Commotion of Links for week ending May 19, 2025
Google made Android…springy-er! I have tons of stuff to say about games, for some reason! Billionaires are being real jerks! ⓘ
Google/Android
Waymo to bring self-driving cars to Boston area, including major highways
https://www.wcvb.com/article/waymo-boston-cambridge-somerville-self-driving/64754765And this is how AI became self-aware, insane, and then bloodthirsty: the humans tasked it to make sense of Boston roads, traffic, and drivers. I think at the very minimum, the experience will cause the rest of the Waymo fleet to start navigating via map points relative to Dunkin’s instead of via GPS.
Android and Wear OS are getting a big refresh
https://blog.google/products/android/material-3-expressive-android-wearos-launch/I’m going to have to wait until late this year before the Material 3 Expressive design language arrives on Android’s OS and apps. It looks like a set of meaningful, incremental, and well thought-out changes to the user experience. But have I or anybody else been clamoring for more “springy-ness” in a UI?
Better, Easier, Emotional UX:
The research behind Google’s bold new direction for design
https://design.google/library/expressive-material-design-google-researchI generally have a low tolerance for this kind of thing. Hearing a designer walk you through the underlying research and philosophies behind the choice of font on an elevator button is only a bit less tedious than hearing somebody talk to you about a dream they had recently. But I ought to correct this deficiency. Just as the top of a pyramid is a single point, the right choice in design becomes singular and inevitable only because of all of the layers of work that people put underneath it.
The new Google logo is already proving popular
https://www.creativebloq.com/design/logos-icons/the-new-google-logo-is-already-winning-fansGoogle made a subtle change to the “G” logo used by the Google app and elsewhere. Ehh, I prefer the old one. The classic color-blocking style punches harder than a vague gradient.
Galaxy S25 Edge Hands-On: This Thin Phone Left a Deep Impression
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/galaxy-s25-edge-hands-on-this-thin-phone-left-a-deep-impression/
Making a handheld device flatter and lighter is a big win all around, even when it’s just by a little bit (and this ain’t a Little Bit). I wonder about durability. I wonder about which kinds of consumers are willing to give up battery life and features for stylishness. I also wonder why Apple and Samsung got a bug in their ears about this same concept at the same time. It has something to do with a new, key advance in screen tech, battery tech, manufacturing tech, or all three.
Games
This Will Be A Day Long Remembered: Speak With Darth Vader In Fortnite
https://www.fortnite.com/news/this-will-be-a-day-long-remembered-speak-with-darth-vader-in-fortniteEpic Games put an interactive Darth Vader in Fortnite a few days ago. The chatbot is powered by Google Gemini, and the voice is patterned after James Earl Jones’ performances, with the permission of his estate. The family even provided a supportive statement for Epic’s announcement: “James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it.” If the actor or their estate signed off on it, I’m OK with it. Just don’t call it a “performance.” An AI can only simulate and reproduce a voice. It can’t act.
SAG-AFTRA Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Over Darth Vader AI Voice in ‘Fortnite’
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sag-aftra-labor-charge-fortnite-darth-vader-ai-voice-1236221492/The actors’ union isn’t happy about it. They filed a complaint with the NLRB, asserting that Fortnite broke the terms of its SAG-AFTRA labor agreement without giving the union a heads-up and an opportunity to negotiate an approval. I can’t say which side is right, in the “every AI ‘employee’ should effectively be unionized” argument. But it’s clear that if unions don’t fight these issues to the max during these early days, this failure will adversely affect workers for generations.
After raising over $800 million from its community, Star Citizen's developer delays the release of a new ship upgrade as players baulk at having to pay for it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/after-raising-over-usd800-million-from-its-community-star-citizens-developer-delays-the-release-of-a-new-ship-upgrade-as-players-baulk-at-having-to-pay-for-it/I would love to understand what the deal is with Star Citizen. It’s a highly-ambitious crowdfunded game. It’s highly-ambitious. It’s raised $800,000,000 from its community of fans, muchly by selling them spaceships, and other in-game things that will come in real handy if the game ever ships. But nobody at the game studio is saying when it’s going to ship. It’s been in development for thirteen years. There’s loads of game footage. They can’t ship anything? They’re selling new (checking article) “flight blades”? At this point I think I’m getting way more entertainment from the regular rhubarbs than I could get from any game.
