script to set safari homepage

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change homepage using terminal (safari & chrome)

I was wondering if there is a way to change/set the homepage using a terminal command for browsers: safari and chrome?

Any help would be appreciated.

null-OTHER, macOS High Sierra (10.13.3)

Posted on Aug 30, 2018 9:39 AM

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Aug 30, 2018 11:03 AM in response to Tranceplant

Tranceplant wrote: Well with more than 200 computers it would be nice to simply push a command line or a mini script too all.

What comes to my mind is to send an UNIX command to the clients with the following contents:

defaults write com.apple.Safari HomePage 'http://example.com'

Can you implement that ?

Aug 30, 2018 9:51 AM in response to Tranceplant

Easier to do just going to Preferences for each browser 😉

Safari>Preferences> General

Is this for some remote application?

Aug 30, 2018 10:03 AM in response to Tranceplant

Just for completeness… Chrome > Preferences.

Aug 30, 2018 10:46 AM in response to dialabrain

Well with more than 200 computers it would be nice to simply push a command line or a mini script too all.

Aug 30, 2018 10:51 AM in response to Tranceplant

Sorry, I didn't notice the reference to 200 computers. Personally, I don't know of such a command. Perhaps someone may know of a way using Apple Script or Automator.

Aug 30, 2018 11:10 AM in response to leroydouglas

Just curious, did you test the command? Isn't working for me.

Aug 30, 2018 11:18 AM in response to dialabrain

Ya I tried that command and it's not working for me. I did some more research and it seems that the OS will also store it in the keychain for cloud access. I'm still looking...

Aug 30, 2018 11:36 AM in response to Tranceplant

Use Profile Manager to generate a user-level setting & use your management tool of choice to push out the profiles.

You can get some more ideas here:

Chrome Homepage | Discussion | Jamf Nation

Aug 30, 2018 12:14 PM in response to leroydouglas

Pushing a profile is not an option as I am already using a profile for MDM. I cannot use two. We are using Meraki and it's not available there!!!

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Script to set Safari homepage on Mac

Configuring the homepage allows you to control what will be displayed when a user launches the browser. Here is a custom script that will help you set the homepage for macOS devices. Remotely execute it using the Execute Custom Script action from the Hexnode console.

The sample scripts provided below are adapted from third-party open source sites.

Configure default Safari homepage

Use the script below to set the default homepage for the currently logged-in user on a macOS device:

Replace the URL mentioned in the script with your desired homepage URL. The homepage URL in the script becomes the default homepage in the com.apple.Safari.plist file. The homepage URL is launched automatically when a new tab or window is opened on the browser.

• It is recommended to manually validate the script execution on a system before executing the action in bulk.
• Hexnode will not be responsible for any damage/loss to the system on the behavior of the script.

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macOS   change safari homepage using a script

• Thread starter morrisman1
• Start date Jul 22, 2009
• Sort by reaction score
• Apple Programming

macrumors 6502

• Jul 22, 2009

hi all, basically i want to prank my mate, i want to write a script which changes his homepage to a particular page, and then set this script to run on startup. is there a way to do this? He uses safari on 10.5.7 thanks very much, this is for jokes, not malicious reasons (I will put him back to normal after a week)  

macrumors regular

morrisman1 said: hi all, basically i want to prank my mate, i want to write a script which changes his homepage to a particular page, and then set this script to run on startup. is there a way to do this? He uses safari on 10.5.7 thanks very much, this is for jokes, not malicious reasons (I will put him back to normal after a week) Click to expand...

yea, the idea is so that it will change automatically on startup. Where does safari keep the .plist with the homepage url?  

macrumors 68040

Honestly, it would be a better prank to change it to one of four sites every second or third time he started his browser. Consistent behavior is not nearly as maddening as seemingly random behavior. -Lee  

macrumors 6502a

morrisman1 said: Where does safari keep the .plist with the homepage url? Click to expand...

• Jul 23, 2009

mslide said: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist Key = HomePage Click to expand...

morrisman1 said: nothing in there seems to relate to the homepage. I set it to ebay, then searched for ebay in that .plist and it wasnt there Click to expand...

screenshot of your .plist an option? might help a bit. I opened com.apple.safari.plist out of /macintosh hd/users/my account/library/preferences thats the right directory isnt it?  

morrisman1 said: screenshot of your .plist an option? might help a bit. Click to expand...

Attachments

• Jul 24, 2009

what program do you open the .plist with? im just using txt edit  

morrisman1 said: what program do you open the .plist with? im just using txt edit Click to expand...

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aardanas commented Jun 24, 2021

This is awesome. I've been searching everywhere but do you happen to have one for the new Microsoft Edge Chromium? I'm looking where to set it either via bash or plist and cannot find anything.

Sorry, something went wrong.

Safari User Guide

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Change your homepage in Safari on Mac

You can use any webpage as your homepage, and have it shown when you open a new window or a new tab.

Open Safari for me

In the Homepage field, enter a webpage address. To simply use the webpage you’re currently viewing, click Set to Current Page.

Choose when your homepage is shown.

Open new windows with your homepage: Click the “New windows open with” pop-up menu, then choose Homepage.

Open new tabs with your homepage: Click the “New tabs open with” pop-up menu, then choose Homepage.

To quickly open your homepage in Safari, choose History > Home.

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How to Change Your Homepage in Safari

Mobile and desktop Safari use different procedures

What to Know

• Safari on Mac: With Safari open, choose  Safari  >  Preferences > select General tab.
• Then, next to Homepage, add a URL or select Set to Current Page .
• Safari iOS app: Open the page you want > Sharing icon > Add to Home Screen .

This article explains how to change your Safari homepage for the Mac and the Safari app for iOS devices. This information applies to Macs with macOS Monterey (12) through OS X El Capitan (10.11), as well as iPhones and iPads with iOS 15 through iOS 11 and iPad OS 15 through iPadOS 13.

How to Set the Homepage in Safari on a Mac

You can choose any page you want to display when you launch Safari . For example, if you usually begin browsing with a Google search, set the Google homepage as your default. If the first thing you do when you go online is check your email, tell Safari to go to your provider's site.

Here's how to set your Safari homepage on a Mac.

Open Safari on your Mac.

Select Safari from the menu bar and choose Preferences from the drop-down menu.

Select the  General  tab on the Preferences screen.

Next to  Homepage , type the URL you want to set as the Safari homepage.

Select Set to Current Page to choose the page you're on.

Exit the General preferences window to save your changes.

Set the Safari Homepage on an iPhone

You can't set a homepage on an iPhone or another iOS device the same way you can with Safari on the desktop. However, you can add a web page link to your device's Home screen and open it to go directly to that page.

Tap the Safari icon on the iPhone Home screen to open the browser.

Open the web page you want to use as a Safari shortcut.

Tap Sharing (the square with an arrow) at the bottom of the web page to display the Sharing options.

Scroll up on the Sharing screen to see more options.

Tap  Add to Home Screen .

Accept the suggested name or change it, then tap Add to create the shortcut.

You can tap the shortcut instead of opening Safari to always start at the site you chose.

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How to change your Safari Homepage on Mac, iPhone and iPad

While you may not think much about what your Homepage is on Safari , this can be the handiest way to see your favorite site first. Every time you open Safari, you can visit the website you like most right off the bat or when you hit your Home button. Maybe it’s your preferred news source, the weather site you trust most, or your favorite tech site, iDownloadblog.com.

To make sure you get to your favorite website quickly each day, here’s how to change your Safari Homepage on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Change your Safari Homepage

Open Safari on your Mac, and then follow these steps to change your Homepage:

1) Click Safari > Preferences from the top menu bar.

2) Choose the General tab.

3) In the box next to Homepage , enter the URL of the website you want. If you are currently on that site, just click the Set Current Page button. This will change that URL for you.

Set your Homepage for new windows and tabs

By making that change above, each time you click the Home button on your toolbar or History > Home from the menu bar, you’ll land on that page. But you can set it up so that whenever you open a new Safari window or tab, you’ll go directly to that page too.

In the same Safari Preferences window, above Homepage , you’ll see the options for New windows open with and New tabs open with . You can click the drop-down box and choose Homepage for both or just one.

For something out of the ordinary, you can also set an image as your Safari Homepage on Mac. So, you can see your adorable pet, favorite vacation spot, or loving family whenever you open Safari.

On iPhone and iPad

Things are currently not as simple on iOS as they are on macOS. There isn’t a setting for Homepage in Safari on iPhone and iPad. But there is a workaround you can use to always open Safari with your favorite page. You’ll do this by creating a shortcut on your Home Screen, and here’s how.

1) Open Safari on iPhone or iPad and go to the site you want to use.

2) Tap the Share button at the bottom.

3) Select Add to Home Screen .

4) Name your shortcut and tap Add .

Now, whenever you want to open Safari to that “Homepage,” just tap your shortcut.

Note : If a website you use opens in a reader or mobile mode, you may not see your normal Safari options (tabs, bookmarks, etc.). So, use the desktop version of the site instead. Before performing the steps above, select the Share button > Request Desktop Site . Then, follow the instructions to add it to your Home Screen.

Setting Safari Homepage

You can always use the Favorites feature in Safari to quickly get to the sites you love most. But setting your Homepage gets you to your favorite website the fastest.

Do you plan to set a Safari Homepage for your favorite site? Let us know! And if you have tips for using Safari on Mac or iOS that you’d like to share, feel free to comment below.

Useful Safari tips:

• 11 tips to customize and personalize Safari on iPhone and iPad
• How to add Favorites in Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• How to fix Safari tabs disappearing on iPad and iPhone

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Set one homepage for all browsers simultaneously

For testing purposes, I would like to set the homepage of all browsers installed on my computer — Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari — to the same page. I'd like to do this all at the same time. I imagine that there's an application that has an input box for the URL I want to use as homepage and an OK button to set it in all browsers.

Where can I get a utility or script that can do this?

2 Answers 2

Create an HTML document anywhere on your system that includes a meta refresh to your desired actual home page. Point all browsers' home page to that html document using the file:// URL scheme (or, if you always have a local web server running, place it there), and edit it as needed. If required, see this SO topic on how to disable caching that document.

• Or do you seriously want to spend your time writing software for this, unless it's about the learning experience? –  Daniel Beck ♦ Sep 2, 2011 at 19:25
• That's a pretty nifty solution. Like creating a link that you can point where you will, and then point the browsers to that link. –  music2myear Sep 2, 2011 at 20:15
• If you're running a local web server, or have a webspace with some scripting support, you can even send the appropriate HTML headers instead, to speed this process up a bit. –  Daniel Beck ♦ Sep 3, 2011 at 8:13
• ooh great idea! I will do that. Very simple. Thanks! –  Morgan T. Sep 4, 2011 at 12:44
• I ended up making my own static home page with a collection of work-related links. For the original purpose I just update some querystring values in the links and it gives me what I want. But I also have links to different servers, the intranet and other web apps within the company :) –  Morgan T. Sep 20, 2012 at 21:00

It does not appear that there is an application that will do this for you.

IE will saves it's homepage in the registry, probably in the HK Current User hive, Firefox, probably in a database in the user profile folder, Chrome is probably similar to Firefox.

This means that any automated multi-browser update system will necessarily be relatively complex, as the various homepages cannot be modified using the same method.

• 1 interesting. I suppose I could write an app myself. Just have to research how each does it. Maybe it's not even possible to set from outside the browsers. I am now thinking of just having some batch files to do it. Create an environment var with one and just have a .cmd for each browser to open that variable via command line –  Morgan T. Sep 2, 2011 at 15:43
• Firefox, as an open source browser, has pretty good development documentation that should be quite helpful for this. Chrome may as well, though it's probably a little more closed than Firefox. IE will probably be the easiest as it is simply a reg edit. Safari: I have no clue. –  music2myear Sep 2, 2011 at 16:09

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How to customize the safari start page on iphone and ipad.

Make your Start Page clean and simple---or just as cluttered as you like it.

On your iPhone or iPad, you can easily customize the Safari Start Page in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 (or higher). You can make the page blank (mostly), add a background image, or pick and choose what you want to see. Here's how.

First, open Safari on your iPhone or iPad and open a new tab by tapping the tabs button (two overlapping rectangles), then tapping the plus ("+") button.

You'll see Safari's "Start Page" by default. To edit what's on the Start Page, scroll down if necessary and tap the "Edit" button.

When you tap "Edit," a "Customize Start Page" window will appear. Use the switches beside the listed options to turn them on or off. Here's what each option does.

• Favorites: This displays items from your Favorites list (like bookmarks).
• Frequently Visited: You'll see a list of frequently visited websites.
• Shared With You: This gives you a list of items shared with you from other people through the Messages app.
• Privacy Report: This shows a report on the number of trackers Safari has blocked recently.
• Siri Suggestions: This displays suggestions from Siri related to what's in your history and bookmarks.
• Reading List: This shows items from your Reading List .
• iCloud Tabs: This shows Safari tabs that are synchronized across iCloud from your other devices.

While also in the "Customize Start Page" window, you can use the "three lines" handle beside each item to tap and drag the Start Page items in the list. This will change the order of how the items will appear on the Start Page.

And if you turn the switch beside "Background Image" into the "on" position, you can select a background picture that will display behind the content on your Start Page. Tap an image in the thumbnails or tap the plus ("+") button to select a custom image from your photo library.

If you want to make your Start Page as minimalist as possible, switch off every item on the "Customize Start Page" list. (Unfortunately, you'll still see the "Edit" button.)

When you're done, click the "X" button to close the Customize Start Page window. The changes you've made take effect immediately. Happy browsing!

Related: What's New in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey

How to set your browser's homepage on a Mac, with instructions for Safari, Chrome, and Firefox

• For those with Mac computers, learning how to set your browser's homepage can be done quickly and easily.
• You can do it by manually adding the URL in your settings, or by using the "Use current page" button.
• Here's what you should know about setting your homepage on a Mac , no matter what browser you use.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

It's always exciting to get a new piece of technology. But oftentimes that means spending a while getting it set up the way you want it. 

One example of this: setting a new homepage on your browser of choice. Luckily, setting your homepage on a Mac is easily accomplished, whether you're on the desired page or not.

Here's what you need to know to set your homepage on Safari (as well as Chrome and Firefox, in case that's your preferred browser):

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Macbook (from $1,299 at apple), how to set your homepage on safari.

This will only take a minute or so:

1. Open Safari.

2. In the top toolbar, click "Safari" and then "Preferences."

3. If necessary, toggle over to the "General" tab, then write your desired URL in the "Homepage" field. If you're on the page you want, simply click "Set to Current Page."

If you want each new window to open on your homepage, you can set that up through the same preferences window you used to set your homepage. You'd just need to click the "New windows open with" pop-up and then select "Homepage."

The same goes for making each new tab open on your new homepage selection.

How to set the homepage on Chrome or Firefox

If Safari isn't your go-to browser, here's how to set your homepage on either Chrome or Firefox:

1. Open Chrome.

2. Click the three stacked dots in the top-right corner.

3. Click "Settings."

4. Under "Appearance," turn on "Show Home Button."

5. Paste or type your desired homepage URL in the box labeled "Enter custom web address."

1. Open Firefox.

2. Go to the page you want to set as your homepage.

3. Drag the tab over to the Home button (located in the top-left corner of the screen).

4. Click "Yes" to set that page as your new homepage.

Related coverage from   How To Do Everything: Tech :

How to change your default browser on mac, through the system preferences menu or the new browser's settings, 'why is my mac so slow': 6 ways to speed up your mac computer when its performance is lagging, how to turn on any mac computer's built-in camera, or troubleshoot it if it's not working, how to change your account username on a mac computer, if you bought a pre-owned mac or otherwise need a name change.

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• Pop Culture

Ranking the Best Jokes From the Tom Brady Roast

Who had the best set in the Netflix roast of the GOAT? Which lines landed, and which flopped? How did Brady himself fare? These are the definitive post-roast rankings.

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Share All sharing options for: Ranking the Best Jokes From the Tom Brady Roast

Like a sixth-round draft pick who goes on to win seven Super Bowl rings, The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady delivered far more than anyone had a right to expect. Over three hours live on Netflix Sunday night, the roast was a combination of no-holds-barred humor and awkward and hilarious moments between famous football friends and frenemies. The footballers on the dais more than held their own with the comics, and anyone wondering if Brady Rules would be in effect to soften the blows quickly got their answer. The show flew by because most sets worked, but it wouldn’t be a GOAT roast without some rankings. Here’s a ranking of all 19 roasters, from GROAT to WROAT—all that’s missing is Eli Manning:

https://t.co/ogddqoeHzp pic.twitter.com/gvpwpqX7jk — Netflix (@netflix) May 6, 2024

1. Nikki Glaser

The roast really started when Glaser stepped to the podium, and she delivered the best top-to-bottom set of the night. Her bits about Gisele, Julian Edelman, er, sucking up to Brady, and her willingness to shoot her boyfriend in the face for a chance with TB12 were all great—her set really didn’t have lulls, she got a standing ovation, and her best joke absolutely killed .

Best line: “Tom also lost $30 million in crypto. Tom, how did you fall for that? Even Gronk was like, ‘Me know that not real money!’”

Nikki Glaser is one funny fk #TomBradyRoast pic.twitter.com/9ToMxTiAPS — Coby’s Gambling Corner (@CobyValentine24) May 6, 2024

Often the funniest jokes are the ones you don’t see coming, and a first-time roaster going in on Drew Bledsoe was phenomenal. Jay’s “too Black for Boston” bit about Brady was excellent, but her Bledsoe jokes were just as good. The best part was watching Bledsoe react to a drive-by he probably didn’t see coming.

Best line (to Bledsoe): “The only ring you have is the one Tom won for you. So your Super Bowl ring is just like my strap-on. Just because you wear it doesn’t make it real.”

3. Tom Brady

The GOAT did not disappoint at his own roast. Kim Kardashian leaving the kids at home with Kanye? Owning the Colts and Bills? Telling Gronk he’s not the father of a baby rhino? Brady was in the pocket—he’d clearly prepared, his set was one of the very best of the night—and it was the best of the bunch delivered by a non-comedian. If it seemed like he was regretting his decision to participate midway through the roast, he got the last laugh by the end.

Best line: “Everybody asks me which ring is my favorite. I used to say, ‘The next one.’ But now that I’m retired, my favorite ring is the camera that caught Coach Belichick slinking out of that poor girl’s house at 6 a.m. a few months ago.”

TOM BRADY FAVORITE RING WAS THE RING CAMERA ONE WHICH CAUGHT Bill Belichick LEAVING THAT POOR GIRLS HOUSE AT 6 IN THE MORNING “YOU STILL GOT IT BILL” pic.twitter.com/avEOPB29gC — MLFootball (@_MLFootball) May 6, 2024

4. Bill Belichick

It’s only fitting that Belichick and Brady were neck-and-neck with some of the best sets of the night. Brady edged out Belichick on a joke-for-joke scorecard, but Belichick had two of the most memorable lines of the night: the “10-part roast of Bill Belichick” joke about The Dynasty (the Apple TV+ docuseries), and the one about Brady and trainer Alex Guerrero. Plus, you got the sense Belichick meant it. (Tell us how you really feel about Danny Amendola, Bill!)

Best line: “It was hard to butt heads with Tom because he was so far up Alex Guerrero’s ass.”

Belichick not holding back “It was hard to butt heads with Tom because he was so far up Alex Guerrero’s ass” pic.twitter.com/kzPLeCjCf9 — Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) May 6, 2024

5. Kevin Hart

As host, Hart had a fun set to kick things off (watching Brady realize in real time that jokes about his divorce from Gisele would be prominent was something ), but he’s here in the top five for how he quarterbacked the evening as a whole. He clocked all the big moments in real time and leaned into them while also navigating the sets from both comics and athletes, and giving the audience a few extra beats to laugh at jokes like Glaser’s crypto bit or process whatever the heck Gronk was doing. Sound it out, Gronk! But Hart’s best moment of the night was diplomatic, not comedic. The State Department should be studying how he got Belichick and Robert Kraft up on that podium together to take a shot. This is a big moment, Bill!

No lie, the Tom Brady Roast my be the sports cultural event of 2024 * Humanized Tom Brady * Humanized Bill Belichick * Kraft and Belichick taking shots together Learned more in this 2 hours than I did in the 10 part Patriots documentary https://t.co/TF8dEdu99O — Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) May 6, 2024

Best line: “Let me tell you something: When you’ve got a chance to go 8-9, and all it will cost you is your wife and kids? You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

6. Julian Edelman

I’ll be honest: I did not know Edelman had this in him! His set, which was ruthless and smoothly delivered, might have been the surprise of the roast. On a night that featured more than a few one-liners about Aaron Hernandez, Edelman’s got the most potent combination of laughs and gasps . Maybe he was just good on the prompter, but Edelman was in command of his jokes enough that asides like, “I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” as he ripped Belichick’s unemployment felt ad-libbed. Surprisingly, he was the only roaster to go after Brady’s ever-evolving hairline and bone structure—and the joke landed as one of the best of the night.

Best line: “Who’s laughing now, Tom? Not you, because your face can’t move and you don’t have a sense of humor.”

"Who's laughing now, Tom?" #TomBradyRoast pic.twitter.com/nC0TdnOBZv — Netflix (@netflix) May 6, 2024

7. Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy

Will Ferrell seems to be entering that Ryan Gosling Zone, where he only appears in public in character. He was kind of doing his own thing, but it worked, and his run about Eli Manning was great. One of the challenges of a roast is finding the right balance between the jokes the audience knows are coming and stuff that’s out of left field, and Ferrell as Ron Burgundy mispronouncing Gisele, thinking he’s in New York and pretending to fall in love with Brady was a helpful addition to the latter category.

Oh man the Giselle jokes have been brutal even Anchorman Ron Burgandy is getting into it Will Ferrell at Tom Brady Roast live on Netflix pic.twitter.com/eQlQlqlaHc — Andy Signore (@andysignore) May 6, 2024

Best line: “Poor Gisele, it took her 13 years to learn what we all know: Tom is boring. Dink, donk, dink, donk, touchdown, who cares!”

8. Andrew Schulz

Schulz seemed like he was having a blast up there. “Bill has secretly filmed more guys playing for the other team than Diddy,” didn’t draw his biggest laugh, but it elicited the biggest gasp of the night from the audience, and it’s fun to watch a comic know he’s getting a reaction.

Best line: “Tom, you remind us that no matter how big you get, how successful you are, or how much you accomplish in your life, you can always end up a twice-divorced supplement salesman in Tampa, Florida. And for that, we thank you.”

9. Kim Kardashian

Serious question: Why were people booing Kim Kardashian ? That was vigorous booing! Is this about Taylor Swift? I did not know people still had it out for her that way, and I don’t think she or the dais expected the audience to respond like that when she was invited on stage to give a toast. I also remain confused about her and Brady’s apparently close friendship. A lot of questions here. Anyway, she was a good sport and her set was good!

Best line: “Honestly, it’s hard to watch people roast you, but I think enough of my family members have helped defend former football players.”

10. Peyton Manning

Manning is great at a roast because he never sounds like he’s being mean. One of the things this roast got right was the sequencing—both choices of Ferrell, a.k.a. Burgundy, to introduce Belichick and Manning to introduce Brady himself were smart.

Best line: “Tom and I both golf. My handicap is 6.4, and his handicap is blowing leads to my brother Eli in the Super Bowl.”

11. Rob Gronkowski

Gronk had some great moments, like when he went after Belichick about running the infamous hill, but the most memorable part of his set wasn’t a specific joke but how off-the-rails it was as a whole. I think that shot glass he spiked was made of real glass? I am docking Gronk a bit for making at least four too many gay jokes that felt right out of 1997, but the avocado line did make me laugh. And I believe Gronk when he says he worked on his own material.

Best line (to Edelman): “Julian, you’re the only one who used tongue.”

12. Drew Bledsoe

Bledsoe was brave enough to be first on the dais, and standing up at the podium drinking a glass of his own wine was a nice touch. His set had some lulls, but the bits about confirming he hates Brady were funny, and the closing wedding anniversary jab was one of the first signs of the night that no one would be holding back. Bledsoe also had a great sense of humor throughout the night when he was targeted.

DREW BLEDSOE EVERYBODY #TomBradyRoast pic.twitter.com/aLwlSZko03 — Netflix (@netflix) May 6, 2024

Best line: “My favorite wine is our world class cabernet. Tom’s favorite whine is, ‘Where’s the flag?!’”

13. Jeff Ross

Ross has had more memorable roast sets, but the Roastmaster General is a huge winner given the overall success of the event. He was also the only roaster to go after Kraft, though Brady apparently didn’t care for his massage parlor joke.

"Don't say that shit again." - Tom Brady to Jeff Ross after a Robert Kraft massage joke #TomBradyRoast pic.twitter.com/D9MrI4JGJH — Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 6, 2024

Best line (about Brady’s book): “ The TB12 Method , very helpful. In fact, Kevin Hart has been sitting on it all night.”

14. Tony Hinchcliffe

Purely on a jokes-per-minute basis, Hinchcliffe had the set of the night. His Gronk jokes in particular had a cheeky charm.

Best line: “Tom is afraid of the Giants, which is why Kevin Hart is hosting tonight.”

15. Randy Moss

Moss struggled with some of his delivery, but the bit in which he asked why the Patriots didn’t cheat when he was on the team was funny. Several others delivered “Randy Moss doesn’t have a ring” jokes, but his approach to the topic was the most clever. Moss gets bonus points for the line “Who the fuck is Nate Ebner?” Not sure that lands with anyone who isn’t a Patriots fan, but I know they were laughing in New England.

Best line: “You know how hard it is to look your kids in the eyes and say, ‘They just don’t trust me enough to cheat’?”

16. Tom Segura & Bert Kreischer

On a night with this many roasters, it’s good to have a couple weird bits thrown in. Segura and Kreischer’s slideshow connecting Brady with various historical psychopaths and serial killers definitely qualifies, though I did spend the last few beats of their allotted time thinking: “I wonder why Bill Burr isn’t here.”

Best line: [Showing picture of semi-nude Brady clutching football] “Was he pregnant?”

17. Robert Kraft

Despite the fact that the evening was surprisingly light on massage parlor jokes (and given Brady’s response to the one Ross made, it’s fair to wonder if that’s what was taken off the table) this was a tough evening for Kraft, who had to weather that moment, Belichick’s iciness and several Deflategate jokes during which he appeared to be dissociating. Perhaps accordingly, Kraft seemed nervous during his short set, though it had a few lines that landed.

Best line: “Tom, good luck buying the Raiders. They did your favorite thing for you already—they got rid of Jimmy Garoppolo.”

18. Dana White

White only got a minute to roast and wasn’t able to do much with it. It’s not ideal if you have to say “come on, that was a good one” mid-set.

Dana White was pissed Netflix only gave him one minute to roast Tom Brady “You guys gave me 60 seconds? My name is Dana! Is that not trans enough for you liberal f*cks?” pic.twitter.com/rSJEBPSyci — Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) May 6, 2024

Best line: Unfortunately for White, they were all in Andrew Schulz’s set.

19. Ben Affleck

Speaking as someone who watched every minute of The Greatest Love Story Never Told , I must ask: is Ben Affleck OK? He spent most of his time at the podium yelling about internet commenters and not telling jokes. It was weird! Matt Damon, come get your friend. He’s killing the vibe.

Best line: Saying Brady overcame “the physique of a professional bowler with a smaller right arm” to play football.

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‘To the Future’: Saudi Arabia Spends Big to Become an A.I. Superpower

The oil-rich kingdom is plowing money into glitzy events, computing power and artificial intelligence research, putting it in the middle of an escalating U.S.-China struggle for technological influence.

More than 200,000 people converged on the Leap tech conference in the desert outside Riyadh in March. Credit... Iman Al-Dabbagh for The New York Times

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By Adam Satariano and Paul Mozur

Adam Satariano reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Paul Mozur from Taipei, Taiwan.

• Published April 25, 2024 Updated April 26, 2024

On a Monday morning last month, tech executives, engineers and sales representatives from Amazon, Google, TikTok and other companies endured a three-hour traffic jam as their cars crawled toward a mammoth conference at an event space in the desert, 50 miles outside Riyadh.

The lure: billions of dollars in Saudi money as the kingdom seeks to build a tech industry to complement its oil dominance.

To bypass the congestion, frustrated eventgoers drove onto the highway shoulder, kicking up plumes of desert sand as they sped past those following traffic rules. A lucky few took advantage of a special freeway exit dedicated to “V.V.I.P.s” — very, very important people.

“To the Future,” a sign read on the approach to the event, called Leap.

More than 200,000 people converged at the conference, including Adam Selipsky, chief executive of Amazon’s cloud computing division, who announced a $5.3 billion investment in Saudi Arabia for data centers and artificial intelligence technology. Arvind Krishna, the chief executive of IBM, spoke of what a government minister called a “lifetime friendship” with the kingdom. Executives from Huawei and dozens of other firms made speeches. More than $10 billion in deals were done there, according to Saudi Arabia’s state press agency.

“This is a great country,” Shou Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, said during the conference, heralding the video app’s growth in the kingdom. “We expect to invest even more.”

• Shou Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, promoted the video app’s growth in Saudi Arabia during the Leap conference. Iman Al-Dabbagh for The New York Times
• One of the booths at the Leap conference, which was attended by executives from Google, Amazon, TikTok and others. Iman Al-Dabbagh for The New York Times
• A robotic dog walking through the Leap conference. Iman Al-Dabbagh for The New York Times

Everybody in tech seems to want to make friends with Saudi Arabia right now as the kingdom has trained its sights on becoming a dominant player in A.I. — and is pumping in eye-popping sums to do so.

Saudi Arabia created a $100 billion fund this year to invest in A.I. and other technology. It is in talks with Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and other investors to put an additional $40 billion into A.I. companies. In March, the government said it would invest $1 billion in a Silicon Valley-inspired start-up accelerator to lure A.I. entrepreneurs to the kingdom. The initiatives easily dwarf those of most major nation-state investments, like Britain’s $100 million pledge for the Alan Turing Institute.

The spending blitz stems from a generational effort outlined in 2016 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and known as “Vision 2030.” Saudi Arabia is racing to diversify its oil-rich economy in areas like tech, tourism, culture and sports — investing a reported $200 million a year for the soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and planning a 100-mile-long mirrored skyscraper in the desert.

For the tech industry, Saudi Arabia has long been a funding spigot. But the kingdom is now redirecting its oil wealth into building a domestic tech industry, requiring international firms to establish roots there if they want its money.

If Prince Mohammed succeeds, he will place Saudi Arabia in the middle of an escalating global competition among China, the United States and other countries like France that have made breakthroughs in generative A.I. Combined with A.I. efforts by its neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s plan has the potential to create a new power center in the global tech industry.

“I hereby invite all dreamers, innovators, investors and thinkers to join us, here in the kingdom, to achieve our ambitions together,” Prince Mohammed remarked in a 2020 speech about A.I.

His ambitions are geopolitically delicate as China and the United States seek to carve out spheres of influence over A.I. to shape the future of critical technologies.

In Washington, many worry that the kingdom’s goals and authoritarian leanings could work against U.S. interests — for instance, if Saudi Arabia ends up providing computing power to Chinese researchers and companies. This month, the White House brokered a deal for Microsoft to invest in G42, an A.I. company in the Emirates, which was intended partly to diminish China’s influence.

For China, the Persian Gulf region offers a big market, access to deep-pocketed investors and a chance to wield influence in countries traditionally allied with the United States. China’s form of A.I.-powered surveillance has already been embedded into policing in the region .

Some industry leaders have begun to arrive. Jürgen Schmidhuber, an A.I. pioneer who now heads an A.I. program at Saudi Arabia’s premier research university, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, recalled the kingdom’s roots centuries ago as a center for science and mathematics.

“It would be lovely to contribute to a new world and resurrect this golden age,” he said. “Yes, it will cost money, but there’s a lot of money in this country.”

The willingness to spend was front and center last month at a gala in Riyadh hosted by the Saudi government, which coincided with the Leap conference. Hollywood klieg lights blazed in the sky above the city as guests arrived in chauffeured Maseratis, Mercedes-Benzes and Porsches. Inside a 300,000-square-foot parking garage that had been converted two years ago into one of the world’s largest start-up spaces, attendees mingled, debated opening offices in Riyadh and sipped pomegranate juice and cardamom-flavored coffee.

“There’s something happening here,” said Hilmar Veigar Petursson, the chief executive of CCP Games, the Icelandic company behind the popular game Eve Online, who was at the gala. “I got a very similar sense when I came back from China in 2005.”

A Sci-Fi Script

Prince Mohammed’s Vision 2030 project, unveiled eight years ago, seems taken from a science-fiction script.

Under the plan, new futuristic cities will be built in the desert along the Red Sea, oriented around tech and digital services. And the kingdom, which has piled billions into tech start-ups like Uber and investment vehicles such as SoftBank’s Vision Fund, would spend more.

That drew Silicon Valley’s attention. When Prince Mohammed visited California in 2018, Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, escorted him through a tree-lined path at the company’s campus. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, showed him the company’s products. The prince also traveled to Seattle, where he met with Bill Gates of Microsoft; Satya Nadella, the company’s chief executive; and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

It was a key moment for Saudi Arabia’s tech ambitions as Prince Mohammed presented himself as a youthful, digitally savvy reformer. But enthusiasm dimmed a few months later when Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the crown prince, was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Prince Mohammed denied involvement, but the C.I.A. concluded that he had approved the killing .

For a brief period, it was seen as untoward to associate with Saudi Arabia. Business executives canceled visits to the kingdom. But the lure of its money was ultimately too strong.

A.I. development depends on two key things that Saudi Arabia has in abundance: money and energy. The kingdom is pouring oil profits into buying semiconductors, building supercomputers, attracting talent and constructing data centers powered by its plentiful electricity. The bet is that Saudi Arabia will eventually export A.I. computing muscle.

Majid Ali AlShehry, the general manager of studies for the Saudi Data and A.I. Authority, a government agency overseeing A.I. initiatives, said 70 percent of the 96 strategic goals outlined in Vision 2030 involved using data and A.I.

“We see A.I. as one of the main enablers of all sectors,” he said in an interview at the agency’s office in Riyadh, where employees nearby worked on an Arabic chatbot called Allam.

Those goals have permeated the kingdom. Posters for Vision 2030 are visible throughout Riyadh. Young Saudis describe the crown prince as running the kingdom as if it were a start-up. Many tech leaders have parroted the sentiment.

“Saudi has a founder,” Ben Horowitz, a founder of Andreessen Horowitz, said last year at a conference in Miami. “You don’t call him a founder. You call him his royal highness.”

Some question whether Saudi Arabia can become a global tech hub. The kingdom has faced scrutiny for its human rights record, intolerance to homosexuality and brutal heat. But for those in the tech world who descended on Riyadh last month, the concerns seemed secondary to the dizzying amount of deal-making underway.

“They are just pouring money into A.I.,” said Peter Lillian, an engineer at Groq, a U.S. maker of semiconductors that power A.I. systems. Groq is working with Neom, a futuristic city that Saudi Arabia is building in the desert, and Aramco, the state oil giant. “We’re doing so many deals,” he said.

Torn Between Superpowers

Situated along the Red Sea’s turquoise waters, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has become a site of the U.S.-Chinese technological showdown.

The university, known as KAUST, is central to Saudi Arabia’s plans to vault to A.I. leadership. Modeled on universities like Caltech, KAUST has brought in foreign A.I. leaders and provided computing resources to build an epicenter for A.I. research.

To achieve that aim, KAUST has often turned to China to recruit students and professors and to strike research partnerships , alarming American officials. They fear students and professors from Chinese military-linked universities will use KAUST to sidestep U.S. sanctions and boost China in the race for A.I. supremacy , analysts and U.S. officials said.

Of particular concern is the university’s construction of one of the region’s fastest supercomputers, which needs thousands of microchips made by Nvidia, the biggest maker of precious chips that power A.I. systems. The university’s chip order, with an estimated value of more than $100 million, is being held up by a review from the U.S. government, which must provide an export license before the sale can go through.

