Re: my post today on the still-vaporware Tesla Roadster and Benedict Evans’s maxim that “Elon Musk is a bullshitter who delivers”, a reader sent me this YouTube short of Charlie Munger’s answer to a question at Berkshire Hathaway’s 2020 shareholder meeting regarding Tesla’s volatility and Musk’s self-promotion. Munger said:
My thoughts are two. I would never buy it, and I would never sell it short.
[Audience laughs.]
I have a third comment. There was a man out in Los Angeles for years named Howard Ahmanson. He once said something that I’ve taken to my heart: “Never underestimate the man who overestimates himself.” I think Elon Musk is peculiar and he may overestimate himself, but he may not be wrong all the time.
Apple Developer News:
As outlined in our App Review Guidelines, pornographic material has long been prohibited on the App Store — this includes apps that generate nudity or sexually explicit imagery, such as “nudification” apps that create sexually explicit images of real individuals without their consent. Apps that host user-generated content are required to filter objectionable material, give users a way to report offensive content, and let users block abusive accounts. Apps containing hidden or undocumented features are also prohibited on the App Store, including apps that misrepresent their purpose during review and only reveal harmful capabilities — such as “nudification” — after approval, a tactic commonly known as bait-and-switch.
Their post includes the specific changes to the guidelines. Let’s hope the guideline changes are accompanied by better enforcement.
Of course, it’s worth noting that the best known perpetrator of AI-generated non-consensual nudification is X, which (checks notes) is where Apple executives do all their social media posting, and which, yes, I argue once again marks the spot in the zeitgeist. The zeitgeist is not clean.
Joe Rossignol, reporting for MacRumors back on 9 March 2015:
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday at the “Spring Forward” media event in San Francisco announced that Apple TV will now cost $69, discounted from its regular price of $99. The new price for the set-top box arrives on the heels of the announcement of HBO Now for Apple TV. The new price appears to apply to the third-generation Apple TV, as the company did not announce a new set-top box on stage at the Yerba Buena Center this afternoon.
Basic Apple Guy posted a short clip of Tim Cook, on stage, announcing the price reduction. Cook said:
And it’s got a very attractive entry level price of $99. But today, we would like to make it even more accessible for more people so they can take advantage of this great new content. So we are lowering the price today to $69.
The audience greeted this with whoops and cheers. (This, despite it being a smaller media event — Apple always packs the front of the house with employee ringers. Whoops and cheers are one of the things Apple is missing out on with their post-COVID pre-filmed keynotes.)
Apple continued selling the 3rd-gen Apple TV (not to be confused with “Apple TV 4K”, which restarted the generation counting in 2017 alongside the introduction of the iPhone X) for $69 until October 2016.
Inflation adjusted, a $69 Apple TV box today would cost a little under $99. Even if we only consider the $99 price in 2015 dollars, that’s about $137 in today’s dollars. Round that up to $150 and it would still be half the price of the only Apple TV hardware Apple now sells: this week’s new 4th-gen Apple TV 4K.
The new Siri Remote, with precision Find My support (and a speaker), is compatible with all prior generations of Apple TV 4K. So if you just want the new remote you can just buy the new remote. But it costs $59, which is almost as much as an entire Apple TV (with remote, of course) did in 2015.
Mark Zuckerberg, on X:
Muse Spark Open — weights releasing today — runs great on new Mac Studios thanks to work with @johnternus and Apple.
Congrats to the team! Amazing to run a model of Muse Spark Open’s caliber and scale this efficiently, right from your desk. Mac Studio keeps pushing the boundaries of on-device AI!
You will recall that the M5 Ultra Mac Studio with 512 GB RAM is set to ship by “the end of October”, and we’re midway through the month. You will also recall, from that same announcement, that multiple Macs can be clustered together via Thunderbolt — four Mac Studios can be connected to each other.
For Ternus, I could do without the second exclamation mark. For Zuckerberg, it’s fascinating that he had to post this on X, despite owning Threads, because no one at Apple uses Threads.
Zuckerberg has been posting somewhat regularly to X for months now, particularly regarding AI. Alex Heath asked him about it on his Sources podcast a month ago. From that one-minute clip:
Threads is doing great. I think it’s actually ... either bigger than X at this point, or it’s like very soon about to be. But, I mean, look, there are different communities in the different places. There’s a lot of AI folks on X, and I think part of what you try to do with social media is just communicate where people are, right?
