FeedCity

Since 2004, new editions of the Choose Your Own Adventure books have included branching diagrams of all of the possible paths through the books.

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Anna Gross, Tim Bradshaw, and Lauren Fedor, reporting for the Financial Times (syndicated without paywall at Ars Technica): Sir Keir Starmer’s government is seeking a way out of a clash with the Trump administration over the UK’s demand that Apple provide it with access ...

Some madman/genius put cut, copy, and paste into Doom.

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Apple today provided developers with the fourth betas of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 for testing purposes, with the updates coming two weeks after Apple seeded the third betas.

MacOS, WatchOS, tvOS, and VisionOS too, all in lockstep. Also, a good first look at what’s changed in iOS 26 beta 4 from beta 3. Some of the things Apple is tweaking between betas need more than minor tweaking. Also: Apple Intelligence summaries for news notifications are back.

Link: macrumors.com/2025/07/22/apple-seeds-ios-26-beta-4/

CHM:

Come and explore an extraordinary showcase of historical computers, from pristine originals to ingenious modern hacks. Computer enthusiasts around the world look forward to the annual Vintage Computer Festival.

Experience hands-on demos of historical systems from the 1960s through the 1990s, learn preservation tips, and try out brands like Apple, Atari, Commodore, Tandy/Radio Shack, and more.

It’s in Mountain View, so I can’t make it, but given all the recent nostalgia that’s been in the air regarding the early PC era, I wish I could.

Link: computerhistory.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-3/

I love the look of this black & white animated video made by Anthony Dickenson from thousands of hand-painted frames for Rival Consoles’ song Soft Gradient Beckons. Stick around after the song ends for a behind-the-scenes look at how it was made.

If I plan too much, it’s often disappointing. It’s much nicer if I just let it go the way it wants to go. But obviously sometimes it just doesn’t work and, you know, that’s okay. Sometimes, the mistakes are the bits that really reveal kind of new techniques. I love these little moments of imperfection. Otherwise, you know, you might as well just build it in AI.

The skateboard dolly! (via colossal)

Tags: animation · Anthony Dickenson · art · music · Rival Consoles · video

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Jay Peters, The Verge:

Google’s Pixel 10 launch event is just under a month away, but the company is already revealing the official design of the base phone. You can currently see a video of the phone on Google’s website (and below). It looks just like the official renders that leaked earlier today, which showed that the phone will have a third back camera (which is rumored to be a telephoto sensor).

That’s certainly one way to deal with leaks. It looks like a Pixel 9, which looks like an iPhone 12–16 with a different (but cool) camera mesa.

Link: theverge.com/news/711033/google-pixel-10-design-tease…

Reuters: Italian tax authorities argue that free user registrations with X, LinkedIn and Meta platforms should be seen as taxable transactions as they imply the exchange of a membership account in return for a user’s personal data. The issue is especially sensitive give...

Ellen Nakashima, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Joseph Menn, reporting for The Washington Post: The U.S. government and partners in Canada and Australia are investigating the compromise of SharePoint servers, which provide a platform for sharing and managing documents. Tens ...

Programmer Przemysław Dębiak recently defeated an advanced OpenAI model in a coding competition. “The contest echoes the American folk tale of John Henry, the steel-driving man who raced against a steam-powered drilling machine in the 1870s.”

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Anil Dash on seeing Wu-Tang Clan in 2000, the last time all nine members of the Wu-Tang Clan appeared together on one stage together. “At the time of the performance, [O.D.B.] had been on the run…”

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Today (July 22) will be the second-shortest day since 1973. “The difference will be just 1.34 milliseconds less than the standard 24 hours.” (Also, the Earth is spinning faster and we don’t really know why?)

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan are just a couple of empaths looking for a killer alien seductress in Los Angeles as they revisit the 1995 science fiction horror film ‘Species,’ starring Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen, Ben Kingsley, and Forest Whitaker. Book your next business trip at holidayinn.com Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Ronak Nair, and Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brody Ford and Hannah Miller, reporting for Bloomberg:

Oracle Corp. is in discussions with Skydance Media LLC for a major software deal once the media company’s acquisition of Paramount Global is complete. The new arrangement is expected to be worth about $100 million per year, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named speaking about the private discussions. The agreement would see Paramount and its subsidiaries using Oracle’s cloud software, the people said.

Skydance was founded by David Ellison, the son of Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison.

Reminiscent of SpaceX’s $2 billion “investment” in xAI. (Via Peter Kafka.)

Link: bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-21/oracle-in-talks-for…

Textual v4.0.0: The Streaming Release Will McGugan may no longer be running a commercial company around Textual, but that hasn't stopped his progress on the open source project. He recently released v4 of his Python framework for building TUI command-line apps, and the signa...

Mike Florio, NBC Sports: And while the Guardians stood up and responded to Trump, the Commanders are hiding under the bed. With the NFL right next to them. We’ve sent multiple emails to both the team and the league seeking comment on one of the biggest stories in all of...

tidwall/pogocache New project from Josh Baker, author of the excellent tg C geospatial libarry (covered previously) and various other interesting projects: Pogocache is fast caching software built from scratch with a focus on low latency and cpu efficency. Faster: Pogocache...

XKCD mapped the most observed plant and animal for all 50 US states as reported by iNaturalist users. I had no idea bumble bees were such a popularly observed animal — the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) is most-observed in Vermont, Wisconsin, Maine, Connecticut, Illinois, and Minnesota. Also popular: white-tailed deer, bison, milkweed, honeysuckle, and robins.

Tags: maps · Randall Munroe · USA · XKCD

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Eliminate the friction of inbound security reviews. SafeBase helps you automate inbound requests, use AI to answer questionnaires, and share your security posture proactively — all through a centralized Trust Center.

Link: safebase.io/lp/why-safebase/?utm_source=daring_fireball&utm…

A look at 40 years of Rembrandt self-portraits. “Rembrandt documented his face as it aged through time, from the fresh-faced playfulness of youth to his careworn old age.” He did about 100 self-portraits in total.

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →