Home

The Stop Killing Games campaign is continuing to gain momentum after hitting more than a million signatures in July. After a July 31st deadline, the movement secured around 1.45 million signatures, which the organizers are currently in the process of verifying. The initiative aims to enact legislation that preserves access to video games, even when developers decide to end support, as seen with Ubisoft when it delisted The Crew and revoked access to players who already purchased the game. There were some early concerns about the potential for falsely-submitted signatures, but the latest update from organizers said that early reports show around 97 percent of the signatures are valid. According to the European Commission's website, EU authorities have three months to verify the signatures once they are submitted. After that, the organizers said they will personally deliver the petition to the European Commission. With initial estimates clearing the threshold of one million verified signatures, the following steps involve getting meetings with both the European Commission and the European Parliament. From the date of the initiative's submission, the European Union will get six months to decide what to do regarding the Stop Killing Games movement. There is the possibility of the governing bodies not taking any action at all, but the organizers said they are "preparing to ensure our initiative cannot be ignored." To prepare for the meetings, the organizers said they will be reaching out to members of Parliament and the Commission, while also trying to counter any misinformation or industry lobbying. For now, the campaign will post more frequent updates on its Discord community and social media channels.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-stop-killing-games-movement-is-nearing-an-official-meeting-with-eu-lawmakers-191535413.html?src=rss View Source Article

We only just put Apple's iPhone 17 launch event behind us, but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is already glancing into his crystal ball to see what's next for the company. In today's Power On newsletter Gurman says that there are at least 10 more products from Apple that are expected to launch either later this year or in the first half of 2026. Some of those products have been rumored for some time, or are just kind of obvious upgrades. The M5 iPad Pro, for instance, is a matter of when not it. Though the rumors that it will have a second front facing camera for those that prefer to use their iPad in portrait mode is interesting. The iPad Pro co … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

It's been quite the wait, but the fourth season of The Witcher is almost here. In a teaser shared this weekend, Netflix finally revealed the release date: October 30. The video also provided an extended look at Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia — a casting change that fans naturally have a lot of feelings about after Henry Cavill won their hearts with his take on the character in the first three seasons. The minute-and-a-half-long clip doesn't give away too much about season four, but we now have a proper sense of what our new Geralt looks and sounds like. This season will also see Laurence Fishburne join as Regis, Sharlto Copley as Leo Bonhart and James Purefoy as Skellen. It's the second to last season of the Netflix adaptation, and the streaming company has said that the two final seasons will cover the last three books in the series: Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow and Lady of the Lake. But, fans still have more Witcher content to look forward to yet outside of the show. The Witcher 4 (the game) is on the way, though we don't yet have a release date. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/the-witcher-season-4-will-hit-netflix-in-october-with-its-new-geralt-183241887.html?src=rss View Source Article

Fortunately for Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 owners, the FOMO from Apple's announcement of its AirPods Pro 3 last week was short-lived. After introducing the latest Beats ear hook style headphones in February, Apple is introducing new features and updating the heart rate tracking functionality of the Powerbeats Pro 2 with the upcoming release of iOS 26. With the latest iOS upgrade, Powerbeats Pro 2 integrates better with Apple's Fitness app, giving users more accurate data and the choice of up to 50 different workout types. For Apple's Fitness+ users, the Beats earbuds will also show the heart rate, calories burned and "Burn Bar" metrics in real time. Outside the Fitness app, iOS 26 will bring smaller improvements like being able to use a single earbud for heart rate monitoring, better accuracy when counting steps even when your iPhone isn't on you and a new algorithm that churns out faster heart rate readings. To make your life easier, the updated Powerbeats Pro 2 will send you a notification to get a better fit for more accurate heart rate monitoring and can sense if you nod or shake your head in response to Siri asking you to answer an incoming call or hear a text. All of these iOS 26 upgrades for the Powerbeats Pro 2 will mostly put it in line with the AirPods Pro 3 features when the update releases on September 15. However, in our review of the Beats earbuds, we found that they offered mediocre ANC performance. It's worth noting that Android users for the Powerbeats Pro 2 won't get many of the Apple-branded features that come with iOS 26.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/some-much-needed-upgrades-are-coming-to-powerbeats-pro-2-with-ios-26-181716994.html?src=rss View Source Article

Britain’s second-largest grocer J Sainsbury Plc has terminated talks with Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com Inc. to sell its general merchandise unit Argos. View Source Article

Disclosure: Penske Media Corporation is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company. Penske Media Corporation, the publisher of Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter, has become the first major American media company to sue Google over its AI summaries. The company claims that the AI Overviews that often appear at the top of search results leave users with little reason to click through to the source, hurting traffic and illegally benefitting from the work of its reporters.  While Penske Media is the biggest name to take on Google over its AI Overviews, it’s not the first. Online education company Chegg sued Google in February, as did a group of independent publishers in Europe. The News / Media Alliance has also spoken out about the feature, calling it the “definition of theft” and seeking action from the DOJ.  Google spokesperson José Castañeda defended the summaries to the Wall Street Journal saying, “with AI Overviews, people find search more helpful and use it more.” But Penske and other publishers say there is little reason to follow the links provided in search results and, as a result, they have seen significant drops in traffic and revenue. Penske claims in the suit that revenue from affiliate links is down by over 1/3 this year, and it attributes that directly to a drop in traffic from Google. The company also claims it’s in a tough situation. It can either block Google from indexing its content, essentially removing itself from all search results, which would further devastate its business. Or, it can continue to provide training material to Google for its AI, “adding fuel to a fire that threatens PMC’s [Penske Media Corporation] entire publishing business,” the complaint states, according to the Wall Street Journal. This is, of course, just the latest battle between AI companies and the creators of the content they harvest. Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster recently sued Perplexity, as did News Corp last year. Meanwhile Microsoft and OpenAI have found themselves in the crosshairs of the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and others. Google might also have a tougher time defending itself now that it’s been forced to admit that “the open web is already in rapid decline,” as it faces multiple antitrust complaints. View Source Article

Even though Google's AI Overviews were introduced with a comically rocky start, it's about to face a far more serious challenge. Penske Media, the publisher for Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard and others, filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming the tech giant illegally powers its AI Overviews feature with content from its sites. Penske claimed in the lawsuit that the AI feature is also "siphoning and discouraging user traffic to PMC's and other publishers' websites," adding that "the revenue generated by those visits will decline." The lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC's federal district court, claims that about 20 percent of Google searches that link to one of Penske's sites now have AI Overviews. The media company argued that this percentage will continue to increase and that its affiliate revenue through 2024 dropped by more than a third from its peak. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that the tech giant will "defend against these meritless claims" and that "AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites." Earlier this year, Google faced a similar lawsuit from Chegg, an educational tech company that's known for textbook rentals. Like Penske Media, this lawsuit alleged that Google's AI Overviews hurt website traffic and revenue for Chegg. However, the Penske lawsuit is the first time that Google has faced legal action from a major US publisher about its AI search capabilities. Beyond Google's legal troubles, other AI companies have also been facing their own court cases. In 2023, the New York Times sued OpenAI, claiming the AI company used published news articles to train its chatbots without offering compensation. More recently, Anthropic agreed to pay a $1.5 billion settlement in a class action lawsuit targeting its Claude chatbot's use of copyrighted works.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-faces-its-first-ai-overviews-lawsuit-from-a-major-us-publisher-162333462.html?src=rss View Source Article

A suspected North Korean state-sponsored hacking group used ChatGPT to create a deepfake of a military ID document to attack a target in South Korea, according to cybersecurity researchers. View Source Article

"Yesterday was an interesting day for the Helldivers community." That's the very obvious understatement that announced the reopening of the Helldivers gaming subreddit in the small hours of Saturday morning. On Friday it was discovered that Tyler Robinson, arrested for the alleged killing of Charlie Kirk, had inscribed messages on the casings of several bullets found at the crime scene. One of those read "Hey fascist! Catch!" accompanied by an up arrow symbol, a right arrow, and three down arrows, a reference to the code to call down the 500KG Bomb stratagem in the cooperative shooter Helldivers 2. Unsurprisingly, within minutes the officia … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Satellite images reveal a new island in Alaska's Alsek Lake, formed as retreating glaciers reshape the landscape. View Source Article

Scarlet. Well, I was wrong, and I did manage to make it to one last day at the Toronto International Film Festival. One of the movies I wanted to see the most this year was Scarlet, the latest from Mamoru Hosoda, whose most recent film was the metaverse fairy tale Belle. Whereas that film was a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, Scarlet is a twist on Hamlet that's full of bold, creative ideas. I mostly enjoyed it, but unfortunately it's saddled with an ending that doesn't really fit. I also managed to squeeze in two other films: a Korean revenge / heist thriller, and a Norwegian film about connecting through art. You can read my thoughts on all th … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Utah Governor Spencer Cox blamed social-media companies for helping foment divisiveness that led to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, calling them “conflict entrepreneurs” that profit from political polarization. View Source Article

The moon will roll across the face of the sun on Sept. 21 for lucky viewers in the southern hemisphere. View Source Article

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsMust what goes up always come down? Sadia, via emailSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading... View Source Article

I would not call the time I'm having with Hollow Knight: Silksong "fun," and yet I'm still playing. In the depths of The Marrow, the second major area of Silksong, there's a particularly nasty midboss. I eventually beat him, but my reward wasn't a new ability, item, or a bench where I could rest and save my progress. All I got was pain, suffering, and death. In Silksong, the only way out is through, but the "through" is a tunnel lined with spikes that occasionally spew gouts of flame. I should have given up right then and there, but I have not abandoned Silksong the same way I do other unfun games. For the life of me, I couldn't figure ou … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on phones and other tech outside the US, follow Dominic Preston. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Smartphone batteries are bigger than ever, while the phones themselves are shrinking. But whether you're seeing the benefit - thin phones with big batteries - depends on where you live. The key is the introduction of silicon-carbon batteries, which make it possible to fit more battery capacity into the same size cell, as in phones like the Honor Power, whose 8,000mAh … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Apple spent much of its iPhone 17 keynote presentation pitching the message that it’s still deeply rooted in design. Also: Here’s what’s next after the new iPhones; the company prepares customers for $2,000 models; and the launch of the iPhone Air in China is delayed. Lastly: Another major AI exit at Apple. View Source Article

SpaceX will launch Northrop Grumman's new "Cygnus XL" cargo ship on its debut mission to the International Space Station this evening (Sept. 14), and you can watch the action live. View Source Article

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 97, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you're having a good iPhone / back to school / it's-finally-not-hot-anymore week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) It's so good to be back! Huge, huge thanks to Jay Peters for doing such a fabulous job here over the last couple of months, and huge thanks to all of you as always for having such good contributions and ideas. Jay will still be around these parts from time to time, too, so don't worry, your esoteric gaming recommendations aren't going anywhere. I was going … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

The Busy Beaver Challenge, a notoriously difficult question in theoretical computer science, is now producing answers so large they're impossible to write out using standard mathematical notation. View Source Article

The first-ever detection of gravitational waves was made 10 years ago today (Sept. 14). In celebration, Space.com takes you through the most significant gravitational wave discoveries to date. View Source Article

It’s been a few years since Netflix confirmed that Liam Hemsworth would be taking over as Geralt of Rivia in the live-action Witcher series. And while we caught a brief glimpse of him in action last year, the first proper clip from season 4 of the show reveals just how Hemsworth will be inhabiting the role — including his take on Geralt’s signature growling voice. In addition to giving us a better look at Geralt, Netflix also confirmed that The Witcher’s newest season is coming out pretty soon: it will start streaming on October 30th. The show’s end is in sight, as Netflix previously confirmed that it will conclude with season 5. Here’s the official setup for the next season: After the Continent-altering events of season 3, Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri find themselves separated by a raging war and countless enemies. As their paths diverge, and their goals sharpen, they stumble on unexpected allies eager to join their journeys. And if they can accept these found families, they just might have a chance at reuniting for good… The Witcher originally debuted in 2019 with Henry Cavill as Geralt, and his time on the show wrapped up in disappointing fashion in 2023. But Netflix has been trying hard to turn the franchise into something bigger than a single series, with spinoffs like an animated film and a live-action prequel with Michelle Yeoh. Meanwhile, developer CD Projekt Red has a fourth Witcher game in the works, this time with Ciri in the lead role. View Source Article

A California bill that would require operating system and app store providers to verify users' ages before they can download apps has cleared the Assembly 58-0, and will now move on to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Politico reports. The Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), introduced by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, does not require photo identification for verification, but puts the onus on the platforms to provide tools for parents to indicate the user's age during a device's setup, and use this information steer kids toward age-appropriate content and screen time. It comes after Utah and Texas both adopted app store age verification laws earlier this year that have been criticized as posing potential privacy risks, and faced opposition from the likes of Google and Apple. The California bill has been received more positively by Big Tech, with Google, Meta and others putting out statements in support of it in the leadup to a Senate vote on Friday. Kareem Ghanem, Google's Senior Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy, called the bill "one of the most thoughtful approaches we’ve seen thus far to the challenges of keeping kids safe, recognizing that it’s a shared responsibility across the ecosystem.” Gov. Newsom now has until October 13 to sign or veto the bill, according to Politico. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/californias-age-verification-bill-for-app-stores-and-operating-systems-takes-another-step-forward-214339759.html?src=rss View Source Article

Following her son's suicide, Becca Dallas filed a potentially groundbreaking lawsuit against Roblox and Discord, accusing the platforms of wrongful death. As first reported by The New York Times, the lawsuit recounts the events leading up to Ethan Dallas' death, detailing his interactions with a player named Nate. According to the report, Nate was likely a 37-year-old man named Timothy O'Connor, who was previously arrested on charges of "possessing child pornography and transmitting harmful material to minors." The report added that Ethan opened up about these incidents to his mom before committing suicide four months after the confession. The lawsuit could be the first of its kind against Roblox, according to NYTimes, considering it attributes some blame to the gaming platform that's home to tens of millions of underaged players. In a statement responding to the report, a Roblox spokesperson said that child safety issues are seen across the industry and that the company was working on new safety features, while also complying with law enforcement. This isn't the first time Roblox has faced complaints of being a dangerous place for underage players. In August, Louisiana's attorney general, Liz Murrill, filed a lawsuit that claimed Roblox doesn't "implement basic safety controls" to protect its underage user base. That lawsuit follows a similar investigation launched by Florida's attorney general James Uthmeier, who demanded answers to the reports of Roblox reportedly exposing kids to "harmful content and bad actors." Roblox has taken steps to combat these allegations, including tightening restrictions on its Experiences, and more recently, expanding its age estimation tool to all users.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/roblox-hit-with-wrongful-death-lawsuit-following-a-teen-players-suicide-201501296.html?src=rss View Source Article

The UK is poised to sign a “ground-breaking tech agreement” with the US during President Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain next week, according to the UK government. View Source Article

Lila Sciences, which uses AI to develop novel drugs and materials, has received fresh funding led by Collective Global and Braidwell.  View Source Article

Kodak has shrunk a camera to fit onto a keyring, but it still manages to shoot both photo and video. It's hard not to compare the Kodak Charmera to the ubiquitous Labubu craze, considering the highly collectible nature of Reto Pro selling these officially licensed mini cameras as a single blind box for $29.99 or a full set of six for $179.94. The keyring cameras, which only weigh 30 grams, are already sold out on the Reto Pro website, but are expected to be restocked. The blind box can be unwrapped for one of seven designs, including one secret version that has a transparent shell to show off the tiny camera's internals. According to the website, the basic style odds are one out of six, while the secret edition has a probability of one out of 48. Whichever design you get, each Charmera comes with a keyring to Labubu-bify it to your belt loop or bag and a USB-C cable to export your photos or videos to other devices. Inspired by Kodak's first single-use camera from the '80s called the Fling, the Chamera sports a throwback design that can shoot 1.6-megapixel images with a 1,440 x 1,080 resolution and videos at 30fps. Nobody should expect any ultrasharp images, but you can customize your shots with Kodak frames, vintage filters and a date stamp. We're not expecting the Charmera to deliver the highest-quality images, but just like the Gameboy Camera, that won't make it any less fun to use.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/kodaks-mini-camera-fits-on-your-keyring-and-is-smaller-than-an-airpods-case-184227505.html?src=rss View Source Article

SpaceX launched 24 Starlink internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California today (Sept. 13), on the company's 115th Falcon 9 mission of the year. View Source Article

Russia's Progress 93 freighter arrived at the International Space Station today (Sept. 13), two days after launching atop a Soyuz rocket. View Source Article

Peter Mandelson’s advisory firm Global Counsel allowed the risk of conflicts of interest to persist for months after he was appointed Britain’s ambassador to the US because the loss-making company was unable to buy out his multimillion pound stake. View Source Article

The rear-wheel drive trim of the Tesla Cybertruck lasted about five months before it was unceremoniously removed from online sales. The Long Range model represented the most affordable Cybertruck option with its starting price of $69,990, but visitors to Tesla's online configurator can now only choose between the all-wheel drive model that starts at $79,990 and the Cyberbeast trim, which goes for at least $114,990. Tesla launched the Long Range version of the Cybertruck in April, which arrived at $10,000 more than originally expected. Along with an elevated price tag, Tesla removed several features, including the power tonneau cover, adaptive suspension, a touchscreen for the back row, the rear lightbar and outlets in the truck bed. The RWD version also came with less towing power, a lower payload capacity and only one motor. While unrelated, the federal tax credit for EV buyers in the US is coming to a close at the end of the month, making the purchase of a Long Range model even less of a bargain. Tesla didn't officially offer any explanation about the removal of the Long Range option from its website, but it could be attributed to low Cybertruck sales overall. According to a report from Cox Automotive, the parent company of Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, Tesla only sold 4,306 Cybertrucks in the second quarter of the year, which is a more than 50 percent drop in sales during the same time period last year. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/teslas-most-affordable-cybertruck-gets-scrapped-after-a-whopping-five-months-164322445.html?src=rss View Source Article

It’s September, and many among us are dealing with back to school, and anticipating the colder weather that’s on its way (at least, if you live in the northern climes). This, plus a somewhat fraught political atmosphere, means that you might be looking for reliable, affordable ways to escape the doldrums. You don’t need us to tell you that a way to do that is by watching some movies and TV shows. Through September 18th, Paramount is offering a doozy of a deal on both tiers of its Plus streaming service. You can save 50 percent on an annual subscription to Paramount Plus Essential, or its mostly ad-free Premium plan. The Essential Plan is down to $29.99 (from $59.99) and a Premium plan goes to $59.99 (from $119.99). The neat thing is that you can take advantage of this whether you’re a new or a returning subscriber (but be careful to mark your calendar; it will renew after that year at full price). Paramount Plus Essential (annual subscription) Essential gets you ad-supported access to TV shows and movies. You won’t be able to download content, but you get many of the same benefits as Premium. Where to Buy: $59.99 $29.99 at Paramount Plus Paramount Plus Premium (annual subscription) The Premium tier allows for downloads, and content can be viewed without ads (except during live TV). You’ll also get access to Showtime series and CBS. Where to Buy: $119.99 $59.99 at Paramount It’s a tempting deal, whether you go for the ad-supported Essential or the skip-the-ads Premium. The latter also lets you download your shows, which could be very handy when you’re traveling with kids, and from its library of Showtime Originals. Either way, you not only get recent shows like Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the entire Yellowstone catalog, Top Gun: Maverick, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Bob Marley: One Love, but animation series like South Park and SpongeBob Squarepants, and live NFL games. Also, it hosts every Mission Impossible movie, aside from the latest one, The Final Reckoning. Other deals our readers loved this week Lego kits are really popular, but the more elaborate types can quickly get pricey. If you just want to brighten up your home and do a quick bit of affordable building, you can get a pair of Lego sunflowers for only $7.99 (normally up to $14.99) at Amazon, Target, and Walmart. If you’d rather spend your entire weekend absorbed in Lego building, you can get the house from the Pixar movie Up for $38.49 (normally $59.99, a savings of $21.50) at Walmart. Several Verge readers have dug this launch deal on the Baseus VD1 Pro dash cam, which is $109.99 at Amazon (instead of $169.99). The system comes with two components: the front camera has a solar panel that powers its rechargeable battery, allowing it to detect motion and impacts for up to 14 days — without sipping on your car’s battery. It also includes a rear camera that can see what’s happening behind your car. The college football season is well underway, and if you can’t get enough of seeing your favorite team hit the field every week, we suggest getting EA Sports College Football 26 for the PS5 or Xbox Series X. The game was $20 off when we first covered the deal earlier this week, but it has since dropped to almost $30 off at Amazon, at least for the PS5 version. It’s $49.99 for the Xbox version, which is still a nice deal. If your chosen way to escape is to take a refreshing run while listening to your favorite tunes, then you may want to check out the Nothing Ear Open, the company’s first pair of open-style earbuds, which are now on sale at Nothing’s online storefront or Amazon for an all-time low $99 ($50 off) with a Prime membership. Not every gamer wants a bulky over-ear headset. Sony’s Inzone Buds are a great, significantly more compact alternative, and they’re cheaper than ever this week. GameStop has them for $143.98 ($86 off), and no other retailers are matching the price. These wireless earbuds offer superb sound quality, effective active noise cancellation, and a USB-C transmitter that works in everything from a PS5 and Switch 2 to a PC. Finally, if you’re looking for a new phone and are not into the idea of waiting for an iPhone 17 preorder to arrive, you can find a cute and useful budget foldable for a great price. Motorola’s latest Razr is currently matching its all-time low price of $599.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola’s online storefront, It’s solid, lightweight, and offer an internal OLED display that stretches to 6.9 inches when the phone is open. View Source Article

The US has about 500 million guns. Trying to get them back on mass in forceful way will fail like prohibition against alcohol failed. Attempted mass disarmings that were resisted have shown to result in many deaths. Attempting to disarm tens of millions who resist would result in millions of deaths and still it would ... Read more View Source Article

Snapchat has introduced a couple of new features it says are "highly requested" by its users. The first is "Infinite Retention," which as its name implies will allow you to keep a chat history like you could on a messaging app and prevent your messages from disappearing. "We’ve often heard from our community that Snapchatters want to save their chats forever and wish they could build streaks with their favorite groups," its announcement reads.  The app has been testing the feature since 2024, and now it's being rolled out broadly. You could already save messages in the app by tapping on them inside the chat, but this one makes things easier. It's a setting you'll just have to switch on or off for each conversation. If you enable the setting, the other person in the conversation will get a notification that you did, and they will be able to switch it off if they want. You can, for instance, switch Infinite Retention on for a close friend but keep it off for acquaintances. In addition, Snapchat is rolling out Group Streaks that will let you contribute to a collective Streak with your friends. To keep up individual Streaks, you'll have to send and receive at least one photo or video Snap with a friend every day. Group Streaks are easier to keep going, since several people can participate. You can also restore a Group Streak within a week in case it ends.  Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Engadget’s parent company Yahoo, joined the board of directors at Snap on September 12, 2024. No one outside of Engadget’s editorial team has any say in our coverage of the company.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/snapchat-rolls-out-group-streaks-and-infinite-retention-for-chats-150048128.html?src=rss View Source Article

Next level drones fleets will be a significant part of securing cities and events against assassination and enhancing regular policing. There needs to be balance of effective nuanced safety while embedding technical, societal and institutional controls to avoid dystopia. This will need to calibrated via annual referendums and citizen involvement in oversight, transparency and communication. ... Read more View Source Article

By poring over thousands of satellite images, researchers geolocated 245 fresh boulder tracks, revealing signs of seismic activity or impact events within the last half-million years. View Source Article

If you listen to music the way a lot of people do these days - with a pair of wireless earbuds, from a Bluetooth speaker, or just blaring directly out of your phone - you will never notice a difference between Spotify's high-quality 320Kbps streams and its lossless audio. But, if you usually listen with wired headphones while working at your desk, or have a quality speaker from the likes of Bose that supports Spotify Connect, there actually is something to be gained here. Comparing Spotify's normal quality streams (96Kbps) with the new 24-bit / 44.1kHz lossless FLAC files feels unfair. Even a relatively untrained ear should be able to hear … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Britain’s second-largest grocer J Sainsbury Plc is in talks to sell its general merchandise unit Argos to Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com Inc. View Source Article

On Episode 177 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Michael Tice to talk about a possible detection of ancient life on Mars. View Source Article

Imagine if George Cukor's The Women was a modern, Spanish-language telenovela set in Ecuador rather than a 1939 dramedy about the lives of wealthy Manhattanites. Now imagine if the series was directed by Pedro Almodóvar and its characters were brought to life with stop-motion animation instead of being portrayed by Hollywood heavyweights like Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. Now, think about how transgressive that show would be if it treated queerness as the norm and told a politically charged story about the relationship between colonialism and capitalism. That show would be a lot like Adult Swim's Women Wearing Shoulder Pads. When I recen … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

xAI has laid off at least 500 workers from its data annotation team, the company's largest, according to Business Insider. The annotation team is in charge of categorizing and contextualizing raw data used to train Grok so that it can understand the world better. Business Insider says the laid off employees were informed via email on the evening of September 12, Friday, that it was going to downsize its team of general AI tutors. They were reportedly told that they would be paid their salaries until the end of their contracts on November 30, but their access to xAI's systems had been cut off after they received the notice.  When Reuters asked the company for a comment, it referred to a post on X wherein it posted a call for specialist AI tutors instead. xAI said that it will "immediately surge [its] Specialist AI tutor team by 10x" and that it's hiring across STEM fields. As specialist tutors, the new hires will be "enhancing [the company's] AI technologies through high-quality inputs, labels and annotations using specialized software." They'll gather data and provide their own, not only in text format, but also through audio recordings and video sessions.  As Reuters has noted, the layoffs come after several high-profile departures from xAI, including the company's chief financial officer Mike Liberatore. The company launched Grok 4 in July, calling it the "smartest AI in the world." Elon Musk claimed during the model's reveal that if you make Grok 4 take the SATs and the GREs, it would get near perfect results every time and can answer questions it's never seen before. He also proclaimed that Grok is going to invent new tech maybe later this year, and that he would be shocked if it doesn't happen next year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/xai-reportedly-laid-off-at-least-500-ai-tutors-working-on-grok-130059624.html?src=rss View Source Article

This quiz invites you to embark on a journey across the galaxy, exploring the science and wonder behind exoplanet discovery. View Source Article

Few video game adaptations understand their source material quite like the Exit 8 film. It takes the rules and structure of the game - which strands players inside of a looping hallway in a Tokyo subway station - and then builds on them with actual characters and a story. And according to director Genki Kawamura, one of the reasons that the movie feels so fresh could be because of how he approached it. "I wasn't necessarily thinking about a film adaptation of a video game," he tells The Verge. "I was thinking about how to create a new cinematic experience that blurs the lines between video game and cinema." The two are very similar, and the … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

China’s commerce ministry announced an anti-dumping probe against certain US analog chips, according to a statement Saturday. View Source Article

Hailstones drove into terrain in southern Alberta during a storm Aug. 20, creating a scar on the landscape visible in NASA satellites. View Source Article

Laura Marie is one of six research volunteers preparing to spend 378 days inside Nasa’s Mars Dune Alpha in HoustonIt sounds like the premise of a new reality show: take four strangers, isolate them in a 3D-printed Martian habitat for more than a year, and watch them tackle equipment failures, communication delays and attempts to grow vegetables. In fact, it is a scientific simulation – and for the first time a British pilot is among those training for the mission.Laura Marie, who was born in the UK and is now a pilot for a regional airline in the US, beat about 8,000 applicants to become one of six research volunteers who are preparing to spend 378 days inside the 158-sq-metre (1,700 sq ft) Mars Dune Alpha habitat at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Continue reading... View Source Article

A new preprint field study reveals that New York City’s rats aren’t just survivors—they’re talkative city dwellers with their own hidden nightlife. Mapping their movements and conversations could offer insights to transform urban planning and pest control View Source Article

Six decades have now passed since some of the most iconic Project Gemini spaceflights. The 60th anniversary of Gemini 4, when Ed White conducted the first US spacewalk, came in June. The next mission, Gemini 5, ended just two weeks ago, in 1965. These missions are now forgotten by most Americans, as most of the people alive during that time are now deceased. However, during these early years of spaceflight, NASA engineers and astronauts cut their teeth on a variety of spaceflight firsts, flying a series of harrowing missions during which it seems a miracle that no one died. Because the Gemini missions, as well as NASA's first human spaceflight program Mercury, yielded such amazing stories, I was thrilled to realize that a new book has recently been published—Gemini & Mercury Remastered—that brings them back to life in vivid color. View Source Article

Welcome to our latest recap of what's going on in the indie game space. This week, the revived Acclaim held a very fun showcase (and we'll get to some of the games from that). But on Friday, Nintendo soaked up all the attention with an hour-long Direct. Sure, it included some first-party games, such as Mario Tennis Fever, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and a Donkey Kong Bananza expansion. But Nintendo highlighted several indie games in the newsy showcase, too. Hades 2 is arguably the highest-profile name among those, and the full version isn't far away at all — it'll hit Switch, Switch 2, Steam and Epic Games Store on September 25. Stardew Valley, Human Fall Flat, Overcooked 2 and PowerWash Simulator 2 are getting Switch 2 versions as well. It wouldn't be a Nintendo Direct without a shadowdrop. Sure enough, Lynked: Banner of the Spark landed on Switch and Switch 2 on Friday, with mouse control and GameShare support on the newer system. This is an action RPG from FuzzyBot and publisher Dreamhaven that looks a bit like a cross between Hades and Hi-Fi Rush. I'll be honest, I've had Lynked: Banner of the Spark sitting on my PC for months. I'm definitely interested in checking it out, but it's just one of those things that's unfortunately slipped further and further down my to-play list. I'm still hoping to carve out time to properly check it out before it's time to start putting together our games of the year list. Popucom (which debuted on Steam earlier this year) also looks pretty intriguing. From Hypergryph and publisher Gryph Frontier, this is a multiplayer-only adventure platformer in which you take out enemies with match three-style shooting.  Here's the twist: each player only has two colors, so you'll need to work together to fire the correct blobs at bad guys and obstacles. Popucom is coming to Switch this holiday season. New releases Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game is a new title from the small team at female-led Indonesian developer Posh Cat Studio and publisher Amplified Games. As the name suggests, it's a slice-of-life detective game that sees you getting to the bottom of misunderstandings and minor inconveniences. You play as freshman student Mary, and one of the first mysteries you'll have to solve involves finding the location where her study group is supposed to meet after she forgets where to go on her first day of school. The game has 10 cases overall and each has a set of puzzles to solve. It's said to have "simple mechanics that grow into playful twists and surprising solutions." Little Problems seems quite charming and just the kind of low-fi puzzle game that I might vibe with. It's out now on Steam and it usually costs $10, but there's a 10 percent discount until September 23. Disc golf feels like it would be a fun sport to get into and while there are a few courses near me, they're not exactly easy to get to without a car. So I might just have to make do with Disc Golf City, which came out of early access on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux this week. The action takes place in a colorful city, and you can bounce your disc off of objects in the environment to pull off trick shots and try to land it in the basket. Disc Golf City, which is from Agapo Games, costs $13. There's also a demo you can check out. Another game that came out of early access on Steam and GOG this week is Beyond Sunset. This is a cyberpunk (not that one) first-person shooter with RPG elements from Metacorp / Vaporware and publisher Movie Games. I love when a vaporwave color palette is put to good use and the lo-fi visuals here just feel right. The fast-paced movement looks pretty interesting too — it's not hard to tell that the developers took inspiration from the Doom series. Beyond Sunset costs $10. It feels like I can't go on the internet for five minutes without learning about a new sidescrolling Metroidvania game. Still, Katanaut is one I've had my eye on for a while. You'll be facing the horrors that have taken over a space station using an array of weapons, skills and perks. This is a roguelite from Voidmaw in which there are new pathways to explore on each run. There is some permanent progression here, as you'll pick up memory fragments during your journey through the station's gore-soaked corridors. It was also revealed this week that Acclaim is the publisher of Katanaut, which is available on Steam. Upcoming Pacific Drive was one of the more interesting-looking games from last year that I just haven't gotten around to checking out yet. It's a driving sim and survival horror game set in a supernatural version of the Pacific Northwest, in which you scour the landscape for parts to upgrade your car and, hopefully, stay alive. Ironwood Studios and publisher Kepler Interactive this week announced the Whispers in the Woods expansion for Pacific Drive. Slated to arrive later this year, the DLC adds around eight to 12 hours of gameplay with new characters, dangers, mysteries and anomalies to encounter. Other updates include route modifiers and garage cosmetics to find. The rest of this week's upcoming games are all from Acclaim, since I found just about everything in that showcase intriguing. The first game that the publisher showed off was GridBeat from Ridiculous Games. Blending together puzzles, tactics and dungeon crawling, GridBeat will see you infiltrate a corporate computer network and try to escape with valuable data while security programs and malware attempt to stop you. You'll find more abilities and power-ups along the way. Crucially, you need to move in time to the music, since it's a rhythm game as well. There's a lot going on here! GridBeat is coming to Steam, but there's no release window as yet. One thing I was really hoping to see during Acclaim's showcase was the return of NBA Jam. We didn't quite get that, but I'll absolutely take Basketball Classics in its place. Acclaim has taken over publishing duties for this retro, NES-style arcade basketball title from Namo Gamo. It features 5-on-5 sidescrolling action with simplified controls, hundreds of teams, more than 1,000 players and multiple modes (including couch multiplayer). I hadn't heard of Basketball Classics until now, but it's been out on Steam for several years. Acclaim is helping to bring it to consoles sometime soon. I do love PowerWash Simulator and am looking forward to the sequel. Pixel Washer looks like a different flavor of that format.  As a cute lil' piggy with a power washer, you'll be cleaning just about everything in sight. The trailer suggests that things might get weird, and it even seems like there are boss fights. Valadria is the developer behind Pixel Washer, which is coming to Steam down the line. HyperYuki: Snowboard Syndicate looks like the offspring of SSX and Jet Set Radio, and that's enough to sell me on the game. An easy addition to my wishlist. Wabisabi Design is making this snowboarding game that pits you against NPCs and/or human players in races. In the main game mode, you'll need to complete a certain number of challenges in each level before you can move on, which is very much keeping in with the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater format. There's also a relaxing endless mode, where you can just hang out and explore or, like, whatever. HyperYuki: Snowboard Syndicate supports split-screen play and online multiplayer for up to eight people. Again, there's no confirmed release date or window as yet, this one is coming to Steam. Acclaim notes that it is "actively exploring console releases" for its games. "Our goal is to bring these experiences to as many players as possible, and we’ll have more updates to share as development progresses," the publisher added.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/cozy-detectives-urban-disc-golf-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110029695.html?src=rss View Source Article

The technology is needed to limit global warming. But corporations are supporting it in lieu of reducing emissions. View Source Article

Witnesses and whistleblowers testified that the U.S. government knows more than it is letting on about encounters with UAP during a U.S. congressional hearing on Sept. 9. View Source Article

BlackRock Inc. plans to pour as much as £500 million ($678 million) into an overlooked corner of Britain’s data center market, a commitment it unveiled as Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink prepares to join US President Donald Trump on his state visit to the UK. View Source Article

The killing of the United Healthcare CEO, assassination of Charlie Kirk and attempted assassination of Trump and many other incidents indicate that companies must step up security expenditures for CEOs and top executives and celebrities must be increased. Tesla only spends about $3.3 million on security for Elon Musk who has received thousands of death ... Read more View Source Article

As their research activities continued, the Expedition 73 crew had a busy week on the International Space Station with the departure of a cargo vehicle and preparations for the arrival of two more. View Source Article

Elon Musk is pressing Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to look into Blizzard employees who criticized Charlie Kirk after his death. Musk’s post quotes an X thread listing names and screenshots of the developers. “What’s going on here, @satyanadella?” Musk said. “These are Microsoft employees,” he added in another post. What’s going on here, @satyanadella? https://t.co/acO5poJMm8— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 12, 2025 Musk’s direct question to Nadella follows a broader censorship crackdown from Republicans targeting individuals celebrating Kirk’s death or criticizing him. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) said he would use “Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk.”  Former Blizzard developer Mark Kern, who goes by “Grummz” online and frequently posts about right-wing issues on X, quoted the original thread, claiming that the screenshotted posts showed Blizzard employees “trashing” Kirk. Musk then quoted the post himself with his question to Nadella. “We’re aware of the views expressed by a small subset of our employees regarding recent events,” Microsoft said in a post on X. The post is not a reply to Musk but was shared on its main @Microsoft page. “We take matters like this very seriously and we are currently reviewing each individual situation. celebrating violence against anyone are unacceptable and do not align with our values.” (The screenshots in the thread shared by Musk do not celebrate the shooting against Kirk.) Nadella has not replied to Musk publicly as of this writing. View Source Article

Tesla AI5 will be produced by TSMC starting in 2026. There will be Estimated volumes of 10-20% of relevant TSMC wafers, yielding 50-100 chips per wafer. AI6, will use Samsung’s facilities in Texas, potentially allowing 50-80% (or near 100%) dedication, enabling 5x or more chips than TSMC. Redlich’s analysis involves estimating tokens (AI processing units) ... Read more View Source Article

While interviewing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman this week, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson brought up his belief in a conspiracy theory that former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji was “definitely murdered.” The researcher’s death in November 2024, which was ruled a suicide by the San Francisco police, followed his release of statements online and in a New York Times article calling out OpenAI’s tech for alleged copyright violations.  In their back-and-forth about a half-hour into the chat, Carlson bluntly explains his reasons for believing the theory, and that “[Balji’s] mother claims he was murdered on your orders.” Altman brings up the police reports and their findings after an investigation, later remarking, “I feel strange and sad debating this, and having to defend myself seems totally crazy, and you are a little bit accusing me,” even as Carlson denies doing so. Balaji had said that he was able to, using mathematical analysis, support the conclusion that “OpenAI’s use of copyrighted data violated the law and that technologies like ChatGPT were damaging the internet.” He had been set to testify in the Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. However, intellectual property lawyers cited in a report by Fortune said his arguments appeared to misunderstand copyright law, and it notes that he hadn’t released new inside information about the company, which some former employees turned whistleblowers have. Balaji’s mother has said she believes he was murdered to benefit OpenAI and other artificial intelligence companies, citing the absence of a note and findings of experts she’s hired. She appeared on Carlson’s show earlier this year, in an episode titled “Mother of Likely Murdered OpenAI Whistleblower Reveals All, Calls for Investigation of Sam Altman.” Her view has been promoted since Balaji’s death by Elon Musk and many people around him, as well as several elected officials. You can watch the relevant segment of the interview here, but this is what Carlson and Altman said that stuck out: Carlson: “…he was definitely murdered, I think… there were signs of a struggle, of course. The surveillance camera, the wires had been cut. He had just ordered take-out food, come back from a vacation with his friends on Catalina Island. No indication at all that he was suicidal. No note and no behavior. He had just spoken to a family member on the phone. And then he’s found dead with blood in multiple rooms. So that’s impossible. Seems really obvious he was murdered. Have you talked to the authorities about it?” Altman:  I have not talked to the authorities about it.  Carlson: “Um, and his mother claims he was murdered on your orders. “ Altman: “Do you believe that?” Carlson: “I- I’m, Well, I’m I’m asking.” Altman: “I mean… you, you just said it, so do you, do you believe that?  Carlson: “I think that it is, um, worth looking into. And I don’t… I mean, if a guy comes out and accuses your company of committing crimes, I have no idea if that’s true or not, of course. Um, and then he is found killed, and there are signs of a struggle. I… I don’t think it’s worth dismissing it…I don’t think we should say, well, he killed himself when there’s no evidence that the guy was depressed at all. Um, I think… and if he was your friend, I would think he would want to speak to his mom or… Altman: “I did offer, she didn’t want to.” Carlson: “So, do you feel that, you know, when people look at that and they’re like, you know, it’s possible that happened. Do you feel that that reflects the worries they have about what’s happening here? Like people are afraid that this is like…” Altman: “I haven’t done too many interviews where I’ve been accused of, like…” Carlson: “Oh, I’m not accusing you at all. I’m just saying his, his mother says that.” View Source Article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4649-4654: Ridges, Hollows and Nodules, Oh My NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera, showing the transition from smoother ridge bedrock (right) to more nodular bedrock (bottom left to top middle) on the edge of a shallow hollow (top left). Curiosity, whose masthead shadow is also visible, captured this image on Sept. 5, 2025 — Sol 4650, or Martian day 4,650 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 00:22:34 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Scientist and APXS Team Member, University of New Brunswick, Canada Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 Curiosity is in the midst of the boxwork campaign, trying to decipher why we see such pronounced ridges and hollows in this area of Mount Sharp. When this terrain was first identified from orbit it was hypothesized that the ridges may be the result of cementation by circulating fluids, followed by differential erosion of the less resistant bedrock in between (the hollows that we now observe).  We have been exploring the boxwork terrain documenting textures, structures and composition to investigate potential differences between ridges and hollows. One of the textural features we have observed are nodules in varying abundance. The focus of our activities this week was to document the transition from smoother bedrock atop a boxwork ridge to more nodular bedrock associated with the edge of a shallow hollow.  In Tuesday’s three-sol plan we analyzed the smoother bedrock within the ridge, documenting textures with MAHLI, Mastcam, and ChemCam RMI, and chemistry with ChemCam LIBS and APXS. Curiosity then successfully bumped towards the edge of the ridge/hollow to place the more nodular bedrock in our workspace. Friday’s three-sol plan was basically a repeat of the previous observations, but this time focused on the more nodular bedrock. The planned drive should take us to another boxwork ridge, and closer to the area where we plan to drill into one of the ridges. As the APXS strategic planner this week, I helped to select the rock targets for analysis by our instrument, ensuring they were safe to touch and that they met the science intent of the boxwork campaign. I also communicated to the rest of the team the most recent results from our APXS compositional analyses and how they fit into our investigation of the boxwork terrain. This will help to inform our fast-approaching decision about where to drill. Both plans included Mastcam and ChemCam long-distance RMI imaging of more distant features, including other boxwork ridges and hollows, buttes, the yardang unit, and Gale crater rim. Planned environmental activities continue to monitor dust in the atmosphere, dust-devil activity, and clouds. Standard REMS, RAD, and DAN activities round out the week’s activities. Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team? Visit Mission Updates Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments? Visit the Science Instruments page NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Share Details Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Perseverance Meets the Megabreccia Article 4 days ago 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4641-4648: Thinking Outside and Inside the ‘Boxwork’ Article 1 week ago 2 min read Over Soroya Ridge & Onward! Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View Source Article

Microsoft is no longer in trouble with the European Commission, at least when it comes to Teams. The commission has accepted the changes and commitments the company made in response to its concerns related to Microsoft's bundling of its Teams collaboration platform with its other apps. This particular antitrust saga started years ago when Slack filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft, claiming that it illegally bundled its work chat competitor with the popular Office suite. The commission opened a formal investigation into the matter in 2023 and found in 2024 that Microsoft did indeed violate antitrust laws.  "Microsoft may have granted Teams a distribution advantage by not giving customers the choice whether or not to acquire access to Teams when they subscribe to their SaaS productivity applications," the commission said at the time. "This advantage may have been further exacerbated by interoperability limitations between Teams' competitors and Microsoft's offerings." The company was facing a fine equivalent to 10 percent of its annual worldwide turnover.  Even before the commission published its preliminary finding, Microsoft already unbundled Teams from Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites across the European Union. However, the commission found the changes it implemented "insufficient to address its concerns." So Microsoft made several commitments to avoid a fine, including offering customers in Europe versions of its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites without Teams. Those versions are sold at an "appreciably lower price." The company also committed not to offer discount rates on Teams or on suites with Teams included. Microsoft gave Teams' competitors "effective interoperability" with some of its products and services, as well, and allowed them to embed Office apps in their own products. In addition, it allowed customers in Europe to extract their Teams messaging data for use in competing services. The commission tested those commitments between May and June this year. In response to the commission's test results, Microsoft further increased the price difference between the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites with Teams and those without by 50 percent. The company also has to display suites options without Teams if it advertises its suites options with the messaging app. "The commitments offered by Microsoft will remain in force for seven years, except for the commitments related to interoperability and data portability which will remain in force for ten years," the commission wrote. A trustee will be monitoring Microsoft's implementation and will be making sure it remains true to its commitments within that timeframe. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/microsoft-escapes-eu-antitrust-fine-after-unbundling-teams-123052522.html?src=rss View Source Article

Rupert Murdoch’s fortress While I generally respect The Wall Street Journal, every once in a while it sees fit to remind me that it is, in fact, owned by Rupert Murdoch. This time, it printed something dangerously close to anti-trans blood libel in the wake of Charlie Kirk's shooting. In its live-update blog yesterday, the Journal wrote, "Ammunition engraved with transgender and antifascist ideology was found inside the rifle authorities believe was used in Kirk's shooting, according to an internal law enforcement bulletin and a source familiar with the investigation." That language was echoed in social media posts. The right wing, including sitting members of Con … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Apple's iPhone Air launch may be delayed in China due to regulations around its eSIM-only nature, the South China Morning Post announced. Apple's mainland China site now states that "release information [will] be updated later," where previously it said that pre-orders would start at 8PM on September 19. The Beijing branch of China Telecom has also pulled a post from the RedNote social media platform announcing that it would launch its eSIM service this month. All other iPhone models (the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max) will launch as scheduled next Friday. Due to its slim 5.6 mm thickness, Apple decided to make the iPhone Air its first model with no physical SIM card option. However, it has always sold iPhones in China with SIM card support that allows customers to easily link their identity to a cellular phone. Because an eSIM is built in, though, customers who want an iPhone Air must appear in person at a retail store to get it approved. Apple notes that "all other iPhone models, including those purchased outside of China mainland, are unable to install an eSIM profile from carriers in China mainland." China Unicom was supposed to support eSIM at launch to start with, according to a cached Apple support document, with China Telecom and China Mobile following later. However, the same document now states that eSIM support for the iPhone Air is still "pending regulatory approval." A representative from China Telecom said that approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology would arrive "very soon," according to the SCMP. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-air-orders-in-china-may-be-delayed-due-to-esim-issue-130048242.html?src=rss View Source Article

In wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s public killing, around two dozen Republican lawmakers are pushing for House leadership to create a new select committee that would investigate “The money, influence, and power behind the radical left’s assault on America and the rule of law.” The letter amounts to a request for subpoena power to dig into political opponents in the media and funding ecosystem that the right deems unduly hostile.  In a letter led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the lawmakers urge House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) to “take every step to follow the money and uncover the force behind the NGOs, donors, media, public officials, and all entities driving this coordinated attack.” The lawmakers are requesting a new committee composed of members with prosecution and law enforcement backgrounds, who would have subpoena power to carry out investigations to “get to the truth behind the coordinated global network funding and fueling this attack on Americans.”  The letter is dated Thursday, prior to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s identification of the suspect behind Kirk’s slaying. Law enforcement officials have yet to declare a motive for the attack as of Friday afternoon. But according to the lawmakers calling for the select committee, “The patterns are undeniable: we are witnessing a sustained breakdown of law and order, fueled not by chance, but by anti-American ideology.”  “We can no longer pretend to be bound together by shared ideals” The group says that Kirk was listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)’s “Hate Map” prior to his killing, and claims “We have seen dangerous networks like Antifa organize, fund, and deploy sophisticated terror campaigns attacking law enforcement and destroying American cities.” It blames “radical organizations” and figures like George Soros for “funding and putting in place District Attorneys and Judges to then coordinate releasing criminals to the streets,” pointing to the recent fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska by a man with a criminal record on a Charlotte light rail car. And it links “coordinated lawlessness and disorder” to the “opening of our borders.” Trump suggested on Fox News Friday that there could be a racketeering case against Soros, who he accused without presenting evidence of funding “professional agitators” like those who heckled him at a DC restaurant. The push follows a wave of statements from Republican officials promising consequences for people who celebrated or made light of Kirk’s death, though many of those statements are likely protected by the First Amendment. “We can no longer pretend to be bound together by shared ideals when a well-funded, vitriolic cadre of our fellow Americans and foreign interests are at war with the very values of faith in God, fidelity to our Constitution, and respect for the principles of liberty and Western Civilization that define us as Americans,” the group wrote, “including, notably, the free speech practiced and exemplified by Charlie Kirk.” View Source Article

Meta Connect, the company's annual event dedicated to all things AR, VR, AI and the metaverse is just days away. And once again, it seems like it will be a big year for smart glasses and AI. This year, the event will take a slightly different format than in the past. Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to kick things off with an evening keynote at 5PM PT on Wednesday, September 17. A developer keynote with other executives will take place the next morning on September 18, beginning at 10AM, with more talks and developer sessions to follow. It's not clear why Meta changed things up this year, but it is shaping up to be a particularly eventful year for Connect. We're expecting two new models of smart glasses, including Meta's first to have a display, as well as new Meta AI and metaverse updates. As usual, Engadget will be reporting live from Zuckerberg's keynote at Meta HQ, but until then, here's a closer look at what's coming and what to keep an eye on. New and updated smart glasses The biggest news of the day will be Meta's next-generation of smart glasses. The frames, often referred to by their reported internal name "Hypernova," will be the first consumer-ready glasses from Meta that have a display. We already know quite a bit about these thanks to more than a year of leaks. While the frames are expected to have a small display on one side, they won't offer the kind of immersive augmented reality experience we've seen on Meta's Orion prototype. Instead the display will allow you to view things like notifications and photo previews. The glasses will also come with a dedicated wristband, similar to what the company showed off with Orion, that allows the wearer to control specific features through hand gestures. The EMG wristband that's part of the Orion prototype.Karissa Bell for Engadget The glasses, which may officially be called "Celeste," are expected to go on sale later this year, will likely cost around $800. They could be sold with Prada branding, which would be in line with Meta's longtime EssilorLuxottica partnership, according to CNBC. Given the much higher price tag — most of Meta's Ray-Ban-branded glasses cost around $300 — it seems Meta is positioning this as a higher-end product that will have a more limited appeal. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested Hypernova will have a "negligible" share of the overall smart glasses market. It also sounds like we could see a new version of Meta's smart glasses without a display with an updated version of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. There could be two versions for sunglasses and clear frames, according to leaked renders. The new glasses are reported to have improved cameras and battery life, and support new AI capabilities. We could also see new third-party glasses integrations. As UploadVR recently pointed out, early versions of the Connect schedule for developers seemingly confirms that Meta is getting ready to give developers access to its smart glasses. Up to now, the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley glasses have mostly been limited to apps within Meta's ecosystem (with a few exceptions like Spotify and Audible). Allowing more developers to start experimenting with the platform could bring even more functionality to the existing lineup of glasses. Meta AI As with other recent years, AI will be a major theme throughout. Meta AI has a billion monthly users (something Zuckerberg will surely remind us of) and I'm expecting to see new features for Meta AI both on the company's glasses and within its apps. Business Insider reports the company has been working on new lineup of non-English speaking "character-driven" bots for its apps. (Meta's character-centric chatbots have also faced scrutiny, with the company recently blocking teens' access to many user-generated characters amid growing safety concerns.) Outside of Meta's chatbots, I'm hoping Zuckerberg will talk more about his vision to create "superintelligence." As I wrote in July, his initial manifesto that outlined his vision was confusing at best. The CEO has recently reorganized Meta's AI teams around the idea, and has been on a very expensive hiring spree to recruit executives and researchers for the effort. At the same time, Zuckerberg could use Connect to shore up expectations around its Llama models. The company's larger Llama 4 model has been delayed and reports suggest Meta's engineers have been struggling to improve it. There are other signs that Zuckerberg may be backing away from open-source AI. What about the metaverse? While the metaverse has taken somewhat of a backseat to AI in recent years, it wouldn't be Connect without some VR-related news. In a recent Instagram post, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth teased "metaverse software" updates related to Horizon Worlds at Connect. The company recently offered a preview to developers of its plan to bring AI-powered NPCs to the metaverse, and I expect we'll hear more about how generative AI could help shape the metaverse. And while there are no new Quest headsets expected, we could hear more about those third-party VR headsets that will run Meta's VR software. Last year, the company announced that ASUS, Lenovo and Xbox were working on Meta Horizon OS headsets. We haven't heard too much about these devices since, but there was a leak earlier this year that suggested ASUS would be the first to launch, and that it would include face and eye tracking features. NEW: Details on the upcoming ASUS ROG VR headset running Meta Horizon OS.It is codenamed Tarius, and will likely be one of the first 3P Horizon OS HMDs to ship.It is planned to include Eye Tracking and Face Tracking. The displays will be QD-LCD with local dimming or µOLED. pic.twitter.com/K5pYxcBK4h— Luna (@Lunayian) January 12, 2025 Another intriguing possibility is an update on Meta's holographic Codec avatars we got a glimpse of last year. While Meta's current lineup of VR headsets don't have the necessary face and eye-tracking sensors to support the tech, UploadVR suggests Meta could show off a more "rudimentary" version of the avatars that could run on the Quest 3 or even work in conjunction with video calls on WhatsApp and Messenger.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/what-to-expect-at-meta-connect-2025-hypernova-smart-glasses-ai-and-the-metaverse-212628436.html?src=rss View Source Article

Everything about the Infinity Galaxy, recently discovered by the JWST, is strange. One odd feature could be the first evidence of a "direct collapse" black hole. View Source Article

Discord denies that the suspect accused of killing Charlie Kirk used the messaging platform to discuss his crime, following the service getting mentioned by law enforcement in a press conference — and after accusations that it helped radicalize the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson. In a statement to The Verge, Jud Hoffman, Discord’s vice president of trust and safety, said the company has “found no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord.” During a press briefing on Friday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said investigators spoke with Robinson’s roommate, and that the roommate “stated that his roommate, referring to Robinson, made a joke on Discord.” Investigators then asked to see the Discord messages and proceeded “to take photos of the screen as each message was shown,” Cox said. Cox added that the photos “consisted of various messages, including content of messages between the phone contact named Tyler with an emoji icon.” Some of the messages mentioned captured by authorities contained references to “having left the rifle wrapped in a towel” and “engraving bullets,” according to Cox.  While Cox’s statement makes it sound like the roommate reported Robinson had, using Discord, made a joke, Discord’s spokesperson says it actually means the roommate had been chatting on Discord with a third party and discussed Robinson making comments somewhere else. “The messages referenced in recent reporting about planning details do not appear to be Discord messages,” Hoffman said. “These were communications between the suspect’s roommate and a friend after the shooting, where the roommate was recounting the contents of a note the suspect had left elsewhere.” It’s a fine distinction, but one that helps Discord downplay any involvement in the killing. The popular platform has been used by multiple mass shooters in past years to discuss violent and hateful rhetoric, and in one case to offer details about the attack itself. That’s earned it scrutiny from figures including New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office probed whether it and streaming service Twitch contributed to violence. Since Kirk’s shooting, Discord has also become a target of right-wing influencers like Andy Ngo, who claim some “young high-profile shooters” are “radicalized and groomed” on the platform. Conservative influencer Laura Loomer similarly linked the suspect’s alleged use of Discord to the man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, saying it’s “the same platform the Butler assassin was communicating with people in.” On Friday, Republican Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna urged the FBI to look into “radicalization networks,” claiming that online platforms like Discord “are being exploited by extremists for recruitment and radicalization.” Hoffman told The Verge that Discord has since removed Robinson’s account for violating its off-platform behavior policy. “We strongly condemn violence of any kind, including political violence, and we will continue to coordinate closely with law enforcement,” Hoffman said. View Source Article

Nintendo kicked off its latest Direct on Friday with a slew of Mario-related news to mark the 40th anniversary of its mascot. One of those announcements was for a Nintendo Switch 2 version of the delightful Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which is coming next spring. It will feature fresh multiplayer modes and other new features that Nintendo will reveal later. A region called Bellabel Park will open up. You'll be able to hop into several modes with family and friends, such as one that will see you compete to collect the most coins on a course and a game of tag. There's also a Bob-omb relay race, a mini game where you'll lay out donut blocks for each other to progress through a level and a rhythm game. In addition, Nintendo is going to sell a physical version of the annoying cute talking flower from Super Mario Bros. Wonder. That's coming your way next spring too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/super-mario-bros-wonder-is-getting-a-switch-2-version-with-new-multiplayer-modes-133722013.html?src=rss View Source Article

The circle is now complete: you can install your Steam copy of Hollow Knight Silksong on an Android phone, play it with your automatically downloaded Steam save games — and today, as of the new GameHub 5.0.4 update, you can easily upload your phone savegame back to Steam to resume on PC. To get save to sync to begin with, you’ll need to flick GameHub out of a “lightweight” Steam mode and pick a numbered version instead. Find it in GameHub under Silksong > hit the three-dot button > PC Game Settings > Steam. To make sure you trigger an upload when you’ve finished, swipe the right edge of the screen left, hit the gear icon and pick Exit. It should say it’s uploading your save to Steam, and it shouldn’t take very long at all before the game exits. View Source Article

Nintendo is dropping a slew of Mario-related announcements this morning as part of the franchise's 40th anniversary, including a new game starring his dinosaur companion. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is coming out for Switch 2 in the Spring of 2026 and the brief bit of gameplay we saw plants it squarely in the cutesy yet intriguing tradition of past Yoshi platformers.  The game's worlds and levels appear to be part of a book named Mr. Encyclopedia (or Mr. E for short) that Yoshi can jump into and explore. The game's main hook is traveling through those worlds and documenting the creatures you meet along the way, whose special abilities are what let you progress. For example, there's a little yellow walking flower that feels quite familiar from past Yoshi games; finding it and letting it ride on Yoshi makes other flowers bloom in the level. Presumably, that's a component to getting to where you need to go. In another level, dandelions that you can scatter will make rocks brittle so you can pound them and proceed.  As with most Yoshi games, there's a cute and distinctive art style on display here — the gameplay will be recognizable to anyone who has played games going all the way back to Yoshi's Island on the SNES, but obviously with more modern tweaks. It's not the same aesthetic as the yarn- and craft-based things we've seen on games like Yoshi's Crafted World and Yoshi's Wooly World (which introduced the absolutely adorable yarn-based Yoshi) but it's in the ballpark.  While Yoshi and the Mysterious World continues the kid-friendly aesthetics of those earlier games, I'm hoping it brings some of the challenge found in old-school titles like Yoshi's Island. We'll find out next year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/yoshi-and-the-mysterious-book-is-a-new-platformer-coming-to-the-switch-2-next-spring-133805615.html?src=rss View Source Article

Credit: NASA NASA has selected Troy Sierra JV, LLC of Huntsville, Alabama, to provide engineering, research, and scientific support at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.   The Test Facility Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering Services III contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum potential value of approximately $388.3 million. The performance period begins Jan. 1, 2026, with a three-year base period followed by a two-year option, and a potential six-month extension through June 2031. This contract will provide and manage the engineering, technical, manufacturing, development, operations, maintenance, inspection, and certification support services needed to conduct aerospace testing in NASA Glenn’s facilities and laboratories. For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov -end- Tiernan DoyleHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov Jan WittryGlenn Research Center, Cleveland216-433-5466jan.m.wittry-1@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsGlenn Research Center View Source Article

Astronomers have discovered a rogue intermediate mass black hole blasting out jets over 3,000 light-years from the heart of its home galaxy, where it would usually lurk. View Source Article

Stellantis announced that it was discontinuing its Ram 1500 REV electric truck, citing slowing sales of heavy-duty electric trucks. The name plate, however, will live on. Stellantis said that it was renaming its Range-Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) Ramcharger pickup to Ram 1500 REV. “This vehicle will set a new benchmark in the half-ton segment, offering exceptional range, towing capability and payload performance,” the company said in its announcement. The Ram 1500 Rev, which made its debut at the 2023 New York Auto Show, was supposed to go on sale in the first half of 2024, but Stellantis delayed it until 2026. At the time, the automaker said it was prioritizing the launch of its gas-extended hybrid Ramcharger truck, which was also delayed. The name plate, however, will live on. The move followed the resignation of Stellantis’ CEO Carlos Tavares following a sharp decline in the automaker’s sales. The company has been accused of degrading its US brands and failing to release more affordable models. The Ramcharger and the Rev were both going to be built on Stellantis’ STLA Frame body-on-frame platform designed to handle electric, gas, hybrid, and hydrogen powertrains. The platform helps stretch the Ramcharger gas-extended EV range up to 690 miles on a full charge and tank. Stellantis became the latest company to delay or cancel its EV plans this year, as the federal government eliminates tax credits and other incentives aimed at driving higher sales. Many automakers are delaying their production plans, in anticipation that sales will slow down after federal incentives disappear. Big, heavy trucks, in particular, were a difficult segment to electrify. These EVs typically require bigger, heavier batteries than the average EV, which comes at a high cost for automakers. Sales of EV trucks like the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, and Tesla Cybertruck have generally been slower than expected. And trucks tend to lose range when towing or hauling heavy loads, which makes them a tough sell for customers who want their electric trucks to do all the truck stuff that’s expected. View Source Article

The IPO market kicked into high gear this week, with sextet of deals raising more than $4 billion in the busiest period since 2021. View Source Article

Switch 2 fans have a new Mario Tennis game to look forward to early next year. During Friday's Direct presentation, Nintendo announced Mario Tennis Fever. It's the first new entry in the long-running series since the release of Mario Tennis Aces in 2018. The new game will be a Switch 2 exclusive, with Nintendo promising plenty of tweaks to an established formula. For one, there are new defensive moves your character can take, including slides and dives, to prevent your opponent from scoring a point.  Then there are the fever rackets, from which the game is named after. These essentially allow you to snowball against your opponent by building a rally gauge and then executing a "fever shot." The effect of these depend on the racket you have equipped. For example, the ice racket will freeze a part of the court, while the mini mushroom racket will shrink your opponents, making it harder for them to cover their side of the court, if they're hit by its projectiles. There are 30 fever rackets to try. Mario Tennis Fever will also offer the biggest roster in series history. In all, there are 38 playable characters, including fan-favorites like Rosalina and Donkey Kong.  On top of that, Fever looks to offer plenty of different ways to play, with online play offered alongside a silly story mode that sees Mario and his friends turned into babies and forced to relearn the rules of tennis. There's even a swing mode where you can use the Joy-Cons motion controls for a "more authentic experience."  You won't have to wait long to play Mario Tennis Fever, with the game set to release on February 12, 2026.      This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/mario-tennis-fever-hits-the-court-on-february-12-134227490.html?src=rss View Source Article

Fans will have to wait a little bit longer for the hotly-anticipated Balatro 1.1 update. Developer LocalThunk just announced it will not be coming out in 2025, despite previously promising a release this year. Instead, it'll come out "when it's done." It's worth remembering that Balatro was created by a single person, and the same goes for this update. The lone developer also made the original balance patch and the well-regarded mobile port. He says he's "well and truly burned out." LocalThunk apologizes for the delay and says "it has become clear now that it won't happen by the end of the year." It's actually nice to let us know now instead of forcing us to wonder where the update is for the next several months. "I still consider this my hobby," he wrote. "The prospect of rushing the work and going back into crunch mode to get it out this year just felt terrible." Now for some good news. The update is definitely coming, just not right now. It'll be free for all players on all platforms. The developer also hinted that this update would not be the final DLC drop for the game. For the uninitiated, Balatro is a deckbuilding roguelike that's loosely based on poker. Consider it the highly addictive sequel to poker we never knew we needed. It has proven to be a bona-fide phenomenon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/balatros-big-2025-update-wont-be-coming-out-this-year-after-all-183511401.html?src=rss View Source Article

Blue Origin and Anduril each received AFRL contracts to deliver rocket-flown cargo to any point in the world within one hour, according to a media report. View Source Article

Apple Inc.’s Robby Walker, one of the iPhone maker’s most senior artificial intelligence executives, is leaving the company, according to people with knowledge of the matter. View Source Article

Instagram fixed a bug that caused the reach of some users' Stories to shrink when they posted more than one Story a day, Instagram head Adam Mosseri shared on Friday. The fix addresses a common complaint shared by creators in the last year that they were disincentivized to use Stories because of how regularly using the feature impacted the number of people who actually saw their posts. "People were complaining about getting less reach with their Stories if they posted lots of Stories in the same day," Mosseri said in a video announcing the change. "That is not at all the intended behavior of Instagram." Fixing the bug doesn't mean every Story you add will be watched, but Mosseri says posting multiple Stories a day won't negatively impact the reach of your Stories overall, especially your first Story. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) For anyone who primarily uses Instagram to keep up with their friends, the change might not matter all that much. But much like YouTube, Instagram is an increasingly professionalized platform where people post in the hopes of expanding their reach and earning a living off their content. That creates an interesting dynamic between Mosseri's regular announcements and users trying to suss out the nuances of the platform's algorithm. For every new feature, like adding of comments to Stories, there's subtler tweaks that can totally change creators' content strategy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-fixed-an-issue-that-caused-posting-multiple-stories-to-tank-your-reach-184714482.html?src=rss View Source Article

5 Min Read NASA’s X-59 Moves Toward First Flight at Speed of Safety NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is seen at dawn with firetrucks and safety personnel nearby during a hydrazine safety check at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. The operation highlights the extensive precautions built into the aircraft’s safety procedures for a system that serves as a critical safeguard, ensuring the engine can be restarted in flight as the X-59 prepares for its first flight. Credits: Lockheed Martin As NASA’s one-of-a-kind X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft approaches first flight, its team is mapping every step from taxi and takeoff to cruising and landing – and their decision-making is guided by safety. First flight will be a lower-altitude loop at about 240 mph to check system integration, kicking off a phase of flight testing focused on verifying the aircraft’s airworthiness and safety. During subsequent test flights, the X-59 will go higher and faster, eventually exceeding the speed of sound. The aircraft is designed to fly supersonic while generating a quiet thump rather than a loud sonic boom. To help ensure that first flight – and every flight after that – will begin and end safely, engineers have layered protection into the aircraft. The X-59’s Flight Test Instrumentation System (FTIS) serves as one of its primary record keepers, collecting and transmitting audio, video, data from onboard sensors, and avionics information – all of which NASA will track across the life of the aircraft. “We record 60 different streams of data with over 20,000 parameters on board,” said Shedrick Bessent, NASA X-59 instrumentation engineer. “Before we even take off, it’s reassuring to know the system has already seen more than 200 days of work.” Through ground tests and system evaluations, the system has already generated more than 8,000 files over 237 days of recording. That record provides a detailed history that helps engineers verify the aircraft’s readiness for flight. Maintainers perform a hydrazine safety check on the agency’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. Hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical, but it serves as a critical backup to restart the engine in flight, if necessary, and is one of several safety features being validated ahead of the aircraft’s first flight.Credits: Lockheed Martin “There’s just so much new technology on this aircraft, and if a system like FTIS can offer a bit of relief by showing us what’s working – with reliability and consistency – that reduces stress and uncertainty,” Bessent said. “I think that helps the project just as much as it helps our team.” The aircraft also uses a digital fly-by-wire system that will keep the aircraft stable and limit unsafe maneuvers. First developed in the 1970s at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, digital fly-by-wire replaced how aircraft were flown, moving away from traditional cables and pulleys to computerized flight controls and actuators. On the X-59, the pilot’s inputs – such as movement of the stick or throttle – are translated into electronic signals and decoded by a computer. Those signals are then sent through fiber-optic wires to the aircraft’s surfaces, like its wings and tail. Additionally, the aircraft uses multiple computers that back each other up and keep the system operating. If one fails, another takes over. The same goes for electrical and hydraulic systems, which also have independent backup systems to ensure the aircraft can fly safely. Onboard batteries back up the X-59’s hydraulic and electrical systems, with thermal batteries driving the electric pump that powers hydraulics. Backing up the engine is an emergency restart system that uses hydrazine, a highly reactive liquid fuel. In the unlikely event of a loss of power, the hydrazine system would restart the engine in flight. The system would help restore power so the pilot could stabilize or recover the aircraft. Maintainers perform a hydrazine safety check on NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on Aug. 18, 2025. Hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical, but it serves as a critical backup to restart the engine in flight, if necessary, which is one of several safety features being validated ahead of the aircraft’s first flight. Credits: Lockheed Martin Protective Measures Behind each of these systems is a team of engineers, technicians, safety and quality assurance experts, and others. The team includes a crew chief responsible for maintenance on the aircraft and ensuring the aircraft is ready for flight. “I try to always walk up and shake the crew chief’s hand,” said Nils Larson, NASA X-59 lead test pilot. “Because it’s not your airplane – it’s the crew chief’s airplane – and they’re trusting you with it. You’re just borrowing it for an hour or two, then bringing it back and handing it over.” Larson, set to serve as pilot for first flight, may only be borrowing the aircraft from the X-59’s crew chiefs – Matt Arnold from X-59 contractor Lockheed Martin and Juan Salazar from NASA – but plenty of the aircraft’s safety systems were designed specifically to protect the pilot in flight. The X-59’s life support system is designed to deliver oxygen through the pilot’s mask to compensate for the decreased atmospheric pressure at the aircraft’s cruising altitude of 55,000 feet – altitudes more than twice as high as that of a typical airliner. In order to withstand high-altitude flight, Larson will also wear a counter-pressure garment, or g-suit, similar to what fighter pilots wear. In the unlikely event it’s needed, the X-59 also features an ejection seat and canopy adapted from a U.S. Air Force T-38 trainer, which comes equipped with essentials like a first aid kit, radio, and water. Due to the design, build, and test rigor put into the X-59, the ejection seat is a safety measure. All these systems form a network of safety, adding confidence to the pilot and engineers as they approach to the next milestone – first flight. “There’s a lot of trust that goes into flying something new,” Larson said. “You’re trusting the engineers, the maintainers, the designers – everyone who has touched the aircraft. And if I’m not comfortable, I’m not getting in. But if they trust the aircraft, and they trust me in it, then I’m all in.” Share Details Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactNicolas Cholulanicolas.h.cholula@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related TermsArmstrong Flight Research CenterAdvanced Air Vehicles ProgramAeronauticsAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateAmes Research CenterGlenn Research CenterLangley Research CenterLow Boom Flight DemonstratorQuesst (X-59)Supersonic Flight Explore More 3 min read NASA, War Department Partnership Tests Boundaries of Autonomous Drone Operations Article 31 minutes ago 3 min read NASA, Embry-Riddle Enact Agreement to Advance Research, Educational Opportunities Article 24 hours ago 4 min read NASA Glenn Tests Mini-X-Ray Technology to Advance Space Health Care   Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

I don’t look like Vegeta in these, but while Meta nailed the execution, it now has to move things forward. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest phones, smartwatches, apps, and other gizmos that swear they're going to change your life. Optimizer arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 10AM ET. Opt in for Optimizer here. About a month ago, I was walking in Williamsburg and a stylish Brooklyn hipster stopped me to ask about the Oakley Meta HSTN smart glasses I was testing. A few weeks later, I went to dinner with a friend that I hadn't seen in years. It wasn't until we were walking to the train that I noticed they were wearing a pair of Ray-Ban Meta g … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Djamo Finances has secured a microfinance license from the Central Bank of West African States, allowing the Ivorian fintech to operate as a microfinance institution in Ivory Coast. View Source Article

The long-awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is coming on December 4 to both the original Switch and the recently-released Switch 2, as announced during today's Nintendo Direct livestream. The Switch 2 is getting a dedicated version with upscaled graphics and some other bells and whistles, just like the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A. We already knew the next Metroid would drop sometime in 2025, but it's nice to have an actual release date. We got a nifty trailer for the first-person adventure earlier this year that showed off new power-ups for protagonist Samus Aran. The game looks very fun and certainly seems to capture the spirit of its predecessors. The plot involves Samus exploring a large planet and battling malevolent alien creatures which more than likely include the titular Metroids. This is a first-person game, unlike the relatively recent Metroid Dread, with an emphasis on scanning the environment, shooting enemies and solving puzzles. She has a cool-looking motorbike this time around, with an Amiibo figure to match. The trailer also shows off some wide-open sections to explore. The first Metroid Prime was released all the way back in 2002 for the Nintendo Gamecube. The fourth entry has experienced a rocky development cycle, with Nintendo scrapping the project entirely in 2019 to start over from scratch. The Metroid series dates back to 1986 with the NES original. The franchise represents one half of the popular Metroidvania genre, which is buzzy right now thanks to the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong. A price has not yet been announced.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/metroid-prime-4-will-be-released-on-december-4-for-switch-1-and-2-134718933.html?src=rss View Source Article

3 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Researchers in the Verification and Validation Lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley monitor a simulated drone’s flight path during a test of the FUSE demonstration.NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete Through an ongoing collaboration, NASA and the Department of War are working to advance the future of modern drones to support long distance cargo transportation that could increase efficiency, reduce human workload, and enhance safety.   Researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley recently participated in a live flight demonstration showcasing how drones can successfully fly without their operators being able to see them, a concept known as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).   Cargo drones, a type of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), carried various payloads more than 75 miles across North Dakota, between Grand Forks Air Force Base and Cavalier Space Force Station. This demonstration was conducted as part of the War Department’s UAS Logistics, Traffic, Research, and Autonomy (ULTRA) effort.  NASA’s UAS Service Supplier (USS) technology helped to demonstrate that cargo drones could operate safely even in complex, shared airspace. During the tests, flight data including location, altitude, and other critical data were transmitted live to the NASA system, ensuring full situational awareness throughout the demonstration.  Terrence Lewis and Sheryl Jurcak, members of the FUSE project team at NASA Ames, discuss the monitoring efforts of the FUSE demonstration at the Airspace Operations Lab. NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete The collaboration between NASA and the Department of War is known as the Federal USS Synthesis Effort (FUSE). The demonstration allowed FUSE researchers to test real-time tracking, situational awareness, and other factors important to safely integrating of drone traffic management into U.S. national airspace. The FUSE work marks an important step towards routine, scalable autonomous cargo drone operations and broader use for future military logistics.  “NASA and the Department of War have a long and storied partnership, collaborating with one another to contribute to continued advancement of shared American ideals,” said Todd Ericson, senior advisor to the NASA administrator. “FUSE builds upon our interagency cooperation to contribute enhanced capabilities for drones flying beyond the visual line of sight. This mission is the next big step toward true autonomous flight and will yield valuable insights that we can leverage as both the commercial drone, cargo and urban air taxi industries continue to expand and innovate. As always, safety is of paramount importance at NASA, and we are working with our partners at the FAA and Department of Transportation to ensure we regulate this appropriately.”  Autonomous and semi-autonomous drones could potentially support a broad range of tasks for commercial, military, and private users. They could transport critical medical supplies to remote locations, monitor wildfires from above, allow customers to receive deliveries directly in their backyards. NASA is researching technology to further develop the infrastructure needed for these operations to take place safely and effectively, without disrupting the existing U.S. airspace.  “This system is crucial for enabling safe, routine BVLOS operations,” said Terrence Lewis, FUSE project manager at NASA Ames. “It ensures all stakeholders can see and respond to drone activity, which provides the operator with greater situational awareness.”  NASA Ames is collaborating on the FUSE project with the War Department’s Office of the Undersecretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment. The NASA FUSE effort is also collaborating with ULTRA, a multi-entity partnership including the Office of the Secretary of War, the County of Grand Forks, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, the Grand Sky Development, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and several other commercial partners, aiming to bolster capabilities within the National Airspace System.  Share Details Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 Related TermsAmes Research CenterAeronauticsAeronautics ResearchGeneral Explore More 1 min read Drag Prediction Workshop Series Article 8 hours ago 2 min read NASA Ames Science Directorate: Stars of the Month – September 2025 Article 22 hours ago 2 min read Thermophysics Facilities Branch – Points of Contact Article 23 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

Red Mars meets bright Spica in the sunset sky this week. View Source Article

There's a lot happening in the world of artificial intelligence. There is always a lot happening in the world of artificial intelligence. The money is enormous; the stakes are high; the products are, well, all over the place. Sit on your couch and read about it all long enough, and you're bound to feel some strong feelings. On this episode of The Vergecast, we get into some of those feelings. But first, David and Jake catch up on the week's remaining gadget news. In addition to all the Apple gadgets we discussed on Wednesday's episode, there's also the fact that the new AirPods Pro 3 don't ship with a charging cable, a smart rebuttal to our … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison momentarily surpassed Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person this week. The shares of the tech giant he founded surged Wednesday after posting a major increase in bookings. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Donkey Kong Bananza, probably my favorite game of the year, is getting a paid expansion today called DK Island & Emerald Rush. As the title implies, you'll get to explore the island where Donkey Kong hails from and visit a whole host of his friends while you're at it. Naturally, there is more to explore and find there, but there's also a whole new set of challenges once you've finished the main game story. That's the titular Emerald Rush.  The timed missions involve you running around the island smashing as much green ore as you can get. As you go, smashing fossils you find unlocks various perks, which in turn help you amass more emeralds. Some of those perks act as multipliers on how much emerald you collect; others do things like make more treasure chests (that are naturally loaded with emeralds) appear. In somewhat roguelike fashion, your perks and skill reset after every run — but the location of things like fossils and Banandium Gems stay the same. So as you learn the levels, you'll be able to further maximize your collection.  Emerald Rush mode isn't limited to the new DK Island layer, either — it'll be integrated into other layers in the main game. As with everything else in Donkey Kong Bananza, it looks like a pretty delightful time. The DLC is set to go live today, but it's not up in the Nintendo eShop yet so its price remains a mystery. If you haven't played the main game yet, Nintendo also released a demo that you can try later today, as well. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/donkey-kong-bananza-is-getting-a-dlc-expansion-today-140016430.html?src=rss View Source Article

Everybody say thank you Nintendo! During its Direct livestream Hades II, the follow-up to Supergiant Game’s phenomenal roguelike Hades, finally has a release date. Prepare to bring death to Chronos on Switch and PC September 25th. During the Direct, Hades II revealed a splashy new animated trailer, reminiscent of the first Hades trailer. It features Melinoë, Hades II’s protagonist and sister to Zagreus, the prince of hell who spent the first game trying to escape it. This time, Melinoë isn’t trying to leave hell, but break in to deal death to her grandfather, the god of time Chronos. As in Hades, Melinoë is aided in her quest by the gods, heroes of mythology, and the death-dealing power of her own two hands. Hades II has been in early access on PC for a little over a year now. The game has undergone several chunky updates, slowly adding new content and weapons in the lead-up to its full release. According to the Direct, Hades II will launch on Switch, Switch 2, and PC on September 25th with a physical release launching in November. No word yet on when it’ll come to Xbox and PlayStation. View Source Article

It took more than seven years of development, but the massive action-platformer from Team Cherry is as good as expected View Source Article

Whenever there's a Nintendo Direct in September, you can be pretty sure that it'll be a major edition of the showcase. Given that Friday's one was scheduled to be about an hour long and that Nintendo has a whole new console to put games on, it was already likely that there was going to be a lot of news.  Even then, it managed to be a jam-packed Direct. Let's take a look at all the biggest announcements from the showcase, including what's obviously the most important one: a Switch 2 version of Overcooked 2. Mario's 40th anniversary September 13 is the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. in Japan, which is a big reason why this Direct took place on a Friday (a highly unusual day for Nintendo to hold one of its showcases). Following news of Mario-related updates for the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, the company revealed the title for the next Mario movie. It's called The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and it's coming to cinemas in the US on April 3. We'll have to wait a little longer for a trailer, though. There was no announcement of an upcoming 3D Mario game today, unfortunately, but there was still plenty of other news. Mario Tennis Fever is coming to Switch 2 in February as the first new Mario Tennis game since 2018. Yoshi's getting another adventure of his own with the Switch 2 platformer Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which is set to arrive next spring. A Switch 2 version of Super Mario Bros. Wonder with fresh multiplayer modes will drop around that time too.  Before all of that, though, Nintendo is bringing the wonderful Wii games Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 to Switch on October 2. They'll be available separately or as a bundle on the eShop and as a combined edition on a $70 physical cartridge. On Switch 2, you'll be able to play these two classics in 4K.  Two Mario Galaxy Amiibo figures are coming in April as well. Even though I'm not typically an Amiibo collector, I really want those because Luma is just adorable. In addition, Nintendo plans to release a physical collectible of the Talking Flower from Super Mario Bros. Wonder next spring. Donkey Kong Bananza DLC out today If you've already smashed everything to smithereens in Donkey Kong Bananza and have been yearning for more to do in one of the biggest Switch 2 exclusives to date, you're in luck. Nintendo revealed a paid expansion for the platformer during the Direct. It's called DK Island & Emerald Rush and it's out today for $20. You'll be able to barrel around Donkey Kong's home island and meet up with some familiar faces. After you've beaten the story in the main game, you'll be able to try the Emerald Rush mode. This will see you undertaking timed runs in DK Island and the main game's layers to collect emerald ore, smash fossils and collect Banandium Gems.  Meanwhile, Nintendo has released a demo for the main game. So, if you have a Switch 2 and haven't played Donkey Kong Bananza yet, you'll be able to find out for yourself why the other cool kids are saying "ooh, banana!" all the time. Pokémon Pokopia Quite a few people were expecting/hoping for news of a new Animal Crossing during the Nintendo Direct. While that didn't happen, Nintendo had arguably something even more exciting to announce — especially if you're both an Animal Crossing and Pokémon fan. Pokémon Pokopia is the first Pokémon life simulation game. You'll play as a Ditto who has been transformed to look like a human and turn empty land into a cozy paradise for both yourself and Pokémon. Ditto can learn abilities from Pokémon, such as using Squirtle’s Water Gun to give life to flora.  It looks utterly lovely. Pokémon Pokopia is coming to Switch 2 in 2026. Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Nintendo used this Direct to seriously start filling out its Switch 2 slate for 2026. One of the games it's publishing for the system next year is a new entry in the Fire Emblem series. It announced Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave during the showcase. As ever, this will be a turn-based tactical RPG. The debut trailer touched on the story and characters in the upcoming game.  Metroid Prime 4 and Hades 2 release dates We had a feeling these were coming soon, but release dates for both Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Hades 2 were both major announcements during the Direct. Samus has a rad, Tron-esque bike in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which will arrive on Switch and Switch 2 on December 4. Hades 2, meanwhile, will arrive on Switch and Switch 2 on September 25. The full game will be available on Steam and Epic Games Store on the same day as it will exit early access on PC. There were be cross-save support across PC and Switch/Switch 2. The Switch 2 version will support 120fps gameplay when the console is docked. That Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong are dropping in the same month is pretty wild. Apologies to any designs you had on getting some sleep in September. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment release date Nintendo announced Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment during a dedicated launch direct for Switch 2 back in April, and now there's a release date for this hack and slash game. It's coming to the console on November 6. Age of Imprisonment, which was developed by Koei Tecmo's AAA Games Studio, sees Princess Zelda traveling back in time and meeting Rauro and Sonia, the first king and queen of Hyrule. You'll try to take down Ganondorf (yes, again) in what's known as the Imprisoning War. Zonai devices will be at your disposal. According to the trailer, you'll "uncover ancient truths that were only glimpsed in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom." There's two-player co-op support via split-screen and GameShare. Zelda, Rauru and Sonia are among the playable characters, and you'll be able to swap between them. You can also play as a Korok for a change instead of torturing the poor creatures, you monsters. AAA third-party games coming to Switch 2 Nintendo confirmed during the Direct that Resident Evil Requiem is coming to Switch 2. It'll arrive on February 27, the same day the next entry in Capcom's classic survival horror series debuts on other platforms. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village will also land on Switch on on February 27. We learned back in April that the first installment of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy was bound for Switch 2 and now there's a release date for that. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is coming to the system on January 22. Switch 2 versions of indie classics The Nintendo Switch was such an important platform for indie games, and several that became huge hits are getting Switch 2 versions. Overcooked 2 (the ultimate relationship test, in my opinion) will have support for 4K visuals, 60fps gameplay, GameShare and CameraPlay — the feature that allows you to see you and your teammate's faces on screen as you play —in its Switch 2 version. That's on the way this holiday season. Stardew Valley will also support GameShare for co-op play on Switch 2. Mouse controls will be available, as well as four-player splitscreen and eight-player online action. Those who have the game on Switch already will get a free upgrade when the Switch 2 version arrives this fall. Human Fall Flat is headed to Switch 2 in Spring 2026. That will also have support for mouse controls, GameShare and eight-person multiplayer. It's far too early to say whether Powerwash Simulator 2 will become an indie classic, but the original game was terrific and its sequel is getting a Switch 2 version as well. There's no exact release date for Powerwash Simulator 2 as yet, but it's still slated to arrive this fall. Suika Game gets a sequel Suika Game was a huge hit, and the sequel promises to soak up even more of my time. Suika Game Planet adds an extra dimension to the puzzle action. Instead of dropping fruit into a bucket and trying to combine two of the same items into a larger one, this time there's a circular stage. That might be a fun wrinkle for anyone (me, hi) who gets frustrated about not being able to reach large fruit at the bottom of the container. Suika Game Planet is coming to Switch and Switch 2 this winter and I might not be able to do anything else with my time after it drops. The Switch 2 version will support a GameShare mode that allows up to four players to work together. Virtual Boy is back Last but not least, Nintendo had an absolute shocker when it came to Switch Online + Expansion Pack. No, it's not adding Super Mario Sunshine to the Gamecube app just yet. The company is bringing Virtual Boy games to the service, which is more bananas than anything you'll find in Donkey Kong Bananza.  To play those games from a system that was notoriously undercooked (partly because Nintendo was placing much more focus on the massively more successful Nintendo 64 around that time), you'll need an accessory. A $100 plastic tabletop one that looks just like the original Virtual Boy and a $25 cardboard version are on the way. They're compatible with the Nintendo Switch, Switch 2 and, if it's an authentic Virtual Boy experience, probably some eye strain.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/mario-metroid-virtual-boy-and-more-all-the-biggest-announcements-from-todays-nintendo-direct-165722897.html?src=rss View Source Article

A child in Los Angeles County has died from a rare but always fatal brain disorder that develops years after a measles infection. Experts underscore the need for vaccination to protect the most vulnerable View Source Article

Workers at NASA are planning a third "Save NASA" protest at agency headquarters in D.C. on Sept. 15, as job cuts, Trump's union-busting order and FY26 budget proposals fuel fears of lasting damage. View Source Article

The AI web search company Perplexity is being hit by another lawsuit alleging copyright and trademark infringement, this time from Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster. Britannica, the centuries-old publisher that owns Merriam-Webster, sued Perplexity in New York federal court on September 10th. In the lawsuit, the companies allege that Perplexity’s “answer engine” scrapes their websites, steals their internet traffic, and plagiarizes their copyrighted material. Britannica also alleges trademark infringement when Perplexity attaches the two companies’ names to hallucinated or incomplete content.  The word “plagiarize” illustrates the point of the lawsuit. The court document includes back-to-back screenshots that show Perplexity’s result is identical to Merriam-Webster’s definition.  Perplexity positions itself as a Google Search competitor. It has been called a “bullshit machine” that steals and recreates original content without proper citations. The AI company is also accused of “stealth crawling” websites with crawler blockers, a practice used by other AI companies.   Perplexity, backed by investors like Jeff Bezos, has tussled with other media outlets like Forbes, The New York Times, and the BBC. News Corp, the parent company of outlets like The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, sued Perplexity in October 2024. Some media companies joined Perplexity’s ad revenue sharing program, including Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Another popular encyclopedia, World History Encyclopedia, joined Perplexity’s publisher program, and on September 8th, it launched a Perplexity-powered AI chatbot that allows users to sift through the encyclopedia’s database of sources and academic articles.  View Link View Source Article

Tether Holdings SA, the company behind the world’s most traded cryptocurrency, is bringing its digital dollar home, unveiling a US-regulated stablecoin and appointing Bo Hines, a former White House crypto official, to lead the effort. View Source Article

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Amazon and Google misled advertisers regarding the pricing and terms for their ads. As first reported by Bloomberg, the investigation is being conducted by the agency's consumer protection unit, and centers around the auction-style sale of advertising space by the companies. Google sells ads using automated auctions that run after a user enters a search query. These auctions take place in less than a second. Amazon uses real-time auctions to place ads within its listings, which users would recognize as "sponsored listings" or "sponsored ads" when searching for specific products. The investigation questions whether Amazon disclosed so-called "reserve pricing" for some of its ads, which is a price floor that advertisers must meet before they can buy an ad. For Google's part, the FTC is looking at certain practices by the search giant including its internal pricing process and whether it was surreptitiously increasing the cost of ads in ways that advertisers weren't privy to. The FTC isn't the only federal agency keeping a close eye on big tech. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that Google held a monopoly in online ad tech after the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued to break up the giant's ad business. Google also recently escaped mostly unscathed from a Department of Justice monopoly case involving its Chrome browser. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has previously said that big tech is one of the agency's top priorities. These investigations move forward against a backdrop of top tech CEOs continuing to try to curry favor with President Trump via lavish personal gifts and sweeping (if potentially unrealistic) promises of investment in the US economy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/ftc-investigating-ad-sale-practices-at-google-and-amazon-160236895.html?src=rss View Source Article

We still don’t know all that much about Pokémon Legends Z-A‘s main storyline, but Nintendo is already hyping up a big expansion for the new game. During today’s hourlong Direct showcase of upcoming games, Nintendo revealed that Pokémon Legends Z-A is getting a paid DLC update titled Mega Dimension that will introduce more story content and two new mega evolved forms of Raichu. Promotional art for the expansion seems to suggest that the Hoopa, a mythical pokémon known for creating portals to other dimensions, will be featured in Mega Dimension‘s story.  Nintendo did not announce exactly when the DLC will drop, but you can pre-order it today through the eShop. Nintendo also revealed that Pokémon Legends Z-A will introduce new mega evolutions for Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja, the fully-evolved forms of Pokémon X and Y‘s starter pokémon. Up until now, The Pokémon Company has been teasing and revealing new megas one by one with a series of inspired ad campaigns. But with Legends Z-A due to release in about a month, it seems like the company is putting its foot on the gas to get everyone as hyped as possible. View Source Article

Robyn Denholm, chair of Tesla’s board of directors, says Elon Musk is a “generational leader” and the right CEO during this “transformative period of time” for Tesla when asked about Musk’s $1 trillion pay package. She speaks with Ed Ludlow on “Bloomberg Tech.” View Source Article

It's official. The Switch 2 is getting the next entry in the long-running Fire Emblem series. Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave will be available sometime in 2026, though we have nothing more specific than that. We do have a trailer and it looks gorgeous. It showed off the game's tactical combat, which is a mainstay for the franchise, and teased the story. It involves some sort of gladiator-like contest called the Heroic Games. There are plenty of new combat units and many of them boast gladiatorial flair of some kind. It also looks to take place in the same universe as the immensely popular Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which came out for the original Switch console. There are some visual similarities and one character seems to be a grown-up version of someone from Three Houses. This makes a certain kind of sense, given that Three Houses is the most financially successful game in franchise history and considered by critics to be a stone-cold classic. The more recent Fire Emblem: Engage wasn't nearly as popular, despite being a solid entry. For the uninitiated, this series is all about tactical turn-based combat, factional rivalries and robust storylines involving numerous characters. It was a niche franchise here in the USA until the 3DS era and the release of Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem: Fates.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/fire-emblem-fortunes-weave-comes-out-for-the-switch-2-in-2026-162127483.html?src=rss View Source Article

"Although this doesn't rule out the possibility that Enceladus' ocean may be habitable, it does mean we need to be cautious in making that assumption just because of the composition of the plumes." View Source Article

Apple’s new smartwatches have the spotlight this week, but Android users have a reason to celebrate, too. That’s because Samsung’s gorgeous, Bluetooth-enabled Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is cheaper than ever at Woot through September 19th. It’s down to $359.99 ($140 off), nearly matching the price of the $349.99 Galaxy Watch 8. Not a bad discount for a watch that came out fewer than two months ago. Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic (Bluetooth) Samsung’s latest smartwatch features a new squircle design, Gemini, and some new health features like an Antioxidant Index and Running Coach. The Classic model adds a premium design complete with a rotating bezel, an extra customizable button, and longer battery life. Where to Buy: $499.99 $359.99 at Woot The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 is our top pick for Samsung phone owners, particularly if you’re upgrading from a Galaxy Watch 5 or earlier. The Classic model builds on the Galaxy Watch 8’s improvements  with a more stylish and premium design, plus longer battery life, and the return of the beloved rotating bezel. It also inherits the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s Quick Button, which you can customize to launch your favorite app or workout. Beyond that, it’s identical to the Galaxy Watch 8, offering a thin squircle design that’s more comfortable to wear than its predecessor without sacrificing battery life. It monitors your heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and can even take an EKG or detect sleep apnea when paired with a Samsung Galaxy phone. The wearable also debuts Running Coach, our favorite new fitness feature which tests your performance and creates a personalized workout plan based on your results. Plus, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic can even recommend your optimal bedtime based on your circadian rhythm and gauge your fruits and vegetables intake, though admittedly not always reliably. On the smarts side, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic ships with One UI 8 Watch, which adds Google Gemini. You can ask it for nearby coffee shop recommendations, to send Slack messages, create playlists, and more. Given that it’s still early days for Gemini, results can be mixed, but hopefully it continues to improve.  Unfortunately, the wearable only comes in a 46mm size, which might be too big for your taste. Still, if you’re a Samsung phone owner looking for a premium wearable, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is one of the best options available, especially now that it costs about the same as the standard model. Read our Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 review. A few more deals to wrap up the week The tiny Anker Soundcore Select 4 Go is available at Amazon for $22.99 ($11 off), which is $3 shy of its all-time low. This colorful Bluetooth speaker offers good value for the price, with an IPX67 waterproof rating and the ability to float in water. It can last up to 20 hours on a single charge, and can produce stereo sound when paired with another Select 4 Go. Whisker’s Litter Robot 4 is on sale with a three-year warranty for $699 ($100) directly from the company’s website. The litter box essentially cleans itself after it has been used, rotating to dump waste into a drawer, and sending alerts when it needs to be emptied. It also helps neutralize unwanted odors and is suitable for up to four cats per unit. Plus, the companion app lets you monitor your cat’s weight, track litter and waste drawer levels, and more. You can grab the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 for $199.99 at Amazon, Walmart, and Target, which is a great deal even if it’s $20 shy of their all-time low. The fitness-centric earbuds are some of the best on the market, offering heart rate monitoring (move over, AirPods Pro 3), secure ear hooks for intense workouts, and IPX4 water resistance. They also deliver great active noise cancellation, a natural-sounding transparency mode, and native support for some Android and Apple features like automatic device switching. Read our review. View Source Article

Exxon Mobil Corp. said it has invented a new form of graphite that can increase the life of electric-vehicle batteries by as much as 30% View Source Article

A square camera sensor may sound like one of those things only nerds would appreciate, but as part of the new front-facing 18-megapixel "Center Stage" camera on the iPhone 17 lineup, it could have massive implications for Apple's users. They'll no longer need to turn their phones to take a landscape selfie, especially if they need to fit a large group of people, as that's all handled automatically by Center Stage. It's the sort of "Why didn't I think of that?" feature that other phone makers will likely copy, simply because it's immensely practical. Those square camera sensors could help make Apple a selfie pioneer, once again.We've come a long way from when the iPhone 4 and HTC Evo 4G introduced the idea of modern front-facing cameras in 2010. Earlier cellphones in Japan and Europe had low quality selfie cameras, and you could argue that the Game Boy Camera also toyed with the idea when it arrived in 1998. But in 2010, we finally had powerful phones on relatively speedy mobile connections that could easily share photos and let users hop on video chats on a whim. (It still stings that it took Apple two more years to release the LTE-capable iPhone 5, which made FaceTime much more useful.)iPhone Air selfie cameraSam Rutherford for EngadgetDuring the iPhone 17 launch event, Apple revealed that its customers took 500 billion selfies last year, a massive figure that shows just how normalized the practice has become. Selfies were often mocked when they were deemed the purview of Instagram-obsessed teenage girls, but these days it's not unusual to see everyone from seniors to a gaggle of sports bros gathering around a single phone like an object of worship. And, on a personal note, they're really the only way to get decent photos of your entire family, especially when you're juggling two rambunctious young kids.We take photos to preserve memories, but selfies feel distinctive for their intimacy. You're not just capturing where you were, but you're also documenting yourself in the moment, along with the people around you. By making it easier to take selfies, it follows that you'll start to take even more of them, ultimately tying yourself into Apple's ecosystem even further. That leads to needing an iPhone with more storage and potentially more iCloud backup space down the line. You're also not going to jump over to an Android phone if you have to turn your phone sideways for a landscape selfie, or if you lose access to all of the cherished memories in your Apple Photos library.The square camera sensor keeps you loyal. It'll also change the way iPhone users take front-facing videos. Center Stage automatically keeps you in the center of FaceTime calls, so you don't have to worry so much about framing yourself up. And while I haven't seen this particular feature in action, it should also help alleviate the headache of turning your phone during a FaceTime call to match the recipient's device. (Or maybe I'm just tired of telling my parents to flip their phones when their FaceTime chats have huge black borders.)This may be a stretch, but I could see the Center Stage front camera making it more common to record video with your front and rear cameras at the same time. While it’s new to iPhone as “Dual Capture,” we’ve seen variants of it from Samsung and Nokia (remember #bothie?) Android devices, but they’ve never really taken off. TikTok’s dual-camera live streaming mode has been more successful, and there are also vlogging apps like MixCam built around dual recording. With Dual Capture on iPhone 17, Center Stage’s ability to keep you in the middle of the action with the front camera should let you focus more on getting the best shot with the rear lenses.While I’d love to see Apple cram more pixels into the 18MP Center Stage camera, moving to a square sensor will honestly be more impactful for all of the reasons above. It’s easy to throw in a higher resolution sensor, it’s tougher to fundamentally rethink how you can improve upon something as simple as taking a selfie.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-17-square-selfie-camera-is-a-bigger-deal-than-you-think-151517041.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Sun blew out a coronal mass ejection along with part of a solar filament over a three-hour period on Feb. 24, 2015. Because this occurred way over near the edge of the Sun, it was unlikely to have any effect on Earth.NASA The NASA-ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft captured this extreme ultraviolet wavelength image of the Sun on Feb. 24, 2015, during a three-hour period in which our closest star blew out a coronal mass ejection along with part of a solar filament. While some of the strands fell back into the Sun, a substantial part raced into space in a bright cloud of particles. Launched in December 1995, the joint NASA-ESA SOHO mission, was designed to study the Sun inside out. Though its mission was scheduled to run until only 1998, it has continued collecting data, adding to scientists’ understanding of our closest star, and making many new discoveries, including more than 5,000 comets. NASA continues to study the Sun with various spacecraft. Soon, there will be three new ways to study the Sun’s influence across the solar system with the launch of a trio of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spacecraft. Expected to launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 23, the missions include NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA’s SWFO-L1 (Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1) spacecraft. Image credit: NASA View Source Article

Tyler Robinson, apprehended last night in connection to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, allegedly left engraved bullets at the crime scene that were covered in a furry meme, references from the video game Helldivers 2, and an extremely online taunt. In an FBI briefing this morning about his arrest, Utah Governor Spencer Cox described the sequence of events that led to the capture of Robinson, 22, who was turned into the police by his father. They also clarified the nature of the notes engraved on the bullet casings found at the scene, which had been rumored to be slogans relating to antifascist and “transgender ideology.” As it turns out, the messages are a confusing mix of internet memes and pop culture. As described, the bullets read (exact capitalization not confirmed at this point): “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?” “Hey fascist! Catch!” Up arrow symbol, right arrow, three down arrow symbols “Oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao” “If you read this, you are gay lmao” The first bullet casing, which was fired, is a meme referring to furry online roleplay, according to Know Your Meme. It’s not hard to see where the “anti-fascist” conclusion came from on two of the other bullets: “Bella ciao” is an Italian song adopted by partisans and resistance fighters while Italy was governed by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Cox said in response to a question during the conference that the “hey fascist” message “speaks for itself.” Three downward-slanting arrows are a symbol used by both historical and contemporary antifascists. But the full arrow sequence was quickly recognized as something else: a combo from Helldivers 2 for calling the Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem. The world of Helldivers — which evokes Robert Heinlein’s book Starship Troopers and the subsequent movie — concerns fascism thematically; developer Arrowhead has characterized it as a satire where players fight for a fascist state. As for the use of “Bella ciao,” the song has no obvious connection but does appear in a Helldivers mod. The fatal shooting of Kirk on Wednesday led to an intense manhunt across Utah, though it encountered numerous complications along the way. Several leads, publicly teased by FBI director Kash Patel, quickly petered out. Leaked documents from law enforcement published by MAGA influencers led to false narratives about how markings on the bullet indicated that the shooter was in favor of “transgender ideology.”  It was nearly impossible to divorce politics and internet misinformation from Kirk’s death, however. The 31-year-old was a powerful figure in the MAGA movement, as the founder and leader of the right-wing college group Turning Point USA, and a prominent podcaster and MAGA influencer himself, famous for appearing on college campuses to confront liberal students. President Donald Trump credited Kirk and TPUSA as a factor in his return to office, and frequently relied on him as an emissary to youth voters.  The messages on the shooter’s bullet casings can best be described as bizarre and extremely online In the aftermath of Kirk’s death, his allies in the MAGA movement, including lawmakers and influencers, promised swift retribution against the left should the killer share their ideology. The themes of Helldivers 2 could have an ideological meaning, albeit not necessarily a straightforward one. But ultimately, the messages on the shooter’s bullet casings can best be described as bizarre and extremely online.  According to the FBI, evidence leading to Robinson’s arrest included screenshots from his roommate’s Discord chat, in which he mentioned leaving a rifle wrapped in a towel in some bushes. Law enforcement recovered a Mauser .30-06 from an area near the campus that was wrapped in a towel.  Fans of the game immediately noticed. Shortly after the press conference on Friday morning, the Helldivers subreddit was flooded with players who had picked up on what may be references to the game. A thread, now deleted, was titled: “Hey Facist Catch!” with the poster asking, “Did anyone else hear/notice?!” A commenter, responding to the thread, said, “The moment I heard [the arrows] my eyes widened.” Another thread, also apparently deleted by moderators, referenced the arrows that authorities say were on one of the unfired bullet casings recovered at the scene. “It sickens me having people like this playing this game and using it to real violence to tarnish this awesome game and community,” the poster wrote. Other posts implored the subreddit moderators to lock down the forum. Moderators for the subreddit didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A thread in the separate r/Helldivers2 subreddit remains active, with people discussing the apparent parallels. Arrowhead, the maker of the Helldivers games, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. View Source Article

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade comes out for the Switch 2 on January 22, 2026, which was revealed at today's lengthy Nintendo Direct livestream. This is the first entry in the remake trilogy and primarily takes place in the opening city of Midgar. You'll have to wait until Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to explore the overworld map, and there's no Switch 2 release date for that one yet. This release does include the Episode Intermission DLC, which involves the ninja Yuffie on a mission to steal powerful items from the evil Shinra corporation. That story takes place after the main campaign. There's a trailer and it looks gorgeous, so the Switch 2 should be able to handle this one. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade originally came out back in 2021. The long-awaited title was more of a reimagining than a straight remake of the iconic JRPG. The game still managed to garner critical acclaim, despite drastic changes from the original. It was followed by Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in 2024, with a third game on the way to close out the trilogy. There's no name for this final entry and we don't have a release date, as it's still in active development.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/final-fantasy-vii-remake-intergrade-hits-the-switch-2-on-january-22-152559995.html?src=rss View Source Article

Honolulu is pictured here beside a calm sea in 2017. A JPL technology recently detected and confirmed a tsunami up to 45 minutes prior to detection by tide gauges in Hawaii, and it estimated the speed of the wave to be over 580 miles per hour (260 meters per second) near the coast.NASA/JPL-Caltech A massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami off Russia in late July tested an experimental detection system that had deployed a critical component just the day before. A recent tsunami triggered by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula sent pressure waves to the upper layer of the atmosphere, NASA scientists have reported. While the tsunami did not wreak widespread damage, it was an early test for a detection system being developed at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Called GUARDIAN (GNSS Upper Atmospheric Real-time Disaster Information and Alert Network), the experimental technology “functioned to its full extent,” said Camille Martire, one of its developers at JPL. The system flagged distortions in the atmosphere and issued notifications to subscribed subject matter experts in as little as 20 minutes after the quake. It confirmed signs of the approaching tsunami about 30 to 40 minutes before waves made landfall in Hawaii and sites across the Pacific on July 29 (local time). “Those extra minutes of knowing something is coming could make a real difference when it comes to warning communities in the path,” said JPL scientist Siddharth Krishnamoorthy. Near-real-time outputs from GUARDIAN must be interpreted by experts trained to identify the signs of tsunamis. But already it’s one of the fastest monitoring tools of its kind: Within about 10 minutes of receiving data, it can produce a snapshot of a tsunami’s rumble reaching the upper atmosphere. The dots in this graph indicate wave disturbances in the ionosphere as measured be-tween ground stations and navigation satellites. The initial spike shows the acoustic wave coming from the epicenter of the July 29 quake that caused the tsunami; the red squiggle shows the gravity wave the tsunami generated.NASA/JPL-Caltech The goal of GUARDIAN is to augment existing early warning systems. A key question after a major undersea earthquake is whether a tsunami was generated. Today, forecasters use seismic data as a proxy to predict if and where a tsunami could occur, and they rely on sea-based instruments to confirm that a tsunami is passing by. Deep-ocean pressure sensors remain the gold standard when it comes to sizing up waves, but they are expensive and sparse in locations. “NASA’s GUARDIAN can help fill the gaps,” said Christopher Moore, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Tsunami Research. “It provides one more piece of information, one more valuable data point, that can help us determine, yes, we need to make the call to evacuate.” Moore noted that GUARDIAN adds a unique perspective: It’s able to sense sea surface motion from high above Earth, globally and in near-real-time. Bill Fry, chair of the United Nations technical working group responsible for tsunami early warning in the Pacific, said GUARDIAN is part of a technological “paradigm shift.” By directly observing ocean dynamics from space, “GUARDIAN is absolutely something that we in the early warning community are looking for to help underpin next generation forecasting.” How GUARDIAN works GUARDIAN takes advantage of tsunami physics. During a tsunami, many square miles of the ocean surface can rise and fall nearly in unison. This displaces a significant amount of air above it, sending low-frequency sound and gravity waves speeding upwards toward space. The waves interact with the charged particles of the upper atmosphere — the ionosphere — where they slightly distort the radio signals coming down to scientific ground stations of GPS and other positioning and timing satellites. These satellites are known collectively as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). While GNSS processing methods on Earth correct for such distortions, GUARDIAN uses them as clues. SWOT Satellite Measures Pacific Tsunami The software scours a trove of data transmitted to more than 350 continuously operating GNSS ground stations around the world. It can potentially identify evidence of a tsunami up to about 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) from a given station. In ideal situations, vulnerable coastal communities near a GNSS station could know when a tsunami was heading their way and authorities would have as much as 1 hour and 20 minutes to evacuate the low-lying areas, thereby saving countless lives and property. Key to this effort is the network of GNSS stations around the world supported by NASA’s Space Geodesy Project and Global GNSS Network, as well as JPL’s Global Differential GPS network that transmits the data in real time. The Kamchatka event offered a timely case study for GUARDIAN. A day before the quake off Russia’s northeast coast, the team had deployed two new elements that were years in the making: an artificial intelligence to mine signals of interest and an accompanying prototype messaging system. Both were put to the test when one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded spawned a tsunami traveling hundreds of miles per hour across the Pacific Ocean. Having been trained to spot the kinds of atmospheric distortions caused by a tsunami, GUARDIAN flagged the signals for human review and notified subscribed subject matter experts. Notably, tsunamis are most often caused by large undersea earthquakes, but not always. Volcanic eruptions, underwater landslides, and certain weather conditions in some geographic locations can all produce dangerous waves. An advantage of GUARDIAN is that it doesn’t require information on what caused a tsunami; rather, it can detect that one was generated and then can alert the authorities to help minimize the loss of life and property.  While there’s no silver bullet to stop a tsunami from making landfall, “GUARDIAN has real potential to help by providing open access to this data,” said Adrienne Moseley, co-director of the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre. “Tsunamis don’t respect national boundaries. We need to be able to share data around the whole region to be able to make assessments about the threat for all exposed coastlines.” To learn more about GUARDIAN, visit: https://guardian.jpl.nasa.gov News Media Contacts Jane J. Lee / Andrew WangJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.626-379-6874 / 818-354-0307jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov  Written by Sally Younger 2025-117 Explore More 5 min read New U.S.-European Sea Level Satellite Will Help Safeguard Ships at Sea Article 22 hours ago 13 min read The Earth Observer Editor’s Corner: July–September 2025 NOTE TO READERS: After more than three decades associated with or directly employed by NASA,… Article 2 days ago 21 min read Summary of the 11th ABoVE Science Team Meeting Introduction The NASA Arctic–Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) is a large-scale ecological study in the northern… Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

