The tiny desktop is no longer Apple's most affordable computer

The Mac Mini is the latest victim of the AI-fueled RAM-pocalypse. Last week, Apple discontinued the 256 GB version of the system, which cost $599. To get in now, you'll need to drop at least $799 on a 512 GB version.…

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg's Ashley Carman: Welcome to the modern era of podcasting in which thousands of new shows are released into the world every day with a sizable portion likely being AI-generated. Figuring out exactly which ones fall into that growing category is becoming more difficult just as the industry is starting to take this issue seriously. In only the past month or so, Amazon launched a feature that explains a product by generating a quasi-podcast, complete with co-hosts talking to each other and taking questions from users. Shout out to Business Insider reporter Katie Notopoulos for spotting this (and, naturally, demoing it with an adult diaper rash-cream). Not long ago, Nicholas Thompson, chief executive officer of the Atlantic, noted "podslop" dominated his Spotify search results when he typed in the word "Sora." This was around the time that OpenAI shut down its user-generated, AI-content-only app.

[...] All of which raises some big, difficult questions. For one, what should the listening platforms do about this incursion? As of right now, Apple Podcasts requires creators who generated a "material portion" of their show using AI to disclose it. The platform also bans misleading or deceptive content. Spotify hasn't published any specific guidelines around AI, though it maintains general rules around dangerous and misleading content. Where this conversation gets even trickier is when it comes to money. Many of these podcasts are hosted on at least one free service that allows programs to opt into their ad marketplace with zero barrier to entry, meaning these shows (and the hosting service) profit off every listen or download. Spreaker, a company owned by iHeartMedia, is the primary one to watch here. Though it tells users to disclose when they rely on AI, it still allows those shows to opt into its programmatic ad marketplace, which pays creators 60% of the revenue generated by the ads placed in their shows. It stands to reason that most of these thousands of shows don't reach many people. But in the aggregate, the ears and dollars could add up. Are the advertisers on board with being next to AI-generated content, some of which might be deemed "slop?" There's also the question of how to define "slop." Jackson of the Podcast Index and his co-host Adam Curry treat it as something listeners simply know when they hear it, while Alberto Betella, co-founder of RSS.com, defines it as "fully automated content with no human review."

Jeanine Wright, co-founder of Inception Point, rejects the debate altogether: "The people still talking about slop are still making 6-7 jokes," she said. "It's still yesterday's conversation."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Settlement details were not revealed in the agreement that put an end to a highly anticipated trial before it began

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Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have settled their legal dispute from the acrimonious production of their 2024 film It Ends With Us, just weeks before a highly anticipated scheduled trial.

In a joint statement on Monday, legal representatives of both parties said: “The end product – the movie It Ends With Us – is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors – and all survivors – is a goal that we stand behind.”

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Ryan Cohen said he didn’t understand questions about how the video games retailer could afford its $55.5bn bid

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GameStop’s shares fell more than 10% on Monday as questions emerged about how the company would finance its surprise $55.5bn bid for eBay.

In an interview with CNBC, Ryan Cohen, GameStop’s CEO, skirted repeated inquiries about how the video games retailer could afford the deal, saying he didn’t understand the questions.

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PM will say responsibility to stand with Jewish communities lies with ‘every one of us’ at event on Tuesday

Keir Starmer will call for a whole-of-society response to rising antisemitism on Tuesday, saying that it is not enough simply to condemn the scourge, but people “must show it” through their actions too.

Before a roundtable event at Downing Street, the prime minister will call for action on all forms of antisemitism, after a knife attack against the Jewish community in Golders Green last week, a spate of serious arson attacks and the terror incident in Heaton Park in October.

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Police forcibly broke up protest outside hospital where federal immigration agents took detainee for evaluation

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New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and other local officials on Monday condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after federal officers dragged a man out of a hospital building where he had been taken following an arrest, prompting a crowd of protesters to gather outside, where they clashed with police.

The incident over the weekend has also drawn scrutiny from critics questioning the New York police department’s response at the scene, in relation to New York City’s sanctuary laws, which bar local police from assisting federal immigration authorities in civil immigration enforcement.

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Event chairs Nicole Kidman, Beyoncé, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour had guests dress to the theme ‘fashion is art’, at the event controversially funded by new honorary chairs Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos

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Three people confirmed dead but four made it to shore after rescue went wrong in rough seas

Three people are dead after a marine rescue turned deadly.

NSW Police said four people made it to shore after two vessels became stricken in heavy conditions on Monday night.

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BertvB posted a photo:

Adrian Hon (May 3, 2026), "The Immersive Austenland Experience and the Impossibility of Romantic Larp": "I want to convince you that the 2013 romantic comedy Austenland has the most to teach us about how LARP is understood in popular culture." 'Making of' post: "How I Made My First Video Essay." Related April Fool's post: "Austenland: The World's Most Immersive Austen Experience?" See also "I'm Making Strandfall, a Solarpunk Orienteering Larp" and the recently-released Seasons of Larp, journal of Knutepunkt 2026, in which Hon discusses Nikolai Evreinov's "The Theatre for Oneself" (login required) and "The Storming of the Winter Palace" (captured on film). Early LARPing previously, and--less immersively--the Good Society RPG's 2nd ed. is coming soon but entries for a related game jam plus the extremely light Midnight Editions are readily available.