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After announcing several new Xbox Series X consoles including a $600 special edition model, Microsoft may be working on another one. In response to a question from IGN about portable gaming, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said "I think we should have a handheld."

That's a vague comment, but it certainly shows that the company is taking notice of all the portable PC gaming devices out there like the new R

• President Emmanuel Macron called snap parliamentary elections in France.
• It came after a big win for rival Marine Le Pen's National Rally in the European Parliament vote.
• This could dissolve Macron's coalition, risking cohabitation with an opposition prime minister.

French President Emmanuel Macron shocked the world on

• A recession indicator with a flawless record has been flashing red for 20 months.
• The economist behind the inverted yield curve says it's too soon to declare it's wrong this time.
• Campbell Harvey, a Duke finance professor, pointed to signs of a cooling job market to back his concerns.

A recession indicator with a perfect track record has been flashing red for 20 months now

• A Boeing 737 barely cleared the runway in an incident in the UK.
• A report said the pilots didn't notice they'd set the thrust too low, but the autothrottle also had a fault.
• Boeing described the autothrottle as having "a long history of nuisance disconnects," the report said.

A Boeing 737 barely managed to clear a runway following

Microsoft showed off three new Xbox models yesterday at Summer Game Fest 2024, but anyone following the mass of leaks last year may have been surprised at how little changed for this mid-cycle refresh.

In case you didn’t follow the FTC-Microsoft trial last year, things went pretty well for Microsoft, ending in the company acquiring Activision Blizzard. One thing that didn’t go so well was

• General Motors is turning to Costco's Auto Program to help it sell more EVs. 
• The wholesaler partners with automakers and dealers to offer discounted vehicle prices for members.
• An executive told CNBC selling EVs to Costco's 50 million members was a "huge opportunity" for GM.

General Motors is

ASUS has been busy at Computex 2024 this year, announcing not only the ROG Ally X gaming handheld but a bunch of new laptops. Now, the company has moved on to monitors, unveiling several interesting entertainment and content creation models, including its first Google TV and 8K ProArt displays.

The 27-inch 4K (IPS) ZenScreen Smart MS27UC is the company's latest entertainment display. As mentioned

We’ve seen two approaches to AI in mobile tech this year: “AI That’s Not Your Phone” and “AI That Does Random Stuff on Your Phone.”

The “Not Your Phone” group includes devices like the Rabbit R1 and the Humane AI Pin, two small gadgets that sought to make AI more useful by building it into a smaller, simpler gadget. It hasn’t gone very well. Both devices

• ChatGPT can now do your job hunting for you.
• The bot can access the internet through a new update, allowing it to trawl job sites.
• I tested ChatGPT's recruiting skills. It sped up the job-hunting process but did make some mistakes.

ChatGPT now looks like a very useful tool if you're trying to find a job.

Not only can the bot write convincing cover letters and spruce up a CV —

• The US recently green-lit strikes by Ukraine on targets in Russia using its weapons.
• But its placing strict limits on which ones can be used and where.
• A think tank said the restrictions were holding Ukraine back. 

Ukraine appears to have had only minor success in using

• Ukraine is now making glide bombs of its own.
• Russia has used the bombs, which can be fired out of reach of air defenses, to devastating effect.
• The US has given Ukraine some, but they have reportedly struggled with Russian

Almost exactly a year ago, I posed a card puzzle here that sparked a frenzy in the comments section. The solution to that puzzle was so counterintuitive that several readers rejected it outright. In honor of the approaching anniversary, it’s time to stir up more controversy with two more surprising card puzzles.

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