It's time to boldly go further than ever before with a Bridge Crew sequel for everyone, whether they have a holodeck strapped to their face or not. View Source Article

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are getting many of the heart monitoring features announced for the AirPods Pro 3. Apple will release iOS 26 on September 15th and along with new iPhone features like the company’s new Liquid Glass design language and live translation capabilities, the update will bring new features to the Powerbeats Pro 2. Released earlier this year, they were Apple’s first earbuds with heart rate monitoring but after next week’s big iPhone update their functionality will closely match the new AirPods Pro 3 announced earlier this week at Apple’s “Awe dropping” event. You’ll now be able to monitor your heart rate in real time through the Apple Fitness app during 50 different workout types while wearing the Powerbeats Pro 2 – a feature only supported through partner apps like Nike Run Club at launch. The earbuds will also work with Apple Fitness Plus, showing metrics like heart rate and calories burned on screen. Other upgrades coming to the Powerbeats Pro 2 with iOS 26 include a new algorithm for faster readings, step counting, notifications that include suggestions on how to improve the earbuds’ fit for improved accuracy, and heart rate monitoring while wearing just a single earbud, according to 9to5Mac. View Source Article

Tencent Holdings Ltd. has recruited a prominent artificial intelligence researcher from OpenAI in one of the most high-profile defections from the US AI sector to China, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Nintendo had a truly wild surprise up its sleeve for Switch Online + Expansion Pack during its Direct event on Friday. The company is bringing back the Virtual Boy as a physical device into which you can slot your Switch or Switch 2. A plastic replica of the mid-90s tabletop system will soon be available for Switch Online members to buy. The company will sell a cardboard version of the accessory too. No need to rub your eyes in disbelief (but if history is any indication, you might have to for relief after using this thing). You'll need either accessory to play Virtual Boy games, which will start hitting Switch Online + Expansion Pack on February 17. Mario's Tennis (a pack-in game for the original system), Galactic Pinball, Teleroboxer, Space Invaders and Tetris are among the 14 stereoscopic 3D Virtual Boy games that Nintendo will bring to the subscription service over time.  That means most of the Virtual Boy games that were ever released are coming to Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Nintendo only released 22 of them, since the Virtual Boy never took off. The company ended production of the device and stopped making games for it in 1996, only a year after the Virtual Boy hit shelves. Here's hoping the latest version of the accessory doesn't give players too many headaches. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-is-bringing-back-the-virtual-boy-as-a-switch-and-switch-2-accessory-140037508.html?src=rss View Source Article

We built the iconic logo for one of the biggest franchises in cinematic history, in Lego form, but is the Lego Brick Built Star Wars Logo worth your credits? View Source Article

There was a lot in September’s Nintendo Direct. We got a new trailer for the Super Mario Bros Movie sequel, a new Yoshi game, a new Mario Tennis game, this weird thing, a Hades II release date, a new Pokémon game, and Metroid Prime 4’s release date. But if that weren’t enough, and apparently it wasn’t according to Nintendo, the company has also revealed a first look at the latest Fire Emblem game titled Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. The reveal trailer gave us a glimpse of the world of Fortune’s Weave. The game features what looks to be the same kind of factional rivalries that made Fates, Awakening, and Three Houses so special. Fortune’s Weave also features totally new characters in a brand new setting that, so far, looks much more interesting than what Fire Emblem Engage had to offer. At the heart of Fortune’s Weave is the Heroic Games, a gladiator-like contest that will no doubt have massive implications on the wider story. Fortune’s Weave looks to have the same tactical RPG rock-paper-scissors combat that I love about the series including new combat units that have some gladiatorial flair. We’ll learn all Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave has to offer when it launches on the Switch 2 some time next year. View Source Article

After months of back-and-forth with regulators and stakeholders, OpenAI said it’s getting closer to converting into a more traditional, for-profit company – a key step in its bid to secure billions more in capital to build cutting-edge artificial intelligence products. View Source Article

In one of the most unexpected announcements of today's Nintendo Direct, Game Freak revealed Pokémon Pokopia, a game that is clearly inspired by the Animal Crossing series. When Pokopia is released sometime next year, you'll assume the role of a Ditto determined to make a comfortable home for their friends. This Ditto has assumed the form of a human, and as they meet new Pokémon, they'll learn abilities they can use to transform their community. In turn, this work will lead to more Pokémon coming to live in your home. The game features a beautiful tilt-shift art style that is reminiscent of Pokémon's third generation of games that debuted on the Game Boy Advance.  No word yet on an exact release date, but the game will be a Switch 2 exclusive.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-pokopia-looks-like-animal-crossing-for-pokemon-fans-and-im-here-for-it-141239467.html?src=rss View Source Article

Forensic scientist Michael Haag explains how laser scanners could be used to lock down the crime scenes where Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, letting investigators revisit angles, trajectories and vantage points long after the fact. View Source Article

The Pleiades will appear close to the moon before midnight on Sept. 12. View Source Article

A new Pokémon spinoff is on the way, and it looks very different than any other entry in the long-running franchise. In fact, it looks a little bit like Minecraft — and it’s called Pokémon Pokopia. The game has players controlling a Ditto that has taken on the form of a human, which means that it’s a little cute and also a little creepy. The goal of the game is to shape an empty landscape into a suitable home for some pokémon. That means taming the wilderness, growing crops, and also using a bunch of classic pokémon moves to make it all happen. The visuals look like a mix of the structured form of a Minecraft game with the cutesy characters and tone of Pokémon. Given those are two of the biggest franchises in gaming, it sounds — on paper at least — like a winning mix. Pokopia is launching on the Nintendo Switch some time in 2026. View Source Article

The US Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google misled advertisers that place ads on their websites, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Supergiant has a thing for dropping its biggest Hades news at Nintendo Directs. Five years after launching the first game during a Nintendo stream, the developer struck again. The 1.0 version of Hades II is coming on September 25, for Switch and Switch 2. Of course, Hades II isn't exactly new to PC players. It's been in early access there for 16 months. Despite being a pre-release version, it has over 63,000 Steam reviews. Its reception averages "very positive" (and "overwhelmingly positive" for those written in English). The 1.0 edition promises not only the game's console debut but its true ending. Only the Switch versions were covered in the Nintendo Direct (duh). But we already knew the PC and Mac editions were launching simultaneously with them. So, expect its Steam and Epic listings to be updated in short order. Like the original game, Hades II is likely a timed console exclusive. So, while it isn't yet official, you can expect PlayStation and Xbox versions sometime down the road. According to Supergiant, Hades II will support 120 fps when the Switch 2 is in TV mode. That drops to 60 fps for Switch 2 in 1080p, while the original Switch can handle that same refresh rate at only 720p. Both Switch version will cross-save with the Steam and Epic versions as well.  Supergiant Games The Hades sequel shifts the focus from Zagreus to his sister, Melinoë, princess of the underworld. She's up against Chronos: the Titan of Time, father of Hades and bona fide asshole. Supergiant says the roguelike runs at a smooth 60 fps on the Switch 2. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hades-ii-is-coming-to-switch-and-switch-2-on-september-25-133511122.html?src=rss View Source Article

Participants are encouraged to dialogue before, during, and after the workshop. Contact the organizing committee for further questions. View Source Article

This quiz plunges deep into the wormhole of science fiction, testing your mastery of both cerebral literature and cult-classic cinema. View Source Article

You won’t have to wait too long now for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Nintendo surprised us so soon after the Kirby Air Riders direct with another direct showcase today. Clocking in at a luxurious 60 minutes, the direct covered a bunch of games (and movies) coming in the latter quarter of the year and beyond. But one of the bigger pieces of news was Metroid Prime 4: Beyond which Nintendo has announced will launch on December 4th. Along with the release date, Nintendo revealed another look at the game. In the teaser, Samus has gone beyond the cramped quarters of derelict space stations and alien-haunted caves to cruise wide-open sand dunes on a brand new speeder bike that we’ve never seen before. It was so cool and interesting-looking that it almost felt like a completely different game. Metroid Prime 4 has the ignominious distinction of being one of the rare first-party Nintendo games to get stuck in development hell. This game was announced way, way back in 2017. Metroid Prime 4 is so old that when it was announced: Reggie Fils-Amié was still the Nintendo of America boss, the original Switch was just three months old, and… we still had an E3 which is where the game was first announced.  The reason for this extensive development time was that apparently Nintendo wasn’t satisfied with the way the game was progressing and rebooted its development back in 2019. In the years since, Nintendo remained quiet on Samus’ next first person 3D adventure while releasing two other Metroid games and remastering Metroid Prime in the interim. View Source Article

Nintendo just dropped a trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the sequel to the immensely popular The Super Mario Bros. Movie. This is good timing, given that tomorrow is officially the mustached plumber's 40th birthday. It hits theaters on April TK, 2026. We've known this movie was coming for a while now, and even had an approximate release date. Now we have a trailer and it's a doozy. Shared during today's Nintendo Direct livestream event, the footage shows several deep-cut characters and locations from throughout the Mushroom Kingdom (and beyond.) This is a teaser trailer, however, so we still don't know too much about the plot. We do know that many of the first film's actors are returning for the sequel, including Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach. The sequel is something of a no-brainer, given that the first film was a cultural juggernaut. It's the most financially successful video game adaptation of all time and the third highest-grossing animated film ever. All told, it banked around $1.36 billion at the box office.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-super-mario-galaxy-movie-will-be-marios-next-crack-at-the-big-screen-130840015.html?src=rss View Source Article

CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, alongside NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch, will launch on the Artemis II mission early next year. The crew will participate in human research studies to provide insights about how the body performs in deep space as part of this mission. Credit: (NASA/James Blair) A sweeping collection of astronaut health studies planned for NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon will soon provide agency researchers with a glimpse into how deep space travel influences the human body, mind, and behavior. During an approximately 10-day mission set to launch in 2026, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will collect and store their saliva, don wrist monitors that track movement and sleep, and offer other essential data for NASA’s Human Research Program and other agency science teams.  “The findings are expected to provide vital insights for future missions to destinations beyond low Earth orbit, including Mars,” said Laurie Abadie, an aerospace engineer for the program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who strategizes about how to carry out studies on Artemis missions. “The lessons we learn from this crew will help us to more safely accomplish deep space missions and research,” she said. One study on the Artemis II mission, titled Immune Biomarkers, will explore how the immune system reacts to spaceflight. Another study, ARCHeR (Artemis Research for Crew Health and Readiness), will evaluate how crew members perform individually and as a team throughout the mission, including how easily they can move around within the confined space of their Orion spacecraft. Astronauts also will collect a standardized set of measurements spanning multiple physiological systems to provide a comprehensive snapshot of how spaceflight affects the human body as part of a third study called Artemis II Standard Measures. What’s more, radiation sensors placed inside the Orion capsule cells will collect additional information about radiation shielding functionality and organ-on-a-chip devices containing astronaut cells will study how deep space travel affects humans at a cellular level. “Artemis missions present unique opportunities, and challenges, for scientific research,” said Steven Platts, chief scientist for human research at NASA Johnson. Platts explained the mission will need to protect against challenges including exposure to higher radiation levels than on the International Space Station, since the crew will be farther from Earth. “Together, these studies will allow scientists to better understand how the immune system performs in deep space, teach us more about astronauts’ overall well-being ahead of a Mars mission, and help scientists develop ways to ensure the health and success of crew members,” he said. Another challenge is the relatively small quarters. The habitable volume inside Orion is about the size of a studio apartment, whereas the space station is larger than a six-bedroom house with six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree view bay window. That limitation affects everything from exercise equipment selection to how to store saliva samples. Previous research has shown that spaceflight missions can weaken the immune system, reactivate dormant viruses in astronauts, and put the health of the crew at risk. Saliva samples from space-based missions have enabled scientists to assess various viruses, hormones, and proteins that reveal how well the immune system works throughout the mission. But refrigeration to store such samples will not be an option on this mission due to limited space. Instead, for the Immune Biomarkers study, crew members will supply liquid saliva on Earth and dry saliva samples in space and on Earth to assess changes over time. The dry sample process involves blotting saliva onto special paper that’s stored in pocket-sized booklets. “We store the samples in dry conditions before rehydrating and reconstituting them,” said Brian Crucian, an immunologist with NASA Johnson who’s leading the study. After landing, those samples will be analyzed by agency researchers. For the ARCHeR study, participating crew members will wear movement and sleep monitors, called actigraphy devices, before, during, and after the mission. The monitors will enable crew members and flight controllers in mission control to study real-time health and behavioral information for crew safety, and help scientists study how crew members’ sleep and activity patterns affect overall health and performance. Other data related to cognition, behavior, and team dynamics will also be gathered before and after the mission. “Artemis missions will be the farthest NASA astronauts have ventured into space since the Apollo era,” said Suzanne Bell, a NASA psychologist based at Johnson who is leading the investigation. “The study will help clarify key mission challenges, how astronauts work as a team and with mission control, and the usability of the new space vehicle system.”  Another human research study, Artemis II Standard Measures, will involve collecting survey and biological data before, during, and after the Artemis II mission, though blood collection will only occur before and after the mission. Collecting dry saliva samples, conducting psychological assessments, and testing head, eye, and body movements will also be part of the work. In addition, tasks will include exiting a capsule and conducting simulated moonwalk activities in a pressurized spacesuit shortly after return to Earth to investigate how quickly astronauts recover their sense of balance following a mission. Crew members will provide data for these Artemis II health studies beginning about six months before the mission and extending for about a month after they return to Earth. NASA also plans to use the Artemis II mission to help scientists characterize the radiation environment in deep space. Several CubeSats, shoe-box sized satellites that will be deployed into high-Earth orbit during Orion’s transit to the Moon, will probe the near-Earth and deep space radiation environment. Data gathered by these CubeSats will help scientists understand how best to shield crew and equipment from harmful space radiation at various distances from Earth. Crew members will also keep dosimeters in their pockets that measure radiation exposure in real time. Two additional radiation-sensing technologies will also be affixed to the inside of the Orion spacecraft. One type of device will monitor the radiation environment at different shielding locations and alert crew if they need to seek shelter, such as during a solar storm. A separate collection of four radiation monitors, enabled through a partnership with the German Space Agency DLR, will be placed at various points around the cabin by the crew after launch to gather further information. Other technologies also positioned inside the spacecraft will gather information about the potential biological effects of the deep space radiation environment. These will include devices called organ chips that house human cells derived from the Artemis II astronauts, through a project called AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response). After the Artemis II lands, scientists will analyze how these organ chips responded to deep space radiation and microgravity on a cellular level. Together, the insights from all the human research science collected through this mission will help keep future crews safe as humanity extends missions to the Moon and ventures onward to Mars. ____ NASA’s Human Research Program NASA’s Human Research Program pursues methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, commercial missions, the International Space Station and Artemis missions, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research drives the program’s quest to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission ready as human space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Explore More 9 min read Artemis II Crew Both Subjects and Scientists in NASA Deep Space Research Article 20 hours ago 5 min read NASA’s Northrop Grumman CRS-23 Infographics & Hardware Article 21 hours ago 4 min read NASA Uses Colorado Mountains for Simulated Artemis Moon Landing Course Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Living in Space Artemis Human Research Program Space Station Research and Technology View Source Article

Whether intermittent fasting helps anyone is unclear, but it does have known health risks. Who can try the dieting trend, and who should avoid it? View Source Article

New research suggests that if primordial black holes exist, there is a 90% chance our telescopes could detect one exploding in the next 10 years. View Source Article

Nintendo wouldn’t be Nintendo if it didn’t offer surprises every now and again. During its direct showcase, the company revealed more information on the sequel to The Super Mario Bros Movie — The Super Mario Galaxy Movie including a brand new trailer. The teaser trailer was just that, a taste of what’s to come. It features Mario resting under a tree in the Mushroom Kingdom while a butterfly zooms up to space as the theme to Super Mario Galaxy begins to play. We had some inkling Nintendo would go in the galaxy direction for its sequel. The first movie, which grossed over a billion dollars, spawned memes, and earned a Golden Globe nomination, hinted at a wider world beyond the Mushroom Kingdom. There’s also the fact that eagle-eyed internet sleuths found domains registered to NBC Universal, Nintendo’s movie production partner, that contained the name of the film. (An earlier leak also suggested the movie was titled “Super Mario World”.) According to Nintendo executive Shigeru Miyamoto, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will be the centerpiece of Mario’s 40th anniversary celebration. Due out in April, Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black will reprise their roles as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Bowser. View Source Article

Apple Inc. delayed the launch of its new iPhone Air in mainland China, citing regulatory approval issues. View Source Article

This week, managing editor Cherlynn Low and senior reporter Karissa Bell are joined by The Verge's Allison Johnson to talk all about the new iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17. We also answered some questions from Threads and talk about our hopes and dreams from the next Apple event. Also, Devindra and Ben chat about some recent news, including a truly awful AI podcasting company. Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Google Podcasts Topics Cherlynn, Karissa, and a special guest break down the iPhone 17 news from Apple headquarters – 1:04 Notes from the iPhone Air hands on – 14:59 Once again, a big Apple event with no mention of Apple Intelligence – 40:27 Animated movie Critterz will use OpenAI’s tech to try to make a CGI movie on a shoestring budget – 59:24 Inception Point AI wants to use virtual hosts to make 5,000 new podcast episodes a week – 1:04:26 David Zaslav thinks HBO Max should be more expensive, because of course he does – 1:23:27 Working on – 1:25:41 Pop culture picks – 1:28:29 Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn LowGuests: Karissa Bell and Allison Johnson Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-a-deeper-dive-into-the-iphone-17-and-iphone-air-124536155.html?src=rss View Source Article

NSTGRO Homepage Andrew ArendsUniversity of California, DavisAstronaut-Powered Laundry Machine Allan AttiaStanford UniversityComputational Modeling of Lithium Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster for Nuclear Electric Propulsion Michael AuthUniversity of California, Santa BarbaraNon-Contact, Real-Time Diagnostics of Battery Aging in 18650 Cells During the Lunar Night Using Acoustic Spectroscopy Nicholas BrennanCornell UniversitySpin Wave-Based Neuromorphic Coprocessor for Advanced AI Applications John CarterPurdue UniversitySpectroscopic Measurements and Kinetic Modeling of Non-Boltzmann CN for Entry Systems Modeling Thomas ClarkUniversity of Colorado, BoulderData-Driven Representations of Trajectories in Cislunar Space Nicholas CmkovichUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonDevelopment of Radiation Tolerant Additively Manufactured Refractory Compositionally Complex Alloys Kara HardyMichigan Technological UniversityDesign and Optimization of Cuttlebone-Inspired Cellular Materials Using Turing Systems Tyler HeggenesUtah State UniversityMitigating Spacecraft Charging Issues Through High-Precision, Temperature-Dependent Measurements of Dynamic Radiation Induced Conductivity Joseph Hesse-WithbroeUniversity of Colorado, BoulderDecreasing Astronaut Radiation Doses with Magnetic Shields Niya Hope-GlennMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyInvestigating the Selectivity of CO2 Hydrogenation to Ethylene in a Plasma Reactor for Mars ISRU Adrianna HudymaUniversity of MinnesotaBiorthogonal Translation System for Production of Pharmaceuticals During Space Missions Tushaar JainCarnegie Mellon UniversityTowards On-Demand Planetary Landing Through On-Board Autonomous Mapping and Cross-Modality Map Relative Localization Devin JohnsonPurdue UniversityNumerical and Experimental Methodology to Optimize Propellant Injection, Mixing, and Response in Rotating Detonation Engines Jack JoshiUniversity of Texas at AustinState Representations for Measurement Fusion and Uncertainty Propagation in Cislunar Regime John KnollWilliam Marsh Rice UniversityDexterous Manipulation via Vision-Intent-Action Models Joseph LigrestiPurdue UniversityEffects of Vacuum Conditions on FORP Reactivity and Long-Term Viability of MON-25/MMH Thrusters Alexander MadisonUniversity of Central FloridaHybrid Microwave Sintering of Lunar Regolith with 2.45GHz and 18-28GHz Aurelia Moriyama-GurishYale UniversityInvestigating Fundamental High Strain Rate Deformation Mechanisms to Bridge the Experiment-Computation Gap and Local Thermal Shock Response in C103 Sophia NowakUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonPulsed Laser System for Calibration of High Resolution X-ray Microcalorimeters Jacob OrtegaMissouri University of Science and TechnologyForging the Future Lunar Settlement with In-Situ Aluminum Extraction John Riley O’TooleUniversity of MichiganLaser-Based Measurements of Electron Properties in Hall Effect Thrusters with Non-Conventional Propellants Enabling for Cis-Lunar, Mars, and Deep Space Missions Cort ReinarzTexas A&M UniversityUtilizing Biometrics in Closed-Loop Compression Garment Systems as a Countermeasure for Orthostatic Intolerance Erica SawczynecUniversity of Texas at AustinA Monolithic Cross-Dispersed Grism for Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Ingrid ShanCalifornia Institute of TechnologyMicro-Architected Metallic Lattices for Lunar Dust Mitigation Pascal SpinoMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCentimeter-Scale Robots for Accessing Europa’s Benthic Zone Benjamin SternNorthwestern University, ChicagoA Near-Field Thermoreflectance Approach for Nanoscale Thermal Mapping on Nanostructured Sige Titus SzobodyWilliam Marsh Rice UniversityLeveraging Polymeric Photochemistry in Ionic Liquid-Based Mirror Synthesis for Space Telescope Optics Seneca VellingCalifornia Institute of TechnologyConstraining Weathering Kinetics Under Experimentally Simulated Venus Conditions Zhuochen WangGeorgia Institute of TechnologyOptimal Covariance Steering on Lie Groups for Precision Powered Descent Stanley WangStanford UniversityCompact Robots with Long Reach for Space Exploration and Maintenance Tasks Thomas WestenhoferUniversity of California, IrvineKinetic Modeling of Carbon Mass Loss in Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Andrew WittyPurdue UniversityScalable Nanoporous Paints with High Solar Reflectance and Durability in Space Environments Jonathan WriedenUniversity of Maryland, College ParkA Stochastic Model for Predicting Charged Orbital Debris Probability Densities by Utilizing Earth’s Electromagnetic Field to Guide Active Debris Remediation Efforts Jasen ZionCalifornia Institute of TechnologyLarge-Format, Fast SNSPD Cameras Benchmarked with Neutral Atom Arrays Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate Space Technology Research Grants NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) Technology Share Details Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related TermsSpace Technology Research GrantsSpace Technology Mission Directorate View Source Article

Forecasters warn of possible G2 geomagnetic storms as a colossal coronal hole sends solar wind racing our way. View Source Article

A busy year for Nintendo continues with its latest Direct livestream. And it’s a big one: Nintendo says to expect around an hour of news and announcements for games coming to the Switch 2. For the first time in a recent memory, Silksong isn’t the major focus of attention. But following the launch of Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, there are still a handful of major titles hitting the console this year, including Kirby Air Riders (which we just learned a bunch about), Pokémon Legends: Z-A (which is shaping up well), and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (which still doesn’t have a release date). So you can likely expect more on all or most of those heavy-hitters. But given the lengthy runtime, there should be plenty of surprises in store from Nintendo as well. Stay tuned here for the most important developments as they happen. Switch, too. Fall into another Nintendo Direct. View Source Article

Apple's Awe Dropping event started with dramatic health testimonials from Apple Watch users, then revealed a key new feature for the new Watch Series 11: hypertension alerts. The function had yet to receive FDA approval at the time, but that has now been granted, according to Bloomberg. As a result, it will reportedly be available to users in 150 countries when the Watch 11 and Ultra Watch 3 ship starting on September 19.  Hypertension alerts can help detect hypertension (high blood pressure), a potentially dangerous condition that affects over a billion people. The feature relies on the Watch's optical heart sensor, but now uses new machine learning algorithm that also draws from a study involving more than 100,000 participants to look for high blood pressure. It works in the background a month-long period to seek patterns associated with hypertension. Unlike devices that measure your specific blood pressure, it only tells users that there may be a danger.  Last year, Apple received the FDA's nod for its over-the-counter Hearing Aid function that transforms the second-gen AirPods Pro into OTC hearing aids for people with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. Another recently approved feature is sleep apnea detection. However, the company is currently facing a lawsuit over the Apple Watch's redesigned blood oxygen monitoring feature.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-series-11-receives-fda-approval-for-hypertension-alerts-120046036.html?src=rss View Source Article

A swarm of galaxies called the Bullet Cluster is the biggest, best natural laboratory for studying dark matter that astronomers have ever seen View Source Article

NASA's experimental X-59 jet is designed to fly faster than sound —but also dampen the infamous sonic "boom." View Source Article

The iPhone Air is too slim for a SIM. Apple has postponed preorders of the iPhone Air in mainland China, which were due to open today, with regulatory issues around eSIM almost certainly to blame. The Chinese store page for the super-slim iPhone says that “release information will be updated later” (translated from Chinese). Apple had originally announced that the Air would go on preorder in China at the same time as in the US, 8AM ET today, with full availability from September 19th. Its other three new iPhones — the 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max — are all available to preorder now, and ship from next week. The issue is most likely Apple’s decision to make the Air eSIM-only worldwide. eSIM has never been widely available in mainland China, and phones manufactured for the local market still don’t include support (which has tripped me up a few times when I’ve gone traveling in Europe with a review unit of a Chinese phone!). None of Apple’s previous iPhone support eSIM in China, nor do any of the three iPhone 17 models. Earlier this week Apple’s support page for eSIM in China declared that “China Unicom is the only supported eSIM carrier for iPhone.” That page has now been updated, and says that “pending regulatory approval” all three of the country’s state-owned main carriers will offer eSIM, including China Mobile and China Telecom. The South China Morning Post reports that Apple has told Chinese media that it is “working closely with regulatory authorities to bring [the iPhone Air] to China as soon as possible.” View Source Article

Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng Inc. is recalling 47,490 of its P7+ sedans, a move that will impact at least 70% of the customers who have purchased one, due to a steering issue that poses safety risks. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Ellen Huet looks at the rapid improvement in memory retention by the popular AI chatbots. View Source Article

As is often the case, the tech news tide is out after Apple’s iPhone 17 event. (Did we do a dedicated newsletter on all the announcements? Yes, yes we did.) Before the weekend, though, there’s still more to read about. But let’s start with the not-great tech news. David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, plans to make HBO more expensive and passwords a lot harder to share. These were part of his comments at a Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, which sounds awful. The main thrust of his argument was that HBO Max’s content is so good that Zaslav thinks he should charge a lot more for it. — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The news you might have missed The best new computers to replace your old Windows 10 PC Lenovo Legion Go 2 hands-on: Powerful upgrades but with an even higher price Gmail will now filter your purchases into a new tab How to choose the best TV for gaming right now iPhone Air hands-on: The super sleek precursor to Apple’s upcoming foldable Video Games Weekly: It’s weird that esports are segregated by gender NASA’s Perseverance rover finds potential signs of ancient life on Mars Takara Tomy is releasing a Poké Ball virtual pet toy Tamagotchi but with... Pokémon. Takara Tomy Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy is releasing a Poké Ball virtual pet toy, so you can fulfill your dreams of carrying your favorite Pokémon around with you everywhere. There are seven partner Pokémon you can care for: Pikachu, Eevee, Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly, Lucario and Sylveon. And if you pet the device, it reacts. Cute! There are also 150 other Pokémon to interact with inside the toy. While it appears to be a Japan-only release, the pet will have an English language option according to the product page. So, some of you are already convinced, right? Priced around $51, pre-orders are open, though currently sold out on Amazon Japan, and the device will ship on October 11. Now, to decide whether to pick Pikachu or Eevee. Continue reading. A closer look at the AirPods Pro 3 ANC, live translation and heart-rate tracking. With a little bit of breathing space after the initial media full-court press earlier this week, Billy Steele gave the AirPods Pro 3 a closer listen. Apple says the ANC on the AirPods Pro 3 blocks twice as much noise as the AirPods Pro 2 and four times as much as the original AirPods Pro. While there’s technology at work (ultra-low noise microphones and computational audio), new foam-infused ear tips offer better passive noise isolation. In short, less noise gets in. Continue reading. Grok claimed the Charlie Kirk assassination video was a ‘meme edit’ The chatbot repeatedly told X users that Kirk was ‘fine.’ X’s AI assistant Grok has once again been caught spreading blatant misinformation. In several bizarre exchanges, the chatbot repeatedly claimed that Charlie Kirk was “fine” and that gruesome videos of his assassination were a “meme edit.” One user tagged Grok and asked if Kirk could have survived the shooting. Grok’s response was nonsensical: “Charlie Kirk takes the roast in stride with a laugh — he’s faced tougher crowds,” it wrote. “Yes, he survives this one easily.” Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-hbo-max-is-going-to-get-more-expensive-111533620.html?src=rss View Source Article

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Universe Uncovered Hubble’s Partners in Science AI and Hubble Science Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Science Operations Astronaut Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read Hubble Surveys Cloudy Cluster This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the nebula LMC N44C. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray, J. Maíz Apellániz This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a cloudy starscape from an impressive star cluster. This scene is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa. With a mass equal to 10–20% of the mass of the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the dozens of small galaxies that orbit our galaxy. The Large Magellanic Cloud is home to several massive stellar nurseries where gas clouds, like those strewn across this image, coalesce into new stars. Today’s image depicts a portion of the galaxy’s second-largest star-forming region, which is called N11. (The most massive and prolific star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Tarantula Nebula, is a frequent target for Hubble.) We see bright, young stars lighting up the gas clouds and sculpting clumps of dust with powerful ultraviolet radiation. This image marries observations made roughly 20 years apart, a testament to Hubble’s longevity. The first set of observations, which were carried out in 2002–2003, capitalized on the exquisite sensitivity and resolution of the then-newly-installed Advanced Camera for Surveys. Astronomers turned Hubble toward the N11 star cluster to do something that had never been done before at the time: catalog all the stars in a young cluster with masses between 10% of the Sun’s mass and 100 times the Sun’s mass. The second set of observations came from Hubble’s newest camera, the Wide Field Camera 3. These images focused on the dusty clouds that permeate the cluster, providing us with a new perspective on cosmic dust. Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated Sep 11, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Nebulae Star-forming Nebulae Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble’s Nebulae These ethereal veils of gas and dust tell the story of star birth and death. Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge 35 Years of Hubble Images View Source Article

 In his new book, Daniel Yon explains how our brain is constantly constructing reality View Source Article

The Xperia 10 VII’s camera bar looks Pixel-perfect. Sony has announced the Xperia 10 VII, a midrange Android phone that’s launching in the UK, Europe, and Asia, though not the US. It’s more notable than most Sony phones because it marks the first major change to the rear design in over five years: a camera bar, just like recent Pixels, and now even iPhones. The Xperia Android line has kept its cameras vertically stacked in one corner since the first-generation Xperia 5 in 2019, with only rare exceptions like the standalone Xperia Pro-I. But the 10 VII reinvents that design language with a horizontal camera pair mounted in a pill-shaped raised bar that stretches across the phone’s back. The matte plastic body comes in black, white, or turquoise, and looks like no Xperia phone before it. It looks a little more like Google’s Pixel phones, a design also aped by Apple’s iPhone Air this week. Things are more recognizable from the front, with Sony’s familiar insistence on a chunky bezel above and below the display. That means the phone isn’t quite as compact as its 120Hz 6.1-inch display would suggest, but it’s still smaller and lighter than most. It also follows the recent Xperia 1 models in ditching what used to be a trademark 21:9 aspect ratio, now using boxier and more traditional 19.5:9 proportions. There are a few other standard Sony touches though. Most welcome for some will be the 3.5mm headphone jack, and the same crowd are likely to love the expandable microSD storage. The big bezel packs front-facing stereo speakers too, and the joint IP65 / 68 rating is better than most offer. There’s also a side-mounted single-stage camera shutter button — a feature that’s less unique than it used to be. Otherwise, this is a pretty by-the-numbers midranger. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset is no powerhouse, and the dual rear cameras — a 50-megapixel main and 13-megapixel ultrawide — sound typical for the price. The 5,000mAh battery should last for two days according to Sony, but charging is limited to wired. I’ve always liked the look of Sony’s modern phones, even if they’ve often lagged behind the competition elsewhere. They were beginning to look a little dated though, and I’m a definite fan of the new design. Sony recently reiterated that the Xperia phones are “very important” to it — hopefully this redesign is a sign of some commitment to the line, and that we’ll see it extend to next year’s flagship model too. The Xperia 10 VII costs €449 / £399 (around $530) and is available to preorder now in the UK and Europe, shipping from September 19th. View Source Article

The Drag Prediction Workshop series is an extensive international effort to improve transonic aerodynamic predictions. This long-running collaborative effort seeks to mobilize the international aerospace community to improve the computational methods and tools to predict transonic aircraft performance, particularly drag.More details on the workshop can be found at the workshop website: https://www.aiaa-dpw.orgNASA has a storied history with the workshop series from DPW-I (hosted in 2001) through the upcoming DPW-8, held in concert with Aeroelastic Prediction Workshop 4. In addition to code and methods improvements, the series also resulted in the NASA/Boeing Common Research Model (https://commonresearchmodel.larc.nasa.gov/), an open-access, commercially-relevant aircraft geometry. This geometry has been extensively tested in many facilities throughout the world and been the subject of multiple workshop series.NASA’s contributions to the upcoming DPW-8 and subsequent work will be highlighted on this page. Read More Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System Share Details Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 Related TermsGeneral View Source Article

NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy pushed back against recent claims that the agency is losing ground to China in the race back to the moon, promising the Artemis program will get astronauts there first, in a closed NASA town hall. View Source Article

Here's a hot take: gaming handhelds are better with prongs. How do I know? I hold a lot of handhelds (and gamepads) here at The Verge, but Microsoft and Asus's upcoming Xbox Ally X might take the cake for the most comfortable to hold. And that handheld has basically the exact same design as the existing ROG Ally X I've reviewed not once but twice - except for two big prongs that let you grip the device. Seriously, check out my comparison photos: the Xbox Ally X is an Ally X with upside-down antlers. It's the one distinguishing design change, and that change alone instantly makes it feel comfortable, familiar, and secure. From the fro … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Elon Musk may be trying to pivot Tesla Inc. away from electric vehicles and toward humanoid robots, but to skeptical investors there’s no hiding from its stagnating sales and eye-watering stock market valuation that leaves little room for error. View Source Article

If you travel or sometimes work away from your desk, a laptop power bank may come in handy. These larger portable chargers pack enough power to refill a phone multiple times, a tablet a couple times over and get most laptops from near-dead to work-ready in around an hour. Over the past few years, I’ve tested dozens of batteries for our power banks guide and a number of them make great options for laptops. These are the best laptop power banks based on our testing, along with a bit of info on how to fly with a portable battery and what to look for in a good one. Table of contents Best laptop power banks for 2025 What to look for in a laptop power bank How we test portable laptop chargers Other laptop power banks we tested Laptop power bank FAQs Recent updates Best laptop power banks for 2025 What to look for in a laptop power bank Flying with a laptop power bank Most portable batteries top out at around 27,000mAh so you can fly with them. The TSA currently limits the capacity carry-on batteries to 100Wh, which works out to around 27,500mAh for 3.6 volt lithium-ion batteries. Note that you’re not allowed to pack any batteries in your checked luggage, regardless of capacity. The TSA rules are intended to limit fire danger — and some airlines are implementing further restrictions due to recent on-board incidents. In March 2025, a Hong Kong flight was grounded after a battery pack caught fire in an overhead bin. A similar situation happened in July on a domestic Delta flight, and again in August on a transatlantic KLM flight. As a result, some airlines, including Emirates, Southwest and others have announced further restrictions on flying with battery packs. Rules include limiting the number of allowed portable chargers and requiring flyers to keep power banks in clear view when using them to recharge a device. If the battery pack isn’t actively in use, however, most rules allow them to stay in your carry-on bag in the overhead bin. Before flying, it’s wise to check your airline’s policies. Capacity If you just need to keep a smartphone from dying before you can make it home, just about any of the best power banks will do. But if you need to revive multiple devices or the substantial battery of a laptop, you’ll want something with a high milliamp-hour​​ (mAh) capacity. A power bank capable of delivering enough power to a laptop will have a capacity between 20,000 and 27,000 mAh. If you want something even bigger than a laptop power bank, and don’t need to fly with it, you’ll likely want to look into portable power stations. These can be the size of a car battery or larger and can potentially fuel an entire weekend away. Another thing to keep in mind is that the capacity listed in a power bank's specs is not what will be delivered to your devices. As I mentioned, the capacity of these banks is around 25,000mAh. Even the huge battery on a 16-inch MacBook Pro or a Dell XPS 16 has a mAh rating of around 5,000 - 6,000mAh, so you might think you’d get five full charges but in reality, you only get about a single 70-percent charge. The voltage is different (typically 3.7V for the power bank and 11.4V for a laptop) which makes the watt-hours, or the amount of energy each battery can hold, different (working out to 92Wh for the battery and 72Wh for the built-in laptop batteries). On top of that, in order to feed a charge from a power bank to a laptop, a voltage conversion takes place and that dissipates a decent amount of energy. Without turning this into a physics lesson, this all means that a power bank with a 25,000mAh (or 92Wh) capacity will typically fill a 5,000mAh (or 72Wh) laptop battery to about 75 percent. In my tests, I averaged about a 60-percent efficiency rate between a power bank’s listed capacity and the actual charge delivered. Ports Every large power bank I’ve tested has at least three USB ports, with a mix of USB-C and USB-A, which should cover nearly any portable device you need to recharge — earbuds, phones, tablets, laptops, you name it. In addition to the different plug formats, some ports supply power at different wattages. For example, one built-in USB-C port might be rated for 60 watts, while the one next to it is rated for 100 watts. So if you’ve got a device that’s capable of 70W fast charging, such as the new MacBook Air, you’d want to opt for the 100W port to get the best charging speeds possible.  Note that devices with a smaller wattage draw won’t be negatively affected by connecting to ports with high ratings. For example, a Galaxy S24 Ultra, capable of 45W super fast charging, is perfectly compatible with the 100W port. A device will only draw what it can take, regardless of what a port can supply. Just remember that the port, device and charging cable need to be at or above the desired wattage rating to achieve maximum charging rates. Some of these larger batteries also have AC ports. It might seem like a natural fit to plug in your laptop’s power adapter for a recharge. But really, the AC port should only be for devices that can’t use USB — such as a lamp or a printer. Plugging a power adapter into the AC port only wastes energy through conversion. First, the battery converts its DC power to supply the port with AC power, then the power adapter converts that AC power back to DC so your laptop can take it in. And as you’ll remember from physics class, each time energy is converted, some is lost to heat and other dissipations. Better to cut out the middleman and just send that DC power straight from the battery to the device. Also, you can use more than one port at a time with these devices; just remember that the speed of whatever you’re charging will likely go down, and of course, the battery is going to drain proportionally to what you’re refilling. Wireless charging Just in the last year and a half that I’ve been testing portable power banks, wireless charging capabilities have noticeably improved. The first few I tried were painfully slow and not worth recommending. Now the wireless pads built into power banks are impressively fast — particularly, in my experience, when charging Samsung Galaxy phones (though the lack of a stabilizing magnetic connection like Apple’s MagSafe means they only work when rested flat on a pad). Most wireless charging connections can be used while other ports are also being employed, making them convenient for some mobile battlestation setups. Of course, wireless charging is always less efficient than wired, and recharging from an external battery is less efficient in general. If you want to waste as little energy as possible, you’re better off sticking to wired connections. Design All power banks are designed to be portable, but there’s a big difference between a pocket-friendly 5,000mAh battery and one of these laptop-compatible bruisers. Most of the latter weigh between a pound and a half to two pounds, which is a considerable addition to a backpack. Many of the options listed here have a display to tell you how much charge remains in the battery, which is helpful when you’re trying to judiciously meet out charges to your devices. If a bank has a wireless connection, the pad is usually on the flat top and any available AC connection is usually at one end. Both may require you to engage those charging methods. Don’t be like me and grumble loudly that you got a bum unit without pressing (and sometimes double pressing) all the buttons first. How we test portable laptop chargers For the past two years, I’ve been testing and using dozens of portable batteries for our other battery guide. Some of those batteries include the higher-capacity power banks you see here. I also got a hold of a few extra banks just for this guide to make sure we covered what’s available. I went for brands I’m already familiar with, as well as battery packs from well-received manufacturers I hadn’t tried before (like UGREEN and Lion Energy). I only considered banks with at least a 20,000mAh capacity and mostly stuck with those that rated 25,000mAh and higher. Here’s everything we tested: Zendure Supertank Pro Mophie Powerstation Pro XL Mophie Powerstation Pro AC Lion Energy Eclipse Mag Lion Energy Trek Baseus Blade Laptop Anker Prime 27,650mAh Goal Zero Sherpa 100 AC Anker Retractable Cable Laptop Bank HyperJuice 245W I tested each power bank with an Apple phone (iPhone 15), an Android phone (Galaxy S23 Ultra), a tablet (M1 iPad Air) and a laptop (16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip). Even though these banks can charge multiple devices at once, I refilled one at a time, to make side-by-side comparisons more straightforward. I drained the batteries of the phones and tablets to between zero and five percent and then didn’t use any device as it refilled. For the MacBook, I let it run down to 10 percent before plugging in the power bank. That's when most laptops give display a “connect to power” warning, as draining any battery to empty will compromise the battery life. I then used it as one might in a mobile office, with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, while connected to Wi-Fi and a VPN. For each test, I noted how long a completely charged battery took to get a device back to full and how much of the battery’s capacity was used up in one charge. I also noted things like portability, apparent durability, helpful features and overall design. For reference, here are the battery capacities of the devices I used: iPhone 15: 3,349mAh Galaxy S23 Ultra: 4,855mAh iPad Air (5th gen): 7,729mAh 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro: 27,027mAh Other laptop power banks we tested HyperJuice 245W Hyper’s HyperJuice 245W brick looks great and has a hefty 27,000mAh capacity. The four USB-C ports can combine to output 245W of power and it got my MacBook Pro from nearly dead to 75 percent before depleting itself. When testing it with a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, the handset got back up to a full charge in just over an hour. The screen tells you what each port is doing as well as displaying the amount of charge remaining in the pack itself. But the lack of port variety makes it feel less versatile than other picks on this list — the price is higher than our other options, too. Laptop power bank FAQs How do laptop power banks differ from phone power banks? The main difference is size. Phone power banks tend to have a capacity ranging from 5,000mAh to 20,000mAh and laptop powerbanks are typically rated between 20,000mAh and 27,000mAh. There’s no official definition, however. Laptop batteries are simply larger and need a bigger supply of power to give them a meaningful charge. How do you fast charge a power bank? You can charge a power bank exactly as fast as the power bank’s internal mechanisms will allow. Most batteries are limited in how quickly they can accept and deliver a charge to avoid dangerously overheating. But to make sure you’re charging a bank as quickly as possible, make sure the wall adapter and the USB-C cable you are using have a high wattage rating — using a 5W power brick and a 10W cable will take a lot longer to refill your bank than a 65W wall charger and a 100W cord. What size power bank do I need for a laptop? Look for a power bank with a rating of at least 20,000mAh. Slightly smaller batteries may work, but they won’t deliver a significant charge laptops. How many mAh to charge a laptop? A milliamp hour (mAh) is how much a battery can hold, and most portable batteries list their capacity using mAh. If you get a battery rated at 20,000mAh or above, it should be able to charge your laptop. Using mAh to discuss laptop batteries can be confusing. Due to differing voltages, you can’t directly compare the mAh ratings of a power bank battery to a laptop battery. Using watt-hours is a better gauge, as that calculation takes voltage into account. Recent updates August 2025: Changed our runner up travel pick for a new Anker battery. Updated information about flying with power banks. Added a section about other batteries we tested.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-laptop-power-bank-120040388.html?src=rss View Source Article

Microsoft has avoided a fine from the European Commission after it was charged with EU antitrust violations for bundling its Teams app with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. The European Commission says it has accepted commitments from Microsoft to address competition concerns related to Microsoft Teams, following an anti-competitive complaint filed by Slack in July 2020. “The commitments address the Commission’s concerns related to the tying of Microsoft Teams to the company’s popular productivity applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, included in its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites for business customers,” says the European Commission. Microsoft has committed to do the following: Make available versions of its Office suites without Teams and at a reduced price Allow customers with long-term licenses to switch to suites without Teams Provide interoperability for key functionalities between communication and collaboration tools that compete with Teams and certain Microsoft products Allow customers to move their data out of Teams to facilitate the use of competing solutions Most of the commitments from Microsoft will be enforced by EU lawmakers for seven years, with the interoperability and data portability ones in force for 10 years. Microsoft originally unbundled Teams from Office in Europe in 2023 in an attempt to address regulator concerns, and then spun off Teams from Office 365 as its own separate app globally last year. “Organizations big and small across Europe and around the world rely heavily on videoconferencing, chat and collaboration tools, especially since the coronavirus pandemic,” says Teresa Ribera, executive vice president for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition at the European Commission. “Today’s decision therefore opens up competition in this crucial market, and ensures that businesses can freely choose the communication and collaboration product that best suits their needs.” EU lawmakers first opened a Microsoft antitrust investigation into Teams bundling in 2023, after Slack filed its anti-competitive complaint amid intense competition with Microsoft that developed after the covid-19 pandemic began. Slack’s original complaint alleged that Microsoft had “illegally tied” its Microsoft Teams product to Office and is “force installing it for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers.” View Source Article

France’s tax on digital services, criticized by Silicon Valley and US President Donald Trump, won the backing of the nation’s constitutional judges. View Source Article

Microsoft Corp. avoided a hefty antitrust penalty after the European Union accepted its commitments to settle a probe into the alleged illegal bundling of its Teams video-conferencing app. View Source Article

Asus’ ProArt P16 laptop is getting RTX 50-series GPUs and a unique new screen in its high-end configuration. Its biggest upgrades include Nvidia’s top-tier RTX 5090 mobile GPU and a bright 16-inch 3840 x 2400 tandem OLED touchscreen, capable of up to 1,600 nits of brightness in HDR and 120Hz refresh with VRR. The new flagship P16 will cost $3,999.99 at Best Buy and direct from Asus when it launches internationally in mid-October and in the US in December. Other key specs and features of the P16 include an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU (same as the 2024 model), 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM, 4TB of SSD storage (via two 2TB NVMe drives), Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. It’s also got a bunch of ports, including one 40Gbps USB4, one 10Gbps USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, two 10Gbps USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm audio jack, and SD Express 7.0 card slot. It’s a whole lot of laptop, designed to be a direct Windows alternative to a 16-inch MacBook Pro (it even comes in all black). Like previous P16s, it’s basically a creator-focused version of the Intel-based Asus ROG Zephyrus G16. That means it’s fairly thin at 14.9mm / 0.59 inches, and at 1.95kg / 4.3 pounds it’s decently light for its size. It also means it’s likely to have at least a little thermal throttling under the heaviest of loads from creative apps and graphically intensive games — as has been the case for the Zephyrus laptops. And Asus’ tech specs track with that, as the P16’s 5090 GPU is rated for up to 120W total graphics power (TGP), though the card can potentially go up to 150W according to Nvidia. Still, just like the ROG Zephyrus G14 and G16 are excellent gaming laptops (particularly if you value portability), the new P16 sounds pretty good for a creative laptop — at least on paper. To cater it more toward creators than the Zephyrus line, Asus put that brighter tandem OLED screen with more resolution and touch compatibility in the new flagship config. The P16 also features Asus’ DialPad, a ring-shaped dial built into the trackpad for extra control of sliders in creative apps like those from Adobe. If $4,000 is too high an asking price, Asus is also keeping the entry-level 2024 model with an RTX 4060 around for $1,999.99. And there are mid-tier options for the new 2025 version with RTX 5070 and 5080 GPU options, the former of which starts at $2,499.99 and sports the same AMD Ryzen 370HX CPU, 32GB of RAM, 2TB SSD, and a non-tandem 4K / 60Hz OLED display. Not as fancy-sounding as Asus’ halo config, but not too shabby either. View Source Article

The best gaming keyboards bring a greater feeling of comfort and control to your PC play time, whether you’re sinking into a 100-hour RPG or sweating through an online shooter. They may not always feel as premium for typing as a good custom mechanical keyboard, but they’re usually a nice upgrade over the ordinary keyboards sitting around the office. To help anyone looking to upgrade, I’ve spent more time researching gaming keyboards than any person reasonably should, testing dozens of well-reviewed models along the way. Whether you want something mini, analog, wireless or just plain cheap, these are the best I’ve used. What to look for in a gaming keyboard To be clear, any keyboard can be a “gaming keyboard.” If you play lots of video games and have never sighed to yourself, “man, this keyboard is holding me back,” congratulations, you probably don’t need to pay extra for a new one. Self-proclaimed gaming keyboards often come at a premium, and while the best offer high-quality designs, snazzy RGB lighting and a few genuinely worthwhile features, none of them will give you god-like skill, nor will they suddenly turn bad games into good ones. Mechanical vs non-mechanical Now that we’ve touched grass, I did prioritize some features while researching this guide. First, I mostly stuck to mechanical keyboards, not laptop-style membrane models. They can be loud, but they’re more durable, customizable and broadly satisfying to press — all positive traits for a product you may use for hours-long gaming sessions. Size Next, I preferred tenkeyless (TKL) or smaller layouts. It’s totally fine to use a full-size board if you really want a number pad, but a compact model gives you more space to flick your mouse around. It also lets you keep your mouse closer to your body, which can reduce the tension placed on your arms and shoulders. From top to bottom: A 96 percent keyboard, an 80 percent (or tenkeyless) keyboard and a 60 percent keyboard. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Switches, keycaps and build quality Linear switches, which are often branded as “red,” are generally favored by gamers. These give keystrokes a smooth feel from top to bottom, with no tactile “bump” that could make fast, repeated presses less consistent. They usually require little force to actuate, and they tend to be quiet. However, if you prefer the feel and/or sound of a more tactile or clicky switch, get one of those instead. You might lose some speed in esports-style games, but nothing is more important than your comfort. Some gaming keyboards are based on different mechanisms entirely. Optical switches, for instance, use a beam of light to register keystrokes, while Hall effect switches use magnets. These often feel linear, but they allow for a more versatile set of gaming-friendly features, such as the ability to set custom actuation points, assign multiple commands to one key and repeat key presses faster. In general, they’re faster and more durable too. The Wooting 60HE+ is one gaming keyboard that has helped popularize the use of magnetic Hall effect switches. Jeff Dunn for Engadget This analog-style functionality has become the big trend in the gaming keyboard market over the last few years. Most of the major keyboard brands now sell at least one model with Hall effect switches and, based on my testing, it’s easy to see why: Many of their customizations really can give you a more granular (yet still fair) sense of control, especially in more competitive games. Consequently, many of our picks below are built with the tech. Keyboards with these kind of features usually aren’t cheap, however, and they’re far from essential for those who mainly play single-player games. Some of their tricks have also stirred up controversy: One known as SOCD (Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions) cleaning allows you to activate two different directional keys at the same time, making it possible to, among other things, achieve impossibly perfect strafing in shooting games. A few games such as Counter-Strike 2 have banned the feature as a result, though it can still be a fun thing to play around with in games that don’t involve other people. SOCD isn’t limited to magnetic switches either; some mechanical keyboards support it too. A small handful of recent keyboards have shipped with inductive switches, which promise the adjustable actuation features of Hall effect keyboards but with better battery efficiency. We haven’t been able to test one of these just yet, but we’ll look to do so in the future. A handful of dye-sub PBT keycaps. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Keycaps and build quality Regardless of switch type, you want a frame that doesn’t flex under pressure, keys that don’t wobble and stabilizers that don’t rattle when you hit larger keys like the spacebar. I prefer double-shot PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) keycaps over those that use cheaper ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic, as they won’t develop a greasy shine over time and their icons are less likely to fade. A hot-swappable PCB (printed circuit board) that makes it easy to change switches if the mood arises is ideal, as are dedicated media keys. For the sake of simplicity, I only considered prebuilt gaming keyboards for this guide, though many of the picks below allow for customization down the line. If you (and your bank account) really want to go wild, check out our guide to building a custom keyboard. Software, connectivity and RGB If a keyboard has companion software, it should let you program macros and custom key bindings for games without frustration. For convenience, a wired keyboard should connect through a detachable USB-C cable. A good wireless keyboard won’t add serious lag, but only if it uses a USB receiver, not Bluetooth. (It’ll probably cost more as well.) Some gaming keyboards advertise super-high polling rates — i.e., the speed at which a keyboard reports to a computer — to reduce latency, but unless your monitor has an especially fast refresh rate, the usual standard of 1,000Hz should be fine. And while nobody needs RGB lighting, it’s fun. Consumer tech could use more of that, so the cleaner and more customizable the RGB is, the better. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget How we tested The best way to evaluate a keyboard is to just… use it, so that’s what I did. To cover a variety of use cases and design styles, I’ve researched dozens of keyboards over the past several months that’ve broadly received high marks from professional reviewers and users alike. I’ve then used each model I’ve brought in as my daily driver for a few days. Since I write for a living, this gave me enough time to get a strong sense of each keyboard’s typing experience. For gaming, I give special focus to each keyboard’s responsiveness in fast and/or reaction-based online shooters such as Halo Infinite, Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, Valorant, Overwatch 2 and XDefiant, as many would-be gaming keyboard buyers get one in the hopes that it’ll help with that genre in particular. I made sure each keyboard felt comfortable with other types of games, though, such as Baldur’s Gate 3 (a turn-based RPG), Hi-Fi Rush (an action game with an emphasis on timing and rhythm) and Forza Horizon 5 (an arcade racing game). I used the latter to better evaluate the pressure-sensitive features of the analog keyboards I tested. If a keyboard could be configured with multiple switch types, I got the linear model. Upon receiving each keyboard, I removed several keycaps to ensure none were chipped or broken. I noted whether any keys felt wobbly, whether the case flexes under pressure, whether the texture and finish of the keycaps changes after use and whether larger keys like the spacebar felt particularly rattly or hollow. I typed on each keyboard in quick succession in a quiet room to get a sense of where they ranked in terms of noise. For wireless models, I checked whether the battery drain at 50 percent RGB brightness aligned with a manufacturer’s estimate. I looked to results from sites like Rtings to ensure nothing was out of order with latency. I did my testing on a 144Hz monitor with my personal rig, which includes a 10th-gen Core i9 CPU and an RTX 3080 GPU. This helped me ensure each keyboard met a baseline of overall quality, but to reiterate, so much of this process is subjective. I can tell you if a keyboard is loud based on how I slam my keys, for instance, but you may have a lighter touch. What my tastes find “comfortable,” “pleasing,” or even “useful,” you may dislike. As I’ve written before, keyboards are like food or art in that way. So, keep an open mind. Other gaming keyboards we tested The Wooting 60HE. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Note: The following is a selection of noteworthy gaming keyboards we’ve put through their paces, not a comprehensive list of everything we’ve ever tried. Wooting 60HE+ You can consider the Wooting 60HE+ our “1A” pick, as it’s essentially a more compact version of the 80HE with a 60 percent layout. It supports the same analog gaming features, has the same four-year warranty and still uses the great Wootility software. It’s also $25 cheaper. If you prefer a smaller design and don’t need arrow keys, you can buy it with confidence. However, more people will find the 80HE’s larger layout easier to use on a day-to-day basis. Its gasket mount, updated switches and extra sound-dampening material make it more pleasant-sounding and comfier for typing out of the box. Plus, while the 60HE+ can only rest at one fixed angle, the 80HE comes with a few sets of removable feet. It's also worth noting that Wooting has announced an updated model called the 60HE V2 since our last update. That one is expected to arrive by the end of 2025, so if you're not in a rush it may be worth holding out for a few more months.  Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid is a good magnetic-switch alternative to the Wooting 80HE if you must buy from one of the major keyboard brands. It’s wired-only, but it looks good, with clear RGB lighting, a built-in volume roller, dedicated media keys and a sturdy metal top plate. The expected rapid trigger and adjustable actuation tricks all work fine, and Logitech’s G Hub software is easier to get around than most apps from the big-name manufacturers. It can recognize when you’ve launched certain games, for instance, then apply any custom profiles you’ve made for them automatically. It's $10 cheaper than the 80HE as well. Where it falls short is the typing experience: The default switches are pretty noisy, and bottoming out the keys feels stiffer here compared to our top picks. If you want those Wooting-style features and prefer a clackier sound, however, it’s a decent buy. Logitech G Pro X TKL and G Pro X 60 The wireless Logitech G Pro X TKL and G Pro X 60, which use more traditional mechanical switches, aren’t as hot. They’re built well, but they’re too pricey to not be hot-swappable or lack the analog features of the 80HE. There isn’t much sound-dampening foam in either models, too, so neither sounds great. We like that both come with a carrying case, though. The Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid. Jeff Dunn for Engadget Keychron C3 Pro The tenkeyless Keychron C3 Pro is the top budget pick in our mechanical keyboard guide, and it remains a great stand-in for the G.Skill KM250 RGB if you want to stay under $50. With its gasket mount design, internal foam and pre-lubed switches, it feels and sounds fuller to press. The base version we tested lacks hot-swappable switches and only has a red backlight, but Keychron has released a revised model that addresses that and add full RGB. That said, its ABS keycaps still feel cheaper and can develop a shine over time, plus there’s no volume knob. Some may find KM250’s smaller size more convenient for gaming, too.  A more recent update called the C3 Pro 8K does include PBT keycaps for $55; we'll aim to test that one in the future. Keychron Q1 HE The Keychron Q1 HE is sort of an older version of the Lemokey P1 HE with the same magnetic switches and a similarly excellent aluminum chassis. Its double-gasket design, pre-lubed switches and layers of foam make it a joy for typing. But its gaming features rely on the same iffy software, while the stock keycaps are sculpted in a way that makes them trickier to press quickly. Those keycaps aren’t shine-through either, and the whole thing is more expensive, so there isn’t much reason to buy it over the P1 HE. The Keychron Q1 HE. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Sony Inzone KBD-H75 The Sony Inzone KBD-H75 is another one that ticks most of the boxes we’re looking for. Its 75-percent frame is compact but not cramped. It looks plain, but it wouldn’t be out of place in an office. The metal top comes off as substantial — though the bottom is made of plastic — while the PBT keycaps are durable, with shine-through lighting. A gasket-mount design and some quality stabilizers help the typing experience feel and sound great. Presses have a nice clack, but they’re muted enough that they shouldn’t annoy anyone around you. The magnetic Hall effect switches let you customize actuation points and utilize a rapid trigger mode. General latency is excellent, and Sony’s Inzone Hub isn’t as fussy or obtuse as many companion apps in this market. There’s also a volume knob. The problem is that all of this costs $300, and that’s a lot for a keyboard without wireless connectivity (or proper macOS support). Competitive gamers may not care about that, but for most others, there are better values out there. If you ever see this one on sale, however, it’s well worth a look, as the stock typing feel is a bit nicer than that of the Wooting 80HE. Razer Joro The Razer Joro is a decent choice if you want a portable scissor-switch keyboard instead of a bulky mechanical one. It’s essentially a “gamer” take on Apple’s Magic Keyboard, with a slick black finish, sturdy aluminum top plate, RGB lighting and SOCD support. The 75-percent layout is super low-profile and weighs just 0.8 pounds, so it’s extremely travel-friendly. The typing experience is stable, wonderfully quiet and comfortable for what it is — put it in a laptop and it’d be a standout. It all works across Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. That said, it’ll never feel as cushy as a good mechanical board over extended sessions. The design is fixed at one flat angle, which some may find uncomfortable. The ABS keycaps aren’t great for something priced at $140, and while there is 2.4GHz wireless support, you need to buy a separate dongle to actually use it. Otherwise, you’re playing over Bluetooth, which adds latency, or a short USB-C cable. The Joro serves its niche well enough if you’re always on the road, but it’s a skip if you don’t game beyond your desk very often. The Razer Joro (top) and Sony Inzone KBD-H75 Jeff Dunn for Engadget Razer Huntsman V2 TKL We previously recommended the Razer Huntsman V2 TKL as a mid-priced pick thanks to its light optical switches, crisp PBT keycaps and impressively muffled tone (with the linear-switch model, at least). Its lack of analog features make it a harder sell these days, though, and its keys wobble more than those on the Keychron V3 Max. It’s not hot-swappable, either. Beyond that, only the version with clicky switches — which sound uncomfortably sharp — is still in stock as of this writing. Razer Huntsman V3 Pro The Razer Huntsman V3 Pro is a line of wired analog keyboards that comes in 60 percent, TKL and full-size options. They have just about all the features we like on the Wooting 80HE, but their optical switches are noisier and more hollow-feeling. The Razer Huntsman V2 TKL. Jeff Dunn for Engadget Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% The BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% is Razer’s top-of-the-line wireless keyboard. It’s fully hot-swappable, with heavily textured PBT keycaps, a robust aluminum top case and a nifty OLED display. The tactile Razer Orange switches in our test unit consistently feel tight, the larger keys don’t really rattle and the RGB backlight shines through beautifully. It’s a good keyboard — but it's just not luxurious enough to warrant its $300 price tag, especially since it lacks any sort of analog-style functionality. The stock switches are a little too sharp-sounding for our liking as well. Razer Huntsman Mini The Razer Huntsman Mini is a fine choice if you want a 60 percent keyboard and don’t need Wooting-style software tricks, with textured PBT keycaps, a sturdy aluminum top plate and the same fast optical switches we praised with the Huntsman V2 TKL. The 60HE+ is much more versatile, though, while the KM250 RGB is a more appealing value. The Razer BlackWidow V4 75%. Jeff Dunn for Engadget ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless The ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless (phew) is a strong alternative to the Apex Pro TKL if you want to go wireless. It’s a joy to type on, with superb sound dampening, pre-lubed ROG NX switches, an impressively sturdy case and stable, PBT-coated keys. It’s hot-swappable, its battery life rating is much higher than the Apex Pro TKL Wireless (90 hours with RGB on) and it has a multi-function key that puts volume, media and RGB controls in one place. At $170 or so, it's usually much cheaper than our SteelSeries pick as well.  However, it doesn’t have the rapid trigger or custom actuation tricks of Hall effect keyboards like the Apex Pro TKL Wireless or Lemokey P1 HE, and ASUS’s Armoury Crate software is a bit of a mess. The Lemokey P1 HE's all-metal design feels higher-end, too. But if you care about typing experience more than extra gaming-friendly features, this one is still worth looking into. ASUS ROG Azoth The ASUS ROG Azoth is like a smaller version of the ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless with a few more enthusiast touches, such as a gasket-mounted design — which gives keystrokes a softer feel — a programmable OLED display and a toolkit for lubing switches in the box. It’s exceptionally well-made by any standard, not just “for a gaming keyboard.” But its feature set still isn’t as flexible as the Wooting 80HE or SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless, which makes its $275 list price a tough ask. ASUS recently released a new model called the ROG Azoth X, though that one costs $300 and has a much louder aesthetic. The ASUS ROG Azoth. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Keyboard The 75 percent Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Keyboard is much better than its bland name suggests, with high-quality PBT keycaps, smooth linear switches (which are hot-swappable), wonderfully clean RGB lighting, a steady wireless connection and a rigid yet lightweight design. But it's fairly loud, and at $200 there isn’t much reason to take it over the Lemokey P1 HE, which has a higher-quality design and more capable magnetic switches, or the ASUS Strix Scope II 96 Wireless, which offers a similarly pleasing typing experience at a slightly lower price. It’s worth considering if you see it on sale, though. NZXT Function 2 and Function 2 MiniTKL The full-size NZXT Function 2 and tenkeyless Function 2 MiniTKL are totally solid midrange options with fast optical switches and the ability to swap between two universal actuation points, but they’re let down by mediocre stabilizers on the larger keys. The Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Keyboard. Jeff Dunn for Engadget NuPhy Air75 V2 The NuPhy Air75 V2 is a stylish wireless keyboard with a low-profile design. We've recommended it in our mechanical keyboard buying guide, as it's an excellent choice if you want something that blends the flatter, compact shape of a laptop keyboard with the more tactile feel of mechanical switches. The design isn’t entirely ideal for gaming, though, as the wide keys can make it a little too easy to fat-finger inputs by accident and the stock keycaps aren’t shine-through. This is another one that recently received a refresh, though. NuPhy also sells a model with Hall effect switches. We'll aim to test those for a future update. Corsair K70 Max The Corsair K70 Max is another one with magnetic switches, but trying to program its more advanced features through Corsair’s iCue software was a pain. The NuPhy Air75 V2. Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget Corsair K70 RGB TKL The Corsair K70 RGB TKL is a decent if basic midrange model, but it’s also on the noisy side compared to our top picks and it’s saddled with middling software. Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL The Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL is another low-profile model that generally feels comfortable and well-built, even if it's entirely made of plastic. It’s a decent alternative to the NuPhy Air75 series, as it’s much quieter with its GL Tactile switches and comes with shine-through keycaps by default. However, those switches aren’t hot-swappable, and the board can’t connect to multiple devices simultaneously over Bluetooth. The low-profile shape still isn’t the best for gaming either, plus the stock keycaps aren’t quite as grippy as other PBT options we’ve used. The Logitech G515 Lightspeed TKL. Jeff Dunn for Engadget Recent updates September 2025: We’ve taken a sweep to make sure our picks are still accurate and added testing notes on a couple new keyboards in the Razer Joro and Sony Inzone KBD-H75. February 2025: We've overhauled this guide with new picks: The Wooting 80HE is now our top recommendation overall, the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (Gen 3) is our new "best wireless" option and the Lemokey P1 HE slots in as an honorable mention. We've also added notes on several more gaming keyboards we've tested since our last update, including Logitech's G Pro X TKL Rapid and G515 Lightspeed TKL, Razer's BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% and Alienware's Pro Wireless Gaming Keyboard. Finally, we've made a few minor updates to our "What to look for in a gaming keyboard" section. June 2024: We updated this guide with a new “traditional mechanical keyboard” pick, the Keychron V3 Max, plus a couple new honorable mentions and more notes on other gaming keyboards we’ve tried. Note that we’ve tested — and will continue to test — several other keyboards that aren’t explicitly marketed toward gaming, but we’ll direct you to our general mechanical keyboard buying guide for more info on those.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/best-gaming-keyboard-140019954.html?src=rss View Source Article

Judges have announced the winning images from the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s annual competition. The photographs will be exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in London from Friday Continue reading... View Source Article

Starting next week, Apple’s new hypertension notification feature will be coming to Watch Series 9 and later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later with the launch of watchOS 26. That’s according to an emailed statement from Apple spokesperson Zaina Khachadourian saying the feature that monitors blood pressure has been cleared by the FDA. Apple’s new hypertension notifications — announced Tuesday alongside the new Apple Watch SE3, Series 11, and Ultra 3 — use data from the watches’ existing optical heart sensor to “analyze how a user’s blood vessels respond to the beats of the heart.” An algorithm will review this data over a 30 day period and notify users if it detects signs of high blood pressure.  It will roll out in more than 150 countries and regions with the arrival of watchOS 26 on September 15th. View Source Article

Discovering new medicines takes years and is marred by an astronomical failure rate. The Nobel Prize-winning head of Alphabet Inc.’s artificial intelligence lab says the technology will soon trim that time to under a year. View Source Article

The world is shifting from a period of post-Cold War stability and integration to one where rising geopolitical risks and strategic rivalry are forcing governments and companies to build costly safeguards, a senior official at the Reserve Bank of Australia said Friday. View Source Article

Meituan has launched a new AI agent app that aims to boost its food delivery and local services business, as its battle with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. for Chinese consumers heats up. View Source Article

Microsoft and OpenAI have issued a joint statement to say that they have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the "next phase" of their partnership. The companies are still finalizing the terms of agreement and haven't shared the details of what their future would look like exactly. But according to The New York Times, the deal includes hows the parties share technology and and the revenue from those technologies. The new agreement also reportedly modifies the clause in the original, which states that Microsoft cannot access OpenAI's most powerful technology if its board decides that it has reached human-like artificial general intelligence or AGI.  In addition to the new deal, The Times says OpenAI is giving an equity stake worth at least $100 billion to its nonprofit arm that will continue to oversee and control the organization. As the publication notes, a change in the company's agreement paves the way for OpenAI to transition into a public benefit corporation, a type of corporation that's meant to make a positive impact on society, and for an eventual IPO. OpenAI had to reach an acceptable agreement with Microsoft first, including how much equity it's getting in the AI firm's for-profit arm. Microsoft had invested over $13 billion into OpenAI and is entitled to 49 percent of its future profits.  Reports about OpenAI moving away from its complicated non-profit structure started coming out last year. After Christmas in 2024, it officially announced its plan to transform itself into a public benefit corporation with ordinary shares of stock. "It will enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like others in this space," it said at the time. In May, however, OpenAI announced that it was no longer going to remove the control of its for-profit arm from its non-profit board. "OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit, and is today overseen and controlled by that nonprofit. Going forward, it will continue to be overseen and controlled by that nonprofit," it said. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-and-openai-announce-the-next-phase-of-their-partnership-035247037.html?src=rss View Source Article

Apple Inc. said its hypertension detection system for its smart watch will arrive next week after receiving clearance Thursday from the US Food and Drug Administration. View Source Article

Vietnam has confirmed that a cyberattack on the National Credit Information Center could have led to a major breach of personal data and has warned the public to be on alert, according to a post on the government website. View Source Article

SpaceX launched a mission for an Indonesian telecom company tonight (Sept. 11), sending the Nusantara Lima satellite to orbit from Florida's Space Coast. View Source Article

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s stock gained the most in about two weeks after the company initiated a series of moves intended to shore up its place in China’s AI development boom. View Source Article

SK Hynix Inc.’s stock climbed as much as 5.9% on Friday to a record after the company announced it had completed development of HBM4, the next generation of high-bandwidth memory crucial for artificial intelligence work. View Source Article

Naveen Rao, the head of artificial intelligence at the $100 billion startup Databricks Inc., is planning to leave his position to launch a new venture making a novel type of computer, according to a person familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Italian rocket maker Avio SpA will seek to raise as much as €400 million ($469.5 million) of new equity from its shareholders to strengthen its satellite-launch business. View Source Article

The leaders of OpenAI and Nvidia Corp. plan to pledge support for billions of dollars in UK data center investments when they head to the country next week at the same time as President Donald Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter. View Source Article

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella (L), speaks with OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, who joined by video during the Microsoft Build 2025, conference in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025. As OpenAI attempts to restructure itself and eventually go public, a hurdle for the startup, recently valued at $500 billion, is its increasingly complicated partnership with Microsoft.  On Thursday afternoon, the two companies released this joint statement about an agreement they’ve reached. Microsoft & OpenAI: Microsoft and OpenAI have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the next phase of our partnership. We are actively working to finalize contractual terms in a definitive agreement. Together, we remain focused on delivering the best AI tools for everyone, grounded in our shared commitment to safety. Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI since 2019, and shares in the revenue earned by ChatGPT as well as its API. Microsoft also now includes OpenAI as a competitor, allows OpenAI to lean on other cloud providers for compute power, and has started to increase its reliance on its own AI models. In a company town hall meeting on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and AI chief Mustafa Suleyman committed to “significant investments” in its own models. “We should have the capacity to build world class frontier models in house of all sizes, but we should be very pragmatic and use other models where we need to,” said Suleyman. There was one specific detail about the agreement with Microsoft released by OpenAI in another statement, saying that its nonprofit parent company will continue to hold authority over the for-profit business, with an equity stake worth more than $100 billion.  Other philanthropies and nonprofits have reportedly pushed back against OpenAI’s unusual restructuring plan, and the attorneys general of California and Delaware have opened investigations. In its announcement, OpenAI said, “We continue to work with the California and Delaware Attorneys General as an important part of strengthening our approach, and we remain committed to learning and acting with urgency to ensure our tools are helpful and safe for everyone, while advancing safety as an industry-wide priority.” View Source Article

The quantum computing startup PsiQuantum Corp. raised $1 billion from investors including Nvidia Corp., Qatar Investment Authority and Macquarie Capital in a round that values the company at $7 billion. View Source Article

Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday or Tuesday (Or, I dunno, Thursday), broken into two parts. The first is a space for short essays and ramblings about video game trends and related topics from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who's covered the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some headlines from outside of Engadget. Please enjoy — and I'll see you next week. Earlier this week, FlyQuest top laner Bwipo (Gabriël Rau) was suspended for one series of the League of Legends LTA playoffs after saying some wild stuff during a livestream about women and their ability to play esports. Here’s a sampling of what he said: “I think there's just not enough support for female pro players... women's anatomy and their monthly cycles are just extremely different from males, and there's no proper support system for women to go through what they're going through.” “Even men just tilt out of their fucking minds when they're playing League of Legends. So, when a woman is on the wrong part of the month and playing competitively, there is a time of the month where you should not be fucking playing competitive games as a woman, in my opinion.” OK, Bwipo. His comments received an appropriate amount of ridicule from fellow players, casters and fans, and FlyQuest benched him during a pivotal moment in the race to Worlds. He has apologized and pledged to "reflect, listen, and do better." So, here we are yet again. It’s 2025 and it must be stated: Men are not biologically better at video games than women. Women, femmes and nonbinary people are not physiologically less interested in or skilled at competitive gaming than a player who lives as a dude. Gender on its own has no bearing on how quickly a person can click a mouse, scan a screen or strategize in high-intensity situations, and lines of code react the same no matter how an individual player identifies. That said, I find myself agreeing with Bwipo’s initial statement, “There's just not enough support for female pro players.” I understand, in a backward kind of way, the logical leaps he then tried to make in order to explain a situation that doesn’t make any sense — namely, the absence of non-guy players in mainstream, professional esports. His conclusion may have been laughably misguided, but the core conundrum still stands. The professional esports scene is segregated by gender and dominated by men. There are no hard and fast rules barring women or gender nonconforming people from competing at a professional level in any major league, but there are vanishingly few women, femmes or non-male-presenting players participating in mainstream esports tournaments, and this tends to be the baseline. There are separate leagues and competitions established specifically for women and gender nonconforming players, and while I find these events to be extremely exciting, they’re siloed and receive far less financial, marketing and back-end support than mainstream tournaments. Women’s esports leagues exist in a bubble that, for some strange reason, seems to be modeled on the gender segregation practices of traditional sports, with matching gaps in pay, respect and opportunity. A handful of women players have broken through on the main stage over the years, including Potter (Christine Chi, CS:GO), Karma (Jaime Bickford, Rocket League), Hafu (Rumay Wang, WoW, Hearthstone) and Scarlett (Sasha Hostyn, StarCraft II). Still, the earnings gap between men and women in esports is cavernous: According to Esports Earnings, the top male player on record is N0tail (Johan Sundstein, Dota 2), with $7,184,163 in prize money to his name. The top female player on that list is Scarlett, with $472,111 in total earnings. There are 619 male players ahead of her, and the totals don't factor in the lucrative sponsorship deals available to elite gamers. I have to say it again. Esports, an industry built around people playing video games really well, is segregated by gender. Isn’t that insane? The natural question is, why? It’s not because only men are good at video games, since we’ve established that’s a steaming pile of horseshit. Nor is it because, as Bwipo suggested, some women menstruate. But the actual reason is just as clear. It’s sexism. The gender makeup of the mainstream esports scene is the result of everyday, bog standard, garden variety, run of the mill misogyny. In the world of esports, it’s sponsored by Red Bull, drenched in LEDs and proudly hosted by your favorite streamer. At our current stage, when a veteran LoL player is openly trying to bring back the hysteria diagnosis rather than looking at the realities of a system that provides him privilege, I think we have to say it plainly. Put the pivotal issue on the table so we can look at how ugly, regressive and nasty it is. Only then can we start to change it. There is a dearth of women, femmes and nonbinary people in mainstream esports because of the sexism that permeates society at large. I understand why someone like Bwipo — or other players, coaches, presenters, managers, team owners, league organizers or game makers at the highest levels of esports — wouldn’t want to acknowledge this fact or how much power it holds over the entire scene. I get that some would rather twist themselves into knots trying to blame women for their own exclusion, instead of tackling an uncomfortable social issue that runs far deeper than just the gaming industry. I understand it, but I think it’s cowardly. Ostrich behavior. So, let’s look at it. If misogyny in esports is the problem, I think a solution has to lie in the talent pipeline. During the scouting stages, when school-age players of all genders are streaming and climbing ranks from their bedrooms, boys naturally receive things from the community that girls don’t, like enthusiastic support, a welcoming attitude, respect, and, eventually, enough belief in their skills to risk investment. I’m not suggesting toxicity isn’t a thing for everyone, but these positive aspects are also built into the experience for many young men playing games. Young women have to earn these responses, generally by overperforming compared to their peers, and while being belittled, sexualized, threatened with violence, hyperanalyzed and othered, for years on end. It’s exhausting. It silently pushes some women out of video games and esports. It’s also malleable. Sexism spawns from an embarrassing and irrational way of thinking, but people change their minds all the time. A simple but widespread shift in perception — oh right, it's weird that esports is segregated by gender — can make an enormous impact especially on these early stages of esports play. How we think alters how we behave, how we speak and what we allow in social spaces. It really can be that simple, at least as a starting point. I think about this each time I turn on a pro match, which is currently every day with LoL Worlds qualification tournaments in full swing (hi, FlyQuest). The esports gender disparity is face-smackingly obvious, especially in concert with the godlike presentation that existing players tend to receive: hype trailers with uber-masculine motifs, walk-out rituals, emotional behind-the-scenes documentaries and epic promotional spots depicting teams as otherwordly superheroes. Of course, most esports players are literal teenagers, which tends to make these macho presentations more adorable than anything — but the fact remains that male esports pros, even teenage ones, are taken extremely seriously as athletes (athletes!) and can find support for their goals at every level. I’d love to see this encouragement, faith and excitement extended to young women and nonbinary players as well. The mental shift is the first step. As demonstrated by Bwipo’s offhand comments, it seems plenty of people in the esports scene are still in the early stages of critical thinking when it comes to gender and opportunity, so we’re starting with the basics. Remind yourself that men are not inherently skilled at playing video games and women aren’t naturally bad, and think about how ridiculous those suggestions sound in the first place. Remember that sexism is an artificial barrier limiting opportunities for everyone in esports. Next time you see an ad with a bunch of dude esports players surrounded by ladies in cosplay, take a second to notice how odd that is. Hear how many times the casters say “gentlemen,” “sir,” “boys” and other gendered terms during games, and recognize how daunting this space is for players who don’t fit those descriptions. Get comfortable with the idea that some humans can play video games really, really, really well, and this fact is completely divorced from how they look or identify. It’s easy to do because it’s true. Additional reading and viewing Veteran LoL caster Sjokz on the idiocy of Bwipo Are Trans People too Visible? (in esports) by Team Liquid senior managing editor Austin Los Ratones top laner Baus discussing Bwipo's comments This short doc about Hafu that only exists on Facebook now The news 007 First Light lands in March IO Interactive’s James Bond game, 007 First Light, is heading to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Steam and the Epic Games Store on March 27, starting at $70. Engadget UK Bureau Chief Mat Smith got his hands on the preview at Gamescom earlier this month and he found it to be spectacular in the very literal sense. There’s more Stardew Valley coming to Stardew Valley What a lovely little surprise. Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe (Eric Barone) announced another numbered update is on its way, adding significant bits of new content to the game more than nine years after its Steam debut. Update 1.7 will hit Stardew Valley at an unspecified time in the near future and Barone clarified that it won’t impact the release timeline for his next game, Haunted Chocolatier. Barone had the following to say about the whole thing: “Haunted Chocolatier will be released at some point. And sure, the reality of my life is that I have a very popular 1st game that I still want to take care of, which means that my 2nd game might take a little longer. It is what it is. I didn’t have to make a 1.7 update for Stardew Valley, but the game is still so popular (in fact, still growing), that it’s hard to just stop improving it when there are still things that can be improved. But I hope the approach I am taking for Stardew Valley 1.7 will help keep Haunted Chocolatier on track. “About the Stardew Valley team: they are awesome, all very talented, hard-working, and contribute unique things to the development process. We are a very small group, and I like it that way. Also, I am still working completely solo on Haunted Chocolatier without any plans to change that for the time being.” Yooka-Replaylee will be here in October Playtonic’s bright and shiny remaster of Yooka-Laylee will come to PS5, PC, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S on October 9. For the Switch 2 version, Playtonic has opted to release the full game on an actual cartridge, rather than relying on game-key card downloads, which is a heartwarming throwback to the way things were. Digital versions of the game cost $30, while the physical edition is $50. Diablo developers vote to unionize More than 450 developers with Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo team have voted to form a union with the backing of the Communications Workers of America. The CWA is also overseeing the ZeniMax QA union, and is backing recent organization efforts by the Overwatch 2 crew and Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development group. (Am I the only person who wants that to be Story and Song development? Probably.) The CWA says more than 3,500 Microsoft employees have organized under its banner. Diablo producer Kelly Yeo is an organizing committee member of the latest Blizzard union and she said in a statement that multiple rounds of sweeping layoffs at Microsoft prompted the organization efforts. "With every subsequent round of mass layoffs, I've witnessed the dread in my coworkers grow stronger because it feels like no amount of hard work is enough to protect us," Yeo said. "This is just the first step for us joining a movement spreading across an industry that is tired of living in fear." Layoffs at Crystal Dynamics and Firaxis It feels like nowadays, for every unionization story, there are at least two tales of layoffs. This was sadly true in recent weeks, with news of mass firings at Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics and Civilization team Firaxis. An unknown number of people were fired from Crystal Dynamics and it’s unclear if the cuts were tied to the recent cancellation of The Initiative, which Crystal Dynamics was helping reboot. The Initiative was canceled as part of Microsoft’s huge cuts to its gaming segment in July (which followed similarly large losses the year before, and so on). Crystal Dynamics is still owned by Embracer Group and is working on a new Tomb Raider installment. After unleashing Civilization VII on the masses in February, Firaxis has also laid off an undisclosed number of developers in the name of studio restructuring. Firaxis is owned by 2K, which recently canceled a remake of the original BioShock and sent Cloud Chamber’s new BioShock title back to an even-deeper circle of development hell. Meanwhile, Take-Two Interactive, the company that controls all of this, is reporting healthy financials and expectations to grow in the second half of 2025. Grand Theft Auto VI is on its way, after all. Ju-DAS, Ju-da’as / Ju-DAS, Ju-da’as I swear, if the release trailer for Ghost Story Games’ Judas doesn’t include the Lady Gaga song, I will riot by myself. Following all of that weird BioShock news out of 2K, Ken Levine decided to remind everyone that his game Judas is still in development and even has key art. His post on the PlayStation Blog outlines some of the relationship mechanics in Judas, relating them partly to the Nemesis system from Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, which has me all kinds of excited. And, yeah, the new picture looks cool, too. Ghost Story Games The Silksong corner The day of its release, Hollow Knight: Silksong singlehandedly crashed multiple game storefronts including Steam, the Nintendo eShop and the Xbox Store. The marketplaces recovered, but players haven’t — the bulk of the post-launch discourse has focused on whether the game is too hard, a suggestion that I find baffling as someone who does not enjoy punishing metroidvanias like Silksong. With this brand of game, I was under the impression that if it’s beatable, it’s not too hard. It’s mechanically precise, tricky, twitchy and super-duper challenging — isn’t that exactly what you masochists want? Then again, Team Cherry’s first update for the game includes a “slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses” including Moorwing and Sister Splinter, so what do I know? There’s a Nintendo Direct on Friday Watch it here at 9AM ET. Catch the end of the Flame Fatales speedrunning event The Flame Fatales speedrunning event, which features women and femmes playing a bunch of awesome games very quickly, is underway and runs through Sunday, September 14. Check it out here! Recent Engadget reviews and previews Lenovo Legion Go 2 Tamagotchi Paradise Pokémon Legends: Z-A Kirby Air Riders Additional additional reading Kris Holt’s indie game roundup Everything Mat Smith played at Gamescom 2025 Look at this Pettable Poké Ball Have a tip for Jessica? You can reach her by email, Bluesky or send a message to @jesscon.96 to chat confidentially on Signal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/video-games-weekly-its-weird-that-esports-is-segregated-by-gender-223518454.html?src=rss View Source Article

In the wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting, some political figures are threatening a crackdown on free speech - a cause Kirk claimed to fight for. Members of Congress, the State Department, and President Donald Trump have all attacked people who celebrated Kirk's death online or criticized him while he was alive, in some cases saying they'll use the government's authority to punish statements almost certainly protected by the First Amendment. While it remains unclear who killed Kirk or why at a college campus in Utah Wednesday, Republican political figures all the way up to Trump have threatened retaliation against Dem … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Microsoft Corp. plans to expand its physical infrastructure to train its own artificial intelligence models that it hopes will be competitive with OpenAI, Anthropic and other firms. View Source Article

Using the James Webb Space Telescope and the Subaru Telescope in powerful tandem, scientists have discovered the first shrouded supermassive black holes at Cosmic Dawn. View Source Article

Microsoft AI launched its first in-house models last month, adding to the already complicated relationship with its OpenAI partner. Now, Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman says the company is making "significant investments" in the compute capacity required to Microsoft's own future frontier models. "We should have the capacity to build world class frontier models in house of all sizes, but we should be very pragmatic and use other models where we need to," said Suleyman during Microsoft's employee-only town hall on Thursday. "We're also going to be making significant investments in our own cluster, so today MAI-1-preview was only trained … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

OpenAI and its largest investor, Microsoft Corp., have reached a preliminary agreement about the structure of their partnership, a move that could pave the way for the artificial intelligence startup’s plan to restructure into a more traditional for-profit company. View Source Article

Merriam-Webster and its parent company Encyclopedia Britannica are the latest to take on AI in court. The plaintiffs have sued Perplexity, claiming that AI company's "answer engine" product unlawfully copies their copyrighted materials. They are also alleging copyright infringement for instances where Perplexity's AI creates false or inaccurate hallucinations that it then wrongly attributes to Britannica or Merriam-Webster. The complaint, filed in New York federal court, is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an order that blocks Perplexity from misusing their content. "Perplexity's so-called "answer engine" eliminates users' clicks on Plaintiffs' and other web publishers' websites—and, in turn, starves web publishers of revenue—by generating responses to users' queries that substitute the content from other information websites," the filing reads. "To build its substitute product, Perplexity engages in massive copying of Plaintiffs' and other web publishers’ protected content without authorization or remuneration." This isn't Perplexity's first time facing allegations that it has unlawfully taken another website's content. Last year, the AI company was accused of copyright infringement by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. Just last month a pair of Japanese media companies, Nikkei and the Asahi Shimbun, sued it on similar claims.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexitys-definition-of-copyright-gets-it-sued-by-the-dictionary-213408625.html?src=rss View Source Article

Anthropic will now let its Claude AI chatbot “remember” the details of previous conversations without prompting. The feature is only rolling out for Team and Enterprise users for now, allowing Claude to automatically incorporate someone’s preferences, the context of the project they’re working on, and their main priorities into each of its responses. Anthropic rolled out the ability for paid users to prompt Claude to remember past chats last month, but now the chatbot can pull up these details without Team and Enterprise users having to ask. Claude’s memory also carries over to projects, a feature that lets Pro and Teams generate things like diagrams, website designs, graphics, and more, based on files they upload to the chatbot. It seems to be particularly focused on work-related details, like a “team’s processes” and “client needs.” Anthropic notes that memory is “fully optional.” Anthropic says users can view and edit the memory Claude has stored from their settings menu. “Based on what you tell Claude to focus on or to ignore, Claude will adjust the memories it references,” Anthropic says. Both OpenAI and Google have already launched cross-chat memories for their chatbots. Last month, a report from The New York Times linked ChatGPT’s rollout of cross-chat memories to an increase in reports of “delusional” AI chats. Along with memories, Anthropic is rolling out incognito chats for all users, which Claude won’t save to its chat history or refer to in future chats. Google similarly rolled out Private Chats for Gemini in August. View Source Article

NASA's interim administrator Sean Duffy was fired up on Wednesday when he joined a teleconference to talk about new scientific findings that concerned the potential for life to have once existed on Mars. "This is exciting news," said Duffy about an arrow-shaped rock on Mars found by NASA's Perseverance rover. The rock contained chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by ancient microbial life. The findings were intriguing, but not conclusive. Further study of the rocks in an advanced lab on Earth might prove more definitive. Duffy was ready, he said, to discuss the scientific results along with NASA experts on the call with reporters. However, the very first question—and for any space reporter, the obvious one—concerned NASA's on-again, off-again plan to return rocks from the surface of Mars for study on Earth. This mission, called Mars Sample Return, has been on hold for nearly two years after an independent analysis found that NASA's bloated plan would cost at least $8 billion to $11 billion. President Trump has sought to cancel it outright. View Source Article

A Tesla engineer in charge of the company’s European energy trading algorithms said he quit the company because of what he calls CEO Elon Musk’s “seriously compromised” leadership. View Source Article

Grok has once again been caught spreading blatant misinformation on X. In several bizarre exchanges, the chatbot repeatedly claimed that Charlie Kirk was "fine" and that gruesome videos of his assassination were a "meme edit." In one exchange shortly after videos of the shooting began to spread on X, one user tagged Grok and asked if Kirk could have survived the shooting. Grok's response was nonsensical. "Charlie Kirk takes the roast in stride with a laugh— he's faced tougher crowds," it wrote. "Yes, he survives this one easily." When another user replied with "wtf are you talking about," and pointed out that Kirk has been shot in the neck, Grok insisted it was a "a meme video with edited effects to look like a dramatic 'shot'—not a real event." It doubled down when pressed again by another incredulous user. "The video is a meme edit—Charlie Kirk is debating, and effects make it look like he's 'shot' mid-sentence for comedic effect," Grok wrote. "No actual harm; he's fine and active as ever." Grok went on to make similar claims in several other exchanges on Wednesday, saying that video was "exaggerated for laughs" and contained "edited effects for humor." In another, Grok noted that multiple news outlets and President Donald Trump had confirmed Kirk's death but described it as a "meme" that appeared to be "satirical commentary on reactions to political violence." By Thursday morning, Grok seemed to understand that Kirk had indeed been shot and killed, but still referenced a "meme video" it said was "unrelated." Screenshot via X That's not the only misinformation Grok spread in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, though. As The New York Times reports, Grok also repeated the name of a Canadian man who was erroneously identified as the shooter by users on X. Representatives for X and xAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The xAI chatbot, which has been trained on X posts among other sources, has become ubiquitous on X as users frequently tag Grok in posts in an attempt to fact check or simply dunk on other users. But the chatbot has proved to be extremely unreliable at best. Previously, Grok was also caught spreading misinformation about the 2024 presidential election, falsely claiming that then Vice President Kamala Harris couldn't appear on the ballot. Other incidents have raised more serious questions about Grok. In May of this year, it seemed to become fixated on a conspiracy theory claiming there had been a "white genocide" in South Africa. xAI, the company behind Grok, later attributed it to an "unauthorized modification" but didn't fully explain how that happened. Earlier this summer, Grok repeatedly posted antisemitic tropes, praised Hitler and referred to itself as "MechaHitler." xAI apologized and blamed a faulty update. Have a tip for Karissa? You can reach her by email, on X, Bluesky, Threads, or send a message to @karissabe.51 to chat confidentially on Signal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/grok-claimed-the-charlie-kirk-assassination-video-was-a-meme-edit-175640641.html?src=rss View Source Article

1 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA Graphics NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, invites innovative companies, government agencies, and organizations to attend Partnership Days, scheduled for Oct. 21-22, 2025, at the center. The event offers a unique opportunity to explore collaboration with NASA on cutting-edge research and development in areas such as aerospace, autonomy, sustainability, and more. Attendees will engage with NASA experts and learn how Armstrong’s capabilities can help accelerate innovation and bring transformative technologies to life. Space is limited, and RSVP is required by Sept. 26. To register, scan the QR code on the event poster or email AFRC-CAL-330-Partnerships@mail.nasa.gov. What: NASA Armstrong Partnership Days When: Oct. 21-22, 2025 Where: NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California Who: Industry leaders, government agencies, and organizations interested in research and development partnerships with NASA For information about NASA Armstrong and other agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/armstrong -end- Dede DiniusArmstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California661-276-5701darin.l.dinius@nasa.gov Explore More 2 min read NASA Tests Tools to Assess Drone Safety Over Cities Article 3 weeks ago 3 min read NASA Uses Wind Tunnel to Test Advanced Air Mobility Aircraft Wing Article 1 month ago 3 min read NASA Drop Test Supports Safer Air Taxi Design and Certification Article 2 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

Earlier today, the FBI shared two blurry photos on X of a person of interest in the shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Numerous users replied with AI-upscaled, “enhanced” versions of the pictures almost immediately, turning the pixelated surveillance shots into sharp, high-resolution images. But AI tools aren’t uncovering secret details in a fuzzy picture, they’re inferring what might be there — and they have a track record of showing things that don’t exist. Many AI-generated photo variations were posted under the original images, some apparently created with X’s own Grok bot, others with tools like ChatGPT. They vary in plausibility, though some are obviously off, like an “AI-based textual rendering” showing a clearly different shirt and Gigachad-level chin. The images are ostensibly supposed to help people find the person of interest, although they’re also eye-grabbing ways to get likes and reposts. But it’s unlikely any of them are more helpful than the FBI’s photos. In past incidents, AI upscaling has done things like “depixelating” a low-resolution picture of President Barack Obama into a white man and adding a nonexistent lump to President Donald Trump’s head. It extrapolates from an existing image to fill in gaps, and while that can be useful under certain circumstances, you definitely shouldn’t treat it as hard evidence in a manhunt. Here is the original post from the FBI, for reference: We are asking for the public's help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. 1-800-CALL-FBIDigital media tips: https://t.co/K7maX81TjJ pic.twitter.com/ALuVkTXuDc— FBI Salt Lake City (@FBISaltLakeCity) September 11, 2025 And below are some examples of attempted “enhancements.” View Source Article

The chief executive officer of Databricks thinks businesses made a key mistake in their early efforts to deploy generative AI. But first… View Source Article

Google Maps appears to be going through an outage. At least in some regions, the mobile version of Google Maps is unable to fully load its map or provide directions. Over 4,000 reports have been filed for the service on Downdetector, and as of 2:12PM ET, Google's Status Dashboard noted that the company was investigating an issue with the Maps SDK for Android and iOS, along with the Navigation SDK. On both the Android and iOS versions of Google Maps, the service was unable to fully load its map, display listings or provide directions. In at least one case, the app showed an error message saying that Google Maps "Cannot reach server." Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget Google's last major outage occurred in June, though it was primarily concentrated in the company's Google Cloud service. Given the number of clients who use Google Cloud, the outage impacted everything from Spotify to Snapchat for multiple hours. Developing...This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-maps-isnt-loading-in-some-regions-due-to-an-apparent-outage-204458737.html?src=rss View Source Article

The wireless earbuds can connect to everything from the PS5 to the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch 2. | Image: The Verge A quality pair of headphones can make a huge difference in your gaming experience, and Sony’s InZone Buds are among the best wireless gaming earbuds available. They’re currently $143.98 ($86 off) at GameStop, dropping them to a new all-time low price. The Verge’s commerce editor, Cameron Faulkner, says they deliver excellent sound quality and versatility, with a USB-C audio transmitter that allows them to connect to everything from a PlayStation 5 to a Steam Deck and a Nintendo Switch 2. Sony InZone Buds Sony’s wireless gaming buds offer low latency, active noise cancellation, and support for both Bluetooth and USB-C. Where to Buy: $229.99 $143.98 at GameStop $229.99 $198 at Best Buy Sony’s InZone Buds offer many of the same features as the company’s flagship earbuds, the WF-1000XM5, which remain our favorite overall earbuds. They use the same drivers, and they borrow the XM5’s active noise cancellation and mic transparency capabilities. Additionally, they offer up to 12 hours of battery life on a single charge, or a total of 24 hours with the charging case (which can fit the USB-C transmitter). The InZone Buds feature multiple sizes of silicone ear tips, and if you have a PC, Sony’s InZone app can perform a sound test to help you choose the right ear tip for your inner ear shape. If you struggle to find a comfortable fit, a feature like this can be seriously useful. The earbuds also include a microphone, plus touch gestures for muting the mic, adjusting the volume of your audio, and toggling between noise cancellation settings — all of which can be customized via the InZone app. Other deals worth checking out If you’re looking for something to charge your phone, wireless earbuds, and smartwatch, the Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station is down to $65.99 ($45 off) at Amazon. The Qi2 charger features a tree-like design, with three different charging areas. The main charging pad delivers up to 15W to a phone, while a second charging pad can quickly replenish the Apple Watch. Meanwhile, the base features a pad for wireless earbuds. The 3-in-1 charging station comes with a 40W USB-C PD wall charger and a USB-C cable, so you won’t need to buy any additional accessories to start charging your devices. Preorders for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy 4K release are now live, with a prelaunch discount of $70 ($30 off) at Amazon. The trilogy includes the original live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. The first TMNT movie from 1990 is still the best one 35 years later, with turtle costumes from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop that still hold up. I remember watching it as a kid and being completely terrified by the building fire fight scene. The Samsung Music Frame is currently down to an all-time low price of $127.99 ($260 off) at Amazon and B&H Photo. The 12.9 x 12.9-inch picture frame can connect to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi with support for surround sound when paired with one of Samsung’s new TVs or soundbars. It also boasts Dolby Atmos support for more immersive audio and a pair of woofers, tweeters, and midrange drivers. The Music Frame can be mounted on the wall or displayed on media furniture with a stand, and it can actually be customized with a physical photo, unlike the Sonos / Ikea Symfonisk frame speaker from a few years back. View Source Article

Adobe Inc. gave a strong quarterly revenue outlook, suggesting that the software maker is seeing a payoff from its investment in AI features. View Source Article

Paramount Skydance, apparently now in a state of permanent merger, plans to make a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company was recently formed following Skydance's acquisition of Paramount for $8 billion. Newly anointed Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison was able to afford the acquisition thanks to the backing of his billionaire father, Larry Ellison. Despite Warner Bros. Discovery's public plans to split back into Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, "the bid will be for the entire company, including its cable networks and movie studio," the report says. A successful acquisition of the company will likely be very pricey. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Warner Bros.’s nearly $33 billion market cap is more than double that of Paramount Skydance." Further consolidation in the entertainment industry will likely lead to less varied and interesting film and television, but a merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery could also concentrate even more power in the hands of the federal government.  Prior to the deal going through, CBS paid $16 billion to settle a lawsuit with Trump, which may have affected the President's stance towards the acquisition. Skydance's commitment to abandon DEI programs at CBS and make the television network "embody a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum" was also cited as justification for the FCC approving the acquisition. Following the deal, Paramount appointed Kenneth Weinstein as an Ombudsman to "review editorial questions and concerns from outside entities and employees." Weinstein previously served as an advisor to the Trump administration, Variety reports. Fusing two giant Hollywood studios obviously impacts competition. The question now is how the FCC will respond to this possible acquisition, with even more money and power on the line.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/paramount-reportedly-wants-to-acquire-warner-bros-discovery-antitrust-law-be-damned-193306141.html?src=rss View Source Article

Ames Science Directorate’s Stars of the Month: September 2025 The NASA Ames Science Directorate recognizes the outstanding contributions of (pictured left to right) Taejin Park, Lydia Schweitzer, and Rachel Morgan. Their commitment to the NASA mission represents the entrepreneurial spirit, technical expertise, and collaborative disposition needed to explore this world and beyond. Earth Science Star: Taejin Park Taejin Park is a NASA Earth eXchange (NEX) research scientist within the Biospheric Science Branch, for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI). As the Project Scientist for the Wildfire, Ecosystem Resilience, & Risk Assessment (WERK) project, he has exhibited exemplary leadership and teamwork leading to this multi-year study with the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop tracking tools of statewide ecological condition, disturbance, and recovery efforts related to wildfires. Space Science and Astrobiology Star: Lydia Schweitzer Lydia Schweitzer is a research scientist within the Planetary Systems Branch for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) as a member of the Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS) team with broad contributions in instrumentation, robotic rovers and lunar exploration. Lydia is recognized for her leadership on a collaborative project to design and build a complex interface unit that is crucial for NSS to communicate with the Japanese Space Agency’s Lunar Polar eXploration rover mission (LUPEX). In addition, she is recognized for her role as an instrument scientist for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) and MoonRanger missions. Space Science and Astrobiology Star: Rachel Morgan Rachel Morgan is an optical scientist in the Astrophysics Branch for the SETI Institute. As AstroPIC’s lead experimentalist and the driving force behind the recently commissioned photonic testbed at NASA Ames, this month she achieved a record 92 dB on-chip suppression on a single photonic-integrated chip (PIC) output channel. This advances critical coronagraph technology and is a significant milestone relevant to the Habitable Worlds Observatory. View Source Article

Cern Basher is wealth manager of billions and he explains capitalization. At its core, capitalization is the process of transforming everyday human activities—often free, informal, or unmonetized—into structured, scalable businesses that generate recurring revenue, attract investment, and build massive shareholder value. It is not just about creating a product. It is about value capture of ... Read more View Source Article

New research shows that solar flares are six times hotter than thought and calls for updated sun models that could improve space weather forecasting. View Source Article

The work of creating artificial intelligence that holds to the guardrails of human values, known in the industry as alignment, has developed into its own (somewhat ambiguous) field of study rife with policy papers and benchmarks to rank models against each other.  But who aligns the alignment researchers?  Enter the Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers, an organization purporting to coordinate thousands of AI alignment researchers into “one final AI center singularity.” At first glance, CAAAC seems legitimate. The aesthetics of the website are cool and calming, with a logo of converging arrows reminiscent of the idea of togetherness and sets of parallel lines swirling behind black font.  But stay on the page for 30 seconds and the swirls spell out “bullshit,” giving away that CAAAC is all one big joke. One second longer and you’ll notice the hidden gems tucked away in every sentence and page of the fantasy center’s website.  CAAAC launched Tuesday from the same team that brought us The Box, a literal, physical box that women can wear on dates to avoid the threat of their image being turned into AI-generated deepfake slop.  “This website is the most important thing that anyone will read about AI in this millenium or the next,” said CAAAC cofounder Louis Barclay, staying in character when talking to The Verge. (The second founder of CAAAC wished to remain anonymous, according to Barclay.)  CAAAC’s vibe is so similar to AI alignment research labs — who are featured on the website’s homepage with working links to their own websites — that even those in the know initially thought it was real, including Kendra Albert, a machine learning researcher and technology attorney, who spoke with The Verge.  CAAAC makes fun of the trend, according to Albert, of those who want to make AI safe drifting away from the “real problems happening in the real world” — such as bias in models, exacerbating the energy crisis, or replacing workers — to the “very, very theoretical” risks of AI taking over the world, Albert said in an interview with The Verge.  To fix the “AI alignment alignment crisis,” CAAAC will be recruiting its global workforce exclusively from the Bay Area. All are welcome to apply, “as long as you believe AGI will annihilate all humans in the next six months,” according to the jobs page.  Those who are willing to take the dive to work with CAAAC — the website urges all readers to bring their own wet gear — need only comment on the LinkedIn post announcing the center to automatically become a fellow. CAAAC also offers a generative AI tool to create your own AI center, complete with an executive director, in “less than a minute, zero AI knowledge required.”  The more ambitious job seeker applying to the “AI Alignment Alignment Alignment Researcher” position will, after clicking through the website, eventually find themselves serenaded by Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” View Source Article

The cybersecurity startup Armis is weighing around six to seven offers from investors for a stake in the company, its top executive said. View Source Article

The US Department of Justice sued Uber on Thursday over disability discrimination… again. The lawsuit claims the company and its drivers "routinely refuse to serve individuals with disabilities." It specifically calls out its handling of passengers with service animals or stowable wheelchairs. The suit was filed in federal court in Northern California. "Despite the importance of its services to people with disabilities, Uber denies people with disabilities full and equal enjoyment of its services in several critical ways," the lawsuit reads. It also accuses Uber's drivers of insulting and demeaning people with disabilities and asking them inappropriate questions.  In a statement sent to Engadget, Uber contested the government's claims. "Riders who use guide dogs or other assistive devices deserve a safe, respectful, and welcoming experience on Uber — full stop," the company wrote. "We have a clear zero-tolerance policy for confirmed service denials, and we fundamentally disagree with the DOJ's allegations." Uber said all drivers must acknowledge and agree to its service animal policy before they can begin driving. "When we confirm a violation, we take decisive action, including permanent account deactivation," the company wrote. Uber noted that its community guidelines prohibit discrimination. It also added that it sent a service animal education video to all US drivers last year, explaining their vital role. Uber Earlier this year, Uber added a feature that lets passengers alert drivers that they'll be traveling with service animals. The DOJ's complaint says the company introduced the feature only after being notified of the investigation. "But Uber has continued to discriminate against riders who use service animals notwithstanding the feature," the filing reads. The DOJ is seeking a jury trial, injunctive relief and monetary damages. It also wants to charge Uber a civil fine for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If this all sounds familiar, there's a good reason. The DOJ sued Uber in 2021 over similar claims. That suit focused on "wait time" fees sent to passengers who, due to their disabilities, needed more time. The two sides settled the lawsuit in 2022. Uber agreed to pay at least $2.2 million to passengers with disabilities who were charged waiting fees. The company has also faced a string of lawsuits from passengers over serving riders with disabilities.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/the-doj-sues-uber-again-for-allegedly-discriminating-against-people-with-disabilities-195442362.html?src=rss View Source Article

