Tech

A reminder that there is a way out of Google’s AI Search.

I’m not talking about using something like Kagi, although that’s one way to do it. Last year, I directed Verge readers to a Tedium blog post explaining how to add “udm=14” to your browser’s default search URL to get rid of Google Search AI Overviews.

If that’s a headache, there’s also Tedium author Ernie Smith’s website that builds the “disenshittification Konami code” into your searches. Alternatively, you could just use cussword-laden searches.

Now anyone can buy an Alarmo.

Nintendo’s motion-sensing (and Doom-playing, with some unsanctioned modification) alarm clock is now available for anyone in the US to buy from its online store “while supplies last,” the company announced yesterday.

0

Could TSMC take over Intel’s chip factories?

Yesterday, President Trump accused TSMC: “Taiwan took our chip business away.”

But Bloomberg and The New York Times have anonymous sources saying Trump’s pick for commerce secretary is encouraging TSMC to do a deal. Bloomberg’s source says TSMC is open to it; The NYT’s sources suggest Intel might be interested too; its board reportedly approached TSMC and its interim chairman reportedly met directly with both TSMC’s CEO and Trump’s people.

Siri’s biggest improvements might arrive later than expected.

Apple is still working on some big AI-powered upgrades to Siri, but instead of launching with iOS 18.4, they may be limited or delayed until iOS 18.5, Bloomberg reports.

The surprisingly deep history of a ubiquitous font.

Marcin Wichary, the author of Shift Happens — an exhaustively researched, beautifully designed and photographed history of the keyboard — is back with a deep dive into Gorton, a font found on keyboards, intercoms, camera lenses, and engraved signs across the world, with a special focus on Manhattan. The article is classic Wichary: it goes very deep and is full of beautiful photographs and interactive elements. It’s a real delight after the week we’ve had.

Judge temporarily blocks mass firings at CFPB.

A federal judge in the District of Columbia has granted a temporary restraining order that enjoins the Trump administration from laying off or terminating without cause any more employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as from deleting agency data or transferring agency funds “other than to satisfy the ordinary operating obligations of the CFPB.”

Three different court hearings over DOGE just today.

Paid subreddits are coming this year.

CEO Steve Huffman confirmed the plan in a video AMA released as part of the company’s earnings, as spotted by Ars Technica. Huffman hinted last year that Reddit was considering paid subreddits.

Workers at the nuclear weapons agency are frantically being called back.

Mass layoffs that happened Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are being paused, ABC News reports. The layoffs were part of Donald Trump’s gutting of key federal workforces — including the people maintaining the country’s nuclear stockpile.

0