from the these-are-people dept

Pick your favorite zombie movie or television show and you’ll eventually be confronted with dialogue justifying the killing of the zombies with the idea that they are no longer human.

“They aren’t people, Rick. They’re just bodies. We have to stop thinking of them as if they’re still alive.” – The Walking Dead

“They’re not human. Look at them. They’re just… meat.” – Shaun of the Dead

The point is that there should be no ill feelings towards the treatment of a zombie, because they aren’t like us any more. They aren’t worthy of compassion. They deserve no quarter, only violence. They are a threat to our very survival and doing away with them, or at least keeping them away from where humanity exists, is the only solution.

Or, if you’re the Trump administration, you use this same justification as a bank-shot for immigration policy by hosting a Tetris clone game on the White House website.

The White House’s “Build the Wall” game asked players to stop a “Zombie Border siege” by stacking Tetris-styled bricks in an attempt to “hold the line.” Unlike in Tetris, though, the blocks in “Build the Wall” don’t disappear when you complete a line, meaning each brick contributes to an impassable barrier for the pixel-art “zombies” marching in from the “Southern Border.” That change makes the gameplay pretty uninteresting for anything but cheap propaganda, and it also means that every game quickly and ironically ends with a “Border Breached” message when the blocks inevitably fill up the well.

Amerika Garcia Grewal, co-director of Texas migrant rights group Frontera Federation, told AFP last week that the makers of the game “have lost touch with what it means to be human and care for others.”

The game is now thankfully gone from the site, though several other obvious game clones remain. This is not new ground for this administration, of course. Team Trump has made a habit when campaigning and while in office of using video game imagery for all kinds of things, such as touting MAHA nonsense, shitposting about the horrors of its own immigration activity, or bragging about the body count of the wars Trump promised he’d never start.

So, why did the game get taken down? Did someone in the administration realize how horrible and racist the whole thing was? Did Trump himself suddenly suffer from a spasm of moral clarity?

Doubtful. More likely it was this.

In a statement on Friday, a spokesperson for The Tetris Company said it was “reviewing the matter” and that the company “was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall’ and did not authorize or license the Tetris brand or intellectual property for the game.” The company reiterated that message in a social media post Friday afternoon, writing that it “believe[s] in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them.”

Now, I’m not going to sit here and cheer on the enforcement of our overly broad copyright system. But I sure as hell understand why the Tetris people don’t want there to be even the barest chance for them and their game to be associated with something as disgusting as Trump’s Build The Wall “game.” And ArsTechnica is right to note that the Tetris Company has a long history of being very protective of its intellectual property rights, which government lawyers almost certainly are aware of.

Whether taking the game down will be enough to keep the Tetris Company from acting, I do not know. What I do know is that this administration is filled with deeply unserious, racist, and troubled people. Immigrants, illegal or otherwise, are not zombies. They shouldn’t be compared with zombies. Whatever immigration policy you prefer, they are people.

And that really shouldn’t have to be said out loud.

Filed Under: assholes, bigotry, build the wall, cruelty, donald trump, racism, tetris, trolls, video games

Companies: tetris company

Sonos has started rolling out Sonos 27, the latest version of its audio operating system, bringing AI control, redesigned app navigation, and one of the more practical home theater ideas we have seen this year: compatible portable speakers that can automatically become wireless rear surrounds and return to portable duty when the movie is over.

The free software update is available across Sonos S2 products, although individual features depend on the hardware. It also lays the groundwork for direct Wi-Fi headphone linking with the new Sonos Ace Ultra, which becomes available September 29.

Considering Sonos’ recent adventures in app development, asking existing customers to embrace another major software overhaul requires a certain amount of courage. Sonos 27, however, appears focused on adding useful capabilities rather than merely rearranging the furniture.

Related Reading:

Portable Speakers Become Rear Surrounds

The standout feature is Portable Surrounds, which works with matching pairs of Sonos Move 2 or Sonos Play speakers and compatible Arc Ultra, Arc, Beam Ultra, or Beam Gen 2 soundbars.

Sonos Positioning Technology uses brief high-frequency audio signals to determine the distance between the speakers and soundbar. Put two supported portable speakers into position and they can automatically assume rear-channel duties; remove them afterward and they revert to standalone portable speakers. Sonos says the bonding process takes roughly eight seconds.

That is genuinely clever because conventional wireless surrounds become semi-permanent fixtures once installed. Sonos is letting hardware serve two purposes without making users repeatedly rebuild the system inside the app.

The feature also strengthens the case for the recently announced $699 Beam Ultra, which adds dedicated Dolby Atmos height drivers and is one of the supported soundbars.

Sonos Opens the Door to Outside AI

Sonos 27 also introduces Sonos 27mcp in Early Access. Built around Model Context Protocol, it allows outside AI systems including ChatGPT and Claude to communicate with and control a Sonos system. Users can request music or system actions through supported AI tools without first opening the Sonos app.

Sonos’ own 27voice assistant arrives this fall and is designed specifically around music, mood, and natural-language requests. Sonos Custom Agents are planned for 2027, potentially allowing users to create assistants with their own models, voices, and personalities.

Whether your loudspeaker really needs a personality remains debatable, but Sonos’ willingness to support outside AI platforms rather than locking everything behind a proprietary assistant is the more interesting decision.

Ace Ultra Finally Becomes Part of Sonos

The $449 Sonos Ace Ultra also addresses one of our biggest complaints about the original Ace headphones.

Beginning September 29 in Early Access, Headphone Linking lets Ace Ultra connect directly to a Sonos system over Wi-Fi. Users can push or pull audio between nearby Sonos speakers and their headphones without relying solely on a smartphone or Bluetooth connection.

That finally makes headphones bearing the Sonos name behave more like an actual Sonos product.

The App Gets Another Makeover

Sonos 27app introduces Home, System, and Search tabs, native swipe gestures, room pinning, revised volume controls, and additional grouping options. Sonos is also adding iOS gestures, Android widgets, and deeper Shortcuts support as part of the current rollout.

Additional features arriving this fall include a virtual volume knob, quick presets, Siri and Shortcuts support, an optimized iPad interface, and new system-status screens.

What Makes Sonos 27 Different?

Sonos is treating its ecosystem less like a collection of wireless speakers and more like adaptable hardware whose role changes through software.

Portable speakers becoming temporary surrounds, headphones operating as Wi-Fi system endpoints, and outside AI agents controlling playback are individually interesting. Combining all three inside one interoperable home audio platform is what makes Sonos 27 noteworthy.

The closest mainstream competitor remains Bose, whose smart soundbars and speakers support multi-room playback while SimpleSync can connect compatible Bluetooth headphones for private listening. Bose also offers dedicated wireless rear speakers, but it does not currently match Sonos’ ability to automatically repurpose portable speakers as temporary surrounds or integrate headphones as Wi-Fi endpoints in the same manner.

The Bottom Line

Sonos 27 is more interesting than another app redesign because it makes existing hardware behave differently.

Portable Surrounds solves a legitimate space and flexibility problem, while Ace Ultra Headphone Linking fixes an integration gap that should never have existed with the original Ace. Opening system control to outside AI platforms is potentially important as well, provided it makes playing music easier rather than turning the living room into another AI experiment.

Sonos still has to prove that the redesigned software remains stable as these features roll out, but Sonos 27 shows where the company has an advantage over most competitors: the hardware does not necessarily have to be replaced for the system to become more capable.

Price & Availability

Sonos 27 began rolling out on September 8, 2026 as a free software update for Sonos S2 products. Portable Surrounds and Sonos 27mcp are available now on supported hardware, while Headphone Linking launches September 29 in Early Access with Sonos Ace Ultra. Sonos 27voice arrives this fall, with Custom Agents planned for 2027.

For more information, visit the Sonos 27 website.

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This is Bending Spoons’ second acquisition since going public in July.

Italy’s Bending Spoons, which buys and revamps existing businesses providing digital technologies, is acquiring California-based workplace collaboration platform Miro for $1.35bn.