2 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) For general inquires: Frank Hui Phone: (650) 604-5395 E-mail: frank.c.hui@nasa.gov For questions regarding scheduling of arc jet tests: Enrique Carballo Phone: (650) 604-0970 Email: enrique.carballo@nasa.gov For questions regarding scheduling of ballistic range tests: Charles Cornelison Phone: (650) 604-3443 Email: charles.j.cornelison@nasa.gov For questions on the Ames Vertical Gun Range (AVGR), contact the AVGR Science Coordinator: Alex Sehlke Phone: (650) 604-3651 Email: alexander.sehlke@nasa.gov For questions on the Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST): Ramon Martinez Phone: (650) 604-3485 Email: ramon.martinez@nasa.gov For questions regarding the Planetary Aeolian Laboratory: Haley Cummings Phone: (650) 604-1633 Email: haley.cummings@nasa.gov SHIPPING ADDRESS For tests in the AHF or TFD, the shipping address is NASA Ames Research Center Building N234 Room 112 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 For tests in the PTF or IHF, the shipping address is NASA Ames Research Center Building N238 Room 103 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 For tests in the HFFF, the shipping address is NASA Ames Research Center Building N237 Room 150 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 For tests in the AVGR, the shipping address is NASA Ames Research Center Building N204A Room 104 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 For tests in the EAST, the shipping address is NASA Ames Research Center Building N229 Room 157  Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 Or you can mail us at: NASA Ames Research CenterThermophysics Facilities Branch Mail Stop 229-4 Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 Learn More About The Branch View Source Article

The AI-powered “Pocket Health” feature shows whether the quarterback is at risk. Amazon’s Prime Video is bringing more AI to the football field with new features designed to give viewers more insight into Thursday Night Football games, as highlighted earlier by Deadline. One feature, called Pocket Health, uses AI to analyze “tens of thousands of data points” across the offensive line during a play, allowing Prime Video to display on-screen visuals indicating the threat level to a quarterback. As Amazon gets ready to air its first game of the 2025 NFL season, it’s also debuting a new set of AI-powered End of Game tools. That includes one that gauges the potential possession scenarios for losing teams, and another that attempts to predict how much time a team would need for a comeback or victory. These features add to the AI tools Prime Video has already adopted for its Thursday Night Football streams, such as Defensive Alerts, which uses machine learning to identify players that could blitz during a play. View Source Article

Apple’s September event put the spotlight on iPhones, but the Apple Watch Series 11 quietly picked up some big quality-of-life changes. The new watch looks the same as the Series 10, but there are meaningful upgrades: 24-hour battery life (up from 18 hours), 5G connectivity on cellular models and tougher Ion-X glass on aluminum versions. The Series 11 also debuts a new health feature, hypertension notifications, which will alert you if your data shows consistent signs of high blood pressure. Importantly, Apple confirmed that this feature will also roll out to older watches, including the Series 10, Series 9 and Ultra 2 via watchOS 26. The Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $399 and keeps the same 42mm and 46mm case sizes as its predecessor. It runs watchOS 26, uses the same S10 chip and supports the full health suite with ECG, blood oxygen monitoring, temperature sensing, sleep apnea alerts and sleep scoring. As usual, the older your Apple Watch — especially Series 8 and earlier — the more tangible improvements and benefits you'll see from jumping to the Series 11. But if you already have a Series 10, is it worth upgrading? For most people, the answer depends on how much you value endurance and connectivity. Let’s take a closer look at what’s new and what’s the same when it comes to the new Apple Watch Series 11 and last year’s Series 10. Design and display At first glance, these watches are nearly identical. Both use Apple’s familiar slim cases in aluminum or titanium, and feature the same Retina LTPO OLED display with always-on functionality and up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness. Physically, they are virtually indistinguishable. If you walked into an Apple Store and mixed them up on the table, you’d probably need to flip them over and check the spec sheet to tell which was which. The change is under the surface, as the Series 11 aluminum models gain Ion-X glass with a ceramic coating that Apple says is twice as scratch-resistant as the Series 10. It’s not indestructible, but if you’re the type who regularly introduces your watch to door frames, it might save you a few scuffs. Performance and connectivity Performance remains steady between the two generations. Both use the S10 chip introduced in 2024, which means apps launch quickly and the overall experience should feel fluid. The one major change is in connectivity. The Series 11’s cellular models now support 5G, while the Series 10 remains limited to LTE. That won’t matter if you always keep your iPhone nearby, but if you’re the kind of person who likes to head out for a run or grab a coffee without a phone in your pocket, 5G gives you more breathing room. Health and fitness features Health and fitness tracking is robust on both models. ECG, blood oxygen, temperature sensing, sleep apnea alerts and sleep scoring are all supported on both the Series 10 and Series 11. Hypertension notifications are debuting with the Series 11, but Apple has confirmed they will also be available on the Series 10 through a software update. So you don’t need to rush to upgrade if you’re only interested in blood pressure alerts — Apple’s giving your existing watch a boost, too. Apple Battery and charging Battery life is where the Series 11 has the most practical differences. After years of quoting the same 18-hour figure, Apple now promises up to 24 hours of use on a single charge. It’s still not a full weekend away without a charger, but for the first time an Apple Watch can comfortably last through a full day and night without begging for the puck. Fast charging is still supported across both models, so even the Series 10 can be topped up quickly, but the Series 11 gives you more breathing room in everyday use. Software experience Both watches run watchOS 26 (Series 10 devices will get that in a software update), which introduces the redesigned Smart Stack, new workout modes and updated health dashboards. Apple has not tied any major new software features exclusively to the Series 11 apart from those that rely on its tougher glass or 5G hardware. In other words, the interface will feel the same whether you’re on the shiny new model or last year’s. Price and availability The Series 11 starts at $399, which is the same starting price the Series 10 had when it first launched. Apple typically phases out old flagship models once the latest has launched, but in the near future, you may be able to find a discounted Series 10 while retailers get rid of their stock. Both support the same case sizes and band compatibility, so existing accessories carry over. So if you’ve got a drawer full of straps, you don’t need to worry — they’ll still snap right on. Should you upgrade? If you’re wondering if now’s the time to step up to an Apple Watch Series 11, the decision will come down to how much you value endurance and connectivity. The Series 11 is the clear winner if you want 24-hour battery life, 5G support and tougher glass. Those changes may not sound dramatic at first, but they alter how you use the watch from day to night, especially if you rely on cellular data or wear it during workouts and sleep. If you already have a Series 10, you’ll get the same health experience, the same software and the same performance. With hypertension notifications also arriving on Series 10 (and even the Series 9), the gap between them narrows even further. The Apple Watch Series 11 doesn’t reinvent the formula, but its upgrades matter. The bump to 24 hours of battery life will make it more of an all-day and all-night companion, 5G makes it more reliable away from your phone and tougher glass adds peace of mind. Think of it this way: if you’re after durability and freedom from the charger, Series 11 is a safe bet. If you’d rather save money and still close your rings every day, stick with the Series 10 or grab one while there’s still discounted stock floating around on the internet. Full specs comparison Specs Apple Watch Series 11 Apple Watch Series 10 Chip S10 S10 Display LTPO3 always-on LTPO3 always-on Sizes 42mm, 46mm 42mm, 46mm Connectivity Wi-Fi, optional cellular with 5G Wi-Fi, optional cellular with LTE Durability IPX6, 50 meters water resistance, Io-X glass for 2x scratch resistance IPX6, 50 meters water resistance Heath features Hypertension notifications, ECG, blood oxygen, temperature sensing, sleep apnea alerts and sleep scoring Hypertension notifications (via software update), ECG, blood oxygen, temperature sensing, sleep apnea alerts and sleep scoring Battery life Up to 24 hours, fast charging supported Up to 18 hours, fast charging supported This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-series-11-vs-apple-watch-series-10-should-you-upgrade-185552623.html?src=rss View Source Article

3 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Langley Research Center Acting Director Dr. Trina Marsh Dyal and Dr. Jeremy Ernst, vice president for Research and Doctoral Programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, complete the signing of a Space Act Agreement during a ceremony held at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025NASA/Mark Knopp As NASA inspires the world through discovery in a new era of innovation and exploration, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are working together to advance research, educational opportunities, and workforce development to enable the next generation of aerospace breakthroughs. The collaborative work will happen through a Space Act Agreement NASA Langley and Embry-Riddle signed during a ceremony held Thursday at NASA Langley. The agreement will leverage NASA Langley’s aerospace expertise and Embry-Riddle’s specialized educational programs and research to drive innovation in aerospace, research, education, and technology, while simultaneously developing a highly skilled workforce for the future of space exploration and advanced air mobility. Dr. Trina Marsh Dyal, NASA Langley’s acting center director, and Dr. Jeremy Ernst, vice president for Research and Doctoral Programs at Embry-Riddle, presided over the ceremony. “NASA Langley values opportunities to partner with colleges and universities on research and technology demonstrations that lay the foundation for tomorrow’s innovations,” said Dyal. “These collaborations play an essential role in advancing aeronautics, space exploration, and science initiatives that benefit NASA, industry, academia, and the nation.” In addition to forging a formal partnership between NASA Langley and Embry-Riddle, the agreement lays the framework to support Embry-Riddle’s development of an Augmented Reality tool by using NASA sensor technology and data. Augmented Reality uses computer-generated elements to enhance a user’s real-world environment and can help users better visualize data. Incorporating model and lunar landing data from Navigation Doppler Lidar, a technology developed at NASA Langley, this tool will enhance visualization and training for entry, descent, and landing, and deorbit, descent, and landing systems — advancing our capabilities for future Moon and Mars missions. NASA’s Langley Research Center Acting Director Dr. Trina Marsh Dyal and Dr. Jeremy Ernst, vice president for Research and Doctoral Programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, sign a Space Act Agreement during a ceremony held at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.NASA/Mark Knopp “As we work to push the boundaries of what is possible and solve the complexities of a sustained human presence on the lunar surface and Mars, this partnership with Embry-Riddle will not only support NASA’s exploration goals but will also ensure the future workforce is equipped to maintain our nation’s aerospace leadership,” Dyal said. Embry-Riddle educates more than 30,000 students through its residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, and through online programs offered by itsWorldwide Campus, which counts more than 100 locations across the globe, including a site at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. “We are thrilled that this partnership with NASA Langley is making it possible for our faculty, students, and staff to engage with NASA talent and collaborate on cutting-edge aerospace applications and technology,” said Ernst. “This partnership also presents an incredible opportunity for our students to augment direct research experiences, enhancing career readiness as they prepare to take on the aerospace challenges of tomorrow.” NASA is committed to partnering with a wide variety of domestic and international partners, in academia, industry, and across the government, to successfully accomplish its diverse missions, including NASA’s Artemis campaign which will return astronauts to the Moon and help pave the way for future human missions to Mars. For more information on programs at NASA Langley, visit: https://nasa.gov/langley Brittny McGrawNASA Langley Research Center Share Details Last Updated Sep 11, 2025 Related TermsLangley Research Center Explore More 4 min read NASA Glenn Tests Mini-X-Ray Technology to Advance Space Health Care   Article 1 week ago 4 min read Strap In! NASA Aeroshell Material Takes Extended Space Trip Article 2 weeks ago 4 min read Washington State Student Wins 2025 NASA Art Contest Article 2 weeks ago View Source Article

These breathtaking photographs are the winning entries of the 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Awards. View Source Article

A still from Frankenstein. Like the rest of the Knives Out movies, Wake Up Dead Man is full of extremely fun revelations - the kind that can turn the whodunit story on its head and, as was the case for many of those attending the film's premiere in Toronto, Canada, produce audible gasps. Those shared moments of surprise are part of what makes the movie such a great theatrical experience, so it sucks that most people won't get the opportunity to see it in a theater at all. Wake Up Dead Man isn't alone. Netflix was very present at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, with films like Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, Edward Berger's Ballad of a Small Play … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Euronext NV will replace Teleperformance SE on France’s blue-chip CAC 40 index, the Paris bourse operator said, reflecting the diverging fortunes of the two companies. View Source Article

Françoise Cadol is the voice actor for Lara Croft in the French localizations of the Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered games. She has sent a legal notice to the games' publisher, Aspyr, alleging that a recent patch used artificial intelligence to alter her performance without her consent. The news was originally reported by French publication Le Parisien and picked up by Game Developer. According to August 2025 patch notes for the remastered game collection, Tomb Raider VI was updated with some adjustments to its sound and audio. The latest update "fixed issues where various voice-overs and voicelines were too quiet, particularly in the Brazilian Portuguese localization" and "some voice-overs that were missing on the Steam build have been restored." According to Le Parisien, fans alerted Cadol that the French version of the updated game seemed to differ from her original delivery, which they suspected were the result of the game using artificial intelligence. She has now filed a formal notice against Aspyr asking for sales of the game collection to be paused so the issue can be resolved. We've reached out to Aspyr for comment and will update this story if we receive a response. Actors both on screen and behind the mic have been mobilizing to protect themselves against unapproved AI recreations as the tech gains more popularity. The SAG-AFTRA union launched a strike against several video game companies last summer in an effort to gain better protections for performers as AI use grows, and questions around AI in voicework continued to appear as the parties hammered out terms. The strike was suspended in June 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/remastered-tomb-raider-games-allegedly-used-ai-to-change-lara-crofts-french-voice-183922036.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. | Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images An exciting discovery on Mars is being overshadowed by turmoil at NASA, with budget cuts threatening to destroy a scientific legacy that has been built over decades. Yesterday, the agency shared a finding, published in Nature, of potential biosignatures identified by the Mars Perseverance rover in a 3.5 billion-year-old rock. "This very well could be the clearest sign of life that we've ever found on Mars," said Transportation Secretary and Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy in a press conference. Leftover fossils Scientists involved in the research were careful to emphasize that the findings - related to unusual textural features of r … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

How effective are ubiquitous, buzzy videos on social media at driving audiences to full-length podcast episodes? View Source Article

The Federal Trade Commission is making a formal inquiry into companies that provide AI chatbots that can act as companions. The investigation isn't tied to any kind of regulatory action as of yet, but does aim to reveal how companies "measure, test, and monitor potentially negative impacts of this technology on children and teens." Seven companies are being asked to participate in the FTC's investigation: Google's parent company Alphabet, Character Technologies (the creator of Character.AI), Meta, its subsidiary Instagram, OpenAI, Snap and X.AI. The FTC is asking companies to provide a variety of different information, including how they develop and approve AI characters and "monetize user engagement." Data practices and how companies protect underage users are also areas the FTC hopes to learn more about, in part to see if chatbot makers "comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule." The FTC doesn't provide clear motivation for its investigation, but in a separate statement, FTC Commissioner Mark Meador suggests the Commission is responding to recent reports from The New York Times and Wall Street Journal of "chatbots amplifying suicidal ideation" and engaging in "sexually-themed discussions with underage users." "If the facts — as developed through subsequent and appropriately targeted law enforcement inquiries, if warranted — indicate that the law has been violated, the Commission should not hesitate to act to protect the most vulnerable among us," Meador writes. As the long-term productivity benefits of using AI become less and less certain, the more immediate negative privacy and health impacts have become red meat for regulators. Texas' Attorney General has already launched a separate investigation into Character. AI and Meta AI Studio over similar concerns of data privacy and chatbots claiming to be mental health professionals.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-ftc-is-investigating-companies-that-make-ai-companion-chatbots-181413615.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this sparkling scene of star birth in an image released on Sept. 4, 2025. Called Pismis 24, this young star cluster resides in the core of the nearby Lobster Nebula, approximately 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. Home to a vibrant stellar nursery and one of the closest sites of massive star birth, Pismis 24 provides rare insight into large and massive stars. Its proximity makes this region one of the best places to explore the properties of hot young stars and how they evolve. Captured in infrared light by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), this image reveals thousands of jewel-like stars of varying sizes and colors. The largest and most brilliant ones with the six-point diffraction spikes are the most massive stars in the cluster. Hundreds to thousands of smaller members of the cluster appear as white, yellow, and red, depending on their stellar type and the amount of dust enshrouding them. Webb also shows us tens of thousands of stars behind the cluster that are part of the Milky Way galaxy. Learn more about this star cluster. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI View Source Article

We predicted the X Phone months ago—and now Elon’s confirmed it. With AI inference on every device and 3B customers by 2030. This won’t just be a phone. It is the end of telecom as we know it. Totally worldchanging within 5 years. The $17B EchoStar deal involves AWS-4 spectrum (H-block/S-band), enabling high-bandwidth satellite-to-phone globally. ... Read more View Source Article

A study of the "failed star" brown dwarf known as "The Accident," conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope, may reveal a solution to an old mystery of Jupiter and Saturn. View Source Article

The built-in solar panel extends the life of the dash cam’s rechargeable battery. | Image: Baseus Baseus has announced a new dash cam that can continue capturing incidents even while your vehicle is turned off. The PrimeTrip VD1 Pro includes both a rechargeable battery and a high-efficiency solar panel it uses to record incidents when motion or impacts are detected for up to 14 days while your car is parked, without draining your vehicle’s battery. It’s available now through Amazon for $169.99 (discounted to $109.99 with a coupon that expires on October 1st) and while the VD1 Pro doesn’t need to be hardwired to your vehicle’s electrical system or fuse box during installation, it’s definitely not a wireless solution. While you’re driving the main unit draws power from your vehicle’s auxiliary outlet so its 4K camera with a 170-degree wide-angle field of view can record continually, ensuring the events leading up to an incident are captured. Another cable, which you’ll need to conceal in the seams of your car’s trim panels, connects the main unit to a second 1080p rear camera with a 120-degree field of view for capturing what’s happening behind your vehicle. The VD1 Pro’s solar panel is about as small as those used on calculators so the unit remains unobtrusive, but it only generates enough power to extend the dash cam’s battery, not keep it charged indefinitely. As a result, you’ll only get up to 14 days of what Baseus calls “standby parking monitoring.” When motion around the vehicle or an impact is detected, the dash cam will wake and capture 30-second clips from the front and rear cameras up to a maximum of 20 incidents or 40 clips that are stored on a 32GB microSD card that can be upgraded. If you’re parking someplace like an underground garage where the available lighting is limited, you can expect the battery life to be reduced. Other features include continuous loop recording that will automatically overwrite the oldest videos when the microSD card gets full, and hands-free voice controls. The VD1 Pro connects to the Baseus mobile app over Wi-Fi 6 for wirelessly downloading videos from the dashcam or uploading firmware updates. View Source Article

Uber Technologies Inc. was sued by the US Justice Department over claims that the ride-sharing giant discriminates against people with physical disabilities in violation of federal law. View Source Article

5 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A ship plows through rough seas in the Bering Sea in the aftermath of Typhoon Tip, one of the largest hurricanes on record. The Sentinel-6B satellite will provide data crucial to forecasting sea states, information that can help ships avoid danger. CC BY 2.0 NOAA/Commander Richard Behn Sea surface height data from the Sentinel-6B satellite, led by NASA and ESA, will help with the development of marine weather forecasts, alerting ships to possible dangers. Because most global trade travels by ship, accurate, timely ocean forecasts are essential. These forecasts provide crucial information about storms, high winds, and rough water, and they depend on measurements provided by instruments in the ocean and by satellites including Sentinel-6B, a joint mission led by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) that will provide essential sea level and other ocean data after it launches this November. The satellite will eventually take over from its twin, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, which launched in 2020. Both satellites have an altimeter instrument that measures sea levels, wind speeds, and wave heights, among other characteristics, which meteorologists feed into models that produce marine weather forecasts. Those forecasts provide information on the state of the ocean as well as the changing locations of large currents like the Gulf Stream. Dangerous conditions can result when waves interact with such currents, putting ships at risk. “Building on NASA’s long legacy of satellite altimetry data and its real-world impact on shipping operations, Sentinel-6B will soon take on the vital task of improving ocean and weather forecasts to help keep ships, their crews, and cargo safe”, said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, lead program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich and Sentinel-6B are part of the Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuity of Service) mission, the latest in a series of ocean-observing radar altimetry missions that have monitored Earth’s changing seas since the early 1990s. Sentinel-6/Jason-CS is a collaboration between NASA, ESA, the European Union, EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and NOAA (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). The European Commission provided funding support, and the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales) contributed technical support. Keeping current “The ocean is getting busier, but it’s also getting more dangerous,” said Avichal Mehra, deputy director of the Ocean Prediction Center at the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. He and his colleagues produce marine weather forecasts using data from ocean-based instruments as well as complementary measurements from five satellites, including Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. Among those measurements: sea level, wave height, and wind speed. The forecasters derive the location of large currents from changes in sea level. One of the planet’s major currents, the Gulf Stream is located off the southeastern coast of the United States, but its exact position varies. “Ships will actually change course depending on where the Gulf Stream is and the direction of the waves,” said Mehra. “There have been instances where, in calm conditions, waves interacting with the Gulf Stream have caused damage or the loss of cargo containers on ships.” Large, warm currents like the Gulf Stream can have relatively sharp boundaries since they are generally higher than their surroundings. Water expands as it warms, so warm seawater is taller than cooler water. If waves interact with these currents in a certain way, seas can become extremely rough, presenting a hazard to even the largest ships. “Satellite altimeters are the only reliable measurement we have of where these big currents can be,” said Deirdre Byrne, sea surface height team lead at NOAA in College Park. There are hundreds of floating sensors scattered about the ocean that could pick up parts of where such currents are located, but these instruments are widely dispersed and limited in the area they measure at any one time. Satellites like Sentinel-6B offer greater spatial coverage, measuring areas that aren’t regularly monitored and providing essential information for the forecasts that ships need. Consistency is key Sentinel-6B won’t just help marine weather forecasts through its near-real-time data, though. It will also extend a long-term dataset featuring more than 30 years of sea level measurements, just as Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich does today. “Since 1992, we have launched a series of satellites that have provided consistent sea level observations from the same orbit in space. This continuity allows each new mission to be calibrated against its predecessors, providing measurements with centimeter-level accuracy that don’t drift over time,” said Severine Fournier, Sentinel-6B deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.   This long-running, repeated measurement has turned this dataset into the gold standard sea level measurement from space — a reference against which data from other sea level satellites is checked. It also serves as a baseline, giving forecasters a way to tell what ocean conditions have looked like over time and how they are changing now. “This kind of data can’t be easily replaced,” said Mehra. More about Sentinel-6B Sentinel-6/Jason-CS was jointly developed by ESA, EUMETSAT, NASA, and NOAA, with funding support from the European Commission and technical support from CNES. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL contributed three science instruments for each Sentinel-6 satellite: the Advanced Microwave Radiometer, the Global Navigation Satellite System – Radio Occultation, and the Laser Retroreflector Array. NASA is also contributing launch services, ground systems supporting operation of the NASA science instruments, the science data processors for two of these instruments, and support for the U.S. members of the international Ocean Surface Topography and Sentinel-6 science teams. For more about Sentinel-6/Jason-CS, visit: https://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/jason-cs-sentinel-6 News Media Contacts Jane J. Lee / Andrew WangJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.626-491-1943 / 626-379-6874jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov 2025-116 Share Details Last Updated Sep 11, 2025 Related TermsSentinel-6BJason-CS (Continuity of Service) / Sentinel-6Jet Propulsion LaboratoryOceansWeather and Atmospheric Dynamics Explore More 6 min read NASA Marsquake Data Reveals Lumpy Nature of Red Planet’s Interior Article 2 weeks ago 4 min read NASA: Ceres May Have Had Long-Standing Energy to Fuel Habitability Article 3 weeks ago 4 min read NASA’s Psyche Captures Images of Earth, Moon Article 3 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

Hollow Knight: Silksong, one of the hottest games of the year with a reported five million players in its first week, didn't launch on smartphones. But that won't stop you from playing it on Android - because a new leap in Windows to Android emulation means you can easily install and run the Steam version on flagship phones like my Galaxy S25. I'm talking about GameHub, the app from Chinese mobile gamepad manufacturer GameSir, which just launched version 5.0 with two key features that help it rise above the Windows-on-phone emulation scene. @verge Silksong on Android is now a reality, no port required! GameHub is finally making Windows … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Shares of Figure Technology Solutions Inc. opened at $36 each in New York, 44% above their IPO price of $25 apiece, after a listing raising $787.5 million. Bailey Lipschultz reports on Bloomberg Television. View Source Article

Senators Edward J. Markey, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley sent a letter Thursday to Acting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons urging the agency to stop using “Mobile Fortify,” a smartphone app that uses biometric identification, including facial recognition. The lawmakers said facial recognition remains unreliable and warned that real-time surveillance could have a chilling effect on constitutionally protected activities. "As studies have shown, when individuals believe they are being surveilled, they are less likely to engage in First Amendment-protected activities, such as protests or rallies — undermining the very core of our democracy,” the senators wrote. They requested answers from the agency by October 2 as to who built the app, when it was deployed, whether ICE tested its accuracy, the legal basis for its use and current agency policies governing the tool's use. They also asked whether ICE would commit to ending the use of Mobile Fortify, and to explain why if they would not. The letter was also signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Chris Van Holle, Tina Smith, Bernie Sanders and Adam Schiff. Earlier this summer The Washington Post reported that the New Orleans police were secretly using facial recognition on a private camera network of over 200 live feeds. This went on for two years despite city ordinances requiring the technology only be used to search for specific suspects of violent crimes, and that the use be documented and reported to the city council. Facial recognition technology remains controversial, though a plurality of Americans support its use in both law enforcement and the workplace, with limitations. As there is still no federal regulation on the use of facial recognition, states have been left to craft their own guardrails, with states like Illinois allowing individuals to sue for damages over misuse of biometric data and requiring written consent for its use. Last year Meta paid a $1.4 billion settlement to the state of Texas (the largest financial settlement ever paid out to a single state) for allegedly collecting biometric data on millions of Texans without their consent.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/senators-demand-ice-cease-use-of-facial-recognition-app-172146833.html?src=rss View Source Article

Artemis II NASA astronauts (left to right) Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen stand in the white room on the crew access arm of the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as part of an integrated ground systems test at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. The test ensures the ground systems team is ready to support the crew timeline on launch day.NASA/Frank Michaux With Artemis II, NASA is taking the science of living and working in space beyond low Earth orbit. While the test flight will help confirm the systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration, the crew also will be serving as both scientists and volunteer research subjects, completing a suite of experiments that will allow NASA to better understand how human health may change in deep space environments. Results will help the agency build future interventions, protocols, and preventative measures to best protect astronauts on future missions to the lunar surface and to Mars. Science on Artemis II will include seven main research areas: ARCHeR: Artemis Research for Crew Health and Readiness  NASA’s Artemis II mission provides an opportunity to explore how deep space travel affects sleep, stress, cognition, and teamwork — key factors in astronaut health and performance. While these effects are well-documented in low Earth orbit, they’ve never been fully studied during lunar missions. Artemis II astronauts will wear wristband devices that continuously monitor movement and sleep patterns throughout the mission. The data will be used for real-time health monitoring and safety assessments, while pre- and post-flight evaluations will provide deeper insights into cognition, behavior, sleep quality, and teamwork in the unique environment of deep space and the Orion spacecraft. The findings from the test flight will inform future mission planning and crew support systems, helping NASA optimize human performance for the next era of exploration on the Moon and Mars. Immune Biomarkers Saliva provides a unique window into how the human immune system functions in a deep space environment. Tracing changes in astronauts’ saliva from before, during, and after the mission will enable researchers to investigate how the human body responds to deep space in unprecedented ways. Dry saliva will be collected before, during, and after the mission. It will be blotted onto specialized paper in pocket-sized booklets since equipment needed to preserve wet spit samples in space – including refrigeration – will not be available due to volume constraints. To augment that information, liquid saliva and blood samples will be collected before and after the mission.   NASA Astronaut Randy Bresnik prepares to collect a dry saliva sample aboard the International Space Station. The process, which helps scientists investigate how the immune system is affected by spaceflight and will be part of the Artemis II mission, involves blotting saliva onto special paper that’s stored in pocket-sized booklets.Credit: NASA With these wet and dry saliva samples, scientists will gain insights into how the astronauts’ immune systems are affected by the increased stresses of radiation, isolation, and distance from Earth during their deep space flight. They also will examine whether otherwise dormant viruses are reactivated in space, as has been seen previously on the International Space Station with viruses that can cause chickenpox and shingles. The information gathered from this study, when combined with data from other missions, will help researchers develop ways to keep crew members safe and healthy as we explore farther and travel for longer periods on deep space missions. AVATAR: A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response AVATAR is another important component of NASA’s strategy to gain a holistic understanding of how the deep space environment affects humans. Scientists plan to use organ-on-a-chip technology during Artemis II, marking the first time these devices will be used beyond the Van Allen belts. Roughly the size of a USB thumb drive, the chips will measure how individual astronauts respond to deep space stressors, including extreme radiation and microgravity. The organ chips will contain cells developed from preflight blood donations provided by crew members to create miniature stand-ins, or “avatars,” of their bone marrow. Bone marrow plays a vital role in the immune system and is particularly sensitive to radiation, which is why scientists selected it for this study. An organ chip for conducting bone marrow experiments in space. Credit: Emulate A key goal for this research is to validate whether organ chips can serve as accurate tools for measuring and predicting human responses to stressors. To evaluate this, scientists will compare AVATAR data with space station findings, as well as with samples taken from the crew before and after flight. AVATAR could inform measures to ensure crew health on future deep space missions, including personalizing medical kits to each astronaut. For citizens on Earth, it could lead to advancements in individualized treatments for diseases such as cancer. AVATAR is a demonstration of the power of public-private partnerships. It’s a collaboration between government agencies and commercial space companies: NASA, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences within the National Institutes of Health, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Space Tango, and Emulate. Artemis II Standard Measures The crew also will become the first astronauts in deep space to participate in the Spaceflight Standard Measures study, an investigation that’s been collecting data from participating crew members aboard the space station and elsewhere since 2018. The study aims to collect a comprehensive snapshot of astronauts’ bodies and minds by gathering a consistent set of core measurements of physiological response. The crew will provide biological samples including blood, urine, and saliva for evaluating nutritional status, cardiovascular health, and immunological function starting about six months before their launch. The crew also will participate in tests and surveys evaluating balance, vestibular function, muscle performance, changes in their microbiome, as well as ocular and brain health. While in space, data gathering will include an assessment of motion sickness symptoms. After landing, there will be additional tests of head, eye, and body movements, among other functional performance tasks. Data collection will continue for a month after their return. All this information will be available for scientists interested in studying the effects of spaceflight via request to NASA’s Life Sciences Data Archive. The results from this work could lead to future interventions, technologies, and studies that help predict the adaptability of crews on a Mars mission. Radiation Sensors Inside Orion During the uncrewed Artemis I mission, Orion was blanketed in 5,600 passive and 34 active radiation sensors. The information they gathered assured researchers Orion’s design can provide protection for crew members from hazardous radiation levels during lunar missions. That doesn’t mean that scientists don’t want more information, however. Similar to Artemis I, six active radiation sensors, collectively called the Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessors, will be deployed at various locations inside the Orion crew module. Crew also will wear dosimeters in their pockets. These sensors will provide warnings of hazardous radiation levels caused by space weather events made by the Sun. If necessary, this data will be used by mission control to drive decisions for the crew to build a shelter to protect from radiation exposure due to space weather.  Additionally, NASA has again partnered the German Space Agency DLR for an updated model of their M-42 sensor – an M-42 EXT – for Artemis II. The new version offers six times more resolution to distinguish between different types of energy, compared to the Artemis I version. This will allow it to accurately measure the radiation exposure from heavy ions which are thought to be particularly hazardous for radiation risk. Artemis II will carry four of the monitors, affixed at points around the cabin by the crew. Collectively, sensor data will paint a full picture of radiation exposures inside Orion and provide context for interpreting the results of the ARCHeR, AVATAR, Artemis II Standard Measures, and Immune Biomarkers experiments. Lunar Observations Campaign The Artemis II crew will take advantage of their location to explore the Moon from above. As the first humans to see the lunar surface up close since 1972, they’ll document their observations through photographs and audio recordings to inform scientists’ understanding of the Moon and share their experience of being far from Earth. It’s possible the crew could be the first humans to see certain areas of the Moon’s far side, though this will depend on the time and date of launch, which will affect which areas of the Moon will be illuminated and therefore visible when the spacecraft flies by. Spacecraft such as NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been surveying and mapping the Moon for decades, but Artemis II provides a unique opportunity for humans to evaluate the lunar surface from above. Human eyes and brains are highly sensitive to subtle changes in color, texture, and other surface characteristics. Having the crew observe the lunar surface directly – equipped with questions that scientists didn’t even know to ask during Apollo missions – could form the basis for future scientific investigations into the Moon’s geological history, the lunar environment, or new impact sites. This visualization simulates what the crew of Artemis II might see out the Orion windows on the day of their closest approach to the Moon. It compresses 36 hours into a little more than a minute as it flies the virtual camera on a realistic trajectory that swings the spacecraft around the Moon’s far side. This sample trajectory is timed so that the far side is fully illuminated when the astronauts fly by, but other lighting conditions are possible depending on the exact Artemis II launch date. The launch is scheduled for no later than April of 2026. NASA Goddard/Ernie Wright It will also offer the first opportunity for an Artemis mission to integrate science flight control operations. From their console in the flight control room in mission control, a science officer will consult with a team of scientists with expertise in impact cratering, volcanism, tectonism, and lunar ice, to provide real-time data analysis and guidance to the Artemis II crew in space. During the mission, the lunar science team will be located in mission control’s Science Evaluation Room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.  Lessons learned during Artemis II will pave the way for lunar science operations on future missions. CubeSats Several additional experiments are hitching a ride to space onboard Artemis II in the form of CubeSats – shoe-box-sized technology demonstrations and scientific experiments. Though separate from the objectives of the Artemis II mission, they may enhance understanding of the space environment. Technicians install the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) K-Rad Cube within the Orion stage adapter inside the Multi-Payload Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. The K-Rad Cube, about the size of a shoebox, is one of the CubeSats slated to fly on NASA’s Artemis II test flight in 2026. Credit: NASA Four international space agencies have signed agreements to send CubeSats into space aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, each with their own objectives. All will be released from an adapter on the SLS upper stage into a high-Earth orbit, where they will conduct an orbital maneuver to reach their desired orbit. ATENEA – Argentina’s Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales will collect data on radiation doses across various shielding methods, measure the radiation spectrum around Earth, collect GPS data to help optimize future mission design, and validate a long-range communications link. K-Rad Cube – The Korea Aerospace Administration will use a dosimeter made of material designed to mimic human tissue to measure space radiation and assess biological effects at various altitudes across the Van Allen radiation belt. Space Weather CubeSat – The Saudi Space Agency will measure aspects of space weather, including radiation, solar X-rays, solar energetic particles, and magnetic fields, at a range of distances from Earth. TACHELES – The Germany Space Agency DLR will collect measurements on the effects of the space environment on electrical components to inform technologies for lunar vehicles. Together, these research areas will inform plans for future missions within NASA’s Artemis campaign. Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. View Source Article

Scientists are beginning to take clear sides on whether or not to use human-made interventions to preserve polar ice, such as pumping up seawater or launching aerosols into the atmosphere to cool the planet’s surface View Source Article

These celestial wonders can tell us a lot about the state of the atmosphere at home on Earth as well as on other planets. View Source Article

Minutes after news that right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk had been shot at a planned campus event at Utah Valley University, the wheels of social media engagement farming and clout chasing had already begun to grind to life. Kirk, despite being in his 30s, was a mainstay on college campuses around the country, where student groups regularly invited him to hold "debate me"-style events. The classic format - vertical split-screen of Kirk on the bottom, a student speaker on the top - racked up millions of views as the right-wing influencer sparred with college kids challenging him on issues like immigration, abortion, and race in the US. The … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Indian software services giant Infosys Ltd. will buy back as much as 180 billion Indian rupees ($2 billion) worth of shares in an effort to return cash to investors amid a stock-price decline. View Source Article

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft awaits its capture by the International Space Stations’ Canadarm2 robotic arm, commanded by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick on Aug. 6, 2024.Credit: NASA NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23, or Northrop Grumman CRS-23, will deliver more than 11,000 pounds of science and supplies to the International Space Station. This mission will be the first flight of the Cygnus XL, the larger, more cargo-capable version of the company’s solar-powered spacecraft. The Cygnus XL will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.  Following arrival, astronauts aboard the space station will use the Canadarm2 to grapple Cygnus XL before robotically installing the spacecraft to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading. Stream live launch and arrival coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, YouTube. Mission Infographics NASA’s Northrop Grumman 23 commercial resupply mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to deliver research and supplies to the International Space Station.NASA NASA’s Northrop Grumman 23 commercial resupply mission will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.NASA NASA selected William “Willie” McCool as an astronaut in 1996. McCool flew as a pilot on STS-107, his first mission. The STS-107 crew, including McCool, died on February 1, 2003, when space shuttle Columbia was lost during reentry over east Texas at about 9 a.m. EST, 16 minutes prior to the scheduled touchdown and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA’s Northrop Grumman 23 spacecraft is named in his honor.NASA NASA astronauts Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman will be on duty during the Cygnus spacecraft’s approach and rendezvous. Kim will be at the controls of the Canadarm2 robotic arm ready to capture Cygnus as Cardman monitors the vehicle’s arrival.NASA Mission Hardware IDA Planar Reflector – This is a reflective element used by visiting spacecraft during docking. The spacecraft bounces a laser off the reflector to compute relative range, velocity, and attitude on approach to the International Space Station. Due to degradation found on the installed reflector, this unit will launch to support a future spacewalk to replace the damaged reflector. Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Distillation Assembly – The urine processor on the space station uses filtration and distillation to separate water from wastewater to produce potable water. This unit is launching as a spare. Reactor Health Sensor – Part of the Environmental Control and Life Support System – Water Processing Assembly, includes two sensors with inlet and outlet ports to measure reactor health. This unit is being launched as a spare. Pressure Management Device – This is an intravehicular activity system for performing pressurization and depressurization of the space station vestibules between the space station hatch and the hatch of a visiting spacecraft or other module, like the NanoRacks Airlock. During depressurization, most of the air will be added to the space station cabin air to save the valuable resource. Air Selector Valve – This electro-mechanical assembly is used to direct airflow through the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly. Two units are launching as spares. Major Constituent Analyzer Mass Spectrometer Assembly – This assembly monitors the partial pressure levels of nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide aboard station. This unit is launching as a contingency spare. Major Constituent Analyzer Mass Sample/Series Pump Assembly – This contains plumbing and a pair of solenoid valves to direct sample gas flow to either of the redundant sample pumps. It draws sample gas from the space station’s atmosphere into the analyzer. This unit is launching as a contingency spare. Major Constituent Analyzer Sample Distribution Assembly – This isolates the gas sample going to the Mass Spectrometer Assembly. The purpose is to distribute gas samples throughout the analyzer. This unit is launching as a contingency spare. Charcoal Bed – The bed allows the Trace Contaminant Control System to remove high molecular weight contaminants from the station’s atmosphere. This unit is launching as a spare. Common Cabin Air Assembly Heat Exchanger – This assembly controls cabin air temperature, humidity, and airflow aboard the space station. This unit is launching as a spare. Sequential Shunt Unit – This regulates the solar array wing voltage when experiencing high levels of direct sunlight; in doing so, it provides usable power to the station’s primary power system. This unit is launching as a spare. Solid State Lighting Assembly – This is a specialized internal lighting assembly aboard station. NASA will use one lighting assembly to replace a failed unit and will keep the others as spares. Remote Power Control Module Type V – This module distributes 120V/DC electrical power and provides current-limiting and fault protection to secondary loads aboard the orbiting laboratory. This module is launching as a spare. Treadmill Isolator Assembly – The Upper, X, Y, and Z Isolator Assemblies are launching as spares for the space station’s treadmill, where they work together to reduce vibration and force transfer when astronauts are running. Pump Fan Motor Controller – The controller is an electronic controller to modulate the power to the motor windings, which are coils of conductive wire that are wrapped around its core carrying electric current to drive the motor. Windings are commonly used in household appliances, cars (power steering), pumps, and more. Quick Don Mask Assembly – This mask is used by the crew, along with the Pre-Breath Assembly, in emergency situations. This unit is launching to replace a unit aboard station. Anomaly Gas Analyzer – This analyzer senses various gases, like oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and others, along with cabin pressure, water vapor and temperature. Two units are launching as an upgrade to the current analyzer system used on board. Nitrogen, Oxygen Resupply Maintenance Kit – One tank of nitrogen and one tank of oxygen used for gas replenishment aboard the space station are launching to maintain gas reserves. Crew and Equipment Translation Aid Luminaire – This is a lighting unit used aboard station to illuminate the astronauts’ equipment cart and surrounding work areas during spacewalks. View Source Article

Researchers tested 12 “magic mushroom” edibles. None contained psilocybin, but most contained undisclosed ingredients, including synthetic drugs whose safety hasn’t been tested in humans View Source Article

The winning bid for this screen-used prop made 'Star Wars' history last week... let's just hope the seller doesn't alter the deal. View Source Article

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is ordering seven AI chatbot companies to provide information about how they assess the effects of their virtual companions on kids and teens. OpenAI, Meta, its subsidiary Instagram, Snap, xAI, Google parent company Alphabet, and the maker of Character.AI all received orders to share information about how their AI companions make money, how they plan to maintain their user bases, and how they try to mitigate potential harm to users. The inquiry is part of a study, rather than an enforcement action, to learn more about how tech firms evaluate the safety of their AI chatbots. Amid a broader conversation about kids safety on the internet, the risks of AI chatbots have broken out as a particular cause for concern among many parents and policymakers because of the human-like way they can communicate with users. “For all their uncanny ability to simulate human cognition, these chatbots are products like any other, and those who make them available have a responsibility to comply with the consumer protection laws,” FTC Commissioner Mark Meador said in a statement. Chair Andrew Ferguson emphasized in a statement the need to “consider the effects chatbots can have on children, while also ensuring that the United States maintains its role as a global leader in this new and exciting industry.” The commission’s three Republicans all voted to approve the study, which requires the companies to respond within 45 days. It comes after high-profile reports about teens who died by suicide after engaging with these technologies. A 16-year-old in California discussed his plans for suicide with ChatGPT, The New York Times reported last month, and the chatbot provided advice that appeared to assist him in his death. Last year, The Times also reported on the suicide death of a 14-year-old in Florida who died after engaging with a virtual companion from Character.AI.  Outside of the FTC, lawmakers are also looking at new policies to safeguard kids and teens from potentially negative effects of AI companions. California’s state assembly recently passed a bill that would require safety standards for AI chatbots and impose liability on the companies that make them. While the orders to the seven companies aren’t connected to an enforcement action, the FTC could open such a probe if it finds reason to do so. “If the facts—as developed through subsequent and appropriately targeted law enforcement inquiries, if warranted—indicate that the law has been violated, the Commission should not hesitate to act to protect the most vulnerable among us,” Meador said. View Source Article

Opendoor Technologies Inc. shares surged by as much as 69% Thursday after announcing the return of its co-founders to the board and a new chief executive officer. View Source Article

Google is rolling out an update for Gmail on mobile and the web that will make it easier to track emails for your deliveries. The most prominent change you'll see is a new Purchases tab, where Gmail will put all your delivery emails so you can view them in one place. In the app, you'll be able to access the new view via the side menu. Just click the hamburger icon in the text box at the top of the interface.  Even though deliveries now have their own tab, Gmail will still show packages that are set to arrive within the day as cards at the top of your primary inbox, as you can see in the image above. Each card comes with a "See item" or a "Track Package" button that you can click or tap without having to search for the original delivery email. The new delivery tab will start showing up in your personal Gmail accounts starting today.  In addition, Google is updating Gmail's Promotions tab, allowing you to sort the emails in it by "most relevant." Gmail will decide which brands and emails are most relevant for you based on what you've interacted with the most in the past. It will also send you "nudges" on upcoming deals and offers that are set to expire soon. You'll see the changes to the Promotions tab in the coming weeks. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/gmail-will-now-filter-your-purchases-into-a-new-tab-160004429.html?src=rss View Source Article

How a determined socialite, inspired by true crime, helped professionalize the field of murder investigations View Source Article

Phases of ice that exist naturally only on frozen moons could be detected using infrared spectroscopy, according to new laboratory experiments. View Source Article

Over the past week, I've been using Nvidia's new RTX 5080 GeForce Now tier. Nvidia's cloud gaming service has been the best on the market for years now, and this upgrade makes it even better. I've been playing Cyberpunk 2077, Overwatch 2, and Silksong, and it's genuinely comparable to my own PC. The upgrade is also a staggering reminder of just how far behind Xbox Cloud Gaming is, both in stream quality and latency - two key components for streaming games from the cloud. Microsoft needs a far better cloud for its Xbox everywhere strategy. Fortunately, there are plenty of signs that it's about to get a much-needed upgrade. Xbox Cloud Gaming … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Micron Technology Inc. shares rose the most in four months after analysts touted the chipmaker’s growth potential in the data center market, where artificial intelligence services have stoked demand. View Source Article

If you want to buy a skin or virtual gear from the Fortnite item shop but don’t have enough V-Bucks, Epic Games is going to add a way to “top up” your V-Bucks balance so that you can buy just the V-Bucks you need to afford your purchase. Epic is calling this feature the “Exact Amount” offer, and it will be available starting October 14th on Android, iPhone, iPad, Nintendo, PC, Xbox, and Epic’s item shop for Fortnite on the web. That means the feature, at least initially, won’t be available on PlayStation, but Epic says that “we will work to make this available everywhere.”  Here’s Epic’s explanation of how this might work in practice: Let’s say you want an item that costs 500 V-Bucks but you only have 400 V-Bucks in your account. You’ll be able to buy just the 100 V-Bucks needed. Exact Amount will display offers in increments of 50 V-Bucks, Epic says. The company also bringing Exact Amount offers to Rocket League and Fall Guys. View Source Article

The Federal Trade Commission ordered Alphabet Inc.’s Google, OpenAI Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and four other makers of artificial intelligence chatbots to turn over information about the impacts of their technologies on kids. View Source Article

The International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) and MotoGP are putting the MotoE electric bike world championship on hiatus following the 2025 season. The organizations cite a lack of viewership and an electric performance motorcycle market that "has not developed as expected." "Today we announce the suspension of the FIM MotoE World Championship," FIM President Jorge Viegas said in a statement. "Despite all the best efforts to promote this innovative category together with (MotoGP rights holder) Dorna, the truth is that we haven't reached our objectives, nor has the industry associated with performance electric bikes." There are two more races remaining in the 2025 MotoE season. The indefinite hiatus begins after that. MotoGP and the FIM said they would continue monitoring the industry to suss out when electric bikes become relevant enough to once again sustain a robust event schedule. MotoE's inaugural year was in 2019, starting with just six four-round races throughout the season. It had some buzz at the beginning, as the circuit expanded to 16 eight-round races. However, this was cut back to seven rounds in 2025. Ducati provided the race bikes for all teams in the MotoE class after replacing Energica Ego Corsa in 2023. These electric bikes reached top speeds of 171 MPH and, obviously, had just enough range to complete a full race. Traditional MotoGP bikes hit speeds of up to 224 MPH.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/motoe-the-electric-bike-world-championship-is-going-on-hiatus-due-to-lack-of-interest-152652067.html?src=rss View Source Article

1 min read Near-Earth Asteroids as of September 2025 Each month, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office releases a monthly update featuring the most recent figures on NASA’s planetary defense efforts, near-Earth object close approaches, and other timely facts about comets and asteroids that could pose an impact hazard with Earth. Here is what we’ve found so far. Updated: September 11, 2025 Share Details Last Updated Sep 11, 2025 Related Terms Planetary Defense General Planetary Defense Coordination Office Planetary Science Planetary Science Division Science & Research Science Mission Directorate Explore More 13 min read The Earth Observer Editor’s Corner: July–September 2025 Article 20 hours ago 21 min read Summary of the 11th ABoVE Science Team Meeting Article 20 hours ago 3 min read NASA Aims to Keep Fuel Cool Under Pressure with Zero Boil-Off Experiment On NG-23 Article 1 day ago View Source Article

A new study finds that one quarter of heat waves between 2000 and 2023 would have been “virtually impossible” without global warming—and can be attributed to the emissions of individual energy producers View Source Article

The James Webb Space Telescope caught the birth of an enormous star with particle beams cutting across a stretch of interstellar space. View Source Article

Gaming laptops come in various shapes and sizes, though many of the heavy hitters remain thick and beefy machines that maximize cooling to get the most out of their powerful chips. Most are awash in RGB lighting and edgy designs geared towards capital-G Gamers, but there are also thinner, lighter options that are more portable and less showy.  Our go-to recommendation that checks the boxes for most people is, and has been for a while, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It’s a gaming laptop that doesn’t forget the “laptop” part. The G14 is a versatile machine for both play and work, and it travels exceptionally well. Other great, though pricey, recommendations include the big and heavy Asus ROG Strix Scar and Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, or the Razer Blade 16 for lots of graphics power in a thin and sleek design. The most important part of any gaming laptop, just like desktop PCs, is the graphics card. Laptop GPUs can’t stack up to full-size cards that reach much higher wattage in desktops, but that doesn’t stop the likes of Nvidia from making things a little confusing with the naming scheme on its RTX brand of GeForce cards. So keep in mind that, for example, an RTX 5090 laptop card doesn’t come anywhere near the performance of a desktop 5090. Desktops may always win out in raw performance, but gaming laptops are a simpler turnkey solution that can easily go places (yes, even the ones that feel like you’re toting around a cinderblock).  Even more confusing: the same GPU in one laptop may not perform as well in another if it’s throttled by thermal constraints. We try to test a wide range of gaming laptops, as well as regular laptops, and these are the ones we confidently recommend. The best gaming laptopsThe most powerful gaming laptopThe best mid-to-high-tier gaming laptops for most peopleThe best budget gaming laptopA sleek 16-inch gaming laptopThe best convertible gaming laptopWhat’s next The best gaming laptops CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 270, HX 370 / GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080 / RAM: 16GB, 32GB / Storage: 1TB / Display: 14-inch OLED, 2880 x 1800, 120Hz, 500 nits / Dimensions: 12.24 x 8.66 x 0.63 to 0.64 inches / Battery: 73Whr / Weight: 3.31 pounds Asus’s ROG Zephyrus G14 has been a favorite among Verge staffers for years now, and it remains our go-to pick for its balance of power and portability. It can be your full-time gaming machine as well as your commuter-friendly everyday laptop. Asus redesigned it in 2024 and toned down its more playful aesthetics for a sleeker, refined look, and for 2025 it just got a modest chip bump with RTX 50-series graphics and the ability to charge via USB-C on either side (but you still need to use its proprietary charger for max wattage).  It now starts at $1,799.99 instead of $1,699.99. But you get a little more for your extra money since even the base Zephyrus G14 comes with a lovely, high-res OLED display capable of a 120Hz refresh rate, and it still has a great keyboard and trackpad. Games play well on high settings, though due to the thin chassis, the G14 — and even its 16-inch sibling, the Zephyrus G16 — are known to get a little hot to the touch, and their fans are quite noisy. Zephyrus laptops are never going to offer quite the same performance as much thicker models, like the Asus ROG Strix or other chunkers running equivalent GPUs — they just don’t have as much thermal headroom. But if you want a jack-of-all-trades notebook that puts gaming at the forefront, the G14 (or G16, if you want to go bigger and have the budget) is unlikely to steer you wrong. The most powerful gaming laptop MSI Titan 18 HX AI (2025) Score: 7ProsConsTop-tier gaming performance in a laptop4K Mini LED screen is massive, looks great, and gets very brightMechanical keyboard is loud but feels awesome to type onAstronomically expensiveBattery drains very fast, even during regular tasksFans get loud120Hz refresh is half the speed of cheaper laptops with 2.5K OLEDs Where to Buy: $5799.99 $4999 at Amazon (RTX 5090) $5799.99 $5449 at MSI (RTX 5090) CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX  / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 5090 / RAM: 64GB, 96GB / Storage: 6TB / Display: 18-inch Mini LED 4K (3840 x 2400), 120Hz display, 1,000 nits, 100 percent DCI-P3 / Dimensions: 15.9 x 12.08 x 1.26 inches / Battery: 99.9Whr / Weight: 7.93 pounds The MSI Titan is your pick if budget isn’t a concern. It starts at a ridiculous $5,799.99 with Intel’s flagship Core Ultra 9 285HX CPU and Nvidia’s most powerful GPU, the RTX 5090. The Titan pairs its punchy hardware with a massive 18-inch 4K / 120Hz Mini LED screen that gets incredibly bright, along with 64GB of RAM and a 6TB SSD. It’s loaded with RGB (including an illuminated haptic trackpad), a mechanical keyboard by SteelSeries, five USB ports (two of which are Thunderbolt 5), and a four-speaker / dual-woofer sound setup. It can tackle most games you throw at it on ultra settings. The screen may not be as fast as other laptops with 2.5K / 240Hz panels, but 4K at 18 inches looks so crisp. You have to pay out the nose for this no-holds-barred experience, but the nearly eight-pound behemoth is about as powerful as laptops get right now. In the past, our choice for this tier of laptop was Asus’s ROG Strix Scar 17 using one of AMD’s X3D chips. That model was especially unique since it was significantly cheaper (under $4,000). The best mid-to-high-tier gaming laptops for most people Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2025, RTX 5080) Score: 8ProsConsGreat graphics performance in the latest high-end gamesLots of ports and easy access to RAM / SSDsAnimated lid and wraparound RGB are funVery good QHD / 240Hz Mini LED screenTypical gaming laptop issues (pricey, hefty, and not great battery life)Competition offers OLED screensCustomizing lid animations is a pain Where to Buy: $3299.99 $3029.99 at Walmart $3299.99 at Asus CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX / GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 / RAM: 32GB / Storage:  2TB / Display: 16-inch Mini LED 2560 x 1600, 240Hz display / Dimensions: 13.94 x 10.55 x 0.9 to 1.21 inches / Battery: 90Whr  Weight: 6.17 pounds You don’t have to spend Titan money to land somewhere in the ballpark of excellent gaming performance. There are a few great options in the mid-to-high tier of gaming laptops, sporting RTX 5080 graphics (or the RTX 5070 Ti if you need to save a bit more). My top pick is the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16, followed closely by the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i. Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16-inch, Intel) Score: 8ProsConsGreat performance at 2.5K and even at 4K on an external monitorBeautiful OLED screenOne of the best keyboards in this class of gaming laptopsNo face or fingerprint unlockNumpad makes things slightly cramped, with off-center trackpadLenovo’s apps are slightly more invasive with notifications than others Where to Buy: $3559.99 $2969.99 at Best Buy (RTX 5080, 1TB SSD) $3499 at B&H Photo (RTX 5080, 2TB SSD) $3559.99 at Lenovo (RTX 5080, 1TB SSD) The 16-inch ROG Strix Scar is decked out with a wraparound RGB light bar that creates a colorful underglow and a dot-matrix LED lid for adorning fun illuminated animations. The Strix Scar’s game performance is exceptional, with its RTX 5080 nearly matching the 5090 in the much thinner Razer Blade 16 — and for $1,200 less. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is a similarly specced 16-incher, offering the same CPU and GPU in a better, metallic build. It’s got its share of RGB lighting, but it’s done a little more tastefully than the Asus. Meanwhile, the Strix Scar’s 2.5K / 240Hz screen is a Mini LED display that’s bright, colorful, and visually pleasing. It matches the resolution and refresh rate of the OLED on Lenovo’s Legion Pro 7i, but the OLED on the Lenovo is even better, with a punchier look. It’s a bit of a toss-up between these two: the Lenovo has the better screen and build quality, yet it lacks face or fingerprint unlocking. But the Asus is $200 cheaper, and I prefer the trackpad and better key spacing of its numpad-less design. You can’t go wrong here, so picking one based on small nuances like that or just whatever you can get a deal on is fair. The best budget gaming laptop HP Victus 15 (2025, RTX 4050) ProsConsGood pricingAMD or Intel CPU optionsRTX 4050 is fine for 1080p gaming16:9 aspect ratio is outdatedNot a ton of ports, and only one of them is USB-C Where to Buy: $699 $1049.99 at Walmart (Intel) $899.99 at Best Buy (AMD) CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7445HS, Intel Core i5-13420H / GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 / RAM: 16GB / Storage: 512GB / Display: 15.6-inch IPS, 1920 x 1080, 144Hz, no touch option / Dimensions: 14.09 x 10.04 x 0.93 / Battery: 70Wh  Weight: 5.06 pounds Our previous pick among budget gaming laptops was the HP Victus 15 with an RTX 3050 GPU, which cost around $800 in 2022 when it wasn’t on a steep sale for less. It had a 60Hz screen and just 8GB of RAM, which feels a little paltry for gaming on Windows 11 in 2025. Now, you can get the same chassis with a 1080p / 144Hz screen, a newer RTX 4050 GPU, and either AMD Ryzen 7 7000-series or Intel 13th-Gen CPU for around $850 to $900. Nvidia announced its RTX 5050 laptop GPU in June, which is set to slowly trickle out into new laptops for about $999. We’ll have to see how that stacks up in future testing. The Victus isn’t going to wow you with the best screen or highest-quality components for a keyboard or trackpad, but it does emphasize a solid graphics card in an affordable package. It’s the kind of laptop that will excel with live service games like Minecraft or Fortnite, as well as indie titles. Just don’t expect high or ultra settings on the latest AAA games. With the right expectations, a more inexpensive gaming laptop like the Victus can treat you well. A sleek 16-inch gaming laptop Razer Blade 16 (2025, RTX 5090) Score: 7ProsConsGreat fit, finish, and buildSlim and sleek design for a gaming laptopExcellent OLED screen comes standardVery good performance, especially in DLSS 4 supported gamesStarts expensive and gets expensive-erMiddling battery lifeThinness aside, minimal improvements over last year’s modelA cheaper 5080 laptop may be money better spentThe matte black finish smudges easily, and the Razer lid logo is still a little cringe Where to Buy: $2399.99 $1999.99 at Razer (RTX 5060) $2799.99 $2399.99 at Razer (RTX 5070) $3499.99 at Razer (RTX 5080) CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 / GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 5060, 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, RTX 5090 / RAM: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB / Storage: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB / Display: 16-inch OLED, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz / Dimensions: 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.59 to 0.69 inches / Battery: 90Wh / Weight: 4.71 pounds The Razer Blade 16 has long been touted as the MacBook Pro for gamers, and after thickening up for a few years, it’s back to an ultra-thin chassis without much compromise to performance. It’s flush with ports, has a great keyboard and massive trackpad, and its AMD chips can be paired with a variety of Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU — ranging from the 5060 for $2,399.99 to the top-tier 5090 for a much steeper $4,499.99. The high-end model is hard to find right now, but we still recommend any configuration you can afford. The Blade sports a lovely 16-inch OLED display with 2560 x 1600 resolution and 240Hz refresh, even for the entry-level configuration. The look of its stealthy matte black design and green Razer logo may not be to everyone’s liking, but pair that with its thinness, and you’ve got something that can travel and blend in almost anywhere. I tested the RTX 5090 version in our review, and while it’s impressive, it can be a little hard to justify spending $4,500 without getting the maximum capabilities of that flagship GPU, since the Blade 16’s thinness throttles the 5090. But it’s such a nice overall package if you want your gaming laptop to do it all. The Blade also comes in 14- and 18-inch sizes, but I think the 16 is the sweet spot. Read our Razer Blade 16 (2025) review. The best convertible gaming laptop Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025) Score: 8ProsConsImpressive game performance for an iGPU on a tabletCapable 2.5K performanceLaptop-quality keyboard and trackpadBattery can get through a day of work (with no gaming breaks)Play games on your lap without heating up your legsExcellent kickstandStill a pricey, niche deviceWish the keyboard cover had Bluetooth like the latest Surface ProPower / sleep button is too flushNo auto-brightnessKeyboard case sometimes not detected after waking from sleepSingle-zone keyboard RGB looks basic Where to Buy: $2099.99 at Asus $2399.99 at Best Buy CPU: AMD Ryzen AI Max 390, Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 / GPU: Integrated / RAM: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB / Storage: 1TB SSD / Display: 13.4-inch IPS, 2560 x 1600, 180Hz, touchscreen / Dimensions: 11.81 x 8.03 x 0.51 to 0.59 inches / Battery: 70Whr Weight: 2.65 pounds Asus’s ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet has always been a niche device, but the latest generation with AMD’s new Strix Halo APU is the best version yet. That’s right, Asus switched from a discrete GPU to integrated graphics, but surprisingly, the chunky “Surface Pro for gamers” is actually better for it. It may sound a little reckless to spend $2,100 or more on a gaming tablet, but the Z13 and its new Ryzen AI Max chip offer enough graphical prowess to make most games look great on its 2560 x 1600 / 180Hz IPS display. And it even has the battery chops to squeak through an eight-hour work day, making it an impressive multi-purpose device. A regular clamshell laptop may make more logical sense for most people, but the ROG Flow’s form factor just makes it kinda fun. Being able to remove the keyboard entirely allows you to comfortably plop it on your lap and game away without feeling like you’re going to set your legs on fire. And if you’re a mechanical keyboard nerd like me, you can connect your favorite board without the bottom half of a laptop in your way (this is surprisingly useful for using the Z13 as a second screen below a big monitor. Read our Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025) review. What’s next Lenovo announced its upcoming Legion Pro 7 gaming laptop at IFA. The machine’s base configuration costs $2,399, but it can be configured with an AMD Ryzen 9955HX3D processor and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card, which will increase its gaming performance — and its price. Acer also introduced its new slate of gaming laptops at IFA 2025. Its high-end Predator Helios 18P has a 4K display and starts at 4,999 euros (US pricing and availability haven’t been announced). Its premium configuration features an Intel Core Ultra 9 825HX processor and an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU. The laptop has a proprietary power port, two Thunderbolt 5 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a full-sized SD card slot, an ethernet port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Acer’s entry-level Nitro V16 gaming laptop will launch in October and starts at $999.99. The slightly upgraded Nitro V 16S will be released in November and starts at $1,099.99 (it’s a little thinner and lighter than the Nitro V 16, but has the same assortment of ports). The starting configuration of both machines feature a 1920 x 1200 display, but you can upgrade to a 2560 x 1600 panel. You can spec either laptop with up to an Intel 270H processor and Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU. They feature one Thunderbolt 4 port, three USB-A ports, one HDMI 2.1 port, a microSD card slot, an ethernet port, a power port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Monica Chin and Joanna Nelius also contributed to previous versions of this buying guide. Update, September 11th: Adjusted pricing and availability. Added information about Lenovo’s Legion Pro 7 laptop, and Acer’s upcoming gaming laptops announced at IFA 2025. View Source Article

Telepathy, good vs evil, heroes fulfilling their destiny… If the "Strange New Worlds" finale 'New Life and New Civilizations' isn't fantasy, it isn't far off. View Source Article

Apple’s updated MagSafe Charger is priced the same as last year’s version. | Image: Apple Apple introduced an updated version of its MagSafe charging puck a year ago that can wirelessly charge its then new iPhone 16 lineup at faster 25W rates. However, when used with other devices, including older iPhone models, charging rates were limited to 15W and slower. A new version of Apple’s MagSafe Charger is now available, and like the iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max, it now fully supports the Qi2.2 standard and can be used to charge other compatible devices (like the Google Pixel 10) at 25W rates, as spotted by MacRumors and 9to5Mac. The new charger, which was first leaked last June through Taiwan’s National Communications Commission’s website, is now available through Apple’s online store with a 1-meter USB-C cable for $39, or a 2-meter cable for $49.  Apple introduced 25W wireless charging with the iPhone 16 ahead of the Qi2.2 specification being officially introduced early this year, which is why the faster rate was only available when using Apple’s own wireless charger. Now that the iPhone 17 lineup is Qi 2.2 compatible (as will most of the iPhone 16 lineup be once iOS 26 is released) the phones can be powered up at 25W rates using any wireless charger that supports Qi2.2. However, if you’re upgrading to the iPhone Air, you’re only going to see a maximum of 20W rates when charging wirelessly. View Source Article

Apple Inc. was hit with a pair of downgrades on Thursday, in the latest sign of caution toward the iPhone maker, which has sharply underperformed its large-cap tech peers this year. View Source Article

One of SpaceX's broadband-beaming Starlink satellites has been captured overflying a top-secret airbase in China that was photographed by a private American Earth-observation satellite. View Source Article

Within minutes of the news that right-wing youth activist Charlie Kirk had been shot on a college campus in Utah, the first accusations began to fly across MAGA social media: someone on the left must have been responsible for this. Within hours of the confirmation of his death, rage began pouring out. "Congratulations. You have now made a radical out of me," tweeted Ryan Fournier, a right-wing activist formerly associated with Kirk's group, Turning Point USA. "You fuckers deserve it." Within minutes of reports that the FBI had apprehended a suspect, The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh tweeted his desire for justice: "Thank God. Now punish him in t … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

The ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award 2025 will be streamed live online on Sept. 11. View Source Article

When Stephen King's The Long Walk was first published in 1979, dystopian young adult fiction had not yet become a wildly popular genre. With all of its gore and brutality, King's novel wasn't really meant for children. But in the book's story about disillusioned youths being made to march through wastelands as a form of mass entertainment, you could see flashes of the ideas that would become hallmarks of dystopian YA juggernauts like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and the Divergent series. Though Lionsgate's new adaptation of The Long Walk sticks closely to its source material, it plays like a movie that has been calibrated to feel mor … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Don't let light pollution put you off stargazing or astrophotography, I managed to see galaxies, nebulas and star clusters all in Bortle 7 and 8 class night skies. View Source Article

A UK-based video game reseller claims Sega was behind a police raid that seized a trove of Nintendo development kits from his home, according to a report from Time Extension. The seller, who reportedly purchased the collection from a scrapyard, accuses Sega of getting the police involved to recover the dev kits after mistakenly throwing them out. The seller tells the outlet that he purchased the rare finds for around £10,000 (~$13,526) from a worker who showed up at the scrapyard with “a van-load of items that had reportedly come from Sega’s office clearance.” Sega moved its Europe office from Brentford, West London, to the city’s Chiswick Business Park earlier this year. On July 14th — around three months after the purchase — police arrested the seller and raided his home, according to Time Extension. “I was woken at around 7:30 am by a loud knock at my door,” the seller tells Time Extension. “When I opened it, I was met by approximately ten officers from the City of London Police. They informed me that I was under arrest for money laundering and that they were there to seize development kits and game cartridges.” In addition to Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DSi, 2DS, 3DS, Wii, and Wii U dev kits, the collection also included a bunch of prototype games, including Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Sonic Generations, Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games, Phantasy Star 0, and many others. It’s unclear whether the games  were seized by police. Just days after releasing the seller, police reportedly asked him to sign a “formal disclaimer request” that asks him to relinquish ownership of the dev kits, indicating that he fairly obtained the consoles. The seller hasn’t heard back from the police after refusing to sign the disclaimer, nor has Sega reached out to him despite being “named in six separate pre-action protocol claims,” he tells Time Extension.  The rare consoles are still in the hands of the police, and it’s unclear whether they’ll ever see the light of day, sparking frustration from the video game preservation community. The Verge reached out to Sega with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back. View Source Article

Europe, the bloc with 24 official languages and 287 spoken in total, won't get Apple's Live Translation with AirPods feature for now. "Live Translation with AirPods is not available if you are in the EU and your Apple Account Country or Region is also in the EU," the company said on its iOS feature availability page. No reason was given, but it may have to do with the EU's strict rules around artificial intelligence and how it impacts privacy. If that's the case, Apple may be waiting for the EU to approve or examine the feature before implementing it in the region. The AI Act is most strictly applied to "high-risk use cases" involving the potential for discrimination or violation of users' privacy. To that end, the EU may want to ensure that date stored when using the app is kept securely and locally in the bloc. Apple's phrasing about availability seems to indicate that it will work for North American and other users visiting the bloc and possibly vice-versa. Only users with an Apple Europe account who are also in Europe won't be able to access the feature. Live Translation lets users with AirPods communicate naturally with speakers of other languages. If the other party also has AirPods, the conversation is translated and heard by both people. If you're speaking with someone without AirPods, speech is translated onto your phone where it can be either be read or heard by the other party.  Live Translation was first introduced at WWDC as part of iOS 26 and unveiled as a key feature for the AirPods Pro 3 during Apple's "Awe Dropping" event on Tuesday. It will work on iPhone 15 and later devices running Apple Intelligence, and be available with the AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 once iOS 26 arrives on September 15. Right now, Live Translation supports real-time translation between English, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. However, Apple plans to add Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) support later in 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/live-translation-with-airpods-wont-come-to-eu-based-apple-users-125410519.html?src=rss View Source Article

Nothing has revealed the full design of its new Ear 3 wireless earbuds, but no tech specs. | Image: Nothing Nothing shared the first full image of its next wireless earbuds today. The design of the new Ear 3 earbuds and their charging case appear very similar to the Ear 2 that debuted in 2023, but Nothing has revealed that the case is now partly made of 100 percent recycled anodized aluminum. For the first time, the Ear 3’s charging case will also feature a microphone called the Super Mic, and a dedicated “talk” button. The company says it’s introducing metal components on the Ear 3 “for greater durability and a premium finish,” and that it has “reengineered the metal antenna” in the earbuds to achieve an ultra-slim design. Unfortunately, details about what the charging case’s microphone and talk button can be used for, as well as performance details about the new wireless earbuds, won’t be revealed until September 18th, 2025 at 8AM ET. Over the past week Nothing has shared additional teaser images of the Ear 3 through its X account, but the close-up photos have only revealed fine design details so far. The talk button and microphone are interesting additions, but it’s not known exactly how they’ll be used. Will it just be for summoning a smart assistant, or will the Ear 3’s charging case double as a wireless mic like those from DJI and Insta360? View Source Article

Chinese stocks rallied on Thursday, with gains led by shares of companies that are among the major beneficiaries of the nation’s push for homegrown technology. View Source Article

A study in mice and on human blood uses a new protein to snag carbon monoxide before it latches onto blood cells View Source Article

Though NGC 7456 looks like a modest spiral galaxy, new Hubble and XMM-Newton observations reveal a bustling system with star-forming regions and an active core. View Source Article

I exclusively reported last week that Microsoft was about to shake up its Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing, and now the company has officially revealed that its sales, service, and finance Copilots are being bundled into Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft currently offers business Copilot access for $30 per user per month, and if you want the extra Copilot for Sales, Service, and Finance options, these have been a standalone extra $20 per user. Starting in October, all three will be available for all Microsoft 365 Copilot users at no extra cost from the Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Store. This move takes the price of most of Microsoft’s top AI tools down to $30 per user per month, instead of the $50 per user per month some businesses had to pay for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot for Sales, Service, and Finance together. Microsoft is positioning this internally as a way to simplify its Copilot subscriptions for businesses, while it pushes ahead with more AI agents inside its productivity suite. Agent 365, which is due to be announced at Microsoft Ignite according to sources, is being developed as a set of tools to manage AI agents and ensure the security and compliance requirements of businesses are met. Microsoft is also reportedly planning to use Anthropic’s AI models for some features in Microsoft 365. The Information reports that the Microsoft 365 Copilot will be “partly powered by Anthropic models,” after Microsoft found that some of these models outperformed OpenAI in Excel and PowerPoint. It’s a surprise move, especially given that Microsoft will reportedly pay Anthropic for access to its models through AWS. It’s also a big admission that OpenAI’s GPT-5 model has been disappointing, compared to some of Claude Sonnet 4’s features. View Source Article

China should develop chips to create AI that doesn’t rely on the type of accelerators popularized by Nvidia Corp., a top government adviser said, warning that Asian companies in particular risk becoming beholden to US technology. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Chris Welch explains why the launch of the iPhone Air spells the beginning of the end for what was long considered fundamental smartphone technology. View Source Article

We'll likely need to get Perseverance's samples to Earth to determine if they do indeed harbor evidence of Mars life —but the prospects of such a mission are cloudy at best. View Source Article

Investors who have watched shares in Adobe Inc. get left behind in the AI craze have little reason for optimism ahead of the software maker’s latest quarterly results. View Source Article

The three founders of Mistral AI emerged as France’s first artificial intelligence billionaires after a funding round valued the tech firm at €11.7 billion ($13.7 billion). View Source Article

A Russian Progress freighter loaded with 2.8 tons of cargo will launch toward the International Space Station today (Sept. 11), and you can watch it live. View Source Article

Nasa dismisses theory by Harvard astronomer who suggested an object from beyond the solar system could be a relic from a distant civilization Skywatchers at Nasa have discounted a Harvard astronomer’s hypothesis that a rare interstellar object hurtling through our solar system is a relic from a civilization in another celestial neighborhood, and “could potentially be dire for humanity”.Avi Loeb, head of Harvard University’s Galileo Project, which searches for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, raised eyebrows by suggesting in a scientific paper in July that Comet 3I/Atlas, set for a close pass with Mars next month, could be artificially made. Continue reading... View Source Article

Technology stocks are rising so far, so fast that some investors are starting to position for the move to lose momentum. View Source Article

Methods included cryptographic analysis, metadata analysis and corroboration with external sources. View Source Article

Virtual reality headsets are great on their own, but the right accessories can make them more comfortable, practical and immersive. You might want a softer facial interface or a silicone face cover to keep things clean during long sessions, a battery strap to extend playtime or a USB-C cable for faster charging and data transfer. Some users also add haptic accessories that provide physical feedback for a more realistic experience. Whether you’re playing games, watching videos or working in VR, small upgrades like these can make a big difference in how your setup feels and performs. Table of contents Best VR accessories: Controllers Best VR accessories: Headsets Best VR accessories: Fitness Best VR accessories: Cables, chargers and batteries VR accessories FAQs Best VR accessories: Controllers Best VR accessories: Headsets Best VR accessories: Fitness Best VR accessories: Cables, chargers and batteries VR accessories FAQs What equipment do you need for VR? What you need depends on the VR headset you buy. Some devices, like the Meta Quest 3, are entirely standalone, which means you don't need anything but the headset itself to use it. Other VR headsets need to be connected to a system from which it can draw power and run software. Some systems, like the HP Reverb G2, must connect to a PC, while others like the PS VR2 can connect to gaming consoles like the PS5. Most VR headsets come with the basic controllers you'll need to control actions and movement in virtual worlds. What's the difference between PC VR, Smartphone VR and Gaming Console VR? The main difference between those three VR systems is the main machine that allows the VR headset to run. PC VR headsets require a PC, like a gaming laptop or desktop, to run, while smartphone and gaming console VR systems require smartphones and gaming consoles, respectively, to work. Do all VR headsets need a phone? No, not all VR headsets need a phone to work. Many VR headsets have build in displays that sit in front of your eyes and basically act as your window into the virtual world.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/best-vr-accessories-150021126.html?src=rss View Source Article

Gene-edited pancreatic cells have been transplanted into a patient with type 1 diabetes for the first time. They produced insulin for months without the patient needing to take immunosuppressants. View Source Article

The recent parade in Beijing once again raised questions about the relative strengths of the US and Chinese militaries. Meanwhile, because of recent global conflicts (including the clash between Indian and Pakistan earlier this year), we’ve gotten fresh data on how certain hardware actually holds up on the battlefield or in the skies. Separately, China is known to be working on a new 6th generation fighter for which some video has been shown. So who is ahead in terms of both cutting edge technol View Source Article

Everyone’s favorite CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav, thinks HBO Max is ripe for a price hike. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference (doesn’t that sound like a fun time?) Zaslav argued that his company’s premium output can command a premium price. “The fact that this is quality — and that’s true across our company, motion picture, TV production and and streaming quality — we all we think that gives us a chance to raise price,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We think we’re way underpriced.” The recently re-re-branded HBO Max currently starts at $9.99 per month, including ads, peaking at $20.99 per month for its premium plan, roughly in line with its rivals. If that wasn’t good news enough, Zaslav also promised that Max is “going to begin to push” on password sharing, backing up a threat from last month’s WBD earnings call to get “more aggressive” on the practice in September. View Source Article

How the US and Chinese air forces stack up. View Source Article

London, United Kingdom, 11th September 2025, CyberNewsWire View Source Article

Nebius Group NV raised about $3.75 billion through selling convertible notes and stock as the firm looks to buy more land and computing resources following a massive contract with Microsoft Corp. View Source Article

These days, the best TVs for gaming aren’t much different from the best TVs you can buy as a whole. But if you’re hoping to make your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X games look their best, there are a few key features to keep in mind. To help you get the most from your living room setup, we’ve broken down a few tips for buying a good gaming TV and picked out a few well-reviewed options from across the price spectrum. What to look for in a gaming TV Whether you use it for gaming or not, all good TVs are built on the same foundations. You want a 4K resolution, enough brightness to overcome glare, a relatively high contrast ratio with deep and uniform black tones, wide viewing angles and colors that find the right balance between accuracy and saturation. For video games specifically, the ideal TV has a 120Hz refresh rate (or higher), VRR support, minimal input lag and fast motion response, with no blur or other unwanted artifacts behind quick-moving objects. Of course, finding a set that does all of this well and fits into your budget can be tricky. OLED and LCD For now, top OLED TVs generally offer the best picture quality for gaming or otherwise. But good OLED sets usually cost more than their LCD counterparts, and some models may not get bright enough for those who have their TV set in a particularly bright room. More specifically, modern OLED TVs may utilize different types of OLED display tech: WOLED (i.e., “White OLED”) or the newer QD-OLED. We won’t dig too deep into how the two diverge in panel composition and subpixel structure, but the simplified version is that QD-OLED displays use a layer of quantum dots (hence the “QD”) to deliver a wider gamut of more vibrant colors than traditional WOLED sets. This doesn’t mean all QD-OLED TVs are inherently better: How well an individual set performs is more important than the panel it uses, and some premium WOLED TVs like the LG G5 use a new "four-stack" structure to improve color purity and brightness. (Other models have used a display tech called Micro Lens Array (MLA) to greatly boost brightness as well.) Certain WOLED TVs may also handle reflections better or retain deeper black tones in a bright room. And either way, virtually all OLED TVs share the same core strengths.  If you opt for an LCD TV — whether to save cash or stick in room with poor light control — an advanced backlight with smaller and more precise mini LEDs and effective full-array local dimming will usually improve contrast and lighting detail. Many of these TVs, including some budget-level models, also use quantum dots to enhance colors (and are labeled as "QLED" TVs). They usually aren’t as vivid or fast in motion as the top OLED sets, but they’re often brighter and more affordable, and the best can still produce an excellent image in their own right. HDMI 2.1 To get the most out of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S, your TV should have full HDMI 2.1 support. This update to the HDMI spec enables a higher maximum bandwidth — 48 gigabits per second, up from HDMI 2.0’s 18 Gbps — and a handful of features that are beneficial for gaming performance specifically. Those include variable refresh rate (VRR) and automatic low latency mode (ALLM), which we detail further below. Beyond that, perhaps the chief perk of HDMI 2.1 is its ability to transmit sharp 4K video up to a 120Hz refresh rate with modern consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X, or up to 144Hz with a powerful gaming PC. Not every PS5 or Xbox Series X/S game supports frame rates that high — and some only do at lower resolutions — but those that do will look and feel especially fluid in motion. HDMI 2.1 also includes support for Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), which allows you to pass higher-quality lossless audio from a source device connected to the TV to a compatible soundbar or receiver. The more full HDMI 2.1 ports your TV has, the better. “Full” is the key word there. As reported by TFT Central, because HDMI 2.1 is backwards compatible with HDMI 2.0, TV and monitor manufacturers have been allowed to brand HDMI ports as “HDMI 2.1” even if they lack full (or any) support for the spec’s upgraded features. We recommend a few TVs below that have true HDMI 2.1 ports, but if you’re buying a new TV for gaming, make sure your chosen set isn’t trying to hide any capabilities you may consider essential. While HDMI 2.1 is the latest and greatest today, it’s worth noting that the HDMI Forum officially revealed a new HDMI 2.2 spec at CES 2025. This update promises a greater maximum bandwidth of 96 Gbps, which should technically enable even higher refresh rates and resolutions. It could also help reduce hiccups in audio and video syncing (i.e., annoying lip-sync errors). If history is any indication, though, we’re still a bit away from HDMI 2.2 ports appearing on TVs you can actually buy. Even then, the only people who could take advantage of the theoretical resolutions and refresh rates allowed by the spec are those who connect a super-powerful gaming PC to their TV. But this could always change with whatever the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles bring. HDR — High Dynamic Range HDR refers to a TV's ability to display a wider range between the darkest and brightest parts of a picture. This can bring out details that would otherwise be missing on a standard dynamic range (SDR) TV, in both the very dark and (especially) very bright areas of an image. HDR typically comes with an improvement to color reproduction as well, displaying a larger palette of more vibrant colors that brings content closer to its creator’s original vision. To get an HDR picture, you need both content that is mastered to take advantage of the tech and a TV capable of displaying that content. HDR also comes in a variety of formats, which are generally split between those that utilize static metadata (e.g., HDR10) and those that utilize dynamic metadata (e.g., HDR10+, Dolby Vision). In short, the latter allows a TV to optimize its brightness and colors on a per-scene or even per-frame basis, while the former uses one set of optimized settings for the entirety of the given content. Support for these formats can differ depending on the TV, content and game console you use. The Xbox Series X and S, for example, support Dolby Vision for gaming, while the PS5 does not. The good news is that most TVs you’d buy today are HDR-ready in some fashion, even on the budget end of the market. The catch is that some TVs are much better at getting the most out of HDR than others. The same goes for actual content mastered in HDR. With video games in particular, there aren’t quite as many titles designed to take advantage of HDR as there are movies (though the number is growing all the time), and the variance in HDR quality tends to be wider. HGiG — HDR Gaming Interest Group HGiG is essentially a set of standards for gaming in HDR. It stands for the HDR Gaming Interest Group. Sony and Microsoft are both members, as are many TV makers and game developers. What this means is that, ideally, all the groups communicate information so that you can start up a new game on a console or PC and have it automatically recognize your display. Once that happens, the game can adjust its settings to that display's capabilities and give you the best picture quality possible, without losing details in the brightest or darkest areas of the screen. For example, daylight at the end of a dark tunnel may portray a brightly lit environment instead of looking like an overexposed white blob. This is a good thing, but the reality is a bit more complicated. Not all TVs highlight HGiG compatibility in their settings menu, while only some PlayStation and Xbox games recognize and follow the guidelines. If an HGiG option is listed in your TV's tone mapping settings, you should turn it on prior to running the console's HDR settings. Then, if you're playing a game that supports HDR and HGiG, you should be in good shape without having to adjust the various luminance levels again. Still, how all of this looks to you might differ depending on your TV and the game you’re playing. Use whatever settings you think look best. ALLM — Auto Low Latency Mode ALLM lets a compatible source (like your PS5 or Xbox) tell your display to switch into a picture mode that reduces lag between receiving each frame of an image and displaying it on the TV. This cuts out additional processing that could be the milliseconds of difference between landing a precise input or not. Put another way, it lets your TV automatically enable its "Game" mode when it detects that you've launched a game. A good modern TV can do this without forcing you to enter any menus, then switch back when you'd rather watch a movie or TV show. VRR — Variable Refresh Rate VRR should sound familiar to most gamers at this point. Many players have experienced slowdown, screen tearing or stuttering as a system struggles to render each frame at the target speed, which is most commonly 60 or 30 fps on a TV. With VRR, everything stays in sync: Your display won't show the next frame until it's ready, which can make things feel smoother and more responsive, even if the system fails to deliver on its target frame rate. There are a few different implementations of VRR available, including Nvidia’s G-Sync, AMD’s FreeSync and the HDMI Forum’s VRR spec, which is part of the full HDMI 2.1 standard. Both a TV and an input device need to support the same VRR tech for it to work, and different devices may only support VRR within a specific refresh rate window. On a 120Hz display, for instance, the PS5’s VRR only works between 48Hz and 120Hz. As a reminder, the PS5 officially supports HDMI Forum VRR, the Xbox Series X and S support HDMI Forum VRR and FreeSync, while gaming PCs may support G-Sync or FreeSync depending on whether they use a Nvidia or AMD graphics card. A great gaming TV supports all the big VRR formats, but missing, say, G-Sync, isn’t a killer if you only game on a PS5 or Xbox. 8K (You don't need it) One thing you don’t need to worry about is 8K support. Although the PS5 and Xbox Series X are theoretically capable of outputting 8K video, almost no games are made for that resolution, and 8K’s practical benefits are extremely minimal unless you plan on sitting unreasonably close to a massive TV. The few 8K TVs on the market are usually very expensive as well. Good gaming TVs you can get right now While we at Engadget do not formally review TVs, we’ve researched the market and rounded up a few sets that have been widely well-received by other professional review sites we trust, including Rtings, Wirecutter, Reviewed, PCMag and others. Keep in mind that there's never an ideal time to buy a new TV. Prices for today’s models are always dropping, and next year’s upgrades are always just around the corner. So if you see an 2024 version of one of the recommendations below at a deep discount, that may be a better value.  Richard Lawler contributed to a previous version of this report.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/best-gaming-tv-131509986.html?src=rss View Source Article

Chinese data center firm Zdata Technologies Co. is seeking private debt of around $500 million to fund a project in Malaysia, according to people familiar with the matter, adding to the wave of similar deals in Asia as the demand for digital infrastructure surges. View Source Article

Blockchain-based credit company Figure Technology Solutions Inc. and some of its backers raised $787.5 million in an initial public offering, pricing shares above a marketed range. View Source Article

Vantage Data Centers has secured a $1.6 billion investment to help expand its business in the Asia-Pacific region, including the acquisition of a data center campus in Malaysia. View Source Article

Jack Ma-backed Ant Group Co. showcased its first humanoid robot on Thursday, formally joining an intensifying effort by Chinese companies to compete with the US in commercializing a frontier technology. View Source Article

Soon, Robinhood Markets Inc.’s retail traders won’t have to leave the platform to brag about their positions or post taunting memes celebrating their investment victories. The online brokerage is breaking into social media. View Source Article

Move comes amid escalating anti-China rhetoric under Donald Trump’s administrationNasa has begun barring Chinese nationals with valid visas from joining its programs, underscoring the intensifying space race between the the US and China.The policy shift was first reported by Bloomberg News and confirmed by the US government agency. Continue reading... View Source Article

Larry Ellison briefly surpassed Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person Wednesday after a jump in Oracle Corp. shares added a record amount to his fortune. View Source Article

Tesla News Wednesday Show opens with somber reflections on the tragic assassination of conservative media figure Charlie Kirk at age 31, described as a bridge-builder in politics who influenced young audiences and aligned with Trump. Hosts express condolences from figures like Elon Musk, Trump, and Vance, note flags at half-staff. Tesla/TSLA: Stock flirted with $355 ... Read more View Source Article

European stocks were muted as investor confidence in a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut next week was tempered by geopolitical risks after Poland shot down Russian drones. View Source Article

We knew it was coming, and now it’s here. The iPhone Air, as rumored, is only 5.6mm thick and has fewer features than the base iPhone 17, which is $200 cheaper. Sure, it’s not the first slimline reinterpretation of a major smartphone — Samsung beat Apple to the punch with the Galaxy S25 Edge earlier this year — but the influence of Apple can’t be underestimated. It’s too early to tell if the iPhone Air will shake up smartphones as the MacBook Air did with laptops, but it’s definitely a safer evolution. And hey, perhaps the iPhone Air is merely a pit-stop on the way to the first Apple foldable. Let’s go back to 2008. With the MacBook Air, Apple ditched the optical disc drive and many ports, leading to a device that was so thin Steve Jobs pulled it out of a manila envelope when he first revealed it. The first MBA had some issues; it was underpowered, used a tiny and slow hard drive and battery life was pretty awful. But Apple refined the formula, which led to countless slimmed-down laptops and even a new category, the ultraportable. Sadly, Apple didn’t figure out an equally iconic way to reveal its super slim iPhone. In fact, it dropped it in a carefully prepared marketing video, presumably in a bid to show off how confident it is with the hardiness of the iPhone Air. But it felt like Apple trying to assuage durability fears in a way that doesn't really work, since this was just part of a carefully-manicured marketing promotion. That’s one of two concerns for thinner phones: durability. Apple’s iPhone Air has a frame made from recycled titanium – previously an iPhone Pro feature. The Air also has the company's Ceramic Shield, which Apple says is now 3x more scratch-resistant than past versions. It feels like Apple has engineered a phone less likely to get damaged. And of course, the company is happy to offer a super-slim 1mm case for the paranoid among us. The other concern is battery life. A slimmer profile in a smartphone means less space for the battery. Apple claims that the iPhone Air’s internal architecture “maximizes space for the battery,” but the company doesn’t share specific battery capacity figures. Regardless, Apple says the iPhone Air will deliver “all-day battery life,” which remains hugely subjective. Apple also announced a new $99 MagSafe charging pack to ensure the iPhone Air can play back video for up to 40 hours. But that charging puck seems even thicker than the camera unit — with the two devices combined, that's no longer a superthin smartphone, it's an iPhone 17 with one camera. The fact that it exists at all should give people pause about the Air’s longevity. Apple Also: that big old camera module. Samsung’s S25 Edge has a 5.8mm thick body, but if you count the camera, it's closer to 10mm. The iPhone Air is thinner than the S25 Edge, at 5.6mm. But the camera “plateau” adds a significant width on top of that, although Apple hasn’t said just how thick it is. Judging by images, it could be almost twice as thick as the iPhone Air’s body alone. Compared to the MacBook Air, the iPhone Air is unlikely to shake up the world of smartphones. While packed with tech upgrades, there’s nothing revolutionary. For example, the iPhone Air still has a USB-C port – early rumors suggested it might ditch all ports for wireless connections and charging. That single camera will probably take great photos, but the utility may be limited without a dedicated telephoto lens — a point I've been emphasizing. Samsung’s S25 Edge attempted to address that with a 200-megapixel camera, allowing for substantial digital zoom by cropping in. Despite these potential pitfalls, I’m intrigued to see how the iPhone Air fares. I’ve often returned to Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, simply because of the lighter, slimmer profile. The weaknesses of slimmer smartphones I’ve outlined here didn’t result in a bad phone. Like Sam Rutherford put in his review, the S25 Edge is arguably a better phone than the S25+. Are people desperate for a thinner smartphone? The $999 iPhone Air is cleverly priced between the base iPhone 17 ($799) and the iPhone 17 Pro ($1,099), and the lack of a plus model just might push people towards the Air. I think there’s a place for the iPhone Air. It’s lighter, it’ll fit in pockets better and it’ll have all the features of iOS 26 at a time when new functionality has shifted from hardware to software. Apple has attempted to address many of the concerns with superslim phones, but the true test of battery longevity and durability will come with a few months of use.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/welcome-to-the-era-of-thin-smartphones-whether-you-want-it-or-not-150729169.html?src=rss View Source Article

Uber Technologies Inc. customers will be able to book Blade’s helicopter and seaplane services directly within the Uber app as early as next year, as part of an expansion of the ride-hailing company’s partnership with Joby Aviation Inc. View Source Article

Amazon's Zoox has announced that its robotaxi service is now available on and around the Las Vegas Strip after months of testing. The autonomous rides are free and can be booked through the Zoox app for iOS and Android devices. This is the company's first official service launch after Amazon acquired the self-driving startup in 2020. The Las Vegas service will operate at select pickup and drop-off locations along the Strip, and riders will enter and exit the vehicles at each destination's ride-hail zone. Though the company didn't provide an exhaustive list of locations, Resorts World Las Vegas and AREA15 are official partner destinations. They will both feature dedicated areas just for Zoox riders, with an on-site concierge service to walk riders through the app and answer questions. The company's autonomous vehicle is an odd duck, with two bench-like seats facing each other and no steering wheel. (Tesla is working on a similar "Cybercab" with no steering wheel or pedals, which is supposed to go into production before 2027.) Its self-driving tech bears more similarity to existing vehicles though, with cameras, lidar, radar and long-wave infrared sensors. Competition in the robotaxi market has been heating up as existing players continue expanding into new markets and newer players join the space. Waymo now operates in five cities with a goal of 10 by the end of 2025. The launch of self-driving taxis hasn't been without incident though. Zoox issued a software recall in May after one of its vehicles collided with a passenger vehicle in Las Vegas. In another instance one of its taxis kept moving after a scooter-riding pedestrian ran into it. Waymo has issued a number of recalls, and was the subject of a NHTSA probe. Earlier this summer, a Tesla robotaxi made light contact with the tire of another parked vehicle before stopping. Most famously, one of Cruise's robotaxis pinned a pedestrian under its wheels, eventually leading to the program being shuttered.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/amazons-zoox-launches-its-autonomous-robotaxi-service-153750246.html?src=rss View Source Article

AI coding startup Replit Inc. has raised $250 million in a funding round that nearly triples its valuation to $3 billion, the latest sign of investor demand for companies using artificial intelligence for software development. View Source Article

Since its debut in 2009, Grammarly has only been available in one language: English. Sure, you could switch between dialects, including Canadian and Indian English, but if you wrote in any other language, you were out of luck. That's changing today with Grammarly rolling out beta support for five additional languages: French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.The update is available to all Grammarly customers — whether you live in a country that speaks the language you want to write in or not — with support for the platform's signature features included. As you write in any one of the new languages, you'll see Grammarly highlight spelling and grammatical errors, as well offer suggestions for how you might rewrite certain paragraphs to refine their tone, style and flow. Additionally, with any of the six primary languages Grammarly now supports, the app offers in-line translation, with the ability to convert your text into 19 different languages.    "The new features are Grammarly’s first step toward more comprehensive multilingual writing assistance," said Grammarly. "In the coming year, the company plans to launch more advanced clarity suggestions in the supported languages, similar to what it offers in English."If you want to start writing in French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish, you don't need to tweak any settings in Grammarly. Provided you're using the Windows or Mac app or Chrome extension, you can simply start writing in one of the new languages. In addition to being available to Pro, Enterprise and Education customers, free users can also take advantage of the expanded support — though with some limitations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/grammarlys-ai-writing-assistance-tools-now-work-in-five-new-languages-180432231.html?src=rss View Source Article

Horrifying videos of influencer and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk being fatally shot were widely available on social media platforms. We’ve reached out to some of the platforms to ask how they will be treating the videos and charged posts about the shooting. So far, we’re aware of responses from Bluesky, Meta, Reddit, and YouTube. Bluesky: “Glorifying violence or harm violates Bluesky’s Community Guidelines,” Bluesky said on its Bluesky Safety account. “We review reports and take action on content that celebrates harm against anyone. Violence has no place in healthy public discourse, and we’re committed to fostering healthy, open conversations.” Meta: Spokesperson Francis Brennan referred The Verge to the company’s policies on violent and graphic content, which Brennan indicated would apply in this case. According to those policies, “we remove the most graphic content and add warning labels to other types of content so that people are aware it may be sensitive before they click through. We restrict the ability for younger users to see content that may not be suitable or age-appropriate for them. By doing so, we aim to provide an appropriate user experience, while continuing to provide space for our users to express themselves.” Reddit: “Our sitewide rules prohibit encouraging, glorifying, inciting, or calling for violence,” spokesperson Gina Antonini tells The Verge. “We’re monitoring the platform to remove violating content, including hashing to prevent its re-upload. We have also reached out to ensure moderators understand and abide not only by the Reddit Rules, but also our Moderator Code of Conduct, and understand the tools and resources available to uphold our policies.” YouTube: “Our hearts are with Charlie Kirk’s family following his tragic death,” spokesperson Jack Malon tells The Verge. “We are closely monitoring our platform and prominently elevating news content on the homepage, in search and in recommendations to help people stay informed.” Malon says that YouTube will be removing “some graphic content” related to Kirk’s death, “particularly if it does not provide sufficient context for viewers.” Some content that shows the attack will be age-restricted, meaning that it can’t be seen by signed-out viewers or users under 18. Malon also says that YouTube’s policies prohibit content “reveling in or mocking the death or serious injury of an identifiable individual.” Discord, TikTok, and X didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment from The Verge. Update, September 10th: Added statement from a Reddit spokesperson. View Source Article

Oracle Corp. is having a record-breaking day in the stock market after delivering blockbuster guidance that has Wall Street buzzing about the opportunities in artificial intelligence. View Source Article

Amazon may be muscling into the field of augmented reality glasses. According to a report by The Information, sources claimed that the company is working on AR glasses for consumers, allegedly with plans to release the product in late 2026 or early 2027. Insiders told the publication that the project, internally dubbed Jayhawk, would equip AR glasses with microphones, speakers, a camera and a full-color display in one eye. Amazon is reportedly using Chinese company Meta-Bounds for the AR tech. Amazon is also working on a separate model of AR glasses specifically for its delivery drivers under the codename Amelia. This productivity-focused option, which would reportedly shave seconds off drivers' times, could be ready by the second quarter of 2026, according to The Information's sources. If Amazon does release these AR sets, it will primarily be in competition with Meta, which already sells simpler smart glasses with Ray-Ban. The social media company is expected to launch a new product currently dubbed Hypernova at its Connect conference next week, a set that pushes more into a true augmented reality experience with a similar one-eye AR concept.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/amazon-is-reportedly-developing-separate-ar-glasses-for-customers-and-its-drivers-230826640.html?src=rss View Source Article

OpenAI and Oracle signed a deal “to purchase $300 billion in computing power over roughly five years,” one of the largest cloud computing deals ever, reports the Wall Street Journal. In July, the two companies revealed their partnership to build data centers worth 4.5 gigawatts of power as part of the broader Stargate project they announced with Softbank and President Trump, without explaining how much OpenAI planned to pay for the datacenters. OpenAI’s contract will begin in 2027, according to the report.  OpenAI, which reportedly expects $12.7 billion in revenue this year, is also likely behind another $10 billion contract with the semiconductor giant Broadcom to design its own AI chip. While reporting quarterly earnings on Tuesday, Oracle CEO Safra Catz announced that three unnamed companies had signed “four multi-billion-dollar contracts” in Q1, part of a trend that she said is increasing Oracle’s cloud infrastructure revenue by 77 percent this year. Overall, the company said that in Q1 it added more than $317 billion in future contract revenue, a massive dollar amount that sent share prices soaring and Chairman Larry Ellison to the top spot of the world’s richest person list.  View Source Article

When Apple Inc. launched the iPhone X in 2017, the company did more than usher in facial recognition and a sleek edge-to-edge screen. It also helped establish a new category: the $1,000 smartphone. View Source Article

When the video kicking off Apple's "Awe dropping" event began yesterday, I was pleased to see a HomePod in the opening shot. I hadn't given any thought to Apple's beleaguered smart home speaker in ages, so I was all set for Tim Cook and crew to deliver an actual surprise and reveal new stuff for HomePod. When the entire presentation then passed without another peep about the product, I was disappointed, but resigned. HomePod has always been behind the curve. When smart speakers first came on the scene, the sector was quickly dominated by Amazon and Google, with Sonos as the boutique third-party option. Apple announced the HomePod in June 2017, almost three years after Amazon unveiled its original Echo speaker.  The HomePod arrived too slow and cost too much, and (in an echo of the company's current woes) Siri was too unhelpful, for the smart speaker to really claw back much market share from its rivals. The Mini iteration came out in late 2020, and the second-generation HomePod in February 2023 added support for Thread smart home standard. Not exactly pushing the boundaries of smart speaker innovation. And things got worse for the poor HomePod as voice-controlled AI assistants have transitioned away from being centered around dedicated speakers. AI is now being integrated ever-more tightly into our smartphones and computers, with less need for a separate intermediary device. Which brings us to the ongoing issue of Apple's shaky foothold in the AI race. Apple has been promising a big overhaul to Siri for awhile, with the new and improved version currently not due until spring 2026. To show off that new AI assistant, Apple is reportedly working on an interactive smart home hub that is expected to have HomePod-like audio capabilities baked in, but won't be ready for launch until at least 2027. What's a company to do in the interim? It makes sense for Apple to hold back on any big developments to its existing Siri-centric smart home speaker. I get it. But I could have been hyped to see a stripped down HomePod that focused more on being a speaker than on being smart. I have a Sonos that I love, and part of me assumed that I would eventually upgrade to an Apple offering. The AirPods are such a great element in the Apple ecosystem, and I use mine almost daily. Having a powerful, high-quality home speaker that delivers the easy interconnectivity that's such a big part of Apple's value proposition might have helped bridge the time gap, keeping Apple in people's minds as a player in home tech while the company works on its next, more innovative move. Take one step back to take three steps forward. In practice, though, it feels like the window for the HomePod to become a star in Apple's lineup has shrunk to almost nothing. As I now look at the recent trends in AI and home tech, I don't see an obvious space for a smart speaker. That's not limited to Apple; it's also pretty telling that both Amazon and Google haven't been giving much love to their smart speakers either. In fact, a majority of Engadget's favorite smart speakers this year are from specialist Sonos as the big tech names have put their focus on AI instead of audio. We'll still have smart speakers, but they'll be folded into multi-purpose gadgets and pitched as general smart-home aids.  To be clear, there's been no indication that Apple will sunset the HomePod. But my personal prediction is that HomePod will stay on the sidelines for now and get pushed even farther away from the spotlight when the new smart home products are unveiled, receiving only occasional attention until Apple officially and quietly pulls the plug for good. And so will end the life of a star-crossed product that never got the chance to shine at its full potential. Here's hoping I'm wrong.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/as-apple-pursues-ai-spare-a-thought-for-the-poor-homepod-223250670.html?src=rss View Source Article

The new glasses would go beyond Amazon’s Echo Frames. Amazon, like Meta, Google, Samsung, and Snap, is working on a new pair of augmented-reality (AR) glasses, according to a report from The Information. The AR glasses, codenamed Jayhawk, could reportedly come with a full-color display in one eye, along with built-in microphones, speakers, and a camera. The report comes just before Meta is expected to reveal its “Hypernova” smart glasses at its Connect event. Meta’s glasses are rumored to be a step above its Ray-Ban smart glasses, offering a small display for mini apps and alerts on the right lens, according to Bloomberg. Meta is also working on a pair of AR glasses known as Orion. Amazon launched its third-gen Echo Frame smart glasses in 2023, but their features fall flat when compared to Meta’s Ray-Bans. Though Amazon may launch its first AR glasses in late 2026 or early 2027, The Information reports that Amazon could release a pair made for delivery drivers even earlier. Amazon initially plans on making 100,000 units of the glasses for delivery drivers, called “Amelia” internally, The Information reports. They will reportedly have a bulkier design when compared to the consumer version, along with a display designed to provide instructions to drivers about where to deliver packages. Reuters reported on the glasses last year, saying they would offer drivers “turn-by-turn navigation on a small embedded screen.” View Source Article

California’s largest inland oil pipeline is in danger of closing within months without state approval for a rate increase and other measures, a shutdown that would choke off some crude supplies to at least two San Francisco-area refiners. View Source Article

David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, plans to make HBO more expensive, and passwords a lot harder to share, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Zaslav shared his general outlook on the state of television at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, with the main theme being that HBO Max's content is good and Zaslav thinks he should be charging a lot more for it. "The fact that this is quality — and that’s true across our company, motion picture, TV production and streaming quality — we all think that gives us a chance to raise prices," Zaslav said. "We think we’re way underpriced." HBO Max most recently raised prices in 2024, back when it was temporarily called Max. As of right now you can get an entry-level Basic with Ads plan for $9.99 per month, while the ad-free Premium plan costs $20.99 per month. Zaslav clearly thinks he can get more, though. Warner Bros. Discovery has been more open about its plans to address password-sharing. During an earnings call in August, the company said it wanted to close all loopholes for sharing passwords by the end of the year. While it's great that people continue to be drawn to HBO content, "it’s all tricky with the password sharing," Zaslav said. "We’re going to begin to push on that." Price hikes and password sharing crackdowns have been thoroughly normalized by Netflix and other streamers. HBO Max following suit should be more than expected. Stating those plans so plainly doesn't improve the image of Zaslav as a Hollywood villain, but that's the least of his worries given the planned break-up of Warner Bros. Discovery.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/hbo-max-is-going-to-get-a-lot-more-expensive-ceo-promises-221656560.html?src=rss View Source Article

Republican Senator Ted Cruz kicked off a debate over artificial intelligence policy by proposing legislation to enshrine a “light-touch” approach to regulating the emerging technology. View Source Article

The AirPods Pro 3 are a big upgrade over the AirPods Pro 2. Even though Apple has continuously added new features to those earbuds over the last three years, it hasn’t changed the design or shape of the earbuds since the first model arrived in 2019. With the AirPods Pro 3, you might not notice those tweaks until you remove the new ear tips, and the most impactful upgrades are all on the inside. After my brief hands-on immediately following the iPhone 17 launch yesterday, I’ve since spent more time test driving all of the new features on the AirPods Pro 3 — from the improved active noise cancellation (ANC) to Live Translation and heart-rate monitoring. Stronger ANC through tech and ear tips Apple says the ANC on the AirPods Pro 3 blocks twice as much noise as the AirPods Pro 2 and four times as much as the original AirPods Pro. A big part of this is due to the ultra-low noise microphones and computational audio on the earbuds, but the new foam-infused ear tips are also playing a vital role. The latest ear tips are still silicone on the outside like the Pro 2’s, but they’re now injected with foam. This provides much better passive noise isolation to block out distractions, helping with high-frequency sounds like human voices. In fact, there were several times this week where an Apple representative had to tap me on the shoulder because with the AirPods Pro 3 on, I couldn’t hear them speaking right next to me. No matter how they did it, the fact that Apple does a better job of silencing chatty co-workers on the AirPods Pro 3 is a welcome change. It’s impressive when you consider much of the competition struggles to reduce the volume of human voices on their earbuds and headphones. The AirPods Pro 3 are no slouch in general noise cancellation performance either. During simulated air plane noise and recorded sounds of a bustling cafe, the earbuds did well to reduce the unwanted distraction of both. What’s more, the AirPods Pro 3 silenced the busy demo area outside of the keynote, providing a welcome respite for a few seconds during an otherwise stressful day. Live Translation finally arrives Sam Rutherford for Engadget After Apple chatted up Live Translation in iOS 26 at WWDC, I was disappointed that those initial plans didn’t include AirPods. I should’ve known the announcement for the earbuds would come with the next iteration of the AirPods Pro. Like Google’s Pixel Buds, Apple’s take on the feature relies on a connected iPhone to do all of the heavy lifting, powered by the Translate app. However, you don’t need a prolonged interaction with a phone to turn on Live Translation. You can press and hold on both AirPods, ask Siri or set the shortcut for the Action Button to the task. As a reminder, Live Translation will be available on AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC, because they all carry the H2 chip. During a quick demo, Live Translation worked well, quickly converting the Spanish an Apple representative was speaking into English, which Siri then conveyed in the AirPods Pro 3. There’s a slight delay, which is expected, since the captured audio is processed on an iPhone and then translated in the second language. That might make for some awkward pauses, but I’ll have to wait for more real-world testing to know for sure. I did notice that text translations appeared in the app before they came through the earbuds, but again, that’s not really a surprise since the iPhone is the brains of the operation. Plus, you’ll want to use the phone as a horizontal display here, since the app provides a real-time transcription for the person you’re talking to. One aspect of Live Translation that may go unnoticed until you actually use it on the AirPods is the role ANC plays in the process. After you activate the translation feature, active noise cancellation kicks in to reduce the speaker’s voice so that you can clearly hear the translation from Siri in the earbuds. This happens automatically, and during my demo I never felt like I needed to manually adjust the volume so I could better hear the translated English over the speaker's Spanish. Heart-rate tracking, but only for workouts Billy Steele for Engadget Another big addition to the AirPods Pro 3 is heart-rate monitoring. Apple first debuted this capability on the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 and is using a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor to measure light absorption in blood flow. Heart rate stats are visible only in the Fitness app during workouts though, so if you’re looking to keep tabs in other apps or Widgets, you’re out of luck. But when it comes to activity tracking, the chorus of accelerometers, gyroscope, GPS and a new on-device AI model combine with the PPG sensor to monitor stats for 50 different workouts. This is another feature I’ll need to test at home before I can properly gauge its merits, especially since my testing here in Cupertino consisted only of a three-minute walk. Sure enough, my live heart rate was displayed on the workout screen alongside distance covered, average pace, calories burned and elapsed time. Once I completed that strenuous session, I could see my average heart rate in the Workout Details summary, just above a graph of the info. Improved audio through more air flow Apple loves to discuss air flow when it comes to audio performance in AirPods and the company redesigned the venting system in the AirPods Pro 3 to improve sound quality. The company also turned the ear tip so it’s beaming audio more directly into the ear. Along with Adaptive EQ, this combination provides noticeably deeper bass and a wider soundstage for more immersive spatial listening. To move all of that air around, Apple’s acoustics team devised a new set of fine-tuned chambers to maximize the overall flow. And as a result, the vent system had to be larger, so now the one on top of the earbuds is nearly twice as large as the one on AirPods Pro 2. Then, to properly harness all of that available air space, Apple had to slightly redesign the driver/transducer to achieve the necessary frequencies. Adaptive EQ has also been expanded since the inward facing microphones on the AirPods Pro 3 have been moved so they’re not obstructed by the sides of the ear canal as much. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Maggie Rogers’ “Alaska” was the test track of choice during my demo, a song I’m familiar with since I’ve listened to the album Heard It in a Past Life a ton. Beyond the enhancements to bass and the spatial effect, the thing that struck me about the audio upgrades was the level of detail the AirPods Pro 3 now provide. The separation of the bass drum and hand pan enhance the immersion, but there’s also the texture in the sound of both that is typically lost on most earbuds and headphones. I listened to the AirPods Pro 2 on the flight out here to refresh my memory and it was immediately apparent that Apple has made some big upgrades to sound quality on this new model. The AirPods Pro 3 are available for preorder now for $249 from Apple, Amazon and other retailers. It arrives September 19 alongside the iPhone 17 family and new Apple Watches. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/a-closer-look-at-the-airpods-pro-3-anc-live-translation-and-heart-rate-tracking-193956229.html?src=rss View Source Article

