Author Archive: Stephen Green

OUCH: Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, as Xbox unit downsizes and plans to spin off four gaming studios.

Microsoft is eliminating 4,800 jobs, representing 2.1% of its workforce, with the company’s Xbox division losing about one-fifth of its staff in the software giant’s latest effort to cut costs in the era of artificial intelligence.

“The way technology is built, deployed, and used is transforming faster than at any point in my time here,” Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer and a 27-year company veteran, wrote in a message to employees Monday.

Xbox is cutting 3,200 people through fiscal year 2027, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wrote in an email to division employees, noting that 1,600 roles would be eliminated on Monday. The other 1,600 exiting is on top of the companywide total of 4,800 leaving immediately.

“I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges,” Sharma wrote. “Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day.”

The cuts amount to 20% of Xbox employees leaving, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named in order to discuss internal changes.

“We will return to growth in 2027,” Sharma wrote.

Microsoft spins the cuts as AI-related, but the company’s Xbox division is in trouble, and has been for a while: Former Microsoft Executive Issues Dire Warning About Xbox Consoles.

THE ENEMY WITHIN:

ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT AMERICA CAN ONLY DO WRONG, EVERYTHING ELSE MAKES SENSE:

NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE THE 21ST CENTURY I WAS PROMISED: These light-weight power cells run on nuclear waste and could power next-gen drones. “That’s the future scientists are working toward in DARPA’s ‘Rads to Watts’ program, which aims to create lightweight batteries with a high energy density. And a recent $3.37 million contract award aims to fund a viable proof-of-concept device that can produce more than 10 watts per kilogram with a yearslong shelf life.”

DISPATCHES FROM AL-BRIṬĀNIYĀ:

WELL PUT: Hey Tech Bros, the Model for Surviving on the AI Frontier is Guns. “People often think of tech freedom through a First Amendment lens, because that’s the only mainstream framework to articulate a technical legal argument for ‘The government is required to leave me alone.’ But as tech becomes more dangerous — AI! drones! humanoid robots! biochemical research! — the Second Amendment is the better fit.”

I’M OK WITH TOTAL DEFEAT:

LEFTIES POSING AS WHITE NATIONALISTS ARE THE LEAST OF HER TROUBLES:

I’VE SEEN THIS MOVIE. IT DOESN’T GO WELL: Scientists Have Created a Cell from Scratch and Researchers Say ‘We Can Engineer It.’ “The cell, called SpudCell, was developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota, according to the scientific paper made public on Thursday, July 2. Unlike previous synthetic cells, which were created by modifying living cells, SpudCell was assembled entirely with nonliving chemicals.”

SpudCell?

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Lawsuit challenges Denver, state over gun & magazine bans.

A Colorado gun rights groups and three Denver-area gun owners on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging Denver’s decades-old ban on so-called “assault weapons,” as well as Colorado’s statewide prohibition on standard-capacity ammunition magazines, arguing both laws violate the Second Amendment.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court by the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), and individual plaintiffs Ray Elliott, Trevor Alley and Michael Vitco, all Denver residents.

CSSA is the Colorado state affiliate of the National Rifle Association (NRA).

At issue is Denver’s 1989 ordinance banning the sale, manufacture and possession of firearms the city labels “assault weapons,” and Colorado’s 2013 law banning magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. The complaint argues both laws are, in practice, magazine restrictions as Denver’s ordinance defines a banned “assault weapon” chiefly by whether it accepts a magazine over 15 rounds.

The 2013 law drove Magpul to pull up stakes and relocate to Texas — foreshadowing what the next dozen years of single-party Democrat rule would bring.

INDEED:

Lefties will gin up a photo up to push a false narrative, and ignore an actual murder that contradicts it.

START ‘EM YOUNG: Michael Dell celebrates America’s 250th birthday with gift to seed the American Dream for millions of kids.

The Dell Technologies CEO took to X on Saturday to announce they are giving $250 each to the first 25 million qualifying American children who sign up for “Trump Accounts.”

“This makes every child a shareholder in the greatest prosperity-creating engine the world has ever known — American capitalism,” Dell wrote in an X post. “Through this public-private partnership, we’re giving the next generation a real stake in our economy and a path to the American Dream: education, a first home, starting a business, and building lasting wealth.”

Next: Teach kids the Rule of 72 and get them contributing even just a few bucks a month.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: That Was Fun — We Should Throw Another Party Like It Next Year. “The intensity and immenseness of freedom in the United States of America should get a month-long celebration. I mean, we have to suffer through Pride Month every June. Calling July ‘American Independence Month’ would be an excellent palate cleanser.”

RIGHT UP UNTIL IT SINKS: Cuba’s Surveillance State Keeps Communist Party Afloat.

What has kept the government of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the paper said, is the party’s iron control over daily life, not its ability to deliver electricity, food, or wages.

That description tracks with the state’s recent behavior on the ground.

At June’s nighttime pot-banging protests in Morón and other cities, civilian informants filmed demonstrators so police could identify and arrest them the next day, the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba documented. The Ministry of the Interior’s black-beret riot brigade deployed in Santiago as officers cut internet access to isolate protest zones.

The economic picture behind the crackdown is stark.

The U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean projects Cuba’s GDP will contract 6.5% in 2026, the worst in the region, and the electricity generation deficit hit a record 2,208 MW on June 25, leaving roughly 70% of the island without power. The Cuban Conflict Observatory logged 1,311 protests in May, the highest monthly total on record.

It certainly looks like something’s gotta give.

BREAKING DISCOVERY FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Plants do well when fed plant food.