The deal values Miro at approximately $1.79bn, a significant step down from its last valuation of $17.5bn in 2022 – a downward trend attributed to the major AI-led disruption in the SaaS sector in recent years.

The company, co-headquartered in Amsterdam, was founded in 2011 by Andrey Khusid and Oleg Shardin. Its platform, used by companies such as Ubisoft, PepsiCo and Comcast, allows workers to connect various tools and AI outputs into one governed location for collaboration.

Miro’s customer-base has grown multi-fold in recent years – up from 30m in 2022 to more than 100m this year, including nearly 4m paying customers, up from 130,000 in 2022.

The company recorded $600m in annual recurring revenue, with nearly all of it coming from its business and enterprise customers. Miro employs around 1,600 people in 14 hubs around the world.

As part of the deal, a number of Miro shareholders have agreed to invest $295m into the newly-issued Bending Spoons equity, the two companies said in a joint statement.

“We acquire businesses with the intention of owning and operating them for the long term, and Miro will be no exception,” said Bending Spoons CEO and co-founder Luca Ferrari.

“After closing, we plan to invest substantially in the fundamentals that its customers value: performance, reliability and functionality that supports critical collaborative work.”

This is Bending Spoons’ second acquisition since going public in July. Last month, the company announced that it was acquiring US automation company Airtable at an implied equity value of around $2.25bn. The company also owns more than 50 brands, including Evernote, WeTransfer, Eventbrite and AOL.

“Nearly 4m paying users depend on it, across every industry and region we serve, including more than 750 customers with over $100,000 in annual recurring revenue,” said Andrey Khusid, CEO and co-founder of Miro.

Bending Spoons shares gained marginally at market close yesterday. The company’s shares have been down nearly 23pc in the last month.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Storage still coughs up late-90s leftovers for Clint Basinger of LGR, and the latest one is a molded kitchen that sits on a PC keyboard and pretends to bake. Easy-Bake Kitchen, sold by Hasbro Interactive in fall 1999 for about $40, arrived as a CD-ROM plus a strap-on playset aimed at ages three and up. Box copy promised to turn a Windows 95 or 98 machine into a kitchen full of fun with no waiting and no mess. LGR found his copy years after a viewer named Ryan Kitty mailed it in, then pulled it back out after a hurricane soaked the downstairs collection room in what he calls storm juice. A scrub later, the plastic was ready for another shift.

That year, Hasbro focused heavily on CD-ROM playsets. The Tonka Workshop and Star Wars Millennium Falcon overlays had already demonstrated the concept: take a cheap, molded toy, insert some genuine keys, and couple it with a slideshow of colorful software that requires no additional ports. Just this year, Playskool received a cash register version, Mattel tried Matchbox, and Easy Bake Kitchen followed the same basic concept.

Hamilton Beach Dual Breakfast Sandwich Maker with Egg Cooker Rings & Timer

• THE PERFECT GIFT: Whether it’s a birthday, a White Elephant party, or Father’s Day, the Breakfast Sandwich Maker makes a fantastic gift for all…
• MAKE 1 OR 2 SANDWICHES. Cook one or two sandwiches at once with this dual breakfast sandwich maker. It’s great for couples, kids and extra guests.
• QUICK, EASY AND READY TO EAT IN 5 MINUTES: This sandwich maker lets you easily create a breakfast, lunch or dinner sandwich in 5 minutes or less…

This small playset has eight utensils on the overlay. When you press a measuring cup, it will tip. Pushing an egg against a bowl causes it to fracture. When you command it to, a mixer descends into the well. An oven door opens, and a dial turns on or off. Dough can be stamped out with a knife or cutter when desired. When you press down on a piping bag, it offers a slight squeeze. A lumpy piece of plastic dough is flattened with a rolling pin (which is the only loose piece and will most likely be lost first by families). Each of these actions involves inserting a pointed bit into an actual key. That’s it for the interface; the guidelines also advise against using laptops or ergonomic keyboards. LGR discovered this the hard way after extensive testing, and sure, a basic desktop keyboard, including a robust old Model M, can happily accept the straps. A wooden Dell Inspiron 600M simply slides across the desk because laptop keys are too shallow for the small nubs to catch.