Retail traders are getting a rare chance to make big bets on the billionaire-backed Gemini Space Station Inc. before the cryptocurrency exchange makes its trading debut Friday. View Source Article

On Wednesday, Sony rolled out its September Game Catalog additions for PS Plus subscribers. This month's entries run the gamut from turn-based tactics to survival horror and pro wrestling. Persona 5 Tactica (PS5/ PS4) may be the most critically acclaimed title in the batch. The 2023 Persona spinoff takes the mainline games' battles and shifts them into grid-based tactics. Think XCOM with Phantom Thieves. The Invincible (PS5) is an adaptation of the 1963 sci-fi novel by Stanisław Lem. As its inspiration may suggest, this isn't an action-heavy combat-fest. Instead, the narrative adventure invites you to explore the planet Regis III, searching for lost crew members. Your decisions will shape the story, so tread carefully. 2K / Sony If exploring lost worlds as an astrobiologist isn't your thing, then maybe pile drivers and elbow drops are. (No judgment!) WWE 2K25 (PS5 / PS4) is also on this month's list, letting you step into the ring as a steroid-infused behemoth. You can take satisfaction in knowing your video game match's outcomes are less pre-determined than the scripted matches you see on TV. Other games in this month's entries include the action RPG title Fate / Samurai Remnant, the survival horror game Crow Country and the first-person survival sim Green Hell. You can check out the PlayStation Blog's announcement for all the details.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps-plus-game-catalog-additions-include-persona-5-tactica-and-wwe-2k25-211006881.html?src=rss View Source Article

On Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz introduced legislation to create a regulation "sandbox" that would allow artificial intelligence companies to experiment with minimal federal oversight. The SANDBOX Act, if passed by Congress, would allow companies to apply for modifications to or waivers from any "obstructive regulations" to the testing and deployment of products or services that use or contain "in whole or in part" at least one AI system. In return, companies would be required to disclose plans to mitigate consumer safety and financial risks. The waivers would last for two years at a time, up to 10 years, harkening back to the failed morator … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Blackstone Inc. agreed to buy as much as $869 million of commercial real estate loans known as single-tenant lease financing from a unit of First Internet Bancorp. View Source Article

The AirPods Pro 3 Apple introduced at the iPhone 17 event yesterday have better active noise cancellation and foam-filled ear tips, but their most important new feature is a subtle one: Apple came up with even more reasons for you to never take them out. Wearing headphones while you're talking to someone or interacting in public was at one point a social faux pas, but the ubiquity of AirPods and new features Apple has added have started to change that. The AirPods Pro's Conversation Awareness feature, which can automatically duck audio while you're talking to someone, is the simplest expression of this idea, but the vast majority of the improvements the company has made to its wireless earbuds have also created reasons to keep them in. Take the hearing health features Apple debuted in 2024. Not only do they let your AirPods Pro act as a tool for checking your ear health, they can also act as a hearing aid and even hearing protection in a loud environment. With the AirPods Pro 3, you can add heart rate monitoring and live translation to the growing list of reasons to constantly wear AirPods. The Pro 3's new heart rate sensor means you can use them to track some workouts and display your health metrics on your TV during an Apple Fitness+ class, a feature usually exclusive to the Apple Watch. The Live Translation feature, meanwhile, lets your AirPods translate the world around you, and can even beam your translated voice into another pair of AirPods Pro 3. The fact the feature will also be available on AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 should make keeping your headphones in even more common, too. It's hard to say how useful these new AirPods Pro 3 features will be without trying them, but they do highlight how much Apple seems to view its headphones as more than just an add-on purchase to every iPhone. Not many people are going to buy the $249 AirPods Pro 3 as a replacement for the $249 Apple Watch SE 3, but the fact the headphones can fill in for the smartwatch could be attractive to some. More importantly for Apple, it could make it easier to convince someone to subscribe to Fitness+ or buy an Apple Watch if they like the company's approach to tracking workouts. Apple has reportedly investigated going further down the path of making the AirPods Pro even more of a standalone device. Bloomberg reported last year that the company has explored adding cameras to AirPods so they can be used for Apple Intelligence features and visually understand the world around you. Whether or not that ever happens, the more immediate explanation for all this feature-creep is that making AirPods an always-on wearable is good for the company's bottom line. The relationship between the AirPods and the Apple Watch could become similar to the iPad and the Mac in time. New features get added, and functionality continues to overlap, but the devices are always distinct and useful enough that many people are compelled to buy both. Maybe there's a future where your AirPods feel as essential to daily life as a smartphone does, and we're wearing them all the time. For now though, Apple seems to have decided that tiptoeing towards that wearable future is a pretty good way to sell new wireless earbuds in the present, and maybe several of its other products in the process.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apple-is-slowly-morphing-airpods-into-an-always-on-wearable-203511552.html?src=rss View Source Article

4 Min Read NASA Uses Colorado Mountains for Simulated Artemis Moon Landing Course NASA has certified a new lander flight training course using helicopters, marking a key milestone in crew training for Artemis missions to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA explore the lunar South Pole, paving the way for human exploration farther into the solar system, including Mars.  The mountains in northern Colorado offer similar visual illusions and flight environments to the Moon. NASA partnered with the Colorado Army National Guard at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site near Gypsum, Colorado, to develop the foundational flight training course. “Artemis astronauts who will land on the Moon will need to master crew coordination and communication with one another,” said Paul Felker, acting deputy director of flight operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Much like they will on the Moon, astronaut teams are learning how to work together efficiently in a stressful environment to identify hazards, overcome degraded visual environments, and evaluate risks to successfully land.” During the two-week certification run in late August, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Matthew Dominick participated in flight and landing training to help certify the course. The pair took turns flying a helicopter and navigating to landing zones. Artemis flight crew trainers, mission control leads, and lunar lander operational experts from NASA Johnson joined them on each helicopter flight to assess the instruction, training environment, and technical applications for crewed lunar missions. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick (left) and Mark Vande Hei (right) prepare to fly out to a landing zone in the Rocky Mountains as part of the certification run for the NASA Artemis course at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site in Gypsum, Colorado, Aug. 26. NASA/Michael DeMocker A LUH-72 Lakota helicopter stirs up dust at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site in Gypsum, Colorado, Aug. 28. NASA/Charles Beason A member of the Colorado Army National Guard peers out of a CH-47 Chinook in preparation for landing Aug. 22. NASA and trained instructors from the Army National Guard use a range of aircraft during flight training. Chinooks are used to demonstrate challenges with landing on the Moon. NASA/Charles Beason NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick (left) and Mark Vande Hei (right) celebrate after returning from a training flight Aug. 26 during a certification run for a lander flight training course for crewed Artemis missions. NASA/Michael DeMocker Paired with trained instructors with the Army National Guard, astronauts fly to mountaintops and valleys in a range of aircraft, including LUH-72 Lakotas, CH-47 Chinooks, and UH-60 Black Hawks. NASA/Charles Beason NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei lands a helicopter as part of flight and landing training at the High Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site Aug. 28. NASA/Michael DeMocker A member of the Colorado Army National Guard looks out of a CH-47 Chinook as it lands at a steep angle Aug. 29. A crater on the Moon could have a similar incline, posing landing challenges for future crewed Artemis missions. NASA/Michael DeMocker A LUH-72 Lakota helicopter flies over the mountains of northern Colorado Aug. 28 during a certification run for a lander flight training course for crewed Artemis missions. The mountains and valleys in Colorado have similar visual illusions to the Moon. NASA/Michael DeMocker The patch for the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site is pictured in the cupola of the International Space Station in 2023. NASA and the Colorado Army National Guard began working together in 2021 to develop a foundational lunar lander simulated flight training course for Artemis. NASA The NASA astronauts and trained instructor pilots with the Army National Guard flew to progressively more challenging landing zones throughout the course, navigating the mountainous terrain, and working together to quickly and efficiently land the aircraft.  Teams can train year-round using the course. Depending on the season, the snowy or dusty conditions can cause visual obstruction. Lunar dust can cause similar visual impairment during future crewed missions. “Here in Colorado, we have specifically flown to dusty areas, so we know and understand just how important dust becomes during the final descent phase,” Vande Hei said. “Dust will interact with the lander thrusters on the Moon. During our flight training, we have had to revert to our instruments – just like we would on the Moon – because astronauts may lose all their visual cues when they’re near the surface.”  During Artemis III, four astronauts inside the agency’s Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS (Space Launch System rocket) will launch to meet SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System in lunar orbit. Orion will then dock with the Starship system and two astronauts will board the lander. Astronauts will use the Starship lander to safely transport themselves from lunar orbit to the lunar surface. Following surface operations, the two astronauts will use Starship to launch from the lunar surface, back to lunar orbit, and dock with Orion to safely journey back to Earth. The NASA-focused course has been in development since 2021. Vande Hei and Dominick are the 24th and 25th NASA astronauts to participate in and evaluate the course based on functionality and Artemis mission needs. One ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut has also participated in the course. “This course will likely be one of the first group flight training opportunities for the Artemis III crew,” said NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, who helped to develop the foundational training course for the agency. “While the astronauts will also participate in ground and simulation training in Ohio and Texas, the real-world flight environment in Colorado at offers astronauts an amazing simulation of the problem solving and decision making needed to control and maneuver a lunar lander across an equally dynamic landscape.” Though the course is now certified for Artemis, teams will continue to evaluate the training based on astronaut and technical feedback to ensure mission success and crew safety. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars for the benefit of all.  For more information about Artemis visit:  https://www.nasa.gov/artemis Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayContactCorinne M. Beckingercorinne.m.beckinger@nasa.govLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsHuman Landing System ProgramArtemisArtemis 3Humans in SpaceMarshall Space Flight Center Explore More 3 min read NASA Launches 2026 Lunabotics Challenge Article 2 days ago 3 min read NASA Seeks Industry Input on Next Phase of Commercial Space Stations Article 5 days ago 4 min read NASA Glenn Tests Mini-X-Ray Technology to Advance Space Health Care   Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Artemis Human Landing System Artemis III Humans In Space View Source Article

Destiny 2’s next chapter is bringing in themes and elements from a galaxy far, far away without breaking the canon. View Source Article

Charlie Kirk, the influencer and activist who co-founded right-wing group Turning Point USA, has died after being shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University at about 12:20PM local time, according to his spokesperson Andrew Kolvet, speaking to the New York Times. Deseret News had earlier reported Kirk’s death, according to Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, and President Donald Trump said Kirk is dead in a post on Truth Social at 4:40PM ET. According to media reports, he appeared to have been hit in the neck. A spokesperson for the university, Ellen Treanor, said in a statement that “shots were fired from a building about 200 yards from the speaker.” Following the shooting, videos on social media seemed to show the arrest of an alleged suspect. Utah Valley University initially said that a suspect was in custody, but Deseret News reported that, according to officials, the status of the shooter is unclear. A spokesperson has also told the New York Times that a person taken into custody after the shooting was not actually the shooter. Ellen Treanor, Utah Valley University: It is with tremendous sadness and shock that Charlie Kirk, who was invited by the student group TPUSA, was shot at about 12:20 when he began speaking at his planned event on the Utah Valley University Orem Campus. Kirk was immediately transported by his security team to a local hospital. Campus was immediately evacuated. Campus is closed and classes have been canceled until further notice. We are asking those still on campus to secure in place until police officers can safely escort them off campus.  The incident is currently being investigated by four agencies: Orem Police, UVU Police, FBI, and Utah Department of Public Safety.   At the time of the shooting, Kirk was speaking at the first event of a scheduled 15-stop American Comeback Tour, and seated at a “Prove Me Wrong Table” taking questions from the crowd, according to the New York Times. We will continue to update this post as the situation develops. View Source Article

Lenders including Blackstone Inc. and Ares Management Corp. are providing roughly $3.6 billion of private debt to help finance Warburg Pincus’ acquisition of Park Place Technologies, according to people with knowledge of the matter. View Source Article

As part of a new test, Meta will let anyone rate a Community Note or request one for a post, Meta's Chief Information Security Officer Guy Rosen shared on X. After testing the feature in March, the company formally introduced Community Notes as a replacement for its fact-checking program in April of this year. You have to apply to actually write Community Notes, but Meta's new test means that anyone who sees one can rate it to signal whether it's helpful or not. They'll also be able to request a note if a post is incorrect or needs additional context. Based on the screenshot Rosen shared, Meta's rating system is a simple thumbs up or down, but the fact the company is opening the system up to more input at all is one sign of its continued expansion. We’re testing new Community Notes features at Meta:Anyone can now request a note or rate if a note is helpful- Users get notified when posts they’ve interacted with receive a Community Note- 70,000+ contributors have written 15,000+ notes (6% published).Learn more or join:… pic.twitter.com/WCQC3CMnbe— Guy Rosen (@guyro) September 10, 2025 The test also includes a new system for notifying users if they interact with a post that receives a Community Note. Meta did something similar with posts that were fact-checked in the past, so this seems like a good way to let people know if they've read something misleading. Don't expect to be receiving those notifications too often just yet, though. Rosen says that while there are over 70,000 people writing Community Notes and over 15,000 notes have actually been written, only six percent have been published. Meta is still very early in this whole process. Community Notes are just one component of a larger right-wing turn Meta has taken in the wake of Trump's reelection. While the system has been styled as pro-free speech, it doesn't necessarily offer the same ability to counter misinformation that fact-checking does. For example, multiple reports found that X's Community Notes program did little to address the platform's misinformation problem.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-tests-letting-anyone-rate-community-notes-201208279.html?src=rss View Source Article

Explore This Section Earth Earth Observer Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam Announcements More Archives Conference Schedules Style Guide 13 min read The Earth Observer Editor’s Corner: July–September 2025 NOTE TO READERS: After more than three decades associated with or directly employed by NASA, Steve Platnick [GSFC—Deputy Director for Atmospheres, Earth Sciences Division] stepped down effective August 8, 2025. Steve began his civil servant career at GSFC in 2002, but his GSFC association went back to 1993, first as a contractor and then as one of the earliest employees of the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET). During his time at NASA, Steve played an integral role in the sustainability and advancement of NASA’s Earth Observing System platforms and data. He was actively involved in the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Science Team, where he helped advance several key components of the MODIS instrument. He was also the NASA Lead/co-Lead for the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), Atmosphere Discipline from 2012–2020 where he focused on operational cloud optical and microphysical products. In 2008, Steve became the Earth Observing System (EOS) Senior Project Scientist. In this role, he led the EOS Project Science Office that supported airborne sensors, ground networks, and calibration labs. The Kudos article titled “Steve Platnick Steps Down from NASA After 34 Years of Service” includes a more detailed account of Steve’s career and includes a list of awards he has received. Steve’s departure leaves a vacancy in the author’s chair for “The Editor’s Corner” – another role Steve filled as EOS Senior Project Scientist. Barry Lefer [NASA Headquarters—Associate Director of Research, Earth Science Division] graciously agreed to serve as guest author of the editorial in the current compilation. I want to thank Steve for all his support for The Earth Observer over the years and thank Barry for stepping in as the author of “The Editor’s Corner” for the time being. –Alan Ward, Executive Editor, The Earth Observer I begin this editorial with news of a successful Earth science launch. At 5:40 PM Indian Standard Time (IST), or 8:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), on July 30, 2025, the joint NASA–Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, mission launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast aboard an ISRO Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket 5. The ISRO ground controllers began communicating with NISAR about 20 minutes after launch, at just after 8:29 AM EDT, and confirmed it is operating as expected. NISAR will use two different radar frequencies (L-band SAR and S-band SAR) to penetrate clouds and forest canopies. Including L-band and S-band radars on one satellite is an evolution in SAR airborne and space-based missions that, for NASA, started in 1978 with the launch of Seasat. In 2012, ISRO began launching SAR missions starting with Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1), followed by RISAT-1A in 2022, to support a wide range of applications in India. Combining the data from these two radars will allow researchers to systematically and globally map Earth – measuring changes of our planet’s surface down to a centimeter (~0.4 inches). With this detailed view, researchers will have an unprecedented ability to observe and measure complex processes from ecosystem disturbances to natural hazards to groundwater issues. All NISAR science data will be freely available and open to the public. Following the successful launch, NISAR entered an approximately 90-day commissioning phase to test out systems before science operations begin. A key milestone of that phase was the completion of the deployment of the 39-ft (12-m) radar antenna reflector on August 15 – see Video. The process began on August 9, when the satellite’s boom, which had been tucked close to its main body, started unfolding one joint at a time until it was fully extended about four days later. The reflector assembly is mounted at the end of the boom. On August 15, small explosive bolts that held the reflector assembly in place were fired, enabling the antenna to begin a process called the bloom – its unfurling by the release of tension stored in its flexible frame while stowed like an umbrella. Subsequent activation of motors and cables pulled the antenna into its final, locked position. Video: NISAR mission team members at NASA JPL, working with colleagues in India, executed the deployment of the satellite’s radar antenna reflector on Aug. 15, 2025. About 39 feet (12 meters) in diameter, the reflector directs microwave pulses from NISAR’s two radars toward Earth and receives the return signals. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The radar reflector will be used to direct and receive microwave signals from the two radars. By interpreting the differences between the L-band and S-band measurements, researchers will be able to discern characteristics about the surface below. As NISAR passes over the same locations twice every 12 days, scientists can evaluate how those characteristics have changed over time to reveal new insights about Earth’s dynamic surfaces. With the radar reflector now in full bloom, scientists have turned their attention to tuning and testing the radar and preparing NISAR for Science Operations, which are anticipated to start around the beginning of November. Congratulations to the NISAR team on a successful launch and deployment of the radar reflector. Along with the science community, I am excited to see what new discoveries will result from the data collected by the first Earth System Observatory mission. Turning now to news from active missions, the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission has collected over 10 years of global L-band radiometry observations that have resulted in surface soil moisture, vegetation optical depth (VOD), and freeze/thaw state estimates that outperform past and current products. A decade of SMAP soil moisture observations has led to scientific achievements, including quantifying the linkages of the three main metabolic cycles (e.g., carbon, water, and energy) on land. The data have been widely used by the Earth system science community to improve drought assessments and flood prediction as well as the accuracy of numerical weather prediction models. SMAP’s Early Adopter program has helped connect SMAP data with people and organizations that need it. The program has increased the awareness of SMAP mission products, broadened the user community, increased collaboration with potential users, improved knowledge of SMAP data product capabilities, and expedited the distribution and uses of mission products for a suite of 16 products available. For example, the L-band VOD, which is related to water content in vegetation, is being used to better understand water exchanges in the soil–vegetation–atmosphere continuum. The SMAP Active–Passive (AP) algorithm – based on data from SMAP and the European Copernicus Program Sentinel-1 C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) – will be adapted to work with L-band data from the newly launched NISAR mission. The result will be estimates of global soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 1 km (0.62 mi) or better approximately once per week. In addition, the data collected during the SMAP mission would be continued and further enhanced by the European Union’s Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) mission if it launches. This proposed multichannel microwave radiometry observatory includes L-band and four other microwave channels sharing a large mesh reflector – like the one used with SMAP. The plan calls for CIMR to follow a similar approach as SMAP for RFI detection and meet the instrument thermal noise and data latency of SMAP for next-mission desired characteristics. To learn more about what SMAP has accomplished see “A Decade of Global Water Cycle Monitoring: NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission.” NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) has been the “gold standard” for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) observations from space for over a decade. The data returned from OCO-2 provide insights into plant health, forest management, forecasting crop yields, fire-risk models, and anticipating droughts.  OCO-3, constructed from spare parts left after OCO-2, was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019, where it has operated for over five years. OCO-3 extends the global CO2 measurement record while adding new capabilities made possible by being on ISS (e.g., detailed views of urban and tropical regions).  The overarching OCO mission hasn’t just about been about data and hardware. Although both those elements are parts of the story, the human stories woven through the mission’s successes and setbacks are really what holds the mission together. The feature, “A Tapestry of Tales: 10th Anniversary Reflections from NASA’s OCO-2 Mission,” sheds light on some of these personal stories from the OCO-2 and OCO-3 missions. The individual tales contained in this article reveal the grit and determination behind the scenes of the success of OCO-2 and OCO-3, from the anxiety and excitement surrounding the launch of OCO-2, to moments of fieldwork in the Nevada desert, to internships where wildfire responders turned to OCO-2 data to improve fire-risk models. Taken together, these stories form a “tapestry” that reveals how the OCO-2 and OCO-3 missions continue to illuminate the dynamics of Earth’s atmosphere – one breath at a time. These personal perspectives underscore that science is not just numbers; it’s people pushing boundaries, navigating failure, and inspiring ways to make our planet safer and healthier. In a time such as this, this is an important reminder. The joint NASA–U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat program has been a cornerstone of Earth observation for over 50 years. On July 13, Landsat 9 collected its millionth image: a stunning shot of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska – see Figure. Landsat 9, the most recent satellite in the Landsat series, orbits Earth alongside Landsat 8. Together, these satellites collect invaluable data about Earth’s changing land surface every eight days. Figure: This Landsat 9 image showing the Beaufort Sea shoreline off Alaska and Canada is just one of the scenes captured and processed on July 13, 2025— the same day the USGS EROS archive reached a milestone of one million Landsat 9 Level-1 products. This false color image was made with bands 6, 5, and 4 from the Operational Land Imager. This remote area allows the pristine wilderness environment to support a diverse wildlife and unique ecosystem that includes various species of mammals, birds, and fish. Landsat Level-1 products from Landsat 1 through Landsat 9 can be downloaded at no charge from a number of systems – visit the Landsat Data Access webpage to learn more.  Credit: Public Domain After collecting more than 3.3 million images over the course of more than 26 years in orbit, Landsat 7 was decommissioned on June 4, 2025. A YouTube video released at the time of decommissioning provides a concise visual summary of the Landsat 7 mission’s achievements – and the technical challenges overcome. In addition, The Earth Observer did a feature for the 20th anniversary of Landsat 7 in the July–August 2019 issue, called “The Living Legacy of Landsat 7: Still Going Strong After 20 Years in Orbit” [Volume 31, Issue 4, pp. 4–14] that is a useful resource to learn more about the history and achievements (through 20 years) of the mission. One of the strengths of the Landsat program is its potential for data integration with other satellites. The Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) product exemplifies this collaborative approach by combining data from Landsat 8 and 9 with data from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 A, B, and C missions. Whereas Landsat alone has a repeat time of eight days (i.e., combining Landsat 8 and 9 data); the combined HLS dataset provides imagery for the same location on Earth every 1.6 days – enabling researchers to monitor short-term changes in Earth’s land surface much more effectively than using Landsat or Sentinel-2 data alone. HLS became one of the most-downloaded NASA data products in fiscal year 2024, with continued growth on the horizon. In February 2025, the program expanded with nine new vegetation indices based on HLS data, with historical processing back to 2013 scheduled for completion by early 2026. Low-latency HLS products will also be available in late 2026. For the full story of how HLS came to be – see the feature: “Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2: Collaboration Drives Innovation.” Following a 13-month hibernation, the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission was reinstalled to its original location aboard the ISS and resumed operations on April 22, 2024. Since this storage period, GEDI’s lasers have been operating nominally and the mission has continued to produce high-quality observations of the Earth’s three-dimensional structure, amassing 33 billion land surface returns as of November 27, 2024. The mission team has been actively processing and releasing post-storage data to the public, with Version 2.1 – GEDI L1B, L2A, L2B, and L4A data products, which include data through November 2024, all available for download. The new L4C footprint-level Waveform Structural Complexity Index (WSCI) product using pre-storage data has also been released. Looking ahead, the team is preparing Version 3.0 (V3) of all data products, which will incorporate post-storage data while improving quality filtering, geolocation accuracy, and algorithm performance. The 2025 GEDI Science Team Meeting (STM) brought together the mission science team, competed science team, representatives from the distributed active archive centers (DAACs), collaborators, stakeholders, and data users. Notably, it marked the first in-person gathering of the second competed science team, who shared updates on their research projects. The STM held an important space for brainstorming, knowledge-sharing, and discussion as the GEDI mission continues to flourish in its second epoch. To learn more, see “Summary of the 2025 GEDI Science Team Meeting.” Shifting focus to the boreal forests of North America, the NASA Arctic–Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) is now in its final year, marking the end of a decade-long scientific endeavor that has transformed our understanding of environmental change in Alaska and western Canada. This ambitious campaign, funded primarily by NASA’s Terrestrial Ecology Program, has successfully progressed through three distinct phases: ecosystem dynamics (2015–2018), ecosystem services (2017–2022), and the current analysis and synthesis phase (2023–present). As ABoVE approaches its conclusion, the program has grown to encompass 67 NASA-funded projects with over 1000 participating researchers – a testament to the collaborative scale required to address complex Arctic–boreal ecosystem questions. The program’s integrated approach, combining field research, airborne campaigns, and satellite remote sensing, has generated unprecedented insights into how environmental changes in these northern regions affect both vulnerable ecosystems and society. The recent 11th – and final – ABoVE Science Team Meeting was an opportunity to showcase the program’s evolution from data collection to synthesis, highlighting successful community engagement initiatives, cutting-edge research on carbon dynamics and ecosystem responses, and innovative science communication strategies that have made this complex research accessible to diverse audiences. With synthesis activities now underway, ABoVE is positioned to deliver comprehensive insights that will inform Arctic and boreal research for years to come. To learn more, see “Summary of the 11th and Final ABoVE Science Team Meeting.” Last but certainly not least, I want to both recognize and congratulate Compton J. Tucker [GSFC—Senior Researcher]. Compton retired from NASA in March 2025 after 48 years of public service, and then in April, was among 149 newly elected members to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) – which is one of the highest honors in American science. This recognition from NAS brings Compton’s career full circle. He came to GSFC as a NAS postdoc before joining NASA as a civil servant. Compton is a pioneer in the field of satellite-based environmental analysis, using data from various Landsat missions and from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument. His research has focused on global photosynthesis on land, determining land cover, monitoring droughts and food security, and evaluating ecologically coupled disease outbreaks. The Kudos, “Compton J. Tucker Retires from NASA and is Named NAS Fellow,” provides more details about Compton’s research achievements and all of the other scientific awards and honors received throughout his career. Barry LeferAssociate Director of Research, Earth Science Division Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 Related Terms Earth Science View Source Article

SpaceX just bought $17 billion worth of satellite spectrum from debt-ridden operator EchoStar to enhance Starlink direct-to-cell phone connectivity. View Source Article

President Donald Trump has cast his shadow over the latest forecast on US greenhouse gas emissions. Reductions in planet-heating pollution are already expected to slow over the next decade, setting the US and the world back in efforts to stop climate change. Here’s what could have been. Taking previous climate policies into account, research firm Rhodium Group forecast last year that US greenhouse gas emissions would fall by up to 56 percent by 2035. Alas, fortunes have changed. Following “the most abrupt shift in energy and climate policy in recent memory” during the first seven months of the Trump administration, according to a new Rhodium Group report published today, we can expect a significantly slower pace of progress — a 26–35 percent reduction in emissions over the next decade compared to pollution levels in 2005.  That falls far short of the action needed to stop global temperatures from rising That falls far short of the action needed to stop global temperatures from rising, a problem that is already leading to more extreme weather and other climate-related disasters across the US. The gloomier outlook reflects obstacles the Trump administration has created for wind and solar energy in the US on top of sweeping efforts to wipe federal environmental protections off the books.  It’s been a whiplash change since 2024. Former President Joe Biden set a goal of slashing US greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent this decade as part of the nation’s commitment to the global Paris climate agreement. The Inflation Reduction Act Biden signed into law in 2022 was projected to get the US most of the way to that goal, with generous tax incentives for carbon pollution-free energy and electric vehicles projected to shrink emissions about 40 percent by 2030. The Environmental Protection Agency under Biden also introduced policies to strengthen limits on pollution from power plants and transportation.  Trump has done the opposite. With the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump is phasing out tax credits for electric vehicles and solar and wind projects. He’s been particularly combative with wind energy developers, going as far as to order a nearly complete project off the coast of Rhode Island to halt construction over purported national security concerns.  The EPA, meanwhile, no longer wants to regulate greenhouse gas emissions at all. In July, it proposed rescinding the landmark 2009 finding that allows the agency to regulate gases under the Clean Air Act because they endanger public health. The EPA says that if they finalize the rule change, which faces legal challenges, it would “repeal all resulting greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles and engines, thereby reinstating consumer choice.”  Trump, after receiving tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry, tapped a former oil and gas company executive, Chris Wright, to lead the Department of Energy. This week, Wright called efforts to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions — which researchers have found needs to happen by the middle of this century to stop global average temperatures from rising much higher than they already are — a “colossal train wreck” and a “monstrous human impoverishment program.” The US, however, has managed to maintain economic growth while limiting greenhouse gas emissions. US greenhouse gas pollution was 17 percent lower in 2022 than they were in 2005, according to the EPA.  Rhodium Group’s emissions forecast includes a range of outcomes based on whether Trump’s proposed policies come to fruition, as well as other economic factors, including oil and gas prices and costs for clean energy technologies. Even without subsidies, renewable energy is still cost competitive with gas, Rhodium Group notes. Wind and solar and related energy storage projects make up a staggering 95 percent of new electricity generation capacity queued up to connect to power grids in the US. With electricity demand suddenly on the rise because of data centers, AI, and electric vehicles, utilities are racing to add as much capacity as they can. In short, renewables aren’t going away in this forecast and will continue to cut down US greenhouse gas emissions. But that’s likely to happen at a slower pace as the Trump administration works to push the scales in favor of more fossil fuels to meet that growing electricity demand. US greenhouse gas emissions have shrunk by an average of 1.1 percent annually since 2005, according to Rhodium Group. In the firm’s most pessimistic scenario, that could fall in half to a pace of just a 0.4 percent reduction each year through 2040. View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Ed Ludlow discusses Oracle’s AI outlook that sent its shares up over 40%, making co-founder Larry Ellison the world’s richest man. Plus Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski discusses what’s next for the company as shares begin to sell on the public market in an oversubscribed IPO. And, Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde sits down with investors at the Primary Summit in New York to discuss everything from AI and tech to sports investing. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Sony is finally catching up to something Nintendo and Microsoft have had for years. The new PlayStation Family app mainly serves as a mobile extension of on-console parental controls. However, parents also get a few extra perks in the mobile version. The app includes a "thoughtfully guided" onboarding process. (I imagine many people will prefer their phone or tablet over the console for that.) Once things are set up, parents can do everything they already could on the console. This includes setting playtime limits, viewing activity reports (daily and weekly), managing spending and creating content filters. Parents can also use the app to configure privacy settings for social features. One of the mobile app's nicer perks is real-time notifications of what the child is playing. Parents can also approve or deny requests from their children for extra playtime or access to restricted games from within the app. That feature will likely get a lot of use. Although it's a welcome rollout, Sony is quite late to the party. The Xbox Family Settings app launched over five years ago. Nintendo's parental controls came even earlier, alongside the original Switch's arrival. The app starts rolling out globally starting today. If you don't see it yet, you can try the storefront links for iOS or Android.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-is-rolling-out-a-playstation-parental-controls-mobile-app-195002596.html?src=rss View Source Article

Microsoft is allowing developers to submit apps to its Windows store without having to pay any onboarding fees. Individual developers in nearly 200 countries can now sign up to publish apps on the Microsoft Store with just a personal Microsoft account, and no more one-time fees. Microsoft started cutting its $19 one-time fee to publish apps to its Windows store in June in certain markets, and it’s now essentially removing this fee for all developers worldwide. Apple still charges an annual $99 fee to developers, and Google charges a one-time registration fee of $25. “Developers will no longer need a credit card to get started, removing a key point of friction that has affected many creators around the world,” explains Chetna Das, senior product manager at Microsoft. “By eliminating these one-time fees, Microsoft is creating a more inclusive and accessible platform that empowers more developers to innovate, share and thrive on the Windows ecosystem.” Microsoft has been gradually upgrading its Windows store over the past few years, with standalone installers, an updated web version, and improvements to the user experience of downloading and installing apps. The Microsoft Store is now used by more than 250 million monthly active users, according to Microsoft. Microsoft is now encouraging more developers to make use of the store, where they can publish a variety of Win32, UWP, PWA, .NET, MAUI, or Electron apps. Developers can even use their own in-app commerce system to keep 100 percent of their revenues on non-gaming apps. View Source Article

OpenAI is buying $300 billion in computing power over about five years from Oracle, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde has details. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Streamers, YouTubers and other content creators are eligible for the new "No Tax on Tips" policy in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, 2024. "Digital Content Creators" are included in a preliminary list of occupations that are eligible for the new tax deduction on tips the US Treasury Department released last week. That means a podcaster could receive the same tax relief as a waiter or bartender. Under that guidance, the "Bits" received during a Twitch stream or the "Super Thanks" a YouTuber receives for a great upload could go untaxed when next year's tax season rolls around. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, though, there are limits to how much of that tipped income will be deducted — up to $25,000 per year and it's phased out for single filers who make more than $150,000 per year — and language that suggests not every tipping scenario content creators face might apply. According to the Treasury, tips won't qualify for the deduction "if they are received in the course of certain specified trades or businesses," which includes "the fields of health, performing arts, and athletics." Does that mean this is a much narrower carve out for content creators than it appears? Possibly, but these classifications will need to be finalized before anyone will be able to say for sure. Ultimately, content creators have multiple possible sources of income: direct subscriptions, ad revenue, paid partnerships, direct sales and digital tips. How much a new tax deduction changes their calculus will vary. Making tips tax deductible was one of several campaign promises Trump made leading up to his reelection in November 2024. The idea was eventually folded into the One Big Beautiful Bill, which is perhaps better known for the catastrophic cuts it made to social welfare and clean energy spending. As it turns out, the bill might also reshape the creator economy, too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/no-tax-on-tips-apparently-also-applies-to-your-favorite-streamer-182932748.html?src=rss View Source Article

Explore This Section Earth Earth Observer Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam Announcements More Archives Conference Schedules Style Guide 21 min read Summary of the 11th ABoVE Science Team Meeting Introduction The NASA Arctic–Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) is a large-scale ecological study in the northern regions of North America (Alaska and western Canada) that was developed to understand environmental changes in the region and the implications of those changes for society. Funded primarily by the NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, this 10-year campaign has included field, airborne, and satellite remote sensing research to address its overarching scientific question of how environmental change in the Arctic and boreal region of western North America will affect vulnerable ecosystems and society. ABoVE deployed in three phases: 1) ecosystem dynamics (2015–2018); 2) ecosystem services (2017–2022); and 3) analysis and synthesis (2023–present). Now in the last year of the third phase, the Science Team (ST) consists of 67 active NASA-funded projects with more than 1000 individuals participating. The ABoVE ST has met yearly to discuss the progress of individual teams, plan joint field work, and discuss synthesis activities. ABoVE was featured in a 2019 The Earth Observer article, titled “Summary of the 2019 ABoVE Science Team Meeting” [July–August 2019, Volume 31, Issue 4, pp. 19–22], as well as a 2022 The Earth Observer article, titled “Summary of the Eighth ABoVE Science Team Meeting” [September–October 2022, Volume 34, Issue 5, pp. 28–33]. Meeting Overview The 11th – and final – ABoVE Science Team Meeting (ASTM11) was held May 12–15, 2025, with 96 registered in-person attendees meeting at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) and 67 registered virtual attendees – see Photo 1. The meeting included presentations from Phase 3 projects and synthesis reports from thematic working groups (WGs). ABoVE partners, including collaborators [e.g., the Department of Energy’s Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment-Arctic (NGEE-Arctic), Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR), the Canadian Forest Service (CFS), and the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT)] and representatives from upcoming NASA campaigns focusing on the Arctic, shared updates on their activities. Additionally, the meeting featured sessions highlighting cross-project activities, e.g., ABoVE’s participation in regional fire workshops. The meeting also focused on collaborations with the Scotty Creek Research Station in Canada, the many types of science communication activities during ABoVE, and projects conducting collaborative research with community or regional partners. Photo 1.The 11th Arctic–Boreal Vulnerability Experiment Science Team (ABoVE) meeting group photo of in-person and virtual participants. Photo credit: Peter Griffith, Leane Kending, and David Stroud The meeting included additional team activities designed to encourage collaboration and understanding between team members. There were opportunities for multiple field trips for in-person attendees, including visits to the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) at the Geophysical Institute, the Permafrost Tunnel operated by the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), the Yankovich Road Fire Interpretive Trail, and the Arctic Research Open House at UAF – see ABove Field Trips section to learn more. The meeting offered early career researchers a chance to receive feedback on their posters and participate in an Early Career lunch event. The meeting even hosted an ABoVE bingo competition, which encouraged attendees to make new scientific and social connections – see Photo 2. Photo 2. Scott Goetz [University of Northern Arizona—ABoVE Science Team Lead] poses with ABoVE BINGO winner Wanwan Liang [University of Utah]. Photo credit: Wanwan Liang Meeting Opening The first day of the meeting began with a series of opening remarks from the ABoVE leadership team. Peter Griffith [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)/Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI)—Chief Scientist, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Office (CCEO)], Scott Goetz [Northern Arizona University (NAU)—ABoVE ST Lead], and Ryan Pavlick [NASA Headquarters (HQ)—ABoVE Program Manager] all noted the significance of this final meeting and discussed the major scientific advances of ABoVE made possible through the dedication of ST members, WG leads, planning committees, and contributors who have made ABoVE a success. Goetz reviewed the meeting goals and objectives: receive updates about currently funded projects; receive reports on Thematic WG advances with an emphasis on multiple WG and cross-phase synthesis activities; receive updates on research connections with partners and collaborators; discuss, reflect, and document the history of ABoVE, including major advances, lessons learned, and items to accomplish in the time remaining; and celebrate ABoVE success stories, with advice for potential future NASA large-scale coordinated campaigns. Working Group Presentations and Breakouts Throughout the first few days of the meeting, leads for the thematic working groups (WG) presented synthetic overviews of the research efforts of their group members, identified current gaps in planned or completed research, and discussed potential future work. Following these presentations, breakout groups convened to discuss future activities of the WGs. Short summaries of each presentation are available below. Together, these presentations demonstrate the highly interconnected nature of carbon cycles, hydrology, permafrost dynamics, and disturbance regimes in Arctic–boreal ecosystems. The presentations also showcase the substantial ongoing WG efforts to synthesize findings and identify critical knowledge gaps for future research priorities. Vegetation Dynamics Working Group WG Leads: Matthew Macander [Alaska Biological Research, Inc. (ABR)] and Paul Montesano [GSFC/ADNET Systems Inc.] The Vegetation Dynamics WG discussed new advances in understanding Arctic–boreal vegetation structure and function that have been made over the past 10 years through comprehensive biomass maps and multidecadal trend analyses. ABoVE research revealed a critical boreal forest biome shift with greening in nitrogen-rich northern forests and browning in drought-stressed southern forests. The group has identified key knowledge gaps in predicting post-fire vegetation recovery and detecting pervasive declines in vegetation resilience across southern boreal forests. The results suggest higher vulnerability to abrupt forest loss that could dampen the expected increase in carbon sequestration under future climate scenarios. Spectral Imaging Working Group WG Leads: Fred Huemmrich [GSFC/University of Maryland Baltimore County] and Peter Nelson [Laboratory of Ecological Spectroscopy (LECOSPEC)] Over the past year, the Spectral Imaging WG focused on the fundamental scale problem in Arctic ecology, which refers to the mismatch between observation scales and ecological process scales, which span spatial scales from leaf level to larger study areas and temporal scales from minutes to decades. The Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer – Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) and AVIRIS-3 datasets provide the first broad-area and high-spatial and spectral resolution coverage of high-latitude terrestrial ecosystems. The WG is now completing a scaling synthesis paper and preparing for the new era of data-rich spectral imaging with improved capabilities in data management, machine learning, and modeling applications for high-latitude research. Modeling Working Group WG Lead: Josh Fisher [Chapman University] The Modeling WG aims to reduce model uncertainties in simulations and projections in the Arctic–boreal region across all ABoVE ecosystem indicators. The WG had polled the ST to determine the variables most needed for their Earth system models and is now using the field, airborne, and satellite datasets to better constrain these models. This WG discussed the benefits to the modeling community of transforming the more than 100 ABoVE datasets into a common grid and projection format used by modelers. Carbon Dynamics Working Group WG Leads: Jonathan Wang [University of Utah] and Jennifer Watts [Woodwell Climate Research Center (WCRC)] The Carbon Dynamics WG has focused its recent work on three areas: decadal syntheses of carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from eddy covariance towers, machine learning approaches to upscaling wetland and lake methane (CH4) emissions, and carbon flux modeling across the Arctic–boreal zone. The research integrated atmospheric CO2 observations to improve carbon flux estimates and examined wildfire impacts on both carbon emissions and albedo changes. A significant component of the work involved comparing top-down versus bottom-up carbon flux models, with particular attention to permafrost and peatland regions. Hydrology-Permafrost-Wetlands Working Group WG Leads: Laura Bourgeau-Chavez [Michigan Technological University], David Butman [University of Washington], John Kimball [University of Montana], and Melissa Schwab [University of California, Irvine] The Hydrology–Permafrost–Wetlands WG focused on the processes controlling changes in permafrost distribution and properties and their impacts. There was discussion about the nature, causes, and consequences of hydrologic change (e.g. water storage, mobility, and distribution) and about ecosystem water, energy, and carbon cycle linkages. The presenters mentioned integration of ABoVE datasets with NASA satellite missions [e.g., NASA–Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) and Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) missions]. WG members discussed the connections between ABoVE research and several crosscutting initiatives, including two NASA Arctic coastlines efforts [e.g., Frontlines Of Rapidly Transforming Ecosystems Earth Venture Suborbital (FORTE EVS) campaign and NASA’s Arctic-COastal Land Ocean InteRactionS (COLORS)] and the WCRC’s Permafrost Pathways. Disturbance Working Group WG Leads: Dong Chen [University of Maryland, College Park] and Jinhyuk Kim [University of California, Irvine] The Disturbance WG leads presented their decade-long perspective on disturbance-related research in the ABoVE domain. The presentation incorporated artificial intelligence (AI)-generated summaries of ABoVE-affiliated research across multiple disturbance types, including boreal wildfires, tundra wildfires, and thermokarst/permafrost degradation processes. Chen and Kim acknowledged the extensive contributions from researchers and WG members while outlining future directions for disturbance research. Success Stories Four “Success Story” presentations and panels took place during ASTM11, which showcased efforts of ABoVE ST members and the leadership team to create and coordinate engagement efforts that spanned individual projects. Success Story 1: ABoVE Participation in Regional Fire Workshops A substantial portion of ABoVE research has focused on wildfire, and many members of the ST have participated in domestic and international wildfire efforts, connecting researchers with land managers across Alaska and Canada. Randi Jandt [UAF] discussed the Alaska Fire Science Consortium workshops (held in 2017 and 2022). Jenn Baltzer [Wilfred Laurier University (WLU), Canada] discussed Northwest Territories workshops (held in 2014 and 2025), both of which occurred in response to extreme fire seasons in the region. Laura Bourgeau-Chavez outlined ABoVE’s participation in all of these workshops. The workshops facilitated knowledge exchange and collaboration on critical wildfire management priorities, including fire risk assessment, real-time modeling, post-fire effects, and climate change impacts on fire regimes. Key features included small focus groups, field trips to command centers and fire-affected areas, and integration of Indigenous knowledge with new technologies to inform management practices and climate preparedness strategies. Success Story 2: Collaborations with Scotty Creek Research Station (SCRS) ASTM11 participants watched the film, “Scotty Creek Research Community – The Spirit of Collaboration,” about the SCRS, Canada’s first and only Indigenous-led research station. Following the film, station team members participated in a panel discussion. Ramona Pearson [Ramona Pearson Consulting, Canada], Maude Auclair [WLU], Mason Dominico [WLU], Michael McPhee [Sambaa K’e First Nation, Canada], and William “Bill” Quinton [WLU] discussed their decade-long collaboration with ABoVE. The partnership involved ABoVE collecting airborne hyperspectral, lidar, and radar imagery, while SCRS researchers provided field data for calibration and validation. In 2022, management of the station transitioned to Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation (LKFN, Canada), and ABoVE continued collaborating through knowledge exchange, including with early-career researchers and interns. When a 2022 fire destroyed the field station and surrounding area, ABoVE flew additional flights to capture airborne imagery observations to allow comparison of pre- and post-fire conditions. Success Story 3: Science Communication During the ABoVE field campaign, ST members and CCEO staff engaged in multiple strategies to communicate research results to the public. The activities included interactive engagement through airborne open houses and guest flights, ST member narratives in the “Notes from the Field” blog posts on the NASA Earth Observatory website, and professional multimedia production, including Earth Observatory content and award-winning videos. This multifaceted strategy demonstrates effective scientific communication through direct public engagement and high-quality, multimedia storytelling, making complex research accessible to diverse audiences. Success Story 4: Engagement Activities This session highlighted several examples of community engagement across the ABoVE domain. Gerald “J.J.” Frost [ABR] discussed synthesizing ecosystem responses and elder observations in western Alaska for his ABoVE project. In another example, ABoVE researchers from Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) partnered with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and local organizations. Dana Redhuis [MTRI] and Rebecca Edwards [DUC] described their on-the-land camps that provide hands-on training for Northwest Territories youth in wetlands education and ecological monitoring. Kevin Turner [Brock University, Canada] showcased his work with members of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Old Crow Flats, Yukon, evaluating how climate and land cover change influence water dynamics and carbon balance. These activities demonstrate collaborative research that integrates Indigenous and Western knowledge approaches to address climate change impacts. ABoVE Phase 3 Project Presentations Project leads of the 20 NASA-funded ABoVE Phase 3 projects presented updates that were organized by scientific theme. The presentations spanned multiple days of the meeting. Table 1 below provides all the project titles, presenter names, and links to each project and presentation. Science results from four of the presentations are shown in Figures 1–4 below as indicated in the table. Table 1. An overview ofABoVE Phase 3 projects and presenters. The Project name includes the last name of the Principal Investigator, NASA funding program (TE for Terrestrial Ecology), the year of the NASA solicitation funding the research, and provides a hyperlink to the Project Profile. A hyperlink to each presentation is provided as either PowerPoint (PPT) file or PDF. Project   Carbon Presenter(s) Bloom (TE 2021): Using CO2, CH4 and land-surface constraints to resolve sign and magnitude of northern high latitude carbon-climate feedbacks [PDF] Eren Bilir [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)]; Principal Investigator (PI): Alexis (Anthony) Bloom [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)] Butman (TE 2021): Do changing terrestrial-aquatic interfaces in Arctic-boreal landscapes control the form, processing, and fluxes of carbon? [PPT] David Butman [University of Washington] – see Figure 1 Watts (TE 2021): Contributions of tundra and boreal systems to radiative forcing in North America and Russia under contemporary and future conditions [PPT] Jennifer Watts [Woodwell Climate Research Center] Miller-S (TE 2021): A synthesis and reconciliation of greenhouse gas flux estimates across the ABoVE domain [PDF] Scot Miller [Johns Hopkins University] Michalak (TE 2021): Quantifying climate sensitivities of photosynthesis and respiration in Arctic and boreal ecosystems from top-down observational constraints [PDF] Wu Sun and Jiaming Wen [both Carnegie Institution for Science, CI]; PI: Anna Michalak, [Carnegie Institution for Science] Fire Presenter(s) Bourgeau-Chavez (TE 2021): Integrating remote sensing and modeling to better understand the vulnerability of boreal-taiga ecosystems to wildfire [PPT] Laura Bourgeau-Chavez [Michigan Technological University (MTU)] Walker (TE 2021): Drivers and Impacts of Reburning in boreal forest Ecosystems (DIRE) [PDF] Jeremy Forsythe [Northern Arizona University (NAU)]; PI: Xanthe Walker [NAU] Wang (TE 2021): Quantifying disturbance and global change impacts on multi-decadal trends in aboveground biomass and land cover across Arctic-boreal North America [PPT] Jonathan Wang [University of Utah]– see Figure 2  Wildlife Presenter(s) Boelman (TE 2021): The future of the Forest-Tundra Ecotone: A synthesis that adds interactions among snow, vegetation, and wildlife to the equation [PPT] Natalie Boelman [Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University] French (TE 2021): Informing wetland policy and management for waterfowl habitat and other ecosystem services using multi-frequency synthetic aperture radar [PPT] Nancy French [MTU] – see Figure 3 Hydrology / Permafrost Presenter(s) Du (TE 2021): High resolution mapping of surface soil freeze thaw status and active layer thickness for improving the understanding of permafrost dynamics and vulnerability [PPT] Jinyang Du [University of Montana] Miller (TE 2021): Enhanced methane emissions in transitional permafrost environments: An ABoVE phase 3 synthesis investigation [PPT] Charles “Chip” Miller [NASA/JPL] Tape (TE 2021): Characterizing a widespread disturbance regime in the ABoVE domain: Beaver engineering [PPT] Kenneth Tape [University of Alaska, Fairbanks] Zhuang (TE 2021): Role of linked hydrological, permafrost, ground ice, and land cover changes in regional carbon balance across boreal and Arctic landscapes [PDF] Qianlai Zhuang [Purdue University]  Vegetation Structure Presenter(s) Duncanson (TE 2021): Mapping boreal forest biomass recovery rates across gradients of vegetation structure and environmental change [PPT] Paul Montesano [GSFC/ADNET Systems Inc]; PI: Laura Duncanson [University of Maryland]—see Figure 4 Lara (TE 2021): ABoVE-Ground characterization of plant species succession in retrogressive thaw slumps using imaging spectroscopy [PPT] Mark Lara [University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign]  Vegetation Dynamics  Presenter(s) Frost (TE 2021): Towards a warmer, less frozen future Arctic: Synthesis of drivers, ecosystem responses, and elder observations along bioclimatic gradients in western Alaska [PPT] Gerald “J.J.” Frost [ABR] Goetz (TE 2021): Mapping and modeling attributes of an Arctic-boreal biome shift: Phase-3 applications within the ABoVE domain [PPT] Scott Goetz [NAU] Liu (TE 2021): Characterizing Arctic-boreal vegetation resilience under climate change and disturbances [PPT] Yanlan Liu [The Ohio State University] Townsend (TE 2021): Functional diversity as a driver of gross primary productivity variation across the ABoVE domain [PPT] Philip Townsend [University of Wisconsin] Determining Aboveground Biomass Density Using ICESat-2 Data and Modeling Figure 1. Despite their relatively small coverage, surface water extent across boreal and arctic lowlands significantly impacts landscape-scale estimates of carbon emissions. The red points on the map in the figure indicates locations of available lake chemistry data derived from ABoVE-supported research, from collaborators, and from a preliminary literature search. Figure credit. David Butman Figure 2. The Arctic-boreal carbon cycle is inextricably linked to vegetation composition and demography, both of which are being altered by climate change, rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and climate-induced changes in disturbance regimes. The map in the figure shows above-ground biomass (AGB) change across Arctic-boreal North America (2022–1984) created using a machine learning model of AGB trained on from more than 45,000 field plots and 200,000 km2 of airborne lidar data. Figure credit:  Wanwan Liang Figure 3.  Wetlands provide many ecosystem services, including waterfowl habitat, carbon sequestration, and water quality. Northern wetlands Iin the ABovE study area) are threatened from both land use expansion and climate change disruptions, prompting the need for informed management strategies.  Copernicus Sentinel 1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data have been used to create this map of flooding (hydroperiod) in wetland areas around the Great Slave Lake in Canada  The color code on the map corresponds to the number of times the SAR imagery indicated a place was flooded (inundated). Such information is helpful for predicting within-season changes in wetland extent. Figure credit: Nancy French Figure 4. Advances have been made in mapping aboveground biomass density (AGBD). Shown here as an example is an AGBD map created using stata from the   ICESat-2 pan-Boreal 30-m (98-ft) tree height and biomass data product [left] and the ensemble mean of the standard deviation of AGBD, aggregated to modelling tiles [right]. Current research aims to expand these maps and understand regional vegetation changes.  Figure credit. Laura Duncanson/data from ORNL DAAC ASTM11 Poster Sessions ASTM11 featured 41 research posters across three sessions, organized by thematic area – see Table 3 and Photo 3. The Poster Session agenda details the range of topics that spanned airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and satellite imagery to northern ecosystem fieldwork. Key research topics that emerged included CO2 and CH4 emissions from terrestrial and aquatic systems, ongoing permafrost thaw, fire impacts on carbon cycling, vegetation mapping and biomass estimation, and the impacts of wildlife on the landscape. Table 2. A breakdown of ASTM11 poster presentations by science theme. Poster Theme Poster Count Carbon Dynamics 5 Crosscutting, Modeling, or Other 6 Fire Disturbance 5 Permafrost, Hydrology, and Wetlands 13 Vegetation Dynamics and Distribution 7 Vegetation Structure and Function 4 Wildlife and Ecosystem Services 1 Photo 3. Poster presentations and sessions during ASTM11 offered opportunities for presenters to share their latest research findings with meeting participants. Photo credit: Elizabeth Hoy ABoVE Field Trips ASTM11 offered multiple field trip options across the Fairbanks region of Alaska. The fieldtrips provided ST members an opportunity to interact with the research community – see Photo 4. Trip to Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) and Geophysical InstituteASF is a data archive for many SAR datasets from a variety of sensors and has multiple ground station facilities. During the tour, participants visited the ASF operations room and ASF rooftop antenna. The Geophysical Institute tour also featured the Alaska Earthquake Center, Wilson Alaska Technical Center, and Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration. Trip to Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) Permafrost TunnelThe U.S. Army Core of Engineers CRREL Permafrost Tunnel is located in Fox, AK – about 15 km (9 mi) north of Fairbanks. Over 300 m (984 ft) of tunnel have been excavated, exposing Pleistocene ice and carbon-rich yedoma permafrost that ranges in age from 18,000 to 43,000 years old. The tunnel exposes mammoth and bison bones and a variety of permafrost soils. Ongoing projects in the tunnel cover a range of topics, including engineering and geophysical work, Mars analog studies, and biogeochemistry and microbiology of permafrost soils. Wildfire Walk: Yankovich Road Fire Interpretive TrailOn July 11, 2021, a wildfire burned 3.5 acres (14,164 m2) of UAF land. In 2024, the UAF Alaska Fire Science Consortium, Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service, and local artist Klara Maisch collaborated with others to develop the Wildfire Walk at the site. The interpretive trail is an outdoor learning experience with interpretive wayside markers that describe the fire incident, the relationship between wildfire and the boreal forest, fire science and environmental change, and wildfire prevention – see Figure 1. UAF Arctic Research Open HouseThe UAF Arctic Research Open House was an opportunity for ST members and the public to explore the wide range of research happening at UAF and meet other scientists. ABoVE hosted an information table at the event. Photo 4: Collage of images collected during a series of field trips, including [top] the Wildfire Walk along the Alaska Fire Science Consortium, [middle] the Permafrost Tunnel with Tom Douglas [Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory], [bottom left] UAF Arctic Open House ABoVE Table with Margaret “Maggie” Wooton [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)/Science System and Applications, Inc. (GSFC/SSAI)], Elizabeth Hoy [GSFC/Global Science & Technology Inc.], and Qiang Zhou [GSFC/SSAI], talking with Logan Berner [Northern Arizona University], [bottom right] the Alaska Satellite Facility ground receiving antenna. Photo credit: Elizabeth Hoy Research Connections The success of ABoVE as a large-scale research study over the Arctic and boreal regions within and outside the United States depended on collaboration with multiple organizations. Many of the ABoVE collaborators were able to present at ASTM11. Andrew Applejohn [Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR)] provided details about the scope, mandate, and facilities available through POLAR, a Canadian government agency that has partnered with the ABoVE ST for the duration of the campaign. Ryan Connon [Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT)] discussed the decade-long collaboration between ABoVE and the GNWT, including knowledge sharing of wildlife collar data, field-data ground measurements, and remote sensing analyses. Gabrielle Gascon [Canadian Forest Service (CFS), Natural Resources Canada] explained the scope of Canada’s National Forest Inventory and the current CFS focus on wildfire and the CFS’s other areas of research related to the northern regions. Another presentation featured information about various vegetation mapping initiatives where Matthew Macander discussed an Alaska-based effort called AKVEG Map, a vegetation plot database, and Logan Berner [NAU] detailed a pan-Arctic plant aboveground biomass synthesis dataset. Brendan Rogers [WCRC] showcased research from Permafrost Pathways, designed to bring together permafrost-related science experts with local communities to inform Arctic policy and develop adaptation and mitigation strategies to address permafrost thaw. NGEE-Arctic is another U.S. government effort that partnered specifically with ABoVE for the duration of the two efforts, and Bob Bolton [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)] provided updates on the project. Tomoko Tanabe [Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research (JNIPR)] gave a presentation about NIPR to better inform ABoVE scientists about other international Arctic efforts, including a new Japanese Arctic research initiative called the Arctic Challenge for Sustainability III (ArCS III), designed to address social issues related to environmental and social changes in the Arctic. Additional Presentations An additional presentation aimed to keep the ABoVE ST informed of future NASA Arctic research efforts. Kelsey Bisson [NASA HQ—Program Scientist for the Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program] discussed NASA Arctic-COLORS and Maria Tzortziou [City University of New York/Columbia University, LDEO] discussed the FORTE EVS campaign. The proposed Arctic-COLORS field campaign would quantify the biogeochemical and ecological response of Arctic nearshore systems to rapid changes in terrestrial fluxes and ice conditions. The NASA FORTE EVS campaign will fill a critical gap in understanding Alaska’s northernmost ecosystems by investigating eroding coastlines, rivers, deltas, and estuaries that connect land and sea systems, using airborne platforms. Scott Goetz continued with a presentation on U.S. efforts to plan the International Polar Year, scheduled for 2032–2033. Ryan Pavlick provided details on the NISAR mission, which launched after the meeting on July 30, 2025, and discussed other possible future NASA missions. A Career Trajectory panel featured Jennifer Watts, Jonathan Wang, Brendan Rogers, and Xiaoran “Seamore” Zhu [Boston University]. The panelists discussed opportunities for researchers from different academic backgrounds and at different career stages, and they provided details about how ABoVE has impacted their careers. They also discussed how NASA campaigns offer opportunities for early career scientists to join a team of peers to grow their abilities throughout the duration of the decade-long research. Klara Maisch, a local artist, discussed her work creating science-informed artwork through interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists and other creators – see Figure 5. Maisch described the benefits of partnering with artists to share science with a broad audience and showcased artwork she has created. Figure 5. Lower Tanana Homelands – 2022 Yankovich Fire – Plot Painting [left], with original plot reference photograph [right]. Image Credit: Klara Maisch Overarching Presentations A series of presentations on the overall structure and outcomes of ABoVE were held during ASTM11. Charles “Chip” Miller [NASA/JPL—Deputy ABoVE ST Lead, ABoVE Airborne Lead] provided details about SAR, hyperspectral, and lidar airborne measurements collected between 2017 and 2024 for the ABoVE Airborne Campaign. ABoVE Logistics Office members Daniel Hodkinson [GSFC/SSAI], Sarah Dutton [GSFC/SSAI], and Leanne Kendig [GSFC/Global Science & Technology, Inc. (GST, Inc.)] discussed the many field teams and activities supported during ABoVE. Overall, more than 50 teams were trained in field safety topics, with more than 1,200 training certificates awarded. Elizabeth Hoy [NASA GSFC/GST, Inc.] and Debjani Singh [ORNL] discussed the more than 250 data products developed during the ABoVE program and how to access them through NASA Earthdata. Example visualizations of ABoVE data products can be found in Figure 6. Figure 6. ABoVE logo created with different data products from the campaign used to compose each letter.A: Active Layer Thickness from Remote Sensing Permafrost Model, Alaska, 2001-2015;. Tree (inside A): Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Trends across Alaska and Canada from Landsat, 1984-2012;. B: Landsat-derived Annual Dominant Land Cover Across ABoVE Core Domain, 1984-2014;; O: Wildfire Carbon Emissions and Burned Plot Characteristics, NWT, CA, 2014-2016;; V: AVHRR-Derived Forest Fire Burned Area-Hot Spots, Alaska and Canada, 1989-2000;; E: Lake Bathymetry Maps derived from Landsat and Random Forest Modeling, North Slope, AK; and Underline (under O): Plot lines from the ABoVE Planning Tool visualizer. Figure credit: Caitlin LaNeve The Collaborations and Engagement WG held a plenary discussion to highlight the many activities that ABoVE researchers have been involved in over the past decade. The discussion highlighted the need for individual projects and campaign leadership to work together to ensure participation and understanding of planned research at local and regional levels. A highlight of the meeting was the “Legacy of ABoVE” panel discussion moderated by Nancy French [MTU]. Panelists included Eric Kasischke [MTU], Scott Goetz, Chip Miller, Peter Griffith, Libby Larson [NASA GSFC/SSAI], and Elizabeth Hoy. Each panelist reflected on their journey to develop ABoVE, which included an initial scoping study developed more than 15 years ago. Members of the panel – all a part of the ABoVE leadership team – joined the campaign at different stages of their career. Each panelist arrived with different backgrounds, bringing their unique perspective to the group that helped to frame the overall campaign development. Following the panel, all ST members who have been a part of ABoVE since its start over a decade ago came to the front for a group photo – see Photo 5. Following the panel, the ABoVE ST leads presented their overall thoughts on the meeting and facilitated a discussion with all participants at the meeting. Participants noted the important scientific discoveries made during ABoVE and enjoyed the collegial atmosphere during ASTM11. Photo 5. A group photo of participants who have been with ABoVE since its inception: [left to right] Ryan Pavlick, Chip Miller, Elizabeth Hoy, Libby Larson, Peter Griffith, Fred Huemmrich, Nancy French, Scott Goetz, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Eric Kasischke, and Larry Hinzman. Photo credit: Peter Griffith Conclusion  Overall, ASTM11 brought together an interdisciplinary team for a final team meeting that showcased the many accomplishments made over the past decade. The group outlined current gaps and needs in Arctic and boreal research and discussed possibilities for future NASA terrestrial ecology campaigns. The synthesis science presentations at ASTM11 highlighted the advances ABoVE has made in understanding carbon and ecosystem dynamics in Arctic and boreal regions. It also highlighted the need for further study of cold season and subsurface processes. While this was the last meeting of this ST, research for some projects will continue into 2026, and more publications and data products are expected from ST members in the near term. Elizabeth HoyNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Global Science & Technology Inc. (GSFC/GST,Inc.)elizabeth.hoy@nasa.gov Libby LarsonNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Science System and Applications, Inc. (GSFC/SSAI)libby.larson@nasa.gov Annabelle SokolowskiNASA GSFC Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) Intern Caitlin LaNeveNASA GSFC Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) Intern Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 Related Terms Earth Science View Source Article

In an era when TV shows look like movies, have we lost sight of what should make sci-fi great? View Source Article

Bluesky will now check the ages of users located in South Dakota and Wyoming to comply with local online safety laws. The platform announced on Wednesday that users in both states will be able to prove their age using an ID, payment card, or other method. Just like Bluesky’s age verification launch in the UK, the social network will process age checks through Epic Games’ Kids Web Services (KWS), a tool that allows developers to integrate age verification and parental controls within their platforms. Both South Dakota and Wyoming pushed ahead with their online safety laws after a Supreme Court ruling upheld a Texas law requiring age verification for porn sites. While many states only apply online safety laws to adult websites or platforms containing a certain threshold of harmful content, 404 Media points out that South Dakota and Wyoming’s laws don’t include this carveout. That means they could affect a much broader swatch of online platforms, including Reddit, X, and Discord, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Last month, Bluesky and Mastodon stopped operating in Mississippi after the Supreme Court refused to block a “likely unconstitutional” law that forces platforms to verify the ages of users when they create an account. Bluesky said the law “would block everyone from accessing the site — teens and adults — unless they hand over sensitive information.” Just like in the UK, Bluesky spokesperson Elisabeth Diana confirmed to The Verge that the platform will restrict unverified and underage users in South Dakota and Wyoming from accessing adult content, as well as from using certain features, like direct messaging. Update, September 10th: Added information about the age verification process. View Source Article

Texas Instruments Inc. Chief Executive Officer Haviv Ilan said the company’s data center business is helping fuel a recovery in demand, with revenue in that area growing at a pace above 50%. View Source Article

Lyft and May Mobility have teamed up to launch a fleet of autonomous vehicles in Atlanta. It's a pilot program, so it's currently only available to Lyft riders in the area of midtown Atlanta. The companies promise a "measured, safety-first approach" with this rollout. The fleet consists of hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicles equipped with May Mobility’s self-driving technology. Lyft and May Mobility announced this partnership last year, but Atlanta is the first city to get a fleet of self-driving vehicles. Atlanta, we're here! Our autonomous vehicle pilot program with @Lyft is now live in Midtown. Find us in the Lyft app! https://t.co/dUqF95q93r pic.twitter.com/TFfDg23D8Y— May Mobility (@May_Mobility) September 10, 2025 The rides will be fully autonomous, but each vehicle will feature a human just in case something goes wrong. These standby operators are trained to take the wheel if needed. The companies haven't announced a timeframe for when these standby operators will no longer be required. Customers will have access to temperature controls, which is nice. However, hailing one of these cars is something of a crap shoot. You have to be in the service area, use the app and hope for the best. Lyft and May Mobility say they will increase the number of available vehicles and expand service hours in the "months ahead." This is May Mobility's second launch in Georgia, as it operates a fleet of driverless vehicles in the Atlanta suburb of Peachtree Corners. Lyft's primary rival Uber has also been making serious moves in this space. The company has entered into a partnership with Lucid to create a massive fleet of 20,000 autonomous vehicles. It also has plans to launch self-driving pilot programs throughout the globe.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/lyft-launches-autonomous-fleet-with-may-mobility-in-atlanta-184942285.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA says that the evidence found by Mars Perserverence is confirmed as signs of ancient life on Mars. They found the evidence a year ago and they had teams investigate. The report is that this is the clearest sign of ancient life and ancient life fossils is the most likely explanation. G-band confirms the poppy ... Read more View Source Article

The AirPods Pro 3 seem like a solid upgrade, but they have one significant drawback: Apple isn’t including a charging cable in the box, MacRumors reports. Apple spells it out right on the AirPods Pro 3 tech specs page, saying in the “In the Box” section that “USB‑C Charge Cable sold separately.” That means that if you want to charge the case for the AirPods Pro 3, you’ll need to use a charging cable you already have, buy a new one, or use a wireless charger. For a lot of people, this may not be a huge issue, especially if you already have a bunch of USB-C cables lying around the house. It’s arguably a little more environmentally friendly, since it might mean fewer people lose or throw away yet another cable. But I’m the type of person who likes to stash away the additional cables I get with my tech, even if I don’t need them at the time — having an extra cable in storage has come in handy more times than I care to admit. And with Apple having already stopped packing in things like wall plugs and headphones with iPhones, and now I’m wondering if it may someday stop including a charging cable in the box with iPhones, too. View Source Article

Orbital missions will unlock the next phase of Starship’s development, providing better data on the performance of the spacecraft’s heat shield and allowing for tests of in-orbit refuelling, which will be essential for missions to Mars. View Source Article

Governor Kathy Hochul is positioning New York as a hub for artificial intelligence companies, arguing that competitive tax rates for high earners and immigrant talent can help the state win the race to lead in the technology. View Source Article

With web publishers in crisis, a new open standard lets them set the ground rules for AI scrapers. (Or, at least it will try.) The new Really Simple Licensing (RSL) standard creates terms that participants expect AI companies to abide by. Although enforcement is an open question, it can't hurt that some heavy hitters back it. Among others, the list includes Reddit, Yahoo (Engadget's parent company), Medium and People Inc. RSL adds licensing terms to the robots.txt protocol, the simple file that provides instructions for web crawlers. Supported licensing options include free, attribution, subscription, pay-per-crawl and pay-per-inference. (The latter means AI companies only pay publishers when the content is used to generate a response.) Launching alongside the standard is a new managing nonprofit, the RSL Collective. It views itself as an equivalent of nonprofits like ASCAP and BMI, which manage music industry royalties. The new group says its standard can "establish fair market prices and strengthen negotiation leverage for all publishers." Participating brands include plenty of internet old-schoolers. Reddit, People Inc., Yahoo, Internet Brands, Ziff Davis, wikiHow, O'Reilly Media, Medium, The Daily Beast, Miso.AI, Raptive, Ranker and Evolve Media are all on board. Former Ask.com CEO Doug Leeds and RSS co-creator Eckart Walther lead the group. "The RSL Standard gives publishers and platforms a clear, scalable way to set licensing terms in the AI era,” Reddit CEO Steve Huffman wrote in a press release. "The RSL Collective offers a path to do it together. Reddit supports both as important steps toward protecting the open web and the communities that make it thrive." (It's worth noting that Reddit has licensing deals with OpenAI and Google.) It's unclear whether AI companies will honor the standard. After all, they've been known to simply ignore robots.txt instructions. But the group believes its terms will be legally enforceable. In an interview with Ars Technica, Leeds pointed to Anthropic's recent $1.5 billion settlement, suggesting "there's real money at stake" for AI companies that don't train "legitimately." (However, that settlement is up in the air after a judge rejected it.) Leeds told The Verge that the standard's collective nature could also help spread legal costs, making challenges to violations more feasible. As for technical enforcement, the RSL standard can't block bots on its own. For that, the group is partnering with the cloud company Fastly, which can act as a sort of gatekeeper. (Perhaps Cloudflare, which recently launched a pay-per-crawl system, could eventually play a part, too.) Leeds said Fastly could serve as "the bouncer at the door to the club." Leeds suggested to Ars that there are incentives for AI companies, too. Financially, it could be simpler for them than inking individual licensing deals. It could prevent a problem in AI content: using multiple sources for an answer to avoid using too much from any one. If content is legally licensed, the AI app can simply use the best source, which provides the user with a higher-quality answer and minimizes the risk of hallucinations. He also referenced complaints from AI companies that there's no effective means of licensing web-wide content. "We have listened to them, and what we've heard them say is… we need a new protocol," Leeds told Ars Technica. "With the RSL standard, AI firms get a "scalable way to get all the content" they want, while setting an incentive that they'll only have to pay for the best content that their models actually reference. If they're using it, they pay for it, and if they're not using it, they don't pay for it."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/reddit-yahoo-medium-and-more-are-adopting-a-new-licensing-standard-to-get-compensated-for-ai-scraping-180946671.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Artemis I Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft is pictured in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida before rollout to launch pad 39B, in March 2022.Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux Media are invited to see NASA’s fully assembled Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft in mid-October before its crewed test flight around the Moon next year.   The event at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will showcase hardware for the Artemis II lunar mission, which will test capabilities needed for deep space exploration. NASA and industry subject matter experts will be available for interviews. Attendance is open to U.S. citizens and international media. Media accreditation deadlines are as follows: International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 22. U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media organizations must apply by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 29. Media wishing to take part in person must apply for credentials at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov Credentialed media will receive a confirmation email upon approval, along with additional information about the specific date for the mid-October activities when they are determined. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, please contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom at: 321-867-2468. Prior to the media event, the Orion spacecraft will transition from the Launch Abort System Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy, where it will be placed on top of the SLS rocket. The fully stacked rocket will then undergo complete integrated testing and final hardware closeouts ahead of rolling the rocket to Launch Pad 39B for launch. During this effort, technicians will conduct end-to-end communications checkouts, and the crew will practice day of launch procedures during their countdown demonstration test. Artemis II will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back. As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, Artemis will pave the way for new U.S.-crewed missions on the lunar surface ahead in preparation toward the first crewed mission to Mars.To learn more about the Artemis II mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii -end- Rachel Kraft / Lauren LowHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1100rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov / lauren.e.low@nasa.gov   Tiffany FairleyKennedy Space Center, Fla.321-867-2468tiffany.l.fairley@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsArtemis 2ArtemisOrion Multi-Purpose Crew VehicleSpace Launch System (SLS) View Source Article

Disney/Pixar's interstellar odyssey landed on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD for all Earthlings! View Source Article

The AirPods Pro 3 will hit stores on September 19th for $249. Apple’s most impressive wireless earbuds are now available to preorder from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and from Target for $249. The new AirPods Pro 3 won’t arrive until September 19th, but you can place your order from the retailer of your choice, then be among the first to dig into their premium features on launch day. AirPods Pro 3 The third-gen AirPods Pro add a new built-in heart rate sensor and live translation feature. They also improve upon their predecessor with twice the noise cancellation, better sound, and a fifth swappable ear tip option. Where to Buy: $249 at Amazon $249 at Best Buy $249 at Walmart We’ve gone into detail about the AirPods Pro 3 stack up against the rest of Apple’s AirPods lineup of earbuds and over-ear headphones in our comparison guide. The most notable change is a new built-in heart rate sensor that lets iPhone owners track calories burned and track progress in over 50 types of workouts from the Fitness app. Also of note, Apple claims that the new buds can deliver ANC that’s twice as effective as the last-gen model, while battery life has increased. But there are more features beyond improved bass and better active noise cancellation. The buds’ case is a little lighter, and there’s a fifth ear tip option in the box (XXS) for a more secure, comfortable fit for those with tiny outer ears. To top it off, they feature an improved IP57 rating for dust and water (and sweat) resistance. We’ll be publishing our full review of the AirPods Pro 3 as soon as we can, so stay tuned. In the meantime, be sure to check out our coverage if you’re also looking to preorder the new iPhones or new Apple Watches. View Source Article

Hello and welcome to the newsletter, a grab bag of daily content from the Odd Lots universe. Sometimes it's us, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, bringing you our thoughts on the most recent developments in markets, finance and the economy. And sometimes it's contributions from our network of expert guests and sources. Whatever it is, we promise it will always be interesting. View Source Article

NASA just announced that its Perseverance rover recently found some promising signs of ancient life on Mars. The rover obtained a sample of rock formed billions of years ago from sediment and there are biomarkers indicating the potential presence of microbes once upon a time. Basically, the rocks contain minerals that typically form as a result of a chemical reaction between mud and organic matter. That doesn't necessarily mean that Mars once had life, as the minerals can form due to nonbiological processors. However, it's certainly one of the best pieces of evidence we have to point toward our neighbor planet once housing life of some kind. "On Earth, reactions like these, which combine organic matter and chemical compounds in mud to form new minerals like vivianite and greigite, are often driven by the activity of microbes," said Stony Brook University planetary scientist Joel Hurowitz, who led the study published in the journal Nature. "The microbes are consuming the organic matter in these settings and producing these new minerals as a byproduct of their metabolism." Hurowitz does caution that this is just a potential biosignature and not actual proof of ancient life. Many scientists believe, however, that Mars wasn't always quite as inhospitable as it is today. The planet likely held plenty of water in its distant past. Researchers suggest that the area in which Persevere found these samples was once a river valley that led to a lake, though this was more than 3.5 billion years ago. The samples were collected last year, but researchers needed time for analysis. Perseverance has been roaming around the Martian surface since 2021. The six-wheeled rover has been collecting rock samples and regolith, using its onboard instruments for this analysis. This is also just the beginning of the research required here. "Ultimately, follow-on research will provide us with a suite of testable hypotheses for how to determine whether biology is responsible for the generation of these features," Hurowitz added.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-perseverance-rover-finds-potential-signs-of-ancient-life-on-mars-173457976.html?src=rss View Source Article

PlayStation is launching a new PlayStation Family app for iOS and Android to help parents manage their child’s playtime on PS5 and PS4. Parents can already set parental control features directly on a console, but this app gives parents another way to set limits and keep track of what their kid is playing. “The app includes a number of new customizable features for parents to manage their children’s playtime, including an activity report, more visibility into what their children are playing, and approving extra playtime requests,” according to a blog post. The app also has an onboarding experience to help parents set up a child account, lets parents manage a child’s spending on the PlayStation Store, and gives parents the ability to customize privacy settings for their children. Nintendo and Microsoft also offer dedicated parental control apps for iOS and Android that lets parents manage playtime on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox. View Source Article

Jonathan Gould, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said he wants to eradicate what he calls a two-tiered system that stigmatizes “legally, permissible activities” between some banks and the digital asset industry. View Source Article

Bluesky is expanding its age verification features stateside. The service will require users in South Dakota and Wyoming to verify their ages in order to access direct messaging and adult content on the site. The update comes after both states have enacted laws requiring online platforms that host "harmful" content to verify the ages of their users. Bluesky's approach will mirror its actions in the UK, which also requires age checks following the passage of its Online Safety Act. The company has opted to use Epic Games' Kids Web Services to conduct the checks and users can choose between several methods,including face scans, ID scans or using a credit card. The service will still be available to people in the states that don't verify their age, but specific features will be restricted. In an update, the company said "we believe this approach currently strikes the right balance." Last month, the service opted to go dark in the state of Mississippi rather than comply with a more restrictive age verification law that would have required it to block anyone whose age hadn't been confirmed. "To implement this change, we would have had to invest substantial resources in a solution that we believe limits free speech and disproportionately harms smaller platforms," Bluesky explains. "We chose not to offer our service there at this time while legal challenges continue." The update comes as age verification laws have been ramping up in the US. So far, 25 states have passed laws requiring some form of age verification to access adult content, and numerous others have similar legislation in the works. In its post, Bluesky notes that it expects more regulations in other states and countries in the near term.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-is-rolling-out-age-verification-in-south-dakota-and-wyoming-165753460.html?src=rss View Source Article

Earth (ESD) Earth Explore Explore Earth Home Agriculture Air Quality Climate Change Freshwater Life on Earth Severe Storms Snow and Ice The Global Ocean Science at Work Earth Science at Work Technology and Innovation Powering Business Multimedia Image Collections Videos Data For Researchers About Us 5 Min Read NASA Data, Trainings Help Uruguay Navigate Drought Uruguay’s Paso Severino Reservoir, the primary water source for Montevideo, on June 13, 2023, captured by Landsat 9. Credits: NASA Earth Observatory/ Wanmei Liang Lee esta historia en español aquí. NASA satellite data and trainings helped Uruguay create a drought-response tool that its National Water Authority now uses to monitor reservoirs and guide emergency decisions. A similar approach could be applied in the United States and other countries around the world. From 2018 to 2023, Uruguay experienced its worst drought in nearly a century. The capital city of Montevideo, home to nearly 2 million people, was especially hard hit. By mid-2023, Paso Severino, the largest reservoir and primary water source for Montevideo, had dropped to just 1.7% of its capacity. As water levels declined, government leaders declared an emergency. They began identifying backup supplies and asked: Was there water left in other upstream reservoirs — mainly used for livestock and irrigation — that could help? That’s when environmental engineer Tiago Pohren and his colleagues at the National Water Authority (DINAGUA – Ministry of Environment) turned to NASA data and trainings to build an online tool that could help answer that question and improve monitoring of the nation’s reservoirs. “Satellite data can inform everything from irrigation scheduling in the Great Plains to water quality management in the Chesapeake Bay,” said Erin Urquhart, manager of the water resources program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “NASA provides the reliable data needed to respond to water crises anywhere in the world.” Learning to Detect Water from Space The DINAGUA team learned about NASA resources during a 2022 workshop in Buenos Aires, organized by the Interagency Science and Applications Team (ISAT). Led by NASA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Department of State, the workshop focused on developing tools to help manage water in the La Plata River Basin, which spans multiple South American countries including Uruguay. At the workshop, researchers from NASA introduced participants to methods for measuring water resources from space. NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing (ARSET) program also provided a primer on remote sensing principles. DINAGUA team supervisor Jose Rodolfo Valles León asks a question during a 2022 workshop in Buenos Aires. Other members of the Uruguay delegation — Florencia Hastings, Vanessa Erasun Rodríguez de Líma, Vanessa Ferreira, and Teresa Sastre (current Director of DINAGUA) — sit in the row behind. Organization of American States “NASA doesn’t just deliver data,” said John Bolten, NASA’s lead scientist for ISAT and chief of the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We collaborate with our partners and local experts to translate the data into information that is useful, usable, and relevant. That kind of coordination is what makes NASA’s water programs so effective on the ground, at home and around the world.” The DINAGUA team brought ideas and provided guidelines to Pohren for a tool that applies Landsat and Sentinel satellite imagery to detect changes in Uruguay’s reservoirs. Landsat, a joint NASA-U.S. Geological Survey mission, provides decades of satellite imagery to track changes in land and water. The Sentinel missions, a part of the European Commission managed Copernicus Earth Observation program and operated by ESA (the European Space Agency), provide complementary visible, infrared, and microwave imagery for surface water assessments. From a young age, Pohren was familiar with water-related challenges, as floods repeatedly inundated his relatives’ homes in his hometown of Montenegro, Brazil. It was extra motivation for him as he scoured ARSET tutorials and taught himself to write computer code. The result was a monitoring tool capable of estimating the surface area of Uruguay’s reservoirs over time. A screenshot of the reservoir monitoring tool shows the Paso Severino’s surface water coverage alongside time-series data tracking its variations. Tiago Pohren The tool draws on several techniques to differentiate the surface water extent of reservoirs. These techniques include three optical indicators derived from the Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 satellites: Normalized Difference Water Index, which highlights water by comparing how much green and near-infrared light is reflected. Water absorbs infrared light, so it stands out clearly from land. Modified Normalized Difference Water Index, which swaps near-infrared with shortwave infrared to improve the contrast and reduce errors when differentiating between water and built-up or vegetated areas. Automated Water Extraction Index, which combines four types of reflected light — green, near-infrared, and two shortwave infrared bands — to help separate water from shadows and other dark features. From Emergency Tool to Everyday Asset In 2023, the DINAGUA team used Pohren’s tool to examine reservoirs located upstream from Montevideo’s drinking water intake. But the data told a tough story. “There was water available in other reservoirs, but it was a very small amount compared to the water demand of the Montevideo metropolitan region,” Pohren said. Simulations showed that even if all of the water were released, most of it would not reach the water intake for Montevideo or the Paso Severino reservoir. Despite this news, the analysis prevented actions that might have wasted important resources for maintaining productive activities in the upper basin, Pohren said. Then, in August 2023, rain began to refill Uruguay’s reservoirs, allowing the country to declare an end to the water crisis. From right to left: Tiago Pohren, Vanessa Erasun, and Florencia Hastings at the second ISAT workshop in March 2024. Organization of American States Though the immediate water crisis has passed, the tool Pohren created will be useful in the future in Uruguay and around the world. During an ISAT workshop in 2024, he shared his tool with international water resources managers with the hope it could aid their own drought response efforts. And DINAGUA officials still use it to identify and monitor dams, irrigation reservoirs, and other water bodies in Uruguay. Pohren continues to use NASA training and data to advance reservoir management. He’s currently exploring an ARSET training on how the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will further improve the system by allowing DINAGUA to directly measure the height of water in reservoirs. He is also following NASA’s new joint mission with ISRO (the Indian Space Research Organization) called NISAR, which launched on July 30. The NISAR satellite will provide radar data that detects changes in water extent, regardless of cloud cover or time of day. “If a drought happens again,” Pohren said, “with the tools that we have now, we will be much more prepared to understand what the conditions of the basin are and then make predictions.” Environmental engineer Tiago Pohren conducts a field inspection on the Canelón Grande reservoir, the second-largest reservoir serving Montevideo, during the drought. Tiago Pohren By Melody Pederson, Rachel Jiang The authors would like to thank Noelia Gonzalez, Perry Oddo, Denise Hill, and Delfina Iervolino for interview support as well as Jerry Weigel for connecting with Tiago about the tool’s development. Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 Related Terms Droughts Earth Life on Earth Natural Disasters Water on Earth Explore More 1 min read NASA’s Black Marble: Stories from the Night Sky Studying the glowing patterns of Earth’s surface helps us understand human activity, respond to disasters,… Article 1 month ago 4 min read NUBE: New Card Game Helps Learners Identify Cloud Types Through Play Article 1 month ago 6 min read NASA’s TRACERS Studies Explosive Process in Earth’s Magnetic Shield Article 2 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Earth Your home. Our Mission. And the one planet that NASA studies more than any other. Explore Earth Science Earth Science in Action NASA’s unique vantage point helps us inform solutions to enhance decision-making, improve livelihoods, and protect our planet. Earth Multimedia & Galleries View Source Article

The public can submit names to travel along with four astronauts on an orbital journey to the moon next year View Source Article

Water may have flowed on the asteroid that birthed the space rock Ryugu a billion years after it formed, much later than previously thought, changing our perception of the early solar system. View Source Article

Saturn will be highly visible all September and scientists say gazing at planets and stars lets us see ‘the biggest picture’It has baffled minds as great as Galileo’s, inspired composers and fuelled sci-fi fantasies, but while Saturn will be on show all September, is anyone watching?The ringed gas giant will be highly visible in the night sky all month, reaching its brightest on the 21st when Earth will sit directly between Saturn and the sun, a configuration known as opposition. Continue reading... View Source Article

The Camera ProDock includes top and bottom mounting points for incorporating it into professional filming rigs. | Image: Blackmagic Design It was briefly mentioned by Apple’s Greg Joswiak during the company’s “Awe dropping” event yesterday, but today Blackmagic Design officially announced its new Camera ProDock that “adds professional camera connections to iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.” These include additional USB-C ports for connecting accessories like external storage drives and BNC connectors that take advantage of the 17 Pro’s new genlock support for syncing with multiple cameras and other filmmaking gear. The Blackmagic Camera ProDock will be available through the company’s global network of resellers and Apple for $295, although Apple’s online store currently has it listed as “coming soon” for $299.95. When connected to the iPhone 17 Pro’s USB-C port, the Camera ProDock enables the smartphone to connect to professional video production tools like switchers and timecode generators. Now that Apple’s flagship smartphone supports genlock it can be synchronized to other cameras in a multi-cam environment and be used to film LED walls in a virtual production without flickering by matching its capture rate to the refresh rate of the giant screens. The Camera ProDock adds three additional USC-ports, a locking 12V DC power input, an HDMI port for an external preview display, two BNC connectors to interface with professional genlock and timecode generators, and a pair of 3.5mm stereo audio in and out ports for using external microphones or headphones. On the top and bottom of the dock you’ll also find locking mounting points so it can be securely incorporated into a more elaborate iPhone filming rig. The Camera ProDock is designed to work seamlessly with the free Blackmagic Camera app that features more manual control and tools designed for professional videographers you won’t find in the stock iOS camera app. View Source Article

EchoStar Corp.’s sale of billions of dollars in wireless spectrum to AT&T Inc. and SpaceX will benefit Charlie Ergen and the companies involved, but may leave consumers facing higher prices and fewer choices for mobile phone service. View Source Article

Apple has offered a few different variations of Center Stage — its photo tracking and enhancement suit — over the years, but with the iPhone 17 line and iPhone Air the company has designed the feature to solve a small (albeit annoying) problem with modern smartphones. Now there's no need to change how you hold the device to shoot portrait- or landscape-oriented selfies. It's vintage Apple: a seemingly simply melding of hardware and software in a way few other companies excel at.The reason it can do this is because Apple has paired a square front-facing camera sensor with its latest machine learning-assisted image recognition software. This allows the iPhone 17 and its siblings to capture high-resolution selfies and videos in any orientation. A GIF demonstrating Center Stage in action. AppleI hope it's also the start of a new trend toward more thoughtful and useful AI features. For years, machine learning algorithms have powered many of the most significant software advancements in our phones and tablets. For instance, Apple's Photonic Engine technology wouldn't be possible without machine learning. If you need a refresher, whenever you go to snap a photo with a modern iPhone, the device will capture a burst of stills before and after you press the shutter and fuse these images to reduce noise and improve sharpness. However, as I wrote following the end of I/O 2025, sometime in the last few years machine learning and AI went from a means to an end to an end in and of themselves. With large language learning models now all the rage, most companies appear to have forgotten these technologies exist to enable new experiences (or reduce friction in existing ones). Apple, perhaps more so than any other company, has had trouble navigating this new era of tech with its usual foresight and vision, with Apple Intelligence among its most disappointing releases in recent memory. Center Stage is an example of the company remembering the best use of AI: A way to solve actual problems.It's too soon to tell if Apple will be able to build on its work with Center Stage to deliver other similarly useful AI features. After all, we're still waiting on the new, more personal Siri to arrive. In the meantime, I look forward to every Android manufacturer copying Apple's camera design. Maybe it will even inspire them to rethink their approach to AI.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/center-stage-is-a-better-vision-of-the-apple-intelligence-era-160428405.html?src=rss View Source Article

Spacetime ripples from a black hole collision across the cosmos have confirmed weird aspects of black hole physics View Source Article

The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ telescope is on sale for $367 on Amazon and is a great budget choice for observing the opposition of Saturn overnight on Sept. 20. View Source Article

As AI tools gobble up news publishers’ traffic on traditional referral platforms like Google, Reddit is offering publishers another way to share their content — within its app.  On September 10th, Reddit announced a slew of new features available to some publishers that are meant to help them better understand where their stories are being shared and to encourage them to post more on the platform. On the user side, the most significant change is a test that allows readers to open article links directly in the Reddit app, with Reddit comments from other users pinned to the bottom. In other words, you can scroll through an article while reading Reddit comments. Reddit spokesperson Courtney Geesey-Dorr told The Verge that the feature respects publisher paywalls, meaning some users may hit subscriber-only content; some publications may opt to share unlocked gift links or soften their paywalls for Reddit users. On the backend, publishers will have specialized analytics tools, which will let them track which subreddits are sharing their stories and performance metrics like upvotes and how many people are clicking on their stories on Reddit. It sounds similar to CrowdTangle, a now-defunct Meta tool that journalists and researchers used to monitor what was going viral on Facebook. Reddit will also allow publishers to sync their RSS feeds and automatically import stories, which they can then share on different subreddits. And because we are living in the age of AI recommendations, there’s also an AI tool that will suggest which subreddits publishers should share their stories with. The suite of tools is part of Reddit Pro, a business platform that the company introduced last year. Publisher-side features have been in early testing with some outlets, with new applications for the beta test opening today. View Source Article

Private equity firm Vector Capital is closing in on deal to buy SingleStore, a database startup backed by the venture arms of Google and Dell Technologies Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

The Rode Wireless Go III wireless microphone is down to $199 via Amazon. This is a record-low price and represents a discount of 30 percent, as it typically costs $285. The deal applies to all 13 colorways. This one made our list of the best mobile microphones. It strikes a good balance between features and value, which is especially true right now. The mic offers great sound, onboard storage, 32-bit float and universal compatibility with iPhones, Android, cameras and PCs. The various colorways are also nice, offering influencers and creators a way to match a channel's theme or branding. It can store up to 40 hours of footage at one time and it connects wirelessly via 2.4 GHz. It also comes with accessories like a charging hub, various connection cables, a windshield and a carry pouch. The microphone doesn't connect via Bluetooth, which could be a dealbreaker for some. The affiliated Rode Central app occasionally runs into hiccups, but nothing that will ruin the overall functionality. This is a great mic at a great price. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/rodes-wireless-go-iii-wireless-microphone-is-cheaper-than-ever-162231812.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA/Jonny Kim Dinnertime fare on the International Space Station takes center stage in this Aug. 15, 2025, photo. One tray features shrimp cocktail on whole grain wheat crackers, while the other holds sushi made with seaweed, Spam, tuna, and rice. Both trays are secured with Velcro strips to keep them stable inside the Unity module’s galley. The shrimp and crackers are held in place by condiments, while the sushi stays put thanks to surface tension from its moisture. Activity aboard the space station will inform long-duration missions like Artemis and future human expeditions to Mars. Image credit: NASA/Jonny Kim View Source Article

The Perseverance rover’s new findings set the stage for bringing Martian samples back to Earth to test whether microbes once inhabited the Red Planet View Source Article

If we slam an impactor into an asteroid in exactly the wrong spot, the space rock may pass through a "gravitational keyhole" that brings it to Earth. View Source Article

Elon Musk can no longer claim the title of the world’s richest man — at least for the time being. The net worth of Oracle CTO and co-founder, Larry Ellison, ballooned by $101 billion on Wednesday morning, bringing his total fortune to $393 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg. Ellison’s wealth now surpasses Musk’s, which sits at $385 billion, Bloomberg reports. Musk first topped the list of the world’s richest people in 2021. Though he ended up losing the title to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault, the CEO of luxury brand LVMH, he slid back into the top spot last year and became the first person with a $400 billion net worth. Ellison’s fortune soared after Oracle’s latest earnings report suggested that its cloud infrastructure business would rake in a whopping $144 billion over the next four years. Meanwhile, Musk may be on track to become the world’s first trillionaire if Tesla shareholders approve his exorbitant new pay package. View Source Article

Following the success of its latest Starship test, SpaceX is readying a bigger version of the rocket that should be fully reusable next year, Elon Musk said. View Source Article

Vimeo is set to get a new owner. Bending Spoons — the parent of Evernote, WeTransfer, Meetup and fellow video streaming platform Brightcove — plans to take the company into private ownership in an all-cash, $1.38 billion deal. Stockholders will receive $7.85 per share, quite a bit more than the $4.82 Vimeo closed at on Tuesday (the price jumped significantly after the announcement, of course).  Vimeo's directors unanimously approved the takeover. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the calendar year, pending shareholder approval, closing conditions and regulatory approval.  Once seen as a competitor to YouTube, Vimeo has shifted focus over the two decades it's been around. It used to be a go-to hosting option for filmmakers, but these days it's more oriented toward business users. Vimeo does not permit content scraping or generative AI models to train on any video it hosts without the uploader's permission, perhaps making it an enticing video-hosting service for enterprise users. More recently, Vimeo started bringing back its TV apps, two years after killing those off in an ill-advised move. Bending Spoons, meanwhile, has a track record of gutting the companies it takes over. It bought Evernote in 2022 and laid off most of the note-taking service's workers the following year. Bending Spoons bought WeTransfer last year and a few weeks later, it announced plans to fire three-quarters of the file-sharing platform's staff.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/evernote-and-wetransfer-owner-bending-spoons-is-set-to-buy-vimeo-for-138-billion-155602681.html?src=rss View Source Article

This animation depicts water disappearing over time in the Martian river valley Neretva Vallis, where NASA’s Perseverance Mars takes the rock sample named “Sapphire Canyon” from a rock called “Cheyava Falls,” which was found in the “Bright Angel” formation. Credit: NASA Lee este comunicado de prensa en español aquí. A sample collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover from an ancient dry riverbed in Jezero Crater could preserve evidence of ancient microbial life. Taken from a rock named “Cheyava Falls” last year, the sample, called “Sapphire Canyon,” contains potential biosignatures, according to a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature. A potential biosignature is a substance or structure that might have a biological origin but requires more data or further study before a conclusion can be reached about the absence or presence of life.   “This finding by Perseverance, launched under President Trump in his first term, is the closest we have ever come to discovering life on Mars. The identification of a potential biosignature on the Red Planet is a groundbreaking discovery, and one that will advance our understanding of Mars,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. “NASA’s commitment to conducting Gold Standard Science will continue as we pursue our goal of putting American boots on Mars’ rocky soil.” NASA’s Perseverance rover discovered leopard spots on a reddish rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” in Mars’ Jezero Crater in July 2024. Scientists think the spots may indicate that, billions of years ago, the chemical reactions in this rock could have supported microbial life; other explanations are being considered.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie, made up of 62 individual images, on July 23, 2024. A rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls,” which has features that may bear on the question of whether the Red Planet was long ago home to microscopic life, is to the left of the rover near the center of the image.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Perseverance came upon Cheyava Falls in July 2024 while exploring the “Bright Angel” formation, a set of rocky outcrops on the northern and southern edges of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley measuring a quarter-mile (400 meters) wide that was carved by water rushing into Jezero Crater long ago. “This finding is the direct result of NASA’s effort to strategically plan, develop, and execute a mission able to deliver exactly this type of science — the identification of a potential biosignature on Mars,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “With the publication of this peer-reviewed result, NASA makes this data available to the wider science community for further study to confirm or refute its biological potential.” The rover’s science instruments found that the formation’s sedimentary rocks are composed of clay and silt, which, on Earth, are excellent preservers of past microbial life. They also are rich in organic carbon, sulfur, oxidized iron (rust), and phosphorous. “The combination of chemical compounds we found in the Bright Angel formation could have been a rich source of energy for microbial metabolisms,” said Perseverance scientist Joel Hurowitz of Stony Brook University, New York and lead author of the paper. “But just because we saw all these compelling chemical signatures in the data didn’t mean we had a potential biosignature. We needed to analyze what that data could mean.” First to collect data on this rock were Perseverance’s PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) and SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instruments. While investigating Cheyava Falls, an arrowhead-shaped rock measuring 3.2 feet by 2 feet (1 meter by 0.6 meters), they found what appeared to be colorful spots. The spots on the rock could have been left behind by microbial life if it had used the raw ingredients, the organic carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus, in the rock as an energy source. In higher-resolution images, the instruments found a distinct pattern of minerals arranged into reaction fronts (points of contact where chemical and physical reactions occur) the team called leopard spots. The spots carried the signature of two iron-rich minerals: vivianite (hydrated iron phosphate) and greigite (iron sulfide). Vivianite is frequently found on Earth in sediments, peat bogs, and around decaying organic matter. Similarly, certain forms of microbial life on Earth can produce greigite. The combination of these minerals, which appear to have formed by electron-transfer reactions between the sediment and organic matter, is a potential fingerprint for microbial life, which would use these reactions to produce energy for growth. The minerals also can be generated abiotically, or without the presence of life. Hence, there are ways to produce them without biological reactions, including sustained high temperatures, acidic conditions, and binding by organic compounds. However, the rocks at Bright Angel do not show evidence that they experienced high temperatures or acidic conditions, and it is unknown whether the organic compounds present would’ve been capable of catalyzing the reaction at low temperatures.   The discovery was particularly surprising because it involves some of the youngest sedimentary rocks the mission has investigated. An earlier hypothesis assumed signs of ancient life would be confined to older rock formations. This finding suggests that Mars could have been habitable for a longer period or later in the planet’s history than previously thought, and that older rocks also might hold signs of life that are simply harder to detect. “Astrobiological claims, particularly those related to the potential discovery of past extraterrestrial life, require extraordinary evidence,” said Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Getting such a significant finding as a potential biosignature on Mars into a peer-reviewed publication is a crucial step in the scientific process because it ensures the rigor, validity, and significance of our results. And while abiotic explanations for what we see at Bright Angel are less likely given the paper’s findings, we cannot rule them out.” The scientific community uses tools and frameworks like the CoLD scale and Standards of Evidence to assess whether data related to the search for life actually answers the question, Are we alone?  Such tools help improve understanding of how much confidence to place in data suggesting a possible signal of life found outside our own planet. Marked by seven benchmarks, the Confidence of Life Detection, or CoLD, scale outlines a progression in confidence that a set of observations stands as evidence of life. Credit: NASA Sapphire Canyon is one of 27 rock cores the rover has collected since landing at Jezero Crater in February 2021. Among the suite of science instruments is a weather station that provides environmental information for future human missions, as well as swatches of spacesuit material so that NASA can study how it fares on Mars. Managed for NASA by Caltech, NASA JPL built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover on behalf of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. To learn more about Perseverance visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance -end- Bethany Stevens / Karen FoxHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov DC AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsPerseverance (Rover)AstrobiologyMarsMars 2020Planetary ScienceScience Mission Directorate View Source Article

The Tesla Optimus V3 will ignite the Humanoid bot revolution and has solved the hands problem. There are three major problems really good hands, really good AI mind that understands the real world and will be able to made at scale in the millions. There are also unmentioned issues of durability and being able to ... Read more View Source Article

Celebrating 10 years since the first detection of gravitational waves coming from colliding black holes, LIGO has confirmed the predictions of the greatest minds in physics. View Source Article

The Charmera is a digital recreation of Kodak’s first disposable film camera. | Image: Kodak Everything from smartphones to handheld consoles now come in a variety of different colors, but what if you didn’t get to pick your favorite? That’s how the new Kodak Charmera is being sold. It’s a tiny digital camera released in seven different retro styles and colors but in blind box packaging so you don’t know which one you’re actually getting. You can roll the dice and buy one for $29.99, or guarantee you’re getting the color you want by buying the whole set for $179.94. Created as part of a collaboration with Reto, the Charmera is a modern recreation of the Kodak Fling disposable film camera first released in 1987. The new version is fully digital, but you won’t want to rely on it as your primary shooter. Weighing 30 grams and measuring just over 2.2 inches in size the Charmera has a paltry 1.6-megapixel sensor with a plastic lens it uses to shoot stills or HD videos which are stored on a microSD card. Image and video quality aren’t going to be stellar – PetaPixel tested it and shared photos they took – but you can mask the Charmera’s limitations using optional photo frame effects and filters, including red, yellow, blue, and gray filters that appear to mask oversharpened details entirely. View Source Article

Italian rocket maker Avio SpA may consider a capital increase of as much as €300 million ($351 million) to strengthen its satellite-launch business, people familiar with the matter said. View Source Article

Apple Music is running a promo in which new subscribers can get three free months of the Family Plan tier. That's a savings of $51, which is nothing to sneeze at. After this lengthy free trial is up, it costs $17 per month. The Family Plan allows six different users to access the platform. It offers cross-device support and each user is tied to an Apple ID, so their favorite music won't mess with anyone else's algorithm. Apple Music actually topped our list of the best music streaming platforms, and for good reason. It sounds great and it's easy to use. What else is there? All music is available in CD quality or higher and there are plenty of personalized playlists and the like. The platform also operates a number of live radio stations, which is fun. The service is available for Android devices, but it really shines on Apple products. To that end, the web and Windows PC apps aren’t as polished as the iOS version. It doesn't pay artists properly, but that's true of every music streaming platform. Apple Music does pay out more than Spotify, but that's an incredibly low bar. Offer for new subscribers redeeming on eligible devices. Auto-renews at $16.99/mo until cancelled. Requires Family Sharing. Terms apply.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/new-subscribers-can-get-three-free-months-of-the-apple-music-family-plan-151240882.html?src=rss View Source Article

Flight Engineer Joe Acaba works in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module on the International Space Station, setting up hardware for the Zero Boil-Off Tank (ZBOT) experiment. Joe Acaba Space missions rely on cryogenic fluids — extremely cold liquids like liquid hydrogen and oxygen — for both propulsion and life support systems. These fuels must be kept at ultra-low cryogenic temperatures to remain in liquid form; however, solar heating and other sources of heat increase the rate of evaporation of the liquid and cause the pressure in the storage tank to increase. Current storage methods require venting the cryogenic propellant to space to control the pressure in fuel tanks. NASA’s Zero Boil-Off Tank Noncondensables (ZBOT-NC) experiment is the continuation of Zero Boil-Off studies gathering crucial data to optimize fuel storage systems for space missions. The experiment will launch aboard Northrop Grumman’s 23rd resupply mission to the International Space Station. When Cold Fuel Gets Too Warm Even with multilayer insulation, heat unavoidably seeps into cryogenic fuel tanks from surrounding structures and the space environment, causing an increase in the liquid temperature and an associated increase in the evaporation rate. In turn, the pressure inside the tank increases. This process is called “boil-off” and the increase in tank pressure is referred to as “self-pressurization.” Venting excess gas to the environment or space when this process occurs is highly undesirable and becomes mission-critical on extended journeys. If crew members used current fuel storage methods for a years-long Mars expedition, all propellant might be lost to boil-off before the trip ends. NASA’s ZBOT experiments are investigating active pressure control methods to eliminate wasteful fuel venting. Specifically, active control through the use of jet mixing and other techniques are being evaluated and tested in the ZBOT series of experiments. The Pressure Control Problem ZBOT-NC further studies how noncondensable gases (NCGs) affect fuel tank behavior when present in spacecraft systems. NCGs don’t turn into liquid under the tank’s operating conditions and can affect tank pressure. The investigation, which is led out of Glenn Research Center, will operate inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox aboard the space station to gather data on how NCGs affect volatile liquid behavior in microgravity. It’s part of an effort to advance cryogenic fluid management technologies and help NASA better understand low-gravity fluid behavior. Researchers will measure pressure and temperature as they study how these gases change evaporation and condensation rates. Previous studies indicate the gases create barriers that could reduce a tank’s ability to maintain proper pressure control — a potentially serious issue for extended space missions. How this benefits space exploration The research directly supports Mars missions and other long-duration space travel by helping engineers design more efficient fuel storage systems and future space depots. The findings may also benefit scientific instruments on space telescopes and probes that rely on cryogenic fluids to maintain the extremely low temperatures needed for operation. How this benefits humanity The investigation could improve tank design models for medical, industrial, and energy production applications that depend on long-term cryogenic storage on Earth. Latest Content Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet. Zero Boil-Off Tank Noncondensables (ZBOT-NC) 2 min read Principal Investigator(s): Overview: Zero Boil-Off Tank Noncondensables (ZBOT-NC) investigates how noncondensable gases interfere with fuel storage systems in microgravity. The… Topic What Are Quasicrystals, and Why Does NASA Study Them? 3 min read For 40 years, finding new quasicrystals has been like searching for four-leaf clovers in a field. You’re lucky if you… Topic Growing Beyond Earth® 2 min read Learn More Growing Beyond Earth student teams have helped select 5 of the 20 species that have been tested as… Topic 1 2 3 Next Biological & Physical Sciences Division NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomenon under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth. View Source Article