Lastly, there’s this “1984” spoof posted by Alexandr Wang, Meta’s chief of AI and mulletry, which I find both amusing and painful.
Apple has finally announced its long-rumored foldable: the iPhone Duo.
The new phone has a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display, a “nano‑texture” finish on the inner screen, and barely any visible crease. Instead of Face ID, it uses Touch ID on the power button. It has two cameras, a main lens and a wide-angle lens. Apple completely revamped iOS 27’s controls and apps for the foldable, including putting the dock on the side of the phone. And it has a flashy opening animation when you unfold the phone.
The iPhone Duo a big new bet from Apple, though one that’s a little late to the game compared to competitors like Samsung and Google. The phone isn’t cheap: it starts at $1,999 for the base 256GB model, and the prices only go up from there. Still, Apple said that preorder demand was “extraordinary,” so it could have a hit on its hands.
Here’s everything unfolding about the iPhone Duo.
Apple's App Store rules now more explicitly ban so-called "nudify" apps that generate intimate images of people without their consent using AI tools.
The rule changes follow significant criticism toward Apple after X users used Grok earlier this year to make nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes, including minors. Apple didn't pull X or Grok from the App Store, though it told senators that it threatened to yank Grok. At Apple's WWDC event in June, protestors also called on Apple to "remove Grok, X, and all nudify technology from the App Store," and in July, a San Francisco city attorney ordered Apple to remove 13 "nudify" apps, which it said …
Grandpa Pudding Brains has spent a week making up reasons he calls Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed "Mohammed," as if we don't already understand. Apparently, after reading the man's full legal name, Encyclopedia Trump made a huge discovery and announced today: "his middle name is Mohammed." — Read the rest
The post Dementia Don discovers Abdul El-Sayed's middle name is Mohamed and declares victory over "a jihadist" appeared first on Boing Boing.
Charles Harley on Subway Takes: “I don’t think Black people should have to pay for ancestry.com. Why do I have to pay you to figure out where you stole me from?”
Hagen trieb sich am Donnerstag auf einer Festung in Magdeburg herum, denn dort veranstaltete Deck 13 Spotlight das Reveal-Event für Drova 2. Im Podcast erzählt er alles von der Veranstaltung, was er vor der eigentlichen Preview zum Rollenspiel-Sequel verraten kann.
This week on the Frotcast, we're talking about new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia, who WAS involved with a fitness MLM, but did NOT pass the bar exam, despite her law degree and legal work in China. Oh crap, she managed to get fired in between the time we recorded this and posted it. Is that a new record?
Oh well, Joe Sinclitico is here from the Olsen Run Comedy Club (other credits include: Frotcast episodes from 2011). We've got many other things to discuss, including the Donald Trump quote of the year ("only a Hispanic could survive that fall") and Jerry Seinfeld describing how the events of October 7th have affected his taste in Porsche colors.
Finally, we review Nate Bargatze's new movie The Breadwinner, one of the most oddly takeless movies any of us have ever seen, which none of us managed to make it all the way through. A man who can't cook or buy eggs is not a comedy, it's a tragedy. Also, can we quit it with child actors already? Damn.
Matt will be back next week for my songs about eating butt. Until then, send your questions, comments, concerns to frotcast@gmail.com, 415 275 0030.
Sker Island will soon rise out of the depths of the sea and fog once again in a new psychological horror game. Sker: the Bleeding Veil was recently announced at IGN Fall Fan Fest, along with a trailer offering a glimpse into a frightening new world and a place for interested gamers to wishlist the game.
The first game of the franchise, Maid of Sker, introduces players to Thomas Evans. In the tradition of James Sunderland, Thomas receives a mysterious letter from his fiancée, Elisabeth. She tells him that she is in danger and needs his help, begging him to come to the Sker Hotel, where she has locked herself in the attic. Upon arriving, Thomas discovers that the hotel is far from a five-star resort. This isn’t because of its remote location and rambling structure, but because its staff and inhabitants are sightless monsters who hunt by sound.