The CD was manufactured by KnowWonder, the same company that created the Microsoft Magic School Bus titles. A Pentium 90, 16 megs of RAM, 50 megs of disk space, SVGA, a sound card, and a mouse were the minimal requirements. When you launch the software, a greeting animation shows Sally Sprinkle finding an empty cookie jar, asking her sister E.B. for help, being turned down because E.B. is at the movies, and dozing off into a baking dream. Billy Batter and Maggie, the TV cook, are helping her out. Kids can use the on-screen recipes to produce a variety of delicacies, including muffins, brownies, biscuits, cakes, pies, pretzels, and a variety of cookies. Or they can simply put a bunch of random ingredients into the mixing bowl and watch what happens. Leaving the thing for too long causes smoke to roll across the fake counter.

You can clean up the mess with a mop icon, and there are extra rooms for decorating, a gingerbread man hunt, a speed-bake competition, a game where the cookie dough gets out of control, an icing game where you have to hit as many cookies as possible (and not worry about frosting anything else, how fun is that?) and a tea party where a dinosaur, a dog, and a grannie all eat up the finished plate and leave crumbs all over the place. If you want to get creative, there are prints for gift boxes, party invites, and even real-world recipes if you’re feeling adventurous enough to get flour all over your actual kitchen.

LGR chose to put one of the muffins through the entire baking process: oven on, flour in the cup, milk and oil, two eggs, mixer, tray in, door shut, wait, door open, oven off. Decorating the object required the use of a squeezy bag. LGR saw that the visitors at the tea party ate their food so quickly that he assumed they were a bunch of ungrateful little monsters. He also said that a third of the minigames available are simply designed to keep those same eight nubs busy, because, at the end of the day, the item is just a keyboard disguised. He went so far as to remap Doom II utilizing the thing. The mixer moved forward. The egg turned left. The dough went right. The oven door opened, revealing maps. The piping bag actuated the trigger.

SOFTWARE

A radical new way to resolve the Gordian knot of X11 versus Wayland

Digital Research’s GEM was one of the earliest graphical environments for PC compatibles, and an inspired hack has now resurrected it on Linux.

GEM for Linux is a port of the Atari ST’s graphical desktop, created by prolific Slovenian developer Tomaž Štih.

Applications share a display server that can output directly through Linux’s framebuffer or display the desktop in a window using Štih’s SDL2-based Rasta framebuffer emulator.

In his Linkedin post, he says that it is “derived from OpenGEM and FreeGEM – now secure, optimized, stabilized, and source-compatible with Atari ST GEM.”

It is derived from the Digital Research GEM source code released by Caldera in 1999, as the still-young Register reported at the time.

GEM was among the first successful GUIs for MS-DOS PC compatibles. European readers may remember that it was the graphical desktop bundled with the Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640 – the first affordable mass-market PC compatibles on this side of the Atlantic.

In 1985, Apple threatened legal action against Digital Research over GEM’s similarity to the Macintosh interface. Digital Research agreed to make the PC version less Mac-like, removing desktop drive icons, overlapping windows, and other features. The lawsuit didn’t affect Atari’s version, however.

That PC version is what Caldera released as open source. Since 1999, the FreeGEM community has enhanced it beyond the ST version, restoring the removed features and adding others. These include Bézier curve drawing from the runtime-only GEM/4 bundled with CCP Artline and 3D-shaded buttons from Timeworks Publisher’s GEM/5 runtime. You can see some of the results on John Elliott’s FreeGEM page.

As far as we know, this is the second modern FOSS implementation of Atari GEM to benefit from the FreeGEM source code. The other is the remarkable EmuTOS project, a completely open source replacement operating system and GUI for original Atari hardware that we mentioned in 2022. Atari’s TOS combined GEMDOS, derived from Digital Research technology, with a modified version of GEM for its graphical interface.

Quite a lot of DR source code is available online, but despite the clarification of CP/M’s legal status that we covered in 2022, much of it is not strictly open source. FreeGEM and the OpenGEM distribution are.

