Nanolathe is the latest example of a fascinating subgenre of real-time strategy game: Chris Taylor's 1997 hit Total Annihation but with something more. Nanolathe offers an open source MIT-licensed 2.5D RTS engine reimplementing the original plus three decades of the quality-of-life tweaks: a perfect access point for anyone who played it way back when but might now be intimidated by Beyond All Reason's sprawling 150-player Götterdämmerungs. — Read the rest

The post Classic real-time strategy game Total Annihilation is 30 years old—and everyone is remixing it appeared first on Boing Boing.

It's kind of bleak that gambling ads have become so ubiquitous, right? It feels like every time you turn on the TV or click on a YouTube video, you're greeted with some morally bankrupt celebrity — usually Kevin Hart — trying their hardest to make blowing your life savings on a parlay fun. — Read the rest

The post Unsurprisingly, gambling apps reward gambling addiction appeared first on Boing Boing.

I'm about to say something bold and trailblazing: the triple-A game development industry isn't particularly creative and has stagnated significantly, in large part thanks to overinflated budgets bringing with them astronomical revenue goals that heavily discourage risk-taking or innovation. Cower as this fresh young firebrand says what we're all thinking! — Read the rest

The post Minesweeper as a triple-A game appeared first on Boing Boing.

If you've been engaging with the American job market lately, first of all, I'm so sorry. Second of all, you've probably run into an AI-powered "automated recruitment agent": in other words, an AI bot that the company makes you do a one-sided interview with as part of the extended humiliation ritual that is landing a job. — Read the rest

The post Messing with AI interviewers is cathartic appeared first on Boing Boing.

Last week, a clone of Adobe's Creative Suite appeared, said to be reverse-engineered and recreated using AI. Adobe's bad reputation made it easy for the internet to take perverse joy in its misfortune. Out with Adobe's surveillance technology, in with a fast and efficient replacement! — Read the rest

The post "Terrible games" made with AI appeared first on Boing Boing.

Remember when the PS5 Pro launched and we all lost our collective minds about it costing $700, which is, to be fair, still an egregious price for a console? Good times.

If only we knew, right? The enormity of the AI component crunch hadn't quite hit us yet, and a future where people could still afford to play video games still seemed possible. — Read the rest

The post A used PS5 Pro will now run you twice its original launch price appeared first on Boing Boing.

Anthropic updated its usage policy to protect Claude from bullies. Along with clarifications on child sexual abuse material and weapons development, the 2026 Usage Policy update prohibits users from "Engag[ing] in sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior toward our models"

The update published yesterday, and effective in November, along with sections titled "Do Not Undermine Democratic Processes" and "Do Not Generate Sexually Explicit Content" is a section called "Do Not Engage in Cruel, Abusive, or Psychologically Harmful Conduct." — Read the rest

The post Anthropic wants people to stop being mean to Claude appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Protect 10 devices with an AdGuard VPN 5-year subscription on sale for $35.

Most VPNs get by charging you a small fee every month. It seems trivial at first, but once you add it up, you can end up spending hundreds just trying to keep your privacy intact. — Read the rest

The post For the next 3 days, this $360 VPN is only $35 appeared first on Boing Boing.

No longer will Americans have to go without delicious and inexpensive industrial dyes in their foodstuffs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reportedly to allow additives to be added to food without safety review so long as they aren't proven to be carcinogenic and introduced at levels below 0.5 parts per billion. — Read the rest

The post New FDA loophole would allow toxic chemicals into food appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Upgrade to Windows 11 Pro and get Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for life for $34.97 (reg. $418.99).

There's no reason to still be using Windows 10 or Microsoft 365 anymore. If you want to ditch your 10-year old operating system and wave a joyful farewell to monthly subscription fees, check out this bundle which pairs Windows 11 Pro with a lifetime license for Microsoft Office for just $34.97 (reg. — Read the rest

The post Today only: Get Microsoft Office and Windows 11 Pro for life for $35 appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro lifetime license for $7.97 (Reg. $199).

Windows 11 Pro is an excellent product for working professionals who require access to advanced management and security tools. This edition of the suite not only provides users with access to three advanced features not included in the standard Home version, but it also comes at a great price. — Read the rest

The post Windows 11 Pro: Access advanced professional tools for $8 appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Skip the downloads by recording and sharing your screen instantly with this Glooin Starter Plan Lifetime Subscription, now at 75% off. 

Glooin provides friction-free sharing by recording your screen and sending a shareable link the moment you stop recording. — Read the rest

The post This Loom alternative lets you record and share your screen instantly for $25 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Doom running on toothbrushes is old news. The new thing is porting Doom to ancient systems. Few offer a more starkly-different experience to the original's low-res pseudo-3D than the vectorbeam Vectrex, already a vintage curiosity by the time Id software's 1993 FPS came out. — Read the rest

The post Vectrex Doom appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get lifetime access to lessons in 14 different languages with Babbel, now just $134.99, with code LEARN.

If you've been looking for a good language learning app, you've probably noticed that a whole lot of them have AI teaching their lessons now. — Read the rest

The post Get lifetime access to all Babbel language lessons with this exclusive offer appeared first on Boing Boing.

Squirrels were melting into the ground during the last Southern California heatwave.

Scientists explain "splooting" as rodents spreading out to expose as much of their thermal mass as possible to the cooler ground. It looks cute, but residents should still avoid squirrels as the nefarious criminal masterminds of the wild animal world. — Read the rest

The post The splootin' squirrels of SoCal are keepin' cool appeared first on Boing Boing.

On nice, sunny days in Southern California, people usually visit the beach. Today, however, the beach is moving into residential neighborhoods.

A hurricane is east and south of Baja California, a record heatwave just broke, and the Super El Niño doesn't give a damn, or it would probably just pass right over a dam, too. — Read the rest

The post Sunny, 80 degrees, and Newport Beach is flooding appeared first on Boing Boing.

Trump spent millions in taxpayer money to put self-aggrandizing tripe on TV. A focus group of former supporters suggests the ads may be doing exactly the opposite of winning them back.

The Bulwark shared one of Trump's ego ads with some MAGAs whose enthusiasm has waned. — Read the rest

The post Maybe Trump's taxpayer-funded ads are a public service after all appeared first on Boing Boing.

A crazy spectacle erupted when a 20-inch Harvest Midstream natural-gas pipeline exploded Tuesday afternoon near La Boca, New Mexico, shooting flames an estimated 50 to 100 feet into the air and setting the surrounding brush and trees on fire.

Residents near La Boca described the pipeline explosion as sounding like an F-16 taking off in their neighbor's yard. — Read the rest

The post New Mexico pipeline explodes, launches 100-foot flames and starts a wildfire appeared first on Boing Boing.

Two Renoir paintings stolen last month in southern France were recovered this week, reports Le Monde. Swiped from a museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, the Madame Colonna Romano and Jeune femme au puits are now safe under lock and key along with six suspects arrested since the September raid. — Read the rest

The post Stolen Renoirs recovered in France; six suspects in custody appeared first on Boing Boing.

Diaper Don is name-calling and attempting to use race to turn voters against a Michigan candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Repeating his earlier "slip" of calling Abdul El-Sayed "Mohammed," Trump now plays with the man's entire name and says it is because he feels like it. — Read the rest

The post Trump admits he deliberately misnames Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed appeared first on Boing Boing.