Li won a Pulitzer for her memoir about the suicides of her two sons. In her new novel, Music Against the Night, she writes about two young prodigies in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

(Image credit: Hannah Yoon)

Perhaps the days when auto shows debuted new models aren’t entirely over. The big trade shows for cars were a gateway drug for many, expos where you could see the newest models of today and the concepts of tomorrow. But automakers increasingly got tired of sharing the spotlight with each other. New reveals moved offsite to events the night or even the week before the show itself. One by one, brands pulled out of auto show after auto show until there was little left to see. And then the pandemic hit.

But the news out of Paris, where its auto show held media day yesterday, seems like we stepped back into a time when automakers would debut new cars aplenty. That retro vibe extends to the cars themselves, with plenty of familiar nameplates reimagined.

France’s Renault has a long and glorious history of delightful concept cars, and more on what it brought to Paris later. But the star of the show was arguably Stellantis, with strong work from Citroen, Peugeot, and Fiat, to name but three. But this article is meant to irritate you, because I’m pretty sure none of the stuff you’re seeing here will come to the United States. And it’s doubly irritating considering what Stellantis’ brands do offer us over here, doubling down on the same malign trends I saw back in 2020: did you know they’re about to relaunch a V8 Hellcat-powered Charger?

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If you’re looking for an e-reader that can easily fit in your pocket (or snap onto your magnet-equipped phone), the tiny Xteink X4 Pro might be worth a look. It features a 4.26-inch, 800 x 480 E Ink display, making it significantly smaller and thinner than Amazon’s smallest six-inch Kindle. It’s also quite a bit cheaper. Right now, you can pick it up for $84.15 ($25 off) at Amazon, which is its best price to date.

Xteink X4 Pro

Where to Buy:

• $109 $84.15 at Amazon
• $109 at Xteink

The X4 Pro brings several welcome upgrades over its predecessors, including a touchscreen that gives readers another way to interact with it. It still has physical page-turning buttons, though. There’s also a new touch-sensitive button below the display for quickly returning to the home screen, along with a built-in light with adjustable brightness and color temperature, so you can read in the dark. It ships with the excellent CrossPoint Reader software, which makes navigating your library and reading books a much better experience than on previous Xteink models we’ve tested, though it’s still not quite as polished as Amazon’s software.

Understandably, not everyone is a fan of Xteink’s decision to swap the X4 Pro’s USB-C port for a proprietary charging connector. If you can look past that, the X4 Pro is a great, little e-reader that features magnets that let you attach it to compatible smartphones, just like previous models. The magnetic connection is stronger this time around, though we still wish it were a little more secure. All the same, my colleague Andrew Liszewski still considers the X4 Pro the best tiny e-reader you can buy, calling it a device he “won’t leave the house without.”

Read our hands-on impressions.

Facebook's new "Your Algorithm" feature will let you directly add and manage topics you want to see in your feed and Facebook Reels. Meta says your recommendations "respond right away" after you make updates using the new feature by hitting "interested" or "not interested" for different topics. Your Algorithm previously launched on Instagram earlier this year, and Meta also launched a similar "Dear Algo" feature on Threads.

Facebook users will be able to access Your Algorithm or select "interested" or "not interested" from the three dots menu on individual posts. The "interested" and "not interested" buttons may also appear under posts, an …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google has already added a few AI features to the Play Store, but a lot more are coming. The previously released Ask Play feature is expanding to offer more AI-powered discovery options in Google's app store, and Google is also using AI to build a recommendation engine called Game Finder. For people who have embraced AI to build their own apps, the Play Store will soon offer a way to privately host and share those creations.

Google rolled out Ask Play in 2025 as a small chatbot interface on Play Store listings. It lets you ask questions about an app or game, either by typing it in manually or choosing from a list of suggested queries. Starting today, Ask Play is expanding into a more general way to search for apps and games. You ask the robot questions, and it generates recommendations that can include detailed comparison charts. Gemini will roll out a similar capability soon.

Google's other AI discovery announcement focuses on games. The new Game Finder feature leans on all the usage data Google's app platform has hoovered up over the years, featuring insights into the way 1.2 billion people play games on Android. It builds a profile called Gamer DNA and matches you with players who have similar DNA.

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The next time you vibe-code a custom app with Google's AI Studio, you won't have to connect your phone to a computer to install it. On Tuesday, Google announced a new feature in the US that will allow you to launch personal apps directly through the Play Store.

Google first launched the ability to vibe-code personal Android apps in May. Even though you can now launch your custom apps in Google Play, the company notes it will continue to keep them "secure, private, and separate from the public store catalog." You can also launch them using a standard Google account, and the company will soon add the ability to share your app with a select gr …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The Google Play Store is getting a big update for cars with Google built-in. On Tuesday, the company announced that the Play Store's layout will now automatically adapt to the size and layout of your car's screen while making it easier to find and download new apps.

The update, which is rolling out in the coming weeks, will put featured apps on the Play Store's homepage and allow you to download them with a single tap. It also comes with what Google says is a "streamlined navigation" menu that puts "Apps," "Games," "Search," and "More" options on the left side of your screen (or on the top if your car's screen has a vertical orientation).

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Read the full story at The Verge.

Article URL: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/coris/jobs/h0nDly8-backend-engineer-ai-native-risk-infrastructure-integrations

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50074969

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