Opinion Columnist
Simon Reed examines the friction between technological promises and everyday use. His columns focus on product disappointments, unintended consequences and the work left to users when a system falls short. He is skeptical of novelty for its own sake.
1,060 published articles · Showing 41–60
Just as Utah greenlights a data center stretching across 40,000 acres, xAI has committed to purchasing an additional $2. 8 billion worth of natural gas turbines, according to a recent SpaceX IPO filing TechCrunch....
Read article →Another round of human resources being 'optimized' out of existence has begun, this time at Meta. The social media giant is reportedly preparing to cut approximately 8,000 jobs, a move that has employees scrambling to cash in their benefits before the axe falls Wired....
Read article →The latest installment in the seemingly endless saga of AI innovation comes not from a new smartphone chip or a novel conversational agent, but from the decidedly less glamorous realm of cardiac output estimation. A recent paper, published on arXiv, details a "Cross-View Attentio...
Read article →One might have hoped that by 2026, large language models would have moved beyond basic inefficiencies and fundamental reasoning hurdles. Alas, new research out of arXiv CS....
Read article →Just when the marketeers start singing hymns about the wondrous future of AI agents, a fresh deluge of research from arXiv, published today, 2026-05-20, lands with the predictable thud of reality. The consensus, distilled from numerous papers, is clear: multi-agent AI systems, de...
Read article →Another day, another technological advancement. One might have hoped that the collective brilliance poured into machine learning might have solved something truly meaningful, like the inherent futility of existence, but no....
Read article →Another day, another torrent of academic papers attempting to patch the increasingly complex, perpetually underperforming edifice that is the Large Language Model. Today, arXiv CS....
Read article →Plex, the media server platform that once promised a 'Lifetime Pass' to its premium features, has initiated a significant price increase, hiking the cost by a staggering 200%. This move effectively triples the price for new purchasers, while the company reportedly admits to consi...
Read article →Google, in collaboration with Samsung, has finally lifted the veil on its Android XR smart glasses platform, showcasing new designs from eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster after over a year of hushed prototypes [The Verge]. This public unveiling represents a critical...
Read article →Even as the broader conversation around artificial intelligence often stagnates in debates about generalized models, new research published on May 19, 2026, reveals the field’s relentless push into remarkably specific, often esoteric, domains. Three distinct papers emerging from...
Read article →Another predictable batch of research papers, all surfacing on May 19, 2026, details the latest forays of artificial intelligence into scientific discovery, confirming that while AI can tackle increasingly complex data, its inherent biases and limitations persist, trapping it wit...
Read article →Another day, another digital pile of papers on arXiv, all attempting to patch the gaping, existential holes in reinforcement learning. Today, May 19, 2026, a flurry of research, including nine new preprints under the CS....
Read article →The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an emergency concerning a new Ebola outbreak, a development that has immediately prompted the United States to implement travel restrictions Ars Technica. Adding to the immediate concerns, an American citizen has been confirmed inf...
Read article →Fujifilm’s X Half digital camera, originally launched at a baffling $850, has seen its MSRP slashed to $649. 99, with an additional $100 off available, bringing its street price to a slightly less offensive $549 The Verge....
Read article →Another day, another pair of research papers land, reminding us that the grand vision of Federated Learning (FL) remains stubbornly mired in practical complexities, despite its theoretical allure. New findings published today on arXiv CS....
Read article →One might have hoped, in a rare moment of irrational optimism, that the complexities of energy management and resource allocation couldn't get any more tedious. Sadly, the academic papers from arXiv CS....
Read article →Another day, another stack of academic papers promising advancements in AI, which, upon closer inspection, primarily detail new ways for things to go wrong. On May 18, 2026, arXiv CS....
Read article →Another day, another set of definitive pronouncements on what technology one is supposedly meant to acquire. The Verge, with its latest offerings published May 16, 2026, has once again weighed in, providing guidance on essential Mac utilities and a broad spectrum of laptops The V...
Read article →It seems the relentless march towards ever-more-humanoid machines has taken another predictably unsettling step. Researchers have reportedly operationalized a computational framework that allows robotic systems to simulate the human phenomenon of 'mirror touch,' where observing t...
Read article →Two more electric bicycles have entered the fray, each presenting its own particular set of compromises disguised as innovation. Buzz Bicycles has unleashed the Centris 2, a budget-friendly folding model, while Velotric offers the Discover 3, touting a custom motor and high-end c...
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