Riley Walz, a software engineer famous for his online stunts, is joining OpenAI to research and develop new ways for humans to interact with AI, WIRED has learned. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the hire.

Walz built a reputation as Silicon Valley’s jester and has created a series of viral web projects that double as social commentary. His most recent initiative, Jmail, lets users search Jeffrey Epstein’s emails as if they’re accessing his personal Gmail inbox. Another project, Find My Parking Cops, used publicly available data to reverse engineer San Francisco’s parking ticket system to show people exactly where each parking enforcement officer last wrote a ticket.

Now, Walz’s skills creating novel web experiences will be put to use in OAI Labs, a relatively new team led by research leader Joanne Jang. The team is secretive about what it’s been working on but has been tasked with “inventing and prototyping new interfaces for how people collaborate with AI,” according to Jang.

OpenAI has spent the past several years racing with Google and Anthropic to create new, compelling ways for people to use its AI models. While ChatGPT has been a hit with consumers, now reaching more than 800 million people every week, the company is eyeing new interfaces to improve these experiences. The move comes as millions of developers have started using coding agents such as Claude Code as their main interface to access AI models. With hires like Walz, OpenAI hopes to get ahead of the next big AI product.

Walz’s online stunts have landed him in hot water from time to time. The Find My Parking Cops website lasted just four hours before San Francisco city officials shut down the live data feed Walz’s tool relied on. A San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency representative said at the time that it shut down the tool to ensure “employees are able to do their jobs safely and without disruption.”

It’s not always city officials giving him a hard time, though. After the CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot dead in New York City, and police said the killer had fled on a CitiBike, Walz tried to analyze trip data he had previously scraped for a separate project to help with the search. Walz told The New York Times that people online called him a “bootlicker” for helping authorities and threatened his safety.

Full Circle, the developer behind the new Skate game, has announced that it is restructuring and laying off staff. It’s not yet clear how many roles will be impacted by the changes, but the restructuring is happening less than six months after skate. launched in early access on September 15, 2025.

“We’re reshaping Full Circle to better support skate.’s long-term future,” Full Circle says. “These shifts mean making changes to our team structure, and some roles will be impacted. The teammates affected are talented colleagues and friends who helped build the foundation of skate. Their creativity and dedication are deeply ingrained in what players experience today. This decision is not a reflection of their impact and we’re committed to supporting them through this transition.”

Engadget has contacted Full Circle’s owner EA for more information about the layoffs. We’ll update this article if we hear back.

EA originally formed Full Circle in 2021 with a staff of development talent from the original Skate team. Skate was often positioned as a more realistic competitor to the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, but the new studio has ultimately taken the franchise in a slightly different direction than fans may have expected. Previous Skate games were paid experiences with single-player and multiplayer modes, while skate. is a free-to-play live-service game supported with microtransactions.

Recent history, both the failure of Concord and the ongoing struggles of Highguard, serves as a testament to how hard it is to launch a live service game in the 2020s. Full Circle’s announcement notes the “tens of millions” of players that have tried the new game, but it’s possible a struggle to keep players interested and spending on microtransactions could be why it’s restructuring.

Richard Hammond slid into the driver’s seat of BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme with a good mix of caution and exhilaration. With a top speed of 308 miles per hour, this Chinese hypercar had already broken the manufacturing speed record. Its four electric motors together produced an astounding nearly 3,000 horsepower. He was well-versed in the specification sheet, which included a 1,200-volt battery system, torque vectoring, adaptive suspension capable of lifting the vehicle over obstacles, and much more.

Without a wind-up or crescendo, the hypercar went from being motionless to warp speed in an instant. The strange thing was that the 200 mph didn’t even feel that significant. With such great power, you would think the U9 Xtreme would be a monster, but instead it just drove smoothly without any hiccups.

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Hammond was surprised when a new aspect of the vehicle emerged in the cornering arena. The U9 Xtreme was quite sharp and kept its body flat in the turns, contrary to his belief that it would be best suited for driving in a straight line. He questioned his function in operating the vehicle because the active systems handled the weight transfer and grip so efficiently. Was he pushing something that could already handle the tough sections, or merely directing the car? Even under some very harsh corners, the chassis refused to roll or pitch too much.

Every time he floored it, the pull and response were immediate and unrelenting, making the power addictive in a positive way. He was thrilled by the car’s accuracy and composed application of force, yet he was constantly on edge due to its immense power. He acknowledged that he was afraid, which was probably rather common. There’s a problem if you’re not a little afraid in a car like this.

Ultimately, the U9 Xtreme left him both unnerved by its potential and genuinely impressed by its ingenuity. The fastest production automobile in the world is made in China, and it’s actually rather astonishing how confidently they’ve done it. The U9 Xtreme quietly gave its unadulterated performance instead of being all show and no substance. After everything was said and done, Hammond left with a smile on his face, his nerves unharmed, and a fresh appreciation for what BYD had accomplished.

