The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK has started gathering comments from third parties about the partnerships between Microsoft and Mistral AI, Amazon and Anthropic, and Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection AI staff. This is the first phase of gathering information to see whether these deals “fall within UK merger rules and the impact that these arrangements could have on competition in the UK.”

Users of the iPad-exclusive illustration app (and its sister animation software Dreams) have been asking for a desktop version for years, and it seems Procreate has been listening.

PC support hasn’t been ruled out, but a Mac port will likely arrive first according to Procreate CEO and co-founder James Cuda. “The unified chip architecture between iPad and Mac makes the development & ongoing support, *very* feasible.”

If Epic’s Tim Sweeney is excited it can only mean bad news for Google or Apple. In this instance, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has ordered an evidentiary hearing for May 8th to explore whether Apple is “failing to abide by this Court’s injunction, which requires it to implement certain practice changes relative to in- and out-of-app purchases.”

The search giant says it will phase out third-party cookies in its dominant Chrome browser in 2023, no 2024, erm... actually 2025, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing “ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers.” That assumes the effort to better protect user privacy gets approval from the UK’s CMA and ICO which are monitoring implementation.

And I have so many questions (SO many questions) and so much setup and testing to do. I’ll write some initial thoughts tomorrow, but I’m definitely enjoying the way this thing feels. More a Fun Toy than a Smartphone Killer, you know?

Let me know if there’s anything you want to know about the Rabbit R1 or have ideas for tests I should do! More soon.

I haven’t been to a gadget launch like this in… a long time. We’re at the swanky TWA Hotel in NYC, where a bunch of early Rabbit adopters will get their AI gadgets. There’s a 360 Photo Booth! And a speakeasy! And a whole installation of scroll wheels! AI!

Tesla laid off over 10 percent of its workforce this month, but Musk says the cuts were needed for the company’s “next phase of growth:”

A company is kind of like a creature growing, and if you don’t reorganize it for different phases of growth, it will fail. You can’t have the same organizational structure.

Apparently, that next stage of growth also involves a $56 billion pay package for Musk.

That’s what Elon Musk said during Tesla’s earnings call on Tuesday, adding that Tesla will likely be able to sell the humanoid bot “externally by the end of next year.” But don’t get your hopes up just yet — Musk says these timelines “are just guesses.”

Meta is apparently giving raffle tactics a go to get creators posting more on Threads, according to The Information:

Creators have to post at least once a day on Threads for 10 straight days to be eligible, and Instagram encouraged them to use the hashtag #GoodVibesonThreads to make it easier for staff to “find and share” their posts. Then, creators are entered into a drawing for 10 prizes, which are worth up to $500 each.

Josh Dzieza got a rare glimpse at the meticulous work of undersea cable repair — the secretive industry that keeps internet infrastructure around the world up and running. If you haven’t read his excellent feature yet, here’s a quick overview of how cable repair works.

Some Westworld props are being auctioned off over at Heritage Auctions, beginning tomorrow, April 24th. Props from the canceled show include a self-driving car — complete with “manual gas throttle” and a “hidden compartment to operate vehicle.” (See the image gallery below.)

Also available are a table, some e-bikes, and assorted sous-vide bags of Dolores’ skin.

Blink Twice, director co-writer Zoë Kravitz’s new psychological thriller about two women (Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat) trapped on an eccentric billionaire’s (Channing Tatum) island, sounds like a cross between Glass Onion and The Menu.

And the movie’s first trailer makes it seem like those two flavors are going to go pretty well together Blink Twice hits theaters on August 23rd.

Ever struggle to get a table at buzzy New York restaurants? Blame the scalpers.

Reservation resellers scour platforms like Resy and OpenTable and resell their spots to the rich and the desperate. It’s apparently a booming industry: a sophomore at Brown says he made $70,000 last year selling reservations.

New York Times writer Kashmir Hill has another mind-boggling story about GM’s privacy problem. She recently purchased a Chevy Bolt, and later found out her driving data was being provided to third-party brokers without her consent. The root of the problem seems to be sales people rushing customers through a bunch of terms that opt them into the program without explaining what they’re signing up for. Shady stuff.

If you owned a Ring camera when the FTC alleges unauthorized users may have had access to your videos, check your email. You may be getting a slice of the $5.6 million Ring paid out to settle the FTC’s complaint that its practices pre-2019 “led to egregious violations of users’ privacy.” The company settled but denied violating the law.

The point of Pokémon Sleep is getting people to go to bed with the promise of waking up to little monsters who live in your phone. But for those looking to get more out of the game than better sleeping habits, the Grand Hyatt hotel in Toyko is offering a range of luxury vacation packages meant to “recreate the world of Pokémon Sleep.”

Android expert Mishaal Rahman spotted an “even dimmer” option in Android 15 that allows the display “to go dimmer than normal.” There’s already an “extra dim” option you can manually toggle on, but Rahman suspects this new setting will automatically kick in when you’re in a dark area.