An author's debut novel scored $2.4m in licensing deals after Minotaur/Macmillan acquired it, but they unraveled after "questions were raised" over exactly who, or what, wrote it. Deadline reports "there are apparently fingerprints, or something that raised the flags of AI censors," a description that illustrates how well the entertainment industry understands the technology at hand. — Read the rest

The post Unpublished novel's $2.4m deal pulled over AI concerns appeared first on Boing Boing.

YouTube terminated the channels of several popular ASMR artists this week, telling them their content violated its policies against sexual material. 404 Media's Samantha Cole reports that those banned include ItsBunniiASMR, Slight Sounds, Nananightray, Roseasmr, Simoneasmr and Janina Wilhelmsen. — Read the rest

The post YouTube crackles down on ASMR content appeared first on Boing Boing.

NASA's mission to rescue a satellite falling out of orbit suffered a setback when the rescue craft experienced multiple failures. NASA launched Katalyst's LINK spacecraft earlier this month on a mission to boost the Swift Observatory into a stable orbit.

In a blog post, NASA announced that "Katalyst's LINK servicing spacecraft experienced issues with attitude control, causing the spacecraft to spin and resulting in sporadic communications." — Read the rest

The post Spacecraft sent on rescue mission now spinning out of control appeared first on Boing Boing.

The I Can't Sleep podcast is the perfect way to fall asleep. Wikipedia entries are read slowly, in a soft monotone. Recent episodes have included the entries for Middle-earth, French fries, and concrete.

The show's about page claims that "Sleep researchers will tell you that monotony, predictable voices, and gentle cognitive engagement (the kind that distracts but doesn't excite) are useful for falling asleep." — Read the rest

The post Fall asleep to monotonous Wikipedia entries with this podcast appeared first on Boing Boing.

Avocado flowers perform the duty of both female and male flowers. The gene that controls them has been unchanged for 42 million years.

Each avocado flower opens twice over two days: first in its female phase, when it can receive pollen, and later in its male phase, when it releases pollen. — Read the rest

The post The avocado's sex life has run on the same schedule for 42 million years appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Trump administration arrested a former Olympian, David Hearn, for touching a loose piece of its janky Reflecting Pool liner, indicted him for felony vandalism, and then announced it had "tremendous evidence" of his wrongdoing. The evidence shows something else: the contractor botched the installation, the DOJ lied. — Read the rest

The post DOJ admits the Reflecting Pool "vandal" was the contractor appeared first on Boing Boing.

A 21-year-old Nebraska man set out to film an instructional gun video and accidentally produced a much more persuasive one. Police say the newly purchased 9mm discharged as he demonstrated how to rack it, sending a bullet through his leg and severing his femoral artery. — Read the rest

The post This gun lesson skipped directly to the consequences appeared first on Boing Boing.

Architect of our demise, Senator Mitch McConnell's office released another photograph to prove that he remains alive and recovering. The doubting public responded by identifying his wife's $12 Chico's shirt and opening a textile-forensics lab.

A family friend of billionaire Elaine Chao reportedly considers it implausible that she would willingly wear a $12 Chico's shirt. — Read the rest

The post A $12 Chico's shirt enters the Mitch McConnell proof-of-life mystery appeared first on Boing Boing.

Recently, we shared the story of an airplane evangelist who likes to stand up and start bothering people on flights. It appears the airlines are over it.

Public exhibitionist Whitney Lynn goes on a weird Jesus rant after being told she can not perform her one-woman act. — Read the rest

The post Preacher who loves a "captive audience" meets the person running the flight appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Voibe AI Voice Dictation is $79.99 (reg. $199) with offline voice-to-text, app-wide cursor support, Apple Silicon optimization, and ongoing updates.

A lot of writing time isn't really writing. In reality, it's waiting for your hands to catch up, deleting the stiff sentence you just typed, and wishing the computer could simply take the thought directly from your brain. — Read the rest

The post Voibe gives Mac users a much faster way to get words down appeared first on Boing Boing.