'Incredible' Grand Theft Auto 6 Fans Point Out Impressive Trailer 2 Detail
https://gamerant.com/gta-6-trailer-2-graphics-detail/
I wish I had the time, money, and mental bandwidth to get into AAA-level gaming. I’m glad that the people who do are explaining all of the stuff in the latest GTA 6 trailer that folks like me might miss. The level of technical finesse here is astounding. I won’t be playing GTA6, but I’ll definitely be watching the gameplay videos.
Politics and Policy
The Kids Online Safety Act Will Make the Internet Worse for Everyone
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/05/kids-online-safety-act-will-make-internet-worse-everyoneKOSA slouches another step forward through Congress and closer to Bethlehem. I fully support the push for new laws that hold Meta and other social media companies accountable for any real damage that a kid suffers as a direct result of their products, policies, and business strategies. But we’ve seen how laws like KOSA play out. People (including kids) who need to discuss sensitive and politically-unpopular topics will be left with nowhere to go. Online safety for kids is something everybody wishes for. But KOSA is what you get when you wish on a monkey’s paw.
Federal Government’s Growing Banned Words List Is Chilling Act of Censorship
https://pen.org/banned-words-list/Of all of the things that scare the hell out of me about the current political administration, it’s their comprehensive attacks on what it considers to be “ideologically-unsound” concepts. This list (and others) points out the chilling scope of the campaign to control speech and thought.
Krishnamoorthi, Moolenaar Urge Multilateral Action Against CCP-Controlled Huawei’s New Operating System
https://democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-releases/krishnamoorthi-moolenaar-urge-multilateral-action-against-ccp-controlledThis week, Huawei is launching its first laptops that run HarmonyOS. It’s interesting, because it’s likely the first truly modern OS that isn’t built on top of 1980s code or architecture. It’s also…sketchy?…because Huawei is a Chinese company whose fortunes are tied to the CCP’s continued goodwill. So it’s not ridiculous to want to disassemble the code and make sure it’s safe. Still, shutting down a new OS isn’t the job of the US government. And the line “we should be proactive and make sure American operating systems continue to be the global leaders” sounds doubleplus not OK.
Verizon ends DEI policies to get FCC's blessing for its $20 billion Frontier deal
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-s1-5402863/verizon-fcc-frontier-dei-trump
Whatever DEI is, Verizon got bullied into ending it. Not because such an order is within the scope of FCC’s mandate when approving large acquisitions, but because the head of the FCC does what he’s told, without running it past any pesky lawyers. Lovely.
Education
Kids are short-circuiting their school-issued Chromebooks for TikTok clout
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/tiktok-trend-sees-kids-setting-chromebooks-on-fire-at-least-one-kid-hospitalized/I’d love to smirk and say something about these dopey kids and their pursuit of social clout. My memories of what I got up to as a kid are, alas, way too well-preserved to allow that kind of smug arrogance.
The current state of affairs in public education
https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1kkz5lr/the_current_state_of_affairs_in_public_education/
A teacher’s anecdotal tale is anecdotal, yes. But it’s still harrowing. Have unregulated social media, plus the massive COVID disruption, created a lost generation of kids? Are we going to learn anything from this outcome?
Arts & Design
From the Archive: When Frank Lloyd Wright Designs Your Home, You Never Want to Leave
https://www.dwell.com/article/frank-lloyd-wright-original-owners-13f0727dI find Frank Lloyd Wright to be intriguing and perplexing. His homes and buildings are gorgeous (I once even spent an evening in a FLW home). But, geez, if the roofs leak and the dining room is far away from the kitchen and the whole thing needs to be reengineered later to prevent the whole thing from falling down…can we even call it architecture? A suspension bridge has a function beyond drawing the eye pleasantly from one side of the bay to the other, you know?