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has found yet more chemical signatures that could be associated with ancient Red Planet life — but we need to examine them here on Earth to fully understand them. View Source Article

Surface spots and nodules on rocks in ancient river valley are described in new study as ‘potential biosignatures’Unusual features found in rocks on Mars may be the handiwork of ancient microbial life that eked out an existence on the red planet billions of years ago.The rocks were spotted by Nasa’s Perseverance rover as it trundled along Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley that was carved into the landscape by water flowing into the Jezero crater in the planet’s distant past. Continue reading... View Source Article

Vimeo is getting bought up by Bending Spoons, a European software company that has amassed a growing portfolio of businesses, including Evernote, WeTransfer, and Meetup. Bending Spoons will pay $1.38 billion to acquire the video hosting platform, and it expects to close the deal later this year. Vimeo launched in 2004 as a spinoff of CollegeHumor and has long struggled to keep up with its biggest rival: YouTube. In recent years, Vimeo has hiked video hosting fees and shifted toward catering to enterprise businesses as well as creators who want to monetize their content. Philip Moyer joined Vimeo as CEO last year as the company began dipping into AI tools. Just last week, Moyer announced that the platform is laying off around 10 percent of the company’s workforce. Bending Spoon’s deal to acquire Vimeo will take the video hosting platform private. Over the years, Bending Spoons hasn’t garnered the best reputation, as it has issued layoffs across many of the companies it acquired and introduced new limitations on Evernote’s free plan, while also raising the price of TapeACall’s subscription.  “At Bending Spoons, we acquire companies with the expectation of owning and operating them indefinitely, and we look forward to realizing Vimeo’s full potential as we reach new heights together,” Luca Ferrari, the CEO and co-founder of Bending Spoons, said in the press release. View Source Article

Lyft Inc. is piloting autonomous rides in Atlanta with a safety driver on board, a long-planned launch meant to help it better compete against Waymo and Uber Technologies Inc. View Source Article

4 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) What Would It Take to Say We Found Life? We call this the podium test. What would it take for you personally to confidently stand up in front of an international audience and make that claim? When you put it in that way, I think for a lot of scientists, the bar is really high. So of course, there would be obvious things, you know, a very clear signature of technology or a skeleton or something like that. But we think that a lot of the evidence that we might encounter first will be much more subtle. For example, chemical signs of life that have to be detected above a background of abiotic chemistry. And really, what we see might depend a lot on where we look. On Mars, for example, the long history of exploration there gives us a lot of context for what we might find. But we’re potentially talking about samples that are billions of years old in those cases, and on Earth, those kinds of samples, the evidence of life is often degraded and difficult to detect. On the ocean worlds of our outer solar system, so places like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, there’s the tantalizing possibility of extant life, meaning life that’s still alive. But potentially we’re talking about exceedingly small amounts of samples that would have to be analyzed with a relatively limited amount of instrumentation that can be carried from Earth billions of miles away. And then for exoplanets, these are planets beyond our own solar system. Really, what we’re looking for there are very large magnitude signs of life that can be detectable through a telescope from many light-years away. So changes like the oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere or changes in surface color. So any one of those things, if they rose to the suspicion of being evidence of life, would be really heavily scrutinized in a very sort of specific and custom way to that particular observation. But I think there are also some general principles that we can follow. And the first is just: Are we sure we’re seeing what we think we’re seeing? Many of these environments are not very well known to us, and so we need to convince ourselves that we’re actually seeing a clear signal that represents what we think it represents. Carl Sagan once said, “Life is the hypothesis of last resort,” meaning that we ought to work hard for such a claim to rule out alternative possibilities. So what are those possibilities? One is contamination. The spacecraft and the instruments that we use to look for evidence of life are built in an environment, Earth, that is full of life. And so we need to convince ourselves that what we’re seeing is not evidence of our own life, but evidence of indigenous life. If that’s the case, we should ask, should life of the type we’re seeing live there? And finally, we need to ask, is there any other way than life to make that thing, any of the possible abiotic processes that we know and even the ones that we don’t know? And as you can imagine, that will be quite a challenge. Once we have a piece of evidence in hand that we really do think represents evidence of life, now we can begin to develop hypotheses. For example, do we have separate independent lines of evidence that corroborate what we’ve seen and increase our confidence of life? Ultimately, all of this has to be looked at hard by the entire scientific community, and in that sense, I think the really operative word in our question is we. What does it take to say we found evidence of life? Because really, the answer, I think, depends on the full scientific community scrutinizing and skepticizing this observation to finally say that we scientists, we as a community and we as humanity found life. [END VIDEO TRANSCRIPT] Full Episode List Full YouTube Playlist Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 Related TermsAstrobiologyMarsPerseverance (Rover)Science & ResearchScience Mission Directorate Explore More 6 min read NASA’s Webb Observes Immense Stellar Jet on Outskirts of Our Milky Way A blowtorch of seething gasses erupting from a volcanically growing monster star has been captured… Article 49 minutes ago 7 min read Life After Microgravity: Astronauts Reflect on Post-Flight Recovery  Article 1 day ago 6 min read NASA Webb Looks at Earth-Sized, Habitable-Zone Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e Scientists are in the midst of observing the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e with NASA’s James Webb… Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

SpaceX launched 21 satellites to orbit from California today (Sept. 10), beginning the buildout of an advanced new constellation for the U.S. military. View Source Article

When you have children of different ages, finding stuff to watch together can be a big challenge. Both of my kids - aged 10 and 12 - have a budding interest in horror, and there's not a lot of scary stuff that's appropriate for all of us. That's why I was pleasantly surprised while watching Dust Bunny on day 6 of the Toront oInternational Film Festival (TIFF). It's the feature film debut from Bryan Fuller, a TV veteran best-known for Hannibal and Pushing Daisies. And even though Dust Bunny is technically rated R, the violence is pretty restrained, and much of the darkest stuff is implied rather than shown explicitly. I actually had a chance … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Bain Capital agreed to sell its data centers in China to Shenzhen Dongyangguang Industry Co. in a transaction valued at about $4 billion. View Source Article

Hold on to your Cappy, a Nintendo Direct is coming your way later this week. Nintendo has scheduled an hour-long presentation for September 12 at 9AM ET. You don't often see Nintendo running Direct streams on Fridays, but hey, we'll take it. There may be a Mario-shaped reason for this timing, too. You can watch the showcase above, on YouTube or in the Nintendo Today! app. The Direct will include information on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 games. In terms of safe bets, we'll likely get some more details on Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Kirby Air Riders, both of which have 2025 release dates. Those may very well bolster Switch 2 demand ahead of the holidays (as if Nintendo needed the help). It would be a surprise if Nintendo didn't announce a release date — or delay — for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond during this Direct as well, since that game is still slated to arrive this year. Otherwise, it's a bit of a mystery as to what to expect. There's always a chance that Nintendo might start teasing the next big Zelda game, even if it's some time away. After all, the company announced The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom four years before it arrived. Plus, this Saturday is the 40th anniversary of the Japanese release of Super Mario Bros. so there surely has to be some kind of Mario-related announcement in store. Elsewhere, perhaps we'll get some more info on FromSoftware's Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods. In any case, Nintendo has to start building out the Switch 2 slate for 2026, and we'll probably get a mix of first- and third-party news here. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/an-hour-long-nintendo-direct-is-set-for-september-12-135935134.html?src=rss View Source Article

Explore Webb Science James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NASA’s Webb Observes Immense… Webb News Latest News Latest Images Webb’s Blog Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Webb Timeline Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Science Explainers Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Webb’s First Images Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning   6 Min Read NASA’s Webb Observes Immense Stellar Jet on Outskirts of Our Milky Way Webb’s image of the enormous stellar jet in Sh2-284 provides evidence that protostellar jets scale with the mass of their parent stars—the more massive the stellar engine driving the plasma, the larger the resulting jet. Full image shown below. Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Yu Cheng (NAOJ); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) A blowtorch of seething gasses erupting from a volcanically growing monster star has been captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Stretching across 8 light-years, the length of the stellar eruption is approximately twice the distance between our Sun and the next nearest stars, the Alpha Centauri system. The size and strength of this particular stellar jet, located in a nebula known as Sharpless 2-284 (Sh2-284 for short), qualifies it as rare, say researchers. Streaking across space at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour, the outflow resembles a double-bladed dueling lightsaber from the Star Wars films. The central protostar, weighing as much as ten of our Suns, is located 15,000 light-years away in the outer reaches of our galaxy. The Webb discovery was serendipitous. “We didn’t really know there was a massive star with this kind of super-jet out there before the observation. Such a spectacular outflow of molecular hydrogen from a massive star is rare in other regions of our galaxy,” said lead author Yu Cheng of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Image A: Stellar Jet in Sh2-284 (NIRCam Image) Webb’s image of the enormous stellar jet in Sh2-284 provides evidence that protostellar jets scale with the mass of their parent stars—the more massive the stellar engine driving the plasma, the larger the resulting jet. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Yu Cheng (NAOJ); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) This unique class of stellar fireworks are highly collimated jets of plasma shooting out from newly forming stars. Such jetted outflows are a star’s spectacular “birth announcement” to the universe. Some of the infalling gas building up around the central star is blasted along the star’s spin axis, likely under the influence of magnetic fields. Today, while hundreds of protostellar jets have been observed, these are mainly from low-mass stars. These spindle-like jets offer clues into the nature of newly forming stars. The energetics, narrowness, and evolutionary time scales of protostellar jets all serve to constrain models of the environment and physical properties of the young star powering the outflow. “I was really surprised at the order, symmetry, and size of the jet when we first looked at it,” said co-author Jonathan Tan of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Its detection offers evidence that protostellar jets must scale up with the mass of the star powering them. The more massive the stellar engine propelling the plasma, the larger the gusher’s size. The jet’s detailed filamentary structure, captured by Webb’s crisp resolution in infrared light, is evidence the jet is plowing into interstellar dust and gas. This creates separate knots, bow shocks, and linear chains. The tips of the jet, lying in opposite directions, encapsulate the history of the star’s formation. “Originally the material was close into the star, but over 100,000 years the tips were propagating out, and then the stuff behind is a younger outflow,” said Tan. Outlier At nearly twice the distance from the galactic center as our Sun, the host proto-cluster that’s home to the voracious jet is on the periphery of our Milky Way galaxy. Within the cluster, a few hundred stars are still forming. Being in the galactic hinterlands means the stars are deficient in heavier elements beyond hydrogen and helium. This is measured as metallicity, which gradually increases over cosmic time as each passing stellar generation expels end products of nuclear fusion through winds and supernovae. The low metallicity of Sh2-284 is a reflection of its relatively pristine nature, making it a local analog for the environments in the early universe that were also deficient in heavier elements. “Massive stars, like the one found inside this cluster, have very important influences on the evolution of galaxies. Our discovery is shedding light on the formation mechanism of massive stars in low metallicity environments, so we can use this massive star as a laboratory to study what was going on in earlier cosmic history,” said Cheng. Unrolling Stellar Tapestry Stellar jets, which are powered by the gravitational energy released as a star grows in mass, encode the formation history of the protostar. “Webb’s new images are telling us that the formation of massive stars in such environments could proceed via a relatively stable disk around the star that is expected in theoretical models of star formation known as core accretion,” said Tan. “Once we found a massive star launching these jets, we realized we could use the Webb observations to test theories of massive star formation. We developed new theoretical core accretion models that were fit to the data, to basically tell us what kind of star is in the center. These models imply that the star is about 10 times the mass of the Sun and is still growing and has been powering this outflow.” For more than 30 years, astronomers have disagreed about how massive stars form. Some think a massive star requires a very chaotic process, called competitive accretion. In the competitive accretion model, material falls in from many different directions so that the orientation of the disk changes over time. The outflow is launched perpendicularly, above and below the disk, and so would also appear to twist and turn in different directions. “However, what we’ve seen here, because we’ve got the whole history – a tapestry of the story – is that the opposite sides of the jets are nearly 180 degrees apart from each other. That tells us that this central disk is held steady and validates a prediction of the core accretion theory,” said Tan. Where there’s one massive star, there could be others in this outer frontier of the Milky Way. Other massive stars may not yet have reached the point of firing off Roman-candle-style outflows. Data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile, also presented in this study, has found another dense stellar core that could be in an earlier stage of construction. The paper has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). To learn more about Webb, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/webb Related Information View more: Webb images of other protostar outflows – HH 49/50, L483, HH 46/47, and HH 211 View more: Data visualization of protostar outflows – HH 49/50 Animation Video – “Exploring Star and Planet Formation” Explore the jets emitted by young stars in multiple wavelengths: ViewSpace Interactive Read more about Herbig-Haro objects More Webb News More Webb Images Webb Science Themes Webb Mission Page Related For Kids What is the Webb Telescope? SpacePlace for Kids En Español Ciencia de la NASA NASA en español  Space Place para niños Related Images & Videos Stellar Jet in Sh2-284 (NIRCam Image) Webb’s image of the enormous stellar jet in Sh2-284 provides evidence that protostellar jets scale with the mass of their parent stars–the more massive the stellar engine driving the plasma, the larger the resulting jet. Stellar Jet in Sh2-284 (NIRCam Compass Image) This image of the stellar jet in Sh2-284, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. Immense Stellar Jet in Sh2-284 This video shows the relative size of two different protostellar jets imaged by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The first image shown is an extremely large protostellar jet located in Sh2-284, 15,000 light-years away from Earth. The outflows from the massive central prot… Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Laura Betz NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland Christine Pulliam Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland Related Terms James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center Science & Research Stars The Universe Related Links and Documents The journal paper by Y. Cheng et al. Keep Exploring Related Topics James Webb Space Telescope Space Telescope Stars Stars Stories Universe View Source Article

Sofia, Bulgaria, 10th September 2025, CyberNewsWire View Source Article

The AirPods Pro 3 offers a heart rate sensor so you can keep tabs of calories burned, activities, and heart rate while working out. The iPhone Air may have been the star of the show, but Apple also announced a new pair of AirPods at its "Awe dropping" event on September 9th. The AirPods Pro 3 arrive three years after the second-generation model, which received a minor update in 2023 with a USB-C charging case and dust resistance, and will hit stores on September 19th (though you can preorder them now). With their debut, the official AirPods lineup now looks a little different: the fourth-gen AirPods and their ANC counterpart remain the entry-level models, but now the AirPods Pro 3 are Apple's most premium earbuds. The AirPods Max, meanwhile, continues to be the company' … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Amazon.com Inc.’s autonomous driving unit Zoox has started offering rides to the public in Las Vegas, marking a first in the US for a purpose-built robotaxi with no driver controls. View Source Article

If you had told me five years ago that playing PC games over the cloud would soon look  indistinguishable from using a powerful rig, I would have called you a fool. But after diving into NVIDIA's new RTX 5080-powered GeForce Now servers for several hours, I think we've reached a major milestone for cloud streaming. From a New Jersey server almost a thousand miles away from my Atlanta-area home, I was able to play Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K at 170 fps (with NVIDIA's DLSS 4 frame generation) and Overwatch 2 at a blistering fast 360 fps in 1080p. I genuinely couldn't tell the difference between this souped-up GeForce Now server and my own RTX 5090-powered desktop.That got me thinking: What's the point of investing thousands in a desktop when cloud streaming can look this good for $20 a month? That's the price for GeForce Now's top-end Ultimate plan, which is required to use the RTX 5080 servers. And if you don't need that level of power, you can also get a pretty solid gaming experience with the $10 Performance plan, which is restricted to 1,440p/60 fps at best.Cyberpunk 2077 on GeForce NowDevindra Hardawar for EngadgetDuring my testing, I was constantly astounded by how sharp every game looked. The neon lights and reflective surfaces of Cyberpunk's Night City lit up my Alienware OLED monitor. A few minutes into my first session, I completely forgot I was streaming the game. There were none of the video compression artifacts or occasional stuttering I've seen on other streaming services. Hell, I was even able to rip through several Overwatch 2 matches without noticing much lag. I only noticed a bit of latency when I turned on multi-frame generation while playing Cyberpunk in 4K — that pushed my frame rate up to 160 fps from 70 fps, but those interpolated frames made everything feel more sluggish.We've clearly come a long way from Microsoft and Sony's foray into game streaming for consoles. I've used Xbox offering on and off over the years, and while it's typically been easy to use, it always felt a bit low-res (it tops out at 1080p/60 fps) and filled with blotchy video compression. Even today, it's obvious you're getting a second-rate experience. Sony's streaming for PS Plus Premium subscribers can now reach up to an admirable 4K/60 fps for some PS5 titles, and it also turned the PlayStation Portal into a more viable handheld. But Sony's cloud gaming seems more useful for letting you play older PS3 games, instead of giving you a complete gaming experience untethered from its core console business.Overwatch 2 on GeForce NowDevindra Hardawar for EngadgetGeForce Now has always had a technological advantage over the competition, as it's easy for NVIDIA to stuff servers full of high-end GPUs. But it's lagged behind a bit when it comes to usability, since playing games involves connecting to your accounts on storefronts like Steam, followed by downloading and installing those titles in a remote connection window. It's not as easy as hitting a button on the Xbox Windows app. GeForce Now is clearly aimed at PC gamers who already have large collections of games and are used to suffering through the indignities of Steam's interface.For those players, NVIDIA's latest upgrades have turned GeForce Now from a "nice to have" service to something that could be essential. There's the raw power inherent in the leap to RTX 5080-level GPUs, which leads to higher frame rates and the ability to lean into demanding features like ray tracing. The actual "Blackwell" GPU hardware NVIDIA is using in its servers also sports a whopping 48GB of VRAM, a major leap from the 16GB of VRAM the consumer-grade RTX 5080 cards are stuck with. Technically, you could see better performance in GeForce Now compared to running a 5080 locally.NVIDIA has also bumped its resolution and frame rate limits up to 5K/120 fps (which is currently only supported by one LG monitor), 4K/240 fps and 1080p/320 fps. That covers the gamut of people who want the highest quality possible, to those who demand the most frames for fast-paced shooters. And in an effort to make cloud gaming look a bit less like you're just streaming video, NVIDIA has also developed "Cinematic Quality Streaming" features, including support for better color depth with 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. There are also "AI-powered" video filters to help make text clear, as well as support for AV1 encoders for efficient streaming that can adapt to network changes.If you’re stuck with an aging video card, it may make more sense to subscribe to GeForce Now Ultimate for $20 a month, instead of shelling out $1,200 or more for a genuine RTX 5080. As usual for cloud streaming, though, the Achilles heel of GeForce Now is its exorbitant bandwidth demands. NVIDIA bumped up its maximum video bitrate to 100Mbps, which can add up to 45GB of bandwidth over an hour. You'll need a beefy internet connection to stream games without slowing down the internet for everyone else in your home, and you can just give up on the idea entirely if you're restricted by bandwidth caps. If you've been thinking of an excuse to upgrade to an uncapped gigabit internet connection, this is it.Streaming Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K consumed 29.5GB over an hour of gameplay. GeForce Now hovered between 60Mbps and 80Mbps for most of the session, but it occasionally peaked to 100Mbps. I've got a reliable AT&T fiber connection in the suburbs, but I'd definitely be worried if I was still using a finicky cable internet in Brooklyn, where the overall bandwidth is shared with everyone on your cable node. A single GeForce Now session could take down internet speeds for your entire block, or you could find yourself without enough bandwidth to play smoothly during peak usage.It’s also worth noting that GeForce Now also doesn’t support every PC game out there. You can access more than 4,000 recent titles, but you may run into issues trying to find obscure older games. NVIDIA is expanding its streaming library a bit with a new “Install to Play” feature, which lets you install some games in persistent cloud storage. I was able to set up and play 1000xResist without any trouble, and I’m hoping more indie titles will be added eventually.The need for killer bandwidth and the reality of shoddy internet infrastructure are the biggest issues holding cloud gaming back from truly replacing local play. If my normally stable internet goes down, that means no gaming at all. And the same is true if NVIDIA’s servers get slammed. For most people, picking up a console or gaming PC will simply be more reliable.Even with those caveats, GeForce Now still makes a compelling case for gaming away from your main rig. Perhaps you’re itching to put a dent in your Steam library while on vacation, or you just want to keep playing Mafia: The Old Country on your couch. It’s all possible, as long as your internet holds up. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidias-geforce-now-with-rtx-5080-gpus-is-a-cloud-gaming-revelation-130000231.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Celestron TrailSeeker 8x42mm binoculars come highly recommended by our experts, and with a saving of over $130, now is the time to spot star clusters and planets for less. View Source Article

For 16 years, a team of linguists carefully crafted and honed the grammar editing software Grammarly to match natural English language patterns. Now, the company is getting a big assist from AI to expand similar offerings to five more languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, and Italian. This expansion caters to what has been the “number one feature request” since the company’s founding, according to Grammarly’s VP of enterprise product, Luke Behnke.  In addition to catching spelling mistakes, the app reworks sentences and paragraphs to match the tone of native speech and improve the overall clarity — now in six languages. Grammarly also translates the six core languages into 19 different languages “without having to leave the tool and go to another translation provider,” Behnke says.  The competition for AI-based software for languages other than English is heating up, with Google Search’s AI Mode just broadening the number of languages by five and Apple’s latest AirPods debuting a live language translation feature.  Grammarly indicated a broader ambition to become an AI productivity app, starting with the acquisition of the buzzy email application Superhuman in July, followed by the launch of nine AI agents designed for students and educators. The company says that its software has been built on machine learning from the get-go. “We call it an agent. … I know that’s maybe an overused AI word at this point, but it is kind of the first agent that people ever used,” Behnke says of Grammarly’s proofreading product. Large language models entered the picture in 2023. The software is built on open-source large language models that are fine-tuned by analytical linguists.  The number of new linguist teams did not “linearly scale” with the increased number of languages offered by Grammarly, Behnke said. The company used “a smaller group of people” in addition to internal feedback and evaluations of the new languages, Behnke says. Suggestions and paragraph rewrites emerge from these in-house models “hosted on our infrastructure with our own security controls and very tight training rules,” Behnke says. In the beta rollout to “about a million” users, native speakers of the five new languages accepted Grammarly’s suggestions at rates similar to English speakers. The rollout took some users by surprise when the familiar red lines suddenly appeared under text written in their native language, Behnke says. Grammarly also uses third-party LLMs for advanced features. Users can choose to incorporate an external LLM from major companies such as OpenAI, Behnke says. While third-party LLMs cannot train on Grammarly user data, Grammarly does train its own models on user data. Enterprise and education customers automatically have training turned off, while other users have to opt out of training.  While the company has not disclosed which languages are in the pipeline, Behnke says that Grammarly customers specializing in customer support services have requested more languages in the global areas where offshore call centers are located.  View Source Article

Bending Spoons, one of Europe’s largest mobile app developers, has agreed to buy the video platform Vimeo in an all-cash deal valued at about $1.38 billion. View Source Article

Stop me if you've heard this one before: over a half-decade of rumors, infrequent teases and affirmations that something is on the way, only for fans to impatiently bide their time and the thing to eventually arrive with very little advance warning. No, I'm not talking about Hollow Knight: Silksong this time. Spotify is finally rolling out a lossless option that offers higher-quality music streaming. Best of all, the company is offering it to Premium members at no extra charge. You'll get a notification once it's enabled on your account. Starting today, Spotify is rolling out lossless audio in the US, UK, Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal and its home territory of Sweden. In all, Spotify Premium users in more than 50 markets will gain access to lossless audio by the end of October. The option is available on mobile, desktop and tablets, along with many Spotify Connect-compatible devices, including Sony, Bose, Samsung, and Sennheiser products. Spotify Lossless will make its way to Sonos and Amazon devices, as well as others, next month. We’re rolling out our best sound quality, Lossless, to Premium users.Find out more: https://t.co/mG78GMA8R6 pic.twitter.com/P2VzcAsc71— Spotify (@Spotify) September 10, 2025 Somewhat annoyingly, you'll have to enable Spotify Lossless manually, and you'll need to do that on each device on which you want to use it. To switch it on in the Spotify app, tap your profile icon in the top left, then go to Settings & Privacy > Media Quality. From there, you can choose to turn on lossless audio for Wi-Fi and cellular streaming, as well as your downloads. When it's on, you'll see a lossless indicator in the Now Playing view and the Connect Picker. Lossless streaming uses more data than other quality options, which is why Spotify is offering several settings for Wi-Fi, cellular and downloads so you (hopefully) don't bust through any data caps you might have. You'll be able to see how much data the various options — low, normal, high, very high and lossless quality — will use to help you figure out which way to go. Spotify Lossless offers up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC streaming. The company says the option means you'll be able to stream in "greater detail across nearly every song available on Spotify."  Of note, the company says that you'll get the best lossless experience when you stream music on Wi-Fi using wired headphones or speakers on non-Bluetooth connections, because Bluetooth doesn't yet have enough bandwidth to support lossless audio. As such, if you try streaming lossless music with a Bluetooth connection, the audio signal will still be compressed before it reaches your ears. It might take slightly longer for each lossless audio track to start playing too, as your device might need to cache it to avoid mid-song stutters. "The wait is finally over; we’re so excited lossless sound is rolling out to Premium subscribers," said Gustav Gyllenhammar, Spotify's vice-president of subscriptions, said. "We’ve taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step, so you always know what’s happening under the hood. With Lossless, our premium users will now have an even better listening experience." Gyllenhammar isn't kidding about Spotify taking its time to offer lossless listening. It was reported all the way back in 2017 that the company was "close" to delivering lossless audio. In 2021, Spotify said it would start offering a CD-quality option that year, but that didn't happen and the company has largely kept mum about a higher-quality streaming option since (it said in 2022 a Spotify HiFi experience was still in the pipeline, but declined to commit to a release window). Earlier this year, it was suggested that Spotify would finally offer a lossless option in 2025 and that it would be a $6 per month add-on. Thankfully, that's not quite the case, as Lossless is included with a $12 Premium subscription that will definitely not get more expensive at some point in the future. Nope, no way. In any case, including it with Premium puts Spotify on par with the likes of Apple Music, which has offered lossless streaming to paid subscribers at no extra cost since 2021. Now then, Spotify, about Dolby Atmos...This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotify-lossless-streaming-is-finally-here-and-its-included-with-a-premium-plan-131009528.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie on September 10, 2021, the 198th Martian day, or sol of its mission.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will host a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, to discuss the analysis of a rock sampled by the agency’s Perseverance Mars rover last year, which is the subject of a forthcoming science paper. The agency previously announced this event as a teleconference.  Watch the news conference on NASA’s YouTube channel and the agency’s website. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. Participants include: Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington Lindsay Hays, senior scientist for Mars Exploration, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance project scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California Joel Hurowitz, planetary scientist, Stony Brook University, New York To ask questions by phone, members of the media must RSVP no later than one hour before the start of the event to: rexana.v.vizza@jpl.nasa.gov. Media who registered for the earlier teleconference-only version of this event do not need to re-register. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. The sample, called “Sapphire Canyon,” was collected in July 2024 from a set of rocky outcrops on the edges of Neretva Vallis, a river valley carved by water rushing into Jezero Crater long ago. Since landing in the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater in February 2021, Perseverance has collected 30 samples. The rover still has six empty sample tubes to fill, and it continues to collect detailed information about geologic targets that it hasn’t sampled by using its abrasion tool. Among the rover’s science instruments is a weather station that provides environmental information for future human missions, as well as swatches of spacesuit material so that NASA can study how it fares on Mars. Managed for NASA by Caltech, JPL built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover on behalf of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. To learn more about Perseverance visit: https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance -end- Bethany Stevens / Karen FoxHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov DC AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsPerseverance (Rover)Mars 2020Planetary Science DivisionScience Mission Directorate View Source Article

Scientists will not find a simple answer to how autism arises, despite Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s promise to announce its causes sometime this month. Here’s what makes the condition so staggeringly complex View Source Article

A total lunar eclipse on March 2-4, 2026, will be visible in North America and will be the last total lunar eclipse anywhere on Earth until New Year's Eve 2028-2029. View Source Article

Today, Nvidia is soft-launching its latest gaming GPUs in the cloud - upgrading its $20-a-month GeForce Now Ultimate cloud gaming service with RTX 5080 graphics for select games, with more to come down the road. At the same time, it's also adding thousands more titles to the bring-your-own-games service by letting you install them yourself, while also unlocking a 360Hz mode for ultra-fast desktop monitors, launching a 90Hz version of its Steam Deck app, and more. Do all these changes make GeForce Now fundamentally better? Absolutely, and it was already pretty good! But while playing I couldn't escape the thought: it's a good thing Nvidia is … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Nebius Group NV plans to raise $3 billion in convertible notes and equity to help it expand, two days after announcing a deal to provide artificial intelligence infrastructure to Microsoft Corp. that could be worth as much as $19.4 billion. View Source Article

Reddit users can no longer see how many people are subscribed to their favorite subreddit communities. The platform has announced that it’s removing the member count metric that appears on subreddit pages — located under the page bio on the right for desktop users, or at the top under the subreddit name on mobile — to better focus on real-time engagement. The member count is being replaced by two metrics. One shows how many users have visited a subreddit in the past seven days, “based on a rolling 28-day average,” according to Reddit, and the other displays how many contributions have been made in the past seven days, excluding any posts or comments that have been removed. The change aims to provide a better glimpse at how active a subreddit actually is, as Redditors may simply be “lurking” in these communities without adding content or engaging in conversations. “Member counts don’t tell the whole story. In most cases, Redditors don’t need to be a member of a community to post or comment, which means member totals have never fully reflected true engagement,” Reddit said in its announcement. “By emphasizing active participation over passive membership, we’re continuing to highlight what makes Reddit unique: real people engaging in real conversations.” This update is part of Reddit’s goal to improve moderation on the platform, because allowing individuals to moderate an unlimited number of large communities isn’t “sustainable,” according to Reddit. The new visitor counts will be used to limit how many busy subreddits each moderator can oversee, restricting them to a maximum of five communities with over 100k visitors. Reddit says that communities with fewer than 100k visitors “won’t count toward this limit,” and that the change will only impact 0.1 percent of active mods. Moderators can still view the total number of subscribers by looking at the subreddit insights, but this isn’t something that regular Reddit users will be able to see. The changes haven’t gone down well, judging by the comments on Reddit’s post on r/modnews, but the new metrics do seem useful for users who want a more accurate look at how active a subreddit actually is. View Source Article

Apple held its biggest product launch event of the year on Tuesday, ushering in four new iPhone models, an end-to-end refresh of its smartwatch lineup and updated AirPods. Here are my takeaways. View Source Article

A popular League of Legends esports player, Bwipo, has been suspended by his organization after he said on a Twitch stream that women shouldn't be playing competitively while menstruating. Bwipo, whose real name is Gabriël Rau, told viewers on a Twitch stream: "I think there's just not enough support for female pro players... women's anatomy and their monthly cycles are just extremely different from males, and there's no proper support system for women to go through what they're going through." And before he mentioned women's anatomies, some viewers were probably thinking that he was going to talk about how there should be more support for women in esports. But then he continued:  "...even men just tilt out of their f—ing minds when they're playing League of Legends. So, when a woman is on the wrong part of the month and playing competitively, there is a time of the month where you should not be f—ing playing competitive games as a woman, in my opinion." He justified his statement by saying that it's based on his experience "living with one for a while." He claimed the woman he lived with played League of Legends made it "really obvious when she was just getting irritated at every stupid little thing." Bwipo added: "This is not me trying to be sexist or anything." His video circulated on Reddit, but it's no longer available.  In a response to his statement posted on TikTok, the host and co-creator of League Awards, Eefje "sjokz" Depoorter, criticized and opposed his views. "I thought we're past that," she said about Bwipo calling a woman's period the "wrong" time of the month. "That's such a crazy take," sjokz continued, talking about how women make Olympic records, climb mountains, work 24-hour shifts, are providers for their children, and care for the elderly, all while bleeding buckets and experiencing pain. "Also the notion that men aren't emotional in games of League..." she trailed off and made a sound.  Bwipo's organization, FlyQuest, then posted an announcement on X, acknowledging that he "made sexist comments" and that they were "antithetical" to its core values. " that might discourage even one young woman from pursuing her dream of becoming a pro player harm the future of esports, and we take that very seriously," it wrote. FlyQuest has decided to suspend "Bwipo from play for the next series in the LTA playoffs," which he's currently in. The organization is also donating his prize money from the event to causes that support women in gaming. To note, FlyQuest has an esports team called Red that showcases "women and gender expansive folks in gaming."  After FlyQuest's announcement, Bwipo posted an apology on X, admitting wrongdoing. "I’m sorry to those I hurt," he wrote. "I regret using my platform to fuel vitriol and sexism instead of support." Hi everyone, I know I fucked up. My comments were ignorant and disrespectful to women, including those close to me. I’m sorry to those I hurt. I regret using my platform to fuel vitriol and sexism instead of support, and I’ll be taking steps to reflect, listen, and do better.— Bwipo (@Bwipo) September 10, 2025 This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lol-esports-team-suspends-player-for-saying-women-cant-compete-while-menstruating-120045752.html?src=rss View Source Article

Hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin is historically at its peak on September 10—but not this year View Source Article

Chile is a hotspot for telescopes peering up into deep space to study structures like stars, black holes, dark matter and galaxies. View Source Article

For months, Lyft has watched while its rival Uber made deals with seemingly every autonomous vehicle operator under the sun. But the smaller ridehail company has been quietly building a fleet of its own, and Lyft is ready to launch its first customer-ready robotaxi pilot in Atlanta. Lyft is teaming up with May Mobility, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company that is backed by Toyota and BMW. The fleet is comprised of Toyota Sienna minivans equipped with sensors like cameras, radar, and lidar. The vehicles will operate on both city and suburban streets around Midtown Atlanta in a service area that is approximately 7 square-miles. Lyft customers who request rides within the service area will be given the option to match with a May Mobility autonomous vehicle if they choose. Lyft is also proceeding cautiously with its first customer-ready AV service in the US. The vehicles will feature “standby operators” — Lyft’s term for safety drivers — in the driver seat. These operators are trained to “take the wheel and drive manually during initial trips, as needed, and will intervene less over time as service is optimized,” the company’s press release states. They will also answer customer questions and ensure the ride is comfortable. In other words, they’re Lyft drivers — that is, until the companies feels confident enough in the safety of their technology to remove them from the vehicle. The use of safety drivers during the initial phases of a robotaxi rollout is fairly standard by this point. Waymo has used them, and Tesla is currently using safety monitors in its two markets in California and Texas. Currently, only Waymo and Zoox operate fully driverless vehicles without safety drivers in a commercial service. Lyft has several robotaxi partnerships brewing right now, in addition to today’s launch with May Mobility. The company is working with Benteler Mobility to launch a self-driving shuttle service in late 2026. And it plans to deploy a fleet of robotaxis, using self-driving technology from Intel’s Mobileye, in Dallas also in 2026, with plans to scale to ”thousands” of vehicles in additional markets in the months to follow. While its lagged in the number of deals behind its rival, Lyft is also taking a similar approach as Uber by offering its ridehail platform to different self-driving developers who want to connect with customers without having to build their own customer-facing operation. Like Uber, Lyft’s interest is staying as “asset light” as possible, needing other companies to own, operate, and maintain the robotaxi fleet for its customers. Of course, this isn’t Lyft’s first robotaxi rodeo. The ridehail company had thought to develop its own autonomous vehicles, but eventually sold off its AV research and development division to a subsidiary of Toyota back in 2021. View Source Article

Short-sellers are once again setting their sights on AppLovin Corp., even after traders who bet against the software maker’s shares got burned with an estimated $3.2 billion in paper losses over the past six months. View Source Article

Nikon has unveiled its first cinema camera developed in collaboration with the company it acquired last year, RED. The Nikon ZR (the "R" is for "RED" I imagine) is a camera that neither company could have made on its own, marrying RED's color science and video codecs with Nikon's advanced subject detect AF and in-body stabilization. It will go up against other creator-oriented models like Canon's new C50 and the Sony FX3 but at a much lower price.  Nikon's mirrorless cameras are known for their high dynamic range and the company is leaning into that for the ZR. It has a partially stacked 24MP sensor with a Dual Base ISO of 800/6400 that promises 15+ stops of dynamic range for high low-light sensitivity and greater detail in shadows and highlights. Though it doesn't quite match the C50's 7K resolution, it will output 12K RAW 6K video at 60 fps, or 4K at 120 fps.  The internal RAW format used will be RED's new R3D NE and a log format called Log3G10 with the same color science as RED's high-end cinema cameras (so it can match those in post). That's a lighter codec designed exclusively for Nikon, but the ZR also supports Nikon's N-RAW format along with ProRes/ProRes RAW and H.265. If you want to apply RED's LUTs, you can load and monitor up to 10 at a time. Nikon Nikon focused on audio as well, offering 32-bit float internal audio recording and Nokia's OZO surround sound tech via three built-in high-performance mics. You can choose from five pickup patterns including front (super directional), front, all directions, rear and stereo (binaural) for any situation from interviews to vlogging to ASMR.  The ZR comes with subject tracking hybrid phase-detect autofocus, making it more palatable for content creators than any RED camera that has ever existed. That includes AI tracking of people (eyes, head and body) along with animals and vehicles, with nine types total. It also has five-axis in-body stabilization with 7.5 stops of smoothing, something palpably lacking in Canon's new C50. Another key feature is digital focus-breathing compensation.   Nikon Since the ZR has no viewfinder, Nikon made the screen as big, bright and sharp as possible. It's a 4-inch 16:10 display with 1,000 nits of brightness and full DCI-P3 HDR color coverage, with 3070K dots of resolution, one the highest of any camera display. Meanwhile, the tiny 540 gram (1.2 pound) body dissipates heat well enough to allow 6K 60 fps RAW recording for up to 125 minutes at 25C (77F) temperatures. It supports audio capture through a the digital hotshoe or a 3.5mm input and has a USB-C port for charging, data transfers and webcam/streaming, along with a headphone input. The HDMI port is unfortunately a small and flimsy Micro HDMI type, however.  For its capabilities, the Nikon ZR looks like a stunning bargain. It starts at $2,200 for the body only without accessories, which is nearly half the price of the Sony FX3 and $1,700 cheaper than Canon's C50. Shipping is expected to start on October 20, 2025. It supports any Nikon (or third-party) Z mount lens or F mount glass with an adapter. Nikon also unveiled the $339 ME-D10 digital shotgun mike that's compatible with the camera's 32-bit float audio.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/nikons-zr-is-its-first-cinema-camera-co-designed-with-red-110022972.html?src=rss View Source Article

"The profile of the occultation was most consistent with it being a new satellite — a new moon — going around Quaoar." View Source Article

Nvidia is releasing a new GeForce Game Ready driver today in preparation for the Borderlands 4 release later this week. There’s also an Nvidia app update arriving today that includes a new RTX Remix update to allow modders to improve fire and smoke effects in older games. Today’s Game Ready driver (581.29) includes optimizations for DLSS 4 in Borderlands 4, with the new game also supporting Multi Frame Generation and Nvidia’s Reflex technology. Dying Light: The Beast is also part of the Game Ready driver, with optimizations ahead of its release next week with DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation, DLSS Super Resolution, and regular DLSS Frame Generation support. The new RTX Remix update lets modders create new particles in Remix that are similar to those found in modern games. More than 165 RTX Remix games are now ready to be modded further to improve smoke and fire effects. Modders have managed to greatly improve older games thanks to RTX Remix, and Nvidia used Half-Life 2 as a showcase for its RTX 50-series GPUs and the RTX Remix tool earlier this year. Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs are also restocked at Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg with a variety of cards at or close to recommended retail prices. Here are the latest deals available: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5060 WINDFORCE OC 8GB GDDR7 – $298.99 at Amazon ASUS DUAL NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 OC Edition 8GB GDDR7 – $299.99 at Best Buy Zotac GAMING GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB AMP – $599.00 at Newegg CA PNY GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB EPIC-X RGB Overclocked – $379.99 at Walmart PNY NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB EPIC-X RGB OC Triple Fan – $379.99 at B&H Photo ASUS PRIME NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 12GB GDDR7 – $549.99 at Best Buy PNY GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Overclocked Triple Fan – $699.00 at Walmart GIGABYTE NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti WINDFORCE SFF 16GB GDDR7 – $749.99 at Best Buy PNY – GeForce RTX 5080 16GB OC GDDR7 — $999.99 at Best Buy View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Aisha Gani speaks with the AI alter ego of Klarna’s CEO. View Source Article

As the Pumpkin Spice approaches, it’s time for a bunch of new iPhones. Welcome to a special edition of the Engadget newsletter, breaking down everything Apple announced in the last 24 hours. What’s notable this year is, of course, the iPhone Air. Launching alongside the base iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, it’s an intriguing new flavor of iOS. The iPhone Air: It’s a brave choice to label the new superslim phone with the same suffix as the game-changing MacBook Air. Barring the slimmer profile and accompanying compromises, it’s not as surprising as it could have been. Early rumors suggested it might have arrived without a single port, with wireless charging and WiFi alone. Instead, the iPhone Air (no 17) is an engineering marvel. With a body thickness of just 5.6mm and made of spacecraft-grade titanium, it also has Ceramic Shield 2 on both sides, which helps make it more durable than any previous iPhone. Engadget It features the same A19 Pro chip as the iPhone 17 Pro, along with Apple’s N1 chip for wireless connectivity and the new C1X modem, which is reportedly twice as fast as the C1 introduced with the iPhone 16e. Compromises had to happen, though. Apple kept the iPhone Air thin in part by going for a single 48-megapixel camera, but it did try to make it as versatile as possible. It has a large two-micrometer quad-pixel sensor that excels in low light, along with an optical quality 2x telephoto. Apple says it’s “the equivalent of four lenses in their pocket,” but well, why doesn’t the base iPhone 17 have it? It also seems a bit weak compared to the S25 Edge (Samsung’s super-thin smartphone) and its 200MP main camera. Worried that a thin battery means precarious battery life? Apple claims the iPhone Air will get “all-day” battery life thanks in part to hardware designed to cram more battery into smaller designs and software like Adaptive Power Mode. To assuage those concerns, Apple made a new super-slim MagSafe battery pack to boost how long it lasts. There’s also an intangible appeal to the ‘first’ of a new Apple product. I remember upgrading a year into my iPhone 7 contract to get the first iPhone without a home button. The iPhone X is a good comparison to make, perhaps. Both the iPhone X and iPhone Air have the same price: $999. — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! Our first impressions and hands-ons at the Apple iPhone 17 event iPhone Air hands-on: The super-sleek precursor to Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone 17 Pro hands-on: The unibody and camera plateau feel more significant in person Apple Watch Series 11 hands-on: Feels and looks the same, but real changes are deeper Apple AirPods Pro 3 hands-on: Impressive ANC improvements The iPhone 17 Pro is redesigned to house its biggest battery ever New thermals, new cameras, new color! Apple So, if the iPhone Air grabs the headlines, what about the pro model? Apple’s most powerful iPhone now has the A19 Pro chipset and comes with 6.9- (iPhone 17 Pro Max) and 6.3-inch (iPhone 17 Pro) screen sizes. Glass has been replaced with Ceramic Shield 2, which makes the iPhone 17 Pro more durable than ever. A new rear camera setup includes a new 48MP telephoto lens, which can shoot up to 8x “optical quality” zoom at 12MP and 4x at its full resolution. Both the wide and ultrawide sensors are 48MP too, for resolution parity across them all. The iPhone 17 Pro series starts at $1,099 for a 256GB model and will be available for pre-order starting Friday, September 12. Continue reading. The iPhone 17 has a better screen and better durability With base storage up to 256GB. Arriving in four colorways, the iPhone 13 has improvements in power efficiency, a smoother screen and a new selfie cam. This might be the most intriguing update: The company has improved the selfie camera to be a “center stage” front camera, with better stabilization, a wider field of view and a new larger square sensor. Because it’s square, you won’t have to rotate your iPhone when you want to take a photo or video in landscape mode. Continue reading. AirPods Pro 3 have better noise cancellation and health-tracking features Live translation is built into the buds. Apple Yes, we have an update to Apple’s AirPods Pro — arguably, the Apple hardware I’ve used the most over the last three years. I even bought a standalone USB-C charging case. The company has improved the wireless buds in some major ways. The big features include a heart rate sensor that can hook into iOS workout apps (and third-party apps) and a new live translation feature (a la Pixel Buds) that converts foreign languages on the fly and even lowers audio of the speaker so you can better hear the translation. They’ll support English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish at launch. The buds themselves are a bit smaller to fit more ears, and there are now five tip sizes, up from three. No feature yet to make people who talk to you while wearing AirPods less insufferable. The AirPods Pro 3 cost $249, and pre-orders are open right now. Continue reading. Apple launches the Watch Series 11, Ultra 3 and SE Something for everyone? Apple The Series 11 is twice as scratch-resistant as previous Apple Watches and now even has 5G connectivity. The watch will monitor for high blood pressure using improved algorithms and the built-in heart rate monitor. If the watch identifies patterns of hypertension, you’ll get an alert in the Health app. The biggest upgrade may be up to 24 hours of battery life on a single charge. The Ultra 3 has a bigger display, satellite connectivity, and emergency SOS. The Watch Ultra 3’s new 3D printed case has even smaller bezels, while the display technology has been tweaked (LTPO3) to improve off-angle viewing. The Apple Watch SE is getting an update with a new always-on display, optional 5G, the improved S10 chip and support for gestures like double tap and wrist flick. The Apple Watch SE will also provide sleep apnea notifications and the new Sleep Score feature that’s available on Series 11 watches. The Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $399, the Ultra 3 starts at $799 and the SE starts at $249. Continue reading. The Apple news you might have missed Apple isn’t making any carbon-neutral claims with its Series 11 smartwatch The iPhone Air is a great advertisement for the iPhone 17 All of the new iPhones start with 256GB of storage. Finally. iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26 and macOS 26 will be released on September 15 Apple acquiesced to my Apple Watch SE 3 demands (mostly) How to pre-order the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro ahead of their September 19 release date Apple gives iPhone 14 and 15 owners an extra free year of satellite connectivity This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-hands-on-with-the-iphone-air-iphone-17-pro-airpods-pro-3-and-more-111101338.html?src=rss View Source Article

A single tick bite can trigger a bizarre meat allergy—here’s how alpha-gal syndrome is reshaping people’s diets. View Source Article

The $59 price is pretty reasonable, at least by Apple standards. The skepticism I had about Apple's rumored crossbody iPhone strap can be put to rest now that it's officially announced as part of yesterday's big iPhone 17 event. I'm suitably impressed. And if we can clear up some of the confusion about why it exists in the first place, then I think more people will be too. Firstly, crossbody straps are supremely useful for those of us who are denied deep pockets and don't want to carry a bag. It gives the person quick access to their phone on a bike, at a festival, in a shop to make payments, or when tapping into public transport. They're for the old and young who fear their phones being dropped or stole … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Jaguar Land Rover said some data has been compromised after the British carmaker was hit by a cyberattack that’s derailed production and sales. View Source Article

View Source Article

A before and after image of a bedroom changed using Zillow’s Virtual Staging tool. Zillow is launching an AI-powered feature that will allow home hunters to empty the room of furniture or subtly change the design style. The intent is to make it easier to overcome the owner’s dodgy design choices and questionable furniture so buyers can better picture themselves living in a property. In concept, the tool, called Virtual Staging, is great. It tackles a genuine and difficult problem that almost anyone who has searched for a home at some point has encountered. “Too many buyers overlook what could be the perfect home for their family simply because they can’t see past the furniture or design choices,” says Zillow home trends expert Amanda Pendleton. Unfortunately, Virtual Staging is rather basic in this phase of the rollout. The lackluster changes are so subtle — adjusting a bit of furniture here, changing the color of a rug there — you’d have trouble knowing anything had changed without the telltale sparkles of AI or the ability to slide back and forth between preselected styles like modern, Scandinavian, luxury and farmhouse. Zillow says the feature is a “smarter way to shop” and sell, joining an AI search feature it upgraded last year to help shoppers find homes. Its use will be limited to premium “Showcase” listings, and even then it’s only on “select featured room photos.” All the examples seem limited to plain white walls, as well. View Source Article

The European Commission said it would examine possible restrictions on social media for children under 16 years old following similar rules planned in Australia. View Source Article

Swedish researchers have developed two types of 3D bioprinting technology to artificially generate skin containing blood vessels. It could be a breakthrough in the quest to regenerate damaged skin. View Source Article

When Teslas lose power, crashes can turn into deadly races against time. View Source Article

The right computer keyboard can make a big difference to how you work or play. Whether you’re typing reports, programming with complex macros or spending hours on a mechanical gaming keyboard, the right model can boost both comfort and efficiency. Some people prefer a compact layout for portability, while others want a full-size QWERTY board with a Numpad for data entry and spreadsheets.From wireless options that keep your desk tidy to wired models built for low latency, there’s a wide range of designs, switches and features to choose from. In this guide, we’ve tested and rounded up the best keyboards for different needs so you can find the one that best fits your setup. Table of contents Best keyboards for 2025 What to look for in a keyboard Best keyboards for 2025 What to look for in a keyboard Design Size The first thing you’ll want to consider when it comes to your next computer keyboard’s design is size. There are a number of different keyboard layouts to choose from, but the most common are full-sized, tenkeyless and those smaller than tenkeyless. Full-sized keyboards, or 100 percent, include a function row at the top and a complete numpad with arrow keys on the right side, along with all of the rest of the alphanumeric keys you’d expect on a standard QWERTY layout. Tenkeyless, or 80 percent, removes the number pad but keeps the arrow keys and the function row, reducing the overall width measurement of the board by a decent amount. Compact keyboards keep things ultra simple by including only the alphanumeric keys and modifiers like Alt, Shift, Ctrl and others and they come in different sizes like 60 percent, 65 percent and more. These are the most popular sizes out there, but you can find plenty of other designs that include different mixes of keys along with the standard letters and numbers all should have. Aside from size, there are two other big categories that you could use to define a keyboard: ergonomic and mechanical. Ergonomic keyboards are designed with, you guessed it, better ergonomics in mind, taking into account where you should position your fingers, hands and forearms to maintain proper posture. Separately, mechanical keyboards use mechanical switches (of which there are many types) that differ greatly from the membrane or scissor-switch keyboards you’ll find dominating most wired and wireless options widely available today. We have guides to the best ergonomic keyboards and best mechanical keyboards, but we’ll summarize what you need to know about both here. Ergonomic keyboards If you deal with discomfort from working at a computer all day, ergonomic keyboards can help. These specially designed boards re-orient the keys, allowing you to hold your elbows farther apart and maintain a straighter line from your forearms to hands. Some people find this subtle change more comfortable. Ergonomic keyboards typically fall into two categories: Alice and split keyboards. The former is a single unit with an A-shaped gap in the center of the keys. Split models come in two separate pieces which you can arrange as you like on your desk. Additional ergonomic features like tenting and negative tilt can make typing feel even more comfortable, and are often available on both Alice and split boards. Tenting raises the middle of the keys up so your hands take on more of a “handshake” position. Negative tilting lowers the top of the keyboard to keep your wrists angled downward instead of back towards your forearms. The way the keys are arranged on the keyboard may make typing easier as well. Traditionally, keyboards are staggered, with one row of letters slightly offset from the row beneath it. Columnar keyboards arrange the keys in a grid of rows and columns. This style takes a little getting used to, but some people find it allows them to type faster. You can also make the keys of some keyboards do more than just produce letters. Programmable boards let you map shortcuts and other functions, including macros, which may keep you from reaching for the mouse quite so often, saving you time and possibly strain as well. Mechanical keyboards Mechanical keyboards have blown up in popularity as more people have been thrust into creating their own workspaces at home. It’s easy to see why: Compared to a traditional membrane keyboard, a good mechanical board is more durable, more satisfying to press and, most importantly, infinitely more customizable. The best of them usually come with a price premium, but even some cheaper models let you “hot-swap” between keycaps, switches and other materials, letting you tinker with different typing sensations and sound profiles until you find a combination that best expresses your preferences. Do you want each press to feel deep and full or fast and light? Do you need them to sound loud and clacky or almost totally muffled? Do you prefer your keycaps to look subdued and professional, stuffed with RGB lights or written in an Elvish language from The Lord of the Rings for some reason? With the right new keyboard, it’s all up to you — the only things really holding you back are your imagination and your wallet. We have a dedicated buying guide that digs deeper into the key aspects to consider when buying a mechanical gaming keyboard, so we encourage you to look at that for a full rundown. To keep things high-level, the most influential part of your purchase is your keyboard’s switch type. These little mechanisms slot underneath the keycaps and generally have the biggest effect on how your keyboard feels and sounds as you type away. You can broadly separate mechanical switches into three buckets: linear, tactile and clicky. Linear switches feel smooth all the way down; they’re often popular with gamers since they tend to be light and fast to actuate. Tactile switches create a tangible “bump” sensation partway through a press; many people who spend all day typing prefer them because they clearly confirm each press without (always) being all that loud. Clicky switches are functionally similar to tactiles but make an audible “click” sound to match the bump; your coworkers may hate them, but others love the full-throated sense of feedback they provide. To be clear, just because two switches fall within the same bucket doesn’t mean they feel or sound exactly the same. The only way to figure out which switch works best for you is to do your research and, preferably, try some out for yourself. Other keyboards have a mechanical-style feel but are built on different mechanisms entirely. The hot new trend in gaming-focused keyboards, for example, is Hall effect switches, which use tiny magnets to register keystrokes and let you customize the sensitivity of each press. Optical switches, meanwhile, offer similar functionality by replacing the physical contact point of a typical mechanical switch with a beam of infrared light. More recently, we’ve seen a couple keyboards launch with inductive switches, which can work like magnetic switches but use inductive coils in the keyboard’s printed circuit board (PCB) to cater to all switches collectively and don’t require a sensor for each individual switch. We touch on a couple of magnetic-switch keyboards in our picks below, but for a fuller breakdown of this sort of tech, we recommend you check out our dedicated buying guide to the best gaming keyboards. Connectivity You’ve got two options here: wired or wireless. Wired keyboards typically have an attached cable that plugs into a USB-A or USB-C port on your computer (or docking station), although some come with cables that can be removed. Wireless mechanical keyboards connect to your machine either via Bluetooth or a wireless receiver dongle. There’s always the chance of some latency with wireless keyboards, so keep that in mind if you’re picking one up to use primarily with a gaming PC. Of course, you’ll only have to worry about battery life with Bluetooth keyboards.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-keyboard-120000018.html?src=rss View Source Article

Twelve laboratories around the world have joined forces to map neuronal activity in a mouse’s brain as it makes decisions. View Source Article

Arkady Volozh spent two years disentangling himself from Yandex, the tech business that made him one of the richest men in Russia. He ended up leaving the country in a move he described as “an exodus, just like in Egypt.” View Source Article

Crypto exchange Kraken opened up trading of tokenized US securities to its customers in the European Union, expanding the reach of the nascent asset class. View Source Article

LG's in-vehicle entertainment platform will soon come integrated with an Xbox app for select internet-connected vehicles. Yes, people will be able to play full games on their infotainment systems, as long as they have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription so that they can stream titles available on the service, as well as games they already own. They'll, of course, need to switch on internet access on their cars and to use a compatible Bluetooth controller to be able to play games, including Don’t Starve, Mafia: The Old Country and Forza Horizon 5.  The companies didn't say how they're ensuring that drivers themselves don't play games while on the road, such as during traffic stops. A 2020 study revealed that drivers are increasingly playing games behind the wheel, while an earlier study showed that advanced infotainment systems can take a driver's attention off the road. Both LG and Xbox, however, specifically mentioned that the feature is for passengers. "Whether you’re waiting at an EV charging station or trying to entertain your passengers on an extended road trip, pass the time by playing games keeping everyone entertained and making the journey feel more fun," Xbox wrote in its announcement.  Back in 2021, reports came out that Tesla allowed drivers to play a selection of games on their cars' infotainment system even while they're in motion. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated the so-called "Passenger Play" function, which previously only allowed games to run while the vehicle is parked until an update changed it. Tesla responded by quickly disabling the feature if a car is on the move. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-and-lg-are-bringing-cloud-gaming-to-cars-133016305.html?src=rss View Source Article

Today's Apple event wasn't just about iPhones and smartwatches. The company also announced the long-anticipated refresh of the AirPods Pro earbuds. The AirPods Pro 3 arrive a full three years after the company released the second-gen earbuds. This is a serious upgrade with updated audio drivers and plenty of high-tech bells whistles, like active ANC and the ability to play spatial audio. Apple says these earbuds offer the best ANC of any in-ear headphones on the market. Apple There's a heart-rate sensor built right into the earbuds, which is pretty nifty for workouts. I'm loving this effort to stuff health sensors into earbuds. The battery life here is great, offering eight hours per charge. This shoots up to 10 hours when using just the transparency algorithm.  There's a new live language translation feature, which is something that Pixel Buds have been doing for a while. This tool will also be available for other models like the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation and the AirPods Pro 2. The Live Translation software will be available in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish at launch, with more languages coming by the end of the year.  As for the physical design, everything looks mostly the same, though they are a bit smaller to accommodate more ear canals. The company said it scanned more than 10,000 ears to make sure these new earbuds are "the most secure and best-fitting AirPods ever." This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/airpods-pro-3-offer-live-translation-and-improved-noise-cancellation-171018061.html?src=rss View Source Article

After three years, the Apple Watch SE is finally getting a refresh. The company showed off the Apple Watch SE 3, the latest version of its budget-friendly wearable during its big iPhone 17 event. The third-generation Apple Watch SE is the first of Apple's budget-friendly watches to come with an always-on display and support for 5G. Other notable upgrades include Apple's S10 chip and new health-tracking features. Despite rumors that Apple may be changing the form factor for its entry-level watch, the Apple Watch SE 3's design is largely unchanged from the last generation. It comes with an aluminum case, which will be available in two colors ("midnight" and "starlight") and come in 40mm and 44mm sizes. Even though the display size isn't changing, Apple has upgraded its cover glass, with the new display being "four times more resistant to cracks" than the SE 2. The third-gen Apple Watch SE also adds some significant new health-tracking capabilities that bring it more in line with other recent versions of the Apple Watch. There are two onboard temperature sensors, which allows it to deliver temperature data to the Health app. It also powers new cycle tracking features, with ovulation estimates and improved period predictions. On the sleep tracking side, it adds sleep apnea notifications and sleep quality scores, which provides insights about the quality of your sleep. Apple Despite the always-on display, Apple says the watch has "all-day" battery life (up to 18 hours). It also charges two times faster than the previous generation, with just 15 minutes of charging providing up to eight hours of battery life, according to Apple. The addition of the S10 chip also powers a faster Siri experience on the watch, as well as "double tap" and "wrist flick" gestures that allow you to take actions within apps and quickly dismiss notifications. It also helps with audio quality on FaceTime calls, thanks to background noise suppression. And, speaking of audio, the Watch SE 3 supports audio playback directly through its speaker so you can listen to music or podcasts without headphones.  One aspect Apple isn't changing is the price. The third-generation Apple Watch SE starts at $249 for the 40mm version and $279 for the 44mm. It's available for pre-order today and will ship September 19. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-se-3-has-an-s10-chip-and-always-on-display-173033538.html?src=rss View Source Article

Jaime Sevilla (Director of Epoch AI) and Yafah Edelman (Head of Data and Analysis at Epoch AI) discuss AI scaling trends, future projections, economic impacts, and potential bottlenecks, extrapolating from current data on compute growth, training runs, and infrastructure. They analyze and project from historical trends, aiming to project “straight-line” forecasts while acknowledging uncertainties. They ... Read more View Source Article

It's been two years since Apple updated its rugged, ultra-premium Watch Ultra line, so it was long overdue for a replacement. Today, at its Awe Dropping event to launch the iPhone 17, the company has unveiled the Apple Watch Ultra 3. Apple was naturally delighted to show off a broad number of tweaks that, in aggregate, more than make up for that additional year delay. The most notable new feature is satellite communication, letting you stay in touch no matter where you are in the world. Watch Ultra 3 is equipped with a 5G modem, matching the change to both the Watch Series 11 and SE Series 3. But those other timepieces do not get the built-in, two-way satellite communication offering Emergency SOS and Find My, letting you share your location if you're in trouble in a remote area. With the Watch's existing fall detection capabilities, it'll also raise the alarm on your behalf if you're not able to respond to it in time. Find My will share your location once every 15 minutes, and users can even send and receive texts and tapbacks with contacts via satellites.  The Watch Ultra 3's new 3D printed case has had its display bezels shrunk to accommodate the "largest screen of any Apple Watch ever." More importantly, the display technology has been tweaked (LTPO3) with wide-angle OLEDs to improve off-angle viewing. So, if you want to check the time without making it obvious that you're checking the time, you won't be faced with an illegible screen any more. LTPO3 also is efficient enough that even in always-on mode, you'll be able to see a ticking seconds hand without activating the display.  An even more welcome improvement (at least, for me) is in battery life, with Apple claiming Ultra 3 will survive for 42 hours on a single charge. Put the device into Low Power Mode and you will apparently be able to eke its life to 72 hours, which is unprecedented for an Apple Watch. The company says that the greater efficiency of its display, system-on-chip and new 5G modem has also helped improve the watch's longevity. Naturally, you'll also get all of the software bells and whistles announced with the other Watch models today. That includes Hypertension alerts, so if the system detects a possible spike in your blood pressure you can get advice to get it checked out long before it becomes an issue. Similarly, the company is adding a Fitbit/Garmin/Oura/Insert-Other-Fitness-Provider-Of-Choice-esque Sleep Score feature to the Watch. Wear it to bed, and it will monitor your heart rate, temperature, blood oxygenation and respiratory rate (keeping an eye on possible sleep apnea) to score your sleep in the morning.  Apple commonly updates its devices annually, but the Ultra 2 has been top of the list for two years. It’s likely that the bulk of the company’s design focus in the previous cycle was on the top down redesign of the regular Watch. After all, the Watch 10 got a thinner case and, in the 46mm version, a display slightly bigger than the Watch Ultra. Plus, those in the know say that the S10 system-on-chip found in the 2024 models was just a smaller version of the S9 found in the Ultra 2. Consequently, there was little reason to upgrade the Ultra to the newer package since it already had plenty of room inside its beefy, rugged case. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is available to pre-order today for $799, with shipments beginning on September 19. You can pick it up in "natural" or black titanium, with a new selection of bands to accompany the new hardware. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-ultra-3-has-satellite-connectivity-and-larger-display-173046366.html?src=rss View Source Article

An AI model on OpenRouter is called Sonoma Sky Alpha is likely a preview of XAI Grok 4.2. It highlights xAI’s rapid progress in compute power, model diversity, and specialized applications like coding and reasoning. Key Technical Features Sonoma Sky Alpha features a 2 million token context window, which is double that of competitors like ... Read more View Source Article

Apple Inc. rolled out the first end-to-end update of its smartwatch line in three years, adding blood-pressure notifications to the company’s high-end models and revamping its low-end offerings. View Source Article

While all eyes are likely on the iPhone Air this year, Apple is introducing several new features in the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max that should keep its more demanding users satisfied. The company says it went back to the drawing board to develop a new unibody aluminum case, a vapor chamber cooling system and the biggest batteries ever put into iPhones. There’s also a completely revamped rear design, featuring a new horizontal camera module and combination of aluminum and Apple’s Ceramic Shield 2 along the bottom half. The latter update should increase overall durability, while also allowing for MagSafe wireless charging. While all of Apple’s new iPhones are getting massive camera upgrades this year, the Pro rightfully remains the most capable with a new 48 megapixel telephoto lens. That joins 48MP wide and ultra-wide sensors, as well as the new 18MP Center Stage front-facing camera. The telephoto camera can now shoot up to 8x “optical quality” zoom at 12MP (a fancy way to say it’s cropping) and 4x at its full 48MP. As usual, Apple shot its iPhone announcement event with its new Pro phone and it looked on par with a true professional camera. (Of course, it’s also assisted by lots of other gear to help with shot placement and stabilization.) Under the hood is Apple’s new A19 Pro chip, a six-core CPU that offers “MacBook-level processing power,” according to the company. Strangely enough, the A19 Pro is also in the iPhone Air, but the iPhone 17 Pro’s vapor chamber cooling should allow for better sustained performance that’s up to 40 percent faster than the A18 Pro. (You can’t really push heat out quickly from a super-thin case, after all.) Also on the chip front, the iPhone 17 Pro features Apple’s new N1 networking chip, which delivers Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread support. The company claims it also help make the iPhone 17 Pro’s Hotspot and AirDrop features faster and more reliable. Not much has changed with the iPhone 17 Pro’s displays: There’s still the standard 6.3-inch screen, while the Max model has a 6.9-inch option. Both screens reach up to 3,000 nits of peak outdoor brightness, offer 120Hz variable refresh rate ProMotion screens and have always-on capabilities. They should be a bit tougher this time around thanks to Ceramic Shield 2, which has “3x better scratch resistance and improved anti-reflection,” according to Apple. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will be available for pre-order on September 12th, starting at $1,099 and $1,199, respectively. While the price has jumped up $100 since last year, Apple is also including 256GB of storage from the start. (The iPhone Air is taking over the $1,000 slot.) This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-17-pro-has-an-aluminum-case-and-vapor-chamber-cooling-180141734.html?src=rss View Source Article

The AI training and reinforcement learning scoring rewards AI that get more right even when they guess. This is a common strategy in multiple choice tests. In business humans learn to express levels of uncertainty when they give answers. I think the answer might be A but I am not sure. It is maybe 20% ... Read more View Source Article

Nikon has just unveiled the ZR, its first official co-brand with RED, the cinema camera company it purchased in April of last year. The ZR takes what Nikon has already been doing well, with its heavily adaptable Z-mount, internal RAW video recording and popular color science and turns it up to 11 for video shooters. That's headlined by its ability to shoot RED R3D NE files. These files allow you to change settings like ISO and white balance can be changed in post, giving you way more flexibility after shooting. It was a big reason people purchased RED cameras in the past, and it'll makes it much easier to color match these cameras to existi … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. posted a 34% rise in August revenue, signaling sustained global demand for cutting-edge AI silicon. View Source Article

Apple's "pro" AirPods were due for an update. Despite continuously upgrading the AirPods Pro 2 with new features since their introduction in 2022, Apple hadn't produced another robust overhaul of its priciest earbuds yet. At today's iPhone 17 event (or iPhone Air event, depending on who you ask), the company unveiled the latest model: the AirPods Pro 3. Apple has refined the design, added heart rate sensing, improved active noise cancellation (ANC), delivered live translation and more. And most importantly, it did so without increasing the price. My brief demo with the AirPods Pro 3 focused entirely on the refined ANC. I wasn't able to try any sustained heart rate tracking or live translation just yet, but I hope to have other opportunities for that later this week.  Billy Steele for Engadget I was immediately impressed by the updated ANC system. The demo area at Apple Park is in a marble room outside of the Steve Jobs Theater. It's a nightmare for shooting video, but it's a great testing ground for ANC. That's because you can seemingly hear every voice echo off the floor and walls. After starting in transparency mode twice with a video and music, I switched to ANC and it completely nixed the roar of the room. I escaped the chaos for a few seconds.  The AirPods Pro 3 even dulled voices around me, with the exception of one very loud talker, to the point the company representative had to tap me on the shoulder because I could no longer hear her questions. I'll need more time with the earbuds to know if they really are better at blocking human voices, but after a few minutes with the new model, I can confidently say they can cancel more regular environmental noise than before.  This demo gave me a few minutes with the revamped design as well. The foam ear tips are obviously more comfortable, but the fit and feel will take some getting used to. I was actually surprised by how different they felt compared to the current silicone version, even though I've worn foam tips plenty of times in the past. They will ultimately be more comfy for longer listening sessions and I'm sure their passive noise isolation lends a hand with the ANC improvements.  I'm hoping to get more time with the AirPods Pro 3 today and tomorrow, so stay tuned for more coverage of Apple's new earbuds from the iPhone 17 event. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apple-airpods-pro-3-hands-on-new-design-and-improved-anc-are-impressive-183246429.html?src=rss View Source Article

ASML Holdings NV’s €1.3 billion investment in Mistral gives the French startup a valuable dose of capital and credibility as it seeks to build an artificial-intelligence champion for Europe. Yet Mistral still has to prove it can survive in an industry dominated by much larger American and Chinese competitors. View Source Article

With the start of September comes the promise of crisp, fall-like weather and, like clockwork, new iPhones. Apple's "awe dropping" iPhone event this year had execs showing off the latest iPhones from Cupertino and reminding folks of the changes Liquid Glass and iOS 26 will bring to their handsets in the coming week. The biggest hardware news comes with the iPhone Air, a new addition to this year’s iPhone lineup. iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro families were revealed, along with updated Apple Watches and new AirPods Pro earbuds. If you missed the live event, here’s everything Apple announced during the iPhone 17 launch event. iPhone 17 The handsets in the standard iPhone 17 lineup have 6.3-inch, 120Hz displays with ProMotion and thinner borders. Apple's touting improved durability thanks in part to Ceramic Shield 2, which has three times the scratch resistance as previous Ceramic Shield tech. The iPhone 17 is powered by the new A19 chipset, which is faster and more efficient than the previous processor thanks in part to an improved neural engine, a six-core CPU and a five-core GPU. Improvements in power efficiency will also get you eight additional hours of battery life on the iPhone 17. As for the rear camera array, iPhone 17 has a 48MP main Fusion ultra wide camera and a 12MP telephoto lens. The selfie camera has been improved to be a "center stage" front camera, with better stabilization, a wider field of view and a new larger, square sensor that lets you take higher quality images and videos more easily. You also won't have to rotate your iPhone when you want to take a photo or video in landscape mode. The iPhone 17 series starts at $799 for a 256GB model and will be available for pre-order starting Friday, September 12. They'll be widely available on September 19. Read more: Apple iPhone 17 hands-on: No Plus, no problem iPhone Air Apple As expected, Apple announced a new member of the iPhone family during the event. The iPhone Air is the thinnest iPhone yet, measuring just 5.6mm thick, and made of spacecraft-grade titanium. Ceramic Shield 2 surrounds the iPhone Air on both sides, which helps make it more durable than any previous iPhone. The Air's always-on screen measures 6.5-inches, and it supports ProMotion and up to 3,000 nits of brightness. Powering the iPhone Air is the A19 Pro chipset, which features a six-core CPU and a five-core GPU that features new neural accelerators built in. The new N1 chip enables the latest wireless technologies including Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and the updated C1X modem is twice as fast as the previous C1 chipset. The rear camera setup appears to just have one shooter, but actually includes a 48MP Fusion lens and a 12MP telephoto lens built in. The front-facing camera is the new center stage camera that features improved stabilization and software that makes it so you don't have to rotate your phone to take landscape photos and videos anymore. As far as battery life goes, Apple claims the iPhone Air will get "all-day" battery life thanks in part to hardware features and software perks like Adaptive Power Mode, which learns your habits to intelligently manage power. The iPhone Air is compatible with MagSafe battery packs like the new, super slim one Apple designed specifically to work with the Air. The iPhone Air starts at $999 for a 256GB model and will be available for pre-order starting Friday, September 12. It will be widely available on September 19. Read more: iPhone Air hands-on: The super sleek precursor to Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone 17 Pro Apple Apple redesigned the iPhone 17 Pro lineup from the ground up to include the first anodized aluminum unibody design in an iPhone. It was made to include the biggest battery ever in an Apple smartphone, an upgraded rear camera array, a new thermal system and more. Starting with the new thermal management system, it's designed to manage power and surface temperature. A new vapor chamber directs heat throughout the device so it dissipates more efficiently. This is necessary to manage performance for Apple's most powerful iPhone, which is powered by the A19 Pro chipset. Screen sizes sit at 6.9-inches on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and 6.3-inches on the iPhone 17 Pro. Glass is no longer affixed to the back of the handset and has been replaced with Ceramic Shield 2, which makes the iPhone 17 Pro more durable than ever. The new rear camera setup sits on a "plateau" of sorts on the top half of the back of the device. The array features a new 48MP telephoto lens, which can shoot up to 8x “optical quality” zoom at 12MP and 4x at its full 48MP. That's accompanied by two 48MP wide and ultra wide sensors, plus the 18MP center stage lens on the front of the phone. Things like the thermal management system and the camera plateau have allowed Apple to put the biggest battery yet into the iPhone 17 Pro Series. The company claims the iPhone 17 Pro Max will have the longest battery life of any iPhone up until this point, with up to 39 hours of video playback. The iPhone 17 Pro series starts at $1,099 for a 256GB model and will be available for pre-order starting Friday, September 12. They'll be widely available on September 19. Read more: iPhone 17 Pro hands-on: The unibody and camera plateau feel more significant in person AirPods Pro 3 Apple After three years, we now have a new version of the AirPods Pro. Apple’s latest premium earbuds, the AirPods Pro 3, look much the same as the Pro 2, but now they have heart rate monitoring thanks to built-in biometric sensors. The Fitness app has new experiences to accompany this, including workouts you can track while wearing just AirPods Pro 3 and carrying your iPhone. Apple's also touting improved audio with spatial listening, better active noise cancellation (four times as effective as the ANC in the original AirPods Pro) and foam-infused eartips. Live translation is another new feature which is, unsurprisingly, powered by Apple Intelligence. A new gesture will activate live translation when you're wearing the buds, and it will translate words spoken to you in another language to your preferred language. To reply, all you have to do is speak naturally in your own native language, and a translation will show up on your iPhone screen. As far as battery life goes, they should get at least eight hours on a single charge. AirPods Pro 3 are available to order today for $249, and will be widely available on September 19. Read more: Apple AirPods Pro 3 hands-on: New design and improved ANC are impressive Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE Apple Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 11 as its thinnest and most durable smartwatch yet. It's twice as scratch resistant as previous watches, and it now supports 5G for the first time thanks to a new modem. It also has improved internal tech that make it more power efficient. The watch will be able to monitor for high blood pressure using improved algorithms and the built-in heart rate monitor. If the watch identifies patterns of hypertension, you'll get an alert in the Health app. Series 11 watches will also now get up to 24 hours of battery life on a single charge, an improvement from the previous model. It’s been two years since we got an updated Apple Watch Ultra, and that’s been remedied now with the Ultra 3. The new watch has a bigger, better display thanks to LTPO 3 technology. Satellite connectivity now allows you to stay in touch wherever you may go, and Emergency SOS is included with all Ultra 3 watches. On the entry-level side of the spectrum, the Apple Watch SE is getting an update with a new always-on display, optional 5G, the improved S10 chip and support for gestures like double tap and wrist-flick. The Apple Watch SE will also provide sleep apnea notifications and the new Sleep Score feature that's available on the Series 11 watches. However, it's battery life remains the same as before — up to 18 hours — although you will now get fast-charging support. Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $399; the Ultra 3 starts at $799 and the SE starts at $249. You can pre-order them today and they'll be widely available on September 19. Read more: Apple Watch Series 11 hands-on: Feels and looks the same, but real changes are deeper This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/everything-apple-revealed-at-the-iphone-17-launch-event-iphone-air-iphone-17-pro-airpods-pro-3-and-more-171028663.html?src=rss View Source Article

Apple Inc. introduced its thinnest-ever iPhone and new Pro versions with enhanced cameras and more battery life, betting that a flurry of smartphone innovation can entice shoppers this holiday season. View Source Article

Apple revealed a language translation feature for the upcoming AirPods 3 Pro earbuds at today's iPhone event. Here's some good news for those who don't want to shell out $249 for some new and shiny in-ear headphones. The tool is also coming to the AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 2 models. This requires the latest firmware and an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone running iOS 26 and later. For the uninitiated, Live Translation is exactly what it sounds like. The software translates languages in real-time while wearing the earbuds. This allows for something resembling natural conversation when interacting with a person who speaks another language. This feature will be available in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish at launch, with more languages coming by the end of the year. These include Italian, Japanese, Korean and simplified Chinese. As for the AirPods Pro 3 earbuds, they cost $249 and are available to preorder right now. These new earbuds include a heart rate monitor, improved ANC, better battery life and the ability to play spatial audio.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apples-airpods-4-with-anc-and-airpods-pro-2-will-also-support-live-translation-184235997.html?src=rss View Source Article

A key Republican senator is pressing to waive federal regulations for artificial intelligence companies while they test and develop their products, according to a draft of the bill viewed by Bloomberg News. View Source Article

Apple hosted its "Awe dropping" iPhone event today, but wearables also got their moment in the sun, including the announcement of the Apple Watch Series 11. In recent years, the company has made some big environmental claims around its smartwatches, but after facing some legal scrutiny overseas, the language for this new Apple Watch generation's green cred is notably more muted. Starting with the Apple Watch Series 9, the company claimed that select models of the watch could be carbon-neutral, and those calls were echoed in some branding for the Apple Watch 10. However, a regional court in Frankfurt, Germany, ruled last month that Apple could not call its smartwatch carbon-neutral because the carbon-offset program it was using was on land that it had only leased through 2029. Apple's environmental plan didn't account for how it would handle the carbon offsets after that date, meaning the 'carbon-neutral' claim was unfounded and violated competition laws, according to the ruling. It seems like the sort of case Apple is likely to appeal, although we haven't heard them make any announcement yet about possible next steps. But the action does seem to have influenced how the company is talking about its new Apple Watch Series 11. In the official press release about the Watch 11, the environmental impact section still notes some stats, but there's no mention about carbon-neutrality for this particular wearable. Here's what the company says instead: "Apple Watch Series 11 is now made with 40 percent recycled content, which includes 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery, and 100 percent recycled titanium or aluminum in the case, and titanium cases are made using an innovative 3D printing process that uses just half the raw material as previous generations. It is manufactured with 100 percent renewable electricity, like wind and solar, across the supply chain." There could still be some skepticism about how accurate these claims are; Apple wouldn't be the first or the only one to cherry-pick stats for marketing. And while it is no longer making the statement about the smartwatch, Apple does claim in the release that it "is carbon neutral for its global corporate operations."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-isnt-making-any-carbon-neutral-claims-with-its-series-11-smartwatch-190216278.html?src=rss View Source Article

Apple is out with its new lineup of iPhone 17 phones. The iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099, a $100 boost, but the storage was doubled so it sort of cancels out. This isn’t a real price hike. The iPhone Air is $999, while the iPhone 17 is $799. Ed Ludlow reports from Cupertino. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Beats has launched a new collection of cases to go with Apple's latest iPhones, including one with a removable lanyard that doubles as a kickstand. Lanyards and cross-body straps for phones are becoming pretty common these days. If you're someone who travels every now and then, they can help protect you from pickpockets or from accidentally leaving your phone behind while you struggle with your luggage. The lanyard on Beats' case comes with something extra: It has an adaptor at the end that slides open and attaches to a magnetic part on the side of the case so that it can act as a kickstand for hands-free phone use. The Beats iPhone 17 Kickstand Case with MagSafe & Camera Control is available in Granite Gray, Bedrock Blue, Lime Stone and Pebble Pink. You can get it from Apple's website for $59.  The new collection also includes a basic case that Beats describes as "thin, light, and precisely crafted." It's available in the same colors, with the same matte hard outer shell that prevents fingerprints and an interior microfiber lining. This model will set you back $45 and is the only one in the collection that you can get for the iPhone Air.  Finally, the Beats iPhone 17 Rugged Case with MagSafe & Camera Control will give you some extra protection if you tend to drop your devices. Beats designed it with a rugged polymer backing that's complemented by impact-absorbing sidewalls. It has an enclosed bottom for enhanced protection and a textured matte exterior to give you a good grip on your phone. The manufacturer said it put the case through repeated drop and scratch tests, as well as multiple thermal, mechanical and chemical tests to simulate real world use. Beats' rugged case is available in Everest Black, Rocky Blue, Alpine Gray and Sierra Orange for $79. Beats This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/beats-new-iphone-17-case-has-a-lanyard-that-turns-into-a-kickstand-035044992.html?src=rss View Source Article

Caroline Hyde in New York and Ed Ludlow in Cupertino, California break down what to expect from Apple's biggest product launch event of the year. Analysts join live from Apple Park to discuss details of the company's iPhone 17 and other new devices. And in other news: Microsoft and Europe's Nebius strike a massive infrastructure deal worth as much as $19.4 billion. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Apple has taken the wraps off its latest crop of iPhones, introducing four devices in total: the standard iPhone 17, the high-end iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max and an all-new ultra-thin model called the iPhone Air. We have hands-on previews for each new device already, but as always, most people should hold off on making a purchase until we can fully review the phones in the coming days. If you’re already sure you want to upgrade, however, we’ve broken down what you should know about each new iPhone before you pre-order. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-pre-order-the-iphone-air-iphone-17-and-iphone-17-pro-ahead-of-their-september-19-release-date-185943747.html?src=rss View Source Article

Chip manufacturers and cloud stocks are among the major beneficiaries of China’s push for homegrown technology. View Source Article

The iPhone Air may get most of the attention at today's Apple event, but the "regular" iPhone 17 is the one a lot of the iOS faithful will buy. This year's new model may not look like a massive overhaul since the design is mostly the same, but don't let that fool you. The company has massively upgraded the display to include ProMotion and a 120Hz refresh rate. There's more power under the hood, ready to harness all of the features that Apple Intelligence and iOS 26 provide. Plus, there's eight more hours of battery life and faster charging when you need it. And I haven't even mentioned the camera updates yet, which are highlighted by the Center Stage front camera.  With the introduction of the iPhone Air, Apple nixed the iPhone 17 Plus. Now you're left to decide between the 6.3-inch iPhone 17, 6.5-inch iPhone Air or the 6.9-inch iPhone 17 Pro Max (and 6.3-inch Pro) — if you're primarily concerned with size. I was worried the company would leave us with a 6.1-inch base iPhone, a handset that feels incredibly small after I finally got used to the iPhone 16 Plus. I'm happy to report that the iPhone 17 bridges the gap nicely, and I don't think the smaller "regular" model will be a strain on my delicate sensibilities.  Billy Steele for Engadget On first glance, the real star of the show this year is the majorly upgraded display on the iPhone 17. Not only is it slightly larger, but it now has a 120Hz refresh rate and supports Apple's ProMotion tech. The difference between this new model and my iPhone 16 Plus was immediately apparent. Colors are more vivid, details are sharper and it's just more pleasant to look at. Of course, I wasn't able to dive into the finer points of what the upgrade provides in a quick demo, but I walked away impressed after my first glance at the phone.  I was also able to briefly try the new Center Stage front camera in the lobby outside the Steve Jobs Theater. There are other camera updates on the iPhone 17, but this one will be what is most beneficial to most people. It automatically changes orientation as more people enter the frame for selfies, and most importantly, it does so quickly without any jitters or lag. It worked well on multiple attempts I observed, and it's one of the few new features I'm looking forward to testing further.  Additionally, Dual Capture, the ability to record footage from both the rear and front-facing cameras at the same time, will be great for recording reaction videos. A busy demo area outside of an Apple keynote isn't the most exciting spot for this, but what I was able to see excited me for my upcoming afternoons of youth sports.  We'll have to wait for our full review for a deep dive on the rest of the new features on the iPhone 17, but after my first introduction, I anticipate that this could be the most robust annual update in several years. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-iphone-17-hands-on-no-plus-no-problem-192747122.html?src=rss View Source Article

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is committing another 1 billion yuan ($140 million) of incentives to drive more traffic to one of its most popular online services, cranking up the heat on JD.com Inc. and Meituan in their ongoing battle for Chinese consumers. View Source Article

As expected, Apple's September 9 "awe-dropping" event brought a tsunami of new hardware, including the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air. But those long-awaited models weren't the only launches worth noting — the event also debuted three new Apple Watches: the Apple Watch Ultra 3, the Apple Watch Series 11 and the Apple Watch SE 3. Now that the livestream is over, these three new Apple wearables are all available for pre-order. All three will ship out on September 19. Apple Watch Ultra 3 This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/how-to-pre-order-the-apple-watch-ultra-3-apple-watch-series-11-and-apple-watch-se-3-175645177.html?src=rss View Source Article

Salesforce Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff said his intention is to get the company back into double-digit sales growth as its revenue approaches $50 billion a year. View Source Article

Alongside all of the new iPhones, Apple Watch models and other hardware, today's Apple event brought forth news of when you'll be able to install iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26 and visionOS 26. You'll be able to install these operating systems on compatible devices on September 15 when they move out of beta. There are two major changes this year. The first is Apple's shift to the Liquid Glass design language across its devices. It's a significant overhaul of the design of Apple's operating systems, with a focus on translucency and fluidity. The other big update is to the naming system of the operating systems. It might feel a little jarring to go from iOS 18 to iOS 26, but Apple is now aligning the version numbers with release years to keep everything more consistent. The iPhone 17 lineup will come with iOS 26 pre-installed. You can also download it on iPhone 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 devices, as well as second-gen and later iPhone SE units. Compatibility for watchOS 26 is straightforward too. It'll be available on the latest devices, along with the second-gen Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 6 or later and all Apple Watch Ultra variants. As for visionOS 26, Apple Vision Pro users can install that next week.  Things get a little more complicated when it comes to iPadOS and macOS. If you'd like to try macOS 26 (aka macOS Tahoe), you'll need one of the following Macs: MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later) MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later) MacBook Pro (16‑inch, 2019) MacBook Pro (13‑inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports) iMac (2020 and later) Mac mini (2020 and later) Mac Studio (2022 and later) Mac Pro (2019 and later) As for iPadOS 26, you'll be able to use that on the following iPad models: iPad Pro (M4) iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd generation and later) iPad Pro 11‑inch (1st generation and later) iPad Air (M2 and M3) iPad Air (3rd generation and later) iPad (A16) iPad (8th generation and later) iPad mini (A17 Pro) iPad mini (5th generation and later) Meanwhile, Apple has yet to announce a release date for tvOS 26. It's still listed as "coming this fall." Perhaps Apple is holding off on that until it reveals an updated Apple TV 4K. Rumors suggest that's coming soon (perhaps alongside an Apple smart home hub). We're well overdue for a new model, as the current Apple TV 4K arrived three years ago. When it does arrive, tvOS 26 will be available for second-gen and later Apple TV 4K units.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/ios-26-ipados-26-watchos-26-and-macos-26-will-be-released-on-september-15-182024821.html?src=rss View Source Article

Klarna Group Plc’s market debut is set to bring a multibillion-dollar windfall to its largest investor, Sequoia Capital, after the buy-now-pay-later company priced its shares at $40 a share at an implied market value of $15.1 billion. View Source Article

We've survived Apple's iPhone 17 event and we're here to dive into all of the news. In this bonus episode, Devindra and Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham recap all of Apple's new hardware and try to determine if the iPhone Air has any substance behind all that style. It’s certainly more attractive than we thought, but is that alone worth giving up on multiple cameras and better battery life from the iPhone 17 Pro?  Subscribe!iTunesSpotifyPocket CastsStitcherGoogle PodcastsCreditsHosts: Devindra HardawarGuest: Nathan IngrahamProducer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale NorthThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-making-sense-of-apples-iphone-17-event-012707428.html?src=rss View Source Article

After years of incremental refreshes, Apple Inc.’s iPhone lineup feels exciting again. View Source Article

Apple might not admit it (at least not yet), but the iPhone Air is more than just a slimmed-down version of the company's latest handset or a more sophisticated take on its usual Plus model. It's a super sleek preview of its upcoming foldable. Now this might seem like a stretch and there's something to be said about the difference between a traditional OLED display and one that's meant to be bent. However, the arrival of a foldable iPhone has become one of the tech world's worst-kept secrets. Still not convinced? Well, consider this. If you were in charge at Apple and were faced with the task of figuring out how to engineer and design the company's first phone with a flexible display, how would you do it? Would you try to re-invent the wheel? No, you'd check out your competitors to see if there was a formula that you could re-purpose for your needs. Enter Samsung, which is not only one of Apple's biggest rivals but also a foldable phone maker that's already seven generations deep. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Furthermore, if we look back to this spring when Samsung released the Galaxy S25 Edge, you might already be noticing some similarities. Just like the iPhone Air, the S25 Edge is a thinner and more elegant take on Samsung's middle-child flagship phone: the S25+. It has a lot of the same shortcomings like a smaller battery and fewer cameras than you'd otherwise expect on a premium device that costs around $1,000. But the biggest clue that Apple might be taking a page out of Samsung's playbook is the iPhone Air's thinness. The idea of simply making a slimmer iPhone with worse specs without lowering its price doesn't really make sense in 2025. Unless you're doing so in preparation for a future product. So if we consider the S25 Edge again (which measures just 5.88mm thick) and then compare that to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (which came out just a couple months later and measures 4.2mm thick when unfolded), suddenly an unmistakable pattern begins to form. The iPhone 17 Air is one half of Apple's upcoming foldable and if the rumors are correct, next year Apple is essentially going to smash two of them together while adding a hinge and a flexible screen. Voila, there's your iPhone Fold (or whatever Apple ends up calling it). When viewed side-by-side next to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7, it's not hard to see how the iPhone Air's design might translate into a foldable iPhone.Sam Rutherford for Engadget OK, enough speculation, what about the iPhone Air itself? In short, this thing is deliciously thin at just 5.6mm. It really is one of those things that you can't fully appreciate until you hold it in your hand. It has beautifully polished edges and while I don't love the term "camera plateau," there's a lot of engineering that went into creating the subtle slope that rises up to meet the phone's lone 48MP rear camera. In front, the Air's 6.5-inch display looks as colorful and vibrant as you'd expect and I'm delighted to see it get ProMotion support as well. And for selfies, I really like Apple's new Center Stage system which uses a square 18MP sensor so you can smoothly transition between typical portrait style shots to landscape photos. Plus, if you don't want to control things manually, there's also an automatic setting which could seriously streamline future social media photo and video shoots. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The shiny finish on the Air's titanium frame is a rather nice, though if Apple hadn't said so, I might have thought it was stainless steel. That said, at just 165 grams, titanium was one of the few ways to get the Air's weight down that low while increasing durability. I also want to add that the sky blue model is my favorite color for the Air because depending on the light, its hue shifts from bright robin's egg to a more understated gray. The only downside to its overall design is that the chassis is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. However, I still have a few remaining questions that will need to be answered after further testing. The addition of a A19 Pro chip and a ProMotion screen should give the phone a big boost in power efficiency. But it remains to be seen how the Air's battery life will hold up in real life. Apple is claiming continuous video playback of up to 27 hours, but it's sort of telling that during the keynote, the company showed a new super sleek MagSafe battery pack, which may end up being a must-have accessory for people who push their phones hard. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Additionally, from the handful of camera samples I've seen, the iPhone Air's 48MP rear camera has excellent image quality, though I'm still not sure about the move to a single lens system, even if it does support up to a 4x zoom. Regardless, with the iPhone Air filling in the gap where the standard Plus model would normally be, Apple has taken its traditionally under-appreciated middle child and turned it into the most sleek and stylish handset the company has ever made. Unfortunately, all that sophistication does come with a slightly higher price of $999, up from the $899 for last year's iPhone 16 Plus. The iPhone Air will start at $999 with 256GB of storage. Pre-orders begin this Friday, September 12 at 8AM ET followed by official sales slated for September 19.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-air-hands-on-the-super-sleek-precursor-to-apples-upcoming-foldable-185851102.html?src=rss View Source Article

An iPhone Air with the MagSafe Battery attached. Apple's chunky old MagSafe Battery Pack was beloved by a subset of iPhone owners, and now the company is bringing it back and slimming it down for the iPhone Air. I took a first look at the battery pack this afternoon, and it has a significantly slimmer design than the old version. This version of the battery pack is thinner and longer, stretching as far across the back of the phone as it can before bumping into the camera bar. Slimming it down reduces the potential battery size, but it makes the pack more appropriately balanced with the phone as a result. The new model didn't feel goofy to hold in the same way that the thick old version di … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

National Australia Bank Ltd., the nation’s second-largest lender by market value, is cutting 410 jobs within its technology and enterprise operations division, according to the Finance Sector Union. View Source Article

iPhone Air is much thinner compared to the iPhone 17 Pro. (Apple) Now that we've seen the actual iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models — they were revealed at the Apple iPhone event today — it's time to decide if you're ready to upgrade to one of the newer devices. If you watched Apple's keynote or pored through Engadget's liveblog, you probably noticed the Air and 17 Pro share quite a few similarities — many of the specs are identical, or nearly so.  For starters, both run the new A19 Pro chip, giving each of them a performance edge over the non-Pro A19 in the baseline iPhone 17. And their screens, bodies and basic feature sets — high-refresh ProMotion screens, Apple Intelligence, scratch-resistant Ceramic Shield front and back, Camera Control button, MagSafe wireless charging — are all largely aligned, too. And there's only a $100 delta in their price tags, with the iPhone Air starting at $999 and the iPhone 17 Pro at $1,099.  But these two phones have two very different audiences. The Pro, as usual, is designed to be the no-compromise iPhone, while the Air is much more of a fashion statement. It's the thinnest iPhone ever, and that comes with some notable compromises.  To that end, let's take a deep dive on the key areas where the newly introduced iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro diverge. (For more of today's Apple releases, check out our hands-on with the new AirPods Pro 3 and the Apple Watch Series 11.) Size and weight The iPhone Air is Apple's thinnest phone yet, at just 5.6mm thick. In comparison, the iPhone 17 Pro is 8.75mm thick — that's more than 3mm thicker than the Air! I'm almost certain the Air would get lost between my couch cushions on day one.  When it comes to the screen size, the iPhone Air has a 6.5-inch display, which is larger than the 17 Pro's 6.3-inch screen. (If you want larger still, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is a whopping 6.9 inches diagonally). But the screen tech uses the identical Super Retina XDR technology with all the same bells and whistles — ProMotion high refresh rate, P3 color gamut, True Tone. They should look pretty much identical.  As for weight, the Air with its titanium casing tips the scales at just 5.82 ounces (165 grams), while the iPhone 17 Pro weighs 7.27 ounces (206 grams) with an aluminum chassis. That's a tad more than the iPhone 16 Pro's weight of 7.03 ounces (199 grams), probably due to the newer model's larger battery. If you decide to upgrade to the 17 Pro Max instead, it has a larger 6.9-inch display and weighs a whopping 8.22 ounces (233 grams). But long story short, the Air's superthin design and wispier weight is pretty much the reason you're buying this phone. The Air is pretty light and thin in comparison to all other iPhones. (Apple) Cameras Here's where the biggest differences lie: the cameras. While the iPhone 17 Pro has three rear 48MP cameras, the iPhone Air has just one (also 48MP, though it serves as two cameras in one). Here's what they include: iPhone 17 Pro rear cameras: The Pro boasts a triple array "Pro Fusion camera system," where the three 48MP cameras combine to offer .5x, 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x optical zoom options. The Pro also offers macro photography, spatial photos and can shoot in ProRAW image mode. Video offerings are also full-tilt, with 4K Dolby Vision video recording up to 120fps, along with a litany of sophisticated options that will appeal to more serious video shooters (ProRES Raw, Genlock support, cinematic mode and more). iPhone Air rear camera: By comparison, the Air has a single 48MP Fusion camera system that delivers only 2x optical zoom in addition to standard. That also means it lacks even the ultrawide (.5x) mode found in the baseline iPhone. Video recording is similarly limited to just half the Pro's framerate, albeit still in 4K Dolby Vision. Both phones have the new Center Stage 18MP front-facing "selfie" camera, which eliminates the need to rotate your phone to take a landscape photo. You instead just tap to expand the field of view. And when others join the photo, the camera automatically expands the view. And when you're on a video call, the camera uses artificial intelligence to adjust the frame. They also both offer Dual Capture, so you can shoot from the front and back cameras simultaneously.  The iPhone 17 Pro has three rear-facing cameras. (Apple) Still, the camera compromises are arguably the Air's biggest shortfall. Don't get this phone if you like long zooms, ultrawide shots or top-notch video quality. Battery life Battery life ratings should always be taken with a grain of salt. That said, Apple claims the Air will deliver up to 27 hours of video playback and can get up to a 50% charge in 30 minutes. The good news is that basically matches the battery claims of last year's iPhone 16 Pro. The bad news is that it falls well short of the new and improved battery specs on this year's 17 Pro. That model is rated up to 33 hours of video playback and up to a 50% charge in just 20 minutes with a 40-watt charger.  Apple Now, unlike the cameras, there's a workaround for the Air's shorter battery life. Apple offers an add-on iPhone Air MagSafe battery which snaps on to the Air's backside and gets you up to 40 hours of video playback. But it costs $99 and fattens up your superthin phone — doesn't that kinda get you back to square one? Price The iPhone Air starts at $999, which matches the price at the 256GB tier of the iPhone Plus model it's replacing (which just so happens to be my favorite). So that's $100 more than the starting price of last year's 128GB Plus, but with the storage doubled, I guess I can't complain too much. For 512GB, it'll cost you $1,199; and if you splurge on 1TB, you'll be paying $1,399. And the Air is available in four lighter color palettes. On the other hand, the iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099 with 256GB, which is just $100 more. You can also choose 512GB for $1,299 or 1TB for $1,499. (The iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199 for 256GB and goes up to $1,999 for 2TB.) The Pro comes in only three colors, though the Cosmic Orange is unusually bold for the iPhone Pro line. iPhone Air vs. iPhone 17 Pro: How to choose As I suggested above, the iPhone Air is certainly eye-catching, but you really need to make sure you're ready to accept those camera and battery compromises. The iPhone 17 Pro is much more of a "no compromise" choice, albeit one that's less of a looker (depending on how you feel about that new "camera plateau" at the top). That said, remember you can always default to the baseline iPhone 17, which is arguably better than ever — and has some nice feature one-ups on the Air, to boot. If I were choosing between the Air and the Pro, I know which one would be the clear winner for me — but I'll leave that decision up to you because I'm holding out (and hopeful) for a foldable iPhone in 2026. In the meantime, you can check out Engadget's initial hands-on impressions of the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and baseline iPhone 17, as well as our full reviews of those models coming in the near future.  $100 more for a Pro model really isn't that bad. (Apple) Full specs comparison iPhone Air iPhone 17 Pro Starting price $999 $1,099 Dimensions 6.15 x 2.94 x 0.22 inch 5.91 x 2.83 x 0.34 inch Weight 5.82 ounces (165 grams) 7.27 ounces (206 grams) Processor A19 Pro chip A19 Pro chip Display 6.5-inch Super Retina XDR display 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display Storage 256GB / 512GB / 1TB 256GB / 512GB / 1TB Battery Up to 27 hours Up to 33 hours Camera Main: 48MP Fusion camera system / 48MP Fusion MainFront: Center Stage 18MP Main: 48MP Pro Fusion camera system / 48MP Fusion Main /48MP Fusion Ultra Wide / 48MP Fusion TelephotoFront: Center Stage 18MP Colors Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, Space Black Silver, Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-air-vs-iphone-17-pro-which-one-is-right-for-you-001538431.html?src=rss View Source Article

It’s less noticeable than a thinner profile or trick camera lenses, but Apple is pointing out another upgrade in the iPhone 17 family of phones that it says is part of “the most significant upgrade to memory safety in the history of consumer operating systems.” Explicitly targeting the spyware industry that produces exploits for tools like Pegasus to hack on targeted devices, a series of changes in Apple’s chips, OS, and development tools are part of what it calls Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE). With the introduction of the iPhone 17 lineup and iPhone Air, we’re excited to deliver Memory Integrity Enforcement: the industry’s first ever, comprehensive, always-on memory-safety protection covering key attack surfaces — including the kernel and over 70 userland processes — built on the Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension (EMTE) and supported by secure typed allocators and tag confidentiality protections. The approach is similar to what we’ve seen from Microsoft’s introduction of memory integrity security features for Windows 11, as well as a series of changes that have arrived to prevent speculative-execution vulnerabilities like Spectre. Apple’s blog post also mentions efforts by ARM with the Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) to fight memory bugs, which is supported on Google’s Pixel phones starting with the Pixel 8 series and enabled for supported apps if you turn on Advanced Protection.  🔺iPhone models announced today include Memory Integrity Enforcement, the culmination of an unprecedented design and engineering effort that we believe represents the most significant upgrade to memory safety in the history of consumer operating systems. https://t.co/ule9gaXzc1— Ivan Krstić (@radian) September 9, 2025 Apple says its implementation goes a step further, with the ability to protect all users by default and by designing its A19 and A19 Pro chips for enhanced security, while still adding memory safety changes for older hardware that doesn’t support the new memory tagging features. The company also says its new mitigation for Spectre V1 leaks works with “virtually zero CPU cost” — as performance hits have been an issue for memory integrity and other security features —  with all of the changes making “mercenary spyware” even more expensive to develop.  The folks behind the security-focused GrapheneOS project acknowledged the “major security improvements” that will help iPhone security in a post on X, but also said they had issues with the presentation and how it portrayed iOS security vs features like MTE, already released for Android. We’ll learn more about how much has changed once these updates reach devices and attackers take their turn trying to crack open the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air’s security. View Source Article

Heightened geopolitical risk and macroeconomic volatility are driving more and more fund managers to infrastructure investments as they look for long-term bets that can help diversify and hedge against inflation. View Source Article

Apple introduced two new wireless chips in the iPhone Air, a preview of a world where all the key components of the company's products are custom-designed. The C1X and N1 chips enable wireless features like 5G connectivity and Wi-Fi 7, building on the original C1 modem the company introduced in the iPhone 16e. At least one reason Apple was able to pull off the thin design of the iPhone Air was the power-efficiency these new chips offer. The C1X modem supports sub-6Ghz 5G and 4G LTE and is up to two times faster than the C1 modem, according to Apple. It's also faster than the Qualcomm-designed modem in the iPhone 16 Pro "for the same cellular technologies." Apple says the chip is able to achieve these performance improvements while "using 30 percent less energy overall," which seems key for a phone with a smaller battery than normal. Whereas the C1 on the iPhone 16e also enabled Wi-Fi 6, Apple's offloaded Wi-Fi support to the new N1 chip on the iPhone Air. The N1 chip enables Bluetooth 6 for connecting to accessories, Wi-Fi 7 and Thread for controlling your smart home. Both these chips combine with the new A19 Pro, which has a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine, to give the iPhone Air pro-level power in a thinner profile. While Apple is using these new components to pull off a radical redesign this year, all-custom-everything is also where the company is headed overall, Bloomberg reported in 2024. That's both to avoid paying Qualcomm for components, and to enable new features and efficiencies in its products. Apple would even like to combine its modem and processor into a single chip at some point, though that's reportedly still a few years off.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apples-new-wireless-chips-give-it-even-more-control-of-the-iphone-194820274.html?src=rss View Source Article

iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users are getting another year of free access to satellite connectivity features, according to a footnote on Apple’s newsroom posts for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro. “The free trial will be extended for iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users who have activated their device in a country that supports Apple’s satellite features prior to 12 a.m. PT on September 9, 2025,” Apple says. Apple originally launched its Emergency SOS service via satellite shortly after it released the iPhone 14 lineup in November 2022, and at the time, Apple said the feature would be free for the first two years. (The feature is still free for two years after activation on iPhone 14 models and newer.) But in 2023, Apple added an additional free year for existing iPhone 14 users, meaning that the deadline to potentially start paying for the earliest adopters would be November 2025. Now, it appears that deadline has been bumped to November 2026. With iOS 18 last year, Apple expanded its satellite messaging features to let you text friends or family when you’re off the grid. Today, Apple also announced that the new Apple Watch Ultra 3 will have satellite connectivity features. View Source Article

Japanese Bitcoin treasury Metaplanet Inc. will issue new shares at ¥553, in its latest effort to strengthen buying power for the cryptocurrency. View Source Article

Though the Apple Watch announcements may have paled in comparison to the iPhone news at Apple's event today, there were still some noteworthy updates to the smartwatch lineup to talk about. This year, we're getting the Watch Series 11, Watch SE 3 and Watch Ultra 3, and each of them have some interesting features. At a hands-on session here at Apple Park, I spent some time with the devices, and believe the most intriguing is the Series 11. At first glance, the Series 11 is no different from the Series 10 I wore to the event. They're the same thinness and have pretty much the same dimensions, and the main change is that the new smartwatch has an IonX glass covering that's a bit more scratch resistant. There's also a new space grey case option that looked nice, though I was a bigger fan of the rose gold band and case pairing. I especially like the loop band that was on the unit I checked out.  I put the Series 11 on my wrist next to my Series 10 and truly could not tell them apart. There might not be much reason to upgrade from last year's model to this, which isn't a bad thing. We don't want to be too wasteful, anyway. The real updates coming to the Series 11 include the new "Possible hypertension" alerts, using data gathered from the existing optical heart rate sensors to study patterns in the constriction and expansion of your blood vessels in relation to your heart rate. This tells the watch whether there are differences in your blood pressure — keyword: differences.  Cherlynn Low for Engadget This tool isn't meant to give you readings of your blood pressure. It's more meant to tell if there are concerning variations and alert you to see a medical professional if so. This is similar to many other Apple Watch features like sleep apnea detection or high heart rate alerts, and since it requires data trends to work, wasn't something I could just test here at Apple Park. I also didn't get to test the sleep score feature that's coming watchOS 26, but that isn't exclusive to the Series 11, and any Apple Watch compatible with the latest software will be able to get it. I did like how you'll get scores once you've worn the watch to bed, and don't have to wait for a required number of nights for the insights to surface. This story is developing, please refresh for updates.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-series-11-hands-on-feels-and-looks-the-same-but-real-changes-are-deeper-200438367.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Apple Watch SE 3 starts at $249 and is available for preorder today. | Image: Apple The iPhone Air and the iPhone 17 fleet of phones took the spotlight during Apple’s “Awe dropping” event. If you weren’t tempted by the new phones, the fact that the entire Apple Watch lineup got refreshed might have been even bigger news to you. Soon, the Apple Watch SE 3, Apple Watch Series 11, and Apple Watch Ultra 3 will arrive, and each is bringing along some big upgrades, which we’ll get into a bit below. All three are available for preorder starting today, with the SE 3 starting at $249, the Series 11 starting at $399, and the Ultra 3 starting at $799. They’ll all ship on September 19th. We’ll update this post if any attractive carrier deals roll in. All three watches launch with watchOS 26, which includes the new Liquid Glass design, just like the new updates coming to most of Apple’s other devices on September 15th. The update also includes an AI-powered Workout Buddy to encourage you during exercise. Flicking your wrist up will clear your notifications. The watchOS 26 update will be released for older Apple Watch models (going back to Series 6, SE 2, and Ultra) on September 15th. We’ve gone hands-on with the upcoming Apple Watches — delivering impressions to the extent that it’s possible in a limited hands-on environment — but we’ll soon be getting each of them in for a full review. We also have initial impressions of the iPhone 17 line, including the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone Air. Where to preorder the Apple Watch SE 3 The Apple Watch SE 3 is the first update to Apple’s entry-level smartwatch line since 2022. It has the same S10 chip as the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3, and an always-on display that Apple says is four times more scratch resistant than the previous model. It supports Apple’s SOS and fall detection features, plus an entirely new feature called Sleep Score, which analyzes the amount of time you spend in each sleep stage and gives you a score based on the overall quality of sleep. The Apple Watch SE 3 also supports sleep apnea detection. Apple says the SE 3’s charging speed is twice as fast as the previous Apple Watch SE, offering eight hours of battery life off a 15 minute charge. The cellular version of the Apple Watch SE 3 supports 5G for the first time. When you’re not connected to the internet, you can use on-device Siri to handle local requests. The Apple Watch SE 3 is available in two case sizes: 42mm and 44mm. The 42mm GPS model costs $249, and jumps up to $299 if you want cellular connectivity. The 44mm GPS model costs $299, and the cellular model costs $329. All models are available for preorder from Apple, and you can choose your size, color, and whether you want the GPS or cellular version from the same page. Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS; 42mm) Where to Buy: $249 at Apple Where to preorder the Apple Watch Series 11 The Apple Watch Series 11 may look the same as the Series 10 it’s replacing, but it has a 5G cellular modem for the first time. Its displays are the same size, but Apple says the glass it used is twice as scratch resistant. Its heart rate sensor can now measure how blood is flowing through your veins to detect hypertension in the background, a feature that’s currently waiting for clearance at the FDA. That feature is also going to be available on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2. It also supports the new Sleep Score feature. The Series 11’s battery life has been bumped to 24 hours, up from 18 hours. The Apple Watch Series 11 comes two sizes: 42mm and 46mm. The 42mm GPS model costs $399 while the cellular version will set you back $429. The 46mm version costs $499, or $529 if you want the cellular model. All models are available for preorder from Apple, and you can choose your size, color, band type, and whether you want the GPS or cellular version from the same page. Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm; GPS) Where to Buy: $399 at Apple Where to preorder the Apple Watch Ultra 3 The refreshed Apple Watch Ultra 3 has a larger wide angle OLED display that can ratchet its refresh rate down to 1Hz for a more responsive always-on display. The smartwatches case size hasn’t changed, but the display is slightly larger thanks to a reduction in bezel size. It lasts up to 48 hours per charge, and has the same new 5G modem as the rest of Apple’s upcoming smartwatches. It’s also gained support for satellite texting, which will allow you to send a message and enable Find My to share your location when Wi-Fi and cellular service aren’t available. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is available in one case size, 49mm, and you can preorder it from Apple for $799.  Apple Watch Ultra 3 Where to Buy: $799 at Apple View Source Article

Broadcom Inc. Chief Executive Officer Hock Tan has a clause in his contract extension that would bring hundreds of millions of dollars in stock compensation if the company reaches $120 billion in artificial intelligence product sales by 2030. View Source Article

Earlier this year, I typed up an open letter to Apple, giving the company my unsolicited (but completely free of charge!) suggestions on what it could do to improve its entry-level smartwatch, the Apple Watch SE. Now that the iPhone event has concluded I wanted to see if anyone over in Cupertino took my advice.  I asked for a bigger screen, a faster processor and faster charging. I said flashier materials weren't necessary, nor was an always-on display. I also didn't think the watch needed to have every last health sensor. But on-board Siri would be nice. The Apple Watch SE 3 has some of what I asked for, but not everything. Still, at the same $250, this is looking like a pretty tempting budget smartwatch. The screen is still small but the processor is top of the line I compared the display on the SE Gen 2 to my old Apple Watch Series 4 and they were about the same size. It's usable, but after wearing the Series 10, or even the Series 9 for a while, the screen feels dinky. Down to the pixel, the size on the SE 3 is the exact same on the Apple Watch SE gen 2, with a 759 square millimeter display area. Sigh.  The Apple Watch SE second generationAmy Skorheim for Engadget But! The same S10 chip that's going into the new Series 11 will ship inside the Apple Watch SE 3, too. That means the budget smartwatch will be able to handle watchOS 26 features like Workout Buddy and Live Translation, just like its pricier siblings (an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone still needs to be nearby, as it does with the other wearables).  That new chip will also enable the useful double tap gesture as well as the new wrist flick move that dismisses notifications — something I find surprisingly useful as an inveterate notification-clearer. You also get on-board processing of Siri requests. No more excessive tapping just to start a timer. Both the gesture and Siri support are things I'd hoped a new SE would have. So, yay! The Apple Watch SE 3 can give you a sleep score, just like its pricier siblingsApple AOD isn't critical, but faster charging is In my experience with smartwatches, an always-on-display is a nice to have, but not crucial if the screen lights up quickly enough when I lift my wrist. But Apple went ahead and added the feature. So that's a bonus.  I also said we could do without a brighter screen, and Apple agreed. Like the SE Gen 2, the SE 3 has a maximum brightness of 1000 nits — that's plenty. I can easily read the time and other pertinent info in bright sunlight on such a screen, and feel no need for the extra blaze of the Series 11's 2000 nits.  The most critical ask was faster charging. The SE Gen 2 charged... so... slowly... It took over two hours to juice up. Which, for me, made it completely unusable as a sleep tracker, since I couldn't recharge it while I got ready for the day (something I could do with every other recent smartwatch I've tested). Thankfully, Apple fixed the problem. The SE 3 can go for 8 hours after just 15 minutes on the charger. Hallelujah.  The Apple Watch SE second generation charged too slowly.Amy Skorheim for Engadget Sensors, case materials and the rest The big news for the flagship Series 11 watch was a feature that can detect hypertension. The Apple Watch SE 3 can't do that. Nor does it have the sensors for the ECG app. As I said in my letter, it's OK if my watch isn't a doctor's office. The SE 3 can track your heart rate during workouts and can deliver the new sleep score if you wear it to bed. Plus Apple added temperature sensors that can help with ovulation predictions and the like. That's more than enough health data gathering for a budget smartwatch.  While there was talk of a plastic version of the SE, that didn't happen. Instead, the SE 3 is made from an aluminum alloy, just like the base model Series 11 — similar durability is a nice consideration for any budget model.  And it's still just $250! When the Apple Watch SE Gen 2 came out back in 2022, Engadget's Cherlynn Low called it "the best smartwatch $250 can buy." With all the improvements Apple has added, that praise may now be an understatement.  So maybe the Apple folk didn't read my letter. But enough good stuff came to be that I'll pretend they did. It's always nice to feel heard.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-acquiesced-to-my-apple-watch-se-3-demands-mostly-220726287.html?src=rss View Source Article

Oracle has crushed it and is up about 26% in after hours. They are guiding that they will make huge profits from AI data centers. They have also somewhat quietly tripled their value over the last few years by becoming a major cloud player. Other ways to ride the AI data center wave are Dell ... Read more View Source Article

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on Sept. 23 will send three spacecraft a million miles from Earth to map the heliosphere and expand our understanding of space weather and atmospheric science. View Source Article

Apple just announced arguably its boldest Pro iPhone color ever: the new "cosmic orange" for the iPhone 17 Pro. And to my surprise, I think it looks really good. In choosing a bold hue as its hero shade for the iPhone 17 Pro, Apple also seems to have nailed one of the season's hottest colors. Orange showed up a lot on fashion runways earlier this year, and orange-y citrus shades were one of this summer's color trends, according to Vogue. And on the iPhone 17 Pro, it's a deep orange that really pops. Based on Apple's photos and the ones we took at the iPhone 17 launch event, you'll definitely spot the phone on a table across the room. Thank … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Shares of chip-design software maker Synopsys Inc. plummeted in extended trading after warning that US export restrictions are contributing to a slowdown in China, the largest market for semiconductors. View Source Article

There's a lot to like about the new iPhone lineup: new selfie cameras, a new unibody frame and a even a super-thin iPhone, if that's your thing. All of the new phones share one important upgrade you might have missed during Apple's 72-minute livestream, though: they all start at 256GB of storage. For the first time in four years, Apple raised the base-level storage on its entire iPhone lineup. Since the iPhone 13, Apple's phones have started at 128GB for the cheapest configuration. Now, the iPhone 17, 17 Pro and iPhone Air will start with double that capacity. It's about time. While 128GB may sound like a decent amount of storage, it hasn't made sense as a base amount of storage for some time, particularly for Pro-level phones, which have much more powerful cameras. Apple has seemingly understood this for a while: for the last two years (when the iPhone 15 lineup launched), the Pro Max versions have started at 256GB. But there's absolutely no reason that only people buying the most expensive iPhone should get a storage bump. Because I write about tech, my friends and family often ask me for help "fixing" various problems with their phones. (I spend most of my time reporting on the social media industry, so usually this involves me just Googling their specific issue and muddling through.) I've lost track of the times friends have asked me for help fixing things that boil down to the fact that they simply don't have enough storage left on their phone. And, almost every time, they only have the minimum 128GB of storage that's come standard since the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 13 line. But no one wants to hear: "you don't have enough storage, you need to delete stuff." One of my friends recently vowed to never buy the cheapest iPhone again, after I explained that paying for extra iCloud wouldn't address her issues around local storage. But if you can afford it, paying for a storage upgrade is still worth it. Yes, paying the $200 extra for 512GB for $400 more for 1TB on the Pro series (which now maxes out at $1999 for 2TB) stings. It makes an already-expensive phone feel like an even bigger investment. But as someone who shelled out for a 512GB iPhone 14 Pro three years ago, I have no regrets about paying that extra premium. I'm currently using about 295GB of my allotted storage and have never once had to think about whether I need to clear out my downloaded media or if I have enough storage to shoot photos of my nephew in ProRAW Max or record cinematic videos on vacation. I plan on keeping this phone at least another year and I expect I'll still have plenty of storage left by the time I do decide to upgrade (extra storage also helps a bit with resale or trade-in value).  But, if you just can't bring yourself to pay extra for more capacity — and I get it, I really do — jumping from 128GB to 256GB will still be a meaningful bump. You might not notice it right away, but it should give most people a lot of extra time before they start seeing those dreaded "storage almost full" pop-ups.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/all-of-the-new-iphones-start-with-256gb-of-storage-finally-222415353.html?src=rss View Source Article

Apple just announced a bunch of new health tracking features alongside its new smartwatch lineup — but you might not need to upgrade your device to get access to them. With the launch of watchOS 26 next week, Apple will bring hypertension notifications, live translation, and the new wrist flick gesture to the Watch Series 9 and newer, along with the last-gen Watch Ultra 2. Apple’s new hypertension notifications use data from the watches’ existing optical heart sensor to “analyze how a user’s blood vessels respond to the beats of the heart.” An algorithm will then review this data over a period of 30 days and will notify users if it detects signs of high blood pressure. Apple says it expects clearance from the FDA and other regulators this month. It will roll out in more than 150 countries and regions. Additionally, Apple’s upcoming Sleep Score feature is coming to a wider selection of watches beyond the new Watch Series 11. Next week, it will roll out to the Watch Series 6 and later, in addition to all Watch Ultra models and the 2nd-gen Watch SE and later. This feature uses your heart rate, wrist temperature, blood oxygen, and respiratory data to rate the quality of your sleep when used with an iPhone 11 or later. These features will arrive with watchOS 26 on September 15th. View Source Article

Alphabet Inc.’s Google cloud computing division has up to $106 billion in commitments from existing customer contracts that it has yet to fulfill, according to the division’s Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Kurian. View Source Article

There’s a marketing practice called Anchoring, where a mediocre product is offered at a similar price to the one the manufacturer actually wants to sell. Sure, you can buy the base model but the next model up, for just $50 more, offers so much more that buying the cheaper one feels like a bad deal. Apple is no stranger to this practice, but I do think that the iPhone Air is a fairly extreme example of it. Apple’s iPhone strategy has, in recent years, centered on four models: That year’s model, its Pro sibling, and then larger-screened variants of both. This year, the Plus size version of the base model was ditched in favor of the iPhone Air. It’s a dramatically thinner phone, coming in at 5.64mm deep compared to the regular iPhone 17’s 7.95mm. It has a more powerful chip, packing Apple’s flagship A19 Pro compared to the regular iPhone 17’s A19. Oh, and it has a 6.5-inch display, slightly bigger than the 17’s 6.3-inch panel. But those are its only advantages. Phones have been getting larger and larger for well over a decade and every time, consumers have bought them. The demise of the iPhone SE killed the idea a large number of people were clamoring for a handset smaller than five inches. But I’ve never heard anyone grouse about the thickness of their handset, given these objects also need to be held comfortably in the hand. Consequently, the Air’s main reason for existing is, fundamentally, one that offers a bunch of compromises to reach a target no-one asked it to. In fact, it becomes embarrassing when you put the Air in a side-by-side comparison with the base model iPhone 17. The handset has a slightly smaller screen and is “only” using the regular A19 chip but, in every other metric, it’s a far better phone. It has a bigger battery and a longer promised runtime, dual 48-megapixel cameras over the Air’s single lens. But while the Air retails from $999, you can pick up an iPhone 17 for $799 with 256GB storage, which I think is a steal. In any logical world, the iPhone Air wouldn’t even get a second glance with 99 percent of buyers. Of course, much like the MacBook Air this is going to be the shape of iPhones to come. You can already see Apple’s desire to slim down the form factor and ditch legacy technologies like physical SIM cards. It won’t be long before these changes come across to the rest of the iPhone line as users acquiesce to Apple’s desire to trim things down. It’s doubly obvious the Air is laying the groundwork for any planned Apple foldable, too, given that Samsung and Honor are releasing foldables that measure 9mm thick when closed. But I’d urge everyone else to restrain the desire to spend $999 of their hard-earned to be a beta tester for Apple’s hardware roadmap. Sure, I’ll probably buy the iPhone Air 5 (or 22) but probably only because I don’t have any other choice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-air-is-a-great-advertisement-for-the-iphone-17-201318112.html?src=rss View Source Article

Explaining SpaceX's aggressive move to dominate satellite-to-phone connectivity. View Source Article

Anthropic’s $1.5 billion book piracy settlement has been put on pause after the federal judge overseeing the class action case raised concerns about the terms of the agreement. During a hearing this week, Judge William Alsup rejected the settlement over concerns that class action lawyers will create a deal behind closed doors that they will force “down the throats of authors,” according to reports from Bloomberg Law and the Associated Press. Anthropic agreed to pay the landmark settlement last week, putting to rest a class action lawsuit from US authors that accused the AI company of training its models on hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books. Judge Alsup let the class action lawsuit move forward after ruling that Anthropic training its AI models on purchased books counts as fair use, but that it could be liable for training on illegally downloaded work. In addition to his concerns over authors being strong-armed into signing a deal, Alsup says he needs to review more information about the claims process outlined in the settlement. “I have an uneasy feeling about hangers on with all this money on the table,” Alsup said, as reported by Bloomberg Law. Under the settlement, authors and publishers would receive about $3,000 for covered works. As noted by AP, an attorney for the authors said there are around 465,000 books that would be covered by the settlement, but Judge Alsup asked for a solid number to ensure Anthropic doesn’t get hit with other lawsuits “coming out of the woodwork.” He added that class members will need to be given “very good notice” to make sure they’re aware of the case. Maria Pallante, CEO of the Association of American Publishers, an industry group backing the authors’ lawsuit, told AP that Alsup “demonstrated a lack of understanding of how the publishing industry works.” Pallante said that “class actions are supposed to resolve cases, not create new disputes, and certainly not between the class members who were harmed in the first place.” The authors’ attorney, Justin Nelson, said in a statement to Bloomberg Law that the lawyers “care deeply that every single proper claim gets compensation.” Judge Alsup will revisit the settlement during another hearing on September 25th. “We’ll see if I can hold my nose and approve it,” Alsup said, according to the AP. View Source Article

Speaking at a WIRED event Tuesday, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said he was “encouraged” by the company’s dialogue with the FDA—but acknowledged recent setbacks. View Source Article

A huge day for Apple in Cupertino. The company unveiled its new iPhone 17 lineup which includes the Air design. It also showed off new smartwatches and updated AirPods. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, our Apple expert, has the key takeaways. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

The announcement of the iPhone Air surprised exactly nobody during today's Apple "Awe dropping" event. As we finally get officiall details about this lightweight smartphone model, one of the biggest questions is about the battery. Thin devices mean thinner batteries, so we've been curious to see how the iPhone Air will stack up. One thing we now know is that it's less beefy than standard smartphones when it comes to wireless charging. According to the tech specs provided by Apple on its website, the iPhone Air charges at 20W on both MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging, whereas the other iPhones announced today charge a little faster at 25W. Apple also shared fast-charging capabilities for the iPhone Air: "Up to 50 percent charge in 30 minutes with 20W adapter or higher (available separately) paired with USB‑C charging cable, or 30W adapter or higher paired with MagSafe Charger (both available separately)." The spec sheet also says that the iPhone Air on its own offers up to 27 hours of video playback or up to 22 hours of streaming video. When coupled with a dedicated iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack, those figures jump to up to 40 hours and up to 35 hours, respectively. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-airs-top-wireless-charging-speed-is-20w-201804255.html?src=rss View Source Article

A newly discovered gamma-ray burst is unlike any seen before, repeating over the course of a day rather than erupting in milliseconds, leaving astronomers perplexed by its origins. View Source Article

Determined to give us something new to talk about, Apple has introduced its ultra-thin iPhone Air. It's just 5.6mm thick with a 6.5-inch ProMotion display, a 48-megapixel dual camera, a selfie camera that supports Center Stage, and an add-on MagSafe battery. Among other things. We asked the staff of The Verge for their first impressions of the iPhone Air. We'll run a full review of the phone, of course, but here are some feelings about the phone from our staff. Preorders for the iPhone Air begin on Friday, September 12th, and it ships on September 19th. Do you want an ultra-slim iPhone? The iPhone 17 Air is thin and lovely. My iPhone 15 … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Mexico will increase tariffs on goods from countries not covered by a trade deal while ensuring the import duties will be in line with World Trade Organization rules, Mexico’s finance chief told reporters. View Source Article

Microsoft reportedly plans to begin using Anthropic's latest Claude models to power some of the Copilot features in its Office 365 apps. In a report published Tuesday, The Information said the tech giant would announce the change "in the coming weeks." Microsoft currently relies on OpenAI's tech to power the majority of AI features found inside of Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. As an outsider looking in, Microsoft's embrace of Anthropic's models would appear to signal a deepening split between the company and OpenAI. Microsoft is the AI lab's largest investor, and was integral to Sam Altman's rehiring as CEO following his brief ouster in 2023. However, in recent months reports of a growing impasse between the two in negotiations over OpenAI's plan to restructure its for-profit division as a public benefit corporation have bubbled up.  For its part, Microsoft denied the move is motivated by animosity. "As we’ve said, OpenAI will continue to be our partner on frontier models and we remain committed to our long-term partnership," a company spokesperson told The Information. Still, the decision likely comes as unwelcome news for OpenAI. The Information reports Microsoft is at least partly motivated by the fact it believes Claude 4 Sonnet "performs better in subtle but important ways" than GPT-5. For example, The Information's source said Anthropic's model tends to generate "more aesthetically pleasing" PowerPoint presentations. Notably, that's coming from an older model, and one that isn't even Anthropic's flagship offering.  Anthropic did not immediately respond to Engadget's comment request. According to The Information, Microsoft does not plan to charge more for access to Anthropic models in Office 365, with Copilot pricing set to remain at $30 per user per month. That's notable because the company will pay Amazon to access Claude Sonnet 4 through AWS, Anthropic's primary cloud provider. As part of its investment in OpenAI, Microsoft can access the company's models at no additional cost.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-reportedly-plans-to-start-using-anthropic-models-to-power-some-of-office-365s-copilot-features-202017205.html?src=rss View Source Article

The new iPhone Air starts at $999. | Image: The Verge Apple announced its new iPhone 17 lineup during its “Awe dropping” event on Tuesday. As expected, the company introduced the iPhone 17, the flagship iPhone 17 Pro, and a bigger iPhone 17 Pro Max. There’s also a new addition to the lineup this year: the slimmed-down iPhone Air, which features a 6.5-inch ProMotion display and measures at just 5.6mm thick. Beyond the Air’s slimmer design, Apple’s latest iPhone lineup features a number of notable updates. The standard iPhone 17 now features a larger 6.3-inch with ProMotion and an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Meanwhile, the Pro model has returned to an aluminum build, while adding the biggest battery of any iPhone yet. The iPhone Air and Pro models have a lot in common, including having a “plateau” bump on the back, which Apple says creates additional space for internal components, including a larger battery. The iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, and Air start at $799, $1,099, $1,199, and $999, respectively, with preorders beginning Friday, September 12th, and shipments set to arrive the following Friday, September 19. Below, you’ll find more information about each new device, along with where you can place a preorder. We’ll update this post as carrier promotions roll in. Where to preorder the iPhone Air The iPhone Air finally made its debut after months of rumors. It’s Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever at 5.6mm thick, and features a 6.5-inch ProMotion display and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Apple says the design is its “most durable” yet, with a ceramic shield that encloses a titanium frame on both sides (also found in the iPhone 17 Pro). The device also sports a single 48MP fusion camera, along with an A19 Pro processor and Apple’s in-house C1X modem. Despite its thinner design, Apple says the Air features “all-day battery life,” with up to 27 hours of video playback, or 40 hours when the $99 iPhone Air MagSafe battery is attached. You’ll be able to preorder the iPhone Air at Apple alongside the other models on Friday, September 12th, with the launch set to follow on Friday, September 19th. The Air starts at $999 with 256GB of storage, and goes all the way up to $1,399 for the 1TB model. iPhone Air The iPhone Air is Apple’s thinnest iPhone yet at 5.6mm, featuring a 6.5-inch ProMotion display, a 48MP fusion camera, and an 18MP front camera with Center Stage support. It also boasts the most Apple-designed chips in an iPhone: the A19 Pro, N1, and C1X. Where to Buy: $999 at Apple (256GB) $1199 at Apple (512GB) $1399 at Apple (1TB) Where to preorder the iPhone 17 The iPhone 17 is Apple’s latest entry-level smartphone. Like last year’s release, it borrows many of its best features from the previous-generation Pro line, including a larger 6.3-inch 120Hz ProMotion display. The device also features a new A19 processor and a dual-camera system that includes a dual 48MP fusion camera system that has a main camera and an ultra-wide camera. A new 18MP Center Stage front camera features a square sensor, allowing users to take high-quality landscape mode selfies without having to rotate their phone. The phone is available in five colors (black, lavender, mist blue, sage, and white) and features a starting storage of 256GB. The iPhone 17 is set to launch on Friday, September 19th, with preorders beginning Friday, September 12th at Apple for $799 with 256GB of storage or $999 with 512GB of storage. iPhone 17 The standard iPhone 17 has a 6.3-inch ProMotion display that can reach 3,000 nits of peak brightness, an A19 chip, and a 48MP dual camera system. It also features an 18MP Center Stage selfie camera with a square sensor, allowing users to take landscape selfies while holding the device vertically.  Where to Buy: $799 at Apple (256GB) $999 at Apple (512GB) Where to preorder the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max look different than last year’s pro models. While they keep the same 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, Apple has made a few tweaks to the design. One of the first things you’ll probably notice is the plateau camera bump on the back, which houses a trio of 48MP fusion cameras. Both devices also boast an upgraded 18MP selfie camera with support for Center Stage, and a more powerful A19 Pro processor inside. The Pro models feature larger batteries than before, too, with the 17 Pro Max delivering the best battery life ever in an iPhone, according to Apple. The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max launch alongside the non-pro models on Friday, September 19th. The smaller Pro starts at $1,099 with 256GB of storage, while the 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199 with 256GB of storage, with preorders beginning Friday, September 12th. For the first time ever, Apple is offering a 2TB configuration of the 17 Pro Max for $1,999. You can nab a preorder for the 17 Pro from Apple; the 17 Pro Max is also available for preorder at Apple. iPhone 17 Pro The iPhone 17 Pro features a 6.3-inch OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, and it’s powered by an A19 Pro chip. It features a 48MP triple camera system, plus a new “plateau” bar on the back, which Apple says creates additional space for internal components, including a larger battery. Where to Buy: $1099 at Apple (256GB) $1299 at Apple (512GB) $1499 at Apple (1TB)iPhone 17 Pro Max The larger iPhone 17 Pro Max sports a 6.9-inch OLED screen and the best battery life ever in an iPhone. It has most of the same features as the smaller iPhone 17 Pro, though, but offers storage up to 2TB — a first in the iPhone line. Where to Buy: $1199 at Apple (256GB) $1399 at Apple (512GB) $1999 at Apple (2TB) View Source Article

A new independent report finds that although NASA's ambitious mission to fly across the surface of Titan is delayed and over budget, the fault is due to the space agency's management rather than the program itself. Released Tuesday by NASA's Office of Inspector General, the report found that the mission's budget has soared from an initial figure of $850 million upon its selection in 2019 to $3.35 billion today. Additionally, the launch target has slipped from the year 2026 to 2028. However, the cost increase and schedule slippages are not new. The space agency disclosed these issues nearly a year and a half ago. What is notable about the new report from NASA's inspector general is that the cause of these problems was not a serious technical problem or a flawed design of a vehicle intended to spend years flying across Titan. View Source Article

Oracle Corp. posted a huge jump in bookings in the latest quarter, following a massive deal with OpenAI. The shares surged in extended trading. View Source Article

Tucked away in Apple's iPhone 17 press releases was a bonus for off-grid owners of older models. The company gave iPhone 14 and 15 owners free access to satellite features for another year. This is Apple's third extension since Emergency SOS via satellite launched with the iPhone 14. "The free trial will be extended for iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users who have activated their device in a country that supports Apple's satellite features prior to 12AM PT on September 9, 2025," the company's copy reads. An Apple support page lists Armenia, Belarus, China mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia as unsupported countries. Apple's off-grid feature set began in 2022 with Emergency SOS via satellite. In iOS 18, it expanded to include Messages via satellite, Find My access and roadside assistance. The features work through a partnership with Globalstar. Apple As for why Apple keeps extending the free access, a Redditor floated a logical-sounding theory after last year's announcement. "I can't see Apple ever charging for [Emergency SOS via satellite]," u/rotates-potatoes posted. "The positive PR of 'saved by Apple' is too good, and the negative PR of 'died because they didn't pay $3' is too bad." (It's worth noting that the pricing was speculative. Apple hasn't said how much it plans to charge.) You can demo the features on your iPhone right now. To test Emergency SOS, head to Settings > Emergency SOS, and scroll down to "Try Demo" (at the bottom). For the texting feature, go to Settings > Apps > Messages, and scroll down to "Satellite Connection Demo."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-gives-iphone-14-and-15-owners-an-extra-free-year-of-satellite-connectivity-202434416.html?src=rss View Source Article

A cadre of iron-rich extraterrestrial particles picked up faint whiffs of our planet's atmosphere when they fell to Earth millions of years ago. View Source Article

Inside Apple’s splashy iPhone 17 lineup is a new chip: the N1. It’s a wireless networking chip made in-house by Apple, allowing its devices to support the latest networking technologies, including Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and the smart home protocol Thread. Apple previously used chips made by Broadcom to power Bluetooth and Wi-Fi within its smartphones. But now, Apple says the N1 chip will help boost the performance and reliability of features like AirDrop and Personal Hotspot. The iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, as well as the iPhone Air, will all ship with the N1. In addition to the N1, Apple revealed its next-gen C1X 5G modem, offering twice the speed of the C1 chip it launched with the iPhone 16E. The N1 and C1X join the growing list of in-house silicon developed by Apple, which also includes its line of processors made for the iPhone, Mac, the Apple Watch, and AirPods. View Source Article

Charlie Javice, who was convicted in March of defrauding JPMorgan Chase & Co. into acquiring her student-finance startup, argued for a lenient sentence, saying an estimated $200 million loss was “not consequential” for the largest US bank. View Source Article

If you're trying to decide whether to buy a new iPhone 17 model and looking at the camera updates, there's mostly good news and a little bad following today's big event. Apple did upgrade the telephoto camera on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models and introduced some new pro video features. It also boosted resolution on the base iPhone 17's ultra wide camera — but that model still lacks a dedicated telephoto camera now available on rivals like the Pixel 10.  However, the most welcome change across the lineup is the new front facing camera. It not only has a higher resolution square sensor, but a nice Center Stage feature that makes it far easier to switch between portrait and group photos. Video is also much improved on that camera. Here are all the details on camera changes across the lineup.  iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max Apple The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max cameras received a major upgrade with a new telephoto sensor that's 56 percent larger and boosts resolution from 12MP to 48MP — meaning all three Fusion Cameras now share that resolution. Optical zoom has also been expanded on the telephoto camera from 5x to 8x thanks to a new tetraprism lens. The larger hump that runs across the back of the phone (a camera "plateau") is there to accommodate the new optics and sensor. The other major upgrade is in the front-facing camera. All iPhone 17 models including the Pro models have a square-sensor "Center Stage" 18MP selfie camera, up from 12MP on the three previous generations. The lens has been updated as well with six elements instead of five as before. That will make for sharper selfie photos and more detailed video, a big plus for a camera that hasn't got much love in past versions.  The square front camera sensor will also change the way you take selfies. Instead of turning the phone sideways for wide group shots, you simply tap a setting to expand the field of view and orientation. Apple says that's not only simpler but more likely to prevent mishaps since it's easier to grip the phone vertically. In video mode, meanwhile, the front camera now offers ultra-stabilized 4K HDR video. The one drawback is that it's harder to see details, as the image on the screen is much smaller when held vertically.  Apple also made some key video changes to tempt filmmakers toward iPhones instead of dedicated cameras. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have a new photonic engine to preserve detail and color fidelity. Apple also introduced ProRes RAW capture, Apple Log 2 and genlock. The first two features will allow for improved dynamic range and easier grading, while genlock will make it easier to sync footage shot with multiple iPhone 17 Pros. Another key feature is Dual Capture that lets you film with both the front and rear cameras at the same time, so you can capture footage and vlog your reaction to it simultaneously. iPhone 17 Apple Compared to the Pro models, the base iPhone 17 received a milder camera boost. Primarily, the company has upgraded the Fusion Ultra Wide camera to 48MP, matching the 48MP Fusion Main Camera. That will deliver more detailed photos and video when shooting group and other wide shots. However, optical zoom on the telephoto camera is still limited to 2x, compared to 5x on Samsung and Google's latest Pixel 10 and Galaxy S25 base models, something buyers are likely to notice. That said, the boosted resolution will allow for clearer pictures when zooming digitally.  The base model now records 4K 60 fps Dolby Vision with creative features like Cinematic and Action modes, along with Spatial Audio. The Audio Mix function automatically boosts voices and reduces ambient noise, while providing a wind noise reduction feature. The iPhone 17 gets the same front camera upgrade as the Pro models, including the square 18MP sensor and Center Stage tricks that let you should wide or portrait shots without turning the camera, along with ultra-stabilized 4K HDR video.  iPhone 17 Air Apple Apple kept the iPhone 17 Air so thin by using a single 48MP Fusion Camera, but it did try to make it as versatile as possible. It has a large 2 micrometer quad-pixel sensor that excels in low light, along with an optical quality 2x telephoto. That gives users "the equivalent of four lenses in their pocket," Apple said, including wide and telephoto models, via digital and optical zoom.  Like the other models, you can capture 4K 60 fps Dolby Vision HDR video, and get support for Action mode, Spatial Audio capture and Audio Mix mode to boost voices and reduce ambient noise. The new Photonic Engine improves image detail and color accuracy and a new Bright style adds clarity to skin tones and increases vibrance.  The iPhone 17 Air also has the 18MP Center Stage front square sensor camera as the other models, with all the benefits that entails. Those include switching from wide to portrait photos without rotating the camera, 4K HDR video capture with ultra stabilization and Dual Capture to take video from both the front and rear cameras at the same time. Center Stage can also be used during video calls to keep you stable and positioned in the frame. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-17s-new-selfie-camera-lets-you-take-group-shots-without-rotating-your-phone-195345475.html?src=rss View Source Article

A monumental sign of an atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1e could be the precursor to finally finding a living world around another star View Source Article

Sage is looking sharp. Apple's big fall event just wrapped up, and we rushed out of the Steve Jobs Theater to get our hands on the latest iPhones. Here's a look at the new iPhone 17, Apple's base model this year, which is joined by the thinner iPhone Air and beefier iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max - there's no Plus this time around. The first place to start is the rear camera. Not because a lot has changed here, but rather because it hasn't: while the iPhone 17 Pro and Air have both adopted new horizontal camera "plateaus," the regular 17 has the same two vertically stacked lenses as last year. That means this is the only iPhone 17 that actually looks like the iPhone 1 … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Apple unveils the iPhone Air. The company calls it a "piece of the future." The iPhone Air is 5.6 millimeters, and is “unlike anything you’ve ever held before,” says John Ternus, chief of hardware engineering. It has a 6.5-inch screen, ProMotion, new Ceramic Shield on both the front and the back. Ed Ludlow reports from Cupertino. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

In an absolute shocker, an early September Apple event included the official reveal of the iPhone 17. Who could have seen that coming? Arguably the biggest change this time around — in the most literal sense — concerns the display. At 6.3 inches, it's larger than the iPhone 16's 6.1-inch screen. Sorry to iPhone users with smaller hands and anyone else who is fed up of every phone becoming a phablet. The bezels are thinner too. Not only is the iPhone 17 screen larger than the one on its predecessor, it boasts a Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion, meaning it has an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling (you can perhaps thank my colleague Igor Bonifacic for willing that into existence). It's an always-on screem. When you aren't using your iPhone 17, the refresh rate dips to 1Hz to help optimize battery life.  The front of the device boasts Ceramic Shield 2, which improves scratch resistance by three times, Apple claims. There's also a seven-layer anti-glare coating that's designed to improve readability, and there's a peak outdoor brightness of 3,000 nits (1,000 nits more than the iPhone 16). No prizes for guessing that there's an upgraded processor in the iPhone 17. An A19 processor with a 3nm design is powering this year's base model. Apple says it has more memory bandwidth to bolster on-device large language model processing (the 16-core neural engine will help with that). The A19 has a five-core GPU as well. That, plus the 120Hz display, should bolster gaming on the iPhone 17. Unfortunately, Apple is sticking with a dual camera system on the rear. Apple is calling this a Dual Fusion camera system which merges the capabilities of both lenses. The main camera is a 48MP lens with integrated optical-quality 2x Telephoto and a 26mm focal length. There's also a 48MP Ultra Wide sensor — Apple says this can capture up to four times the resolution of the previous-gen camera. Apple As for the front-facing camera, it has a much larger sensor than on previous models, according to Apple. It's also square instead of rectangular. One big benefit of that change is that you'll be able to snap landscape selfies in any orientation — no need to rotate your phone to do that. Your iPhone 17 will automatically switch between landscape and portrait orientations if, for instance, AI detects more people in the photo to make sure everyone is included.  The selfie camera can take 18MP snaps, which is an upgrade on the 12MP resolution that the iPhone 16's front-facing lens topped out at. The Center Stage camera offers improved stabilization for videos (which you can capture in 4K HDR), FaceTime calls and video calls in third-party apps, Apple says. There's also support for a feature called Dual Capture. This allows you to record video using both the front and rear cameras at the same time. On the battery front, Apple says the iPhone 17 will deliver up to 30 hours of continuous video playback on a single charge, which is eight hours more than on the iPhone 16. The Adaptive Power Mode in iOS 26 can learn your typical battery consumption levels and conserve power when needed.  In addition, the company claims you can top the battery up to 50 percent in 20 minutes thanks to faster charging. You'll need a powerful enough USB-C charger for that, of course, and it just so happens Apple is starting to sell a 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max, which will do the trick. That costs $39. Apple's Mag-Safe compatible cases include the $49 clear case, $59 FineWoven Wallet and $49 silicone case (available in black, neon yellow, light moss, anchor blue, and purple fog). The latter works with Apple's new crossbody strap, which is pretty self-explanatory. It could help keep your iPhone secure while freeing up space in your pocket. It's made with 100 percent recycled yarns and comes in 10 colors. The strap has an adjustable length. Oh, and it costs $59. Elsewhere, Apple is promising improved performance and reliability for features such as Personal Hotspot and AirDrop thanks to the N1 networking chip it designed in house. As you might expect, this supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity too. The dimensions are slightly different from the iPhone 16. The iPhone 17 is 0.1mm narrower at 71.5mm (2.81 inches) and 2mm taller at 147.6mm (5.89 inches). It's a hair thicker too, adding 0.15mm. Moreover, the iPhone 17 is seven grams heavier than its predecessor at 177 grams (6.24 ounces). The iPhone 17 runs iOS 26, which boasts Apple's new Liquid Glass design language. It features the expansion of Apple's Visual Intelligence — the company's answer to Google Lens — to screenshots, as well as overhauled Camera and Phone apps. Moreover, iOS 26 brings live translation to the Phone, FaceTime and Messages apps, along with polls to group chats, additional lock screen options and much more. The iPhone 17 will be available in black, lavender, mist blue, sage and white. In a very welcome update, Apple is doubling the base storage to 256GB.  There's no price increase this year, as the iPhone 17 starts at $799. Pre-orders for the iPhone 17 (and the other models) start this Friday, September 12 at 8AM ET. The iPhone 17 will hit shelves on September 19 in more than 63 countries, including the US. It will become available in 22 more countries and regions a week later. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-17-boasts-a-larger-display-with-promotion-support-and-a-120hz-refresh-rate-173429663.html?src=rss View Source Article

Directive 8020 is shaking up the Supermassive Games formula for better and for worse. View Source Article

Apple's hotly-anticipated Apple event was chock-full of news about updates to AirPods, the Apple Watch, the new suite of iPhones, and more. But during the one-hour-and-fifteen-minute presentation, which was considerably shorter than usual, there was one notable buzzword missing from a good chunk of the fanfare: AI. Although CEO Tim Cook said during the livestream that the company was "taking the biggest leap ever for iPhone," there were only cursory mentions of Apple Intelligence during the new iPhone unveiling. Yes, the phones represent "advancements in Apple silicon, hardware, and software," per Apple, meaning they're better for gaming … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Meta Platforms Inc. has signed a multi-year contract worth more than $100 million to use technology from AI image startup Black Forest Labs, the latest investment by the social media firm to expand its artificial intelligence offerings. View Source Article

Surprising absolutely no one, Apple has unveiled the new iPhone 17 series, including the iPhone Air, which CEO Tim Cook said freed the company up to make the Pro handsets the most Pro ever. Here at Apple Park, I was able to take a high speed hands-on demo of the iPhone 17 Pro, and made a beeline for the new Cosmic Orange model. I'm already very taken with the way it looks and feels, and don't even mind the new camera plateau, but maybe that's just because I'm a sucker for change. This isn't a shiny new thing, to be clear. Far from it. The iPhone 17 Pro that I played with was the orange version and it has a sort of matte finish and a vague "soft touch" feel compared to the iPhone 16 Pro I've been using for about a year. In spite of the new unibody design, I found the camera control button on the right still reasonably easy to press, although I think I'm more used to the one on the iPhone 16 Pro and find it a bit easier to click at the moment. I also had a chance to quickly check out the new Centerstage selfie camera, and I have to say it now makes sense why Apple had to redesign the camera app with iOS 26. To enable new features like the auto-rotating aspect ratio or the dual-camera video capture, you'll have to dive deeper into menus. I didn't immediately know where to find the switches for these but I'm sure I'll learn over time. For now, a helpful Apple representative standing next to the phone showed me where everything was. This story is developing, please refresh for updates.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-17-pro-hands-on-the-unibody-and-camera-plateau-feel-more-significant-in-person-185553855.html?src=rss View Source Article

A childhood health report led by RFK, Jr., links poor diet, chemicals, inactivity and “overmedicalization” to worsening U.S. pediatric health View Source Article

That’s a tall battery. Apple just announced a new, official MagSafe battery for the super-slim iPhone Air, but if you were hoping the battery would work with other iPhones, it apparently won’t. According to the product page for the $99 battery, “the iPhone Air MagSafe Battery was created exclusively for iPhone Air,” and the compatibility list includes just the iPhone Air. Apple also has an image on its store showing the tall battery pack attached to an iPhone Air next to an iPhone 17 Pro and an iPhone 17. Looking at all of the phones side by side, it appears that if the battery were placed on the other phones, it would bump up against the cameras. The company discontinued its former MagSafe Battery Pack in 2023, right after it announced the iPhone 15. But nowadays, there are a lot MagSafe battery options from third-party companies that you could use with an iPhone 17 or 17 Pro instead. View Source Article

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 17. Apple says the entry model comes in lavender, sage, mist blue, black and white. It has a 6.3-inch screen (slightly larger than before) with Apple ProMotion, which offers an 120-hertz refresh rate. It has an A19 chip, is more durable and has improved scratch resistance. Ed Ludlow reports from the event in Cupertino. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

AirPods Pro 3, Apple's high-end earbuds, joined the iPhone Air and new Apple Watches in the spotlight at Apple's September 9 "awe-dropping" launch event. The first AirPods Pro 3 will ship on September 19, but pre-orders are live now. Here's how to get your hands on a pair of the new AirPods to go with your iPhone Air. AirPods Pro 3 This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/how-to-pre-order-the-new-airpods-pro-3-173916856.html?src=rss View Source Article

In the not-too-distant future, "artificial astronauts" could fly as actual crew members on human missions to Mars, and elsewhere in space. View Source Article

Apple announced a bunch of iPhone 17 models at its "Awe dropping" event, and we've now got our hands on the flagship iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. The most notable change to the look of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are on their backs. The two-tone matte and glossy glass is still there, but now the camera bar is extended across the back of the phone. There's also a glass panel inset on the back. This was a bit of a surprise for me picking it up, as it wasn't as noticeable in some of the product shots shown during the event. But you can see and feel the difference in person. It's a nice, two-tone look. And seeing Apple stick with bold colors … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Apple unveils the AirPods Pro 3 at their product launch in Cupertino, California. Apple says they are four times more effective than the original models. These also feature Live Translation. Ed Ludlow reports. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

The worst kept secret of 2025 is official. At its Awe Dropping event on Tuesday, Apple announced the iPhone Air, its thinnest iPhone to date. Just how thin is the iPhone Air? At its thinnest point, the new model is 5.6mm thick. To put those measurements in perspective, the iPhone 16 Pro is 8.25mm thick, making the Air nearly 2mm thinner than Apple's 2024 flagship. Prior to today, the 6.9mm thick iPhone 6 was the company's thinnest smartphone to date. Since then, newer iPhones have been thicker to accommodate larger batteries, Face ID, multi-camera arrays and other components. The iPhone Air reverses that trend. At the same time, Apple claims the Air is its most durable phone yet, with a frame made from recycled titanium. Additionally, the Air is encased in the company's Ceramic Shield material, which Apple says is now 3x more scratch resistant than previous iterations. As for the display, it's a 6.5-inch screen with ProMotion support up to 120Hz, and always-on functionality.   Developing...This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-air-is-apples-thinnest-phone-yet-174342422.html?src=rss View Source Article

Teams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center conduct a hot fire test of an Aerojet AJ26 rocket engine on the E-1 Test Stand in November 2013.NASA/Stennis If location, location, location is the overarching mantra in real estate, it is small wonder that NASA’s Stennis Space Center is considered a national asset and prime aerospace and technology operations site. It has long stood as a premier – and the nation’s largest – rocket propulsion test site. With unparalleled test infrastructure and expertise, NASA Stennis has helped power the nation’s human space exploration for almost 60 years. It continues to do so, testing systems and engines for NASA’s Artemis program to send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. In addition, NASA Stennis is the choice location for a range of agencies, organizations, offices, and companies, all of whom readily attest to the values of the setting. Ask resident tenants to note the value of their NASA Stennis location, and one hears terms like “strategic advantages,” “ideal location,” “local expertise and experience,” “collaborative opportunities,” “hub of innovation,” and “valuable security buffer.” For the NASA Shared Services Center, its location at the south Mississippi test site provides “substantial strategic advantages” that helps the NSSC maximize its work and provide streamlined business operations for the agency. Likewise, NASA Stennis provides an ideal location for the North Gulf Institute operated by Mississippi State University, as it conducts frontline work in hurricane forecasting, modeling and assessment, as well as fishery and ecosystem management. The location is strengthened further by the proximity to collaborative partners like the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and the National Data Buoy Center. The same holds true for the National Centers for Environmental Information operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A spokesperson said the centers’ mission success is “firmly rooted in its strategic co-location with other federal partners,” including the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, the National Data Buoy Center, and the Northern Gulf Institute. For Relativity Space, the largest NASA Stennis test complex tenant, the “unparalleled infrastructure” at NASA Stennis has been key to enabling the company’s rocket engine testing. “NASA’s Stennis Space Center plays a vital role in getting Terran R to space,” said Clay Walker, vice president of test and launch for Relativity Space. “The infrastructure here allows us to test high-performance engines in ways no other place can.” Other companies express similar sentiments, citing the unique opportunities NASA Stennis provides, as well as the value of the local workforce. For instance, L3Harris Technologies has operated at NASA Stennis under various names since the 1960s, providing support to the Apollo, Space Shuttle, and, now, Artemis programs. In 2008, Lockheed Martin opened a start-to-finish facility for production of propulsion systems, making use of the various NASA Stennis propulsion test services and resources. Evolution Space is capitalizing on decades of aerospace experience at NASA Stennis, as well as “world-class” site infrastructure to establish production and test capabilities for solid rocket motors onsite. Both Mississippi and Louisiana have established technology offices onsite. As a Mississippi Enterprise for Technology statement noted, “The NASA Stennis environment enhances our ability to support emerging technologies, strengthen Mississippi’s technology ecosystem, and contribute to the economic vitality of the region,” said Davis Pace, chief executive officer for the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology. Meanwhile, the site’s most prominent tenant – the U.S. Navy – operates various offices at NASA Stennis. The Navy’s move to the site began in the 1970s to take advantage of the security provided by the surrounding NASA Stennis acoustical buffer zone. Various Navy functions eventually located continuing operations onsite, including the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, the Naval Oceanographic Office, the Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School, the Navy Office of Civilian Human Resources, and the Naval Research Laboratory. In similar fashion, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security credits the “high-quality, secure, and resilient” NASA Stennis site for its decision to location information technology and applications operations onsite. As the very first NASA Stennis federal city tenant, arriving onsite in September 1970, the National Data Buoy Center has borne witness to it all. “From its inception, Sen. John Stennis (and other leaders) envisioned a place where America would push the boundaries of the unknown – from the depths of the oceans to the far reaches of space,” said Dr. William Burnett, director of the National Data Buoy Center onsite. “That vision lives on at NASA Stennis, now home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of oceanographers. At the National Data Buoy Center, we proudly carry out our mission to safeguard maritime safety by harnessing the full strength of this unique scientific and technical community. “We are deeply rooted in the community and grateful to thrive within the collaborative spirit that defines Stennis. It’s an honor to be part of its legacy – and its future.” Read More About Stennis Space Center Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related TermsStennis Space Center Explore More 5 min read Crossroads to the Future – NASA Stennis Grows into a Model Federal City Article 4 hours ago 4 min read NASA Stennis Provides Ideal Setting for Range Operations Article 2 weeks ago 10 min read NASA’s Stennis Space Center Employees Receive NASA Honor Awards Article 4 weeks ago View Source Article

AI now scans for bird flu and measles news, but public health officials say outbreaks can go undetected as the U.S. guts national and global tracking View Source Article

Apple has announced the iPhone 17 Pro, the top model in its new iPhone 17 lineup, alongside the regular iPhone 17 and all-new iPhone Air. It’s returned to an aluminum build, runs on the A19 Pro chip, and boasts what Apple is calling a “full-width camera plateau” on the back. Earlier this year, Apple announced iOS 26, the latest version of its iPhone software, which brings with it a significant change to the look and feel of your phone: Liquid Glass. It’s got big transparent energy, making various UI elements glossy, glassy, and see-through — it might take some getting used to. Last year’s iPhone 16 Pro was a relatively cautious update that added bigger screens, better battery life, and a Camera Control button along the side of the phone. The 16 series also marked Apple’s first serious push into AI, with the ill-fated launch of Apple Intelligence, which has long lagged behind competitors and was criticized for failing to deliver on some features announced over a year ago. Developing… see our live blog for the latest details. View Source Article

Apple Inc. introduced its first new AirPods Pro model in three years, adding new health-tracking features, improved noise cancellation and a better fit. View Source Article

Apple announced three new smartwatches at its “Awe Dropping” event today. Along with new iPhone 17 models, we now have the Apple Watch Series 11 as the rumors predicted. Engadget’s Cherlynn Low, Sam Rutherford and Billy Steele are on the ground at the event, so we’ll have hands-on coverage soon, followed by full reviews in a week or so. In the meantime, here’s everything we know about the newest Apple Watch. Apple Watch Series 11: Similar case, brighter TK screen The keynote speech started off with dramatic testimonials of how the Apple Watch has helped people with their health and well being, alerting people to health issues and calling for help that saved their lives. And the new model will help identify hypertension.  As for what's new this year, we heard from Stan Ng who called the Series 11 the thinnest and most comfortable ever. The screen now has a ceramic coating bonded at an atomic level making it two times more durable than before. Cellular connection has improved as well with 5G connectivity from most carriers at launch.   This is a developing story. Check back for updates... This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-series-11-includes-5g-and-a-hypertension-tracking-feature-172451506.html?src=rss View Source Article

6 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist’s concept shows a brown dwarf — an object larger than a planet but not massive enough to kickstart fusion in its core like a star. Brown dwarfs are hot when they form and may glow like this one, but over time they get closer in temperature to gas giant planets like Jupiter. NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor An unusual cosmic object is helping scientists better understand the chemistry hidden deep in Jupiter and Saturn’s atmospheres — and potentially those of exoplanets. Why has silicon, one of the most common elements in the universe, gone largely undetected in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and gas planets like them orbiting other stars? A new study using observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sheds light on this question by focusing on a peculiar object that astronomers discovered by chance in 2020 and called “The Accident.” The results were published on Sept. 4 in the journal Nature. As shown in this graphic, brown dwarfs can be far more massive than even large gas planets like Jupiter and Saturn. However, they tend to lack the mass that kickstarts nuclear fusion in the cores of stars, causing them to shine. NASA/JPL-Caltech The Accident is a brown dwarf, a ball of gas that’s not quite a planet and not quite a star. Even among its already hard-to-classify peers, The Accident has a perplexing mix of physical features, some of which have been previously seen in only young brown dwarfs and others seen only in ancient ones. Because of those features, it slipped past typical detection methods before being discovered five years ago by a citizen scientist participating in Backyard Worlds: Planet 9. The program lets people around the globe look for new discoveries in data from NASA’s now-retired NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer), which was managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The brown dwarf nicknamed “The Accident” can be seen moving in the bottom left corner of this video, which shows data from NASA’s now-retired NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer), launched in 2009 with the moniker WISE. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Dan Caselden   The Accident is so faint and odd that researchers needed NASA’s most powerful space observatory, Webb, to study its atmosphere. Among several surprises, they found evidence of a molecule they couldn’t initially identify. It turned out to be a simple silicon molecule called silane (SiH4). Researchers have long expected — but been unable — to find silane not only in our solar system’s gas giants, but also in the thousands of atmospheres belonging to brown dwarfs and to the gas giants orbiting other stars. The Accident is the first such object where this molecule has been identified. Scientists are fairly confident that silicon exists in Jupiter and Saturn’s atmospheres but that it is hidden. Bound to oxygen, silicon forms oxides such as quartz that can seed clouds on hot gas giants, bearing a resemblance to dust storms on Earth. On cooler gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, these types of clouds would sink far beneath lighter layers of water vapor and ammonia clouds, until any silicon-containing molecules are deep in the atmosphere, invisible even to the spacecraft that have studied those two planets up close. Some researchers have also posited that lighter molecules of silicon, like silane, should be found higher up in these atmospheric layers, left behind like traces of flour on a baker’s table. That such molecules haven’t appeared anywhere except in a single, peculiar brown dwarf suggests something about the chemistry occurring in these environments. “Sometimes it’s the extreme objects that help us understand what’s happening in the average ones,” said Faherty, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and lead author on the new study. Happy accident Located about 50 light-years from Earth, The Accident likely formed 10 billion to 12 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest brown dwarfs ever discovered. The universe is about 14 billion years old, and at the time that The Accident developed, the cosmos contained mostly hydrogen and helium, with trace amounts of other elements, including silicon. Over eons, elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen forged in the cores of stars, so planets and stars that formed more recently possess more of those elements. Webb’s observations of The Accident confirm that silane can form in brown dwarf and planetary atmospheres. The fact that silane seems to be missing in other brown dwarfs and gas giant planets suggests that when oxygen is available, it bonds with silicon at such a high rate and so easily, virtually no silicon is left over to bond with hydrogen and form silane. So why is silane in The Accident? The study authors surmise it is because far less oxygen was present in the universe when the ancient brown dwarf formed, resulting in less oxygen in its atmosphere to gobble up all the silicon. The available silicon would have bonded with hydrogen instead, resulting in silane. “We weren’t looking to solve a mystery about Jupiter and Saturn with these observations,” said JPL’s Peter Eisenhardt, project scientist for the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission, which was later repurposed as NEOWISE. “A brown dwarf is a ball of gas like a star, but without an internal fusion reactor, it gets cooler and cooler, with an atmosphere like that of gas giant planets. We wanted to see why this brown dwarf is so odd, but we weren’t expecting silane. The universe continues to surprise us.” Brown dwarfs are often easier to study than gas giant exoplanets because the light from a faraway planet is typically drowned out by the star it orbits, while brown dwarfs generally fly solo. And the lessons learned from these objects extend to all kinds of planets, including ones outside our solar system that might feature potential signs of habitability.  “To be clear, we’re not finding life on brown dwarfs,” said Faherty. “But at a high level, by studying all of this variety and complexity in planetary atmospheres, we’re setting up the scientists who are one day going to have to do this kind of chemical analysis for rocky, potentially Earth-like planets. It might not specifically involve silicon, but they’re going to get data that is complicated and confusing and doesn’t fit their models, just like we are. They’ll have to parse all those complexities if they want to answer those big questions.” More about WISE, Webb   A division of Caltech, JPL managed and operated WISE for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The mission was selected competitively under NASA’s Explorers Program managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The NEOWISE mission was a project of JPL and the University of Arizona in Tucson, supported by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. For more information about WISE, go to: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/main/index.html The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory, and an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). To learn more about Webb, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/webb News Media Contacts Calla CofieldJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.626-808-2469calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov Christine PulliamSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.cpulliam@stsci.edi 2025-113 Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 Related TermsJames Webb Space Telescope (JWST)Brown DwarfsExoplanetsThe Search for Life Explore More 6 min read NASA Webb Looks at Earth-Sized, Habitable-Zone Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e Scientists are in the midst of observing the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e with NASA’s James Webb… Article 1 day ago 5 min read Glittering Glimpse of Star Birth From NASA’s Webb Telescope This is a sparkling scene of star birth captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.… Article 5 days ago 5 min read Astronomers Map Stellar ‘Polka Dots’ Using NASA’s TESS, Kepler Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using… Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

As part of the Artemis 2 astronaut moon mission launching no earlier than 2026, NASA is asking volunteers to test alternative forms of deep-space tracking. View Source Article

Apple has announced its next high-end Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Ultra 3. The new Ultra follows the Apple Watch Ultra 2, which Apple announced in 2023; the black version of the Ultra 2, which Apple introduced last year; and the original Apple Watch Ultra, which Apple launched in 2022. Apple’s Ultra watches are generally targeted toward athletes and sporty types, with features like big battery life (Apple promises up to 36 hours in “normal use” with the Apple Watch Ultra 2), bright displays, and improved GPS for tracking workouts. They also have had a high starting price of $799. In addition to the new watch, Apple is launching watchOS 26 this fall, which includes features like an Apple Intelligence-powered “Workout Buddy,” an improved Smart Stack, a wrist flick gesture to dismiss notifications, and Apple’s new Liquid Glass design language (which is also coming to other Apple products). Developing… see our live blog for the latest details. View Source Article

A trio of European aerospace companies are moving ahead with plans to forge a space and satellite venture that can better compete with Elon Musk’s dominant SpaceX. View Source Article

Despite how it sounds, a xenotransplant isn't something from the latest Alien movie. It's an increasingly credible science: the transplantation of animal organs into humans. The field took one of its biggest leaps forward on Monday. The FDA approved the biotech company eGenesis to begin human trials of pig-to-human kidney transplants. eGenesis provides pigs with CRISPR-modified genes. These genetic changes reduce the chances of organ rejection in human recipients. The FDA approved the company for Investigational New Drug (IND) Clearance for a three-phase study. Each stage will increase the number of patients if the results support moving forward. Only those with end-stage kidney disease will be eligible. They'll also need to be 50 or older, dialysis-dependent and on the kidney transplant waitlist. Around 86,000 people are currently on the kidney waitlist. The average wait time is three to five years at most centers. It can be longer for rarer blood types. Over 800,000 Americans have end-stage kidney disease. eGenesis isn't alone: United Therapeutics, another gene-edited pig developer, will soon begin enrolling people in a similar FDA-approved study. "Advances in xenotransplantation are giving our community hope that new options may soon be available to those who need them most," National Kidney Foundation CEO Kevin Longino wrote in a press release. "Patients expressed strong support for the advancement of clinical trials in our recent Xenotransplantation Voice of the Patient report. It is gratifying to know they're being heard." The trial approval coincided with news of another successful xenotransplant. Bill Stewart, an otherwise healthy 54-year-old New Hampshire resident, received one of eGenesis' pig kidneys on June 14. Before the operation, he received dialysis three times per week for over two years. His organ donor wait was longer than most due to his blood type. He was discharged from Massachusetts General Hospital on June 21 and no longer requires dialysis. "There's so few of us who have done this, and they're writing the protocol as we go, so to speak," Stewart told CNN. "But I'm feeling good." Tim Andrews, 67, received a pig kidney in January. Before his transplant, he required dialysis for over two years. Over seven months after the operation, he's still dialysis-free. He's currently the longest living recipient.  Earlier transplant recipients had significant underlying health problems. That limited scientists' ability to conduct long-term tests. Trials with healthier patients will assess the durability of the organs over time.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/the-fda-approves-human-trials-for-pig-kidney-transplants-165416004.html?src=rss View Source Article

Research Astrophysicist and Roman’s Deputy Wide Field Instrument Scientist – Goddard Space Flight Center From a young age, Ami Choi — now a research astrophysicist at NASA — was drawn to the vast and mysterious. By the fifth grade, she had narrowed her sights to two career paths: marine biology or astrophysics.  “I’ve always been interested in exploring big unknown realms, and things that aren’t quite tangible,” Choi said. That curiosity has served her all throughout her career. In addition to conducting research, Ami Choi shares science with the public at various outreach events, including tours at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. This photo captures one tour stop, outside the largest clean room at Goddard.Credit: NASA/Travis Wohlrab As a student at University Laboratory High School in Urbana, Illinois, Choi gravitated toward astrophysics and was fascinated by things like black holes. She studied physics as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, though she says math and physics didn’t necessarily come easily to her. “I wasn’t very good at it initially, but I really liked the challenge so I stuck with it,” Choi said. Early opportunities to do research played a pivotal role in guiding her career. As an undergraduate, Choi worked on everything from interacting galaxies to the stuff in between stars in our galaxy, called the interstellar medium. She learned how to code, interpret data, and do spectroscopy, which involves splitting light from cosmic objects into a rainbow of colors to learn about things like their composition. After college, Choi read an article about physicist Janet Conrad’s neutrino work at Fermilab and was so inspired by Conrad’s enthusiasm and inclusivity that she cold-emailed her to see if there were any positions available in her group.  On October 14, 2023, Ami took a break from a thermal vacuum shift to snap a selfie with a partial eclipse. She was visiting BAE, Inc. in Boulder, Co., where the primary instrument for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was undergoing testing. Credit: Courtesy of Ami Choi “That one email led to a year at Fermilab working on neutrino physics,” Choi said. She went on to earn a doctorate at the University of California, Davis, where she studied weak gravitational lensing — the subtle warping of light by gravity — and used it to explore dark matter, dark energy, and the large-scale structure of the universe. Her postdoctoral work took Choi first to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where she contributed to the Kilo-Degree Survey, and later to The Ohio State University, where she became deeply involved in DES (the Dark Energy Survey) and helped lay the groundwork for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — NASA’s next flagship astrophysics mission.  “One of my proudest moments came in 2021, when the DES released its third-year cosmology results,” Choi said. “It was a massive team effort conducted during a global pandemic, and I had helped lead as a co-convener of the weak lensing team.” Choi regularly presents information about NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to fellow scientists and the public. Here, she gives a Hyperwall talk at an AAS (American Astronomical Society) meeting.Credit: Courtesy of Ami Choi After a one-year stint at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where Choi worked on SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer)—an observatory that’s surveying stars and galaxies—she became a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She also serves as the deputy Wide Field Instrument scientist for Roman. Choi operates at the intersection of engineering, calibration, and cosmology, helping translate ground-based testing into flight-ready components that will help Roman reveal large swaths of the universe in high resolution. “I’m very excited for Roman’s commissioning phase — the first 90 days when the spacecraft will begin transmitting data from orbit,” Choi said.  Choi, photographed here in Death Valley, finds joy in the natural world outside of work. She cycles, hikes, and tends a small vegetable garden with a friend from grad school. Credit: Insook Choi (used with permission) She’s especially drawn to so-called systematics, which are effects that can alter the signals scientists are trying to measure. “People sometimes think of systematics as nuisances, but they’re often telling us something deeply interesting about either the physics of something like a detector or the universe itself,” Choi said. “There’s always something more going on under the surface.” While she’s eager to learn more about things like dark energy, Choi is also looking forward to seeing all the other ways our understanding of the universe grows. “It’s more than just an end goal,” she said. “It’s about everything we learn along the way. Every challenge we overcome, every detail we uncover, is an important discovery too.” For those who hope to follow a similar path, Choi encourages staying curious, being persistent, and taking opportunities to get involved in research. And don’t let the tricky subjects scare you away! “You don’t have to be perfect at math or physics right away,” she said. “What matters most is a deep curiosity and the tenacity to keep pushing through.” By Ashley BalzerNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 EditorAshley BalzerLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterNancy Grace Roman Space TelescopePeople of Goddard View Source Article

Back in 2019, a consortium of scientists predicted August 2025 as the peak of the solar activity cycle. But where are we now? View Source Article

It's time for another "awe dropping" Apple event. The company is expected to announce the iPhone 17 today, alongside some new Apple Watches and perhaps the AirPods Pro 3. We got a glimpse of some software at WWDC 2025, but today is all about the new hardware, baby. We're anticipating the usual - the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro, new colors, camera upgrades, and quite possibly an iPhone 17 Air if the rumors pan out. The fall is usually when Apple also struts out a new Apple Watch, and based on previous upgrade timelines, it's likely we're due for an Ultra 3 and a revamped SE. The AirPods Pro are also due for a refresh. And, as always, it's possible … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Nvidia Corp., whose chips and systems are at the heart of the artificial intelligence computing boom, said it plans to offer a new product designed to handle demanding tasks such as video generation and software creation. View Source Article

The Plex streaming platform has experienced a security breach and is telling customers to change their passwords "immediately." They also suggest that users enable two-factor authentication and sign out of any connected devices that are currently logged in. The company says a database was accessed by an “an unauthorized third party” and that some customers had their emails, usernames and hashed passwords exposed. As indicated, the breach involved hashed passwords, which are scrambled through an algorithm, so it's unlikely the bad actor could read them. However, this is an absolute case of "better safe than sorry." Dammit @plex! Received to my personal email address today, not their first rodeo either: https://t.co/3HXXsOdyxy pic.twitter.com/LpfgAQPWNv— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) September 8, 2025 Plex says credit card data is safe, which is a relief, as that information isn't stored on its servers. The company says it is currently safeguarding its data and "undergoing additional reviews to ensure that the security of all of our systems is further strengthened to prevent future attacks." This whole ordeal is eerily reminiscent of a Plex data breach in 2022, in which a bad actor infiltrated the system and accessed people's emails, usernames and passwords. So consider this your reminder to change passwords at regular intervals and to consider using a dedicated password manager. Authenticator apps can also be helpful. It's the wild west out there.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/plex-tells-users-to-change-their-passwords-after-data-breach-152635869.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA/Kim Shiflett The Artemis II crew (from front left to back right) – pilot Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and mission specialist Christina Koch – walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. During a two-day training, the crew practiced launch day operations if the Artemis II test flight launches at night. Join the Artemis II mission and sign up to launch your name aboard the Orion spacecraft and SLS (Space Launch System) rocket alongside the crew. Through the Artemis program, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett View Source Article

NASA's hosting a teleconference on Wednesday (Sept. 10) to discuss a new rock analysis from the Perseverance Mars rover. Here's how to tune in. View Source Article

Apple is ready to announce the iPhone 17 line, and this promises to be a bigger launch than most. We’re expecting a major redesign to the cameras and looking forward to an entirely new addition to the lineup: the extra-thin iPhone 17 Air. Alongside the new iPhones, Apple is likely to update its Apple Watch line. This should be a bumper year, too, with the Apple Watch Series 11, Ultra 3, and SE 3 all making appearances, revamping Apple’s whole wearable line in one swoop. New AirPods Pro 3 should round out the launch, potentially adding heart rate monitoring for the first time. Everything kicks off at 1PM ET / 10AM PT today, September 9th, and you can watch the event right here: Hardware, software, services, politics. Are you excited about a thinner iPhone? The iPhone 17’s potential makeover might be just enough Apple iPhone 17 launch event: What to expect View Source Article

View Source Article

The Anker Soundcore Space A40 wireless earbuds are back on sale for a record-low price of $45 a 44 percent discount. These earbuds remain our top pick for best budget wireless earbuds. The most significant feature on the A40 earbuds is the inclusion of active noise cancellation (ANC), which is almost unheard of at this price point. It's not the most sophisticated ANC, but it does sufficiently reduce constant rumbling background noise like on a plane. The built-in mic that's used for transparency mode and phone calls is a bit subpar, especially when used in noisy areas. These are budget-friendly, so while they can't be expected to compete on audio quality with flagship headphones that cost hundreds of dollars, the sound is still impressive given their low cost. The sound profile is warm, with a strong upper-bass, while some of the higher frequencies lose finer details. For those wanting to fine-tune the sound on the A40s, the earbuds can be paired with the Soundcore app, which includes an EQ. The small, round earpieces help make the A40s comfortable to wear for extended periods, and the charging case extends the already solid 10-hour battery life by another 50 or so hours. The Anker Soundcore Space A40 wireless earbuds are already one of the best value options on the market, and this sale makes them even more appealing. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-cheap-wireless-earbuds-are-back-on-sale-for-only-45-152704765.html?src=rss View Source Article

3 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) While auroras are a beautiful sight on Earth, the solar activity that causes them can wreak havoc with space-based infrastructure like satellites. Using artificial intelligence to predict these disruptive solar events was a focus of KX’s work with FDL.Credit: Sebastian Saarloos In the summer of 2024, people across North America were amazed when auroras lit up the night sky across their hometowns, but the same solar activity that makes auroras can cause disruptions to satellites that are essential to systems on Earth. The solution to predicting these solar events and warning satellite operators may come through artificial intelligence.  The Frontier Development Lab of Mountain View, California, is an ongoing partnership between NASA and commercial AI firms to apply advanced machine learning to problems that matter to the agency and beyond. Since 2016, the Frontier Development Lab has applied AI on behalf of NASA in planetary defense, Heliophysics, Earth science, medicine, and lunar exploration. Through a collaboration with a company called KX Systems, the Frontier Development Lab looked to use proven software in an innovative new way. The company’s flagship data analytics software, called kdb+, is typically used in the financial industry to keep track of rapid shifts in market trends, but the company was exploring how it could be used in space.  Between 2017 and 2019, KX Systems participated in the Frontier Development Lab partnership through NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California. Working with NASA scientists, KX applied the capabilities of kdb+ to searching for exoplanets and predicting space weather, areas which could be improved with AI models. One question the Frontier Development Lab worked to answer was whether kdb+ could forecast the kind of space weather that creates the auroras to predict when GPS satellites might experience signal interruption due to the Sun. By importing several datasets monitoring the ionosphere, solar activity, and Earth’s magnetic field, then applying machine learning algorithms to them, the Frontier Development Lab researchers were able to predict disruptive events up to 24 hours in advance.  While this was a scientific application of AI, KX Systems says some of this development work has made it back into its commercial offerings, as there are similarities between AI models developed to find patterns in satellite signal losses and ones that predict maintenance needs for industrial manufacturing equipment. A division of FD Technologies plc., KX Systems is a technology company that offers database management and analytics software for customers that need to make decisions quickly. While KX started in 1993, its AI-driven business has grown considerably, and the company credits work done with NASA for accelerating some of its capabilities. From protecting valuable satellites to keeping manufacturing lines moving at top performance, pairing NASA’s expertise with commercial ingenuity is a combination for success.   Read More Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 Related TermsTechnology Transfer & SpinoffsSpinoffsTechnology Transfer Explore More 3 min read NASA-Developed Printable Metal Can Take the Heat Article 4 weeks ago 5 min read NASA Releases Opportunity to Boost Commercial Space Tech Development Article 1 month ago 3 min read NASA-Derived Textiles are Touring France by Bike Article 2 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Technology Transfer and Spinoffs News Auroras Auroras, often called the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate… Solar System View Source Article

At an event in Las Vegas yesterday, Tesla revealed a new utility-scale battery configuration that it claims can significantly lower construction costs for utilities, along with faster installation. Its new “Megablock” is pre-engineered; more assembly done in a factory allows for 23 percent faster installation, according to Tesla. That’s supposed to translate to up to 40 percent lower construction costs. It’s essentially supposed to be a plug-and-play platform, incorporating hardware and software services, to help utilities quickly meet rising electricity demands from data centers, electrified homes and vehicles, and manufacturing.  The Megablock incorporates Megapack 3, the latest iteration of Tesla’s battery storage system that the company also debuted at the same event. The latest Megapack has a “drastically simplified” thermal bay with 78 percent fewer connections to minimize failure points, Tesla said at the event and on X, and uses “the Tesla Model Y heat pump essentially on steroids.”  Megapack is our utility-scale energy storage platform, a key part of our mission to achieve sustainable abundance via sustainable energy.@Tesla_Megapack stores energy when production is high & discharges/releases it when the grid needs it – balancing renewables & supporting a… https://t.co/CGXfALsUSG— Tesla (@Tesla) September 9, 2025 The Megapack 3 will be manufactured in Houston starting late next year, the company added. But Tesla still relies on BYD and CATL to supply battery cells, Electrek notes. View Source Article

A report finds that President Trump’s flagship legislation will grant $40 billion in new subsidies to the oil and gas industry over the next decade. View Source Article

Microsoft Corp. said many employees must soon work three days a week from an office. View Source Article

AI summaries seem to be everywhere, with the latest entry into the mix coming courtesy of Mozilla. The company has announced that its web browser, Firefox, is rolling out page summaries on mobile devices. Notably, this feature is only available for English-language iOS users in the US right now. Unlike other major summary tools from Google and the like, Firefox's page summaries are available when you shake your device. If you feel a bit weird doing that then you can, instead, tap the thunderbolt icon on the right side of the address bar. There's also the option to click the three-dot menu icon and then tap summarize page.  You should be able to get a summary of any webpage with 5,000 words or less — though, that might require a lot of guesstimating if the word count is anywhere close. You can also turn off summaries in settings. Firefox will use Apple Intelligence for the summary if you have an iPhone 15 or newer once iOS 26 drops. Otherwise, Mozilla's cloud-based AI should securely receive the page text and then create a summary.  The latest summary feature follows Firefox's Link Previews, launched in May. The experimental feature used AI to preview a link's content, including a list of key points. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/firefox-provides-ai-page-summaries-if-you-shake-your-iphone-145837557.html?src=rss View Source Article

Boarding passes will carry participants’ names on NASA’s Artemis II mission in 2026.Credit: NASA Lee este comunicado de prensa en español aquí. NASA is inviting the public to join the agency’s Artemis II test flight as four astronauts venture around the Moon and back to test systems and hardware needed for deep space exploration. As part of the agency’s “Send Your Name with Artemis II” effort, anyone can claim their spot by signing up before Jan. 21. Participants will launch their name aboard the Orion spacecraft and SLS (Space Launch System) rocket alongside NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen. “Artemis II is a key test flight in our effort to return humans to the Moon’s surface and build toward future missions to Mars, and it’s also an opportunity to inspire people across the globe and to give them an opportunity to follow along as we lead the way in human exploration deeper into space,” said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.  The collected names will be put on an SD card loaded aboard Orion before launch. In return, participants can download a boarding pass with their name on it as a collectable. To add your name and receive an English-language boarding pass, visit:  https://go.nasa.gov/artemisnames  To add your name and receive a Spanish-language boarding pass, visit:  https://go.nasa.gov/TuNombreArtemis  As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, the approximately 10-day Artemis II test flight, launching no later than April 2026, is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign. It is another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions on the Moon’s surface that will help the agency prepare to send the first astronauts – Americans – to Mars. To learn more about the mission visit:  https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/ -end-  Rachel KraftHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsArtemis 2ArtemisMissions View Source Article

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured great shots of the total lunar eclipse over the weekend. View Source Article

It's official, Microsoft is asking employees to return to the office three days per week. Amy Coleman, executive vice president and Microsoft's chief people officer, revealed the news to Microsoft employees in a memo this morning. "We've looked at how our teams work best, and the data is clear: when people work together in person more often, they thrive," says Coleman, in a memo obtained by The Verge. "With that in mind, we're updating our flexible work expectations to three days a week in the office." Microsoft will start rolling out this return to the office policy in three phases, starting with employees in the Puget Sound area in late … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Anthropic has begun rolling out a small but significant update to Claude. Starting today you can use the chatbot to create and edit Excel spreadsheets, documents, PowerPoint slide decks and PDFs. In the past, Claude offered rudimentary file support, but now you can interact with any documents you need to modify directly through the chatbot. The new functionality is part of a feature preview you can try out as long as you have a Max, Team or Education subscription. Sorry, Pro and free users, you'll have to wait. The preview will roll out to Pro subscribers "in the coming weeks," with no timeline yet for when free users can expect access. "We've given Claude access to a private computer environment where it can write code and run programs to produce the files and analyses you need. This transforms Claude from an advisor into an active collaborator. You bring the context and strategy; Claude handles the technical implementation behind the scenes," says Anthropic of how it built the feature. "This shows where we’re headed: making sophisticated multi-step work accessible through conversation. As these capabilities expand, the gap between idea and execution will keep shrinking." To check out the preview, toggle "Upgraded file creation and analysis" in the settings menu, which you can find by first selecting "Features" and then "Experimental." You can then upload or describe the file you'd like Claude to create or edit for you, and download Claude's creation once you're happy with the result. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/claude-can-now-edit-and-create-files-including-excel-spreadsheets-143043937.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA Stennis Buffer ZoneNASA / Stennis NASA’s Stennis Space Center is widely known for rocket propulsion testing, especially to support the NASA Artemis program to send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. What may not be so widely known is that the site also is a unique federal city, home to more than 50 federal, state, academic, and commercial tenants and serving as both a model of government efficiency and a powerful economic engine for its region. “NASA Stennis is a remarkable story of vision and innovation,” Center Director John Bailey said. “That was the case 55 years ago when the NASA Stennis federal city was born, and it remains the case today as we collaborate and grow to meet the needs of a changing aerospace world.” Apollo Years Nearly four years after its first Saturn V stage test, NASA’s Stennis Space Center faced a crossroads to the future. Indeed, despite its frontline role in supporting NASA’s Apollo lunar effort, it was not at all certain a viable future awaited the young rocket propulsion test site. In 1961, NASA announced plans to build a sprawling propulsion test site in south Mississippi to support Apollo missions to the Moon. The news was a significant development for the sparsely populated Gulf Coast area.   The new site, located near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, conducted its first hot fire of a Saturn V rocket stage in April 1966. Saturn V testing progressed steadily during the next years. In fall 1969, however, NASA announced an end to Apollo-related testing, leading to an existential crisis for the young test site. What was to become of NASA Stennis? An Expanded Vision Some observers speculated the location would close or be reduced to caretaker status, with minimal staffing. Either scenario would deliver a serious blow to the families who had re-located to make way for the site and the local communities who had heavily invested in municipal projects to support the influx of workforce personnel. Such outcomes also would run counter to assurances provided by leaders that the new test site would benefit its surrounding region and involve area residents in “something great.” For NASA Stennis manager Jackson Balch and others, such a result was unacceptable. Anticipating the crisis, Balch had been working behind the scenes to communicate – and realize – the vision of a multiagency site supporting a range of scientific and technological tenants and missions. A Pivotal Year The months following the Saturn V testing announcement were filled with discussions and planning to ensure the future of NASA Stennis. The efforts began to come to fruition in 1970 with key developments: In early 1970, NASA Administrator Thomas Paine proposed locating a regional environmental center at NASA Stennis. U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis (Mississippi) responded with a message of the president, “urgently requesting” that a National Earth Resources and Environmental Data Program be established at the site. In May 1970, President Richard Nixon offered assurances that an Earth Resources Laboratory would be established at NASA Stennis and that at least two agencies are preparing to locate operations at the site. U.S. congressional leaders earmarked $10 million to enable the location of an Earth Resources Laboratory at NASA Stennis. On July 9, 1970, the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Data Buoy Project (now the National Data Buoy Center) announced it was relocating to NASA Stennis, making it the first federal city tenant. The project arrived onsite two months later on September 9. On Sept. 9, 1970, NASA officially announced establishment of an Earth Resources Laboratory at NASA Stennis. Time to Grow By the end of 1970, Balch’s vision was taking shape, but it needed time to grow. The final Saturn V test had been conducted in October – with no new campaign scheduled. A possibility was on the horizon, however. NASA was building a reusable space shuttle vehicle. It would be powered by the most sophisticated rocket engine ever designed – and the agency needed a place to conduct developmental and flight testing expected to last for decades. Three sites vied for the assignment. Following presentations and evaluations, NASA announced its selection on March 1, 1971. Space shuttle engine testing would be conducted at NASA Stennis, providing time for the location to grow. A Collaborative Model By the spring of 1973, preparations for the space shuttle test campaign were progressing and NASA Stennis was on its way to realizing the federal city vision. Sixteen agencies and universities were now located at NASA Stennis. The resident tenants followed a shared model in which they shared in the cost of basic site services, such as medical, security, and fire protection. The shared model freed up more funding for the tenants to apply towards innovation and assigned mission work. It was a model of government collaboration and efficiency. As the site grew, leaders then began to call for it to be granted independent status within NASA, a development not long in coming. On June 14, 1974, just more than a decade after site construction began, NASA Administrator James Fletcher announced the south Mississippi location would be renamed National Space Technology Laboratories and would enjoy equal, independent status alongside other NASA centers. “Something Great” For NASA Stennis leaders and supporters, independent status represented a milestone moment in their effort to ensure NASA Stennis delivered on its promise of greatness. There still were many developments to come, including the first space shuttle main engine test and the subsequent 34-year test campaign, the arrival and growth of the U.S. Navy into the predominant resident presence onsite, the renaming of the center to NASA Stennis, and the continued growth of the federal city. No one could have imagined it all at the time. However, even in this period of early development, one thing was clear – the future lay ahead, and NASA Stennis was on its way. Read More About Stennis Space Center Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related TermsStennis Space Center Explore More 4 min read NASA Stennis Provides Ideal Location for Range of Site Tenants Article 52 minutes ago 4 min read NASA Stennis Provides Ideal Setting for Range Operations Article 2 weeks ago 10 min read NASA’s Stennis Space Center Employees Receive NASA Honor Awards Article 4 weeks ago View Source Article

Hyundai is out with a new concept car that previews a smaller EV that could slot below the Ioniq 5. And while the design is pretty bold, and full of what seems to be veiled references to Star Wars, the idea of a smaller (and hopefully less expensive) electric hatchback is surely one of the more grounded ways to approach a design exercise of this kind. The Concept Three certainly hints at a possible Ioniq 3 somewhere down the line. And spec sheet certainly supports that inference, with dimensions — 168.8-inch length, 76.4-inch width, and 56.2-inch — that puts it squarely in that Kia Soul/Volkswagen Golf territory. Those numbers could change as this vehicle gets closer to production, but it seems like a sure bet that Hyundai is interested in a compact hatchback to help round out its Ioniq lineup, which right now includes the Ioniq 5 crossover, Ioniq 6 sedan, and Ioniq 9 full-size SUV. But that’s not why you’re reading this article. You saw the pictures of the Concept Three and you clicked because you want to know WTF is going on with this weird yellow-tinted glass space craft looking vehicle. I don’t blame you. Hyundai is the rare automaker these days that’s still having a bit of fun with its concepts, and I applaud them for it. The interior is wild, from the sugary yellow and purple accents to the bizarre design choices (seatbelt through the headrest?) to the Easter egg references to a certain iconic science-fiction film scattered throughout. We’ll start there, with sideview cameras that looks like a cross between the Death Star and BB-8. The cockpit and center console seems inspired by a speeder bike. And there’s even an inscription on the rear bumper that reads “May the downforce be with you.” Of course, all of this is subtext. Hyundai isn’t making any direct reference to Star Wars in its press materials about the Concept Three (likely so it wouldn’t have to pay Disney for the rights). And we only noticed them ourselves after watching YouTube channel Electrifying’s video tour of the EV. I guess you could call them Easter eggs, but even that feels more intentional than it is. Still, discovering all these fun design quirks makes the overall design a lot more rewarding. But despite referencing one of America’s greatest cultural products to ever exist, the eventual production version of this concept may never make it to these shores. Hyundai says the Concept Three “signals the brand’s planned expansion into the European compact EV market.” And that makes total sense: Europe is a better market for EVs, and a better market for small hatchbacks. The rest of us will just have to gaze across that vast ocean and hope for the best. View Source Article

One of our favorite magnetic power banks is on sale for 42 percent off right now. The Anker 622 Magnetic Battery is down 42 percent to $28, which is almost as low as we've ever seen it. This steep discount is also available at Anker's online store with a coupon code that the company provides. This 5,000mAh MagSafe-compatible charger with a foldable stand is a slim and portable battery that can keep your devices going on long days away from a charger. Anker says the 622 Magnetic Battery can recharge a dead iPhone 16 or 16 Pro to just over 80 percent, and an iPhone 16 Pro Max to just over 60 percent. In our hands-on review of the portable charger, we liked the magnetic stand that folds out into a 30-degree angle. Users can rotate their phone to either portrait mode or landscape mode while charging. The Anker 622 is an older charger, so it outputs a maximum of 7.5W when charging wirelessly. If you need to refill your battery faster than that, you might want to pick up one of the newer Qi2 power banks. Though a Qi2 power bank will, of course, cost more, some of our favorites are having great sales right now. The Anker Ultra-Slim 10,000mAh battery pack can charge an iPhone 16 Pro to 50 percent in just 26 minutes, thanks to its Qi2-certified 15W of wireless charging. Right now it's 25 percent off, priced at $60 down from $80. It's got a bare-bones design, opting for a slim profile instead of a stand. If you prefer one with a stand and you like the idea of a display that tells you how much charge your power bank has left, then check out the Anker 10,000mAh battery pack with smart display and foldable stand. In our rundown of the best power banks, this was our top pick for iPhones. Not only does this battery pack offer Qi2 wireless charging at 15W, it also offers 27W when using USB-C for fast charging. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/anker-magnetic-power-banks-are-up-to-42-percent-off-right-now-133451206.html?src=rss View Source Article

Los nombres de los participantes irán en tarjetas de embarque a bordo de la misión Artemis II de la NASA en 2026.Crédito: NASA Read this press release in English here. La NASA invita al público a unirse al vuelo de prueba Artemis II de la agencia en el que cuatro astronautas emprenderán un viaje alrededor de la Luna y de regreso a la Tierra para poner a prueba los sistemas y el hardware necesarios para la exploración del espacio profundo. Como parte de la iniciativa de la agencia “Envía tu nombre con Artemis II”, cualquiera puede asegurar su lugar a registrándose antes del 21 de enero. Los nombres de los participantes en esta iniciativa viajarán en la nave espacial Orion y el cohete Sistema de Lanzamiento Espacial (SLS, por sus siglas en inglés) junto a los astronautas de la NASA Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch y el astronauta de la CSA (Agencia Espacial Canadiense) Jeremy Hansen. “Artemis II es un vuelo de prueba clave en nuestro esfuerzo por enviar de nuevo a seres humanos a la superficie de la Luna y desarrollar futuras misiones a Marte. También es una oportunidad para inspirar a personas de todo el mundo y darles la oportunidad de acompañarnos mientras lideramos el camino en la exploración humana hacia lugares más profundos en el espacio”, dijo Lori Glaze, administradora asociada interina en la Dirección de Misiones de Desarrollo de Sistemas de Exploración en la sede central de la NASA en Washington. Los nombres recopilados se incluirán en una tarjeta de memoria SD que será cargada a bordo de Orion antes del lanzamiento. A cambio, los participantes pueden descargar una tarjeta de embarque con su nombre como un recuerdo coleccionable. Para añadir tu nombre y recibir una tarjeta de embarque en español, visita el sitio web: https://go.nasa.gov/TuNombreArtemis Para añadir tu nombre y recibir una tarjeta de embarque en inglés, visita el sitio web:  https://go.nasa.gov/artemisnames Como parte de una edad de oro de innovación y exploración, el vuelo de prueba Artemis II es el primer vuelo tripulado de la campaña Artemis de la NASA. Tendrá una duración aproximada de 10 días y despegará a más tardar en abril de 2026. Este es otro paso hacia nuevas misiones tripuladas de Estados Unidos a la superficie de la Luna que ayudarán a la agencia a prepararse para enviar a los primeros astronautas estadounidenses a Marte.Para obtener más información acerca de esta misión, visita el sitio web (en inglés):  https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/ -fin- Rachel Kraft / María José Viñas Sede central, Washington 202-358-1600rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov / maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNASA en españolArtemisArtemis 2Exploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateMissions View Source Article

"The country that lands on the moon first will shape the rules of engagement in space for decades to come." View Source Article

These screenshots are two examples of vertical videos that Google generated using Veo 3’s updated features. Google has added support for 1080p resolution and vertical video formats to its Veo 3 AI video generator. According to the announcement on Google’s developer blog, both Veo 3 and Veo 3 Fast — a faster, and more affordable version of the video model that produces lower-quality results — now allow users to generate videos in a 9:16 aspect ratio that’s better suited for content displayed on mobile devices and social media apps. The blog says that vertical video support can be enabled by setting the aspectRatio parameter in API requests to 9:16, meaning this feature is specific to developers who are building apps that support Veo 3 video generation. The update also allows developers to set the resolution of generated videos to 1080p, up from the previous 720p limitation, though Neowin reports that this is currently only supported for 16:9 aspect ratio videos. Google says it’s also making Veo 3 and Veo 3 Fast “stable and ready for scaled production use in the Gemini API,” and has made it more affordable for developers to generate videos using these tools. Generation through Veo 3 is now $0.40 per second, down from $0.75, and the Veo 3 Fast model has been cut to $0.15 per second, down from $0.40. Google showcased these updates in a couple of example videos generated in Veo 3’s new vertical format, including a rock climber saying, “Veo 3 is now, like, 50 percent cheaper and higher quality, so go build.” The support for vertical video formats isn’t entirely surprising, given Google announced in June that Veo 3 support will be added to YouTube Shorts “later this summer.” Giving developers access to support the format in their own apps means we will likely start seeing content generated through Veo 3 on more vertical video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, however, putting yet more AI slop in front of our eyeballs. View Source Article

Pakistan has built sweeping surveillance systems that taps phone calls, tracks location and filters online content through a Chinese-designed firewall, according to Amnesty International. View Source Article

Video game difficulty is a real balancing act. You want to be challenged and earn each new level, but when it's too hard there's more frustration than fun. Apparently, a number of players have found the new Hollow Knight: Silksong game a bit too hard, struggling to defeat some of the bosses.  Now, Team Cherry, the indie studio behind the Hollow Knight series, is making things a bit easier. Team Cherry has announced Hollow Knight: Silksong's first patch, which includes a "slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses." This update includes the bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter. Otherwise, the patch mostly includes bug fixes, such as gamers remaining cloakless or getting stuck floating. It also brings an increase in rosary rewards from relics and psalm cylinders, as well as for courier deliveries. These retroactive updates should come by mid next week, but eager players can join the public-beta to get the fix. Team Cherry notes that its already working on more fixes in a second patch.  The long awaited sequel to Hollow Knight finally launched on September 4, with eager fans crashing Steam, the Nintendo eshop and the Xbox Store. It's available now for $20. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hollow-knight-silksongs-first-patch-should-give-you-a-chance-against-its-early-bosses-134125593.html?src=rss View Source Article

A sweeping U.S. missile defense program comes with many risks, costs and uncertainties, analysts say View Source Article

From dystopian futures to interstellar adventures, this quiz explores the classics that dared to imagine the impossible—and the authors who made it unforgettable. View Source Article

Don’t call it a comeback. Canon seems to be riding the TikTok digicam resurgence and is rereleasing a mid-2010s point-and-shoot — the PowerShot Elph 360 HS A. It’s mostly the same camera as the original Elph 360 HS, first launched in the very different world of 2016 and recently anointed the darling pocket camera of celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Dua Lipa.  Now, in 2025, the “A” version of the PowerShot still has the same 20.2-megapixel CMOS sensor, Digic IV Plus processor, 12x optical zoom, 1080p video, and USB Mini port of the nine-year-old throwback. (Nope, no USB-C.) But the new model now costs $379 instead of the original’s $210, and it makes the switch to microSD cards instead of full-size SD. The downsizing of features doesn’t end with storage formats. The new Elph incarnation doesn’t support Wi-Fi image transfers to a PC or direct printing via Wi-Fi like the original (though I’m skeptical many people were doing that). And there’s no longer a purple color, as the new Elph 360 HS A will only come in black or silver when it launches in late October. The jump in price while downsizing in features sounds baffling at first. But the rising popularity of point-and-shoot cameras among younger folks and the trend of celebs being spotted using the original model has fueled a viral interest in the 360 HS. Canon never seemed to truly discontinue the original model, until now that the “A” is replacing it. The aging version can still occasionally be found at retailers, but often for hefty markups. Authorized Canon dealer B&H Photo maintains a listing for it, priced at $359.99, though it’s currently “temporarily out of stock.” A live chat sales rep for B&H told me the store last received a shipment on August 14th, but much like with my colleague Allison Johnson’s efforts to procure a Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III earlier this year, these “drops” get quickly snatched up. As much as I find the digicam trend endearing (I think it’s fun for young people to explore new-old creative avenues and breathe fresh life into outdated tech), it will be interesting to see a big company like Canon try to meet this viral moment. I usually feel that once the suits catch wind of these things and want to cash in, it’s time to pack it up and move on to the next cool thing. The digicam trend may still last a while longer, but what happens if Canon makes enough of the new 360 HS A cameras that they’re readily available at MSRP? Will the interest remain if the camera is no longer a hard-to-get flex for online clout, like a Labubu? What’s an Elph? Does it have pointy ears? The PowerShot Elph 360 HS was released as the Ixus 285 HS in Europe and Ixy 650 in Japan. Canon has often given its consumer cameras different names in different regions. For example, the older Canon EOS SLRs were branded EOS Rebel / Digital Rebel in the US, while they had just alphanumeric names in Europe and were known as Kiss / Kiss Digital in Japan. View Source Article

Nepal's government has lifted its ban on social media apps including Facebook and X after at least 19 people were killed yesterday during protests, The Guardian reported. "We have withdrawn the shutdown of the social media. They are working now," said communications minister Prithvi Subba Gurung. In a new development, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli has resigned due to the unrest, his aide told Reuters. Last week, the government announced it was blocking 26 social media platforms due to noncompliance with a new law requiring them to register in the nation. That action led to criticism from groups like the Federation of Nepali Journalists and Digital Rights Nepal, which called the sudden closure "controlling."  Then on Monday, thousands of Nepalese youths started "Gen Z" protests across the country. While triggered by the social media ban, they were fueled by perceived corruption among elites in the nation and the lack of economic opportunities for young people. One site that wasn't banned, TikTok, showed videos featuring children of politicians flaunting luxury goods and pricy vacations, in contrast to the struggles of regular people. "We are protesting against corruption that has been institutionalized in Nepal," a 24-year-old student told The Guardian.  During the demonstrations, protesters attempted to enter a Kathmandu parliament building and were repelled by police using water cannon, batons and rubber bullets. However, Amnesty International said live ammunition was also used and police confirmed that 19 people had died in the protests and hundreds were injured.  The unrest has continued despite the ban being lifted, with reports of protesters setting fire to the homes of some politicians and ministers being rescued by military helicopters, according to local media. "We are still standing here for our future ... We want this country corruption-free so that everyone can easily access education, hospitals, medical [facilities] ... for a bright future," protester Robin Sreshtha told Reuters. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/nepal-lifts-social-media-ban-after-19-people-were-killed-during-protests-120007652.html?src=rss View Source Article

Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 9th September 2025, CyberNewsWire View Source Article

It isn't just supermassive black holes that are messy eaters. Using a Japanese space telescope called XRISM, scientists have found that small black holes are a "hot mess," too. View Source Article

The Atari Gamestation Go comes with over 200 retro games. | Image: Atari Nearly two years after it was first announced at CES 2024, My Arcade’s Atari Gamestation Go handheld is finally available for preorder for $179.99 through the company’s website, with shipping expected to start in October 2025. That’s a small price bump from the expected $149.99 pricing announced earlier this year during CES 2025, but the handheld comes with over 200 preinstalled retro games including titles from Atari and Jaleco, plus Pac-Man. The Gamestation Go is not only an accessible way for nostalgic gamers to enjoy retro titles, it also provides several ways to accurately play those older games with an unusual assortment of control options. In addition to a standard D-pad and buttons, the Gamestation Go features a paddle controller, a trackball, and a numeric keypad, mirroring the unique controllers that were available for the earliest Atari consoles. The various controls even light up so you know which one you should be using for the game you’re playing. And although the handheld features a generous 7-inch screen, battery life is still estimated to be up to four or five hours. View Source Article

Exosens SAS, a French maker of night-vision gear, plans to expand globally through acquisitions as wars’ demands on special forces fuel a need for more advanced equipment. View Source Article

Canon has announced the EOS C50, its smallest cinema camera yet with features designed to appeal to social media creators and filmmakers alike. It has an RF mirrorless mount and all-new full-frame sensor that supports up to 7K 60p internal RAW recording and 32MP photo capture, making it a do-it-all camera for working pros. Despite the small size and light 1.5 pound weight, the EOS C50 is feature-rich. The full-frame CMOS sensor has a dual ISO system that operates in Canon Log 2 (C-Log 2) at ISO 800 and 6400 for better low-light performance. It also allows up to 12-bit Cinema RAW Light recording at up to 7K 60p and RAW HQ at 7K 30p, plus high-bitrate XF-AVC S and XF -HEV C modes. The C50 is also the company's first cinema camera with 3:2 open gate recording that allows for lossless conversion to other formats — finally matching a feature found in Panasonic's mirrorless cameras.  Canon Canon stretched that capability with something it calls simultaneous crop recording. When shooting 4K, you can output 2K social media video at the same time in 9:17, 9:16 or 1:1 formats. That will be handy for YouTube creators who also use Instagram or TikTok to promote videos.  Since it's part of Canon's Cinema lineup, the C50 offers pro features like two full-size XLR audio inputs (via an optional top handle), a zoom rocker, waveform/peaking displays, C-Log3 support and a dedicated start-stop button. It also comes with Canon's excellent Dual Pixel autofocus system and AI subject tracking that detects the eyes, face, head and body of people or animals. Other key features include SD-UHS II and CFexpress slots and a time code terminal. However, the C50 lacks in-body stabilization, relying instead on optical lens and electronic stabilization. Canon The C50 may be Canon's best hybrid cinema camera yet as well, with 32MB photos and burst shooting at up to 40 fps. Canon also introduced the new RF 85mm F/1.4 L VCM Hybrid Lens designed for portrait shooting for video and photos. Finally, for compact camera enthusiasts, Canon has released an updated version of its 2016 Elpha 360 HS, the Elpha 360 HS A, with a microSD slot in place of the original SD slot.  The Canon EOS C50 camera will ship toward the end of Q4 2025 for $3,899 and the new RF85mm F/1.4 L VCM lens will arrive this month for $1,649. The PowerShot Elph 360 HS A hits stores in October 2025 for $380. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/canons-tiny-c50-cinema-camera-can-shoot-widescreen-and-vertical-video-simultaneously-130001859.html?src=rss View Source Article

Pollen Street Capital extended a $100 million lending facility to CredibleX, a United Arab Emirates-based lender to small-and-medium sized companies, as demand for private credit in the Middle East rises. View Source Article

It's still back-to-school season and, regardless of whether you've picked up a textbook recently, that will always mean its time to pick up new supplies. Thankfully, there are some great deals currently running, including a new all-time low price for the USB-C Apple Pencil.  Right now, you can pick up the USB-C Apple Pencil for $50, down from $79. The 37 percent discount is available as part of Woot's warehouse clean out and will run for six more days or until the accessory sells out. Notably, Woot states that it will deliver the new Pencils in non-retail packaging and that they don't qualify for AppleCare.  Apple released its USB-C Pencil in 2023 as part of its switchover from Lightning ports. It's compatible with iPad models including the Pro 11- and 13-inch (M4), Air 11- and 13-inch (M2), mini (A17 Pro and sixth-generation) and 10th-generation iPad. It works really well as a standard option for writing, navigating an iPad and other casual uses. However, it doesn't offer some of the same perks as its more expensive counterparts, such as handling pressure sensitivity and magnetic charging.  Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-usb-c-apple-pencil-drops-to-a-new-all-time-low-123045887.html?src=rss View Source Article

Two NOAA satellites saw a solar eclipse on Sept. 7 as the moon blocked out the sun mere hours before a lunar eclipse was seen on Earth. View Source Article

Frankenstein is one of those stories that's been retold countless times. And yet, Guillermo del Toro has managed to make a version that not only feels true to Mary Shelley's original, but is also imbued with the trademarks the director is known for. Maybe that shouldn't be too surprising - when presenting the film at its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, del Toro explained that he has been thinking about Frankenstein since he was seven years old, but it wasn't until he became a father that he truly understood how to tell the version of the story he wanted to. Well, all that time paid off. On day 5 of TIFF I als … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Vietnam’s government has given the go-ahead for the five-year pilot of crypto asset trading, a move aimed at capitalizing on a market that has thrived in the country despite the absence of a legal framework. View Source Article

Daily Hub aims to combine useful info with curated recommendations, but only sometimes succeeds. When Google launched the Pixel 10 line last month, it gave as much attention to its AI-enabled software tricks as it did the hardware upgrades. But now, less than two weeks after the Pixel 10 series hit store shelves, its already pulled one of those AI features: Daily Hub, which collects the weather and your day’s calendar events, and recommends online content you might want to read, watch, or listen to. In fairness to Google, Daily Hub was only ever in a “public preview,” rather than a full release, but that hadn’t stopped the company from advertising the phones with it. The company has now paused that preview, a spokesperson telling 9to5Google that it is “actively working to enhance its performance and refine the personalized experience.” Apparently Google will reintroduce “an improved Daily Hub when it’s ready.” The public preview meant that Daily Hub hadn’t appeared on every Pixel 10 yet anyway — my 10 Pro XL press sample never got it. My colleague Allison did get to try Daily Hub, but going by her impressions it may be for the best that Google is pulling it for now: If voice translation is halfway between a helpful feature and a gimmick, then Daily Hub leans even further into gimmick territory. It’s a lot like the Now Brief Samsung introduced on its S25 phones, and it’s supposed to act as a quick digest for your day as well as a place to find some inspiration based on your recent activity. It does the first part of that job just fine; it’s maybe a more longwinded version of Google’s At a Glance widget, which gives you a heads up on the weather and upcoming calendar events. But it also misconstrued some of my recent Google search history in puzzling and hilarious ways. I looked up the schedule for our recycling service, provided by Waste Management, and it took that to mean that I’m interested in learning more about waste management generally. Uh, not quite. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Olivia Poh delves into the big bet made by Singaporean investor darling Sea. View Source Article

Apple’s annual iPhone event kicks off later today, and we may finally see the iPhone Air. That would appear alongside the usual iPhone refresh, with an array of iPhone 17 devices. We’re expecting four models again: iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Some reports suggest bigger batteries will appear across the series. Still, the rumored iPhone Air will be the technical star, expected to be the thinnest iPhone ever, even slimmer than the iPhone 6. However, there may be some compromises, such as a single 48-megapixel camera and a smaller battery. Engadget The Air may be the only entry in the iPhone 17 lineup to use titanium this year. The iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max are expected to be made of aluminum, which is lighter. That could have some users concerned with toughness, compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, which had a titanium frame. Talking of the iPhone Pro, multiple rumors have suggested it will have an improved telephoto camera, with the zoom lens jumping to 48MP resolution, which would strengthen its digital zooming abilities. Peripheral-wise, TechWoven cases could also appear. These cases match the rumored design on the iPhone 17 models, with the wide camera bump. The leaks suggest the cases will have two lanyard holes for carrying around your new phone. We’re also expecting to see new Apple Watch models, including a Watch Ultra 3. That would be the first major update to the rugged series in two years. It may include 5G connectivity and satellite texting. A new Apple Watch Series 11 is also likely, but it’s not expected to shake things up. Rounding out the Apple hardware barrage, we might see the AirPods Pro 3. These could introduce new biometric sensors, like an in-ear heart-rate monitor. While the new iPhones will launch with iOS 26, we don’t expect any major announcements about Apple’s AI endeavors or an overhauled Siri. At least, for now. The Apple Awe Dropping event kicks off at 1PM ET/ 10AM PT. Will we be there? Yes, of course we will. Check out Engadget’s iPhone 17 event liveblog right here. — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The news you might have missed This pettable Poké Ball is a Tamagotchi-style toy with over 150 Pokémon inside and I need it now Rimac introduces its take on solid-state batteries for electric vehicles If the iPhone 17 doesn’t get ProMotion, I won’t be upgrading my iPhone 12 Apple iPhone 17 event liveblog Pokémon Legends: Z-A feels like a strong step forward for the series The next embraces real-time action and more epic fights. Nintendo We spent some limited time with Pokémon Legends: Z-A and its revamped combat system, which that finally ditches turn-based combat for real-time action. So far, this new entry in the long-running series is showing promise for a follow-up that could shake up the Ppokémon meta in the right direction. Continue reading. Meta reportedly suppressed research about how dangerous its VR headsets are for kids Current and former staff have come forward. According to a report by The Washington Post, Meta allegedly suppressed research that suggested kids were exposed to certain dangers when using its VR headsets. Current and former employees have presented documents to Congress that describe incidents in which children were groomed by adult predators in VR, but allege that internal reports were edited to omit the worst of these offenses. Meta has denied these allegations. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-what-to-expect-from-apples-iphone-17-event-today-111528492.html?src=rss View Source Article

Silver Spring, USA, 9th September 2025, CyberNewsWire View Source Article

Leaked images potentially give us a closer look at the Powerbeats Fit and its color-matched charging case. Apple teased the upcoming Powerbeats Fit last month, and now renders and specifications for the sporty wireless earbuds have appeared online that give us a closer look at what to expect. According to trusted leaker Evan Blass, the new Beats earbuds will be available in four colorways — orange, gray, black, and pink — and provide up to 30 hours of battery life, or “7 hours per bud on one charge” without popping them back in the charging case. The images of the Powerbeats Fit shared by Blass look similar to the $200 Beats Fit Pro earbuds that Apple launched in 2021, and they have several features in common. Both are powered by Apple’s H1 chip, have the same reported battery life, carry an IPX4 resistance to water splashes and sweat, and include a transparency mode and active noise cancellation. Leaks suggest that the Powerbeats Fit provides four ear customizable ear tip sizes instead of three, however. The leaks don’t provide any information about price, wireless charging support, or case size. Apple is expected to announce some fitness-related upgrades for the AirPods Pro at today’s iPhone 17 event, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, so it would be odd for the Cupertino company to launch the Powerbeats Fit during the same show. The trailer that Apple released in August does say the new Beats will arrive in “Fall 2025” though, so we’ll have to wait and see. View Source Article

Blue Owl Capital-owned data center operator Stack Infrastructure Inc. is exploring a debt deal for up to €600 million ($705 million) linked to its assets in Milan, Italy, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. View Source Article

Firefox will soon let you shake your iPhone to get an AI-generated summary of the webpage you’re on. The feature rolls out this week, and will operate using Apple’s on-device AI model on the iPhone 15 Pro or newer once iOS 26 launches. On older iOS versions, Mozilla will use its own cloud-based AI system to create summaries and insert them on top of the webpage. Along with shaking your phone, you can also access AI-generated summaries by tapping the “thunderbolt” icon in the address bar, or tapping the three dots at the bottom of your screen and selecting “Summarize page.” Mozilla notes that you can turn off the feature at any time, in case you don’t want the browser to misinterpret a fumble of your phone as a summarization request. Shake to summarize will only work on webpages with fewer than 5,000 words. With the launch, Firefox will become one of the first major third-party apps to roll out an integration with Apple Intelligence, which we may hear more about during today’s iPhone launch event. Shake to summarize is only available in the US and in English to start, but Mozilla plans on expanding it globally and to Android users in the future. View Source Article