Back in the 1980s, DR had a multitasking version called X/GEM for FlexOS, whose history we described later in 2022. We find it delightful to see some of DR’s multitasking ambitions revived nearly 40 years later.

We don’t expect GEM to render Wayland obsolete or usher in a new era of Atari-inspired Linux development. We wouldn’t hate that, but there is precedent for taking GEM further. Third-party development eventually turned ST GEM into a multitasking environment in its own right, called FreeMiNT.

There was also a commercial multitasking GEM-compatible operating system called MagiC, with a 68K Macintosh version called MagiCMac. Its source was later released publicly, and development continues in the Atari portions of the code.

We asked Štih the inevitable question: was GEM for Linux vibe-coded? Štih replied: “No. In my experience, vibe coding tends to produce code bloat and poor architecture.

“I use AI, but I practice architecture-driven design. I define the initial architecture, implement the first iteration, refactor, and repeat.

“For me, AI is still a junior developer. I remain in control, and I’m ultimately responsible for the architecture and the quality of the code.” ®

The Art TV category continues to gain momentum as consumers look for large-screen displays that do more than occupy an enormous section of wall space with a black rectangle when they are turned off.

Samsung helped popularize the concept with The Frame, but the market has become considerably more crowded. Hisense now offers its CanvasTV lineup, LG entered the category with its Gallery TV, and Skyworth has expanded its Canvas Art TV range with QLED and QD-Mini LED models. Such models offer flush wall mounting, matte or anti-glare screens, decorative frames, and digital art modes which allow these televisions to blend into a living space rather than dominate it.

TCL entered the category in 2024 with its NXTFRAME/NXTVISION TVs and is now expanding the concept with its new Designer Series. Following their appearance at IFA 2026, the lineup includes the A300L QLED and step-up A400U QD-Mini LED TVs.

Both models include TCL’s Art Library with hundreds of works available without a subscription, along with AI-generated artwork, multiple matte options, and the ability to display personal photos. Google TV provides the smart TV platform, while a flush wall mount is included in the box; optional table stands are sold separately.

Related Reviews: Samsung S95H OLED TV Review: Top Notch Performance In An Artsy Frame

The A300L

The A300L is a 4K QLED TV that measures just 1.1 inches deep in the 55- and 65-inch sizes, allowing it to sit nearly flush against the wall using the included wall mount.

The A300L incorporates an ultra-matte anti-glare screen designed to reduce reflections and give displayed artwork a more natural, canvas-like appearance rather than making it look like an image on a conventional television.

The TV features an off-white bezel and includes a light wood magnetic frame that can be easily swapped out. Additional handcrafted frame options are also available from Laredo Factory Frames.

Inside, the A300L uses a 4K QLED panel with a 120Hz native refresh rate and support for up to 144Hz VRR. HDR support includes Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG. The built-in stereo speaker system delivers 20 watts of total output with Dolby Atmos processing. Connectivity includes four HDMI inputs, along with USB, Ethernet, digital optical, and headphone connections.

The A300L is available in 55-, 65-, and 75-inch screen sizes, with an 85-inch model expected to follow.

The A400U

The A400U incorporates the same Art features as the A300L, but pairs them with higher-performance 4K QD-Mini LED display technology. It also features TCL’s Halo Control System and Local Dimming Pro+, which are designed to improve backlight precision, contrast, and control of blooming around bright objects.

The A400U uses a native 144Hz panel, with HDMI inputs 1 and 2 supporting 4K/144Hz input signals. HDR support includes Dolby Vision and HDR10+, along with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X spatial audio when connected to compatible soundbars, AVRs, and speaker systems.

The A400U is available in 55-, 65-, 75-, and 85-inch screen sizes, with a 98-inch model coming soon.

Comparison

The Competition

Samsung effectively created the modern Art TV category when it introduced The Frame in 2017, and for years it faced little meaningful competition. That has changed considerably as more TV manufacturers have embraced the idea that a large display should look like something other than a giant black rectangle when it is not being used.

We have already covered several of those alternatives, including the Hisense CanvasTV, Skyworth C2 Canvas Art TV, LG Gallery TV, and Amazon Ember Artline TVs. TCL also entered the category with its NXTFRAME TVs before expanding the concept with the new A300L and A400U Designer Series models.

