I used Anthropic's Claude to pick Oscar winners at a party. It made odd mistakes, but still beat everyone else.

Tech Insider
Alistair Barr (right) winning the Oscar ballot at a friend's party
Alistair Barr (right) winning the Oscar ballot at a friend's party

Alistair Barr/Business Insider

I tried something different at my friends' annual Oscars party this year: I outsourced my ballot to Anthropic's Claude.

It beat around the bush at first, so I asked it to just

Business

Halide co-founder is suing former partner for bringing source code to Apple

The Verge
Halide camera app on iPhone screen
Halide running on an iPhone. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
Halide running on an iPhone. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

Lux Optics co-founder Sebastiaan de With made headlines when he joined Apple in late January. The company was behind Halide, one of the most popular photography apps for the iPhone, which gained a cult following for its robust pro-level controls.

Apple was apparently a big enough fan that it tried to acquire the developer

Business

Work from home and cut frivolous journeys: What countries are telling people to do as oil prices spike

Tech Insider
Fuel pump
The AAA said that prices

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

  • Nations across the world are taking steps to mitigate the impact of oil price spikes.
  • These include flexible working arrangements and reducing non-essential journeys.
  • Countries heavily reliant on Middle Eastern oil are particularly vulnerable to the war's impact.

Governments around the world are urging people to cut back on energy use amid surging oil

Economy, Business, Style

Reddit is weighing identity verification methods to combat its bot problem

Engadget

There could be one more step required before creating an account and posting on Reddit in the future. According to Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman, the social media platform is exploring different ways to verify a user is human and not a bot. When asked by the TBPN podcast how to confirm that it's a human using Reddit, Huffman responded with several verification methods with varying degrees of heavy

Where TSA wait times are the longest, and how to check if your airport is impacted

Tech Insider
Passengers wait in a check-in line at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Passengers wait in a check-in line at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/File Photo

  • Delays persist at TSA checkpoints across US airports due to the partial government shutdown.
  • TSA agents aren't getting paid during the shutdown, and as many as 10% aren't showing up to work.
  • Here's the latest on TSA delays, and how to check wait times before you travel.

If you're flying in

Business, Travel

What to read this weekend: Revisiting Project Hail Mary and The Thing on the Doorstep

Engadget

Need something new for your reading list? Here are two titles we think are worth checking out. This week, we've got Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary and The Thing on the Doorstep, an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation for Image Comics. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-revisiting-project-hail-mary-and-the-thing-on-the

Apple considered buying Halide to upgrade its native Camera app

Engadget

A legal feud between the co-founders of Lux Optics, the developer behind the Halide camera app, revealed that Apple was close to acquiring the company. As first reported by The Information, Apple held acquisition talks for Lux Optics, which also developed the Kino, Spectre and Orion apps, in the summer of 2025.

According to The Information, the deal eventually fell through in September of that