My main newsletter, Complex Machinery, includes a section called "In Other News..." It's where I list one-liners about interesting articles that didn't fit into any segments.

You can think of this as a weekly version of In Other News. It's still a curated list, but it has a wider remit than Complex Machinery's "risk, AI, and related topics."

What I've been reading

• Mega-investor SoftBank sells off its entire Nvidia stake. I'm sure that's not a sign or anything. (CNBC)
• Those incessant, flashy ads for online gambling aren't contributing to a public health crisis. Right? Right? (Stat News)
• Bloomberg's Amanda Mull draws parallels between beauty chain Ulta and DIY store Home Depot. (Bloomberg)
• Here's a walkthrough of the Tricolor meltdown from a few weeks back. (Bloomberg)
• That was Tricolor. Not to be confused with First Brands, which also left some lenders on the hook. (FT)
• A paper offers lessons on the 2008 mortgage meltdown, aka the Great Financial Crisis (GFC). It was published in 2009, shortly after the crisis hit and the wounds were still fresh. (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)
• More questions about OpenAI's business model. (Le Monde 🇫🇷)
• OpenAI's CFO tries to reframe her comment about a government "backstop" to the company's AI work. (New York Times, CNBC)
• It seems like attorneys really dig using genAI bots in their work. Which is fine. But they aren't so good at, y'know, checking the bots' work after the fact. (New York Times)
• Aspiring legal professionals also use genAI bots. The results are about the same. Just ask Kim Kardashian. (Gizmodo)
• Still, Thomson Reuters wants to provide genAI tools to attorneys. (Business Insider)
• OpenAI gets hit with seven lawsuits accusing it of connections to app users' troubling episodes, including suicide. (Associated Press, CNN, Le Monde 🇫🇷)
• Some Nvidia datacenters could be years away from actually having electricity. (Bloomberg)
• Upstart website Hidden takes on the OnlyFans business model, offering performers more free time and flexibility. (The Guardian)
• Someone read 21,000 emails that had been sent to The Washington Post and still had the energy to write about it. (NOTUS — News of the United States)
• Humanoid robots are apparently not the future. At least, not in the near term. Unless you want one to trash your house. (Futurism)
• That daring Louvre heist? At least one element involved a weak password – "Louvre" – on a key security system. (ABC News)
• A look into the physics-defying Saudi Arabia "Neom" project, which originally included plans for an office building suspended like a chandelier between two structures. (FT)
• Dating app Tinder wants to see your phone's camera roll. (TechCrunch)
• Microsoft built a synthetic marketplace in which to test genAI agents. That exercise showed precisely why you want to test your genAI agents in a controlled environment. (TechCrunch, The Register)
• Meta compares its controversial new AI glasses to iPhones. The folks at 404 Media explain why the devices are completely different. (404 Media)
• Today's episode of Adding AI To A Product Doesn't Make It Better, starring Google's Nest Cameras. (New York Times/Wirecutter)
• A simple explanation of game design. (Raph Koster)

What did I miss?

Have something I should read? Send the link my way.