Exploring the hotel reveals the story of the Quiet Ones, a cult devoted to the Siren, a creature discovered in a shipwreck off the island’s coast. To combat the Siren’s music, Elisabeth has been writing her own songs and has asked other composers to help, including Thomas himself. As he seeks the sheet music and the cylinders for the instrument it will be played on, Thomas must decide whether to trust Elisabeth by handing over the cylinders or play the song himself.
Trusting Elisabeth leads to the “Evil Ending”, which is the basis for the story in Sker: Ritual, the follow-up game. Ritual sees Elisabeth as the primary antagonist who has taken over Sker Island and broadcasts the Siren’s Song in an attempt to take over Great Britain itself. The game shifts narrative and genre, leaving Thomas behind and focusing instead on a young woman named Arianwen. And instead of relying on stealth and puzzles, Ritual shifts to a co-op first-person shooter for up to four players, with a solo story mode also available.
The Bleeding Veil returns to the “silence is golden” maxim, shifting the gameplay back to stealth and stripping away combat. Once again, the game is set on Sker Island, with new protagonist Gareth searching for his sister, Elin, as he returns to the orphanage where they once lived as children. Under Sister Gwenllian’s leadership, others have returned to the orphanage, drawn in by the irrepressible Siren’s Song.
The orphanage has fared no better than the Sker Hotel, with creatures called Listeners haunting its halls. Their name shouldn’t fool anyone; far from lending Gareth a listening ear, these monsters are best avoided, whether by hiding or taking alternative routes.
Although an official release date beyond Q2 2027 isn’t public information yet, players do know where Maid of Sker: the Bleeding Veil will be available. Players can wishlist the game on Steam, and it will also be playable on the Epic Store, Xbox, and PlayStation.
The post Everything We Know About ‘Maid of Sker’s Terrifying New Sequel appeared first on VICE.
Halloween is just around the corner, and while trick-or-treating, scary movies, and parties are on the agenda, you can also enjoy the spookiest holiday by joining a few friends in a co-op game. Here are a few macabre, if not downright scary, games to play with special events centered on All Hallow’s Eve.
The annual Halloween event is back in Dead by Daylight, running through the rest of the month. Survivors can collect Void Energy by repairing generators, stunning the Killer with a successful pallet drop or skills like Blastmine, and smashing the Void Pumpkins scattered around the map. Killers can also accrue Void Energy by smashing the pumpkins, but they can also do so by downing and hooking Survivors or attacking Void Haunts. These ghostly creatures roam the map, rush Survivors, and reduce their movement speed on a successful hit.
Both Survivors and Killers can spend Void Energy. Either side can open Void Rifts, letting players teleport anywhere on the map. Survivors can use the energy to create a column of smoke, making it difficult for the Killer to see. Or they can use energy to remotely repair a generator using a crystal they receive at the start of the match.
Killers can use a Captured Haunt to attack Survivors at a distance and increase damage speed to generators, pallets, and breakable walls. The event also offers unlockable offerings, add-ons, and items, including limited items like the Crystal.
Known as Project Geister, the Halloween event in Outlast Trials runs for nearly a full month, giving players plenty of time to earn enough Geister Tokens for cosmetics from the event catalog. Each year, the cosmetics center around a different theme, with the inaugural 2023 event offering costumes like a skeleton-themed shirt or a giant black cat decoration for the character’s room. Within the game, the Project is billed as an experimental therapy that prompts the beleaguered patients to undergo hallucinations designed to “amplify” the effects of the therapy.
Each event also introduces new trials and challenges, so the fears feel fresh every year. The 2025 project introduced Invasion game mode, which split players into two groups: Imposters and Reagents. Last year also saw two new challenges, Beguile the Children and Investigate the Minotaur. The events tie in with the appearance of the Skinner Man, who is about as pleasant as he sounds, and appears more often during Project Geister missions because the event increases hallucinogenic gas throughout.
Although the official start date is still under wraps, Don’t Starve Together also runs an annual spooky-season event, so players know it’s on the horizon. In previous years, the event started as late as October 24, and last year it launched just a few days before Halloween on October 27. Like The Outlast Trials, the event typically runs for weeks; in 2023, it ran from October 26 to December 18.
