhere. From customer service chatbots to content creation and personal assistants, AI is reshaping how people work, communicate, and access information. Real estate is no exception. Buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals are incorporating AI into their […]
Some butterflies live 25 times longer than their relatives. Scientists are unlocking their secrets
A tropical butterfly from the Heliconius tribe has evolved to live a maximum lifespan of 348 days, nearly 25 times longer than its relatives.
Dispatch Politics Roundup: Euphoria in the Capitol
Your weekly roundup from Washington, D.C.
Earthshine: imaging the Moon for science
This image is part of a series captured by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot for the European Earthshine experiment, which investigates whether we can measure how much sunlight Earth reflects by using the Moon as a natural projection screen.
Dunlap wins Democratic nomination for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District
The seat is open following the surprise decision in November by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, not to seek reelection.
New legislation to open Allentown NIZ’s tax records adds small-business program
Unlike previous bills, this one will have a component to enhance small businesses in the NIZ with an assistance program.
Pingree and Charles will compete for Maine governor and Dunlap gets Democratic nod for US House
Democrat Hannah Pingree and Republican Bobby Charles will compete to become Maine’s next governor | 830 WCCO
Matt Dunlap Wins Democratic House Primary in Maine’s Swing District
Mr. Dunlap, a progressive Democrat, is set to face former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, in a competitive general election in November.
Exclusive | Pentagon Tells Lawmakers It Needs $80 Billion for Iran War and Other Bills
Military officials say the services could run out of money for operations this summer unless Congress passes a new wartime spending bill.
Black hole winds may be robbing giant galaxies of their future stars
Astronomers may be closing in on a long-standing cosmic mystery: why some of the universe’s biggest galaxies seem to have far fewer stars than expected. Using NASA- and JAXA-supported XRISM observations of a galaxy called NGC 4151, researchers found strong evidence that supermassive black holes can unleash powerful winds that blow away the raw material needed to make new stars.
Sony drops “PC”, adds “AI” to official PlayStation business strategy summary
Sony had made some conspicuous edits and updates to its description of PlayStation’s “business environment and strategy,” in a new annual report filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today. These changes are part of a 379-word overview of Sony’s strategy for its Game & Network Services (G&NS) division, which is another name for PlayStation. The chunk about PlayStation strategy is part of a voluminous financial report filed by Sony each June. This year’s is 229 pages long. Differences to any part of the filing—word changes made from year to year, as Sony provides a breakdown of its business for investors—can be illuminating. For example: A line from 2025 about how the PlayStation team “aims to achieve sustainable and profitable business growth” has been changed in the 2026 version to “aims to achieve sustainable business growth.” Notice which word they cut? That’s a pretty clear tell about how Sony expects its profit margins to be squeezed this year, due to rising chip costs for its hardware, among other things. A line from 2025 that stated “Sony plans to continue its efforts to deploy its first-party titles to multiple platforms such as PC” had been cut from the 2026 version. That appears to be Sony’s admission by omission that it has backed off releasing its biggest games on PC. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported in March and again in May that Sony’s big single-player marquee games are no longer planned for time-delayed release on PC.1 A whole new chunk has also been added about how “Sony is utilizing AI to unleash the creativity of studios and further enhance the PlayStation experience.” A full breakdown of the changes made from the 2025 version to the 2026 version is below. I’ve redlined them for you…
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced: Here’s What the Remake Looks (and Plays) Like Compared to the Original
After playing through a few missions of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced recently, I now have a better understanding of what to expect from this ambitious remake, which included narrative additions, new options for carrying out my assassinations, and other bits and baubles along the way that have increased my interest in replaying through Kenway’s epic tale of pillaging and unloading flintlocks into the chests of unsuspecting lawmen.
The unlikely mayor for Seattle's biggest sports year
A Super Bowl title, the World Cup and Sonics buzz have thrust Katie Wilson into an unexpected role: mayor of Seattle's sports boom.
EA SPORTS FC 26 Is Now on EA Play
Members can shape your legacy in The World's Game. Get unlimited access with EA Play, and score a Supercharge Pack starting June 18 until July 17.
The foldable iPhone Ultra just leaked in full in this new video, with iOS 27 code backing it up
Plus a long-overdue feature that may cost you more to unlock.
AI token Hunger Games are coming for software engineers at work
AI token spending soared from companies pushing unlimited use. Now tech workers are competing for compute as companies rethink budgets.
Superconductivity breakthrough could unlock ultra-efficient electronics
A clever nanoscale redesign may have solved one of superconductivity’s biggest problems. Researchers in Sweden discovered that by subtly sculpting the surface beneath an ultrathin superconducting material, they could make it stay superconducting at higher temperatures and under much stronger magnetic fields.
New plasma trick could unlock smaller, more powerful computer chips
A new technique could solve one of the biggest challenges in making future computer chips from ultrathin materials. Researchers found that coating molybdenum disulfide with oxygen or fluorine lets manufacturers remove just the top layer of atoms much more safely during plasma processing. The result is a cleaner, more controlled path toward smaller and more capable electronics.
