Marina Galperina
LightNews LightNews
banner
mfortki.bsky.social
Marina Galperina
@mfortki.bsky.social
1.6K followers 530 following 200 posts
Senior Tech Editor, The Verge
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Marina Galperina
buttplug.engineer
I'm in the verse today talking about reverse engineering the kinect 15 years ago, alongside @theowatson.bsky.social, @memoakten.bsky.social , and @adafruit.com!

Thanks for covering this @geoffreybunting.bsky.social! Lots of fun memories.
November 4, 2025 at 4:47 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
There is no "vibe shift" when this keep happening
esqueer.net Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 4d
SCOTUS has granted a stay in Trump v. Orr, the trans passport case, meaning that the government will be able to once again deny gender marker changes to trans passport applicants.

This is a terrible decision with horrifying consequences for trans folks.

www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
A scanned Supreme Court of the United States order, dated November 6, 2025, in the case Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, et al. v. Ashton Orr, et al., No. 25A319. The document discusses an Executive Branch policy requiring passports to display an individual’s biological sex at birth. The highlighted passage reads: “Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth—in both cases.” The Court grants the government’s application for a stay at this preliminary stage, reasoning that the government is likely to succeed on the merits and that the policy does not violate equal protection principles.
November 7, 2025 at 2:09 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
I just don't believe there are 1,000,000 people in the world who want a "robot"
November 7, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
geoffreybunting.bsky.social
Happy birthday to the Microsoft Kinect, a device I dearly hope to never write about again. For @theverge.com, I recounted the history of its hacking and the echoes of an older, now unreachable, internet that resound in its story. Also, AI, because… 2025.
November 4, 2025 at 2:06 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
Trumpoware
dompreston.com Dominic Preston @dompreston.com · 10d
Over four months after it was announced, no-one has ever even seen the T1 Phone 8002 (gold version)
Where is the Trump phone?
The T1 Phone is still MIA.
www.theverge.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:05 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
"Captured and Bound By My CEO" anyone? Hollywood is investing in stupid microdramas -- short and cheaply made scene clips, sold separately. Binging will cost you way more than a feature, but you get points, so you can binge a little more, if you're into that kind of thing. @jank0.bsky.social:
The future of Hollywood is sexy, expensive slop
Cheaply produced, highly shareable, and designed to make you pay.
www.theverge.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
josephcox.bsky.social
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people

www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
Ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie G. Thompson said in a statement “Mobile Fortify is a dangerous tool in the hands of ICE, and it puts American citizens at risk of detention and even deportation.” He also said “ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien. ICE using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested is a frightening, repugnant, and unconstitutional attack on Americans’ rights and freedoms.”
October 29, 2025 at 3:03 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
Grokipedia misgenders Chelsea Manning, cites a "race science" journal, and redirects DOGE searches to the Shiba Inu meme
Grokipedia is racist, transphobic, and loves Elon Musk
xAI’s version of Wikipedia, Grokipedia, frames the world’s history from Elon Musk’s perspective.
www.theverge.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:13 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
Bill Gates 😘 AI
Why is Bill Gates tone policing on climate change?
Of course, he says AI can help.
www.theverge.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:28 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
$3500 to look like this
Apple’s new Vision Pro is better than the first, but still lonely
The new headband is nice! And, at $99, you should buy it if you have the first Vision Pro model.
www.theverge.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
jmrivera.bsky.social
another thing I don’t understand about people who want LLMs to “write” for them—how can you then feel smug about a thing you wrote? Coming up with a good idea better than your nemeses?? That’s the best part!
October 28, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
ianboudreau.com
When your Chotiner interview is going great
No, no, no. Wait a minute.
October 28, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
sambiddle.com
Every single Wikipedia "alternative" I've ever come across works like this. IIRC even the NSA's internal Intellipedia cribs extensively from Wikipedia. The amount of work it would take it actually replace Wikipedia is just too massive (unless you wanted dubious machine-generated entries)
shannonbond.bsky.social Shannon Bond @shannonbond.bsky.social · 13d
"'Even Grokipedia needs Wikipedia to exist,' Lauren Dickinson, a spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia tells The Verge."
www.theverge.com/news/807686/...
Elon Musk’s Grokipedia contains copied Wikipedia pages
Ironic.
www.theverge.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:28 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
doppelgänger slop is here
The next legal frontier is your face and AI
Things are getting weird.
www.theverge.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
janus.bsky.social
wrote about the return of the Glasshole and luxury surveillance in the age of fascism for @theverge.com

