Who wins the 2026 World Cup if “not football” decides? This starts with the same 64-team bracket as the actual WC but uses metrics like life expectancy & CO2 per capita to decide matches.
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
PuffPal, an App for Accessing Cannabis Clubs, Leaked 1 Million Users’ Passports
Sean Hollister, writing for The Verge (gift link):
If you’ve visited a cannabis club in Spain, [Sammy] Azdoufal says, chances
are your photo ID was among them — and possibly your phone
number, address, your favorite strains of cannabis, and how much
you consumed each mon...
This table is 10 years in the making
Get it at Yetch.Studio!
March 2026
A bike tour, my birthday, playing two gigs with two bands, attending one other concert, Halde Hoheward with Florian, and the usual random frames in between. (43 photos)
Venezuela races to find earthquake survivors
The Venezuelan government says 1,430 people are now known to have died following Wednesday's twin earthquakes, and many thousands are still missing. More international search and rescue teams have arrived in the country to help with efforts to find survivors. A 72-hour windo...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Micron Executive Sumit Sadana Tells Tim Cook to Stop Hitting Himself
From the bottom of Rolfe Winkler’s report for The Wall Street Journal Thursday, on Apple’s unprecedented price increases (gift link):
Apple’s price hikes arrived the day after Micron Technology, the
big American maker of memory and storage, reported blowout
quarterly ear...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
★ Bernie Sanders: Ideologue and Economic Ignoramus
Bernie Sanders, posting on Twitter/X Thursday (don’t complain to me that he doesn’t use his Bluesky account):
Corporate greed is Tim Cook, the billionaire Apple CEO, claiming
that hiking prices on Apple products by over $200 is “unavoidable”
after it made $112 billion in...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Apple Faced Bipartisan Opposition When It Last Lobbied to Buy Chinese RAM in 2022
From a September 2022 letter to then-Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, co-signed by Marco Rubio (then a Republican senator from Florida, currently secretary of state) and Mark Warner (Democratic senator from Virginia):
We write to convey our extreme concern...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Microsoft Raises Xbox Prices, Drops High-End Storage Model From Lineup
Microsoft’s Xbox blog:
Effective August 1, 2026, we will be updating prices worldwide.
The price of XBOX consoles will increase by US$100 for 512 GB
models and US$150 for 1 TB models. We will also be sunsetting our
2 TB model.
Last October, we increased XBOX console pri...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
FT Reports That Apple Is Lobbying to Buy Memory Chips From Blacklisted Chinese Company CXMT
Demetri Sevastopulo and Michael Acton, reporting for the Financial Times (paywalled, alas):
Apple is lobbying the Trump administration for clearance to buy
memory chips from CXMT, a Chinese company that the Pentagon has
put on a blacklist because of alleged connections t...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Grok Is a Generative Porno App
theinformation.com/articles/xai-bets-groks-racy-side?rc=jfy0lk
Grace Kay and Theo Wayt, writing for the paywalled-with-no-gift-links The Information:
xAI launched an upgraded video model last week, highlighting how
it’s pushing ahead with its own visual efforts even as it brings
in outside help to compete with rivals in areas like c...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
OpenAI Announces, But Is Blocked From Releasing, New GPT-5.6 Models
OpenAI yesterday:
We’re beginning a limited preview of the GPT‑5.6 series: Sol, our
flagship model; Terra, a balanced model for everyday work; and
Luna, a fast and affordable model. Terra has competitive
performance to GPT‑5.5 while being 2× cheaper and Luna brings
stron...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
White House Grants Access to Anthropic’s Mythos Model to 100+ U.S. Institutions; Fable Still Shut Down
semafor.com/article/06/27/2026/us-releases-powerful-anthropic-model-mythos-to-some-us-companies
Reed Albergotti and Ben Smith, reporting last night for Semaphor:
The decision, in a letter sent Friday afternoon to Anthropic, is a
major de-escalation in the confrontation between the Trump
Administration and one of the world’s most valuable private
companies. Two week...
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
The Steam Machine
Sean Hollister, writing for The Verge (gift link):
Since the Magnavox Odyssey came out in 1972, game consoles have
been built with the same basic goal: to effortlessly play
proprietary games on a TV screen. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft
have spent decades essentially sel...
Sean Ono Lennon on his dad’s singular songs. #thebeatles #johnlennon #shorts 
We have some big news
26.06.2026
Colossal
• Colossal
July 2026 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists
Don't miss these July and August deadlines!
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article July 2026 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists appeared first on Colossal.
Bonus: Are the World Cup's hydration breaks here to stay?
Fifa has introduced mandatory hydration breaks for this World Cup, essentially splitting the games into four quarters. The mandatory three-minute drinks stoppage at all 104 games has been introduced to help players cope with the stifling heat and humidity levels in Mexico, C...
The Happy Pod: All aboard the Bike Bus
We find out about bike buses - an increasingly popular way for children to cycle to school safely. They involve travelling in a large group, escorted by adults, and stopping for pick ups and drop offs along the way. The idea started in Spain and Portugal a few years ago, but...