UK Government Reveals Five Shortlisted Designs for the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial in London
https://www.archdaily.com/1030109/uk-government-reveals-five-shortlisted-designs-for-the-queen-elizabeth-ii-memorial-in-londonI have no stake in this decision and it’s silly that I feel so invested in it. What a challenge: honor a nation’s longest-serving monarch in a way that makes sense, will seem appropriate to the prominence of the subject, and yet somehow comes across as fresh and of the 21st century. My fear with these things is always that the committee will approve one of those basic “amorphous blob with a hole through it” dealies.
Marked decline in semicolons in English books, study suggests
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/18/marked-decline-semicolon-use-english-books-study-suggests
I freaking LOVE semicolons. Always have, always will; I shall clutch them to my bosom like fresh, fragrant wildflowers after a cool summer rain. Is there something I can do to keep them from fading away? Like, put out a yard sign with a supportive hashtag or something?
Business
Netflix and Meta’s Carbon Credits Snared in Dispute with Maasai Herders
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-environment/netflix-and-metas-carbon-credits-snared-in-dispute-with-maasai-herders-4f01a59fSome companies try to establish their green bonafides honestly (or at least “honestly” as it’s defined by huge companies). Others simply buy Green-ness as a product, manufactured by companies that do their own damage. Here’s a story about how the land rights of the Maasai, Borana, and Samburu are being disregarded.
AWS and HUMAIN Announce Groundbreaking AI Zone to Accelerate AI Adoption in Saudi Arabia and Globally
https://press.aboutamazon.com/2025/5/aws-and-humain-announce-groundbreaking-ai-zone-to-accelerate-ai-adoption-in-saudi-arabia-and-globallyAbsolutely disgusting move from Jeff Bezos’ Amazon. I wish I were shocked. He’s cutting multi-billion-dollar deals with the same people who ordered the kidnapping, torture and murder of one of his own Washington Post reporters. He’s apparently hoping that everybody had forgotten that Jamal Khashoggi ever existed, or that Bezos had made a big show of laying a hand on his grave in front of the (surviving) press in 2020, looking all somber-like.
Regeneron to buy bankrupt DNA testing firm 23andMe for $256 million
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/19/business/regeneron-23-and-me
Regeneron (which is NOT what a 70s sci-fi movie would name an industrial-scale cloning operation) promises to maintain the same customer privacy rules as 23andMe.
Misc
TikTok to launch meditation feature in face of lawsuits and criticism over the app’s effects on children
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/tiktok-turns-to-meditation-as-it-battles-lawsuits-and-criticism.htmlThat’s real swell, TikTok. But y’know what? I think we’re gonna try to adopt sensible regulations all the same, just in case the meditation thingy doesn’t fix everything.
Stats from a dying web
https://www.platformer.news/safari-search-decline-apple-google/Casey Newton talks about the decline of traditional Internet search.
Safer air travel through crew resource management
https://www.apa.org/topics/safety-design/safer-air-travel-crew-resource-managementOne of the most valuable innovations in air safety had nothing to do with technology or engineering. It turns out that a lot of deadly accidents happened simply because a copilot spotted a problem, but chose not to tell the captain about it out of respect for their authority. This hesitance can be addressed with training. Fascinating read. That these principles are also improving healthcare. I’d heard about Crew Resource Management through a bunch of YouTube videos where commercial pilots explain the causes of fatal disasters. I got an urge to read about it in detail this week, because Nathan Fielder featured CRM in a new episode of his HBO series.
The Ghostbusters Reference Library
https://www.theghostbustersreferencelibrary.com/If it was ever in any Ghostbusters movie, it’s likely been exhaustively documented on this site.
New research reveals the strongest solar event ever detected, in 12350 BC
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-reveals-strongest-solar-event-bc.htmlMassive solar mass eruptions are super-interesting and super-scary. I therefore want research into these events to be a high priority for humanity. I have only one thing to ask in return from the scientific community: if you figure out when the next epoch-ending event will take place, could you, like, not tell me about it? I feel as if this sort of information will totally prang the vibe of my Thursday.