Cole Tomas Allen is facing life in prison after he was told he is facing three counts for his attempted shooting spree at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last weekend, including two federal gun crimes and one count for attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump.

The 31-year-old suspect donned a neon blue jumpsuit while making his first appearance inside federal court in Washington, D.C. on Monday.

New York Times court reporter Zach Montague reported from the courthouse:

Jocelyn Valentine, a federal prosecutor, told Magistrate Judge Sharbaugh that Mr. Allen came to Washington with a pump-action shotgun, a pistol and three knives, all with the intent of carrying out a political assassination.

The court has set a hearing for Thursday morning to determine whether Mr. Allen will be kept in detention. Mr. Allen did not enter a plea through his lawyer Tezira Abe.

Fox News correspondent David Spunt reported Allen is also facing a count of transporting a firearm across state lines, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; the third count is for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, which carries a mandatory 10 year sentence.

Spunt noted this was not an official arraignment but just an initial appearance for Allen. He also reported the California native has two public defense attorneys.

U.S. attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro watched the proceedings from inside the courtroom, Montague reported. He added Allen “appeared calm” and was “nodding to acknowledge instructions and quietly answering prompts form the judge.”

The attempted assassination happened at the Washington Hilton on Saturday evening, just minutes after the annual event started. President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt were among those who were rushed off stage when shots were fired in the lobby.

Trump told 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O’Donnell on Sunday he “wasn’t worried” during the frenzied moment shots started firing.

“I wasn’t worried. I understand life,” Trump said matter-of-factly. “We live in a crazy world.”

The president later told her he wasn’t as worked up as you’d expect during the shooting because, “I have been through this a couple of times.”

Trump was obviously referring to the previous assassination attempts against him, including the 2024 attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania where a bullet hit his ear before killing firefighter Corey Comperatore.

Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel are expected to share more details at a press conference at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Watch Spunt’s report above.

The post Suspected WHCD Shooter Charged On 3 Counts, Faces Life in Prison for Attempted Assassination of Trump first appeared on Mediaite.

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Apple announced a slew of new products in March, including updated MacBook Airs with the M5 chip. These MacBooks come in both 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, and if you're interested in either, it's a good time to buy: Amazon is selling both at a $150 discount. That brings the 13-inch MacBook Air to $950 (down from $1,100) and the 15-inch MacBook Air to $1,150 (originally $1,300), matching their lowest prices ever, according to tracking tools.

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The M5 MacBook Air is tempting, especially for under $1,000. In comparison to the already excellent M4 Airs, the M5 base model has double the storage at 512GB, making up for the $100 bump in the list price. The M5 chip is powerful and makes the performance even smoother, according to Mashable's review. The aluminum design is as good as you'd expect from Apple's most popular portable laptop, keeping it lightweight and thin. It comes with a Liquid Retina display, Touch ID, a 12MP Center Stage Camera, and the Magic Keyboard.

Typically, the question would be whether to go for the slightly older M4 MacBook Air or pay a bit more for the newer M5 chip—but with the current discount, the 13-inch M5 with 512GB of storage is actually cheaper than a comparably equipped M4 from Amazon, making the choice a no-brainer.

The man suspected of attempting a mass shooting while targeting President Donald Trump and members of his administration at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night wrote he was shocked at how bad the security was at the venue.

“Like, this level of incompetence is insane,” Cole Tomas Allen wrote in a manifesto obtained by the New York Post. “And I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again.”

That was part of an entire section in his manifesto dedicated to describing the terrible security at the Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C., where the annual event took place.

“PS: Ok now that all the sappy stuff is done, what the hell is the Secret Service doing? Sorry, gonna rant a bit here and drop the formal tone,” Allen wrote. “Like, I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo.”

Instead, he said there was:

No damn security.

Not in transport.

Not in the hotel.

Not in the event.

Allen went on to say if he was an Iranian agent he could have easily smuggled in a weapon with ease. He also said the security at the hotel was entirely focused on protesters outside the event and seemingly had not considered that a wannabe assassin could check into the hotel the day before.

He added he felt a “sense of arrogance” from the hotel, as if its guests couldn’t possibly be attackers.

The Post obtained his manifesto the morning after Allen fired multiple shots in the hotel lobby, minutes after the event kicked off. It was set to be Trump’s first appearance at the dinner since he became president, but instead he was rushed off the stage by Secret Service, along with First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is due to give birth any day now.

Trump said at a press conference after the event was canceled that he “fought like hell” to keep it going, and hoped it would be rescheduled for May. He also shared multiple pictures of Allen being pressed against the ground after being apprehended; Trump applauded law enforcement for taking him down.

“He’s a sick person, a very sick person,” Trump said about the 31-year-old from Torrance, California.

Allen sent the manifesto to family members about 10 minutes before he started shooting in the lobby. He signed the document as “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assasin’ Allen,” and said he believed it was a just shooting because he was “no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”

CNN reporter Alayna Treene had more details on Allen’s manifesto, including the “anti-Christian and anti-Trump language” in it. Watch her report above.

The post WHCD Shooter Couldn’t Believe How Bad Security Was Before Trying to Shoot Trump: ‘Incompetence Is Insane’ first appeared on Mediaite.

CNN’s Michael Smerconish asked Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) if his support for Israel is a “hill” he’s willing to politically “die on” as he’s found a lack of support from fellow Democrats for his reelection.

Fetterman joined Smerconish on Saturday where he was as vocal as ever in his support for Israel and the war with Iran. Punchbowl News’ Max Cohen reported this week that zero Democrats from Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation would offer support for Fetterman’s reelection when asked.

The state GOP party chair previously told local media that the party was keeping an eye out for Fetterman to ditch Democrats, though the senator has said he has no plans to do that.

Fetterman acknowledged that his support of Israel is not something that polls well, but he’s only going to lean in more, regardless of his standing in his own party. He called himself the “only Democrat to stand with Israel.”

“Is this a hill, politically speaking… that you’re willing to die on? I made reference to the House members from Pennsylvania, the Democrats, and what they say or won’t say about John Fetterman,” Smerconish said.

Fetterman explained:

Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, the only Democrat to stand with Israel. Yeah, it’s a it’s a die [situation], you know, like, I could never be just sitting quiet or saying things that I don’t happen to believe. I know what polls say, consistently as long as this goes on, Israel becomes more and more toxic, but I’m always going to lean in more. And so yes, thank you for asking. Yes, it is… because a lot more things are more important than my standing in the Democratic Party. This is such a profound, profound situation. I if we walk away from this, ust because [President Donald] Trump might be perceived as losing it, America would definitely would lose, and Israel especially, and the region as well too.

Watch above via CNN.

The post Smerconish Asks Fetterman If Israel Support Is ‘Hill’ He’s ‘Willing to Die On’ as Democrats Flee Supporting His Reelection first appeared on Mediaite.

Comedian and pundit Bill Maher told his guests he once headlined a White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but it was actually a different — although similar — press dinner.

President Donald Trump will attend his first WHCD in office on Saturday night, which prompted Maher to discuss the dinner on Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, during which he told his panel how the dinner has changed:

BILL MAHER: Well, I don’t know, he’s apparently going to the, Trump is the correspondent’s dinner this year. I would, I’m very interested to see what this is going to look like, because you know, the correspondents dinner, I think I did it one year. They used to have comedians.

By the way, I said that– because I got sh*t about it, everybody, every comedian gets sh*t about, it’s the worst gig in the world, because half the people in the audience are Republican, half the Democrats, you’re going to insult anybody no matter what they say, so they always, I say, just get a magician. Just get somebody who doesn’t do political.

They’re always trying to get the political, and it’s like the worst thing.

But it was actually the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association Dinner that Maher headlined in 1995 — which led to some jokes that seem completely alien and others that sound kind of familiar:

• Well, it’s a tremendous thrill and honor to be here in the same room with probably the most-watched man in the world. Kato Kaelin is here, ladies and gentlemen!
• I noticed listening to conversations it’s very much like show business in fact i heard two senators talking before and one was saying to the other. “You’re lying to me!” The other one said “Okay but hear me out.”
• No, it’s amazing what goes on. I mean, a plane landed on the White House lawn. I didn’t even know U.S. Air flew to Washington. And the weird part is the luggage went to the Lincoln Memorial.
• I think that, like in 10 years, the word liberal is gonna be synonymous with the word gay. People will go, you know, I’m a liberal. Oh, really? Maybe you should meet my friend Bob. He’s a liberal.
• I don’t know, I just think if your name is Dick Army, maybe making a f*g joke is a little redundant, you know what I’m saying?

Watch above via RTCA.

The post Bill Maher Falsely Claims He Did WHCD — It Was This OTHER Correspondents Dinner first appeared on Mediaite.

The View’s Ana Navarro argued President Donald Trump should be forced to sit through the entirety of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner so he can see top journalists like CNN’s Kaitlan Collins receive their accolades.

Alyssa Farah Griffin said on Friday’s show, “My colleague and Ana’s colleague Kaitlan Collins is receiving an award for her coverage of the White House. Somebody who, we all have seen President Trump insult her, criticize her, and she stands there stoically and keeps asking questions that we all want the answers to.”

Griffin said she hoped journalists won’t boycott the event because, “the night should be and is about the journalists, regardless of who headlines it, regardless of the speech from the president.”

She added, “It’s reported the president is going to go, give his remarks, and then leave, so they can all celebrate once he leaves if they want to.”

“The White House Correspondents’ Association should not accept that,” Navarro said. “If he is going to show up, he should sit there while Kaitlan Collins gets her award. I think it’s disrespectful to come in, confront the press, say his remarks, and then leave…If he’s going to attend, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner should demand he sit through the entire event.”

Navarro continued, “For me, there is no way in hell I would normalize Donald Trump’s presence by showing up. For me as a Latina immigrant, I mean, no community has been as maligned, humiliated, prosecuted, and tortured as much as the immigrant community and the Latino community. And there’s just no way I’m gonna put on Spanx and high heels, drink cheap wine, eat a bad chicken dinner, and smile at the stupid things I know he’s going to say.”

More than 250 journalists signed an open letter urging the press to “forcefully demonstrate opposition” to Trump during the WHCD.

The letter read, in part, “…we believe the White House Correspondents Association should take stronger action by issuing – from the podium – a forceful defense of freedom of the press and condemnation of those who threaten that freedom, followed by a standing toast to the First Amendment and a pledge to continue upholding such a critical cornerstone of our democracy. Speak forcefully, in front of the man who seeks to undermine our country’s long tradition of an independent, strong, and free press.”

Watch the clip above via The View on ABC.

The post ‘Sit There!’ The View’s Ana Navarro Demands Trump Be Forced to Sit Through Entire White House Correspondents’ Dinner first appeared on Mediaite.

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My question about virtual reality has always been, "But what is it for?" I finally have an answer: Guassian Splatting. We've always tried to capture our past, whether it's through physical photographs, VHS tapes, or every picture you have stored in the cloud, but we've been limited to viewing our personal histories in flat media, usually from a behind a screen, and always from a single angle. But Gaussian Splatting changes that. This technology allows you to create volumetric 3D models of objects, people, or spaces, so instead of a picture of your child's favorite toy, you can have a realistic scan of it that you can examine from every angle; instead of a snapshot of Thanksgiving dinner, you can have a photorealistic diorama of the dining room that you can walk around.

What is Gaussian Splatting?

Gaussian Splatting is a technological newborn. It was first theoretically introduced in a 2023 research paper by Bernhard Kerbl, Georgios Kopanas, Thomas Leimkühler, and George Drettakis. The paper details a new rendering technique that builds 3D models out of millions of semi-transparent blobs called "Gaussians" instead of the solid triangles used in traditional computer graphics. Once calculated, the Gaussians are "Splatted" onto a 2D plane by your computer, and that is arranged and layered based on how they should look from any viewpoint within the Splat. Because the blobs are semi-transparent, they don't block each other. They blend together like brushstrokes in a painting.

Another bonus: Splatting provides a much higher level of detail for its file size compared to traditional methods of scanning. Older scans work on a the geometric principle of stretching a virtual skin made of triangles over an object. For a detailed scan, that could be billions of triangles, resulting in PC-choking file sizes. Splatting is based on mathematical probability rather than rigid geometry. Instead of a solid edge, each "blob" is a tiny cloud that tells the computer how likely a color is to exist in that spot. It only stores the position, color, and transparency of millions of relevant areas in space, as well as how they should reflect light from different angles. The result is files that are big compared to Word documents, but not so huge that you can't work with them on a phone.

Gaussian Splatting quickly went from theory to practice, and now Splats can be created and rendered with only a decent smartphone, making it more accessible than older methods that sometimes required laser scanners or specialized equipment.

Why you should start Splatting

3D scanning is already in use professionally in things like mapping real estate for virtual tours and creating photorealistic assets for video games, but Gaussian Splatting is accessible enough that anyone can future-proof their nostalgia.

Splatting gives your future self (or your kids) the ability to "visit" your current life with a level of realism that's breathtaking. It lets you digitally "bottle" the exact layout and volume of a moment in time and preserve it. If your parents had this, you'd be able to walk around your childhood bedroom, or check out every angle and detail of the first car you ever bought.

"Digital preservation" and "3D modeling" sound clinical, but the results of Gaussian Splats are anything but sterile. While photography captures a single angle of light in a room, Gaussian Splats capture the behavior of light from all angles, so the result isn't what the past looks like, but what the past feels like. It's hard to describe, but capturing the quality of light on an object or location puts you in touch with it in a way you didn't think possible. That combined with the haziness of Spats and your own memories adds up to a ethereal, dreamlike experience that isn't like anything else. (I like Splats a lot.)

How to get started Splatting

The barrier to entry for Splatting is just a little time to figure out how it works. You don't need a specialized LiDAR scanner or an overpowered PC, just a relatively recent smartphone. Here's how to get started:

Pick an app: Though the technology is new, a few apps are making it very user-friendly. Here are the two I've tried:

• Scaniverse: Excellent for iPhone users, Scaniverse is free, and it processes Splats entirely on your device in only a minute or two.

• Luma 3D Capture: Available on both Android and iPhone, Luma is great for beginners, with a scanning process that walks you through creating your first Splat.

Make a capture: Here are some things to think about when making your capture.

• Before you start scanning locations or bigger objects, pick something small and simple so you get the concepts down. But not pets: Your subject has to remain perfectly still through the process. (Make an exception for your child. They won't hold still enough, but having even a blurry model of your kid is vital for future you.)

• Place your subject in an evenly lit room with enough space to walk all the way around it.

• Hit record and walk in a slow, steady circle around your object, keeping your camera pointed at its center.

• Do two passes, one from a high angle looking down, another from a low angle, looking up.

• Gaussian Splats hate uniformity. They struggle with plain white walls, so think in terms of textures. Also, avoid clear glass and mirrors that confuse the depth calculations.

Have a banana: Now that you've captured your Splat, take a break so the computer can do its thing. How long it will take depends on the app you're using, your phone, and how detailed your scan is. Scaniverse processes Splats right on your phone. For something simple like the guitar below, it took about two minutes of rendering on an iPhone 17 Pro. Luma 3D Capture processes files in the cloud, so how long it takes depends on how many people are in front of you in the queue. It might be a couple minutes. It might be a couple hours—the app sends an alert when your image is finished cooking. The video below took several hours.

Enjoy your creation: Once the math is finished mathing, you can view your creation right on your smartphone screen or computer. Pinch to zoom, drag to rotate, and marvel at how perfectly the scan captured the vibe of the object or space.

