Welcome to The Compiler, a daily curation of tech news.

Nintendo just dropped a bombshell: the Switch 2 is coming in 2025. Bigger design, magnetic Joy-Cons, and (thankfully) backward compatibility. But the real kicker? A new Mario Kart. It's been a decade since the last mainline entry, so expect some serious innovation. My prediction: AR racing that turns your living room into Rainbow Road. More details

• Replit's CEO claims their new AI coding tool grew revenue 5x in 6 months. His hot take? "We don't care about professional coders anymore." Bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off when debugging AI-generated spaghetti code becomes the new software engineering. Full story
• China's planning a massive space solar array that could generate more energy in a year than "all the oil on Earth." Impressive, but I'm more interested in the inevitable space lasers they'll claim are for "energy transmission." Read more

• Google halved code migration time using AI. Next up: teaching AI to write passive-aggressive code comments. Details here
• Sweden's building a 100,000-year nuclear waste storage site. Finally, a place to store my collection of "temporary" hack scripts. More info
• Hackers leaked configs and VPN credentials for 15,000 FortiGate devices. Time to change those default passwords, folks. Full story

If AI can now write code faster than humans, will "It works on my machine" evolve into "It works in my simulation"?

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Welcome to The Compiler, a daily curation of tech news.

TikTok's potential US ban reaches critical juncture. The Supreme Court is set to decide TikTok's fate by January 19th, with options ranging from forced sale to outright ban. Meanwhile, China is reportedly considering Elon Musk as a potential buyer for TikTok's US operations. The tech world's watching closely as this could reshape social media landscapes and US-China tech relations.

Tech insight: If Musk acquires TikTok, expect rapid integration with X's recommendation algorithms and a potential clash of content moderation philosophies.

• US splits world into AI chip tiers, playing geopolitical Jenga with semiconductors. New regulations set numerical limits on AI chip exports, with first-tier countries facing no restrictions. This could accelerate the balkanization of the global AI ecosystem and spark a new arms race in chip development.

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• WordPress's open-source future hangs in the balance as Automattic slashes contributions from 4,000 hours/week to just 45. This drastic reduction could lead to a community fork, potentially fragmenting the ecosystem that powers 43% of the web. Are we witnessing the slow death of the web's most popular CMS, or the birth of a truly community-driven WordPress?

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• Starlink now cheaper than local ISPs in some African countries, potentially revolutionizing internet access across the continent. Read more
• Microsoft forms new CoreAI division led by ex-Meta exec, signaling an aggressive push into AI platform development. Read more
• Moto G Power 2025 brings IP69 water resistance to a $300 phone, democratizing rugged tech. Read more

As TikTokers bid farewell to their "personal Chinese spies," it's worth pondering: In our digital age, is choosing your preferred surveillance capitalism overlord the new definition of freedom?

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Welcome to The Compiler, a daily curation of tech news.

Sonos' App Apocalypse: How a Redesign Toppled a CEO

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is out after an app redesign disaster that nearly destroyed the company's reputation. The May 2024 update was so buggy and feature-lacking that it sparked a customer revolt, overshadowed product launches, and led to layoffs. It's a stark reminder that even audio giants can trip over their own cables.

Tech insight: This saga highlights the dangers of over-engineering and feature creep in established products. Sometimes, a stable, familiar UI trumps flashy redesigns – especially for hardware-centric companies venturing into software territory.

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Nvidia is throwing shade at the Biden administration's new AI export rules, claiming they threaten innovation and economic growth. The GPU giant is even cozying up to Trump, praising his previous AI policies. It's a bold move that could reshape the global AI arms race and chip diplomacy.

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Mastodon's CEO is transferring ownership to a nonprofit, declaring the platform "should not be controlled by a single individual." It's a direct jab at centralized social media and could set a precedent for truly user-centric platforms. But can a decentralized network compete with the engagement algorithms of Big Tech?

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• Adobe's new Firefly Bulk Create can edit 10,000 images in one click. Graphic designers, start updating those resumes. Learn more
• Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket launch scrubbed. Turns out, space is still hard. Read more
• T-Mobile acquires Vistar Media for $600M, diving deeper into programmatic out-of-home ads. Your commute is about to get a lot more personalized. Details here

If AI can now edit 10,000 images at once, how long until we see the first AI-generated film with 10,000 unique background characters?

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