Job Growth Once Again Blows Past Expectations

Enlarge / Comcast/Xfinity's new bundle of streaming services harkens back to a much earlier era. (credit: Getty Images) Disaggregation is so 2010s, so Comcast, facing intense pressure from streaming services, is bringing back the old bundle-it-up playbook. Its previously announced bundle of Netflix, Peacock, and Apple TV+, only to Comcast/Xfinity cable or broadband subscribers, will cost $15 per month.

Enlarge / The Nest Audio. (credit: Google) It's unclear how much life is left in the 4-year-old Nest Audio or 8-year-old Google Home speakers, but Google is at least bringing back a feature it stripped away from users after losing a legal case. In 2022, Google lost a patent case brought by Sonos, and rather than pay a licensing fee, Google reached into customer homes and removed the ability to control speaker volume as a group.

Enlarge / The Qualcomm Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows fits a Snapdragon X Elite and 32GB of RAM into an $899 mini desktop. (credit: Qualcomm) Microsoft and Qualcomm are both making a concerted effort to make Windows-on-Arm happen after years of slow progress and false starts. One thing the companies have done to get software developers on board is to offer mini PC developer kits, which can be connected to a software developer's normal multi-monitor setup and doesn't require the same cash outlay as an equivalently specced Surface tablet or laptop. Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows, a small black plastic mini PC with the same internal hardware as the new wave of Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite processors in them.

Enlarge (credit: SewcreamStudio | iStock / Getty Images Plus) The US Department of Justice has started cracking down on the use of AI image generators to produce child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). On Monday, the DOJ arrested Steven Anderegg, a 42-year-old "extremely technologically savvy" Wisconsin man who allegedly used Stable Diffusion to create "thousands of realistic images of prepubescent minors," which were then distributed on Instagram and Telegram. The cops were tipped off to Anderegg's alleged activities after Instagram flagged direct messages that were sent on Anderegg's Instagram account to a 15-year-old boy.

Fitness company Peloton has paused music and entertainment programs featuring rapper and record executive Sean “Diddy” Combs after disturbing footage surfaced of the star being physically violent. The decision comes following the release of camera footage from a Los Angeles hotel of Combs physically assaulting and kicking his then-girlfriend Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, as she was approaching the elevator.

Enlarge / In the recent past, you'd have to rely on your kid sibling to deliver Minecraft commentary like "Oh no, it's a zombie. Run!" (credit: Microsoft) Longtime gamers (and/or Game Grumps fans) likely know that even single-player games can be a lot more fun with a friend hanging out nearby to offer advice, shoot the breeze, or just offer earnest reactions to whatever's happening on screen.