Share your creation: These apps give you a couple of easy ways to share your volumetric memory:

• Video: You can plot a camera path through your Splat to export a smooth, 2D "fly-through" video. Below is my first scan on YouTube using Scaniverse (it's sloppy; I was new), and my second try with Luma.

• Web Link: You can generate a simple web link and text it to your friends or family through both apps. When they tap it, it opens an interactive 3D viewer in their browser—no special apps, accounts, or heavy downloads required.

How to step inside your Splats

Viewing a 3D scan on your phone or PC is kind of cool, but you can't really understand how mind-blowing these things are until you check them out in a virtual reality device, where you can physically walk around that Thanksgiving table or lean in to inspect the texture on the couch. Here is how you can do it on the two biggest headsets right now.

Apple Vision Pro

The powerful Apple Vision Pro was built to do this. Apple included "Spatial Scenes" right in the OS. It gives a slight 3D pop to 2D photos, but you can take that a little further with apps like Splat Studio that will generate a deeper 3D scene from 2D photos and let you change settings to improve it. But you can get deeper with Spatial Media Toolkit. It lets you make 2D videos into stereoscopic 3D videos. But the final boss is viewing full Splats you made yourself with apps like Luma 3D Capture or Polycam.

If you follow the steps above, you should be able to export the Splat file you created (.ply or .spz) right from your phone to your Vision Pro and step inside the Splat or walk around the object you scanned. You can also check out Splats other users have uploaded.

Apple Vision Pro

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Meta Quest 3 and 3S

Meta has embraced the Gaussian Splat revolution. Apps like AirVis (also on the Vision Pro) let you check out Splats you made on your phone, and there are even 4D Splats available on the Quest (more on that below). Meta is also taking the first steps toward cutting out the middleman of your phone altogether. Hyperscape Capture is a still-in-beta app that uses the Quest's existing cameras to scan your room, then save a 3D version of your space. Meta promises that soon you'll be able to send a link to a friend with a headset so they can "come visit."

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The future of 4D Splatting

As hyped as I am for Gaussian Splatting, the technology is in its "version 1.0 era." Capturing a decent Splat takes time and patience and requires the subject to stay absolutely still, and the result isn't always perfect, but the technology is evolving fast enough that the next thing is emerging already. The cutting-Gaussian-edge is 4D Splatting—the fourth dimension is time. 4D Splats are 3D volumetric videos, moving scenes you can view from any point inside or outside the scene. Unlike stereoscopic 3D movies that let you watch from a single point, these are true holographs. At least they are inside a VR rig.

The technology is already in use commercially, most notably in A$AP Rocky's music video "Helicopter," in which performers were captured by 56 cameras and the footage converted to 4D Splats, allowing any angle or impossible camera movement to be used. Check it out:

And there are some 4D Splats you can check out in your headset too. Quest 3 app Gracia has a few volumetric videos that are very impressive. Gracia lets you stream or download 4D Splats of people, and place them anywhere you like in augmented reality. Then you can hit "play" and look at them from any angle, or even move all the way around them. To see what I mean, check out this video I made showing my view from within a Quest 3 headset, of singer Amy May performing a song on my front lawn (with a cameo from my no-doubt confused neighbor).

You probably don't have an array of 20 or so GoPros to create content like Gracia's, but there are some experimental tools out there for consumers to create 4D Splats. KIRI Engine uses Apple's open-source ML-Sharp tool to turn a standard single-lens video into a 4D splat. It doesn't create an AI-aided approximation of stereoscopic 3D like Splat Studio, but converts each individual frame into a separate Splat. It's too technical for me to really mess with and the 3D is guesswork not actual 3D, but I would be surprised if a way of taking volumetric video with only a few smart phone angles wasn't in the works somewhere.

Gaussian Splats are as much of a revelation as I imagine instantly developing snapshots were in the 1960s. Like early Polaroids, it's a bit of a pain, and the results are sometimes grainy, "dreamy" and reminiscent of pointillism, but the emotional impact of a new way of seeing the past is so strong. So get started Splatting now; your future self will thank you.