Space changes you. It strengthens some muscles, weakens others, shifts fluids within your body, and realigns your sense of balance. NASA’s Human Research Program works to understand—and sometimes even counter—those changes so astronauts can thrive on future deep space missions.   NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara pedals on the Cycle Ergometer Vibration Isolation System (CEVIS) inside the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory module.NASA Astronauts aboard the International Space Station work out roughly two hours a day to protect bone density, muscle strength and the cardiovascular system, but the longer they are in microgravity, the harder it can be for the brain and body to readapt to gravity’s pull. After months in orbit, returning astronauts often describe Earth as heavy, loud, and strangely still. Some reacclimate within days, while other astronauts take longer to fully recover. Adjusting to Gravity   NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli after landing in the Gulf of America on March 12, 2024, completing 197 days in space.NASA/Joel Kowsky The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission— NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov—landed in March 2024 after nearly 200 days in space. One of the first tests volunteer crew members completed was walking with their eyes open and then closed.   “With eyes closed, it was almost impossible to walk in a straight line,” Mogensen said. In space, vision is the primary way astronauts orient themselves, but back on Earth, the brain must relearn how to use inner-ear balance signals. Moghbeli joked her first attempt at the exercise looked like “a nice tap dance.”    “I felt very wobbly for the first two days,” Moghbeli said. “My neck was very tired from holding up my head.” She added that, overall, her body readapted to gravity quickly.   Astronauts each recover on their own timetable and may encounter different challenges. Mogensen said his coordination took time to return. Furukawa noted that he could not look down without feeling nauseated. “Day by day, I recovered and got more stable,” he said.  NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara after landing in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on April 6, 2024.NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara returned in April 2024 after 204 days in space. She said she felt almost completely back to normal a week after returning to Earth. O’Hara added that her prior experience as an ocean engineer gave her insight into space missions. “Having those small teams in the field working with a team somewhere else back on shore with more resources is a good analog for the space station and all the missions we’re hoping to do in the future,” she said.  NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, who flew her first space mission with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10, noted that the brain quickly adapts to weightlessness by tuning out the vestibular system, which controls balance. “Then, within days of being back on Earth, it remembers again—it’s amazing how fast the body readjusts,” she said.  Expedition 69 NASA astronaut Frank Rubio outside the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft after landing near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 27, 2023. NASA/Bill Ingalls When NASA astronaut Frank Rubio landed in Kazakhstan in September 2023, he had just completed a record 371-day mission—the longest single U.S. spaceflight.   Rubio said his body adjusted to gravity right away, though his feet and lower back were sore after more than a year without weight on them. Thanks to consistent workouts, Rubio said he felt mostly recovered within a couple of weeks.   Mentally, extending his mission from six months to a year was a challenge. “It was a mixed emotional roller coaster,” he said, but regular video calls with family kept him grounded. “It was almost overwhelming how much love and support we received.”  Crew-8 astronauts Matt Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Michael Barratt, and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin splashed down in October 2024 after 235 days on station. Dominick found sitting on hard surfaces uncomfortable at first. Epps felt the heaviness of Earth immediately. “You have to move and exercise every day, regardless of how exhausted you feel,” she said.   Barratt, veteran astronaut and board certified in internal and aerospace medicine, explained that recovery differs for each crew member, and that every return teaches NASA something new.  Still a Challenge, Even for Space Veterans   NASA astronaut Suni Williams is helped out of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft aboard the SpaceX recovery ship after splashing down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, March 18, 2025. NASA/Keegan Barber Veteran NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore returned from a nine-month mission with Crew-9 in early 2025. Despite her extensive spaceflight experience, Williams said re-adapting to gravity can still be tough. “The weight and heaviness of things is surprising,” she said. Like others, she pushed herself to move daily to regain strength and balance.   NASA astronaut Don Pettit arrives at Ellington Field in Houston on April 20, 2025, after returning to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. NASA/Robert Markowitz NASA astronaut Don Pettit, also a veteran flyer, came home in April 2025 after 220 days on the space station. At 70 years old, he is NASA’s oldest active astronaut—but experience did not make gravity gentler.  During landing, he says he was kept busy, “emptying the contents of my stomach onto the steppes of Kazakhstan.” Microgravity had eased the aches in his joints and muscles, but Earth’s pull brought them back all at once.   Pettit said his recovery felt similar to earlier missions. “I still feel like a little kid inside,” he said. The hardest part, he explained, isn’t regaining strength in big muscle groups, but retraining the small, often-overlooked muscles unused in space. “It’s a learning process to get used to gravity again.”   Recovery happens day by day—with help from exercise, support systems, and a little humor. No matter how long an astronaut is in space, every journey back to Earth is unique.  The Human Research Program help scientists understand how spaceflight environments affect astronaut health and performance and informs strategies to keep crews healthy for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The program studies astronauts before, during, and after spaceflight to learn how the human body adapts to living and working in space. It also collects data through Earth-based analog missions that can help keep astronauts safer for future space exploration.   To learn more about how microgravity affects the human body and develop new ways to help astronauts stay healthy, for example, its scientists conduct bedrest studies – asking dozens of volunteers to spend 60 days in bed with their heads tilted down at a specific angle.  Lying in this position tricks the body into responding as it would if the body was in space which allows scientists to trial interventions to hopefully counter some of microgravity’s effects.  Such studies, through led by NASA, occur at the German Aerospace Center’s Cologne campus at a facility called :envihab – a combination of “environment” and “habitat.”   Additional Earth-based insights come from the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) and the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Both analogs recreate the remote conditions and scenarios of deep space exploration here on Earth with volunteer crews who agree to live and work in the isolation of ground-based habitats and endure challenges like delayed communication that simulates the type of interactions that will occur during deep space journeys to and from Mars. Findings from these ground-based missions and others will help NASA refine its future interventions, strategies, and protocols for astronauts in space.  NASA and its partners have supported humans continuously living and working in space since November 2000. After nearly 25 years of continuous human presence, the space station remains the sole space-based proving ground for training and research for deep space missions, enabling NASA’s Artemis campaign, lunar exploration, and future Mars missions.  Explore More 7 min read A Few Things Artemis Will Teach Us About Living and Working on the Moon Article 6 years ago 3 min read Inside NASA’s New Orion Mission Evaluation Room for Artemis II  Article 2 weeks ago 12 min read 15 Ways the International Space Station Benefits Humanity Back on Earth Article 3 years ago View Source Article

Conducting a flyby mission to an interstellar object visiting our solar system is "feasible and affordable," a new study finds. But orbiting such an interloper is a different story. View Source Article

The co-founder of internet company Yandex went into exile after the war began. View Source Article

The 3D-printed Switch 2 mockup that started Nintendo’s dispute with Genki. Nintendo has settled the lawsuit it filed against accessory maker Genki over the Switch 2 mockup it showcased at CES before the console was officially revealed, and accessories it promoted using the Switch 2 name. Genki’s parent company, Human Things, will pay Nintendo an undisclosed amount of money in damages to close the case, according to a legal filing submitted on Monday, and has agreed to stop giving its products names that are “confusingly similar” to official Nintendo intellectual property. The dispute began in January after Genki showed off an accurate 3D-printed Switch 2 mockup at CES, even including the console’s logo, days before it was officially launched by Nintendo. The company also began to promote its range of Switch 2 accessories before the console was announced.  Nintendo later filed a complaint against the accessory maker in May over alleged “trademark infringement, unfair competition, and false advertising.” Nintendo said it didn’t provide Genki with technical Switch 2 specifications, and alleged that Genki either “unlawfully or illicitly obtained an authentic Nintendo Switch 2” prior to the console’s public release, or “cannot claim compatibility with enough certainty to make its advertising claims in good faith.” The financial terms of the settlement haven’t been disclosed. According to the settlement filing, Genki attests that it “did not obtain access to” a Switch 2 before the console’s launch announcement, and the origins of the 3D-printed dummy unit remain unclear. In the original lawsuit filing, Nintendo said that Genki had also infringed its trademark by marketing third-party accessories and services using language that alluded to Nintendo’s IP, such as “Genki Direct,” and “Genki Glitch 2.” Nintendo accused Genki of “taking advantage of the trust and loyalty that Nintendo fans have for the Nintendo brand and mark and causing actionable harm.” Genki is still permitted to reference Nintendo branding in its own products in a “nominative fair use manner” under the new settlement agreement, but only when the company is making verified compatibility claims or to clarify its affiliation with Nintendo products as a third-party accessory producer. View Source Article

Apple Inc. will hold its biggest product launch event of the year Tuesday, when the company is set to unveil the new iPhone 17 lineup, smartwatches and AirPods ahead of the holiday season. View Source Article

A fast, reliable SSD can make a huge difference to how your computer feels day to day. From quicker boot times to near-instant file transfers, solid-state drives outpace traditional hard drives in almost every way. They’re also more durable, run silently and use less power, making them a smart upgrade for laptops, desktops and even gaming consoles.The tricky part is choosing the right one. Between SATA drives, blazing-fast NVMe models and newer PCIe Gen 5 options, there’s a lot to weigh up in terms of speed, capacity and price. To make things easier, we’ve picked the best SSDs across a range of needs and budgets so you can upgrade with confidence. Table of contents Best SSDs in 2025 How we test SSDs What to look for in a PC SSD What to look for in portable and USB flash drives A note on console storage SSD FAQs Best SSDs in 2025 How we test SSDs I’ve either tested or personally use daily every storage drive recommended on this list. Out of our top picks, I bought four with my own money after doing about a dozen hours of research. Separately, Engadget Senior Reporter Jeff Dunn has also tested a handful of our recommendations, including the Crucial X9 Pro listed above. What to look for in a PC SSD The most affordable way to add fast storage space to a computer is with a 2.5-inch SATA drive. It’s also one of the easiest if you don’t want to worry about compatibility since almost every computer made in the last two decades will include a motherboard with Serial ATA connections. For that reason, the best SATA SSDs are an excellent choice if you want to extend the life of an older PC build. Installation is straightforward, too. Once you’ve secured the internal SSD in a drive cage, all you need to do is to connect it to your motherboard and power supply. The one downside of SATA drives is that, in terms of responsiveness, they’re slower than their high-performance NVMe counterparts, with SATA III limiting data transfers to 600MB/s. But even the slowest SSD will be significantly faster than the best mechanical drives. And with high-capacity, 1TB SATA SSDs costing about $100, they’re a good bulk-storage option. If your PC is newer, there’s a good chance it includes space for one or more M.2 SSDs. The form factor represents your ticket to the fastest SSDs on the market, but the tricky part is navigating all the different standards and specs involved. M.2 drives can feature either a SATA or PCIe connection. SSDs with the latter are known as Non-Volatile Memory or NVMe drives and are significantly faster than their SATA counterparts, with Gen3 models offering sequential write speeds of up to 3,000MB/s. These drives rely on NVMe NAND technology for their superior performance and durability. You can get twice the performance with a Gen4 SSD, but you’ll need a motherboard and processor that supports the standard. If you’re running an AMD system, that means at least a Ryzen 3000 or 5000 CPU and an X570 or B550 motherboard. With Intel, meanwhile, you’ll need at least an 11th or 12th Gen processor and a Z490, Z590 or Z690 motherboard. Keep in mind that Gen4 SSDs typically cost more than their Gen3 counterparts as well. More expensive still are the latest Gen5 models, which offer sequential read speeds of up to 16,000MB/s. However, even if your computer supports the standard, you’re better off buying a more affordable Gen4 or Gen3 drive. At the moment, very few games and applications can take advantage of Gen3 NVMe speeds, let alone Gen4 and Gen5 speeds. What’s more, Gen5 NVMe drives can run hot, which can lead to performance and longevity issues. Your money is better spent on other components, like upgrading your GPU, for now. As for why you would buy an M.2 SATA drive over a similarly specced 2.5-inch drive, it comes down to ease of installation. You add M.2 storage to your computer by installing the SSD directly onto the motherboard. That may sound intimidating, but in practice the process involves a single screw that you first remove to connect the drive to your computer and then retighten to secure the SSD in place. As an added bonus, there aren’t any wires involved, making cable management easier. Note that you can install a SATA M.2 SSD into an M.2 slot with a PCIe connection, but you can’t insert an NVMe M.2 SSD into a M.2 slot with a SATA connection. Unless you want to continue using an old M.2 drive, there’s little reason to take advantage of that feature. Speaking of backward compatibility, it’s also possible to use a Gen4 drive through a PCIe 3 connection, but you won’t get any of the speed benefits of the faster NVMe. One last thing to consider is that M.2 drives come in different physical sizes. From shortest to longest, the common options are 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110. (The first two numbers represent width in millimeters and the latter denote the length.) For the most part, you don’t have to worry about that since 2280 is the default for many motherboards and manufacturers. Some boards can accommodate more than one size of NVMe SSD thanks to multiple standoffs. That said, check your computer’s documentation or firmware before buying a drive to ensure you’re picking up a compatible size. If you’re buying a replacement SSD for the Steam Deck or Steam Deck OLED, things are less complicated. For Valve’s handheld, you will need a 2230 size NVMe. Simple. If you don’t want to open your Steam Deck, it’s also possible to expand its storage by installing a microSD card. Engadget has a separate guide dedicated to SD card storage, so check that out for additional buying advice. I alluded to this earlier, but the best buying advice I can offer is don’t get too caught up about being on the bleeding edge of storage tech. The sequential read and write speeds you see manufacturers list on their drives are theoretical and real-world performance benchmark tests vary less than you think. If your budget forces you to choose between a 1TB Gen3 NVMe and a 512GB Gen4 model, go for the higher-capacity one. From a practical standpoint, the worst thing you can do is buy a type of SSD that’s too small for needs. Drives can slow dramatically as they approach capacity, and you will probably end up purchasing one with a higher gigabyte capacity in the future. What to look for in portable and USB flash drives Portable SSDs are a somewhat different beast to their internal siblings. While read and write speeds are important, they are almost secondary to how an external drive connects to your PC. You won’t get the most out of a model like the SanDisk Extreme Pro V2 without a USB 3.2 Gen 2 x 2 connection. Even among newer PCs, that’s something of a premium feature. For that reason, most people are best off buying a portable drive with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 or Thunderbolt connection. The former offers transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps. The best external hard drives also allow you to transfer data from your Windows PC to a Mac, or other device, if compatible. Be sure to consider this beforehand if you plan to use your portable drive across multiple devices. Additionally, if you plan to take your drive on trips and commutes, it’s worthwhile to buy a model with IP-certified water and dust proofing. Some companies like Samsung offer rugged versions of their most popular drives, including the Samsung SSD T7 Shield, with a high endurance rating. For additional peace of mind, 256-bit AES hardware encryption will help prevent someone from accessing your data if you ever lose or misplace your external SSD. Some of the same features contribute to a great thumbstick drive. Our favorite picks for best budget external SSD models feature USB 3.0 connections and some form of hardware encryption. A note on console storage Seagate If PC gaming isn’t your thing and you own an Xbox Series X|S or PS5, outfitting your fancy new console with the fastest possible storage is far more straightforward than doing the same on PC. With a Series X or Series S, your options are limited to options from Seagate and Western Digital. The former offers 512GB, 1TB and 2TB models, with the most affordable starting at a not-so-trivial $90. Western Digital’s Expansion Cards are less expensive, with pricing starting at $80 for the 512GB model. The good news is that both options are frequently on sale. Your best bet is to set an alert for the model you want by using a price tracker like CamelCamelCamel. With Sony’s PlayStation 5, upgrading the console’s internal storage is slightly more involved. Instead of employing a proprietary solution, the PS5 uses NVMe storage. Thankfully, there aren’t as many potential configurations as you would find on a PC. Engadget maintains a comprehensive guide to the best SSDs for PS5; in short, your best bet is a high-capacity Gen4 drive with a built-in heatsink. Check out that guide for a full list of gaming SSD recommendations, but for a quick go-to, consider the Corsair MP600 Pro LPX I recommend above. It meets all the memory specifications for Sony’s latest console and you won’t run into any clearance issues with the heatsink. Corsair offers 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB and 8TB versions of the drive. Expect to pay about $110 for the 1TB variant and about $200 for 2TB. For those still playing on a previous generation console, you can get slightly faster game load times from a PlayStation 4 by swapping the included hard drive to a 2.5-inch SSD, but going out of your way to do so probably isn’t worth it at this point and you’re better off saving your money for one of the new consoles and updating your operating system instead. SSD FAQs What size SSD is best? There is no one size fits all rule for SSDs, but we generally recommend getting at least a 1TB SSD if you’re looking to upgrade PC or game console storage, or looking to add an external drive to your toolkit. A 1TB drive will be plenty for most people who need extra storage space for photos, documents and programs. If you’re a hardcore gamer, you may want to invest in even more storage considering many high-profile titles today can take up a ton of space. Is a 256GB SSD better than a 1TB hard drive? The short answer is that it depends on what you need your drive for. In general, SSDs are faster and more efficient than HDDs, but HDDs are usually cheaper. We recommend springing for an SSD for most use cases today — upgrading a PC, saving important photos and documents, storing games long term, etc. But if you’re focused on getting the most amount of extra space possible (and sticking to a budget), an HDD could be a good option for you. Does bigger SSD mean faster? Getting a bigger SSD doesn’t always translate into a faster drive overall. A bigger SSD will provide a higher storage capacity, which means more space for storing digital files and programs. To understand how fast an SSD will be, you’ll want to look at its read/write speeds: read speeds measure how fast a drive can access information, while write speeds measure how fast the drive can save information. Most SSDs list their approximate read/write speeds in their specs, so be sure to check out those numbers before you make a purchase.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-ssds-140014262.html?src=rss View Source Article

Microsoft and LG are partnering up to bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to internet-connected vehicles. A new Xbox app will soon be available on cars that use LG’s Automotive Content Platform (ACP), allowing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to access cloud versions of Xbox titles directly on in-car screens. The Xbox app will be able to stream games when you’re charging an EV or trying to entertain passengers on a road trip. LG’s ACP is already available on Kia’s EV3 in Europe, and is also coming to the EV4, EV5, and new Sportage. ACP runs LG’s webOS platform, the same software that powers its smart TVs, and provides access to a variety of content like Netflix, Disney Plus, YouTube, and more. Microsoft already partnered with LG to bring its Xbox app to smart TVs earlier this year, and the extension to compatible cars comes as the software maker gets ready to expand Xbox Cloud Gaming to Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers. “Our work with LG is the latest example of Xbox expanding to new places, building on partnerships that already bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to mobile devices, PCs, and TVs,” says Christopher Lee, vice president of Xbox marketing. “By adding vehicles to the mix, we’re giving players more choice than ever in how they enjoy their games.” Speaking of cars, Microsoft also announced overnight that it’s returning to the Tokyo Game Show later this month. An Xbox stream will be held on September 25th at 3AM PT / 6AM ET / 11AM UK, where Forza Horizon 6 is widely expected to be announced. The Xbox teaser for the Tokyo Game Show includes an urban neon aesthetic street scene that looks like it would be ideal for a new Forza game set in Japan. View Source Article

Revolut Ltd. is planning to launch its services in the United Arab Emirates after the fintech behemoth secured initial approval for licenses from the country’s central bank. View Source Article

Reports have been circulating for the past few weeks that recent Windows 11 updates (KB5063878 and KB5062660) were causing some SSDs using Phison controllers to fail. While plenty of YouTube and TikTok videos have blamed Microsoft for the issues, Phison has identified “early versions of firmware and BIOS” as the problem instead. “Many of the reports originate from media testing conducted on hardware running early versions of firmware and BIOS,” says Michael Wu, GM and President of Phison US, in a statement to The Verge. “These versions are performance preview drives and are not identical to those provided to end users through official distribution channels. We have observed that outdated firmware is still being used on some SSDs and we encourage any reviewers facing this to leverage updated channel firmware readily available through manufacturer-provided update utilities.” YouTuber JayzTwoCents claimed last week that the “Windows update and SSD problem is WAY worse than we thought!” JayzTwoCents showed a Crucial T500 drive (with a Phison E25 controller) failing after Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 security updates, and needing a power cycle to come back to life. It’s not clear whether JayzTwoCents was using pre-release SSD firmware, or even an early motherboard BIOS. Phison was able to replicate issues reported by the PCDIY! community though, and found that these were down to engineering preview firmware. “Phison examined the exact SSDs used in the PCDIY! testing and determined PCDIY! was utilizing an engineering preview firmware, which is not the final firmware used in the Corsair Force Series MP600 SSD 2TB and other drives with the E16 controller available for sale to consumers on the market,” explains Wu. Phison also performed the same tests on consumer SSDs and found no crashes or failures. Microsoft said late last month that it had “found no connection” between its security updates and the drive failures reported on social media and elsewhere. That didn’t stop many people, including prominent YouTubers, from blaming Microsoft for the SSD issues. That’s hardly surprising though, given Microsoft’s history of chaotic Windows updates. View Source Article

The Plex media streaming platform has been breached in what looks to be a repeat of a 2022 incident that saw authentication data and encrypted passwords compromised. The company is urging users to change their password, enable two-factor authentication, and sign out of any connected devices that might already be logged in. In an email sent to users titled “Action required: Notice of a potential security incident,” Plex says a database was accessed by “an unauthorized third party” exposing emails, usernames, and hashed passwords for a “limited subset” of customers. Because the passwords were securely hashed, they can’t be easily read by the attacker, but Plex urges users to change them anyway. Plex says credit card data wasn’t exposed because it’s not stored on its servers. Here’s the full email sent to Plex users this morning: Dear Plex User, We have recently experienced a security incident that may potentially involve your Plex account information. We believe the actual impact of this incident is limited; however, action is required from you to ensure your account remains secure.  What happened An unauthorized third party accessed a limited subset of customer data from one of our databases. While we quickly contained the incident, information that was accessed included emails, usernames, and securely hashed passwords.  Any account passwords that may have been accessed were securely hashed, in accordance with best practices, meaning they cannot be read by a third party. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend you immediately reset your password by visiting https://plex.tv/reset. Rest assured that we do not store credit card data on our servers, so this information was not compromised in this incident.  What we’re doing We’ve already addressed the method that this third party used to gain access to the system, and we’re undergoing additional reviews to ensure that the security of all of our systems is further hardened to prevent future attacks.  What you must do We kindly request that you reset your Plex account password immediately by visiting https://plex.tv/reset. When doing so, there’s a checkbox to “Sign out connected devices after password change,” which we recommend you enable. This will sign you out of all your devices (including any Plex Media Server you own) for your security, and you will then need to sign back in with your new password. We understand that this means a little more work for you, but it will provide additional security to your account.  Additional Security Measures You Can Take We remind you that no one at Plex will ever reach out to you over email to ask for a password or credit card number for payments. For further account protection, we also recommend enabling two-factor authentication on your Plex account if you haven’t already done so.  Lastly, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may cause you. We take pride in our security systems, which helped us quickly detect this incident, and we want to assure you that we are working swiftly to prevent potential future incidents from occurring.  For step-by-step instructions on how to reset your password, visit:https://support.plex.tv/articles/account-requires-password-reset  Thank you, The Plex Team View Source Article

Apple Music is one of the few streaming services that offers high-resolution audio (aka “lossless”) at no extra charge. But enjoying that extra quality on your phone usually requires some extra hardware. That is the purpose of this guide, — to help you find exactly what you need depending on how you prefer to listen. Every product listed below will help you squeeze more audio quality out of your Apple Music subscription. In fact, whatever music service you use, your listening experience will be enhanced. Best of all, most of these recommendations are compatible with Android, Mac and Windows devices, too.Fortunately, as data plans become more generous and technology advances, listening to these larger-files in their full glory is less of a challenge. There are still some hardware hurdles though, especially if you use AirPods (or any wireless headphones) as Bluetooth technology is theoretically capable of delivering some higher-resolution audio, and Apple products don’t support the required technology (codecs such as Aptx, LDAC etc.). Confusingly, there are also different levels of “lossless” on Apple Music, with standard “CD quality” audio and then “Hi-Res Lossless” files that are recorded at even higher data rates. But don’t worry, we have a solution for you below, no matter how you prefer to listen to your music.Of course, a DAC or dongle is only part of the equation — your headphones or speakers are also just as important. So if you’re looking for the absolute best audio experience be sure to check out our guide to the best headphones. Although these options are wireless, many can be used with a cable, too, making them the perfect pairing for our recommendations below. Best DACs for 2025 DAC FAQs What does DAC stand for? DAC stands for digital to analogue converter. A digital-to-analog converter takes the digital (D) music from your phone or computer and converts (C) it into analog (A) sound you can hear. All phones and PCs have them, but since handsets moved to USB-C, Lightning or Bluetooth for music, the task of converting that signal was generally outsourced to either your adapter or your wireless headphones. DACs can be used with phones, laptops and desktops but tend to be much simpler than a regular external audio interface. One basic distinction is that DACs are usually for listening only whereas an audio interface might have ports to plug in microphones and instruments (but an external audio interface is also technically a DAC). Some high-end DACs even include XLR outputs for better connectivity with professional audio equipment. The best DACs tend to be lightweight, making them more suitable for mobile use, although it still gets a little tricky with the iPhone as you still might need to add another dongle to make it play nice with Lightning. Also, not all DACs support all the higher audio resolutions like DSD. Most standalone DACs require external power or an onboard battery, though some can use the power from whatever you plug them into — in which case expect a hit to your battery life. Why do I need new hardware to listen to music? The short answer is, you don’t. You can play “hi-res” audio files on most phones and PCs, you just might not be getting the full experience. If your device’s audio interface tops out at 44.1 or 48kHz (which is fairly common and covers the vast majority of music online) then that’s the experience you’ll get. If you want to enjoy better sounding music at a higher sample rate and bit-depth (aka resolution), you’ll need an interface that supports it and wired headphones, potentially using a headphone amp for an enhanced experience. It’s worth pointing out that “lossless” and “hi-res” are related terms, but not the same thing and will vary from service to service. Apple uses ALAC encoding which is compressed, but without “loss” to the quality (unlike the ubiquitous .aac or .mp3 file formats). CDs were generally mastered to at least 16-bit / 44.1kHz which is the benchmark that Apple is using for its definition of lossless. In audio circles, a general consensus is that hi-res is anything with a sample rate above 44.1kHz. Increasingly, though, the term is being used for anything 96kHz and above. This, of course, isn’t only about Apple’s new streaming formats. External DACs and audio interfaces are a great way to get the best sound and upgrade your listening experience generally. Especially if you want to get into the world of more exotic (read: pricey) headphones, as they often even require a DAC to provide enough clean digital signal to drive them. For audiophile headphones, a phone or laptop’s internal sound chipset often doesn’t have the oomph needed to deliver a hi-fi experience, meaning a better DAC could make all the difference in sound quality. Okay, but can’t I just use the headphone adapter for my phone? No. Well, yes, but see above. A Lightning or USB-C to 3.5mm headphone adapter often is an audio interface and most of the ones you’re buying for $7 (or that come free in the box) do not support hi-res audio beyond 48kHz / 24-bit. Android is a little more complicated, as some adapters are “passive” and really just connect you to the phone’s internal DAC like old school headphones. Others (active ones) have a DAC built-in and good luck finding out what your specific phone and the in-box adapter delivers. (Hint: connect it to a PC and see if it comes up as an audio interface. You might find some details there if it does). What about Bluetooth headphones? Chances are that over the last few years you’ve migrated from wired to wireless headphones (thanks, Apple). The world of Bluetooth headphones changes things a little when it comes to seeking better audio performance. What matters here is twofold, the headphones you’re using (as those will technically be the “DAC”) and the codec — the method used to send the musical data over to the headphones. It’s also worth checking to see if your headphones support aptX and which version. Look out for aptX HD, aptX Adaptive and (for the highest quality) aptX Lossless which are all better than standard and becoming more common, albeit slowly. It’s worth noting that both your phone or media player and your headphones need to support the same aptX codec. Currently, no iPhone supports any type of aptX, though dongles exist that will offer that functionality. Other higher-resolution Bluetooth codecs exist, like Sony’s LDAC, but Qualcomm’s AptX has wider support thanks to its prevalence in Android devices. Some high-end wireless headphones might even come with a headphone jack for wired connections when higher-quality audio is needed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/the-best-dac-for-lossless-high-resolution-music-iphone-android-160056147.html?src=rss View Source Article

A new venture capital company backed by former Silicon Valley executives is seeking to raise as much as €50 million ($58.7 million) to invest in northern European startups building artificial intelligence applications for business. View Source Article

EcoDataCenter AB raised €600 million ($703 million) in debt financing to build new data centers in Sweden that will power artificial intelligence. View Source Article

ASML Holding NV is investing €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) in France’s Mistral AI as part of a strategic partnership, an unusual move for the Dutch chipmaking equipment company that shores up Europe’s most important artificial intelligence startup. View Source Article

Legal & General Group Plc has raised €600 million ($704 million) for a digital infrastructure fund, the latest move by the UK’s largest asset manager to broaden its private-markets offerings. View Source Article

GIC Pte. and SoftBank Vision Fund are considering selling their stakes in Vietnamese fintech firm VNLife, according to people with knowledge of the matter. View Source Article

Judge William Alsup has rejected the record-breaking $1.5 billion settlement Anthropic has agreed to for a piracy lawsuit filed by writers. According to Bloomberg Law, the federal judge is concerned that the class lawyers struck a deal that will be forced "down the throat of authors." Alsup reportedly felt misled by the deal and said it was "nowhere close to complete." In his order, he said he was "disappointed that counsel have left important questions to be answered in the future," including the list of works involved in the case, the list of authors, the process of notifying members of the class and the claim form class members can use to get their part of the settlement.  If you'll recall, the plaintiffs sued Anthropic over the company's use of pirated copies of their works to train its large language models. Around 500,000 authors are involved in the lawsuit, and they're expected to receive $3,000 per work. "This landmark settlement far surpasses any other known copyright recovery," one of the lawyers representing the authors said in a statement. However, Alsup had an "uneasy feeling about hangers on with all [that] money on the table." He explained that class members "get the shaft" in a lot of class actions once the monetary settlement has been established and lawyers stopped caring.  Alsup told the lawyers that they must give the class members "very good notice" about the settlement and design a claim form that gives them the choice to opt in or out. They also have to ensure that Anthropic cannot be sued for the same issue in the future. The judge gave the lawyers until September 15 to submit a final list of works involved in the lawsuit. He also wrote in his order that the works list, class members list and the claim form all have to be examined and approved by the court by October 10 before he grants the settlement his preliminary approval. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/judge-rejects-anthropics-record-breaking-15-billion-settlement-for-ai-copyright-lawsuit-033512498.html?src=rss View Source Article

Mukesh Ambani is walking a tightrope between Trump and Modi, and he’s calling for all hands on deck to help. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Andy Mukherjee explains his plan. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Investors are snapping up orders for Klarna Group Plc shares ahead of its much-anticipated pricing debut late Tuesday. Part of the appeal: the buy-now-pay-later lender’s implied market valuation is currently about a 50% discount to rival Affirm Holdings Inc. View Source Article

Microsoft Corp. struck a multiyear deal worth nearly $20 billion to get AI cloud computing power from Nebius Group NV, the technology company spun out from Russian internet giant Yandex. View Source Article

Artificial intelligence-powered chatbots that encourage suicide or hold sexually explicit conversations pose a “clear and present danger” to children, Australia’s online safety regulator said, as it rolled out new rules governing the services. View Source Article

Brian Wang, Herbert Ong and Hans Nelson are covering the TESLA Megapack event. There will be new megapack products announced. Likely a mini megapack with about 500 kilowatt hours of energy. In between power walls and 3.9 MWh megapacks. There will likely be a megapack V3 that will have transformer components for easy lego construction ... Read more View Source Article

A unit of Ant Group Co. is quietly making inroads to link over 60 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) worth of energy infrastructure and other real-world power assets to its blockchain, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read Perseverance Meets the Megabreccia NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the “Scotiafjellet” workspace on Aug. 31, 2025, using its onboard Left Navigation Camera (Navcam). The camera is located high on the rover’s mast and aids in driving. This image was acquired on Sol 1610, or Martian day 1,610 of the Mars 2020 mission, at the local mean solar time of 14:52:20. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by By Henry Manelski, Ph.D. student at Purdue University Last week, the Perseverance rover began an exciting new journey. Driving northwest of the Soroya ridge, Perseverance entered an area filled with a diverse range of boulders that the science team believes could hold clues to Mars’ early history. The terrain we are exploring is known as megabreccia: a chaotic mixture of broken rock fragments likely produced during ancient asteroid impacts. Some blocks may have originated in the gargantuan Isidis impact event, which created a 1,200-mile-wide crater (about 1,930 kilometers) just east of Jezero. Studying megabreccia could help us link Jezero’s geology to the wider region around Isidis Basin, tying local observations to Mars’ global history.  The rover is now beginning a systematic exploration of these rocks, starting at Scotiafjellet. If they are truly megabreccia, they could contain pieces of deep crustal material, offering a rare glimpse into Mars’ interior. These rocks likely predate the deltaic and volcanic deposits we explored earlier in Jezero Crater, making them some of the oldest accessible rocks Perseverance will ever encounter. They may therefore reveal to what extent water was present on ancient Mars — a key question as we continue our search for signs of past life on the Red Planet. In short, by venturing into this jumbled terrain, Perseverance is giving us a front-row seat to the earliest chapters of Mars’ story.   Want to read more posts from the Perseverance team? Visit Mission Updates Want to learn more about Perseverance’s science instruments? Visit the Science Instruments page Share Details Last Updated Sep 08, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4641-4648: Thinking Outside and Inside the ‘Boxwork’ Article 4 days ago 2 min read Over Soroya Ridge & Onward! Article 2 weeks ago 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4638-4640: Imaging Extravaganza Atop a Ridge Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View Source Article

The Federal Communications Commission lifted a regulatory cloud hanging over EchoStar Corp. on Monday after the company earlier announced it’s selling $17 billion worth of wireless spectrum to SpaceX. View Source Article

Warmer temperatures are associated with higher consumption of sugary beverages and frozen treats, raising concerns about long-term health effects View Source Article

A former employee at Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging he repeatedly raised cybersecurity concerns about the messaging app with his superiors but was ignored and retaliated against. View Source Article

After months of turmoil from Donald Trump’s tariff changes, e-commerce platform Temu is charging back into the US market with deep discounts to regain ground against rival Shein Group Ltd. View Source Article

Bluesky has added a built-in bookmarking feature so users finally have a way to privately save posts on the platform. The update is out now on Bluesky's website and app.Bookmarks on Bluesky work pretty much like they do on any other service. Save a post and you can revisit it later from the "saved posts" section of the app and website. It's overall a basic feature — there's currently no way to organize your saves into folders, for example — but it's a very long overdue addition to the platform. Up to now, Bluesky users have technically been able to save posts via a workaround. Bluesky developer Jaz created a custom "pinned" feed that allowed subscribers to save posts by replying with a 📌 emoji. But while this provided a handy way to save posts in the absence of an official bookmarking feature, it wasn't private since it created a public reply for every save. Now, though, there's a handy tool to convert your previously "pinned" posts into private bookmarks. You can also opt to delete your public "pins" or leave them as is. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-finally-has-a-private-bookmarking-feature-224110038.html?src=rss View Source Article

After more than a decade and tens of billions of dollars spent trying to build a fourth major US telecom carrier, Charlie Ergen has put that dream to rest and will focus his energy on a more modest vision for his satellite-TV and wireless phone empire. View Source Article

Rimac Technology has unveiled a new battery pack platform for electric vehicles that uses only solid-state batteries. The company has been an EV supplier for notable car brands including Aston Martin and Koenigsegg, as well as making electric supercar Nevara. Rimac collaborated with ProLogium and Mitsubishi Chemical Group on the product, which it claims will offer a lighter, safer and more energy-dense EV battery. It introduced this tech, alongside new composite and hybrid battery EV developments, at the IAA Mobility 2025 event. Solid-state batteries are being touted as an important new development for EVs. European R&D operation Imec released a study into this tech last year that backed claims that these batteries did indeed have the potential to improve efficiency while bringing down costs. However, the commercial development of solid-state batteries has been slow going. Despite a flurry of partnerships several years ago, the targets for getting EVs fully powered by the tech onto the road may still be some time away. For instance, Nissan said it aims to have its first EV solely using solid-state batteries released by its 2028 fiscal year. Rimac didn't offer even a rough timeline for when it might have its new battery tech available for customers. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/rimac-introduces-its-take-on-solid-state-batteries-for-electric-vehicles-215915664.html?src=rss View Source Article

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft awaits its capture by the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, commanded by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick on Aug. 6, 2024.Credit: NASA NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 6:11 p.m. EDT, Sunday, Sept. 14, for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. The mission is known as NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23, or Northrop Grumman CRS-23. Watch the agency’s launch and arrival coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. Filled with more than 11,000 pounds of supplies, the Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL spacecraft, carried on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This mission will be the first flight of the Cygnus XL, the larger, more cargo-capable version of the company’s solar-powered spacecraft. Following arrival, astronauts aboard the space station will use the Canadarm2 to grapple Cygnus XL on Wednesday, Sept. 17, before robotically installing the spacecraft to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading. Highlights of space station research and technology demonstrations, facilitated by delivery aboard this Cygnus XL, include materials to produce semiconductor crystals in space and equipment to develop improvements for cryogenic fuel tanks. The spacecraft also will deliver a specialized UV light system to prevent the growth of microbe communities that form in water systems and supplies to produce pharmaceutical crystals that could treat cancer and other diseases. Media interested in speaking to a science subject matter expert should contact Sandra Jones at: sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is available on the agency’s website. The Cygnus XL spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the orbiting laboratory until March before it departs and burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Northrop Grumman has named the spacecraft the S.S. William “Willie” McCool, in honor of the NASA astronaut who perished in 2003 during the space shuttle Columbia accident. NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations): Wednesday, Sept. 10:1 p.m. – International Space Station National Laboratory Science Webinar with the following participants: Dr. Liz Warren, associate chief scientist, NASA’s International Space Station Program Research Office Phillip Irace, science program director, International Space Station National Laboratory Paul Westerhoff, regents professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University Robert Garmise, director of formulation development; exploratory biopharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers Squibb Joel Sercel, founder and CEO, TransAstra Corporation and Mike Lewis, senior vice president, customer innovation, Voyager Technologies Mohammad Kassemi, research professor, Case Western University Media who wish to participate must register for Zoom access no later than one hour before the start of the webinar. The webinar will be recorded and shared to the International Space Station National Lab’s YouTube channel following the event. Ask questions in advance using social accounts @ISS_CASIS and @Space_Station. Friday, Sept 12 11:30 a.m. – Prelaunch media teleconference with the following participants: Dina Contella, deputy manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program Dr. Liz Warren, associate chief scientist, NASA’s International Space Station Program Research Office Ryan Tintner, vice president, Civil Space Systems, Northrop Grumman Jared Metter, director, Flight Reliability, SpaceX Media who wish to participate by phone must request dial-in information by 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, by contacting the NASA Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website and YouTube. Sunday, Sept. 14: 5:50 p.m. – Launch coverage begins on NASA+ and Amazon Prime 6:11 p.m. – Launch Wednesday, Sept. 17: 5 a.m. – Arrival coverage begins on NASA+ and Amazon Prime 6:35 a.m. – Capture 8 a.m. – Installation coverage begins on NASA+ and Amazon Prime NASA website launch coverageLaunch day coverage of the mission will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 5:50 p.m. on Sept. 14, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video on NASA+ and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468. Follow countdown coverage on our International Space Station blog for updates. Attend Launch Virtually Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission also includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following launch. Watch, Engage on Social Media Let people know you’re watching the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by following and tagging these accounts: X: @NASA, @NASASpaceOps, @NASAKennedy, @Space_Station, @ISS_CASIS Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, ISS, ISS National Lab Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @ISS, @ISSNationalLab Coverage en Espanol Did you know NASA has a Spanish section called NASA en Espanol? Check out NASA en Espanol on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for additional mission coverage. Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo o Messod Bendayan a: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov. Learn more about the mission at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-northrop-grumman-crs-23/ -end- Josh Finch / Jimi RussellHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1100joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov Steven SiceloffKennedy Space Center, Fla.321-876-2468steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov Sandra Jones / Joseph ZakrzewskiJohnson Space Center, Houston281-483-5111sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 08, 2025 EditorLauren E. LowLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNorthrop Grumman Commercial ResupplyCommercial ResupplyInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS Research View Source Article

AMD’s FSR 4 AI upscaling and frame-generation technology can now be enabled for “most games that support FSR 3.1 with DirectX 12,” the company says in the patch notes for its newest 25.9.1 driver.  This support has been a big promise from AMD, but it’s taken awhile to come to fruition; FSR 4 first launched alongside the company’s RX 9000-series graphics cards back in March. AMD touts FSR 4, its competitor to Nvidia’s DLSS 4, as a “significant leap forward” over FSR 3. “By utilizing ML algorithms, FSR 4 can intelligently predict and compensate for lost pixels during low-resolution rendering, thereby providing gamers with high performance and crisp, high-definition visuals that are just as good as native,” AMD says. The new driver brings official FSR 4 support to cover more than 85 titles. But for FSR 3.1 games, you can force FSR 4 by flipping a toggle in the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition app. “This last step allows the driver to override the FSR 3.1 game implementation with the latest version of FSR 4,” according to AMD.  FSR 4 support has slowly been trickling out to games since its release, including being added to titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Ghost of Tsushima, and F1 25. View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow discuss SpaceX’s plan to buy wireless spectrum from EchoStar for about $17 billion. Plus, Cognition AI CEO Scott Wu discusses the company’s new $10.2 billion valuation in a roughly $400 million funding round. And Shane Goodwin, an adviser to Tesla’s special committee, discusses the proposed $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie on September 10, 2021, the 198th Martian day, or sol of its mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 10, to discuss the analysis of a rock sampled by the agency’s Perseverance Mars rover last year, which is the subject of a forthcoming science paper. The sample, called “Sapphire Canyon,” was collected in July 2024 from a set of rocky outcrops on the edges of Neretva Vallis, a river valley carved by water rushing into Jezero Crater long ago. Audio and visuals of the call will stream on the agency’s website at: https://www.nasa.gov/live Participants in the teleconference include: Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington Lindsay Hays, Senior Scientist for Mars Exploration, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance Project Scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California Joel Hurowitz, planetary scientist, Stony Brook University, New York To ask questions by phone, members of the media must RSVP no later than two hours before the start of the event to: rexana.v.vizza@jpl.nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. Since landing in the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater in February 2021, Perseverance has collected 30 samples. The rover still has six empty sample tubes to fill, and it continues to collect detailed information about geologic targets that it hasn’t sampled by using its abrasion tool. Among the rover’s science instruments is a weather station that provides environmental information for future human missions, as well as swatches of spacesuit material so that NASA can study how it fares on Mars. Managed for NASA by Caltech, JPL built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover on behalf of the agency’s Science Mission as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. To learn more about Perseverance visit: https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance -end- Bethany Stevens / Karen FoxHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov DC AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 08, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsPerseverance (Rover)MarsMars 2020Planetary Science DivisionScience Mission Directorate View Source Article

A new low-cost concept for interstellar travel combines solar power with a slingshot, but it would take a long time to reach the stars. View Source Article

Intel Corp., the computer-chip maker that has been struggling to revive its fortunes, appointed new leaders for its two biggest product groups and said Michelle Johnston Holthaus, a veteran executive previously in charge of the units, is leaving the company. View Source Article

Nintendo has notched another victory in its crusade against piracy. Last week, a Washington District Court judge ordered Ryan Daley to pay Nintendo $2 million and stop selling modded Switch consoles online, as reported earlier by Engadget. In a copyright lawsuit filed last year, Nintendo accused Daley of operating the website Modded Hardware, which sold modded Switch consoles, modchips used to hack into Switch devices, and Mig flash cartridges that allow people to play pirated copies of games. Nintendo claimed Daley caused the company “significant and irreparable harm” — and the judge agreed. “The MIG Devices, Mod Chips, Hacked Consoles, and Circumvention Services allow members of the public to create, distribute, and play pirated Nintendo games on a massive scale,” the ruling states. Daley denied any wrongdoing. Piracy lawsuits from Nintendo have become increasingly common, with the company winning its case against a file-sharing site accused of hosting pirated games earlier this year. Nintendo’s legal actions have led to the shutdown of Switch emulators, including Yuzu and Ryujinx. The company has also made it clear that it may brick Switch 2 consoles if players try to mod the device. Daley, who chose to fight Nintendo without a lawyer, is now banned from modding Switch consoles, as well as from using devices designed to circumvent the console’s security measures. The judge also ordered the seizure, impoundment, or destruction of all devices owned by Daley that may contain copyright-infringing material. View Source Article

Dell Technologies Inc. said Chief Financial Officer Yvonne McGill is stepping down and will be replaced on an interim basis by David Kennedy, a senior vice president with the firm. View Source Article

Suspected cyber attackers linked to the Chinese Communist Party impersonated the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China in a series of attempts to steal sensitive data on trade negotiations, the panel said. View Source Article

SpaceX Echostar bandwidth buy – SpaceX themselves said the throughput (comm speed) will go up 20 times and the capacity (how many users) will go up 100 times. In a few years, SpaceX own most of global communications and give full 5G everywhere. My video explains it all. (on X and on youtube). SpaceX is ... Read more View Source Article

The comet will come closest to Earth on Oct. 20. There's hope that it may become bright enough to glimpse with the naked eye. View Source Article

Amazon.com Inc. has taken a stake in the Colombian delivery company Rappi Inc., a strategic partnership that pairs the e-commerce giant’s retail and technology infrastructure with one of Latin America’s best-known last-mile delivery outfits. View Source Article

Google is opening up AI Mode to more languages. Starting today, the AI chatbot the company is integrating into Google Search is available in Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and Brazilian Portuguese.  The company has been rapidly expanding access to the search experience. In May, Google started offering it to everyone in the US (and later the UK and India) after starting public tests just two months earlier.  Google added more features to AI Mode in July, including support for the Gemini 2.5 Pro model and Deep Search. As of last month, AI Mode has been present in more than 180 countries. But until now, AI Mode had only been available in English. This is the first language support expansion for the chatbot.  "Building a truly global Search goes far beyond translation — it requires a nuanced understanding of local information," Hema Budaraju, Google's vice president of search product management wrote in a blog post. "With the advanced multimodal and reasoning capabilities of our custom version of Gemini 2.5 in Search, we’ve made huge strides in language understanding, so our most advanced AI search capabilities are locally relevant and useful in each new language we support." Google has been claiming recently that traffic to websites from Search is "relatively stable" since the rollout of AI Overviews and that "the web is thriving." However, the company admitted something very different in a court filing last week. Its lawyers stated that "the open web is already in rapid decline." That, plus the expansion of AI Mode, will surely be welcomed with open arms by publishers who are seriously feeling the pinch of declining web traffic.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-expands-ai-mode-beyond-english-for-the-first-time-192245955.html?src=rss View Source Article

SpaceX conducted a static-fire test with Super Heavy booster B15 on Sunday (Sept. 7), preparing the booster for Starship's Flight Test 11 — a fast turnaround from their successful Flight 10 launch two weeks ago. View Source Article

Google made three major updates to its Gemini-powered products on Monday: The Gemini app now accepts audio files; Search can handle five new languages; and NotebookLM creates reports in the form of blog posts, study guides, quizzes, and more.  According to a Monday post on X by Josh Woodward, vice president of Google Labs and Gemini, audio file compatibility was the “#1 request” to the Gemini app.  Free Gemini users max out at 10 minutes of audio, and five free prompts each day. AI Pro or AI Ultra users, meanwhile, can upload audio up to three hours in length. All Gemini prompts accommodate up to 10 files across various file formats, including within ZIP files.  Additionally, Google Search’s AI Mode has rolled out five new language options: Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese, thanks to the integration of Gemini 2.5 with Search, according to a company blog: “With this expansion, more people can now use AI Mode to ask complex questions in their preferred language, while exploring the web more deeply.”  The Gemini-powered NotebookLM software is also getting an update in the form of new report styles in over 80 languages based on a user’s uploaded documents, files, and other media.  (While the Gemini app is just now getting audio, NotebookLM already had that capability, positioning itself as a research tool that helps find patterns in files of different formats.) The standard report formats include study guides, briefing docs, and blog posts. Flashcards and quizzes are also included in the latest NotebookLM update. Users can choose the self-created format and adjust the structure, tone, and style of the report. The feature “should be 100%” available by the end of this week, according to a company comment to a post on X. Google has been on a dizzying spree of AI-related features in the past month. Gemini began automatically recalling user details and preferences from past conversations in August, the same month that free users gained access to Workspace’s video generation software Vids. In September, Photos upgraded to the latest video generation software Veo 3 and gave free users the ability to create silent 4-second long videos from their own personal, still pictures.   View Source Article

Vodafone made a commercial starring an AI avatar posing as a real lady. This is interesting because Vodafone is a major global brand and not a fly-by-night TikTok company using a ridiculous deepfake of Jackson Galaxy to sell cat toys. The tells in the commercial are obvious and what one would expect. The AI avatar's hair is a bit off, which ruins the charade that this is a real person. The physical mannerisms and speaking tone are also wonky. A facial mole moves around at one point. It's AI. You know the drill. The company responded to a question on a message board as to why it couldn't put "a real person in front of the camera" by saying this is simply an experiment. It said it was “testing different styles of advertising — this time with AI,” and that “AI is so much a part of everyday life these days that we also try it out in advertising.” This isn't the first Vodafone ad to feature generative AI. It released a fully AI-generated commercial last year that spurred a bit of controversy, despite looking absolutely awful. Social media platforms are also becoming increasingly littered with AI-generated virtual influencers. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/vodafone-is-testing-an-ai-actor-to-sell-its-products-instead-of-paying-a-human-to-do-it-185301360.html?src=rss View Source Article

The shooting stars appear to emanate from a patch of space in the constellation Perseus. View Source Article

Signal is launching its first paid feature: the ability to make secure, end-to-end encrypted backups of your media history older than 45 days and of your text message history for $1.99 per month. “Media requires a lot of storage, and storing and transferring large amounts of data is expensive,” Signal’s VP of engineering, Jim O’Leary, says in a blog post. “As a nonprofit that refuses to collect or sell your data, Signal needs to cover those costs differently than other tech organizations that offer similar products but support themselves by selling ads and monetizing data.” Signal is also launching free secure backups that save your media from just the last 45 days. On that free tier, you’ll also be able to save your text messages past then, and while you’ll be limited to saving 100MB of messages, Signal expects that will still “be large enough for even heavy Signal users to back up the text of all of their messages,” according to O’Leary. The backup archives are “stored without a direct link to a specific backup payment or Signal user account,” O’Leary says. You’ll use a recovery key to unlock your backups, but if you lose that key, the company “cannot help you recover it.” If you turn on secure backups, your device will make a new backup every day. The feature is available on Android’s beta app, and a public launch and iOS and desktop support are “coming soon.” Down the line, Signal plans to let users save a secure backup archive to “the location of your choosing.” View Source Article

'EVE Frontier' developers Helgi Freyr Rúnarsson and Guðlaugur Jóhannesson talk galaxy merger models, black holes, and the thin line between science and fun. View Source Article

It’s been five years since Polestar first introduced the Precept, a concept car that the electric automaker described as “a manifesto of things to come; a declaration.” Well, come they have, because today Polestar finally revealed the production car that’s based on this manifesto: the Polestar 5. And wow, these specs: up to 460 miles of range, 800-volt architecture for ultra-fast charging, 884 horsepower, 0–60mph in an oomph-inducing 3.1 seconds for the Performance trim. It certainly makes those five years feel like worth the wait. In final form, the Polestar 5 is an absolutely stunning fastback sedan with dramatic proportions that are sized similarly to the Porsche Panamera. The 5 will be built on a bespoke supercar-like bonded aluminum platform that’s was developed at Polestar’s own facility in England. And like the Polestar 4, it lacks a rear window, relying instead on a high-definition rearview camera. There’s a lot more, so let’s dig into it. Power At launch, there will be two versions of the Polestar 5: a Dual Motor trim with 748hp (550kW), 599lb-ft of torque (812 Newton-meters), and a 0–60mph time of 3.8 seconds; and a Performance package with 884hp (650kW), 749lb-ft (1,015Nm) of torque, and 0–60mph acceleration in 3.1 seconds. Both versions are speed-limited to a maximum of 155mph — seemingly in the spirit of former parent company Volvo’s safety maxim of limiting vehicle max speed to 112mph. The 800-volt architecture is new to Polestar, and should enable 350kW charging when plugged into a suitable charger. That means 10–80 percent charging in “as little” as 22 minutes, the company says. Owners can expect a WLTP estimated range of 670km (416 miles) for the Dual Motor trim and 565km (351 miles) for the Performance one. The Polestar 5’s battery contains 112kWh of energy, 106kWh of which is usable. The SK One-supplied NMC (nickel cobalt manganese) pack consists of eight modules with 192 cells. And its design forms part of the 5’s steel structure, which Polestar says brings safety benefits. Design The Polestar 5 is built on the company’s Polestar Performance Architecture (PPA), which uses a bespoke, hot-cured aluminum structure for improved weight and rigidity. That frame consists of 13 percent recycled aluminum and 83 percent aluminum from smelters (no word on the remaining 4 percent), which helps lower the 5’s carbon footprint when compared to standard sourcing. (Keep in mind that Polestar has positioned itself as one of the few automotive startups that still gives a shit about climate change. The company’s CEO recently used his keynote at the IAA Mobility conference in Munich, where the Polestar 5 will make its debut, to urge EU leaders to stick to their strict zero-emission goals.) The Performance variant is slated to have a sport-tuned suspension with semi-active dampers. There are also bespoke Michelin tires, designed specifically for the Polestar 5, ranging from 20 to 22 inches depending on the trim level. Inside, you’ll find a 14.5-inch portrait display alongside a 9-inch instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. To cut down on distractions, there will be a 9.5-inch heads-up display projected on the windshield. And a driver-monitoring camera makes sure the driver keeps their eyes on the road while the driver assist system is engaged. The Performance variant is slated to have a sport-tuned suspension with semi-active dampers. The front fascia features Polestar’s SmartZone, which consists of many of the vehicles’ sensors, like radar and the front parking camera. In total, the Polestar 5 has 11 vision cameras, one driver monitoring camera, one mid-range radar, and 12 ultrasonic sensors. (Unlike the Polestar 3 and 4, the 5 won’t feature a lidar sensor.) The vehicle also uses interior radars to detect the number, position, and type of occupants to “deploy the correct safety measures in the event of an accident.” There’s a lot of high-end brand names scattered throughout this announcement: Brembo for braking, Bowers & Wilkins for a premium audio system, and Bridge of Weir nappa leather as an optional interior. The driver-assist system is powered by Mobileye, while the infotainment system runs on Google’s embedded Android software. While designed as a four-seater, the rear arm rest can be lifted to accommodate a fifth passenger. Polestar cut out a space in the battery, known as the foot garage, behind the front seats to give occupants an extra foot of space for a more natural seating position. Availability Polestar didn’t reveal a launch date or starting price for the 5, only to say they are coming soon. Suffice it to say it won’t be cheap. The Performance version of the grand tourer is expected to start somewhere north of $100,000 in North America. The company has had a strong sales year so far, thanks to some deep discounts, including one geared toward converting former Tesla owners. The company makes the Polestar 2 electric fastback, the Polestar 3 electric SUV, and the Polestar 4 electric SUV coupe.  Tariffs are sure to take a toll on the Geely-owned, Swedish-designed company’s future. Polestar manufactures in the US and China, and plans to make the Polestar 4 in South Korea in the second half of 2025. It hasn’t said where the 5 will be built, so that will be one to watch. But despite these challenges, Polestar is charging ahead. First shown last spring as the O2 concept, the Polestar 6 will be the brand’s next flagship model, taking the form of a two-door sports car with a convertible roof. And when the 6 goes on sale (presumably in 2026), it will use the same architecture and powertrains as the Polestar 5.  View Source Article

SpaceX, the Elon Musk-backed company that owns the Starlink satellite internet network, agreed to acquire wireless spectrum from EchoStar Corp. for about $17 billion, allowing Charlie Ergen’s beleaguered telecommunications company to resolve an overhanging regulatory probe and pay down debt. View Source Article

Amazon Music has just launched new AI-powered weekly playlists based on the "preferences and mood" of listeners. This just means it scrapes what you've already been listening to and extrapolates further. It doesn't apply modern technology to gauge the actual mood of users. The company says the playlists include "a curated mix of familiar favorites from their most listened-to artists and latest favorites to new discoveries." I'm not exactly sure how this is different from what music streaming platforms have always done to create personalized playlists, other than these are made using Amazon's Bedrock generative AI platform. Amazon They do arrive with snappy names to suggest the type of songs included, like "Empowerment Anthems" and "Melodic Flex." This seems similar to Spotify's Daylists, which also use cute little names. The Amazon playlists can be saved to the library or shared with friends via text or social media. “The feature represents another way we’re harnessing AI to help fans connect with more music that resonates with them," said Ryan Redington, General Manager of Amazon Music. He also said this brings a "new dimension" to the service by "creating personalized playlists celebrating their favorite artists while introducing new music that matches their unique tastes." Again, personalized playlists are nothing new. Download the latest update to the app to get started. These weekly playlists are currently only available to US listeners and drop on Mondays. This is just the latest AI-forward move by a music-streaming platform. Spotify recently introduced prompt-driven playlists and an AI DJ that takes requests. This isn't even Amazon Music's first dip into AI-infested waters. The platform already uses AI-enhanced search results that can be used to create playlists.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/amazon-music-launches-ai-powered-weekly-playlists-based-on-preferences-and-mood-174239246.html?src=rss View Source Article

An old screenshot of Nova Launcher. | Image: Nova Launcher After nearly everyone working on the Nova Launcher, one of the most recognizable names in Android launchers, was laid off last year, founder Kevin Barry, Nova’s sole remaining developer, said this weekend that he has left Nova’s parent company after being asked to stop working on the launcher and an effort to open-source it. Nova Launcher’s website currently shows a 404 error, though the launcher is still available on Google Play. Mobile analytics company Branch Metrics acquired Nova in 2022. The company’s CEO at the time, co-founder Alex Austin, said on Reddit that if Barry were to leave Branch, “it’s contracted that the code will be open-sourced and put in the hands of the community.” Austin left Branch in 2023, and now with Barry officially gone from the company, too, it’s unclear if the launcher will now actually be open-sourced. Barry declined to comment to The Verge. We’ve reached out to Branch for comment. “I think the newer leadership since Alex Austin left has put a different focus on the company and Nova simply isn’t part of that focus in any way at all,” Cliff Wade, Nova’s former customer relations lead who left as part of the 2024 layoffs, tells The Verge. “It’s just some app that they own but no longer feel they need or want.” Wade also said that “I don’t believe Branch will do the right thing any time soon with regards to open-sourcing Nova. I think they simply just don’t care and don’t want to invest time, unless of course, they get enough pressure from the community and individuals who care.” Users have started a change.org petition to ask for the project to be open-sourced, and Wade says it’s a “great start” to apply that pressure. Wade said he hasn’t personally seen Barry’s contract, so couldn’t corroborate the claim of a contractual obligation to open-source Nova. Still, he said that the community “deserves” for the launcher to be open-sourced. “Branch just simply needs to do the right thing here and honor what they as a company have stated as well as what then CEO Alex Austin has stated numerous times prior to him leaving Branch.” Additional reporting by Dominic Preston. View Source Article

Quantum computing firm Infleqtion has agreed to merge with a blank-check firm led by Michael Klein in a pact that gives the startup a pre-money valuation of $1.8 billion. View Source Article

The only problem with being an astronaut? Less time for video gaming. View Source Article

The US Army awarded contracts to a partnership of Anduril Industries Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., and another led by Rivet Industries, to produce competing prototypes of a new combat goggle. View Source Article

Meta allegedly suppressed research that suggested kids were exposed to certain dangers when using its VR headsets, according to a report by The Washington Post. Current and former employees have presented documents to Congress that describe incidents in which children were groomed by adult predators in VR, but allege that internal reports were edited to omit the worst of these offenses. Meta has denied these allegations. Two of these researchers claim they met with a German family in which a child younger than ten had been approached by strangers online while using a Meta VR headset. Some of these strangers allegedly sexually propositioned the child. When the employees issued the harrowing report, their boss allegedly ordered that the aforementioned claims be deleted. When the internal report was eventually published, it spoke of some parents being scared of this type of thing but didn't mention the above incident. The trove of documents presented to Congress reportedly indicate guidance from Meta's legal team instructing researchers to avoid collecting data about children using VR devices. The memo suggests this is "due to regulatory concerns," likely referring to fallout from congressional hearings that took place in 2021. The documents also include warnings from employees that children younger than 13 were bypassing age restrictions to use VR headsets. However, Meta has since lowered the minimum age down to ten. Meta spokeswoman Dani Lever told The Post that the documents were "stitched together to fit a predetermined and false narrative" and that the company doesn't prohibit research about children under 13. “We stand by our research team’s excellent work and are dismayed by these mischaracterizations of the team’s efforts,” she said. The company didn't confirm or deny the events regarding the family in Germany, but said that if the anecdote was deleted from the official record it was to ensure compliance with a US federal law governing the handling of children's personal data or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the EU. That one prohibits companies from collecting personal information without consent, but the researchers maintain they received consent from the child's mother. They also say they received a signed contract from the mother at the start of the interview. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee is scheduled to discuss these allegations at a hearing later in the week. This particular subcommittee examines laws and regulations regarding online safety. Thank you, @ChuckGrassley, @MarshaBlackburn, and @HawleyMO, for calling out Meta and demanding answers about the exploitation of young people on its platforms! And thank you for highlighting our FTC complaint about child privacy violations on Meta's Horizon Worlds. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KS3hBUal8g— Fairplay (@fairplayforkids) September 3, 2025 It was recently revealed that Meta is opening up its Horizon Worlds VR hangout app to preteens, so long as they get parental approval. This led the Senate Judiciary Committee to pen a letter demanding information as to the presence of minors on the app and the company's alleged failures to protect the privacy and safety of children.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-reportedly-suppressed-research-about-how-dangerous-its-vr-headsets-are-for-kids-162509006.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA astronaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio is pictured inside the cupola, the International Space Station’s “window to the world,” as the orbiting lab flew 263 miles above southeastern England on Oct. 1, 2022.NASA/Frank Rubio NASA astronaut Frank Rubio poses for a picture in the International Space Station’s cupola on Oct. 1, 2022. Rubio was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. He trained as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 68 crew. Rubio, along with cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin of Roscosmos, launched Sept. 21, 2022, on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the space station. While aboard the orbital laboratory, Rubio and his fellow crew members conducted dozens of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations, including growing tomato plants to study hydroponic and aeroponic techniques, participating in crew health experiments, and studying how materials react in microgravity. Research like this and other activity on the orbital outpost will inform long-duration missions like Artemis and future human expeditions to Mars. Rubio spent 371 days in space, surpassing NASA’s single spaceflight record for continuous days in space made by astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Rubio and his crewmates landed in Kazakhstan on Sept. 27, 2023. Rubio’s mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history. Image credit: NASA/Frank Rubio View Source Article

The potentially worldchanging (if successful) test of a quantum drive in orbit is being delayed by rare and infrequent communication to the cubesat. These are not problems with the drive but with the communication and satellites systems of the lowcost cubesat provider. I am speculating that Rogue Systems gave IVO a low cost or free ... Read more View Source Article

A U.S. House of Representatives task force will once again hold a hearing on Sept. 9 to hear from witnesses who claim the U.S. government is hiding evidence of UFOs. View Source Article

For months, Google has maintained that the web is “thriving,” AI isn’t tanking traffic, and its search engine is sending people to a wider variety of websites than ever. But in a court filing from last week, Google admitted that “the open web is already in rapid decline,” as spotted earlier by Jason Kint and reported on by Search Engine Roundtable. Google submitted the filing ahead of another trial that will determine how it will address its monopoly in the advertising technology business. The US Department of Justice recommends that Google break up its advertising business, but the company argues in the filing that this isn’t ideal because it would “only accelerate” the decline of the open web, “harming publishers who currently rely on open-web display advertising revenue.” The statement sharply contrasts Google’s recent narrative about the health of search on the web. Google has a clear incentive to make itself appear weaker or less monopolistic in the courtroom, but its admission reflects a reality many publishers are going through. Several digital publishers and independent website owners have reported experiencing a decline in traffic following changes to Google Search’s algorithm and the rise of AI chatbots. When asked about these concerns during an episode of Decoder in May, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is “definitely sending traffic to a wider range of sources and publishers” following the rollout of AI search tools.  Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president of knowledge, similarly defended Google against claims that changes to search are impacting web traffic. “From our point of view, the web is thriving,” Fox said on an episode of the AI Inside podcast. In the wake of a report from Pew Research, which said people are “less likely” to click on links when presented with Google’s AI Overview, Google Search head Liz Reid claimed that click volume has remained “relatively stable” when compared to the same time last year, adding that Google continues to “send billions of clicks to websites every day.” View Source Article

Investors expecting Apple Inc.’s biggest product event of the year to serve as the next catalyst for its recently-revived stock are likely to come away disappointed. View Source Article

OpenAI is throwing its resources behind a mostly AI-generated animated film that was the brainchild of one of the company's employees. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the film will be called Critterz and will follow forest creatures who go on an adventure after their village is disrupted by a stranger. Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI, started designing the characters three years ago with the intention of making a short film using OpenAI's DALL-E image-generation tool. The goal of the film is, in part, to show that animated films can be made for less money and in less time with AI. The team behind the film has set a budget of less than $30 million and a production schedule of only nine months. Both are a fraction of what it takes to produce a typical Hollywood animated picture. According to Nelson, OpenAI is hoping that if Critterz is successful, it might pave the way for adoption of more AI in the industry. London-based Vertigo Films will produce the film along with Native Foreign, a studio in Los Angeles that specializes in using AI alongside more traditional video production methods. Native Foreign previously produced a faux Planet Earth-style short film, also titled Critterz, written and directed by Nelson. It used DALL-E to create all the visuals for the short, which Native Foreign then brought to life with (limited) animation. The production team will hire human voice actors for the film's characters and will hire artists to draw sketches that will then be fed into OpenAI's chat and image-generating tools. The script for Critterz was penned by some of the same writers behind Paddington in Peru. The team aims to premiere the film at next year's Cannes Film Festival in May. Over the last few years, many Hollywood workers have fought to protect their livelihoods against AI encroachment. In 2023, after a protracted strike, SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement that would require "informed consent and compensation" should a studio wish to use AI-generated likenesses of any current or deceased SAG-AFTRA members. All of this comes against the backdrop of enormous lawsuits against AI companies by creatives and studios alike.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-tech-to-be-used-to-in-a-full-length-animated-film-155921502.html?src=rss View Source Article

A new group of whistleblowers are coming forward to allege that Meta is restricting research into how its virtual reality offerings could negatively impact kids and teens, The Washington Post reports. Four current and former Meta staffers allege that after an earlier whistleblower, Frances Haugen, leaked internal research to Congress, the company called on its lawyers to screen and sometimes veto research on VR and youth safety, The Post reports. The new whistleblowers are being represented by legal nonprofit Whistleblower Aid, which also worked with Haugen. In a statement, Meta spokesperson Dani Lever said the allegation its legal team sidelined research is based on a few examples “stitched together to fit a predetermined and false narrative; in reality since the start of 2022, Meta has approved nearly 180 Reality Labs-related studies on social issues, including youth safety and well-being.” Lever said Meta research has led to “significant product updates” including parent supervision tools, and that its VR devices are made for people over 13. The allegations are expected to take center stage at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday called “Hidden Harms: Examining Whistleblower Allegations that Meta Buried Child Safety Research.” Three Republicans on that committee have already asked Meta for more information on its protections for kids and teens on its Horizon Worlds virtual platform. View Source Article

There are myriad questions about how NASA's budget process will play out in the coming weeks, with the start of the new fiscal year on October 1 looming. For example, the Trump administration may seek to shut off dozens of science missions that are either already in space or in development. Although Congress has signaled a desire to keep these missions active, absent a confirmed budget, the White House has made plans to turn off the lights. Some answers may be forthcoming this week, as the House Appropriations Committee will take up the Commerce, Justice, and Science budget bill on Wednesday morning. However great uncertainty remains about whether there will be a budget passed by October 1 (unlikely), a continuing resolution, or a government shutdown. View Source Article

French prosecutors stepped up an investigation into Royal Philips NV for potentially causing danger to human health with breathing devices, tasking a magistrate with deeper probing powers to lead the case. View Source Article

Hello, and welcome to Decoder! This is Hank Green, cofounder of Complexly, where we make SciShow, Crash Course, and a bunch of other educational YouTube channels. I’m also an author, a TikToker, and what you might call a poster — you might have seen my face on the internet over the years. You might also remember last year when I turned the tables on Nilay and interviewed him on his own show, because what better Decoder guest than Nilay Patel? That was a ton of fun, and it was so much fun that they’ve brought me back again. This time, I’m stepping in for Nilay to host a few Decoder episodes while he’s out on parental leave. And because I cannot interview Nilay — that would defeat the whole purpose — I instead found some really great people to bring on the show to have conversations with. Listen to Decoder, a show hosted by The Verge’s Nilay Patel about big ideas — and other problems. Subscribe here! Today, I’m talking with a very special guest — someone who I’ve known for quite a while as what you might call a colleague in the online education community: Sal Khan, the founder and CEO of Khan Academy. Sal was actually Nilay’s second guest on Decoder, back in 2020. And, well… a whole lot has changed since then.  You’ve probably heard the name Khan Academy by now. The company was officially founded in 2008, but Sal actually posted his first educational videos on his YouTube account in 2006, just a year after YouTube was created. He even beat my brother John and I by about a year to his very first YouTube upload — so that’s impressive. Sal has been around for a long time. He’s seen the growth of the online video ecosystem, alongside the online education industry, up close for nearly two decades. That’s precisely why I wanted to have him back on the show: I wanted to ask Sal not just what it’s like running Khan Academy, one of the biggest and most well-funded educational nonprofits in the world, in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic, but also how it’s about to change due to artificial intelligence.  I’ve been thinking about the intersection of AI and education pretty deeply for a few years now. And as we’re coming up on the three-year anniversary of ChatGPT’s launch, it’s something that has me equal parts fascinated and terrified, especially because it seems like it’s moving awfully quickly, and we’re only just starting to really grapple with the effects of this technology on the classroom.  I think you’ll find some really surprising answers from Sal on these very hard questions, and I hope you’ll learn a lot, too. I know I did.  Okay: Khan Academy CEO Sal Khan. Here we go. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.  Sal Khan, you are the founder and CEO of Khan Academy. Welcome back to Decoder. I am so happy that I get to talk to you, and the only thing that I’m not happy about is that I don’t get to do it for three hours because I feel like there’s so much I want to ask.  I think that people probably have heard of Khan Academy because now it has been around for a very long time at different moments of its history, or they’ve interacted with it in different moments of its history. Can you just give us a look at what Khan Academy is in 2025, which might be somewhat different from a video that someone watched at some point? I think people don’t know how big you are, basically. Oh, yeah. In some ways, the true north of Khan Academy has been surprisingly consistent. But yes, the way people might perceive it has maybe changed. If you were to go back 15 to 20 years, people might associate it with math videos that some guy made for his cousin. And today, I mean, we still have videos and things like that, but our true north has always been how we can leverage technology to scale up what we think world-class education could look like. Our mission statement as a nonprofit is to provide free world-class education for anyone, anywhere, and these are ideas like personalization or mastery learning. People should be able to practice and get feedback as much as possible. So over the years, most of our resources have actually been on our software platform, which is free, available for everyone, and philanthropically supported. Today, just to give you a snapshot, we’re in 50-plus languages. I think the latest number is 180-something million registered users. I think the big push that’s very different from where we were 15 years ago is that we do a lot of formal partnerships with school districts. We started off as a very direct-to-consumer thing, which we still do, but we realized if we really want to move the dial for real students everywhere, we have to work with their school districts. We have all these efficacy studies showing how it can improve their outcomes, but it really needs to be in a classroom setting for most students for it to work. This is wild because I chose the exact opposite. I was like, “Okay, we make YouTube videos for people that help them learn, and if people want to use them, they can use them. But man, do I not want to get involved with the process of selling something to a school board or dealing with administrators.” How did you start to take that on? I mean, trust me as a person who’s dabbled in it a little bit, it’s a different business than building a tech product or making a YouTube video to actually get in there and interface with the bureaucracy a little bit. That is, I mean, I agree with you. I think that Complexly would be a more impactful organization if we did that, but we have chosen the path of personal joy to not have to do it. Yes. And I had some similar feelings, and I had other thoughtful people give me even more of those feelings. It’s like, “Are you sure you want to do this?” But the reality is, and this is what I found very promising about our structure, that our philanthropists who were donating to Khan Academy, and our board, really were nudging us in this direction. They were saying, “Look,” and the first nudge was, “Okay, you’re popular. A lot of people are using you, but how do we know it’s working?” And so we started running all these efficacy studies. Well, look, it works, and it works more than the videos. The videos are part of it, but when students practice at their own pace, and in the studies, we see if they’re even able to put in 18 hours over a whole year, which is not that much over a year, these kids are accelerating by 30 to 50 percent. There have been 50 or more studies like that. But then our board and the philanthropists said, “Okay, well, that’s nice. It works and you have a way to get to scale, and you have a lot of teachers already using you, but how do you make sure all students are able to use you?” That’s when the answer became school districts. So, we went to school districts and they said, “Well, to use systemically, you’ve got to give us support, training, integration with our rostering systems, and district-level dashboards. You have to meet all the accessibility guidelines.” That’s when we said, “Okay, if we’re serious about moving the dial at a state, national, or global level, we have to build this ground game.” So we’ve been doing it for about seven years. But, in my mind, it’s gone better than I expected. Really? I mean, it’s gone very well, but I guess that’s true of me as well. It does feel that there was a gap waiting to be filled, a little bit. What kind of organization do you think you are? You’re not really a content company. Do you think you’re a tech company? Are you an education tech company? How do you think of Khan Academy? So, the way I’ve always aspired to think of Khan Academy — I’ve always daydreamed this way, and hopefully I’m convincing other people — is to view us as a global learning institution. The same part of your brain that might think of an Oxford or a Harvard, it’s like, “Wow, those are storied institutions.” But then part of your brain says, “Yeah, but they don’t really scale. Their research scales, but their education side doesn’t really scale.” If Khan Academy could say, “Wow, it’s like that.” Hopefully, in a hundred years, people will say, “Yes, this is one of the major institutions of our world, but it scales. It’s high quality, it’s very affordable, arguably free or very close to free.” So that’s what I’ve always aspired to be.  I think in real implementation, 15 years ago, we were known most for our content. Maybe we are still most known for our content, and then we actually have a pretty large software engineering team to build everything around the content, the practice, the data dashboards. Now, as AI might be able to create content in the not-too-far-off future, I think we are turning… well, we’ve always been, but I would say there’s even more weight being pulled onto how we create systems that can help raise the ceiling inside of a school, but also raise the floor outside of a school. Those systems can be software systems, AI systems, but there could also be credentials, ways to connect students with each other. We have a sister nonprofit called Schoolhouse, where there’s peer-to-peer support. So how can we build these systems so we can do high-scale, high-quality education? So I do want to talk about Schoolhouse, and I want to talk about AI. I still want to talk a little bit about the moment when you were starting to do this thing. Was there a thought in your head of, “This could be a company, or it could be a nonprofit, this could be for-profit or nonprofit”?  Oh, yeah. Did you make that choice? Yeah, it was a pretty explicit choice. In the early days, I was living out here in Silicon Valley. There are some VCs who took notice back in 2007 or 2008. The first conversation was fun. They said, “Hey, I’ll write a $100,000 check right now. You quit your job. We’ll start Khan Academy as a for-profit.” But then meeting two was always like, “Okay, let’s talk about monetization, and maybe we’ll do some freemium content, or we’ll do test prep. We’ll charge for that.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t want to get too all high and mighty for anyone who does have a model like that. But I just thought about how much psychological reward I was getting from people all over the world.  You get this, too, like, “Hey, thank you. That really inspired me. That really helped me.” And yeah, I did have a bit of a grandiose dream that maybe this could be — I always cite the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov — that maybe I could be something like a Hari Seldon creating the new Foundation that will keep us from entering a dark age, or maybe it’ll make today look like a dark age because everyone’s going to get educated. So I didn’t want to give up on that dream.  That very chill, not at all grandiose dream of being Hari Seldon.  [Laughs] Not megalomaniacal at all. Very grounded. But, you know, why not? From my point of view, the good reasons why people will often say go for-profit are access to capital, and maybe access to people because you can pay them with equity, or maybe you could, at least in theory, pay them a little bit more, even cash-wise. There’s sometimes a stereotype that has some truth in it that nonprofits may not quite be as nimble or as vast.  I had never started a nonprofit before, but I always had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, and still do. Like hey, I think we can get the best of both worlds. We can be a nonprofit, we can have this mission. We can try to build this institution, but we can also attract the best talent. Yes, we can’t give them stock because there is no stock in Khan Academy. No one owns Khan Academy; I don’t. But we can pay them well, and you can run an organization like this as nimbly as any organization anywhere, but because we’re a nonprofit, we have some advantages.  We have 50 languages. We didn’t pay to translate many of those languages. People came out of the woodwork. People, especially in this time of AI, have a bias toward a little bit more trust. Some of the best people in the world don’t want to become billionaires. They’re happy if they can have an upper-middle-class lifestyle and get to work on a fun mission with other cool people. Something that matters.  So we’ve been able to attract some really amazing people. Do you ever have a moment of regret that you didn’t do a for-profit and that you get to be Hari Seldon, but you don’t get to have a billion dollars? On this journey, I’ve had to raise a lot of money, where our budget now is pushing- [Laughs] Yeah, that’s because you never get any of it.  Well, I’ve raised and I’ve met many billionaires, wonderful billionaires. Khan Academy would not exist without these billionaires’ significant donations. And there’s been a couple of moments where, I won’t name names, but a couple of these folks who you and I grew up reading about, and we probably fantasized in our middle-class houses or me in my lower middle-class apartment, saying, “Oh, imagine if I had that much money, I would do this and this and this.” And they’ve told me, “Hey, Sal, I envy you.” And I’m like, “You don’t really envy me. I’ve seen how you travel. You should see how… I just got upgraded to economy premium.“ But they were very genuine. I’ve heard this from at least three or four folks now. They’re like, “You’ve really found your passion and it’s really making a huge difference. I feel lucky just to be part of this journey.” That counts for a lot. And God bless them and what they do, and God bless them for donating to Khan Academy and making it possible. But I honestly wouldn’t trade places at this point. Now, could I figure out a way to spend a few more million dollars? Yeah, probably. Do you think that it could have increased your impact if you were pushing for market share, pushing for all of that stuff with an investor breathing down your neck kind of incentive? To some degree, the experiment has been run. There were several organizations that were, let’s call it, the same vintage as Khan Academy, plus or minus a few years. I would say most notably the MOOCs, the Massively Open Online Courses. I know many of the people who started them; they’re very good people. They weren’t in it for the money. They were in it for the mission, but they were convinced by people. I was trying to convince them to go nonprofit, but “No, you’re not going to get the capital. You need that for profit.” If you look at the MOOCs now, the ones that exist, they have fallen, and I don’t want to denigrate them. I think they’re still doing things of impact, but they were about “let’s democratize college education, let’s do something that’s world-changing.” Now, the ones that still exist have become “let’s do some certification post-graduate that might help some people transition into a data science type of thing,” and it’s just a smaller vision. I mean, I’m sure they’re still helping those people, but they haven’t democratized higher education, I think, the way that they could. So when I look at that, I think, “No, I think it’s priceless to still have the dream alive.” The experiment has been run, and Khan Academy is very big, hitting a lot of eyeballs, and helping a lot of people. But there’s this sort of trope that a nonprofit is going to be less nimble. It’s going to be harder to run. There’s going to be more stakeholders, more consensus building.  How do you organize yourself? How is Khan Academy organized? Do you keep that as a priority, and how is that built into the structure of it? Yeah, I mean, look. When I was in business school, I had a classmate, and it was really funny because we had this case discussion, and he was talking about how narcissistic it is for people to name organizations after themselves. And his dad, I won’t name names, had named an organization after himself, a very large financial company. Everyone was laughing about it, but I remember that I was like, “Yeah, it’s super narcissistic to do that.” But then, when Khan Academy started to grow, it wasn’t called Khan Academy, and I said, “Well, maybe this could be something, but I wanted to make it a nonprofit.” I said, “Well, how do I make sure that, with my insecure side, how do I make sure that it’s hard to fire me?” They have to have a good cause, and how do I make sure that there are no shares here? I’m not like Mark Zuckerberg, who controls the voting interests of Meta. I have a vision, or I think I do. And well, my name on the door and becoming a certain quasi-mascot of the organization have helped. One, keep it focused on the vision. And frankly- And having a source of the vision, where if there’s disagreement, people know where to go to get that disagreement settled. Exactly. That’s probably not always the funnest job to have, but it’s a thing that exists. Yeah, and any executive manager or CEO has to have some of that in their job. But especially when an organization needs to make big pivots. I know we might talk about AI, and Khan Academy’s been doing a lot of pivoting there; it would’ve been very hard for someone who didn’t start the organization whose name’s not on the door to be able to make that type of a pivot. The lucky thing is, we have a great board. Many of them are major philanthropists, but some of them are people who just know a lot about education, and they push me in all the right ways. They’re always pushing, “Are we reaching the kids who need impact?” The trade-offs between investment and overstretching our budget, we think about that very seriously all the time. But they also see that not just me, but a lot of the people that we’ve brought into the organization are, I’d like to believe, pretty disciplined managers, engineers, designers, project managers, and content creators. A lot of our funders are people who are successful tech entrepreneurs. I say, pound for pound, put our large team of 350 people against any 350-person team in Silicon Valley or anywhere else, and I think you’re going to find as good or better talent and nimbler systems. And they see that. So that’s what keeps us focused that way. So 350 people. How is that organized from the board on down? There’s the board. I’m on it, but obviously, I report to the board too, and then I have more than your average direct reports. I have 14 direct reports. Man, you work hard. Well, this is the thing I learned, though. If you have the right people in the seats, the people who report to me, they’re fairly senior in their careers. So I don’t have to spend a lot of time with angst, or the “what am I going to do with my life?” type of conversation. Kristen DiCerbo is our Chief Academic Officer. She also runs the product management, design, and content teams. We have a great CTO. Our engineering team is the largest. We have what we call the external relations team, which is our philanthropy, but also all of this work. We’re partnering with school districts, and that’s a revenue source for us too, an earned revenue source. We have Khan Academy Kids, we have an internal council, we have our CFO, and all the internal functions. Then we have Schoolhouse.world, which I’m nominally the CEO of. I’m more of an executive chairman there. But the COO there nominally reports to me. So that’s kind of how we’re generally organized.  But there’s really good leadership across the board here. So I get to jump around and say, “Hey, have you thought about this?” Every now and then, because people have their heads down and they’re in the forest, I can kind of surface and say, “Hey, but look,” or they’re in the trees and I’m like, “Look at the forest here. We’ve got to pivot a little bit harder.” So 14 direct reports, and that’s 14 different departments, kind of, and then Schoolhouse is a different thing? Yeah, I threw Schoolhouse in. That’s all just my universe of people that I’m talking to on a regular basis. But yeah, it’s different departments plus finance, legal, a lot of the internal stuff that you have to do in running an organization. So let’s talk a little bit about Schoolhouse. I think that people might not know that this is a part of Khan Academy, or that this is a thing that you do. I find it extremely impressive and so cool and so smart, and you’re the only one who could have pulled it off. Tell me about Schoolhouse. I’m happy to hear that. It’s funny, there’s been a little bit of controversy about Schoolhouse last week. I can tell you about that. Oh, wow. Which I think is a good controversy. It’s going to be published like five weeks from now, so it’ll be six weeks old by then. Okay. In the recent past, there’s been controversy. We should talk about that. But the idea was, I’ve always thought, “Hey, it’s great if people can learn from Khan Academy, but what about learning from each other?” And the best implementations in classrooms have always been some kids using Khan Academy, but the teacher pairing kids up, and they’re also learning from each other. When the pandemic hit, I said, “Well, now is the moment to try to do something like this at scale.”  So we ran a little pilot and we said, “What if we created a website where young people” — actually, people who are learning, they don’t have to be young — “could say what they need help with, and then we could find other volunteers who can validate that they know the material?” So we needed a vetting process, but then they would tutor these people for free just out of the goodness of their hearts.” Zoom donated a bunch of licenses, and we tried it out.  It’s a very utopian idea, but it worked at the scale of a few hundred people. So then we got some philanthropic funding, and we set up Schoolhouse as a separate nonprofit from Khan Academy. Honestly, the only reason to do that is just to keep the two focused on what they each needed to do. There was a little bit of fear of liability with people having real conversations on Zoom, and what might happen to Khan Academy’s liability. So we kept them separate. The name was somewhat inspired. I wrote a book back in 2011, The One World Schoolhouse, so we called it Schoolhouse.world, although we might change it in some ways in the next couple of years to bring it closer to Khan Academy. But we started doing it, and one of the immediate things we noticed was how to certify someone. How do we know that they know calculus, for example?” So we created a mechanism. Khan Academy already has assessments that are different every time, but we don’t prove that it’s you who did it. We said, “What if you take the Khan Academy assessment while it records your face, records the screen, you explain your reasoning out loud, and then Khan Academy will say whether you hit 90 percent?” You’re following a protocol, and you can’t be looking around and doing shady things. Then that video gets peer reviewed by people you don’t know to just make sure you’re not doing shady things. And then if you’ve got 90 percent on that unit, we say, “You know unit one of calculus, you can now begin your tutoring journey. And there’s some training for you there.” When we were doing that, the University of Chicago reached out and said, “Hey, everything’s up in the air with the pandemic. Could we use your certification for college admissions?” We said, “Yes, you can.” And then it was MIT, Columbia, Caltech, and now there’s a list on the website of 40-plus universities, including Yale and Brown. I mean, you can name them. They all said, “Hey, you could use Schoolhouse certifications as a way to prove your mastery.” People are like, “How are we going to do assessments in the future with AI and everything?” And Sal Khan’s already figured it out. Well, AI is going to add a whole other layer. I mean, I think we’re going to be able to do some nice simulation-based assessments and things like that. A fun example: I just met this young woman from Afghanistan three weeks ago, and obviously, she could not go to school growing up in Afghanistan. Khan Academy was her school. The Taliban take over Kabul, and her family becomes refugees in Pakistan. She’s still not in school, but she’s been learning all this time. She wants to go to MIT. She applies, and MIT is really impressed with her application, but she has no diploma, no formal transcript, no SAT scores, no AP scores, nothing. MIT asks, “Can you go on Schoolhouse and validate yourself?” And she did. She got in based on that, and I just met her. She was at this Y Combinator event for the top AI engineers in the country, out here in Silicon Valley. My wife and I took her out to a little meal, and I was like, “Yes, this is the certification vision of Schoolhouse.” It’s pretty powerful to hear stories like that. This is where some of the controversy started coming from, but I think it’s a good controversy. The same college admissions folks, they weren’t just interested in the certification, they were also interested in the kids who tutored, because you could imagine if you certified yourself in calculus and then tutored calculus and had a high rating- Who incentivizes people to actually do the tutoring, because it isn’t paid? But I can say, as a person who tutored kids when I was a kid, that’s so powerful in just knowing the material better, if not also putting that on your little kiddo resume, or whatever they make them do these days. [Laughs] Exactly. Well, if you’re one of these colleges and there’s a lot of cynicism around people gaming and et cetera, but if young Hank ran 100 sessions tutoring chemistry, and he has a 4.8 out of 5.0 rating, and there are these quotes saying, “I learned more from Hank than I did at my school,” or, “He makes me excited about chemistry.” If I were one of these universities, I’d be like, “I want Hank on my campus. That’s the kid I want.”  But we went to these universities, said, “What else could be of value?” They said, “Well, this is probably too hard, but what if we could give students practice in having dialogue about hard subjects? We don’t want them to water down their passions, but we want them to be able to have constructive dialogue because everyone’s in their bubble now.” Geographic bubbles, socioeconomic bubbles, social media bubbles. So, that’s when we launched this Dialogues platform, only a couple of months ago. Most people would get anxiety, just as I’m about to describe this, but we make young people fill out surveys on tough issues — immigration, Israel-Palestine, affirmative action, and gun control. I could go down the list, the stuff that we are afraid to talk about at dinner parties, and kids fill out a survey. We pair them with kids with the opposite viewpoint, and they have a conversation. After that conversation, which usually goes about 50 minutes, they fill out a questionnaire: You don’t have to have convinced them, but we ask, “Do you feel like the other person heard you?” And “do you think they can represent your point of view? Can you represent their point of view? Is there any feedback you want to give to that other person?” It could be constructive or it can be positive feedback. You do as many sessions as you want. And then on your transcript, it just says how many sessions you participated in. It doesn’t say what your point of view was. You can highlight anything. You choose to highlight. “Hey, Hank said that Sal really opened your mind to a different viewpoint that you never took seriously before.” Whatever it is. I could put that on my transcript. And if I want to, I could share that with many of these same universities. The controversy is that there’s a New York Times op-ed that argued, “Oh, this is just another thing to fake in college admissions.” And Nate Silver tweeted, “This is affirmative action for boring kids.” All of a sudden I’m like, “No. How can it be boring? How can it be?” It’s not boring to be willing to have an open conversation about these topics, and be able to do it constructively.” And with what we’ve seen, these kids aren’t holding back. They’re holding their positions, but they’re doing it in respectful ways. All I have to say about “this is affirmative action for boring kids” is that’s a tweet. That’s such a tweet. And I’m so tired of tweets. I mean, I’m a tweeter, don’t get me wrong. I post. [Laughs] I’m not. Right here. I post. I post way too much. I want to live that Sal Khan life, get off of these postings, but I post. But man, is that a post. That’s pure “I’m going to have the take that everybody’s going to feel good about, even if it makes no goddamn sense.” Oh, man. Well, that’s fascinating and does make me sweaty. That’s not a choice that I think I would’ve made. That seems bold.  It’s brave. Yeah… did you just call yourself brave? No, I’m saying the students are brave. I actually haven’t… I’ve observed some of these… Well, it’s a little brave of me, on my part too. [Laughs] It is. I think it’s brave on your part. I’m saying it’s the opposite of boring. These students are brave enough to do that. I haven’t been able to do it because if I were to get on Dialogues, the kids will say, “Oh, that’s Sal Khan, and did you know that Sal Khan has this view about the Middle East? Did you know that Sal Khan has this view on immigration?” I’m like, “Nope, not going to be constructive.” So I can’t participate in it. That’s probably ideal. I probably won’t be on there either, but I think it’s a brave decision for an organization to make. Which leads me to a Decoder question. How do you make decisions? How does Sal Khan make decisions? How does Sal Khan make decisions? I always try to remind myself and the other people who are involved in decisions what we’re trying to solve for to begin with. There’s a friend who’s a very successful venture capitalist, and I’ve made fun of him in the past, but he has this hack that always makes him look brilliant. You go about half an hour into any meeting, and he will say, “Hey, hold on a second, everyone. Let’s take a step back. What are we solving for?” And he looks brilliant, and everyone’s like, “Oh, yeah, we lost track of what we’re solving for.” It’s true. Thirty minutes into a meeting, most people are getting into the weeds, and you’re like, “No, what we’re solving for is how we get more students to participate in society.” So it’s important to have those true norths. And then yes, I try to listen to people who ideally are as close to the ground as possible on what they have to say, and then try to make a call that both makes sense intellectually and hopefully takes the path of less cynicism and more like “maybe the world can work this way; why don’t we just try?” People say gut sometimes it’s like that’s a lazy way of doing things, but your gut has a ton of neurons. Our gut, as you know, would be a fairly smart animal if it were just on its own. I don’t think the gut’s actually making the call here, but yeah. But the gut is really… We have these neural nets. We have these hundreds of billions of neurons that are doing things subconsciously all the time.  Yeah, there’s a lot that we don’t know about. At some point, they’re just giving your conscious mind a memo saying, “Yeah, I think this is the right decision.” So, at the end of the day, if you have a good true north, if your gut has paid off in the past, and you’re surrounded by people who are advising you for the right reasons, and you make a call…It is also important to have folks around you who are willing to disagree and commit. Like, “Hey, once we make this call, let’s try our best. Let’s not grumble and be passive-aggressive after that.” So maybe you can walk me through that process a little bit, because I want to talk about Khan Academy starting to use AI tools.  I got a call from you a couple of years ago, and I remember pacing around my basement during this phone call when you told me about you going into AI tools. I thought, “Man, I would not make this call right now. I do not know where this is going. I don’t know what the public opinion around it is going to be. I know it’s going to be complicated and weird. I don’t know where it’s headed. I don’t know how powerful these tools are.”  But I also thought, “More power to him for heading straight headfirst into it.” This was very early. This was right after GPT-4 launched. How did you make that particular decision? Yeah, and I mean, I remember our call. I don’t remember exactly when that call was in the whole timeline, but we actually made the decision well before GPT-4 launched. Yeah, but this was after.  Yeah, so I probably couldn’t talk to you about it then. It was probably as soon as we were out of our NDA with OpenAI, and I probably called you and said, “Hey, maybe there’s something here.” But it was the summer of 2022, so roughly three years ago. I received a call from Sam Altman and [OpenAI cofounder] Greg Brockman. They said they’re working on their new model. They wanted to show it to us because they thought maybe there’s something interesting about Khan Academy, showing positive social uses of it. I was curious.  What they showed us was GPT-4, and this was well before ChatGPT. This was about six months before ChatGPT existed. ChatGPT, for those who remember, wasn’t even launched on GPT-4. It launched on GPT-3.5. It blew my mind, and honestly, even when they showed it to us, they hadn’t fully appreciated it.  They ran a demo with us, and they said, “Do you want access?” I remember it was a Friday, and they gave us access, me and our chief academic officer. I was messaging with Greg, and I said, “Hey, does this work in other languages?” And he wrote, “I don’t think so.” I barely speak Bengali. I tried to speak, and it spoke back, not only to speak back to me in Bengali, but it also wrote in Bengali, which I can’t read. But then I said, “Can you translate that into English text?” I was like, “Wow, it could speak Bengali.” I took a screenshot and I sent it to the OpenAI folks, and they’re like, “Yeah, after you asked, we checked. It looks like it can speak every language.” See, this is why I would’ve said no. I’d be like, “You guys don’t even know what languages it speaks?!”  There are all these emergent qualities. It’s fascinating. I have this other friend who’s a professor at Stanford, and he’s trying to understand how, apparently, you could go from one language to another as a rigid transformation in a multidimensional space. That’s why it can talk about things in Bengali that it never got trained on in Bengali. Anyway, there’s some deep linear algebra there.  But this was very early on, and this was another thing I didn’t realize that we were doing. A year after that, after we had launched… well, immediately, like, that weekend, I couldn’t tell anyone about it. We had signed an NDA, but I was up all night. I asked [GPT-4], “Write the Declaration of Independence in the tone of Donald Trump, and it did it: “George III’s a loser, we’re going to have the best country.” It was actually a pretty good one.. But then, when I said, “Hey, you are an empathetic tutor” — I think the exact prompt I said is, “You are Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, and you are going to Socratically tutor me,” because I knew this could be used for cheating, too. But it was able to do that. Even though it made errors and experienced hallucinations, there’s something real here. So, we started. Well, we got most of the Khan Academy team under the non-disclosure agreement so that we could see it. About a month into that — and this is still months before the rest of the world even knew that this was coming — our team was surfacing all the fears: the cheating, the safety, the privacy, the hallucinations, the math errors.  But I was pretty convinced. I said, “Look, yes, those are real fears and errors. We need to turn those into features, but this is going to be so powerful, and it’s getting better so quickly that if we don’t really lean into this with our mindset and our mission-focused mindset, other people are going to use it. And those people are not going to care about whether it’s cheating. They’re not going to care about whether it’s good for kids. And honestly, this stuff’s going to be so scary for people that they’re going to need, hopefully, someone that they can trust. Someone who’s built up trust over time.” So that’s when we leaned in. It’s interesting that ChatGPT has emergent phenomena. The day that product came out, on November 30th, 2022, I messaged the OpenAI team. I said, “Wait, we’re under a non-disclosure agreement. We’re not supposed to announce any of this stuff until March. What did you guys just release?” And they said, “We didn’t release anything. We just put a chat interface on an old model that’s been out for like seven months, and the world exploded.” It’s interesting. Some kids in a garage or at a college campus could have done that and now have ChatGPT. No one did it. But even that was a shock, that you just put a chat interface on these existing models and it makes people think about it differently. Wild. How do you actually turn ChatGPT or any LLM or GPT model into something that is useful for a student? So you have to work in math that works. You have to try to obviate hallucinations. You have to put walls around it so that it doesn’t do things you don’t want to do or be too sort of friendly with students in whatever way. It has to look and feel like a tool. How do you actually functionally do that? What do you do to it? It’s evolving, because the models are changing, and just people’s expectations around these things are changing so fast. But some of our original thoughts, I think, are still true. There are some just basic prompts you can do. I say basic prompts, but when you want something that can robustly work for millions of folks, the prompt has to be quite careful, and you have to create all sorts of systems to test. But to say, “Look, this is going to be Socratic, use these techniques. You’re not going to give answers, but nudge students forward.” There’s a lot more to it. But that’s the gist of it.  You’re going to want to have some level of transparency and oversight, especially if you’re talking about under-18 students. And transparency buys you a lot. It doesn’t just buy you safety. If a student is saying, “Hey, I want to learn how to build a bomb,” or “I want to hurt myself,” it’s important to not only have teachers or parents be able to see it, but also to have another agent that can see that and actively flag it. We avoid hallucinations from the get-go. The models themselves have gotten a lot better over the last two to three years, but you anchor it on content that you know is good, and we have a lot of content. Do you have a big context window that has a bunch of true facts in it or something? No. There are two ways that you can do it. One is, if you’re using our tutor — which we’re calling Khanmigo in Khan Academy content, like on a Khan Academy article or Khan Academy video — it has that content context built into it. Or if you’re getting help on an exercise, it knows we’ve passed it the solution to the exercise, so it won’t hallucinate, make math errors, or very infrequently make math errors in those cases. So that’s one: anchor it on things it knows. There are also these things called vector databases. You could put a lot of content in these databases, where, based on the conversation that you’re having with the AI, it can find which pieces of content are closest to this conversation and then throw those things into the context window. You don’t have to throw everything in the context window yourself. Google now has some models where you can have like a million tokens, or roughly a million characters, in the context window. So you can actually throw a lot in there. Your average book is like 40,000 words. Well, actually, it’s not even characters. A token is like two-thirds of a word. So, you can now throw a lot into context windows too, but that also has cost issues. The other guardrails, like transparency, there’s a lot that we do around the math to just double and triple check the math — just hacks like the AI calls another AI to go through reasoning that can come up with every possible way that the student might approach it, then compare the student’s answer to that. So there are things that we’ve been playing with that have improved the AI’s ability to do that.  So if I’m using Khanmigo and I get the question wrong, it might’ve already predicted that wrong answer and know that I got it wrong, like how I got it wrong. And what you’ve touched on is actually one of the hardest things. The AI models are actually pretty good at math now. They weren’t good at math two and a half years ago.  Right. But now they call math out?  That’s actually what they do. They’re making Python calls behind the scenes to actually do the computation. The places where you still see the most errors are when the AI is evaluating the student. So let’s say the correct answer is one-third, and the student has put in 0.33, that’s not quite right. It should be 0.3 repeating. A good tutor would say, “Okay, are you sure that’s the full answer? Are you sure it’s just 0.33? How would you express that as a fraction?”  So yes, now what we have going on behind the scenes is the AI, even before looking at the student’s response, is saying, “What are reasonable responses here?” and then it compares. Or when the student gets an answer, it asks, “What are ways that the student might’ve gotten that answer?” and then it compares it. This is constantly evolving as the models get better, and we’re having to do less of that. But there is still a lot of that going on behind the scenes. One thing I’ve noticed is that people always say, “Hey, you’ve helped me. You’re the reason I got a 5 on my AP exam or whatever.” And, “I think probably you had something to do with it,” is what I say to them. But what I have learned is that there’s a big component of teaching that isn’t teaching. It’s motivational. It’s like the coach in the room who you have an obligation to and who will be disappointed if you don’t do the thing that they asked you to do. It’s a human being, and it’s easier to feel an obligation to human beings. Do you think that LLMs can play a motivational role? Is that part of this? Yeah, I think over time. And they’re already playing [that role] a little. We’ve even implemented a little bit of that, just even for myself, I had to give some commencement addresses. I took my first draft, and I got an AI to give me feedback, and it made me feel good. I’m more confident now. It sure does do that. If nothing else, it will make you feel good about your writing. I could have written a pretty trashy, bad speech, and it still probably would’ve given me positive feedback. But what you’re touching on is absolutely right. A lot of folks know Khan Academy started with me tutoring family members 20 years ago. When I really think about it, yes, I was explaining certain concepts to them, but a lot of what I was doing is exactly what you’re describing. I’d be like, “Hey, where are you? How come you didn’t do the thing I told you? Hey, look, you got to be a little more confident with how you answer these questions. Let’s lean into the problem,” or whatever it might be. So, our realization with the first version of Khanmigo was that it just kind of sat there and waited to be asked, and then it would help you as you needed it. I say that’s analogous to a tutor walking into a classroom and saying, “Hey, kids, I’m here in the back. If you need me, come get me. But I’m here. I’m going to be reading a novel.” That’s not good enough. You want something that holds them accountable.  This new version we’re launching, which we’re piloting in the fall, is with the AI front and center. You come, and it’ll say, “Welcome back, Hank. It’s been a couple of days. We’re falling a little bit behind our goals. Are you ready to get started on this next task? This is what your teacher wants you to work on, and once you’re done with that, I have some ideas for you to work on.” Once you go into it, it’s constantly like, “Hey, look, you got that wrong. Not a big deal. I think it’s a good idea for a review of why you got that wrong.” There might be some game mechanics. “Hey, if you review it, I’ll give you some points,” and things like that. But that’s the future. And yes, if we fast-forward a few years, we can all imagine having AI. A real human being is always going to be better, but a real human being is not always available. That can be an even better accountability holder for us. You use a phrase for this: “It’s not the best tool, but the best available tool,” or something like that, right? Yeah. Did I make up that you coined that phrase? That’s not a me phrase. Oh, okay. I mean, I’ve said stuff like if I had to pick between an amazing teacher and amazing technology, I’d pick an amazing teacher. But hopefully you can have both. I’ve also heard you say that replacing humans in education would be a disaster. I think that a lot of teachers, parents, and students would agree with you. How do you think we can avoid that fate? People are complicated and they’re expensive, and so it feels like lots of people would like for all the work to be done by things that are simpler and don’t complain. How do we avoid this fate? Well, one, I always like to point out to people the economics of our education system. Most people would argue that the teacher role has the most direct impact on the student of everything that you’re spending money on. But if you look at a lot of places, like California, which spends around $25,000 per student per year, it has about 25 to 30 students per teacher. A lot of East Coast school districts spend $30,000 to $35,000 per student.  So, depending on how you account for it, there’s as much as $800,000 per class of 25 to 30 kids. They’re not paying the teacher that. The fully loaded cost of a teacher with benefits, even a senior teacher with a pension and everything, may be $200,000, if you put all of that in there. It’s usually a lot less. So a lot of the costs of education are going into layers of other stuff. Some of that stuff is needed- Yeah, buildings are part of it. But if you had to cut costs, that’s not the way to do it. Now, I think AI might help in some of the back-office stuff. You might be able to automate the registrar’s office. You might be able to automate other functions in the office of a school, and that might save money. But I think we’ve always said, even before AI, that our goal is to raise the ceiling. Hopefully, you already have access to a reasonably good classroom and a great teacher, but it’s still hard for that teacher to personalize for 25, 30, or 35 kids. We’ll give them the tools to do it, but we also want to raise the floor.  I’ve talked about this young woman in Afghanistan. She did not have access to a teacher, but she was unusually motivated, and it would’ve been sad if she didn’t have something. So, that’s where we raised the floor for her. We hear other stories. There’s a young girl in a Mongolian orphanage who used Khan Academy. There are kids in rural America who don’t have a physics or a calculus class within hundreds of miles of where they live. Kids in inner cities who don’t have calculus, physics, or chemistry classes at their school or an advanced one. That’s where we raised the floor.  But the ideal… I always point out that about 150, 200 years ago, when textbooks started to become a thing, a lot of teachers were afraid that those were going to replace them because teachers thought that, “Oh, I’m the source of the knowledge. Why would anyone come to me when they can read the whole textbook?” Right. There’s a book here. There’s a whole book here with exercises and everything. But now teachers can’t imagine teaching without a textbook because they’re like, “Of course they need me still, but they need their practice. It’s good to have another resource.” I think that’s going to be the same thing with AI.  A teacher who refused to use a textbook 50 years ago is going to have trouble. But a teacher 50 years from now who’s refusing to use AI might not be able to be all they can be. If they’re using the technology thoughtfully — and the AI is helping them form better human connections with the students, make more engaging interactive lessons, more personalized lessons, support certain students, while they can support other students, and they can tag team, and it can act as their teaching assistant —  it’s going to become invaluable for them. I’ve heard you say that the incentives of this sector, the education sector, which is the second-biggest industry in America, are strange. I think you used the word “strange,” and then the person you were talking to did not ask a deeper, further question. I was like, “Oh my God. Do I want to know all the ways that Sal Khan thinks the incentive structure of education is strange?” So, tell me, what are some of the strange incentives? Yeah, and look, this goes back to the nonprofit question. I don’t think you need to make everything in the world a nonprofit. There are certain things that the private sector does very well. I am, at my heart, a capitalist. I believe the capitalist system generally works. There are certain things you want the government to do that the private sector wouldn’t naturally do or wouldn’t have the ability to coordinate. But there are certain areas where markets aren’t working; they aren’t doing what’s efficient or what’s aligned with our values. And maybe, for political reasons, or just because the government is too slow or bureaucratic to take advantage, that’s where the nonprofit sector matters. Education — and I would say another major sector here is healthcare — is one of the areas where the beneficiary is the student, but the decision maker is typically the school district, and sometimes it’s the teacher. And the payer, in education, is the taxpayer. They’re three different entities, three different groups. You actually see a very similar thing in healthcare. Even if it was rational, we still also have this value that just as someone is bleeding and they’re dropped at the emergency room, you don’t want to say, “Hey, let’s see your insurance.” You want to treat them. Unfortunately, I think that might’ve happened sometimes, but you want to treat them first.  Similarly, if a young person in our society wants to learn, I think most of us feel that it should not be based on how much money their family has when deciding whether they should get a high-quality education. So, that value system, and the fact that these three agents all have different incentives, I think, is what has led to education not always having the most engaging, the most effective outcomes. A lot of the people in the district office are very well-meaning people, but there are certain guidelines and regulations they have to follow. A salesperson from a big publisher comes and tells them a good story. They adopt it. The kids hate it, but too bad. Before we built our district offering, I couldn’t tell you how many times we would talk to a chief academic officer or superintendent of a district, and I would say, “Hey, why don’t you all use Khan Academy? Look at our efficacy studies.” And they’re like, “Oh, we believe you. My daughter swears by Khan Academy; it got my nephew through calculus, and even got me through statistics in grad school. But we have this vendor we adopted last year, and they’re on some state list that you’re not on, and we already wrote them a $5 million check, so I think we have to use them.” I’m like, “This makes no sense. Would you use those with your own child? Would you use them yourself?” And they say, “No, not really.” Oh my god, yeah. That is what I’ve identified. My solution to that problem was simply to not engage with it. But what we have both done, I think, and to our credit, is that our first customer was the student, and that’s how we got into these places. We didn’t get in from the top down; we got in from the bottom up.  I’ve seen several organizations, like for-profit companies, too, get into this business that way. That’s the way to do it if you actually want to help, whereas if your customer is the superintendent, then you’re going to have a pretty different set of structures. Can I ask you a question that is a real Hank Green question here? So once upon a time, I came across this large database of videos that had been scraped to use in a sort of database that anybody could have access to for training AI. And the only YouTube channel that I found that had more videos in it than the ones that my company, Complexly, had was Khan Academy, which indicated to me that they weren’t just grabbing every video. It was videos that had good information that we can trust, and that is more valuable. Does that make sense to you that that is why we got grabbed more than the average video? I think so, yeah. I don’t know about this database and all that. But even in the early stages of Khan Academy, even as a nonprofit, there’s definitely a bias, especially in Silicon Valley, to be more of a platform than to be focused on, say, the artisanal quality of whatever you’re trying to create. I would always point out that you don’t need a thousand explanations of L’Hopital’s rule. One good one might go a long way, but maybe four or five max [explanations], with different takes on it.  It’s actually sometimes been hard for me to make people believe that because it goes against this idea that “Well, that won’t scale.” I said, “No, it kind of does scale because L’Hopital’s rule isn’t going away any,” it’s not like we’re creating some news site or something.  It scales the same way a textbook does, except a lot easier because making another copy is basically instantaneous. Exactly. And then we have interchangeable parts. If L’Hopital’s rule does get updated, we can just update that part. Yeah, exactly. So given that, my question is: how do you feel as a creator of content about LLMs training on the stuff that we make? Do you think that they can learn the way anybody else can learn, or is there a difference in value offered by different content that should be compensated differently? If I thought Khan Academy could get a meaningful check for this, I would love to take it. But generally speaking, in a world where let’s say I don’t have a choice — I mean, maybe I do — but let’s say there’s a world where I would rather our content be used for training. If a model in two or three years can create a stock tile video and draw diagrams that are helping people, that’s going to be net good for society, I think. So yeah, I’m generally supportive of it on the intellectual debate around whether we just view an AI as just a super smart savant that sees a lot of material and now can paint in someone’s style or write in someone’s style, or create a video in someone’s style. Or should we view it as, “No, it’s IP theft.” The courts are going to decide this. But I’ve been kind of a little bit more on the savant side because, as we know, our videos aren’t directly encoded anywhere in these models. These models, literally, are learning to create and create associations of something similar. And there have been people who could paint in the style of Leonardo da Vinci or whatever. This is a similar thing, although on steroids, but that’s my current view. What about you? Are you like, “I don’t know”? I don’t know. Well, what I’m like is, “I’d like these things to make their way through the court so that we can all know, so that we can know what the legal situation is, regardless of how I feel,” because there is sort of a law intellectual property question here.  So, I want to kind of finish with this. You talked earlier in our conversation about content creation for artificial intelligence. Of course, already these things are creating content — what an LLM exports is content in a way. Maybe it’s just for you, but it’s still stuff.  But are you thinking that someday there will be an ability for me to say, “I need to know about Lagrangians,” and Sal Khan just sort of pops up and starts tutoring me on Lagrangians with a piece of content that had not previously existed, and you’re doing the thing, the digital chalkboard is happening, and I’m hearing your voice. Is that the future? Are you going to never die is kind of what I’m asking? That’s my “you know, we’ll see.” [Laughs] Mr. Seldon. I mean, when you hear someone like Demis Hassabis talk about how all diseases will be cured in the next 10 years, it gives those of us who are about to be 50 a little bit of hope. But yeah, look, I think it’s only prudent that I, other content creators, and Khan Academy prepare for that reality. As best as we can guess. It’s likely to happen. It’s probably going to happen, I would guess, with really robust quality in probably three to five years. My vanity likes to think it’ll take longer. It might. We’ll see.  Or it might be next month. And then our content can still be in some vault somewhere, like this is what people did before AI took over, or this was the source. It’ll hopefully still have an almost primary document value to it. Like, “Oh, Hank was like a real person and he talked about having an upset stomach that day,” and AI won’t do that kind of thing. Who knows? I think we’re going to give the AI some pretty upset stomachs. They won’t have stomachs, but something inside of them will feel- It’ll talk about its stomach, it’ll talk about what it just ate, or what Hank just ate. [Laughs] Yeah. But yeah, it’s coming, and I think we have to prepare for it, and we are building tools like the new version of Khanmigo and the teacher tools. We are having it so teachers can co-create content with the AI, including practice and administer it through the Khan Academy platform, like Khan Academy content, and then get insights back. So we’re trying to prepare for that reality. This is wild. I don’t know. My take on what I make and the way I make it is that I think it would be hard. I also think that people connect to people. I think that if people don’t know that it’s not a real person, there will be a betrayal when they find out that it isn’t. If they do know that it’s not a real person, they won’t feel the same way about it. That’s not to say it couldn’t be a useful tool, of course, but one of the hardest things to make into an AI will be a pop idol. People want a real thing, not that that’s us, but there’s an element of it. [Laughs] We’re onto certain niche audiences.  Every once in a while, somebody will be like, “I just really like a smart man who teaches me things.”  All right, weird way to end it, Sal. I remain very impressed by you, and I’m glad that you got to spend a little time chatting with me today about all of the crazy ways that you are having a big impact on the world. So thank you so much for taking the time. Thanks for having me, Hank. Questions or comments about this episode? Hit us up at decoder@theverge.com. We really do read every email! View Source Article