At the beginning of the year, The Cut kicked off a brief discourse cycle by declaring a new lifestyle trend: “friction-maxxing.”

The idea, in a nutshell, is that people have overconvenienced themselves with apps, AI, and other means of near-instant gratification—and would be better off with increased friction in their daily lives, which is to say those mundane challenges that ask some minor effort of them.

Whatever your feelings on that philosophy, the use of “maxxing” as a suffix assumed to be familiar or at least intelligible to most readers of a mainstream news outlet is evidence of another trend: the assimilation of incel terminology across the broader internet. The online ecosystem of incels, or “involuntarily celibate” men, is saturated with this sort of clinical jargon; its aggrieved participants insulate, isolate, and identify themselves through in-group codespeak that is meant to baffle and repel outsiders. So how did non-incels (“normies,” as incels would label them) end up adopting and recontextualizing these loaded words?

Slang, no matter its origins, has a viral nature. It tends to break containment and mutate. The buzzword “woke,” as it pertains to our current politics, comes from African American Vernacular English and once referred to an awareness of racial and social injustice—this usage dates to the middle of the 20th century, preceding even the civil rights movement. But the culture wars of this century have turned “woke” into a favorite pejorative of right-wingers, who wield it as a catchall term for anything that threatens their ideology, such as Black pilots or gender-neutral pronouns.

Back in 2014, the eruption of the Gamergate harassment campaign set the stage for a different linguistic realignment. An organized backlash to women working in the video game industry, and eventually any sort of diversity or progressivism within the medium, it exposed a vein of reactionary anger that would gain a fuller voice during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. This was a period when many in the digital mainstream got their first taste of the trollish nihilism and invective that fuels toxic message boards such as 4chan and gave rise to a network of anti-feminist manosphere sites collectively known as the “PSL” community: PUAHate (a board for venting about pickup artists, it was shut down soon after the 2014 Isla Vista killing spree carried out by Elliot Rodger, who frequented the forum), SlutHate (a straightforward misogyny hub), and Lookism (where incels viciously critique each other’s appearance).

Lookism, named for the idea that prejudice against the less attractive is as common and pernicious as sexism or racism, is the only forum of the PSL trifecta that survives today, and while we don’t know who coined the “maxxing” idiom, it’s the likeliest source for the first verb with this construction. “Looksmaxxing,” which borrows from the role-playing game concept of “min-maxing,” or elevating a character’s strengths while limiting weaknesses, became the preferred expression for attempts to improve one’s appearance in pursuit of sex. This could mean something as simple as a style makeover or as extreme as “bonesmashing,” a supposed technique of achieving a more defined jaw by tapping it with a hammer.

If the 2000s introduced people to pickup lingo like “game” and “negging,” the 2010s ushered in language that extended the Darwinian vision of the dating pool as a cutthroat and strictly hierarchical marketplace. “AMOG,” an initialism for “alpha male of the group,” gave us “mogging,” a display where one man flexes his physical superiority over a rival. An ideally masculine specimen might also be recognized as a “Chad,” who allegedly enjoys his pick of attractive partners, while a Chad among Chads is, of course, a “Gigachad.” Women were disparaged as “female humanoids,” then “femoids,” and finally just “foids.”

It seems like any and every industry can have its own awards show these days. And why not? Most of us appreciate a chance to bust out the sequins and satin from time to time. If you can celebrate excellent work or make some extra biz dev bucks at the same time, all the better. Snap is the latest social media company to launch its own take on the glitz and glam. The Snappy Awards Show will be held at the company’s headquarters on March 31. Comedian and content creator Matt Friend will host the event.

Snapchat has been adding more tools for influencers to build audiences, most recently launching individual creator subscriptions. An awards show seems to be part of that same agenda, spotlighting popular personalities from many different fields. There will be Snappys handed out for categories such as Spotlight MVP, Best Storyteller and Breakout Creator of the Year, plus awards for collaboration, cultural impact and success in single subjects.

Snapchat isn’t the first social media platform to honor the personalities using it. TikTok hosted its inaugural awards show in the US last year.

Rega has been on a quiet tear lately. First it shocked its traditionally sensible customer base with a flagship preamplifier and power amplifier combo that wanders deep into five-figure territory. Now it pivots back toward vinyl loyalists with something far more on brand, but still firmly premium. Enter the new Aos MC, a moving coil only phono stage derived directly from the company’s reference Aura.

First shown at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2026, the Aos MC borrows heavily from the £4620 Aura MC stage in both circuit topology and layout, with the stated goal of bringing listeners closer to that reference level performance without crossing into cost-no-object insanity. U.S. pricing has not been finalized, but expectations place it in the $2300 to $2500 range when it lands stateside; a bracket packed with serious competition from MOON by Simaudio, Pro-Ject, Musical Fidelity, EAT, EAR, MoFi Electronics and others.

