@Techmeme@techhub.social2026-01-23 18:01:23
Source: smart ring maker Oura plans a tender offer for early investors at a 25% discount to its $11B valuation from Series E, aiming to stay private longer (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-23/smart-r…
@pre@boing.world2026-02-26 10:15:01
Day Five in the Improv Narrative house, and we're in the format I like most really. A few instructive games in the first half and a couple of longer narrative stories in the second half.
The island game was supposed to teach something about not deliberately getting obstructive.
A scene where your players are told they are on one island and must end up at some point all on the other one the other side of the stage.
Set a scene, make some characters, but nobody said it was supposed to be difficult to get from one island to the other.
Yet barriers are deliberately thrown up, actually imaginary barriers since the whole thing is imaginary after all. Why should there be sharks or a quest for a boat or the sea deep and cold.
You can just wade across. You can just have a boat. You can just levitate yourself over with your hive mind psychic abilities.
Unsure about this.
There must be conflict and peril and challenges which are mastered in a story, you can't set up a hero's quest only to have the hero just happen to have a holy grail in the stationary cupboard. Already got one you see. Use it for storing pens.
Still. Finding the crowbar doesn't have to be a quest. There can just be one in the boot. Don't let things get bogged down in difficulty.
Watched a story about a lazy fellow falling into a life of crime and villainy because of his tardiness and fulfilling his teacher's prophecy that he would indeed end up as a criminal if he didn't buck up his ideas. Good repeated themes of characters making lists of his failures and nice stage-focus work when everyone was on stage at once.
Played a preacher organizing a wedding in a story about friends running a hotel.
Fun to have Reverend Priest finding sin everywhere again. Easy wipe-off sin in this case. We may have come to an end too early. Perhaps not enough obstructions put in the way. 😆
#improv #london #hooplaImpro
@cdarwin@c.im2026-02-20 16:34:03
A Ukrainian arms company says it has modified one of its
ground robots to carry and launch
unjammable fiber-optic drones.
Ukrainian forces can put the drones in the air closer to the front without exposing pilots.
Ratel Robotics shared a video this week of its Ratel H model robot
equipped with a protected box.
In the clip, the launcher opens up and releases a small drone connected to a fiber-optic cable.
The uncrewed ground vehicle functions as a …
@paulwermer@sfba.social2026-02-22 15:27:28
I never realized making everyone spend time in the most crowded, most slowly moving lines would end up "prioritizing the general traveling population" - I thought that would just slow down throughput for everyone, creating longer, slower lines. I'm amazed at #Noem's brilliant management insights. /s
Homeland Security suspends TSA PreCheck, Global Entry airport security prog…
@PaulWermer@sfba.social2026-02-22 15:27:28
I never realized making everyone spend time in the most crowded, most slowly moving lines would end up "prioritizing the general traveling population" - I thought that would just slow down throughput for everyone, creating longer, slower lines. I'm amazed at #Noem's brilliant management insights. /s
Homeland Security suspends TSA PreCheck, Global Entry airport security prog…
@scott@carfree.city2025-12-13 01:13:13
RE: https://social.mondoweiss.net/@mondoweiss/115709550259103986
Another crime that can't be freely discussed in the UC system on pain of students being expelled and faculty losing their jobs, thanks to SF's Scott Wiener and his
@Techmeme@techhub.social2026-01-15 17:05:44
X revises its developer API policies to "no longer allow apps that reward users for posting on X (aka "infofi")", amid a backlash about growing AI slop on X (André Beganski/Decrypt)
https://decrypt.co/354736/elon-musks-x-bans-acc…
@cdarwin@c.im2026-02-10 16:08:58
Europeans are booking fewer trips to the US,
Europe’s biggest travel operator has said,
as appetite for long-haul travel wanes and concerns linger around Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Tui, which receives most of its bookings from customers in Europe, has seen
“significantly lower demand” for travel into the US, according to its chief executive, Sebastian Ebel.
“What we do see is growing business to the Emirates and Asia,” he said.
“We also see Europ…
@scott@carfree.city2026-01-08 09:31:14
Waymo says it "designed its driving software to be able to automatically navigate intersections when traffic lights are out, but sometimes [it] will ask for a confirmation from remote human monitors that they are proceeding safely[...] The numerous lights that were out resulted in a surge in such confirmation requests and delayed its vehicles clearing intersections, it said."
These vehicles aren't autonomous. This is a performance they're putting on.
@cdarwin@c.im2025-12-12 19:26:53
On Monday, Trump said
neither bidding party
“are friends of mine.”
He added that he had not spoken to his son- in-law Jared Kushner about the Paramount bid.
Netflix’s bid has already drawn sharp criticism from bipartisan lawmakers and Hollywood unions
over concerns that it could lead to job cuts as well as higher prices for consumers.
“While it is perhaps a sad commentary on the US that Paramount thinks its closeness to the occupant of the Oval Office wil…