Both China and the United States want to keep Prince Mohammed close. A.I. ambitions add a new layer of geopolitical significance to a kingdom already key to Middle East policy and global energy supplies. A 2016 visit to Saudi Arabia by Xi Jinping, China’s leader, paved the way for new tech cooperation. Accustomed to top-down industrial policy, Chinese companies have expanded rapidly in the kingdom, forming partnerships with major state-owned companies. The United States has pushed Saudi Arabia to pick a side, but Prince Mohammed seems content to benefit from both nations.

Mr. Schmidhuber, the researcher leading KAUST’s A.I. efforts, has seen the jostling up close. Considered a pioneer of modern A.I. — students in a lab he led included a founder of DeepMind, an innovative A.I. company now owned by Google — he was lured to the desert in 2021.

He was reluctant to move at first, he said, but university officials, via a headhunter, “tried to make it more attractive and even more attractive and even more attractive for me.”

Now Mr. Schmidhuber is awaiting the completion of the supercomputer, Shaheen 3, which is a chance to attract more top talent to the Persian Gulf and to give researchers access to computing power often reserved for major companies.

“No other university is going to have a similar thing,” he said.

Some in Washington fear the supercomputer may provide researchers from Chinese universities access to cutting-edge computing resources they would not have in China. More than a dozen students and staff members at KAUST are from military-linked Chinese universities known as the Seven Sons of National Defense, according to a review by The New York Times. During the Trump administration, the United States blocked entry to students from those universities over concerns they could take sensitive technologies back to China’s military.

“The United States should quickly move to deny export licenses to any entity if the end user is likely to be a P.R.C. actor affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army,” Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin, said in a statement.

A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the default U.S. policy was to share technology with Saudi Arabia, a critical ally in the gulf, but that there were national security concerns and risks with A.I.

The Commerce Department declined to comment. In a statement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “We hope that relevant countries will work with China to resist coercion, jointly safeguard a fair and open international economic and trade order, and safeguard their own long-term interests.”

A KAUST spokeswoman said, “We will strictly comply with all U.S. export license terms and conditions for the full life cycle of Shaheen 3.”

Mr. Schmidhuber said the Saudi government was ultimately aligned with the United States. Just as U.S. technology helped create Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, it will play a critical role in A.I. development.

“Nobody wants to jeopardize that,” he said.

The Gold Rush

Aladin Ben, a German Tunisian A.I. entrepreneur, was in Bali last year when he received an email from a Saudi agency working on A.I. issues. The agency knew his software start-up, Memorality, which designs tools to make it easier for businesses to incorporate A.I., and wanted to work together.

Since then, Mr. Ben, 31, has traveled to Saudi Arabia five times. He is now negotiating with the kingdom on an investment and other partnerships. But his company may need to incorporate in Saudi Arabia to get the full benefit of the government’s offer, which includes buying hundreds of annual subscriptions to his software in a contract worth roughly $800,000 a month.

“If you want a serious deal, you need to be here,” Mr. Ben said in an interview in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia was once viewed as a source of few-strings-attached cash. Now it has added conditions to its deals, requiring many companies to establish roots in the kingdom to partake in the financial windfall.

That was evident at GAIA, an A.I. start-up accelerator, for which Saudi officials announced $1 billion in funding last month.

Each start-up in the program receives a grant worth about $40,000 in exchange for spending at least three months in Riyadh, along with a potential $100,000 investment. Entrepreneurs are required to register their company in the kingdom and spend 50 percent of their investment in Saudi Arabia. They also receive access to computing power purchased from Amazon and Google free of charge.

About 50 start-ups — including from Taiwan, South Korea, Sweden, Poland and the United States — have gone through GAIA’s program since it started last year.

“We want to attract talent, and we want them to stay,” said Mohammed Almazyad, a program manager for GAIA. “We used to rely heavily on oil, and now we want to diversify.”

One of the biggest enticements for A.I. start-ups is the chance to make the deep-pocketed Saudi government a customer. In one recent meeting, Abdullah Alswaha, a senior minister for communications and information technology, asked GAIA’s start-ups to suggest what they could provide for the Saudi government, including for megacity projects like Neom . Afterward, many of the companies received messages introducing them to state-owned businesses, Mr. Almazyad said.

“I would say this process at the first stages is not organic,” he said. “You don’t find this in Silicon Valley. Eventually the process will be organic.”

Deciding to set up in Riyadh comes with challenges. There’s the heat, reaching more than 110 degrees in the summer, as well as the adjustments of moving to a deeply religious Muslim kingdom. While Saudi Arabia has loosened some restrictions in recent years, freedom of speech remains limited and L.G.B.T.Q. people can face criminal penalties.

Mr. Almazyad, who hopes to eventually study in the United States, said cultural differences could make it hard to recruit international A.I. talent. But he cautioned against underestimating Saudi Arabia’s resolve.

“This is just the beginning,” he said.

Adam Satariano is a technology correspondent based in Europe, where his work focuses on digital policy and the intersection of technology and world affairs. More about Adam Satariano

Paul Mozur is the global technology correspondent for The Times, based in Taipei. Previously he wrote about technology and politics in Asia from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul. More about Paul Mozur

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