Rega promises exceptional definition and greater realism, and the Aos MC is designed to partner with a wide range of moving coil cartridges thanks to flexible gain and loading options. The question is not whether Rega knows how to build a phono stage — it clearly does. The question is whether Aura-inspired circuitry at roughly one third the price can dominate one of the most competitive segments in high performance analog right now.

Aura Inspired Circuitry Targets $3,000 High End Market

The Rega Aos MC is a two stage, all analogue moving coil phono preamplifier with no digital control circuitry in the signal path. The layout is deliberately simple and tightly organized to avoid unnecessary components that could compromise performance. At its core is a symmetrical, complementary Class A amplifier using parallel low noise FETs configured as compound pairs.

That choice is not cosmetic. FET devices ensure that no bias current flows into the cartridge coil, which protects the cartridge’s magnetic geometry and avoids altering its behavior. The input circuit also minimizes coupling components between the cartridge and the first gain stage, further reducing opportunities for signal degradation.

Loading and gain flexibility are handled in a straightforward, hardware based way. Users can select resistive loading at 70, 100, 150, or 400 ohms, and capacitive loading at 1000 or 4300 pF, allowing the Aos MC to accommodate a broad range of moving coil cartridges.

Gain can be switched between 69.3 dB and 63.5 dB, a 6 dB difference accessible from the rear panel, where you will also find RCA inputs and outputs. RIAA equalization accuracy is rated at better than ±0.2 dB from 65 Hz to 70 kHz, with a frequency response extending from 17.5 Hz to 100 kHz. THD is specified at 0.03 percent.

The half width aluminum enclosure is not just about aesthetics. It provides shielding against stray RFI while keeping the footprint compact at 220 x 80 x 330 mm and 2.9 kg. A self adjusting servo control compensates for temperature variations to maintain stable operation, and an automatic standby mode reduces power consumption to 0.4 W when idle, though it can be disabled via rear panel dip switches. In short, the Aos MC focuses on careful analogue execution, sensible adjustability, and measured performance rather than feature creep.

The Bottom Line

The Aos MC stands out because it keeps the signal path strictly analogue, uses parallel low noise FETs to avoid bias current in the cartridge coil, and offers meaningful loading and gain flexibility without drifting into feature overload. It is clearly aimed at serious moving coil users who care about circuit integrity, RIAA precision, and long term cartridge compatibility rather than app control or digital displays.

At an expected $2,300 to $2,500 in the U.S., it walks straight into competition from the MoFi UltraPhono Pro, EAT E-Glo 2, and Cyrus Audio 40 PPA — three fully featured and well engineered options in the same performance bracket.

If you are running a quality MC cartridge and want something derived from Rega’s Aura platform without stepping into five figure territory, the Aos MC makes a clear case for itself. And for MM users feeling left out, relax. An Aos MM version is on the way.

For more information: rega.co.uk

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Stripe has hit a $159bn valuation, according to a recent letter from company founders.

Irish fintech giant Stripe is considering acquiring some or all of PayPal, reports Bloomberg, citing insiders.

According to the publication, Stripe has already expressed preliminary interest in a potential acquisition of the US payments company or some of its assets. Stripe declined to respond to queries put forth by SiliconRepublic.com. PayPal has not yet responded.

PayPal share prices shot up by around 6.74pc since Bloomberg first reported the story yesterday (24 February).

The US company, which went public in 2002, has a market capitalisation of $43.2bn. The 2010-founded Stripe was valued at $159bn earlier this week. Stripe’s co-founders are seemingly in no rush to take the company public.

Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal has struggled to modernise against emerging rivals in the payments space such as Apple and Google.

Earlier this month, PayPal snatched HP’s CEO Enrique Lores to replace Alex Chriss, who struggled to revitalise the company after being hired during the post-pandemic period when faced with low trading volume and newer fintech rivals.

However, the executive switch-up did not sway investor confidence after the company missed revenue expectations in the quarter past, sending share prices down by 20pc. Company shares have dropped more than 80pc over the last five years.

Stripe, however, has remained “robustly profitable”, according to a letter from the founding brother-duo Patrick and John Collison. The company is investing heavily in product development and making strategic acquisitions that include programmable wallet company Privy, stablecoin orchestration platform Bridge and Metronome, which “powers the intricate usage-based billing models used by companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Confluent and Nvidia”.

In September, Stripe launched a joint crypto venture called Tempo, which reportedly raised $500m at a $5bn valuation just weeks after coming out from stealth. In November, Swedish fintech giant Klarna become the first bank to launch a stablecoin on Tempo with KlarnaUSD. The coin is set to launch this year.

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