Senior Reporter
Adi Robertson has been covering the intersection of technology, culture, and policy at The Verge since 2011. Her work includes writing about DIY biohacking, survival horror games, virtual and augmented reality, online free expression, and the history of computing. She also makes very short video games. You have probably seen her in a VR headset.
Joking aside, Oculus and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey made good on his promise to announce a new head-mounted display during a talk at Augmented World Expo. He said little about the new project, though, except the quote above — and he suggested it’s still in the early stages.
Luckey also mentioned “adult entertainment” could be the most promising VR hardware niche for a small company, since mainstream companies won’t touch it. He emphatically did not say that’s what he’s working on here.
What’s in that case that says “Oculus Development Kit” in front of Oculus and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, appearing beside Bigscreen VR’s Darshan Shankar and moderator Stephanie Riggs at Augmented World Expo? The new headset Luckey said he’d announce at AWE?
Nope! It’s exactly what you’d expect. A vintage 2013 DK1.
That’s almost a year after its 2023 PC release, but good news for anyone who’d rather try the surprisingly good retro shooter revamp on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 4, or PlayStation 5.
The Twitter/X alternative’s latest financial update is dire: it may run out of money in April after losing contact with a single person who’s provided its funding so far. While the operators lay out backup plans like crowdfunding, the site’s future seems uncertain to say the least.
[cohost dot org on cohost]
404 Media obtained internal emails about how a controversial Call of Duty-themed police recruiting poster was created — and before the backlash, the department was more worried about the publisher’s IP lawyers than comparing law enforcement work to a bloody military shooter. The department pulled and apologized for the ad last month; as far as we know, Activision has not publicly responded.
Legal blogger Eric Goldman covers a weird (and rightfully smacked down) attempt at getting Section 230 immunity for nonconsensually distributing nude pictures through the mail — including some brief, useful observations on the state of nonconsensual pornography law both on- and offline.
[Technology & Marketing Law Blog]
Apparently TikTok’s push notification warning is working, because congressional staffers say they’re flooded with calls protesting a new play to make Chinese owner ByteDance sell the app:
“It’s so so bad. Our phones have not stopped ringing. They’re teenagers and old people saying they spend their whole day on the app and we can’t take it away,” one House GOP staffer told POLITICO, granted anonymity to speak candidly.
The FCC has issued a formal notice that ACP funding, which subsidizes broadband access for 23 million households, runs out at the end of April. As Karl Bode at Techdirt notes, Congress (particularly congressional Republicans) didn’t find the Biden administration’s request for $6 billion to fund it worth granting. Those households will lose out on a $30 monthly broadband discount — which FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel warns will cause some to lose access altogether.
Google noted the change as part of an update on its compliance with the Digital Markets Act. The update highlights more options it’s already announced or rolled out, including new choice screens and data sharing options, plus changes to how Play Store developers can collect payments — all preparing for the deadline of March 6th.