Tech

OpenAI president and cofounder Greg Brockman, who took a 3-month leave of absence from the company, is back at the company. (Brockman previously said his sabbatical would last through the end of the year.) His return comes after the startup lost several key leaders: CTO Mira Murati and chief research officer Bob McGrew.

Per a memo, he’s working with CEO Sam Altman on creating a new role for him.

That’s growth of 12 percent year-over-year, according to the company’s third quarter earnings. Monthly active users are up, too, reaching 640 million.

November’s Pixel Watch update is here to address last month’s botched Wear OS 5 rollout for older devices, but the curious thing is the update note says the next one is months away:

Pixel Watch 1, Pixel Watch 2, and Pixel Watch 3 devices will receive the November 2024 software update, with the next update planned for March 2025.

It’s odd since Google generally pushes out an update every month. There’s also simply no reason given. Well, a lot can happen in four months.

I’ve got a whole series of these hands-on gadget videos — find more on my Threads — but with the PS5 Pro, it’s only now I’ve been able to make one! At Sony’s preview event, journalists couldn’t touch the final hardware so I focused on what it’s like to play; at review time, my video tried to show off the graphics.

Speaking of...

After details and images leaked in October, Anker’s USB-C car charger is now available from Amazon for $29.99. It connects to a vehicle’s auxiliary power outlet and delivers 45W of power through a retractable 29.5-inch USB-C cable, and an additional 30W through a single USB-C port. But you’ll need to supply a second cable.

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Well, four people close to Trump say he’s going to try and stop it from happening, reports the Washington Post. It’s unclear what, exactly, that means. TikTok faces a ban unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells it by January 19th — the day before Trump’s inauguration.

Maybe Trump, who was courted by tech leaders in the months leading up to the election, will convince one of his new friends to buy it.

Seems like a lot of people are looking for a new place to post.

Though I should note that Threads apparently gets one million new sign-ups per day.

The Google Home extension for Gemini is now available on Android, and the AI-powered features for Google Nest cameras are rolling out to select Nest Aware Plus users in Public Preview today and will come to more users in the next few weeks.

Google also announced a new customizable Member access feature for sharing select devices with friends and family.

Disney is searching for potential CEO candidates outside of the company, and one person being considered is EA CEO Andrew Wilson, Variety and The Wall Street Journal report. The company plans to announce Bob Iger’s successor in early 2026.

I really didn’t like the slow opening hours of the Chrono Trigger-inspired RPG when I reviewed it last year, but the new “Dawn of Equinox” update adds a “revamped prologue” that includes action upfront.

The update also adds local co-op, combat tweaks, and a lot more. Seems like a great time to jump into the game ahead of next spring’s Throes of the Watchmaker DLC.

Good post from Media Guild of the West president Matt Pearce on the reality of media in 2024:

The biggest story about media and the internet is that new technology — AI, social media, smartphones, etc. — keeps driving down the cost of producing bullshit while the cost of obtaining quality information only goes up. It’s getting more and more expensive to produce the good stuff, and the good stuff has to compete against more and more trash once it’s out on the market.