Known as the Hallowed Nights event, each year features different character skins, craftable items, decorations, and more for players to enjoy. In 2025, players could craft the Faceless Pumpkin, carve it into a Pumpkin Head, and wear it as a cosmetic. Players interested in the 2026 event should keep an eye on upcoming game patches. During the event, the main menu will change, so as soon as the game updates and launches, it will be clear if Hallowed Nights 2026 has begun.
The post 3 Scary Multiplayer Games Hosting Special Halloween Events This October appeared first on VICE.
Video game characters often get put through the wringer. Sometimes it’s a first-person shooter whose protagonists have to fight countless enemies, a survival horror game where players are pitted against puzzles and phantoms, or a cozy farming sim where they have to wait six in-game days for a strawberry. Either way, tragic characters are far from rare in video games. Here are three characters from 2026 releases whose stories might inspire a few tears.
Like many a Silent Hill game that came before it, very few, if any, characters in the fog-shrouded world of Silent Hill Townfall are having a good time. Townfall is the franchise’s most recent addition, and while it differs from its predecessors with its Scottish island setting and shift to first-person perspective, it follows the established pattern of keeping its characters absolutely miserable. One character who suffers particular torment is Zoe Ellis.
Zoe works as a nurse in the town of St. Amelia, whose inhabitants are reeling from a terrible accident, the details of which the player learns slowly as they progress. Fellow protagonist Simon doesn’t remember his role in the tragedy until the end of the game, and Richard Shaw, the game’s third playable character, has an entirely different emotional landscape. Zoe, however, is plagued by guilt and grief from the start. Not only do her former friends and neighbors blame her, but she also blames herself, feeling as though she was not good enough to save everyone.
The depth of Zoe’s tragedy isn’t revealed until players delve deep into the story, but her sadness and memories weigh heavily on both Simon and Richard. In fact, one could say it’s the beating heart of the game.
Forever Ago is a narrative adventure whose story begins with grief. The game follows widower Alfred, a lonely older man dealing with the loss of his wife, Audrey, with whom he shared a relationship spanning more than fifty years. Using a scrapbook Audrey left him, Alfred embarks on a road trip, following the route she laid out and adding his own pictures to the book.
At first, Alfred takes the trip only because he feels it’s what his wife would have wanted. His grief also engenders feelings of anger and bitterness, common companions of grief. But he finds new companions along the way: characters he meets on his cross-country journey. There’s mechanic Sam, who Alfred meets early on and helps him repair his van, and a stray dog named Luke, who wanders onto the van one night and allows Alfred to open his heart again.
Fortunately for Alfred, his journey is more about healing than Zoe’s story. Forever Ago focuses on learning to live again after loss, but it takes a while for Alfred to get there; he starts as a deeply unhappy character before finding catharsis.
Players might struggle to sympathize with Marie immediately in the latest Resident Evil vehicle. She is introduced as a stalker enemy, plaguing Grace Ashcroft from one location to another, and she’s as relentless as Mr. X and Nemesis before her. She does have a weakness to light, which can send her screaming back into the dark. But when players learn about her backstory, her shrieks of pain take on a different tune.
Initially just referred to as “the Girl”, players learn more about her as the game goes on. Marie was born simply to be experimented upon, one of many clones who underwent terrible treatment in the ARK labs. She once looked just like Emily, the little girl who Grace protects after freeing her from the basement of the Rhodes Hill Care Center. But unlike Emily, Marie mutated because of the procedures she underwent.
Thinking of Emily and Marie growing up in the facility is bad enough, knowing they exist only to be used as guinea pigs. But Emily has a different story than Marie’s, one that eventually ends with Grace adopting her. Marie becomes a monster, long-limbed and lethal, with any vestige of her former personality swallowed by the feral mind of the creature she becomes. Unlike her predecessors on this list, Marie has no hope of catharsis.
She is destroyed in the denouement of her story, and all that can be said is that she is now free of torment and experimentation.
The post 3 Video Game Characters From 2026 With Absolutely Heartbreaking Stories appeared first on VICE.
Tim Miller ventures outside the Bulwark bubble for a candid conversation with Mario Nawfal, a Trump-friendly influencer who’s having serious buyer’s remorse. They discuss Trump’s disastrous Iran war, the voters abandoning his coalition, his increasingly dangerous obsession with his legacy, and his willingness to throw Ukraine under the bus to appease Putin.
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