Gay bars in San Francisco are installing ID and facial scanners and requiring patrons to give it up if they want to get in, with Cydney Hayes in The San Francisco Gazetteer likening the gates to the TSA and Jacob Ogles in The Advocate pointing out the loss of anonymity and safety in LGBTQ+ spaces. — Read the rest

The post Patronscan's "ultimate bouncer" never forgets a face in San Francisco's gay bars appeared first on Boing Boing.

If you visit Itch.io to check out indie and casual games, the website's so good you might never even realize that there's a desktop app (with downloads for Windows, macOS and Linux) to manage and run the games, apps and other interesting things hosted there. — Read the rest

The post If you like indie games, have you tried the Itch desktop app? appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Learn how to use Claude AI beyond basic prompts with the Claude AI Professional E-Degree, featuring four courses, 100+ lectures, and real-world projects for $13.99 with code COURSE30 through August 2.

AI tools are becoming part of everyday work, but knowing how to ask Claude a quick question and knowing how to actually use it are two very different things. — Read the rest

The post AI won't take your job, but someone who knows Claude might — this course is just $14 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Republican support for President Trump's war with Iran remained steady at 71% in June, but has fallen to 61% in July, according to a survey by the Associated Press's NORC Center for Public Affairs. Everyone else overwhelmingly disapproves of the conflict, with support among "independents" falling to 17% and support among Democrats falling from 8% to 4% in the last few weeks. — Read the rest

The post At $4 a gallon again, even Republicans souring on Iran war appeared first on Boing Boing.

TSA staff found five Civil War-era cannonballs in a passenger's checked suitcase at Gulf Shores International Airport in Alabama. Investigators found that the munitions were missing from nearby Fort Morgan; a child supposedly pilfered them and sneaked them into grandma's luggage. — Read the rest

The post Stolen Civil War cannonballs found in luggage appeared first on Boing Boing.

A Vermont pharmacy chain's new AI assistant led not to the efficiency improvements promised but to "delays, incorrect information and privacy concerns." The AI, named "Burt" after the chain's long-dead founder, is said to call excessively, get dosages wrong and suggest inappropriate refills, among other alarming problems. — Read the rest

The post AI assistant named for long-dead pharmacy founder mutters incomprehensibly and "demands that you talk to him" appeared first on Boing Boing.

Picture a vast field of honeycombed polygonal rocks stretching to the horizon in an otherworldly valley. NASA's Curiosity rover did, and the Valle Grande, as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is calling it, is the latest fascinating spot to be imaged by the rover, now in its 13th year of trundling across the Martian landscape. — Read the rest

The post Curiosity rover finds field of honeycomb-textured "polygons" appeared first on Boing Boing.

Casio's CRW-H001 is a tiny retro-style watch for your ring finger, and the newest model has a few smart features to make it an alternative to models from Oura and Samsung.

Added to the tiny gadget is monitoring of the wearer's heart rate, blood oxygen levels and body temperature. — Read the rest

The post Casio's new Ring Watch has a few smart features appeared first on Boing Boing.

A U.S. State Department map of Africa mislabeled every country it depicted during a presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro. The slide was so egregiously wrong that multiple attendees whipped out their phones to get a shot of it; Emily Bass, a writer and AIDS expert, wrote about it at length. — Read the rest

The post U.S. delegation uses AI slop map of Africa at AIDS conference appeared first on Boing Boing.

A Comcast manager allegedly abused underperforming workers by smashing pies in their faces, a lawsuit claims, recording the assaults in camera and ordering other employees to participate in the abuse. If it's not quite so unhinged as Ebay sending a pig fetus and sexually explicit materials to critics, it's certainly not normal. — Read the rest

The post Lawsuit claims underperforming Comcast workers subjected to abusive ritual appeared first on Boing Boing.

A man accused of spray-painting "Nazi" and "Fascist" on 13 Teslas was apparently undone by the feature he neglected to vandalize: their cameras. The cars became stooges for the cops; his takeout order supplied the mailing address.