ft. @hypervisible.blacksky.app and @esquiring.bsky.social 👓🚫
Privacy laws can’t keep up with ‘luxury surveillance’
“It’s not clear to me that a small red light would be sufficient notification in some states for someone to consent to being recorded.”
www.theverge.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
thedextriarchy.bsky.social
the political right and center have spent the past half-decade trying to defang public shaming as a tactic because it's one of the last options non-billionaires have left to stop deeply antisocial stuff like this
janus.bsky.social The PS1 startup sound as a lesbian @janus.bsky.social · 13d
call them whatever you like, the reality is 'smart glasses' are surveillance devices designed by tech companies to violate consent and rewrite social norms. social shaming is still a more effective a deterrent than the law. @hypervisible.blacksky.app

www.theverge.com/tech/807834/...
“I think they are a profoundly antisocial technology that should be rejected in every way possible,” said Gilliard. “Their very existence is toxic to the social fabric." It’s still up in the air whether Meta’s gamble on glasses will pay off. Beyond their horrifying privacy implications, wearable AI-powered devices like Bee and Friend so far have proven more obnoxious than useful, and it’s unclear whether people who buy them will even want to use them. But one thing many privacy experts agree on is that even if we can’t change the law, we can change peoples’ attitudes around consent. “One way to think about it is protecting your community and the people you care about,” said Gilliard. “When you’re wearing these glasses, when you use your video doorbell, when you record everyone’s conversations, you’re not just surveilling yourself. And there’s no consistent and foolproof way to guarantee that information won’t be used against people you care about — to hurt trans and queer people, or hurt immigrant communities. I wish people would think about it in those terms instead of ‘did my package get delivered.’”
October 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
atherton.bsky.social
impossible to overstate the degree to which we are being governed by people whose formative politics is gamergate, but DHS posting Halo memes to recruit for ICE is pretty close.
October 27, 2025 at 5:58 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
“It’s meaningless to talk about ‘clinical-grade’ in the same space as trying to pretend not to provide a clinical tool."
‘Clinical-grade AI’: a new buzzy AI word that means absolutely nothing
Chatbot mental health companies are getting into clinical cosplay.
www.theverge.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:02 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
halloween couples costume: monday 6am embargo and friday night news drop
October 27, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
lopatto.bsky.social
hey friends — if you haven't seen, The Verge is running a series on the future of being trans on the internet. it's got a bunch of very cool stories from talented writers! you should check it out www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
The future of being trans on the internet
The internet has long been a source of information and support for transgender people. Now, trans rights and the internet itself are in a moment of crisis. What happens next?
www.theverge.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:28 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
Many commenters have been asking for this... and you don't have to use Spotify.
Verge subscribers, here’s how to set up ad-free podcasts
Ad-free Decoder, Version History, and The Vergecast! Here’s how to get them.
www.theverge.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
theverge.com
"If queer and trans folks are going to survive, we’ll need to once again embrace the underground, and learn when to be visible and when to shut the fuck up."

Read more from @janus.bsky.social: www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
October 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
janus.bsky.social
Hello~ i wrote something for @theverge.com about the surreal horror of online transness in a fascist surveillance state.

it’s time to change tactics and make ourselves less legible to this machinery of death — but *without* sacrificing our connection and community.
The return of the trans underground
The internet once helped trans people connect and organize. Now it’s a dangerous liability. What comes next?
www.theverge.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:12 PM
mfortki.bsky.social
It's finally (not) jacket weather (at the office)
October 9, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Marina Galperina
lopatto.bsky.social
just going to speak this into the world: I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall for her first meeting with standards and practices. if you know anything, I'm very easy to reach xo
October 7, 2025 at 8:45 PM