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Amazon security research reportedly led to the White House’s Anthropic Fable ban

13 June 2026 at 22:39
Anthropic logo on an orange and grey background.

According to the The Wall Street Journal, the export control directive that led to Anthropic cutting off access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 was triggered in part by cybersecurity research from Amazon and conversations between CEO Andy Jassy and the White House. According to the report, the paper from Amazon claims that, through a series of prompts, it was able to get Fable 5 to serve up information that could be used in cyberattacks. Amazon has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Shortly after Jassy shared the company's findings with the government, it made the call to block its use by foreign nationals. Complicating this issue is that man …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Sealed Super Mario Bros. sells for a record $3 million

13 June 2026 at 19:37
Sealed Super Mario Bros. NES game.
You know this came for free bundle with the console for $150, right? | Image: Heritage Auctions

A copy of Super Mario Bros., still in the box and sealed with its original sticker, just sold at Heritage Auctions for $3 million. That absolutely crushes the previous record of $2 million, also for a copy of Super Mario Bros., in 2021. That sale also came hot on the heels of a controversial auction of Super Mario 64 for $1.56 million.

Part of what drove the price of this particular copy so high is that, according to Heritage Auctions, instead of shrink-wrap, this 19895 second run was sealed with a glossy sticker, which was discontinued shortly after. The site claims it's the earliest known sealed copy of the game in existence. It's also gr …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft hasn’t ruled out spinning off Xbox

13 June 2026 at 17:29
Asha Sharma on a background of green Xbox logos.
Asha Sharma. | Image: The Verge, Microsoft

Microsoft is preparing to lay off a significant chunk of its Xbox division and is reevaluating the plans for its next-generation Project Helix console. It's apparently also considering dramatically restructuring its relationship with Xbox, and hasn't ruled out spinning it off into a separate company.

A new report from The Information suggests that Microsoft has considered some dramatic measures to make its Xbox unit more sustainable. That includes turning it into a wholly owned subsidiary, a joint venture, or even spinning it off entirely, with the possibility of selling the business. The report doesn't suggest anything is imminent, but it …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Never Post’s Mike Rugnetta on the creative process and the value of reliable power

13 June 2026 at 15:00
Headshot of Mike Rugnetta against a plain gray background.

Mike Rugnetta is a writer, podcast host, producer, audio engineer, educator, musician, sound designer, and father. In short, the man wears a lot of hats. He's the cocreator and host of the award-winning Never Post, an absolutely must-listen podcast about the internet, as well as Fun City, a TTRPG podcast where he's the GM. He's also hosted two different Crash Course series and PBS's Idea Channel.

If you're thinking that sounds like a lot, you're not wrong. It made us want to know how Mike stays focused with so much on his plate, and what tools are most indispensable to him with his hectic schedule. But, what we got was so much more than th …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Anthropic cuts off Fable 5 and Mythos 5 access following government order

13 June 2026 at 13:55
Anthropic logo on an orange background.

On Friday evening, the government ordered Anthropic to block access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all foreign nations, both inside and outside the US, due to national security concerns. That order included employees of Anthropic. To meet those demands, the company has completely cut off access to the models for all customers.

In a statement, Anthropic said that while it was complying with the order, the government "did not provide specific details of its national security concern." Instead, it claims that any evidence of potential jailbreak was provided verbally, and that the vulnerabilities discovered were minor and available via other model …

Read the full story at The Verge.

I’ve found the Goldilocks of portable MIDI controllers

11 June 2026 at 17:00

I have tested more portable MIDI controllers than I can keep track of, and I will tell you right now: 37 keys is the ideal size. While Arturia's 25-key MiniLab MK3 is a solid controller that easily fits in a backpack, it feels a bit claustrophobic. The new $149 MiniLab 37 adds another octave, giving you much more room to play bass and lead simultaneously, or just play more expansive chords.

Physically, the MiniLab 37 isn't very different from its smaller sibling. It's got the same solid (if slightly springy) keybed, eight pads, eight endless encoders, four faders, a pair of touch strips, USB-C, and a full-size five-pin MIDI DIN out on the b …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Deezer launches an AI music detector for other streaming services

11 June 2026 at 09:00
Deezer logo and tag line “live the music” on a black background.

Deezer will now scan your playlists on other streaming platforms to detect AI-generated music. Deezer was the first of the big streaming services to start labeling AI-generated music. It even offered its tech to other platforms, but it doesn't seem like it had many buyers. Qobuz launched its own detection tech, while Apple and Spotify have opted for a voluntary tagging system.

"No other company has followed our lead yet, so we decided to make it possible for everyone to check if their playlists include synthetic music, no matter which streaming platform they use," Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a press release. So, since nobody is ta …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google won’t just admit it’s feeding YouTube creators to its music AI

10 June 2026 at 18:20
An image of a gavel coming down on a Google logo
A group of independent musicians is suing Google claiming it trained Lyria on their uploads. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

If you've uploaded a song to YouTube, Google almost certainly considers your video fair game for training its Lyria music AI, it just won't admit it right now.

A group of independent musicians is suing Google, claiming that it illegally used songs they uploaded to YouTube to train its Lyria 3 model. Google has filed a motion to dismiss the case, saying:

Their lawsuit is based on the unsupported hypothesis that Google trained on their specific works. Even accepting their untested allegations as fact, the Complaint cannot stand. Plaintiffs each granted YouTube, and Google - which provides the service-a broad license to use the uploaded con …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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