Irvine police said it had responded to an altercation at the intersection of Michelson Drive and Carlson Avenue, the general area where the 13 Teslas had been vandalized.

— Read the rest

The post The cars he hated became the prosecution's photo department appeared first on Boing Boing.

Wicker is a movie about a fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) who, tired of her community's disdain, has the basketweaver (Peter Dinklage) craft her a husband (Alexander Skarsgård) out of wicker. Here's the trailer, just out:

I'm not sure what I expected from this but it really has everything, including Dinklage exactly replicating the Tyrion accent. — Read the rest

The post Trailer for Wicker, starring Olivia Colman, Peter Dinklage and Alexander Skarsgård appeared first on Boing Boing.

In what seems like a story from the late 1990s, and not 2026, Washington's bar-licensure task force wanted to wait until 2027 to give their new high-tech exam time to "work out any issues with its administration." The state Supreme Court chose 2026. — Read the rest

The post The new Washington bar exam could not demonstrate minimum technical competence appeared first on Boing Boing.

Wisconsin alcohol regulators are trying to shut down Minocqua Brewing over permit violations so trivial they read less like public-safety concerns than a scavenger hunt for reasons to punish the state's loudest anti-Trump brewery.

Wisconsin's Division of Alcohol Beverages is trying to revoke permits held by Minocqua Brewing Company, an outspoken progressive brewery that recently promised free beer on the day Donald Trump dies. — Read the rest

The post Wisconsin moves to shut down anti-Trump brewery over minor permit violations appeared first on Boing Boing.

A video from Lindsey Graham's funeral appears to capture two nearby mourners reacting as Diaper Don "shifts" in his seat. Perhaps it is fortunate there is no audio.

The Orange Menace attended Lindsey Graham's funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, where he also delivered a eulogy and rapped on the casket to say hello. — Read the rest

The post Grandpa Pudding Brains befouls a funeral appeared first on Boing Boing.

I've found a new favorite internet animal: a pig named Daisy, whose neon-pink-painted hooves and viral food reviews have made her an internet sensation. Her review process is simple. She tries the food, pauses to consider it, and if she likes it, she sucks on her lip — declaring it "lip-licking good." — Read the rest

The post A pig named Daisy rates foods by how much she licks her lips appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Marine Mammal Care Center (MMCC) needs your help. MMCC is the only year-round hospital in Los Angeles dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating sick, injured, and orphaned seals and sea lions.

Last year, MMCC competed in the Land Rover Defender Service Awards and came so close; they finished in second place. — Read the rest

The post Happy Mutants! Please help rescue marine mammals! appeared first on Boing Boing.

A high school in New York was set on installing an AI-equipped humanoid robot there this fall, but the Salamanca City Central School District has paused the plan after public outrage. Privacy and cost concerns were raised, but it was also suggested that the uncanny "Sally" might be a RealDoll in a cardigan: supplier Realbotix bought the manufacturer of the silicone dolls in 2024. — Read the rest

The post New York high school pauses plan for AI robot teacher that looks suspiciously like a RealDoll appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: FirstResume helps automate the job search by tailoring resumes, writing cover letters, prepping interviews, researching companies, and tracking applications. Get lifetime access for $39.99 (reg. $899).

Finding a job can feel like a full-time job in itself, especially when you're rewriting your resume and cover letter for every posting that catches your eye.  — Read the rest

The post Skip the resume rewrites with FirstResume for $39.99 appeared first on Boing Boing.

On Halloween night in 1992, BBC1 broadcast what looked like a live investigation of a haunted house in a London suburb, with Michael Parkinson anchoring from the studio and Sarah Greene reporting from the family's living room. Ghostwatch was scripted drama, recorded weeks earlier, but it used real presenters, actual BBC camera operators, and the network's standard call-in number — the one viewers knew from Saturday morning children's shows. — Read the rest

The post In 1992, BBC ran a fake live ghost hunt and freaked out viewers appeared first on Boing Boing.