Samsung’s latest Frame TVs remain the benchmark and the brand to beat, but competitors are attacking from several directions with lower pricing, different frame designs, subscription-free art libraries, and increasingly sophisticated display technology.

TCL’s A300L competes more directly on styling and value, while the A400U raises the performance stakes with QD-Mini LED technology and a native 144Hz panel. Considering the splash TCL is already making with models such as the QM8L and X11L SQD Mini LED TVs, the company clearly believes there is room to challenge Samsung on both design and picture quality. This category is no longer The Frame and everyone else.

The Bottom Line 

TCL’s approach to the Designer Series is unusual because the A300L and A400U are not simply step-down and step-up versions of the same TV. They occupy a similar price range but prioritize different buyers.

The A300L is the more design-focused Art TV, with its thinner profile, ultra-matte anti-glare screen, off-white bezel, interchangeable wood frame, and more powerful built-in audio system. The A400U trades some of that emphasis on décor for higher picture performance, adding QD-Mini LED technology, Local Dimming Pro+, TCL’s Halo Control System, and native 144Hz support with 4K/144Hz inputs.

That differentiation makes the Designer Series more interesting than a conventional product ladder. Buyers who want their TV to disappear more convincingly into the room have the A300L, while those who want an Art TV without sacrificing more advanced display technology have the A400U.

Price & Availability

Initial launch prices are listed below as of September 10, 2026.

A300L

A400U

Related Reading:

Before yesterday, I wasn’t expecting new AirPods during the iPhone Duo event. When Bloomberg finally committed to an AirPods 5 prediction the morning of the show, I knew the updates would be minor at best. For various reasons, including the lack of spicy rumors, it just didn’t seem like Apple had anything groundbreaking to add to its base-level AirPods lineup. As it turns out, it didn’t.

I will concede that the upgrades to the model that Apple is now calling AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case are notable. And doing so for $149 when the comparable AirPods 4 model was $179 is commendable. I already know how much the swipe gestures for volume control will improve the experience. I say this as someone who constantly tries to swipe the stems of the AirPods 4 every time I wear them. I’ve definitely been AirPods Pro-pilled there. Live Translation is also a substantial addition, no doubt about that.

My issue isn’t that the AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case exist, it’s that Apple is also selling the “regular” AirPods 5 for only $20 less. Sure, the most affordable model now has active noise cancellation (ANC), Live Translation and the same increased water resistance (IP57) as the new $149 set. (I’ll save any arguments about 50 percent better ANC performance for my upcoming review, but on paper, that enhancement seems modest at first glance.) There simply isn’t enough differentiation between the two models now to warrant the basic set’s existence. And if you don’t want ANC at all, the AirPods 4 are already gone from Apple’s website.

Apple

Since that’s the hill I’m willing to die on, I’ll also argue that $20 isn’t enough of a difference to make this a tough decision. Just spend the extra money for all of the added features that the new model with the extremely silly name offers. Trust me, the first time that you need to adjust the volume and swipe on a non-responsive AirPod stem, you will regret not doing so. At some point, that extra hour of battery life will likely come in handy, and it’s a lot more convenient to plop an AirPods case down on a MagSafe or Apple Watch charger than to reach for a USB-C cable. You also never know when you’ll wish your AirPods case had a speaker to assist with Find My search and rescue missions.

The entry point should be a regular AirPods 5 option for $99. A $50 difference makes more sense, and it was the variation between the two models in the AirPods 4 lineup. I would be totally fine with that base version not having ANC to get the price down. In fact, I’d argue Apple would have a more compelling AirPods earbud slate with the normal, non-ANC AirPods 4 at $99, the ANC AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case (which would could thankfully just call AirPods 5) at $149 and the AirPods Pro 3 at $249. Three different enough models at three different enough prices would make a trio where customers would have a decision to make. Plus, that would set things up nicely for the camera-equipped AirPods Pro that are rumored to be coming early next year.

And Apple, please, don’t call them AirPods Pro 4 with Visual Intelligence.