It may seem like a secret code, but the answer might be an oddly specific technical error.
A new Sensor Tower report suggests the USDS takeover managed to retain most of its users despite a bumpy start and concerns with the new owners:
The average number of TikTok’s daily active users in the US remains around 95% of its usership compared to the week of Jan. 19-25.
In a letter sent to Congress Saturday, the Attorney General said that the DOJ had released “all ‘records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the possession of the Department’” in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. She also included a list of over 300 people mentioned in the files.
The former host of Morning Edition and current host of Left, Right & Center claims that Google illegally replicated his voice for its male podcast host in NotebookLM. Google denies this, but Greene (and many of his friends and colleagues) say the resemblance is “uncanny.” As the Washington Post reports:
To Greene, the resemblance of the AI voice to his own is uncanny — and the harm is deeper and more personal than just a missed chance to capitalize on his most recognizable asset.
“My voice is, like, the most important part of who I am,” Greene said.
Linux gaming is getting better every day, but I’m not sure that anyone had this on their 2026 bingo card. Support for guitar controllers is being baked directly into the Linux 7.0 kernel, including some licensed models, such as the PDP RiffMaster and CRKD Gibson SG.
The triumphalist narrative of Minnesotans fighting back has taken hold nationally. But on the ground, the occupation is everywhere.
Enterprise customers, especially AI data centers, have already gobbled up the company’s capacity for 2026. At this point, consumer sales account for just 5 percent of the company’s revenue, so it’s no surprise WD is prioritizing high-capacity drives for data centers. What’s more, theyre also driving up prices. Tan told investors:
We’ve pretty much sold out for calendar year 26. We have firm POs with our top seven customers. And we’ve also established LTAs with two of them for calendar year 27 and one of them for calendar year 28.
What’s causing the issues or how widespread they are is unclear. We’ve been unable to reproduce the issue here, but DownDetector has seen a spike in reports over the past few hours. Users report that Gemini displays error messages or hangs after a prompt. We’ve reached out to Google for comment.
During the company’s Q4 earnings call, Gustav Söderström revealed that Spotify had fully embraced vibe coding. AI is coming for a lot of jobs, and software developer is high on the list of those in danger. Still, it’s shocking that the top devs at Spotify haven’t written any code in 2026. Per Business Insider:
“When I speak to my most senior engineers — the best developers we have — they actually say that they haven’t written a single line of code since December… They actually only generate code and supervise it.” - Spotify CEO Gustav Söderström
On a frigid February evening, I went on four dates with AI companions at a pop-up dating café.
3
Verge Score
Romo flies through chores, but a recent security vulnerability makes it difficult to recommend.
In a cease and desist letter, Disney includes examples of the new Seedance 2.0 model making videos featuring characters like Spider-Man and Darth Vader, according to Axios. “ByteDance is hijacking Disney’s characters by reproducing, distributing, and creating derivative works featuring those characters,” Disney’s attorney said.
Google, Reddit, Discord, and Meta have received “hundreds” of subpoenas from the DHS in recent months, according to a report from The New York Times. The agency is reportedly asking the platforms for the names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other information associated with accounts that “track or criticize” ICE.
[The New York Times]
Curbed described the scene as “bleak” and noted that many waiting in line for the promised free Tide Pods and milk (which was apparently purchased at an Aldi before being stocked on the popups’ oddly orderly shelves) had never heard of Polymarket and didn’t intend to place bets there. When Curbed asked why:
Because of the word market within Polymarket, per Josh Tucker, a company executive. Get it? Daf Orlovsky, a creative director, said it could work — “these ideas that don’t seem possible could be brought to life at tech-market speed,” he said.
The machines could be some of the priciest merch released for the franchise’s 30th anniversary. There’s fun details like a Master ball plunger handle and a Meowth balloon that swoops down, but to get all the best features you’ll need to skip the $6,999 Pro and $9,699 Premium machines, and splurge on the $12,999 Limited Edition option.
Toymaker Wow! Stuff has announced a new Pikachu puppet featuring blinking eyes, moving ears, and a “first-of-its-kind animated mouth moving feature.” Pikachu also has sensors that respond to touch with light up cheeks and over 100 sound effects. It will be priced at £89.99, or around $122, according to Insider Gaming.
Flow Tuner lets users pick which genres are included in a Flow session, rather than just disliking individual songs. It’s a hamfisted way to customize your algorithm, but the specificity of Deezer’s options are impressive: Metalcore, Balkan Folk, Schlager. This is well beyond your basic buckets like rock and pop.
Kamala Harris’ campaign account, @KamalaHQ, has rebranded as a digital rapid response operation.