Merchants of Doubt and the attacks on Extreme Event Attribution science
Last week, I attended a meeting at Columbia University on attribution science and climate law, hosted by the Sabin Center. It was a fantastic event, bringing together scientists and legal experts working at the intersection of extreme event attribution and climate law. Subscribe For those unfamiliar with it, extreme event attribution attempts to quantify the contribution of climate change to an extreme event. For example, several groups analyzed the impact of climate change on Hurricane Harvey’s enormous rainfall totals over Houston, Texas and they found that climate change increased rainfall by 15 to 38%. One thing that came up again and again was how terrified fossil-fuel interests are of extreme event attribution science. They are acutely aware that this research could land them in court. And losing those cases would leave them legally liable for billions of dollars in climate damages. Because the legal stakes are so high, the blowback has turned ugly. I spoke with several scientists at the meeting who are facing ongoing harassment over their work. This blowback is a coordinated campaign to make the entire field look suspect. The goal is to create the impression that attribution science is too uncertain, too political, or too conflicted to be useful in court or in public policy. The strategy is not based on actual science or evidence of misconduct, but on the generation of doubt. The new Merchants of Doubt We’ve seen this before. In fact, not that long ago: We only have to go back a year to the Department of Energy (DOE) Climate Working Group (CWG) report to see an example of using doubt as the tool to push back against well-established science. This strategy is laid out in an email from a member of the CWG, Dr. Roy Spencer, that was released during litigation over the Climate Working Group process. The key quote is: About all I can hope is that what we write will provide sufficient “reasonable scientific doubt” regarding the science claims in the 2009 TSD [technical support document], based upon almost 2 decades of new science, to call into question the original reasoning for the EPA Administrator’s decision that CO2 presents a threat to human health and welfare. This statement is strong evidence that at least some members of the committee were working to support a particular policy outcome: revoking the Endangerment Finding. The email also explains how they planned to do it: by attempting to generate “reasonable doubt”. This is going to be hard, Spencer implies. Despite falsely claiming that “2 decades of new science” weakens the case, Spencer explicitly acknowledges that the actual peer-reviewed science of climate change overwhelmingly rejects his position: But if the science argument is decided upon by a vote, or by the number of published citations, we lose the science argument. We can go back even further: This CWG email shares unmistakable DNA with the infamous 1969 tobacco memo that declared: “Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.” The tobacco memo also acknowledges the limit of this strategy: Like the CWG, they knew the science was not on their side. Share The new new Merchants of Doubt The people attacking the IPCC chapter on extreme event attribution are the newest iteration of the Merchants of Doubt. Their goal, like all Merchants before them, is to introduce doubt into the process. Because the report is not even out yet, they cannot attack its conclusions. So they are attacking the authors instead. Here is a press release from the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee: In the letter, the Chairmen express concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving members of the Attribution Committee, stating that “publicly available information suggests a troubling pattern” in which committee members are affiliated with nonprofits that support climate accountability lawsuits, “raising the appearance of impropriety and member bias.” To be clear, this is just innuendo. There is no actual evidence of bias. And given the robust process that these reports go through, including multiple lines of peer review, it seems very unlikely that significant bias can survive into the report. When the report comes out, critics will have the opportunity to make legitimate criticisms of the report — if any exist. If none do, however, they’ll still make criticisms, but they’ll be bogus, simply designed to generate doubt. We’ll see. A note to the press: Fix your frame To any journalists reading this: The public debate over extreme event attribution science is not going away. The science is simply too dangerous to fossil-fuel interests for them to stop fighting it. You very well might be assigned to write an article about this area of research in the future. When you do, do not automatically adopt the framing that climate misinformers want you to use. They want you to frame the story around questions like: Are climate scientists trying to put their thumb on the scale to achieve a predetermined, politically motivated result? Are climate scientists improperly letting their politics invade the science of the IPCC? That frame is a trap. Instead, you need to view this through the historical lens of the Merchants of Doubt. How does the ecosystem of doubt operate? Who funds it? What methods do they use to misrepresent science and slime researchers? What scientific results are they trying to keep people from understanding are legitimate? Ultimately, you instead need to focus your article on the generation of doubt as a way to maintain the fossil fuel industry’s social and legal license to keep burning oil, gas, and coal. If you treat the misinformers’ frame as a legitimate, good-faith scientific critique, you are helping them produce doubt. Don’t do it. Don’t be a Merchant of Doubt. Thanks for reading The Climate Brink! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe other stuff The Staying Curious Substack has an interesting post about the different flavors of climate sensitivity. This is crucial information if you want to understand how scientists think about how much warming the Earth will experience. I’d be grateful if you could hit the like button ❤️ below! It helps more people discover these ideas and lets me know what’s connecting with readers.
Live results: District of Columbia midterm primaries
Washington, D.C., on Tuesday will hold a districtwide primary for federal and local offices that will be unlike any election the nation’s capital has previously held.
This Yankees team could have a 2019-esque makeup
With a slew of injuries, the Bombers will need some help from unlikely characters.
Play Chaos Cubed Today
Chaos Cubed has landed in Minecraft! Explore a striking cave biome filled with bubbling sulfur pools, build with sulfur and cinnabar, and discover the sulfur cube’s curious appetite for blocks! From bouncing and sliding to explosive surprises, this unpredictable mob unlocks exciting new ways to build, compete, and survive. Play Chaos Cubed today in Minecraft!
Forza Horizon 6 update reduces 1,000-hour grind for multiplayer Xbox achievement
Playground Games has rolled out a new update for Forza Horizon 6, which makes an achievement easier to unlock and balances the game's crazy AI racers.
Report: Nets signing away Lakers' Austin Reaves may be unlikely
The Brooklyn Nets are rumored to be one of the teams interested in Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves, but it seems like he's likely to stay put.