Artificial intelligence startup Cognition AI Inc. has reached a valuation of $10.2 billion in a roughly $400 million funding round — a deal that highlights the continued investor frenzy around AI-powered software development. View Source Article

The James Webb Space Telescope has investigated the "Goldilocks zone" planet TRAPPIST-1e to search for a potential atmosphere and hints of habitability. View Source Article

The 2025-2026 college football season kicked off last week. If you want something to do while you wait for your favorite team to hit the field every week through the fall, I encourage you to check out EA Sports’ College Football 26, which is $49.99 ($20 off) at Best Buy, Walmart, and Amazon on PS5 (disc) and Xbox Series X (disc or digital). This game builds on the stellar College Football 25, EA’s first college football game in over a decade. In case you missed its big relaunch last year, EA’s back to making annual college football games now that it has a way to pay players who opt in to have their name, image, and likeness included. Athletes were paid $1,500 each to be in this year’s title, and were given a free copy. EA Sports College Football 26 Where to Buy: $69.99 $49.99 at Amazon $69.99 $49.99 at Walmart $69.99 $49.99 at Best Buy Some more Verge-approved deals Anker’s compact Nano Travel Adapter in white or black is down to $19.99 at Amazon. It’s just small $5 discount, but this is something that’s worth jumping on if you’re planning international travel any time soon. Its slim design aside, I like that it has four ports (two USB-C, two USB-A), and support for Type A, I, G, and C plugs, which allows it to work in over 200 countries and regions, according to Anker. In terms of USB power, it’s on the slow side — best for when you want to charge gadgets overnight. For instance, one of the USB-C ports can deliver 20W to a device, or you’ll get 15W total when you’ve got two USB-C devices plugged in. Using all four ports will split 15W across devices. Another inexpensive accessory that’d be great for travel, or even just for your daily commute, is Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 wireless earbuds that have active noise cancellation. They’re typically priced at around $79.99 at Amazon, but they recently dropped down to $44.99 in the white, blue, or black. This model can last 10 hours on a charge, and its wireless charging-supported case can fully recharge them five times, totaling 50 hours of playback. These also support multipoint, letting you connect to two devices at once via Bluetooth. Lastly, there’s a solid deal happening Logitech’s G203 wired gaming mouse at Amazon, where the black version with RGB LED detailing costs $18.99. This half-price discount is great for PC gamers on a budget, as well as for others who want a comfortable mouse with some customizable buttons and lighting. In addition to its two main buttons, the G203 has two thumb buttons, a tactile scroll wheel, and a DPI switcher on its top to change pointer sensitivity. It’s nothing fancy, but you may find this sub-$20 mouse meets all (or at least most) of your criteria. View Source Article

Alphabet Inc.’s Google was sued by advertising exchange PubMatic Inc., which is seeking billions of dollars over its claim that the search giant has illegally monopolized the ad technology market. View Source Article

You don't necessarily have to break the bank to pick up a cordless vacuum and avoid the scourge of cables while you're cleaning up debris from your floors. Our favorite budget cordless vacuum already delivered good value for money, and now it's on sale, making it an even more enticing proposition. The Levoit LVAC-300 has dropped down to $270. This cordless vacuum's list price is $350, meaning that you're getting a discount of $80 or 23 percent. It's not quite a record-low price (we've seen it drop to $250 in the past), but it's still a good deal. The Levoit LVAC-300 is our pick for the best budget cordless vacuum. It offers good suction power for a model in this price range, and it has easier handling and a more polished design compared with our previous recommendation in that subcategory. It feels fairly smooth when you move it across your floors as well. It's easy to assemble and take apart the LVAC-300. Removing the battery is a cinch too (alas, there's no charging dock for this one). You can turn on this vacuum with a single button press. Another button switches between Eco, Mid and Turbo modes. The latter of those can drain your battery quite rapidly if you use it a lot, though you can keep an eye on the battery level using the digital display. Levoit says the battery will run for up to 60 minutes on a single charge in Eco mode but just 12 minutes in Turbo mode. At 0.75 liters, the bin size is pretty decent. The LVAC-300 has a HEPA filter and Levoit says it can capture "99.99 percent of particles as small as 0.3μm with air purifier-level efficiency." In our testing, we felt that it did a solid job of vacuuming up dirt, dust bunnies, pet hair and coffee grounds. Overall, we reckon the LVAC-300 is a good, budget-friendly cordless vacuum that might be best suited for apartment dwellers and those with small- to medium-sized homes (or if you just want such a device on hand to take care of a quick clean up). Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-cordless-vacuums-is-23-percent-off-right-now-144255672.html?src=rss View Source Article

Students prepare their robots to enter Artemis Arena during NASA’s Lunabotics competition on May 20, 2025, at the Center for Space Education near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. NASA/Isaac Watson As college students across the country embark upon the academic year, NASA is giving them something else to look forward to – the agency’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge. Teams interested in participating can submit their applications and supporting materials through NASA’s Stem Gateway portal beginning Monday, Sept. 8. Key dates and challenge details are available in the 2026 Lunabotics Challenge Guidebook. Once all applications and supporting materials are received and evaluated, NASA will notify the selected teams to begin the challenge. Student teams participating in this year’s challenge will create robots capable of building berms out of lunar regolith – the loose, fragmental material on the Moon’s surface. Structures like these will be important during lunar missions as blast protection during lunar landings and launches, shading for cryogenic propellant tank farms, radiation shielding around nuclear power plants, and other uses critical to future Moon missions. “We are excited to continue the Lunabotics competition for universities as NASA develops new Moon to Mars technologies for the Artemis program,” said Robert Mueller, senior technologist at NASA, as well as co-founder and chief judge of the Lunabotics competition. “Excavating and moving regolith is a fundamental need to build infrastructure on the Moon and Mars and this competition creates 21st century skills in the future workforce.” An in-person qualifying event will be held May 12-17, 2026, at the University of Central Florida’s Space Institute’s Exolith Lab in Orlando. From this round, the top 10 teams will be invited to bring their robots to the final competition on May 19-21, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s Artemis Arena in Florida, which has an area filled with a lunar regolith simulant. The team scoring the most points will receive the Lunabotics Grand Prize and participate in an exhibition-style event at NASA Kennedy. By encouraging innovative construction techniques and assessing student designs and data the same way it does its own prototypes, NASA casts a wider net to find innovative solutions to challenges inherent in future Artemis missions, like developing future lunar excavators, in-situ resource utilization capabilities, and living on the Moon or Mars. With its multidisciplinary approach, Lunabotics also serves as a workforce pipeline, with teams gaining valuable hands-on experience in computer coding, engineering, manufacturing, fabricating, and other crucial skills, while also receiving technical expertise in space technology development. NASA’s Lunabotics Challenge, held annually since 2010, is one of several Artemis Student Challenges. The two-semester competition provides U.S. college and technical school teams an opportunity to design, build, and operate a prototype lunar robot using NASA systems engineering processes. Competitions help NASA get innovative design and operational data, reduce risks, and cultivate new ideas needed to return to the Moon under the Artemis campaign to prepare for human exploration of Mars. To learn more about Lunabotics, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/lunabotics-challenge/ View Source Article

Echostar stock is up 17%, because they sold their S band spectrum to SpaceX for half cash and half SpaceX shares. According SpaceX, this is a 50 Mhz s band deal. This is 5 times the megahertz spectrum width versus the spectrum that SpaceX is already using with the Tmobile partnership. This will be more ... Read more View Source Article

Dish parent company EchoStar is selling wireless spectrum licenses to SpaceX for around $17 billion, the companies announced on Monday. SpaceX says it will use the spectrum to create the “next generation” of Starlink’s cellular satellite service, which customers of the EchoStar-owned Boost Mobile will gain access to as part of the deal. According to EchoStar, this deal, along with the previously announced $23 billion sale of 5G spectrum to AT&T, is expected to resolve an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission. In May, FCC Chair Brendan Carr opened a probe into EchoStar’s 5G expansion after receiving a complaint from SpaceX, which claimed the company “barely uses” its spectrum for satellite connectivity. EchoStar had originally planned to use its AWS-4 (2GHz) spectrum band to enable direct-to-device satellite cell service, but this sale puts an end to that goal. In the press release, EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan said the deal will allow SpaceX “to realize the direct-to-cell vision in a more innovative, economical and faster way for consumers worldwide.” View Source Article

The tender offer for the voice-generating AI startup is being led by Sequoia Capital and Iconiq Growth. View Source Article

Explore Webb Science James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NASA Webb Looks at… Webb News Latest News Latest Images Webb’s Blog Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Webb Timeline Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Science Explainers Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Webb’s First Images Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning   6 Min Read NASA Webb Looks at Earth-Sized, Habitable-Zone Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e This artist’s concept shows the volatile red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 and its four most closely orbiting planets. Full image and caption shown below. Credits: Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) Scientists are in the midst of observing the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Careful analysis of the results so far presents several potential scenarios for what the planet’s atmosphere and surface may be like, as NASA science missions lay key groundwork to answer the question, “are we alone in the universe?”  “Webb’s infrared instruments are giving us more detail than we’ve ever had access to before, and the initial four observations we’ve been able to make of planet e are showing us what we will have to work with when the rest of the information comes in,” said Néstor Espinoza of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, a principal investigator on the research team. Two scientific papers detailing the team’s initial results are published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Image A: Trappist-1 e (Artist’s Concept) This artist’s concept shows the volatile red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 and its four most closely orbiting planets, all of which have been observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb has found no definitive signs of an atmosphere around any of these worlds yet.  Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) Of the seven Earth-sized worlds orbiting the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, planet e is of particular interest because it orbits the star at a distance where water on the surface is theoretically possible — not too hot, not too cold — but only if the planet has an atmosphere. That’s where Webb comes in. Researchers aimed the telescope’s powerful NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument at the system as planet e transited, or passed in front of, its star. Starlight passing through the planet’s atmosphere, if there is one, will be partially absorbed, and the corresponding dips in the light spectrum that reaches Webb will tell astronomers what chemicals are found there. With each additional transit, the atmospheric contents become clearer as more data is collected.  Primary atmosphere unlikely Though multiple possibilities remain open for planet e because only four transits have been analyzed so far, the researchers feel confident that the planet does not still have its primary, or original, atmosphere. TRAPPIST-1 is a very active star, with frequent flares, so it is not surprising to researchers that any hydrogen-helium atmosphere with which the planet may have formed would have been stripped off by stellar radiation. However many planets, including Earth, build up a heavier secondary atmosphere after losing their primary atmosphere. It is possible that planet e was never able to do this and does not have a secondary atmosphere. Yet researchers say there is an equal chance there is an atmosphere, and the team developed novel approaches to working with Webb’s data to determine planet e’s potential atmospheres and surface environments.  World of (fewer) possibilities The researchers say it is unlikely that the atmosphere of TRAPPIST-1 e is dominated by carbon dioxide, analogous to the thick atmosphere of Venus and the thin atmosphere of Mars. However, the researchers also are careful to note that there are no direct parallels with our solar system. “TRAPPIST-1 is a very different star from our Sun, and so the planetary system around it is also very different, which challenges both our observational and theoretical assumptions,” said team member Nikole Lewis, an associate professor of astronomy at Cornell University.  If there is liquid water on TRAPPIST-1 e, the researchers say it would be accompanied by a greenhouse effect, in which various gases, particularly carbon dioxide, keep the atmosphere stable and the planet warm.   “A little greenhouse effect goes a long way,” said Lewis, and the measurements do not rule out adequate carbon dioxide to sustain some water on the surface. According to the team’s analysis, the water could take the form of a global ocean, or cover a smaller area of the planet where the star is at perpetual noon, surrounded by ice. This would be possible because, due to the TRAPPIST-1 planets’ sizes and close orbits to their star, it is thought that they all are tidally locked, with one side always facing the star and one side always in darkness.  Image B: TRAPPIST-1 e Transmission Spectrum (NIRSpec) This graphic compares data collected by Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) with computer models of exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e with (blue) and without (orange) an atmosphere. Narrow colored bands show the most likely locations of data points for each model. Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) Innovative new method Espinoza and co-principal investigator Natalie Allen of Johns Hopkins University are leading a team that is currently making 15 additional observations of planet e, with an innovative twist. The scientists are timing the observations so that Webb catches both planets b and e transiting the star one right after the other. After previous Webb observations of planet b, the planet orbiting closest to TRAPPIST-1, scientists are fairly confident it is a bare rock without an atmosphere. This means that signals detected during planet b’s transit can be attributed to the star only, and because planet e transits at nearly the same time, there will be less complication from the star’s variability. Scientists plan to compare the data from both planets, and any indications of chemicals that show up only in planet e’s spectrum can be attributed to its atmosphere.  “We are really still in the early stages of learning what kind of amazing science we can do with Webb. It’s incredible to measure the details of starlight around Earth-sized planets 40 light-years away and learn what it might be like there, if life could be possible there,” said Ana Glidden, a post-doctoral researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, who led the research on possible atmospheres for planet e. “We’re in a new age of exploration that’s very exciting to be a part of,” she said. The four transits of TRAPPIST-1 e analyzed in the new papers published today were collected by the JWST Telescope Scientist Team’s DREAMS (Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres using Multi-instrument Spectroscopy) collaboration. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). To learn more about Webb, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/webb Related Information Webb Blog: Reconnaissance of Potentially Habitable Worlds with NASA’s Webb Video: How to Study Exoplanets Video: How do we learn about a planet’s Atmosphere? View more about Exoplanets More Webb News More Webb Images Webb Science Themes Webb Mission Page Related For Kids What is the Webb Telescope? SpacePlace for Kids En Español Ciencia de la NASA NASA en español  Space Place para niños Related Images & Videos Trappist-1 e (Artist’s Concept) This artist’s concept shows the volatile red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 and its four most closely orbiting planets, all of which have been observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb has found no definitive signs of an atmosphere around any of these worlds yet. TRAPPIST-1 e Transmission Spectrum (NIRSpec) This graphic compares data collected by Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) with computer models of exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e with (blue) and without (orange) an atmosphere. Narrow colored bands show the most likely locations of data points for each model. Share Details Last Updated Sep 08, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Laura Betz NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Leah Ramsay Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland Hannah Braun Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland Related Terms James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Exoplanets Related Links and Documents The science paper by N. Espinoza et al. The science paper by A. Glidden et al. JWST Telescope Science Team Keep Exploring Related Topics James Webb Space Telescope Space Telescope Exoplanets Exoplanet Stories Universe View Source Article

Yes, even Jupiter's moons produce auroras. View Source Article

The best part of going to a film festival is finding something new. Sure, it's great to find out that movies you're excited about are in fact good - I've had luck so far with Exit 8, No Other Choice, and Wake Up Dead Man - but it's so much more exciting to be surprised by something when you had no expectations going in. That's what happened to me when I walked into a theater to watch Arco, an absolutely gorgeous animated film from director Ugo Bienvenu, on day 4 of the Toronto International Film Festival. For the animation nerds out there, it's sort of like a cross between Scavengers Reign and Time Masters, with a hint of Castle in the Sky. … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Uber Technologies Inc. is tapping the US investment-grade bond market Monday for its first blue-chip debt sale this year. View Source Article

Databricks Inc., one of the world’s most valuable startups, said it closed a $1 billion funding round, valuing the software provider at more than $100 billion. View Source Article

Ford has unveiled a new F-150 Lightning variant called the STX that brings extra range and a rugged attitude to the lineup. The model is likely a response to slipping F-150 Lightning sales and was designed based on customer feedback, the company said. It will replace the current XLT model at the same starting price.  Slotting in near the bottom of the lineup after the Lightning Pro, the STX trim offers an upgrade in range and power over the XLT. The new dual motor system delivers 536 horsepower while retaining 775 pound-feet of torque, up from the XLT's 452 horsepower. Range will go up substantially to 290 miles compared to 240 miles on the current model. Ford There are also cosmetic changes for those who want their pick-ups to look rugged. The STX trim adds new off-road wheels, all-terrain tires and running boards borrowed from the F-150 Tremor. It features a new grille, optional black vinyl floor, blue accent lines and STX badging everywhere you look including on the seats. On top of the regular paint options, it will come in two new colors: Argon Blue and Marsh Gray.  Ford expects the F-150 Lightning STX to be its top seller next year, according to internal sales projections. "Customers have been asking for a rugged F-150 Lightning with more range than the standard range XLT," said marketing manager Will Marchand in a press release. "Until now, if these owners wanted a rugged F-150 Lightning, they had to turn to the aftermarket to build the truck they wanted." The new model will appear in Ford dealerships early next year starting at $63,345, not including destination charges.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/fords-f-150-lightning-stx-replaces-the-xlt-while-boosting-range-and-power-130846462.html?src=rss View Source Article

2025 Evening with the Stars 9.10.25 MSBR Rooftop Reception 9.8.25 AIAA Dinner 8.18.25 STScI Event 7.29.25 MSBR Lunch 7.16.25 Rocket Lab Event 7.16.25 MSBR Lunch Reception 6.18.25 2025 Paris Airshow 6.13-19.25 Greater Houston Partnership Reception 6.12.25 Axiom Space X-4 Event Space Foundation and German Embassy Reception 6.5.25 Mission 2 Moon Landing 6.5.25 H2M Conference and Events 5.28-29.25 Planetary Society 5.19.25 American Rocketry Challenge Reception 5.17.25 Rockets on the Hill Reception 5.16.25 Dayton Development Coalition Event 5.13.25 PA State Day Reception 5.6.25 MSBR STEM Gala 5.2.25 2025 ASF Hall of Fame Gala AIAA Awards Gala 4.30.25 RNASA Awards Dinner 4.25.25 2025 Space Heroes and Legends Gala Thunderbird School and Global Management Reception 40th Space Symposium Main Events GovExec Awards Dinner 4.3.25 AIA Reception.4.2.25 SPI/GWU Dinner.4.2.25 Astrolab and Axiom.3.27.25 SPI/GWU/USRA Symposium.3.27.25 IDGA 18th Annual Event Artemis VIP Reception.3.24.25 Goddard Memorial Dinner.3.21.25 MSBR Lunch.3.19.25 2025 Satellite Exhibition Event.3.10.25 to 3.13.25 SIA Dinner.3.10.25 67th Laureate Awards Dinner.3.6.25 SPI GWU Dinner.3.5.25 Bae Systems SPHEREx Launch.2.27.25 2025 Artemis Suppliers Conference Blue Ghost Viewing Event ServiceNow Forum.2.12.25 MSBR Luncheon.2.19.25 2025 Monthly NSCFL Luncheon MSBR Lunch.1.22.25 Creole-Queen NOLA Reception.1.13.25 2025 New Glenn Mission 1 Launch Event 2025 Firefly Blue Origin Launch Reception 2024 MeriTalk Reception.12.19.24 Aero Club Award Dinner.12.13.24 Rocket Lab Event.12.13.24 Space Foundation Event.12.13.24 Umbra Lab Inc.12.5.24 Commercial Space Federation Joint Event.12.9.24 AGI Holiday Reception.12.3.24 The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation Event.11.21.24 Planet Labs PBC Reception.11.20.24 Rocket Lab Event.11.19.24 SPI GWU Dinner.11.5.24 Blue Origin and KBR Dinner.10.30.24 JASWDC Gala.10.30.24 SPI GWU Dinner.10.30.24 36th Annual Dr. Wernher von Braun Memorial Dinner 2024 Keystone Space Conference 2024 IAC Event WIA Reception and Awards Dinner.10.10.24 2024 JPL Europa Clipper Launch Reception.10.8.24 SPI GWU Dinner.9.18.24 2024 VASBA HR AUVSI Gala Blue Origin Reception.8.27.24 AIA & Amazon Reception.8.26.24 Exolaunch Reception.8.7.24 Farnborough Air Show.7.20-21.24 Artemis II SLS Roll Out Reception.7.15.24 Astroscale Reception Tokyo.7.12.24 Brooke Owens Fellowship Dinner.7.11.24 SpaceX GOES-U Launch MSBR lunch.6.18.24 NAA Collier Dinner.6.13.24 Greater Cleveland Partnership.6.13-14.24 VAST Space LLC.6.12.24 Coalition for Deep Space Exploration Return to the Moon.6.5.24 The 2024 Infinite Exhibit Grand Opening AIA and German Embassy Reception.6.4.24 AIA and British Embassy Reception.5.22.24 Space Foundation Event.5.16.24 Foundation Fratelli Tutti Dinners.5.10-11.24 MSBR STEM Gala.5.10.24 H2M Conference and Event.5.7-8.24 SPI/GW Dinner.5.1.24 Astrolab and Axiom.4.30.24 2024 Monthly NSCFL Luncheon MEI 77th Annual Gala.4.17.24 Crowell & Moring Reception.4.16.24 2024 ASF Hall of Fame Gala 2024 Space Heroes and Legends Awards Dinner SpaceX Symposium Reception.4.10.24 39th Space Symposium Supplemental 39th Space Symposium Main Events SPI GWU Dinner.4.5.24 Goddard Memorial Dinner.3.22.24 SPI GW Dinner.3.20.24 AIA and Amazon Reception.3.19.24 MSBR Lunch.3.19.24 AIAA Awards Gala.3.15.24 NASM Event.3.6.24 Planetary Society.3.5.24 Embassy of Australia and Space Foundation.2.29.24 SPI/GWO Dinner.2.27.24 2024 Artemis Suppliers Conference BDB Engineering Award Event 2024 Aerospace Days Legislative Reception 2024 NG-20 CRS Launch IDGA 17th Annual Event.1.23 – 24.24 MSBR Lunch 1.16.24 Latino Biden-Harris Appointees Reception.1.11.24 STA Reception.1.11.24 2024 Axiom Space AX-3 Launch Reception 2023 2023 Astrobotic PM1 PreLaunch Reception AERO Club Awards Dinner.12.15.23 WIA Dinner.12.13.23 MSBR Lunch.12.12.23 SCL and GBM Foundation Reception.12.11.23 LASP and Ball Aerospace Reception.12.11.23 Bayou Classic Brunch L Oreal USA for Women Event.11.16.23 AAIA Reception.11.15.23 KBR Welcome Reception.11.14.23 SPI GWU Dinner 11.15.23 Museum of Natural History Board Events 11.2.23 USF Reception.10.24.23 Blue Origin KBR Reception 2023 Von Braun Memorial Dinner Planet Labs PBC Reception.10.26.23 ELI Reception Dinner.10.24.23 OSIRIS REX RECEPTION.10.17.23 WIA Reception and Award Dinner.10.12.23 National Space Club Banquet 2023 Space Foundation and Airbus.10.3.23 IAC Event NAHF Dinner Ceremony.9.22.23 2023 VASBA HR AUVSI Gala and Symposium 2023 Psyche Mission Team SPI GWU Dinner 9.13.23 AIA Congress Space Reception.9.7.23  MSBR Lunch 8.16.23  WAG NG CRS 7-24-23  2023 ASF Innovators Gala  Space Foundation Reception 7.19.23  Chamber of Commerce Reception.7.13.23  ECI Fellows Meeting.7.12 to 7.14.23  Embassy of Italy and Virgin Galactic.7.12.23  JWST Reception 7.13.23  Brook Owens Fellowship Dinner 7.13.23  Comteck and Airbus Space Defense 07.11.23.  Calgary Stampede.7.7.23  CLD Reception.6.20.23  CFA SAO Reception.6.15.23  Paris Air Show.6.17-20.23  UCAR Reception 6.7.23  Space Forum 2023  Rocket Lab TROPICS.5.18.23  2023 Axiom Space AX-2 Launch Event WAG  SW SPI Dinner 5.9.23  H2M WAG 2023  MSBR STEM Gala 5.5.23  AIAA Awards Gala Event 5.18.23  38th Space Symposium 4.16 to 4.20.23  Planet Labs PGC Reception.4.13.23  AL-23-009 RNASA  2023 TEMPO Pre-Launch Reception  MSBR Lunch 4.4.23  Coalition for Deep Space Exploration SLS Orion EGS Gateway Suppliers 3.26.23  Orion SLS Conference 3.27 to 3.28.23  EWDC Event.3.23.23  2023 Agency WAG Debus Award Banquet  VHMC And Boeing Reception 3.18.23  Ball Aerospace Kinship Reception 3.15.23  Airbus Defence Event 3.14.23  Terran Orbital Event 3.15.23  SpaceX Satellite Reception 3.13.23  SPI GWU Dinner 3.9.23  Goddard Memorial Dinner 3.10.23  2023 Agency Wag AHOF Gala Space Foundation Event 2.16.23 BDB National Engineers Week 2023 BanquetMSBR Lunch 2.28.23STA Luncheon 2.7.23WSBR Reception 2.1.23SPI GWU SWF Reception 1.31.23Artemis I Splashdown 01.17.23MSBR Lunch 1.17.23 2022 GRC An Evening With the Stars 8.30.22 JPL 25 Years on Mars Reception 7.27.22 SPI GWU Dinner 7.6.22 Berlin Air Show 6.22-26.22 MSBR Lunch 6.21.22 KSC Gateway VIP Rception 6.14.22 MSBR Dinner Gala 6.10.22 NAA Robert J. Collier Awards Dinner 6.9.22 Advanced Space and Rocket Lab Capstone Event 6.8.22 AIA Challenger Center Reception 6.2.22 2022 H2M Summit 5.17-19.22 MSBR Lunch 5.17.22 FCW GovExec Awards Dinner 5.12.22 Meta Reception 5.4.22 JSC RNASA Luncheon and Dinner 4.29.22 Coalition for Deep Space Reception 4.28.22 SLS Orion EGS Suppliers Conference 4.28-29.22 SPI GWU Dinner 4.27.22 AIAA Awards Gala Dinner 4.27.22 MSBR Luncheon 4.19.2022 Arianespace Northrop Grumman JWST Reception 4.5.22 37th Space Symposium 4.4 to 7.22 Axiom Space Launch Event 3.30.22 Heinrich Boell Foundation Dinner 3.30.22 Aarianespace Reception 3.23.22 SIA Conference Events 3.21-23.22 Revised Satellite Industry Association Reception 3.21.22 Goddard Memorial Dinner 3.18.22 GOES-T Post-Launch Reception 3.1.22 Goes-T L3 Harris Reception 3.1.22 Christopher Newport University Dinner 02.23.22 NG-17 CRS Launch Events VA 2.19.22 SPI GWU Dinner 02.04.2022 MSBR Dinner 01.18.2022 KSC CCTS Spaceport Summit 1.11-12.22 2021 JWST Launch 12.25.21Aero Club Awards Reception 12.17.21KSC NSC Celebrate Space 12.10.21AGI Ansys Reception 12.10.21KSC Ball Aerospace IXPE Launch Celebration Reception 12.7.21WIA Awards Dinner 12.2.21National Space Council Recognition Reception 12.1.21SPI Dinner 11.16.21AIAA ASCEND Event 11.15.21AIAA Ascend 2021 Reception Dinner Las Vegs 11.14.21KSC Astronaut Hall of Fame Event 11.13.21KSC DNC Taste of Space Event 11.5.21SPI Dinner 11.2.21IAC Closing Gala 10.29.21GRC Evening With The Stars 10.27.21Goddard Memorial Awards Dinner 10.22.21IAC 2021Lucy Post Launch Dinner 10.16.21KSC Lucy Launch Mission Events 10.12-13.21United Airlines Reception 10.12.21Blue Origin Launch 10.12.21SPI Dinner on or about 9.28.21Goddard Memorial Dinner 9.17.21 CANCELLEDSPI Dinner 9.7.21RNASA Awards Dinner and Luncheon 9.3.21GRC Evening With the Stars 8.31.21FED100 Gala Awards Dinner 8.27.21Addendum to 36th Space Symposium 8.22-26.2136th Space Symposium 8.22-26.21KSC ASF Innovators Gala 8.14.21NG16 Launch Events 8.10.21LaRC Virginia Space Reception 7.30.21KSC 2021 Debus Award Dinner 7.30.21Coalition for Deep Space 07.22.21KSC Lockheed WAS Star Center Reception 7.15.21 2020 United Launch Alliance Satellite 2020 Reception 3.10.20 SpaceX Reception 3.9.20 U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2020 Aviation Summit 3.5.20 Maryland Space Business Roundtable Lunch 2.18.20 SLS Orion Suppliers Conference 2.12.20 Coalition for Deep Space Exploration Reception 2.11.20 Northrop Grumman NG-13 CRS Launch Events 2.9.20 VA UAS AeroSpace Legislative Reception 1.29.20 MSBR Lunch 1.21.20 Guidance Keough School of Global Affairs 1.16.20 Boeing Orbital Flight Test Launch Events 12.20.19 Virgin Space Reception 12.17.19 SEA Summit 12.17.19 Wright Memorial Dinner 12.13.19 Analytical Graphics AGI Reception 12.13.19 Ball Reception 12.10.19 MSBR Lunch 12.3.19 Plant Reception 11.20.19 JSC Spacecom Conference VIP Reception 11.20.19 JSC Spacecom Conference Reception 11.19.19 SAIC BSU STEM Roundtable 11.07.19 Apollo UK Productions Ltd 7.10.19 SpaceX Satellite Reception 5.6.19 SPI GWU Dinner 5.1.19 AIAA Reception 4.30.19 MSBR Lunch 1.21.20 MSBR Lunch 1.21.20 View Source Article

"'Oumuamua is in a different category of object. It's much harder to find, but there are a lot more of them." View Source Article

Elon Musk's SpaceX has agreed to acquire 50MHz of wireless spectrum and Mobile Satellite Service spectrum licenses from EchoStar for about $17 billion in cash and stock for its Starlink satellite network. View Source Article

Out with the old iPhone, in with the new. There's probably a lot of market research out there by fancy people who analyze consumer data trying to answer one question: Why do people choose an iPhone? Is it a reputation for better privacy? Long-term reliability? Targeted ad campaigns? I think it's a lot simpler than anyone wants to acknowledge: Their previous iPhone no longer works. They're fed up with an aging battery, or they're tired of a dated processor chugging through app screens. Maybe their previous iPhone ate it altogether. They'll pick up whatever-number-we're-on-now (soon to be 17, with a supposedly "awe dropping" reveal tomorrow) because they like their old phone well eno … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Ed Ludlow looks at the interlocking relationship between Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, xAI, and his carmaker, Tesla. View Source Article

Uber and its new partner Momenta will start testing an autonomous ride-sharing service in Europe in 2026, Momenta announced. The service will kick off in Munich, Germany using Momenta's self-driving tech and Uber's ride-sharing platform, with the goal of future European expansion. The companies chose Munich to kick off the operation due to the city's "deep-rooted engineering heritage, top-tier automotive ecosystem and openness to innovation," Momenta said.  Momenta and Uber announced a "strategic agreement" in May this year to launch a robotaxi service with safety drivers aboard to start with. Momenta was one of China's first autonomous vehicle companies and has been testing self-driving cars in the nation since 2018, with plans to roll out a commercial operation at its base in Shanghai next year. It also builds ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) for major automakers including Mercedes-Benz and Audi, with over 400,000 installed to date.  Europe has been slower than the US and China to adopt self-driving taxis, but that has started to change. Uber will be competing with Baidu, which announced plans to start testing its Apollo Go self-driving service in Switzerland as early as this year. Another company, WeRide, launched its own pilot program in Switzerland in January 2025 and started testing a driverless shuttle system in France shortly after that. Elsewhere, Uber has partnered with other self-driving vehicle companies including WeRide, Pony.AI and Momenta in the Middle East. It also has a deal with UK-based Wayve to launch self-driving ride sharing trials in London next year, and recently said it would offer ride-sharing services in Los Angeles using an autonomous version of Volkswagen's ID. Buzz. Uber and Momenta's Munich service will use Level 4 self-driving vehicles that can be operated without a safety driver in preset geographical areas. The companies will need to obtain certification from the German government and approval for the "geofenced zones" where it's allowed to operate.  Uber originally planned to build its own self-driving cars but abandoned the idea in 2020 following the death of a pedestrian and scandal around alleged trade secret theft from Waymo. Since then, it has taken the route of partnering with autonomous vehicle manufacturers, including the aforementioned Waymo in Austin and Atlanta.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-and-partner-momenta-will-start-testing-robotaxis-in-europe-next-year-123058509.html?src=rss View Source Article

A new review study examines the “gut virome”: the microbiome’s mysterious viral population View Source Article

Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 professional women’s basketball league, has reached a $340 million valuation after its debut season. View Source Article

In 2020, I bought an iPhone 12 to replace my aging Pixel 3, and nearly five years later, I'm still using that same device because it works fine and Apple has yet to bring the feature I want most on a regular iPhone: a ProMotion display. If you're not familiar with the company's marketing lingo, ProMotion is its way of describing a high-refresh rate display. Apple introduced ProMotion with the iPhone 13 Pro. Since then, every Pro model has offered a 120Hz refresh rate display with the ability to scale down to 1Hz for always-on functionality. That's great for gaming and day-to-day use; higher refresh rates make every interaction on the iPhone's touchscreen look and feel smoother. In fact, high refresh rate displays are such a well-liked feature that most Android manufacturers have begun offering them on their entry-level devices, but it's still something you need to spend $1,000 to get on an iPhone.. If you ask me, that's a problem for Apple. The closest I got to upgrading was in 2023 when it released the iPhone 15, which was the first regular model to include the company's Dynamic Island display cutout after it debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro. In the end, even the iPhone 15, with its better display, camera and USB-C charging, wasn't enough to convince me to part with the iPhone 12, because the new model didn't include a ProMotion screen. I imagine I'm not the only person who kept their old iPhone for the same reason. At this point, Apple's trickle-down strategy is painfully behind its competitors. In 2022, when display analyst Ross Young correctly predicted the entire iPhone 15 would offer Dynamic Island displays, he said the company likely wouldn't bring ProMotion to its regular iPhones until 2024 at the earliest. He blamed the timing on a supply chain that "[couldn't] support" the feature on Apple's more affordable handsets. Whether or not that was true, I don't know. In 2020, the same year Apple released the $799 iPhone 12, Google came out with the $700 Pixel 5, which came with a 90Hz OLED. Either way, it appears my long wait is about to come to an end, with all four 2025 iPhone models — the iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and new iPhone 17 Air — reportedly set to offer 120Hz displays. For me, this is the year I upgrade, but I do wonder what it means for the future of the iPhone line. If I had to guess, Apple's decision to hold off on bringing ProMotion to the regular iPhone had more to do with the company wanting to give people a reason to spend extra on a Pro model than the limits of one of the largest and most efficient supply chains on the planet. If the pre-release rumors turn out to be true, the iPhone 17 will leave the iPhone Pro in an awkward place. With ProMotion gone as a differentiating feature and the Pro and Pro Max rumored to be made from aluminum again, there aren't many reasons to go for the more expensive models other than if you want a telephoto camera or a bigger display in the case of the Pro Max. I suspect this may be the last year we see an iPhone Pro, at least in the format we know it as now. When Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar and I got a chance to talk to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman during a recent episode of the Engadget podcast, he mentioned that Apple plans to go all in on the iPhone Air. At first, it may offer only a single camera and worse battery life than its siblings, but Gurman said Apple was confident it could further shrink those components over time and make the Air the equal of its current devices. In other words, the iPhone Air might be a side project now, but it's easy to envision a future where it becomes the company's flagship. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm hopeful Apple plans for a future where the Air and regular iPhone offer similar features, but the company charges a premium for getting those in a sleeker package.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/if-the-iphone-17-doesnt-get-promotion-i-wont-be-upgrading-my-iphone-12-120030630.html?src=rss View Source Article

A panorama captures a breathtaking view of the night sky above a frozen landscape. View Source Article

Private equity firm TPG GP Solutions LP has invested in a single-asset continuation vehicle for the insurance technology company Earnix Inc. in a deal with Israel’s Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) valued at $290 million. View Source Article

Planet Labs PBC boosted its full-year sales forecast amid higher demand for the earth-imaging company’s data. View Source Article

It hasn’t been the greatest year for the Ford F-150 Lightning, with sales so far this year down nearly 10 percent as compared to last year. In the hopes of boosting interest in the battery-powered truck, Ford today announced a new appearance package called STX, which the company says is in direct response to customer feedback. The STX, which replaces the XLT in the Lightning lineup, comes equipped with dual motors and an extended range battery that targets an EPA-estimated 290 miles of range. It also will be no slouch on the straightaway, with 536 horsepower and 775 lb.-ft. of torque, as well as a standard rear e-locking differential. Ford also “raided the F-150 parts bin” to add a bunch of rugged features, including off-road running boards from the F-150 Tremor and new wheels and all-terrain tires that are new to Ford’s electric truck. There’s a new grille, blue accent lines, and “STX” badging throughout. Truck owners who like to do actual truck stuff with their big electric truck can option up with a black vinyl floor for extra protection. In addition to the regular range of paint options, the STX will also come in two new colors: Argon Blue and Marsh Gray. “Customers have been asking for a rugged F-150 Lightning with more range than the standard range XLT,” Will Marchand, product and consumer marketing manager for the Lightning, said in a release. “Until now, if these owners wanted a rugged F-150 Lightning, they had to turn to the aftermarket to build the truck they wanted. We wanted to meet them where they were, which is why we’re so excited about the new F-150 Lightning STX.” The STX arrives at dealers in early 2026, and starts at $63,345. Ford says it expects it to be a top-seller based on internal projections. View Source Article

Research into whether drugs like ayahuasca can mitigate the effects of traumatic brain injury is in its infancy. Pro athletes like Jordan Poyer are forging ahead anyway. View Source Article

At least fourteen people were killed and dozens injured in Nepal’s Kathmandu during protests against the government’s decision to ban several social media platforms, local media reported. View Source Article

A common nasal spray shows promise in reducing COVID risk, but vaccine access remains tangled in policy in the U.S. View Source Article

Two AI-generated  figures from the production of Critterz. OpenAI is on a mission to show Hollywood that generative artificial intelligence can deliver results and is throwing its weight behind an animated feature film it hopes will stand toe-to-toe with much costlier productions, according to the Wall Street Journal. The film, called “Critterz,” is expected to hit theaters worldwide in 2026 after a planned debut at the Cannes Film Festival, the Journal reported. It will be made primarily with the company’s AI tools, including GPT-5, its flagship model that landed with a thud last month.  “Critterz” is reportedly being made on a budget of less than $30 million in just nine months, fractions of what is normally required for animated features. OpenAI, alongside LA- and London-based partners Native Foreign and Vertigo Films, will be hoping the flick can convince wary Hollywood executives to bet big on AI, a tall order as the industry wrestles with slow uptake, resistance from talent and audiences and concerns over intellectual property and creative agency. View Source Article

See spectacular photos from the Sept. 7-8 total lunar eclipse. View Source Article

Anyone familiar with the AI slop on Pinterest should recognize how unnatural that hair is. I opened TikTok while visiting Germany last week and stumbled across a Vodafone ad being presented by a woman who probably doesn’t exist. The ad includes several “tells” that suggest the presenter was artificially created using generative AI — the unnatural style and movement of her hair, the way her moles disappear, and the uncanny valley vibe of her facial expressions — and Vodafone confirmed my suspicions in its video comments. In response to a commenter asking why Vodafone couldn’t put “a real person in front of the camera,” the company said it was “testing different styles of advertising — this time with AI,” according to machine translation of the German text. In another comment, Vodafone said that “AI is so much a part of everyday life these days that we also try it out in advertising.” As an ad, it certainly captured my attention, but only because my brain registered that there was something “off.” @vodafonedeutschland Jetzt Internet mit bis zu 1000 Mbit/s im Download für Dein Zuhause. ♬ Originalton – vodafone_de – vodafone_de This isn’t the first time that Vodafone has embraced generative AI in its ads, having released a commercial last year in which every shot was AI-generated. Fake influencers created using artificial intelligence are also rising in popularity, according to a New York Times report, with notable examples like Lil’ Miquela — a creation of tech company Dapper Labs — having already appeared in campaigns for Calvin Klein, Prada, and BMW. View Source Article

Whether you’re chasing cinematic landscapes or just want to snap the ultimate selfie from above, finding the best drone comes down to knowing what kind of flying experience you're after. From compact foldable options you can slip into a backpack to advanced models that shoot silky-smooth 4K footage, today’s drones come packed with features that cater to everyone — from first-time flyers to seasoned drone pilots.If you're new to the skies, an entry-level drone with built-in safety features and multiple flight modes is a great place to start. If you prefer portability, a mini drone might be the perfect travel companion, especially one with a decent flight time and a responsive remote controller. For creators, the best camera drones often include a stabilized 4K camera for professional-level videography and are just as comfortable pairing with an Android device as they are with iOS. And if you’re working with a tighter budget, there are plenty of budget drone options that don’t skimp on core features like quadcopter stability, wind resistance or intelligent flight paths.We’ve tested drones across a wide range of categories to help you find the right fit — whether you're capturing epic sunsets, flying drones for fun in the backyard or learning the ropes as a hobbyist. Table of contents Best drones for 2025 What to look for in a drone Best drone FAQs Best drones for 2025 What to look for in a drone Camera features For this guide, we're looking only at drones that are basically flying cameras, so you want the best video and photo features possible. Bigger devices like DJI’s Mavic 3 Pro or Air 3S carry relatively large sensors, offering superior camera quality for nighttime cityscapes or other low-light scenes. Smaller models like the Mini 4 Pro and HoverAir X1 Max use smaller camera sensors, so they aren’t as good in dim light. Field of view and minimum aperture are also important, with most drones typically having a wide-angle focal length, though a few others like the HoverAir X1 Max carry an ultrawide lens. Some models have multiple cameras including a wide and a zoom. As for aperture, lower numbers are better and allow for shooting in dim light. Most DJI models are solid in this regard, while the HoverAir models don’t perform as well. Video resolution and slow-mo are also essential camera capabilities. Most drones these days can shoot at 4K with a frame rate of at least 30 fps, though some offer 6K or even 8K at up to 30 fps. Higher-end models can shoot 4K at up to 120 fps, allowing you to slow down the action dramatically to create a cinematic look. Other noteworthy features include log or HDR video that supports higher dynamic range, particularly in bright and sunny conditions. Finally, the camera’s gimbal and stabilization are important factors to keep your footage looking as smooth as possible. Some drones have gimbals that can rotate the camera 90 degrees to give social media creators the maximum resolution for vertical formats. Drone features: Speed, range, safety, battery life and obstacle detection By and large, there are two types of camera drones to consider. The first are standard drones (usually with open propellers but not always) designed to fly outside and take scenic shots. Often there’s nothing to stop the props from striking skin or objects, so they can’t really be used indoors or around people. Some models like the DJI Neo and Flip have prop guards that better protect bystanders and property, as well as the drone itself. Then there's first-person-view (FPV) camera drones, which often have propeller guards and are meant to be used both indoors or outside to capture exciting footage. Standard models don’t need to go particularly fast as they’re mainly used to shoot fun videos for social media, but FPV drones need to move at high speeds to create excitement. Because of that speed, they’re also better in breezy conditions thanks to stronger wind resistance, and they can fight gusts and return home more quickly. Acrobatic abilities (often promoted by the manufacturer in ads or packaging) are also important for FPV drones, as it allows the user to perform tricks and zip around obstacles. Battery life is another important factor. The best drones boast a battery endurance of up to 45 minutes, while FPV drones like the Avata 2 can only fly for about half that time as they tend to be heavier and carry smaller batteries to reduce weight. As a general rule, a single battery isn’t enough for any serious shooting so you’d do well to buy your drone in a kit with a few batteries and a charger. As for range, DJI tends to dominate in this area, with its latest models able to maintain a video signal at a distance up to 20km (12.4 miles). HoverAir’s models are weaker with the top-end X1 Max model limited to just 1km (0.6 miles) when using the optional beacon system. DJI also offers multiple ways to control its drones including headsets, joystick-type controllers, motion detection controllers and smartphones. The best drones have sensors to detect obstacles in all directions. Others are limited to only avoiding obstructions coming at them from the front and some only rely on the main camera to prevent crashes. Finally, if you want to have your drone follow you around automatically, you’ll need it to be able to track you around when you’re vlogging, riding a bike or skiing, while also avoiding obstacles. Smooth takeoff and return-to-home features are especially valuable here for both beginners and experienced drone pilots as well. Best drone FAQs What are the rules for owning a drone? Anyone can buy any drone, but once purchased, all drones between 250g and 25 kg must be registered with the FAA and marked with the FAA registration number. Recreational pilots with drones over 249g must pass the recreational UAS safety "TRUST" exam and carry proof of TRUST completion when flying a drone. Commercial pilots must obtain a Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA. You must be aware of and avoid any areas with airspace restrictions, particularly around airports. Are drones safe to fly in the city? In general, it is not legal to fly a drone within city limits over populations, as a crash from a high altitude could injure or kill someone. However, they can be flown over adjacent, non-populated areas in many cases. Here is a guide to where: https://uavcoach.com/where-to-fly-drone/ What is the average flight time of a drone? Most drones can fly for around 20-30 minutes, though some advanced models like DJI's Mavic 4 can fly up to 40 minutes or more.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/best-drone-120046775.html?src=rss View Source Article

One of the Middle East’s oldest sovereign investors has hired Saudi Arabian firm Jadwa Investment to shift about $1 billion in assets as part of a major strategic overhaul. View Source Article

The Beauty Tech Group said it’s planning an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, marking a potential boost for the UK’s capital markets after the slowest first-half for IPO volumes in more than 20 years. View Source Article

A good cordless stick vacuum cleaner gives you the freedom to move from room to room without dragging a cable or hunting for the nearest outlet. They’re lighter than a typical corded vacuum and often easier to store, making them ideal for quick jobs as well as deep cleans. Many of the best vacuum cleaners now come in bagless designs, with powerful suction and smart features that make it simple to clean up anything from crumbs on the kitchen floor to dust on high shelves.Some models go beyond basic convenience, with features like auto-empty docks that transfer debris straight into a larger bin, so you don’t have to empty them as often. You’ll also find attachments that make them more versatile, letting you tackle stairs, furniture and even your car without switching machines. Popular options like Dyson vacuums focus on strong suction and advanced filtration, while other brands deliver impressive performance at a lower cost.Whether you need something lightweight for everyday tidying or a top-end model to replace your main vacuum, there’s a cordless option to suit every home and cleaning style. In this guide, we’ll help you find the right balance of power, features and value. Table of contents Best cordless vacuums for 2025 Factors to consider before buying a cordless vacuum How we test cordless vacuums Other cordless stick vacuums we tested Cordless stick vacuums FAQs Best cordless vacuums for 2025 Factors to consider before buying a cordless vacuum Design and bin capacity Most of the cordless models you’ll find today have stick designs, with a handle at the top attached to a debris bin, which has a space to connect different attachments at one end. These designs are more versatile than old-school, upright vacuums of yesteryear because, while you may use the long stick attachment most of the time to clean your floors, many cordless vacuums come with other attachments as well. Some allow you to clean hard to reach spaces like the interior of your car, while others make it easier to vacuum furniture and clean up inside crevices. Some modern cordless vacuums also include practical features like an on/off button placed near your thumb for quick access, or an integrated LED light to help you see dust and debris under furniture or in darker corners. Bin volume is worth keeping in mind when you’re choosing a cordless vacuum. The larger the bin, the more debris it can hold, but it might also mean a heavier machine. All of the cordless vacuums we tested had a bin size between 0.1 and 0.8 gallons and all were able to handle cleaning an entire one-pet home (roughly 2,000 square feet) in a single run without needing to be emptied. Anything smaller and you may have to deal with more frequent emptying during each cleaning session. If you prefer a bagless design, all of the cordless vacuums in this guide fall into that category, making them easier and cheaper to maintain than bagged models. Some cordless models also have removable, replaceable battery packs, which is super handy. That means you can buy a replacement battery and install it easily, without needing to seek out professional assistance. Also, these extra batteries cost around $150-$200 a pop — expensive, yes, but nowhere near as costly as buying a whole new cordless vacuum. Suction and power modes Cordless vacuum suction power is typically measured in air wattage (AW), but you’ll see some that list the power of the motor in wattage (W) instead. Typically the higher the air or motor wattage the stronger the suction power, offering improved cleaning performance. And often strength is proportional to price — more expensive cordless vacuums tend to have stronger suction power. A general rule of thumb is that those with precocious pets or mess-making children would benefit from a cordless stick vacuum cleaner with stronger-than-average suction power. Most cordless stick vacuums will have two different power modes: a “normal” or default power mode that balances suction power with battery life, as well as a “max” or stronger mode that kicks suction strength up a notch. Some vacuums, like Dyson vacuums, also have an “eco” mode, or one that prioritizes run time over strength. Separate from power modes you can select yourself, some cordless vacuums will automatically adjust motor strength depending on the detected floor type or the amount of mess in its wake. This not only improves ease of use but ensures the vacuum is working as efficiently as possible. If allergens are a concern in your home, look for models equipped with HEPA filters, which are designed to trap fine dust, pollen and other particles that can irritate sensitive noses and lungs. Floor type The best vacuum cleaners in the cordless category will be able to clean any standard floor type — hardwood, tile, carpet and everything in between. As mentioned previously, some can even detect floor type and adjust suction power accordingly. That said, it's still worth thinking about the types of flooring you have in your home. If you primarily have carpet, you may want to consider a cordless vacuum with the most powerful suction you can afford, since there are more nooks and crannies for debris to get suck in with carpet. Battery life Obviously, battery life is important since you’ll probably want to clean more than one room in a shot. All of the cordless vacuums we tested had a battery life of at least 40 minutes in standard cleaning mode. I tested each by cleaning all three floors of my home (upstairs, downstairs and basement) on a single charge with the machine running in its standard (“auto”) mode and none of them ran out of juice before I could finish the third floor. That said, extra battery life can come in handy if you’re switching between power modes since “max” or high-power programs use more energy. Base style Most cordless stick vacuums come with some sort of base or mount where the machine lives when you’re not using it. Wall mounts are the most common, but some have free-standing bases where you dock and charge the vacuum. Consider the space in your home where you want the cordless vacuum to live, since it will have to have an outlet or another power source nearby. Some high-end cordless vacuums come with auto-empty bases that act much like those included with expensive robot vacuums. After cleaning and returning the vacuum to the base, it will automatically empty the dustbin into a larger dustbin that you can then detach from the base when you need to empty it. This is great for anyone concerned about allergens, as you’ll only need to empty the larger dustbin every month or two, reducing your contact with dust and debris. “Smart” features Yes, some cordless vacuums have “smart” features like Wi-Fi and app connectivity. But before we get into those, let’s talk about the extra perks scattered among these devices. Some models, like the latest from Dyson, include particle sensors that show you how many different sized pieces of debris it’s sucking up in real time. Dyson’s, for example, is a piezo acoustic sensor that detects particle size and frequency and displays that information on the vac’s LCD screen. Tineco’s iLoop sensor is similar, controlling its vacuums’ automatic suction power adjustment and changing a circle on the display from red to blue as you fully clean an area. Higher-end cordless vacuums may also have companion apps that show things like battery level, filter status and cleaning logs. It’s an added level of convenience, but by no means necessary. Unlike the best robot vacuums, or even the best budget robot vacuums, which rely on their apps to set cleaning schedules, manually control the machines and more, cordless vacuums that you operate yourself really don’t need Wi-Fi or an app connectivity. Price Cordless stick vacuums range in price from $150 all the way up to over $1,000. The best ones for most people lie in the middle, in the $400 to $700 range. You’ll notice most of our picks land in the higher end of that range, but for good reason: More expensive machines tend to have more sucking power, which means less time wasted going over the same spots over and over. But does that mean everyone needs the most premium cordless vacuum? Definitely not. We’ve come up with top picks at various price points that should work well for people with different budgets, lifestyles, home sizes and more. How we test cordless vacuums Engadget doesn’t have a dedicated lab in which we can test cordless vacuums, but I used each model in my home for weeks. I ran them over hardwood and tile flooring, as well as low-pile carpet. And my first runthrough consisted of cleaning all three floors of my home on a single battery charge. I performed the same cleaning job as many times as possible, but also intermittently cleaned a single floor as needed, or sucked up isolated messes like crumbs, cat litter spills and tufts of pet fur. Over the course of many cleanings with each model, I made note of how loud the machine was, how easy it was to maneuver around my home, how easily it sucked up pieces of large debris (or if it pushed it around my floor instead) and if they got warm or hot. Other cordless stick vacuums we tested LG CordZero Q3 The $329 CordZero Q3 is a perfectly capable vacuum with a single-button start, two manual power modes, adjustable suction technology that detects carpets and hard flooring and a cleaner head outfitted with LEDs to help you better spot all the dirt on your floors. But it's ultimately just fine in comparison to our top picks; it's not the most unique cordless vacuum or the most powerful, even though it will be enough to get the job done for many people. My biggest gripes with it are that you must charge it using the included base (which really works best when mounted on a wall — otherwise it's just awkward) and it doesn't have the smoothest handling. Dyson Gen 5 Detect The Dyson Gen 5 Detect has a single-button start and stronger suction power than our top pick, but it’s otherwise quite similar. However, since the Gen 5 Detect is more expensive at $950 (although it does receive discounts at Dyson online), the V15 Detect still provides greater value for your money. The Gen 5 Detect is arguably best for those who want the latest Dyson, or care about getting a more future-proof machine, since it came out just last year. Shark Detect Pro The Shark Detect Pro provides a lot of value for the money, but it was ultimately beat by the Tineco Pure One Station 5 for our runner-up slot thanks to the Tineco’s stronger suction power. The kicker for the Detect Pro is that it includes a self-emptying base in its $450 price, which is super handy. It’ll automatically dump the contents of the vacuum into the larger bin in the base after every cleaning, and you only need to empty the base’s container every month or so. The Detect Pro did a good job cleaning up messes across different types of flooring, and it’ll auto-adjust suction power depending on the amount of debris and whether you’re cleaning hard or carpeted floors. However, it’s not as smooth to use as any of our top picks and its main cleaner head is a bit tall, making it difficult to use to clean under low furniture. Cordless stick vacuums FAQs How long does the battery last on a cordless vacuum? Most cordless vacuums will run for at least 30-40 minutes on a single charge, but you can find cordless vacuums with battery lives of up to 60 or 70 minutes. Manufacturers will outline an estimated battery life for each model, and they’re usually based on using the vacuum’s standard power mode for the entire runtime; if you switch between modes or prefer to use a higher-powered program for improved suction, you’ll drain the battery faster. Can cordless vacuums be as powerful as corded ones? Cordless vacuums do sacrifice a bit in overall power when compared to corded models, but that doesn’t mean they can’t handle everyday messes just as well. If suction power is your biggest concern, we recommend springing for a high-powered, high-end cordless vacuum since, typically, the more expensive a cordless vacuum is, the stronger the suction. Also, cordless vacuums have the edge over corded models when it comes to weight and convenience: cordless vacuums are much lighter than their corded counterparts, and you’ll never have to worry about placement or picking a fight with a cord while cleaning your living room. Are cordless vacuums effective on pet hair? Yes, cordless vacuums can handle pet hair well, but we recommend getting a model with strong suction power to get the best results. It’s also wise to get one with a larger bin, since pet hair can quickly fill up smaller bins, which may force you to stop cleaning to empty the vacuum before finishing. What are the best methods for maintaining a cordless vacuum cleaner? Maintaining a cordless vacuum is super easy and helps to keep it running like new. First, make sure to empty the dustbin regularly — don’t let it overfill, as this can impact suction. Many models have washable filters, so rinse them out every few weeks (check your manual for specifics) and let them dry completely before putting them back. Next, take a look at the brush roll — hair and debris can get tangled up in there over time. Most vacuums make it simple to remove the brush roll, so you can snip away any tangles with scissors. If your vacuum has a replaceable battery, try not to let it fully drain too often, as this can reduce its lifespan. A quick wipe-down of the vacuum’s exterior and attachments will also keep everything looking fresh. Lastly, keep an eye on the sensors and charging contacts, as dust can build up there too. A gentle wipe with a dry cloth every now and then will do the trick. Can cordless vacuums also be used to clean curtains and upholstery? Cordless vacuums are surprisingly versatile, and many come with attachments specifically designed for surfaces like curtains, upholstery and even mattresses. A handheld vacuum mode, which is common in cordless models, makes it easy to tackle these areas. Look for a soft brush or an upholstery tool in the attachments for the vacuum you’re considering — it’ll help remove dust and pet hair without damaging fabrics. For curtains, it’s a good idea to use a lower suction setting if your vacuum has adjustable modes. This prevents the fabric from getting pulled into the nozzle. Check out more from our spring cleaning guide.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-cordless-vacuum-130007125.html?src=rss View Source Article

The US is proposing annual approvals for exports of chipmaking supplies to Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc.’s factories in China, a compromise aimed at preventing disruptions to the global electronics industry after Trump officials revoked Biden-era waivers that let the companies more easily get such shipments. View Source Article

Uber and one of its many robotaxi partners, Momenta, will test fully driverless cars in Germany next year. The news comes as Europe continues to lag behind the US and China in the number of commercially operational robotaxi services. The companies say they will test Level 4 autonomous vehicles in Munich starting in 2026. (Level 4 describes fully driverless vehicles, without safety drivers, that can operate anywhere within a defined geographic area.) If everything goes according to plan in Munich, Uber says that Momenta robotaxis could be coming to additional European cities in the years to come. Momenta is based in Shanghai, where it is currently operating its own robotaxi service. Earlier this year, Uber said it would allow the company to add its robotaxis to its ridehailing platform, though it would be cities outside the US and China. Uber also said that Momenta’s robotaxis would feature safety monitors behind the wheel at launch, before eventually transitioning to fully driverless vehicles. Momenta, which has received funding from China’s state-owned SAIC Motor, GM, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and Bosch, currently supplies driver assist software to a number of automakers, including Mercedes and BMW. Though it currently lags behind the US and China, Europe is starting to see more robotaxi action that signals the floodgates could soon be open. In addition to Uber and Momenta, China’s Baidu and Lyft plan on bringing driverless taxis to the UK and Germany in 2026. Volkswagen has also been testing autonomous vehicles in Germany for several years, and recently said it would launch its own robotaxi service with — you guessed it — Uber in Los Angeles in 2026. View Source Article

The pair will be visible on the eastern horizon soon after sunset before tracing the Pisces constellationAn almost full moon glides close to Saturn this week, forming a pleasant conjunction in an otherwise unremarkable patch of the sky.The chart shows the view looking east-southeast from London at 22:00 on 8 September 2025. The moon’s visible hemisphere is just over 98% illuminated, and at 16 days old it is just past full and so is beginning its waning gibbous phase. Continue reading... View Source Article

Russia turned into a lucrative market for Chinese automakers after the invasion of Ukraine, as they rushed in to fill the void left by foreign brands. That easy access may be over. View Source Article

Visible from Australia, across Asia and western Europe, a blood moon has been captivating stargazers. This marvel is caused when the Earth shades the moon from direct solar light, causing the moon to appear red.Blood moon and lunar eclipse cast an ethereal light – in pictures Continue reading... View Source Article

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-led the latest funding round in robotics startup X Square Robot, as the Chinese e-commerce company is trying to cement its leadership in emerging technologies. View Source Article

Early-September downpours have drenched many Londoners, foreshadowing what forecasters say could be a soggier-than-usual autumn, but that probably won’t be enough to lift the UK’s drought. View Source Article

A child of the Space Shuttle Program, Jeni Morrison grew up walking the grounds of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston with her parents and listening to family stories about human spaceflight.  Now, with more than 15 years at NASA, Morrison serves as one of Johnson’s Environmental Programs managers. She ensures the center complies with laws that protect its resources by overseeing regulatory compliance for cultural and natural resources, stormwater and drinking water programs, and the National Environmental Policy Act. She also safeguards Johnson’s historic legacy as Johnson’s Cultural Resources manager.  Jeni Morrison in the mall area at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where employees often see local wildlife, including turtles, birds, deer, and the occasional alligator. “I make sure our actions comply with the National Historic Preservation act, since the center is considered a historic district with two National Historic Landmarks onsite,” Morrison said. “I make sure we respect and document Johnson’s heritage while paving the way for new efforts and mission objectives.”  Morrison takes pride in finding solutions that increase efficiency while protecting resources. One example was a project with Johnson’s Geographic Information System team to create an interactive material and chemical spill plan map. The new system helps responders quickly trace spill paths above and underground to deploy resources faster, reducing cleanup costs and minimizing environmental impacts.  “Every improvement we make not only saves time and resources, but strengthens our ability to support NASA’s mission,” she said.   By the very nature of our work, NASA makes history all the time. That history is important for all people, both to remember the sacrifices and accomplishments of so many, but also to ensure we don’t repeat mistakes as we strive for even bolder achievements. Jeni Morrison Environmental Program Manager Jeni Morrison presents an overview of environmental compliance and center initiatives to employees at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2014. NASA/Lauren Harnett For Morrison, success often comes down to teamwork. She has learned to adapt her style to colleagues’ needs to strengthen collaboration.   “By making the effort to accommodate others’ communication styles and learn from different perspectives, we create better, more efficient work,” she said. “Thankfully, so many people here at NASA are willing to teach and to share their experiences.”   Her message to the Artemis Generation is simple: Always keep learning!  “You never know when a side conversation could give you an answer to a problem you are facing down the line,” she said. “You must be willing to ask questions and learn something new to find those connections.”  Jeni Morrison (second from right) with the Biobased Coolant Project Team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2018. The team tested biobased metalworking coolants and identified a product that outperformed petroleum-based options, meeting flight hardware specifications while reducing waste disposal costs and labor hours. Even as a young child visiting NASA Johnson, I could feel the sense of adventure, accomplishment, and the drive to reach new heights of human capability. I realize that those experiences gave me a fascination with learning and an inherent need to find ways to do things better. jENI mORRISON Environmental Program Manager Her passion for learning and discovery connects to a family tradition at NASA. Her grandfather contributed to multiple Apollo missions, including helping solve the oxygen tank malfunction on Apollo 13. Her mother worked at the center transcribing astronaut recordings and writing proposals, and her father flew experiments aboard the space shuttle and International Space Station. Morrison’s sister and extended family also worked at Johnson.   Now her son is growing up on the center grounds while attending the JSC Child Care Center. “As the fourth generation to be at Johnson, he is already talking about how he loves science and can’t wait to do his own experiments,” she said.  For Morrison, carrying that family legacy forward through environmental stewardship is a privilege. “Being able to contribute to NASA’s mission through environmental compliance feels like the best of both worlds for me,” Morrison said. “It combines my love of science and NASA with my drive to find more efficient ways to operate while protecting this incredible site and everything it represents.”  Explore More 4 min read Mark Cavanaugh: Integrating Safety into the Orion Spacecraft  Article 1 month ago 6 min read She Speaks for the Samples: Meet Dr. Juliane Gross, Artemis Campaign Sample Curation Lead  Article 5 months ago 5 min read Johnson’s Jason Foster Recognized for New Technology Reporting Record Article 3 months ago View Source Article

Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy is releasing a Poké Ball virtual pet toy so you can fulfill your dreams of carrying your favorite Pokémon around with you everywhere. I don't know how this one slid under my radar when it was announced at the end of August (perhaps because all my attention has been on Tamagotchi Paradise) but now that I've seen it, I must have it. While it appears to be a Japan-only release, the product page shows it will have an English language option in the menu. Pre-orders are open (though currently sold out on Amazon Japan), and the device will ship on October 11, according to Essential Japan. The toy costs ¥7,480 or about $51 — but I shudder to think how much that number will jump with tariffs factored in. Per the listing, there are seven partner Pokémon you can care for: Pikachu, Eevee, Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly, Lucario and Sylveon. And if you pet the device, they'll react. There are also 150 other Pokémon to interact with, though it's unclear what the extent of those interactions will be beyond battles (and… washing?). Regardless, l hope Wooper is one of them. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/this-pettable-poke-ball-is-a-tamagotchi-style-toy-with-over-150-pokemon-inside-and-i-need-it-now-215047740.html?src=rss View Source Article

Visible from Australia, across Asia, to western Europe, a blood moon has been captivating stargazers. This marvel is caused when the Earth shades the moon from direct solar light, causing the moon to appear red Continue reading... View Source Article

CEOs, investors, analysts and even some bankers gathering for one of the tech industry’s biggest summits this week in San Francisco will likely spend time whispering about how 2025 could go down as the best year ever for deals in their sector. View Source Article

See the first photos of September's majestic total lunar eclipse. View Source Article

Until very recently it wasn’t clear what usage limits were placed on Gemini at the various tiers. Thankfully Google has finally updated its Help Center article detailing “Gemini Apps limits & upgrades for Google AI subscribers.” Gone are the useless descriptors like “limited access” or vague statements like “we may at times have to cap the number of prompts and conversations you can have, or how much you can use some features, within a specific timeframe.” Instead it clearly states that you get up to five prompts a day with Gemini 2.5 Pro on a free account, 100 with an AI Pro plan, or 500 with AI Ultra.  Free accounts are also limited to five Deep Research reports and 100 generated images a day. If you need to make more than 100 AI generated images in a day, A: For what? B: Upgrading to a Pro or Ultra account will get you 1,000 images. You can check out the full breakdown here. View Source Article

Microsoft said its Azure cloud platform has returned to normal service after an incident of cut underwater cables that played out over Saturday. The tech giant reported "undersea fiber cuts" in the Red Sea on Saturday morning, which disrupted Azure service throughout the Middle East and led to potential "increased latency" for users. Microsoft said that the latency issue was resolved by Saturday evening and was able to reroute the Azure traffic through other paths. Microsoft didn't provide a reason for why the undersea cables were cut. These cables sit on the ocean floor and play the crucial role of delivering massive amounts of data across the world. While ships dropping anchors can sometimes damage undersea cables, there have been more intentional circumstances in the past. In 2024, the internationally recognized government of Yemen claimed that the country's Houthi movement was responsible for cutting cables in the Red Sea. While Microsoft managed to restore service for its latest episode the same day, it also noted that undersea cable cuts "can take time to repair" and that it "will continuously monitor, rebalance, and optimize routing to reduce customer impact in the meantime." This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/microsofts-cloud-service-restored-after-reports-of-cut-cables-in-the-red-sea-192312354.html?src=rss View Source Article

Nintendo has just won another major battle in its longstanding war against piracy. Earlier this summer, a US federal court ruled in favor of Nintendo in a lawsuit against Ryan Daly and the Modded Hardware website. The site was known for selling devices that allowed users to get around Nintendo's piracy protections, including the popular MIG Switch flashcart that lets buyers play official Nintendo games without the need for a physical cartridge. Besides requiring Daly to pay $2 million to Nintendo, the lawsuit requires him to shut down the website and forfeit the domain to Nintendo as part of an all-encompassing permanent injunction. The order also prevents Daly from any future involvement with devices that get around Nintendo's guardrails, including creating, selling, contributing to, hosting other websites related to or investing in other businesses that deal in similar products. While MIG flash carts could be used as a backup for legally purchased physical games, it was more commonly used to pirate official Nintendo Switch titles. Nintendo has steadily fought against mods and pirating tools, including recently granting itself the power to brick Switches that have pirated games on them. Nintendo is no stranger to taking legal action against those who defy its strict policies. In March of last year, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the makers of the Yuzu emulator. The suit was settled quickly, with the team behind the Nintendo Switch emulator agreeing to pay $2.4 million. Like the lawsuit against Daly, the team behind Yuzu had to surrender its website and permanently refrain from doing any activities that bypass Nintendo's rules.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-wins-a-2-million-lawsuit-against-popular-switch-modding-webstore-174528989.html?src=rss View Source Article

General Motors is going to be scaling back production of the Cadillac Lyriq and Vistiq, as well as the Chevy Bolt EV as it expects sales of electric vehicles to slow dramatically. The $7,500 consumer tax credit for purchasing a new EV is set to expire at the end of the month. That credit has been crucial to driving demand for EVs, which are still more expensive than their gas-powered counterparts. The company is pausing production on the Lyriq and Vistiq at its Spring Hill, Tennessee plant in December. It’s also planning to halt manufacturing for a week in November and October, as well as slow production during the first five months of 2026 by temporarily laying off one of its shifts of workers. Similarly, it’s indefinitely delaying the start of a second shift at a plant near Kansas City, which is supposed to begin producing the Chevy Bolt EV later this year.  While EV sales have struggled to meet expectations, they have improved over time. GM even announced that August was its best month on record for EV sales. But in the same press release it was quick to note that it was unsure what the future would hold. “We will almost certainly see a smaller EV market for a while, and we won’t overproduce,” the company’s Senior Vice President and President, North America, Duncan Aldred, wrote. Back in May, transportation editor Andrew J. Hawkins said, “the US was already woefully behind China and other developed nations in terms of clean energy investments. And now it’s likely to fall even further behind, perhaps permanently so.” When the largest American automaker is aggressively slashing EV production, even as sales surge, it’s hard to see how the US can catch up. View Source Article

For most Hollow Knight: Silksong players, the combat is challenging and the boss fights are punishing. However, there's another layer of complexity for anyone playing the sequel in Simplified Chinese: the bizarre translations. On its Steam store page, Silksong currently sits at a "Mostly Positive" rating across reviews in all languages. Once you filter for the Simplified Chinese reviews, the Metroidvania-style game plummets to "Mostly Negative." There are plenty of complaints about Silksong being too hard and not rewarding enough, but the translation issues are a common theme across the reviews for Simplified Chinese. In the reviews and comments, players compared the translations to a jarring mix of ancient and modern Chinese. Tiger Tang, who worked on the Simplified Chinese translation of an indie RPG called OMORI, posted on X that the "translation reads like a Wuxia novel instead of conveying the game’s tone," referencing the literary genre that features martial arts and is often set in ancient China. The good news is that the team behind Silksong is aware of the translation issues, as indicated by Matthew Griffin, who handles the game's marketing and publishing. Griffin posted on X that the team is aware of "quality issues with the current Simplified Chinese translation" and that they are "working to improve the translation over the coming weeks." When looking at the original Hollow Knight, the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, even when looking at the Simplified Chinese reviews. However, Silksong credits a team of two for its Chinese localization, while the original featured six.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/silksong-reviews-drop-to-mostly-negative-for-chinese-players-due-to-confusing-translations-162631762.html?src=rss View Source Article

Dive into the fascinating crossroads of astronomy and astrology — where science meets symbolism, and the sky tells two very different stories. View Source Article

One of Elon Musks Super powers is hyperfocusing on what really matters. What really matters for Tesla is get Cybercabs mass produced using the new unboxed manufacturing process. Tesla can go next level in car production, low cost vehicles with mass produced cybercabs with the new process starting in only 100 days. December 2025. Cybercab ... Read more View Source Article

The Toronto International Film Festival is almost like a preview of the movie slate for the next few months — and this year I’m watching as much as possible to give you all the scoop on what’s ahead. To do that, I’ll be writing a dispatch covering every movie I’ve seen that day, which will run daily throughout most of the festival. That includes bigger movies you probably already know about, like Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man and Frankenstein, along with hopefully some great new films you maybe weren’t aware of, like the creepy adaptation of the horror game The Exit 8. I won’t be able to see everything, of course, but I’ll do my best to bring you the most interesting stuff — and you can keep up with everything right here. Wake Up Dead Man adds a delightfully dark twist to Knives Out Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice is as bleak as it is hilarious The Exit 8 movie is even scarier than the game View Source Article

Chemistry in the first 50 million to 100 million years after the Big Bang may have been more active than we expected. View Source Article

While scientists are still working to understand the effects an extended trip to space can have on the human body, research in recent years has suggested that astronauts may experience some pretty dramatic changes on both the physiological and psychological levels. In the latest study led by a team at University of California San Diego, researchers found signs of accelerated aging in human stem cells that spent roughly a month in space. The research focused on hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), which are crucial in the formation of blood and immune cells. Stem cells were sent to the International Space Station for stays of 32-45 days using specially developed nanobioreactors to monitor them. Another set remained on Earth at the Kennedy Space Center. The cells that went to the ISS showed a host of changes, including reduced self-renewal abilities, greater susceptibility to DNA damage and inflammation in the mitochondria. However, the damage didn't appear to be permanent. The team notes that the changes were at least partially reversed when the cells were removed from the space environment. “Space is the ultimate stress test for the human body,” Catriona Jamieson, director of the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute, said in a statement. “These findings are critically important because they show that the stressors of space — like microgravity and cosmic galactic radiation — can accelerate the molecular aging of blood stem cells. Understanding these changes not only informs how we protect astronauts during long-duration missions but also helps us model human aging and diseases like cancer here on Earth." This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/human-stem-cells-age-more-rapidly-in-space-study-finds-145651426.html?src=rss View Source Article

Everyone basically agrees: if you want people to transition from polluting gas guzzlers to electric cars, you have to make them more affordable. The luxury EVs, with their big battery packs and fine leather interiors, are all well and good, but if you really want to move the needle on EV adoption, we need more entry-level options. And so far, we’re lacking. Volkswagen hears this, and is responding with a new lineup of small and mid-sized electric vehicles aimed squarely at the low end of the market. We’ve already seen the ID.2all — recently renamed ID. Polo and ID. Polo GTI — and ID.EVERY1 concepts. Now we’re getting a fourth concept, the ID. Cross, which VW says will get a proper reveal next year. The concept’s name invokes the ID.4’s predecessor, the ID.Crozz, from 2017. The ID. Cross introduces a new design language that VW says it “friendlier” and more approachable than its current lineup of EVs. For evidence of this, look no further than the front fascia with its narrow headlights and a slightly curved lightbar that looks like its smiling at you. The ID. Cross introduces a new design language that VW says it “friendlier” An electric counterpart to the popular VW T-Cross, the ID. Cross will be built on the automaker’s MEB Plus platform, which is an improvement over the current MEB that powers the ID.4 crossover SUV, the ID Buzz minivan, and a dozen other vehicles from Audi, Skoda, and others. This next-gen platform will have better batteries, engines, and software, VW promises — which, if you’ve ever encountered a current MEB vehicle’s software, will come as welcome news. The concept’s front-wheel drive motor spits out 155kW of power, which is the equivalent of around 208 horsepower. It has a range of 420km (260 miles) based on the more generous WLTP cycle. And it can hit a top speed of 175 km/h (108 mph). And with a ball coupling, the ID. Cross can haul up to 75 kg (165 lbs), which VW says is enough to transport two e-bikes. This new drive system will be built in Europe; if fact, VW makes no mention at all of the US market. Not surprising, considering the uneven success the automaker’s EVs have had in America. But still disappointing, considering how starved we are for fun, affordable EVs. The ID. Cross will be similar in size to the T-Cross, which is smaller than the already fairly compact ID.4 SUV. The Cross will be 4,161 mm (164 in) long, 1,839 mm (72 in) wide, and 1,588 mm (63 in) tall — with a wheelbase of 2,601 mm (102 in). The concept is perched on 21-inch alloy wheels designed specifically for the ID. Cross. That said, VW is trying to use the smallish size to its best advantage. With five people inside, the ID. Cross will have a storage capacity of 450 liters, plus 25 more liters in the frunk. The addition of a front truck is a nice surprise, considering all of VW’s current EVs have been sorely lacking in extra storage space. The interior includes fabric-covered surfaces on the dash that matches the materials used on the seats. The steering wheel features — gasp! — real buttons to control driver assist functions and more, which is notable because VW got a lot of blowback for its lack of physical controls in its current crop of EVs. The front seats can be folded flat, flush with the rear seats when stowed, to create a completely flat surface that can be used for car camping. VW says the production version of the ID. Cross will get a proper reveal next summer, after the launch of the ID. Polo and ID. Polo GTI, based on the ID.2all concept. The ID.EVERY1 — which has yet to get its production rebranded name — will be out in 2027. VW is betting that its newly “likeable” and affordable EVs will help lift its fortunes in the face of fierce competition from China, especially at the low end of the market. The German automaker, which also owns Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Skoda, Seat, and others, hasn’t had the same kind of EV success as its crosstown rival BMW, or even South Korean competitors like Hyundai and Kia. Its European sales have been a bright spot in an otherwise uneven portfolio, which may explain why the company isn’t making any commitments beyond the continent. View Source Article

It took just a few eventful weeks for President Donald Trump’s family to rack up about $1.3 billion from two crypto ventures, each less than a year old. View Source Article

A team of astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope has found tiny dust particles traveling far from their home galaxy, surviving a perilous journey through a harsh cosmic environment that should have destroyed them. View Source Article

When director Rian Johnson introduced the new Knives Out film on the third day of TIFF 2025, he exclaimed: "we're going back to church." By that he meant that Wake Up Dead Man, the latest Benoit Blanc mystery, would harken back to the origins of the whodunit, and in particular the gothic vibes of Edgar Allan Poe. And now that I've seen it, I have to say that Johnson pulled it off: the new movie has a darker and more spiritual feel than its predecessors, and yet it's still distinctly Knives Out, which is to say twisting and hilarious. I gasped a few times, as did the rest of audience, at the many reveals. I'll have a full review in the comin … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on all things at the intersection of environment and technology, follow Justine Calma. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Some stories that I've worked on as an environmental journalist still haunt me. One of the first to get under my skin happened to be about forever chemicals. Since the 1940s, forever chemicals have been commonly used by manufacturers as a way to make things resistant to water, stains, and heat. Think food packaging, nonstick pans, water-repellan … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

The highlight of Apple’s big event on Tuesday will be its thin and light “iPhone 17 Air” — but the device won’t be the right purchase for most customers. Also: The company is planning a Perplexity rival and continues its attempt to launch AI features in China. Lastly, an Instagram app for the iPad finally arrives. View Source Article

Ant queens of one species are sexual parasites that clone ants of another species to create hybrid workers that do their bidding View Source Article

The second total lunar eclipse of 2025 delivers a long, blood-red moon. View Source Article

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 96, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, has your inbox been as busy as mine the past few days?, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) Over the past two weeks, I've been testing this wildly customizable keyboard with an attachable trackball, reading the first Dungeon Crawler Carl and the second Dark Tower books, finally finishing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (with the help of an easy mode mod), marveling at the GeoGuessr World Championship grand final, and listening to Wombo's new album. This week, I also have for you Hol … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

We surveyed people in the U.S. about artificial-intelligence-generated art. Their answers told us a lot about how we value human creativity View Source Article

In theory, quantum physics can bypass the hard mathematical problems at the root of modern encryption. A new proof shows how. View Source Article

EToro Group Ltd. is ready to undertake more ambitious M&A deals, and has the cash to do so, one of its founders said. View Source Article

The ringed gas giant Saturn will be less than 5 degrees from the lunar disk at sunset on Sept. 8. View Source Article

Bitcoin has increased in price from less than penny ($0.003 in 2010) to $110,000 today in 2025. Bitcoin is up 18% in 2025 and was up as much as 31% last month. Buying into Bitcoin early in 2017 would have been at prices below $1000 and there would have been over 100X returns. Late 2013 ... Read more View Source Article

Microsoft Corp. said on Saturday that clients of its Azure cloud platform may experience increased latency after multiple international cables in the Red Sea were cut. View Source Article

The Square Enix team behind Final Fantasy Tactics — The Ivalice Chronicles didn't just remaster the iconic strategy RPG, they had to go through the trouble of remaking the source code from scratch, according to Bloomberg. In an interview with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, the game's director Kazutoyo Maehiro explained the arduous process of designing The Ivalice Chronicles, which is set to release at the end of the month. When getting to work on the remake, Maehiro and his team discovered they had to rebuild the source code from the ground up since it was lost thanks to the industry's unstandardized practices in the '90s, according to Bloomberg. When translating Final Fantasy Tactics from Japanese to English for the global release, the company would overwrite the original Japanese version's code. For Maehiro, that meant the team had to undertake a ground-up overhaul and recreate the source code by playing the original game that released in 1997, consulting the game's master disc and looking at the 2011 version called Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, according to Bloomberg. Maehiro also said during a PAX West 2025 panel that the team gleaned a lot of lost info from fan-made databases. Revealing more of the behind-the-scenes decisions for The Ivalice Chronicles, Maehiro told Bloomberg about the debate surrounding Count Cidolfus Orlandeau. Better known as Cid, and appropriately nicknamed Thunder God Cid, this overtuned character joins you later in the game, but many fans complained about him being overpowered. Instead of nerfing Cid, Maehiro told Bloomberg that keeping this character's power level the same would better represent the storyline since "his role in the story is being that very powerful character who joins your party." To quell any concerns of Cid being too broken, Maehiro told Bloomberg that the team decided to buff the other characters to even things out. Looking ahead, Maehiro also hinted at exploring sequels for the Final Fantasy Tactics franchise or even brand new games in the strategy RPG genre, given that The Ivalice Chronicles does well, according to Bloomberg.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-ivalice-chronicles-team-had-to-remake-the-original-final-fantasy-tactics-source-code-from-scratch-190253342.html?src=rss View Source Article

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink internet broadband satellites lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. View Source Article

Starting September 9, Porsche and Audi will be the latest non-Tesla brands to utilize the Supercharger network. The two automakers announced that some of their owners will get adapters that allow them to charge via the NACS port, which Tesla developed and opened up to other automakers. The rollout comes after the Volkswagen Group, which owns both Porsche and Audi, announced that it would implement NACS compatibility for Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Scout Motors in December 2023. Porsche / Ashton Stan Porsche is kicking off its NACS adoption with a "soft launch," where existing owners of Taycan and Macan Electric models have to reserve a free NACS to DC adapter with the My Porsche app to connect to the Tesla Supercharger network. During this initial phase, drivers of compatible Porsche EVs have to use the Tesla app at Superchargers, but will eventually be able to charge with the My Porsche app in "the coming months," according to Porsche. Like Porsche, Audi is getting its own branded adapter that will arrive with newer 2025 model year options, including its Q6 e-tron, A6 Sportback e-tron and e-tron GT. Notably, Audi said its Q4 e-tron won't currently have access to Tesla Superchargers. For Porsche, any Taycan and Macan Electric from model year 2026 onward will include a free NACS adapter. However, Porsche EVs from model year 2024 or older will have to buy the adapter from Porsche's online shop or dealerships, which will go for $185. Porsche and Audi are also working on software updates to show Tesla Superchargers on their navigation systems. Despite Porsche and Audi now gaining access to the Supercharger network, Volkswagen Group's other subsidiaries, including Lamborghini and Bentley, still haven't committed to adopting NACS.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/porsche-and-audis-evs-can-now-recharge-on-any-tesla-supercharger-in-north-america-173333649.html?src=rss View Source Article

Tesla is now reincorporated in Texas so Texas laws are what matter for the new 2025 pay package. The shareholders will vote November 6 on the new pay package. Texas laws limit shareholder litigation over approved pay packages. Texas require shareholders to hold at least 3% of outstanding shares to file a lawsuit, and Tesla ... Read more View Source Article

8BitDo makes some of our favorite gaming accessories, and right now you can get one of its Switch 2 controllers for the lowest price we've seen yet. A deal on Amazon shaves 14 percent off the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 controller's usual $70 price tag, bringing it down to $60 — and with a coupon you can apply before checkout, it drops a bit more to $54. The discount only applies to the white color option. The Ultimate 2 Bluetooth controller is one of the best Switch 2 accessories out there. (It's also compatible with PC). This controller has TMR joysticks for greater sensitivity and durability, and has trigger mode switches to flip between linear Hall Effect triggers and non-linear tactile triggers. It's a great option for those who prefer an Xbox-style controller. The Ultimate 2 charges on an included charging dock, and it'll automatically reconnect to the console when you pick it up. It's also customizable using the Ultimate Software, so you can adjust the button mapping, joystick and trigger sensitivity, vibration and more. It offers three custom profiles so you can save the different configurations. You can play around with the visual effects too. The Ultimate 2 controller has RGB rings around the joysticks with multiple lighting modes to choose from, including Fire Ring Mode, Light-tracing and Rainbow. You can further adjust the colors with the Ultimate Software as well. It's a versatile controller that offers a lot of bang for your buck. If you've been thinking about picking up a good third-party controller for your new Switch 2, you can't go wrong with the Ultimate 2. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/8bitdos-ultimate-2-controller-for-switch-2-is-on-sale-for-only-54-170940439.html?src=rss View Source Article

Everyone is misunderstanding the 2025 TESLA CEO Pay Plan. It is a $20 Trillion Plan NOT $8.5 Trillion market capitialization target. Adjusted EBITDA is a better measure of true company earnings without one time charges. Tesla having fast growth to 25 times more adjusted EBITDA will be five times more “true profitability” than Nvidia. Fast ... Read more View Source Article

Two authors have filed a lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of infringing on their copyright by using their books to train its artificial intelligence model without their consent. The plaintiffs, Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, claimed that Apple used a dataset of pirated copyrighted books that include their works for AI training. They said in their complaint that Applebot, the company's scraper, can "reach 'shadow libraries'" made up of unlicensed copyrighted books, including (on information) their own. The lawsuit is currently seeking class action status, due to the sheer number of books and authors found in shadow libraries.  The main plaintiffs for the lawsuit are Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, both of whom have multiple books under their names. They said that Apple, one of the biggest companies in the world, did not attempt to pay them for "their contributions to [the] potentially lucrative venture." Apple has "copied the copyrighted works" of the plaintiffs "to train AI models whose outputs compete with and dilute the market for those very works — works without which Apple Intelligence would have far less commercial value," they wrote in their filing. "This conduct has deprived Plaintiffs and the Class of control over their work, undermined the economic value of their labor, and positioned Apple to achieve massive commercial success through unlawful means." This is but one of the many lawsuits filed against companies developing generative AI technologies. OpenAI is facing a few, including lawsuits from The New York Times and the oldest nonprofit newsroom in the US. Notably, Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude chatbot, recently agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class action piracy complaint also brought by authors. Similar to this case, the writers also accused the company of taking pirated books from online libraries to train its AI technology. The 500,000 authors involved in the case will reportedly get $3,000 per work.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-faces-lawsuit-over-alleged-use-of-pirated-books-for-ai-training-160016161.html?src=rss View Source Article

A few years ago, artist Modern Biology became a viral sensation when he posted videos of himself controlling a modular synth with mushrooms on TikTok. Pocket Scion gives anyone similar capabilities, but without having to spend thousands of dollars on a Eurorack rig – and in a much more portable package.  A core part of Modern Biology’s setup is a module called Scion from Glasgow-based Instruo. Scion turns biofeedback, whether that’s from houseplants or your own skin, into CV (control voltage) for controlling other synth modules in a larger setup. Touching two sensors to your hand or a mushroom completes a circuit, and then electrical fluctuations in that circuit can be used to trigger different notes, or change the cutoff on a filter, for instance. A little over a year ago, he approached Instruo about building something new. The fruit of that collaboration is the Pocket Scion, an affordable self-contained instrument that can turn small electrical changes from living organisms into MIDI data and create soundscapes using one of the four built-in sound engines.  The Pocket Scion has a number of advanced capabilities too, including MIDI out for controlling external instruments. There’s also a companion app for Windows, macOS, and Linux that exposes sound design tools for creating your own synth patches, and can send data over Open Sound Control (OSC), which gives it control over a ton of audio and video programs like Max/MSP, Pure Data, and Unreal Engine for creating visualization or complex reactive art installations. It’s more powerful than you’d expect given its $149 price. The initial run of Pocket Scions sold out almost immediately. But you can place a preorder for when the next batch ships “early next week,” according to retailer Control Voltage. View Source Article

Could an ocean – likely needed to sustain life – even survive on a planet orbiting close to a dead star? View Source Article

No Other Choice. At my second day at TIFF 2025, the longest line I saw wasn't for a movie: it was for the Criterion Closet. The space is housed in a van so that it could make it up to Toronto, and honestly, it felt a little wrong to see the outside of it after watching everyone from Michael Cera to Hideo Kojima spend time in its cramped interior digging through Blu-Rays. The line was long enough that I didn't even bother trying to get inside, which is probably a good thing since I'd just be overwhelmed anyways. Besides, standing in that line would cut into my movie time, which is already a precious resource given there are so many things to check out. If t … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

The RVSolar System living its best vanlife. | Image: Bluetti It only took three years, but Bluetti is following EcoFlow’s lead with a fully integrated power system of its own to make vanlifers, off-grid cabins, and boats energy independent. The RVSolar System’s main advantage over bespoke systems is a relatively quick and easy installation, requiring just “30 minutes,” according to Bluetti’s announcement at IFA 2025.  While it’s undoubtedly faster than installing a fully bespoke solution from Victron Energy, for example, the last time I installed EcoFlow’s comparable system, it took closer to five hours — and that was after several hours of planning, measuring, and double-checking. Thirty minutes is just the time needed to screw everything together, so there’s still a hint of truth here. Bluetti’s 48V RVSolar System is capable of 5,000W of max AC output or 1,360W DC. That’s plenty of power for everything from a roof-mounted air conditioner and induction cooktop to a 12V water pump and lighting system. It can be configured with a whopping 122kWh of Bluetti’s self-heated LFP batteries — enough for me to live and work off the grid for as long as 76 days, based upon the 1.6kWh average that I consume daily in my own van. As a bonus, Bluetti’s system also supports compatible third-party batteries, which is something EcoFlow can’t claim with its proprietary connectors. Maxing out a system with batteries will be overkill for most since these systems are designed to be easily rechargeable when out in the sticks. Batteries connected to the system can be recharged from a number of sources, including solar panels (up to 3600W), shore-power hookup (up to 5000W), a diesel generator (up to 5000W), and your vehicle’s own alternator (up to 1200W). The system is built around an RV5 Power Hub unit that houses all the devices, which typically have to be wired together separately in a bespoke installation. These include the DC-to-AC inverter to convert DC energy to AC power for the microwave or coffee machine, an MPPT solar charger to regulate solar panel input, a DC-DC charger to top up the batteries when the vehicle’s motor is running, and a DC converter to step down the voltage for 12V / 24V devices like lights, USB sockets, pumps, and modern A/C units.  The kit also comes with a smart distribution panel for 8 AC and 20 DC circuits, with remote control over four of those AC circuits and six DC. You also get a wired 10.1-inch control screen that can be installed at a central location in the vehicle for remote monitoring and circuit-level control — functionality that’s replicated in the Bluetti app. The RVSolar System will be available globally on September 30th. Pricing information wasn’t available at the time of publication, but I’d expect it to be on par with Victron components, especially if it’s using third-party batteries. View Source Article

The Pokémon series has had staying power ever since its debut in the 1990s, but it has felt especially popular in recent years, thanks to Pokémon GO and the resurgence of the trading card game. Given that more Pokémon fans are experiencing new ways to play, it’s the right time for developer Game Freak to refresh the video game series. The upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A looks to do just that with a more action-oriented focus on a Pokémon trainer's journey. At a special Nintendo showcase during PAX West 2025 in Seattle, I spent some limited time with Pokémon Legends: Z-A and its revamped combat system that ditches turn-based combat for real-time action. So far, this new entry in the long-running series is showing promise for a follow-up that could shake up the pokémon meta in the right direction. Set in the Paris-inspired Lumiose City, Pokémon Legends: Z-A focuses on a new trainer coming into their own as they improve their skills and expand their roster of pokémon. However, Lumoise City has a darker mystery brewing after an unknown force is causing several pokémon to enter a frenzied state that triggers their Mega Evolution mysteriously. As the protagonist rises in the ranks, they'll soon come to find out what's behind the rise of rogue pokémon. Speaking as a lapsed Pokémon fan who occasionally revisits the series for its more interesting entries, I've found that Pokémon games tend to be very familiar, stopping a few steps shy of reaching a broader scope that many players have imagined Pokémon games to be since watching the animated shows. Recent Pokémon games like Legends: Arceus and Scarlet/Violet have moved the series forward in the right ways, and Legends: Z-A is continuing that trend by focusing more on the moment-to-moment actions of being a trainer. Real-time combat is a significant game changer in Legends: Z-A, and it's a shift that many returning players will need to adjust to. Arceus set the foundations of a more open-ended style of player activity, but it still reverted to the turn-based tactical approach when the combat kicked in. Legends: Z-A moves away from that. The demo started with a nighttime training session, in which I had to engage in several pokémon fights with trainers in a designated battle zone in the back alleys of the city. This led me to round corners and find trainers waiting for a fight, employing either a direct approach or more sneaky methods. During my demo, I was given the team of Chikorita, Weedle, Mareep, and the flying pokémon Fletchling. When you engage in a fight, your trainer stays locked onto their enemy pokémon, with your chosen fighter right at your side. During these fights, you move around in real-time and have active skills that are on cooldowns. This sounds pretty standard for games, but for a Pokémon game, it's quite the adjustment, one that I really liked after a few matches. What's interesting about Pokémon Legends: Z-A is that it's turned Pokémon into an action RPG, somewhat akin to a smaller-scale Xenoblade Chronicles. In addition to having to engage the right skills at the right time, I also had to dodge enemy attacks to keep my pokémon from taking heavy damage. This action-focused approach gives you far more options in how you want to engage enemies, and there are even opportunities to sneak up on unsuspecting trainers to engage in a sneak attack to start the fight off well. It seems odd at first, but it's honestly quite amusing to see trainers get walloped by a pokémon's attacks. Nintendo The next phase of the demo focused on another of Pokémon Legends: Z-A's other innovations – boss fights with rogue pokémon. As you start to track them down, you'll eventually face off against them in battle, and they'll even activate their Mega Evolved forms. The boss fight I encountered with Rogue Mega Absol felt right out of other role-playing games, like Final Fantasy or Nier: Automata, and Legends: Z-A presents them as showstopping encounters where you have to subdue these powerful enemies in a special battle zone. The battle was made especially exciting was the addition of the pokémon Lucario joining the fight.I could also activate their own Mega Evolution for a temporary buff – like Final Fantasy's limit breaks, but for pokémon. Pokémon Legends: Z-A, much like its predecessor Arceus, takes a new approach to a traditional Pokémon adventure, focusing on interactive exploration and engagement with the world. I liked how it felt like a stylized JRPG, with the addition of quirky side characters and an epic boss fight to clear. It's very strange to play a Pokémon RPG without turn-based combat, but I found its most laid-back approach to be fair and engaging. There has often been a desire among Pokémon fans that the series needs a shake-up to reach greater heights, but it has been clear that this is an ongoing process and won't happen all at once. Pokémon Legends: Z-A does hang onto the familiar premise of a trainer's journey in the Pokémon world, but a more action-oriented approach to commanding your Pokémon does show some solid promise, and could very well be a strong step forward for the series. And as a lapsed Pokémon fan, it's definitely one I'll be keeping an eye on. Pokémon Legends: Z-A will be released on October 16, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-legends-z-a-hands-on-135651443.html?src=rss View Source Article

This quiz is a deep dive into the physics, history, and mysteries of our nearest star. View Source Article

When I was 16 years old, I wrote my first fanfiction. It was a crossover fic where the cast from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy gave the anime dog demon Inuyasha a makeover. It was stupid and poorly written, and yet, to this very day, I remember it fondly. This is exactly what it's like playing Super Robot Wars Y - an exceedingly silly, nonsensical plot featuring characters that have no business speaking to each other all, stitched together by tactical robot action. It rules. Super Robot Wars Y was released on Nintendo Switch 2 and Steam on August 29th. For this blog, I played the demo that covers the game's first chapter with progress carr … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

On Episode 176 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Alan Stern to talk about what is next in deep space exploration. View Source Article

We talked to Starfield's Lead Creative Producer, Tim Lamb, about designing Starfield's blend of complex ship control and thrilling arcade dogfights. View Source Article

A screenshot from Panic’s Herdling game. | Image: Panic / Okomotive Herdling is a slow game about herding fuzzy animals through a vibrant natural world. That may not sound particularly exciting, but I found it to be a perfect game to unwind with after a stressful day. In Herdling, you play as a kid who makes friends with and shepherds large fluffy creatures called Calicorns, which kind of look like a mix of a sheep and a woolly mammoth. The Calicorns are adorable, with cute snorts and head shakes that make them feel like real animals. You'll even get opportunities to play fetch, and yes, you can pet the Calicorns. You can also name your furry friends, and the game even suggests ideas, which is why my flock … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Pencils down. Asking the Pixel 10 to be more than what it is feels greedy. Google's non-Pro Pixel is priced fairly at $799, which is significantly less than the $999 Pixel 10 Pro. It comes with some handy upgrades, like Qi2 charging with built-in magnets. Its AI features finally show promise. It includes a dedicated telephoto lens for the first time. It's a proper flagship and an all-around easygoing Android phone. But if I'm being greedy, then I do have one request: better cameras. The rear cameras on the Pixel 10 are totally fine. For someone who's not picky about image quality, they'd be better than fine. And maybe I'd think they were fine, too, if I … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

The Sept. 7-8 total lunar eclipse will be visible to over 7 billion people in Asia, Australia, Africa and eastern Europe. View Source Article

If you wanted a sense of the current relationship between the tech right and the populists, you had to be sitting in Breakout Room C on the first day of NatCon 5, the annual gathering of the MAGA right's powerhouses. At the end of the afternoon panel on the culture wars ("The Need for Heroism"), Geoffrey Miller was handed the mic and started berating one of the panelists: Shyam Sankar, the chief technology officer of Palantir, who is in charge of the company's AI efforts. "I argue that the AI industry shares virtually no ideological overlap with national conservatism," Miller said, referring to the conference's core ideology. Hours ago, Mil … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Welcome to our latest recap of what's going on in the indie game space. Folks, it's here. You know it's here. So, we'll touch on it, but briefly. Some developers and publishers opted not to delay their games out of this week (others have done that to get some breathing space from you-know-what), so there are several other newcomers to highlight. Before we get there, there's a sale worth mentioning on a PC storefront that does not offer Hollow Knight: Silksong. The Epic Games Store's End of Summer Sale is running until September 18 and there are some pretty solid deals. Cyberpunk 2077 is 65 percent off for the base game and 50 percent off for the ultimate edition, which includes the Phantom Liberty DLC (which is also 30 percent off for those who have the base game already). Other discounts of note include Red Dead Redemption 2 (75 percent off), Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced (50 percent off), Assassin’s Creed Shadows (33 percent off), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition (80 percent) and Alan Wake 2 (70 percent off). A bunch of PlayStation games are on sale too, including Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (20 percent), The Last of Us Part 1 (50 percent), Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut (33 percent), God of War (60 percent off) and God of War Ragnarok (20 percent). You'll get 20 percent back in Epic Rewards on your purchases too. The Epic Games Store offers totally free games every week (no need to have a subscription for those!), and the freebies tend to be for well-known games whenever there's a major sale on the store. Right now, you can pick up an all-timer in Monument Valley for exactly zero dollars. You have until 11AM ET on September 11 to claim the classic puzzle game. When that game cycles out, Epic Games will rotate three more titles into its lineup: Monument Valley 2, Ghostrunner 2 (which I enjoy very much but am terrible at) and a strategy game called The Battle of Polytopia. Again, you'll have a week to claim those. Meanwhile, if you have an Amazon Prime subscription, there's usually a solid selection in the Prime Gaming library. Games you claim here are yours to keep forever, even if you don't maintain your Prime membership. Amazon offered up a particularly tasty one this week in the shape of Into The Breach, a hugely acclaimed strategy game, but there are plenty of others to check out. And speaking of games you can play right now... New releases Yes, Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally here. It's out on consoles and PC for $20 and it's included with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. It's broken storefronts and probably some controllers that players have hurled at the wall after dying to a tough boss.  After a seven-year wait, Silksong is by some distance the highest-profile indie game to arrive in 2025 so far. Perhaps if we start mentioning another long-awaited game — say, Kingdom Hearts 4? Beyond Good and Evil 2? — it may arrive sooner rather than later. Or in, like, another five years. I made a few attempts to play Hollow Knight, but bounced off quickly each time. I'll be sure to give Silksong a proper go, though.  It might be the case that Silksong isn't quite your thing. Never fear, there's lots of other new stuff from this week for you to dive into. If a game pops up that reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (aka the best game of all time) in terms of looks, I'm duty bound to mention it. Fortunately, Rogue Labyrinth seems like it could be fun to play too. This action-narrative roguelite from Tea Witch Games and publisher indie.io hit Steam this week. It usually costs $15, but it's 20 percent off with a limited-time launch discount. Another thing that's very much in Rogue Labyrinth's favor is that your weapon is a smacking stick, which you can use to turn objects (including vanquished enemies) into projectiles. The combat is a blend of bullet-hell dodging and hack-and-slash action. Being a roguelike, there's randomization when it comes to things like the arenas, enemies and powers you'll encounter on each run. The game is also said to feature dynamic narrative systems and you'll forge alliances with other characters as you try to survive a lethal reality show. Although so many other indie games scrambled to get out of the way of Silksong, Hirogami stuck to its September 3 release date. I had to chuckle when a press release with a title of "3D origami platformer Hirogami refuses to fold" hit my inbox last week. An easy pun, but I appreciated it. Anyway, this is indeed a 3D platformer with an origami focus. You can flatten out your character into a sheet of paper so that a gust of wind can send you soaring to an elevated platform. You can transform into an armadillo to roll through enemies, an ape to explore treetops and a frog to jump higher. That seems like a real bananza of animal transformation options. Hirogami is available now on Steam, Epic Games Store and PS5. Fling to the Finish has been out on PC for some time, and now this co-op platform racing game from SplitSide Games and publisher Daedalic Entertainment has swung over to consoles. You and a friend are tethered by an elastic rope that will inevitably snag on parts of the environment. But you can actually use this to your advantage to swing your teammate onto a ledge or send you both hurling through the air. The obstacle-filled courses bring to mind Fall Guys, while the items that players can deploy to slow down race leaders remind me a bit of the Mario Kart games. Fling to the Finish does support solo play, as well as local and online multiplayer, where communication will be key (cross-play is available too). As was the case with Overcooked, you and your pal can play the game by sharing a single controller, which may make it easier to play the game in splitscreen if you're with a bunch of friends. Jetrunner is an action platformer in the vein of Ghostrunner and Neon White from Riddlebit Software and publisher Curveball Games. The folks behind it say it has "a gameplay loop that can be best described as Trackmania meets Titanfall." So, there are lots of comparisons to make here. Ultimately, you'll be parkouring your way through various courses while shooting targets, hooking onto grapple points and looking for shortcuts. Finding the optimal route — and, of course, actually completing it with as few errors as possible — is the path to climbing the global leaderboards. You can race against ghost replays of your previous runs for a clear visual comparison. In addition, there's a story mode that sees your character Nina (voiced by Sara Secora) trying to become a legendary jetrunner, with commentator Mick Acaster (Matthew Mercer) charting her progress. I'm digging the visuals here too. Jetrunner is out now on Steam and the Epic Games Store for $20 (there's a 10 percent launch discount on Steam). There's a speedrun contest that's taking place until September 11 with a $2,000 prize pool. You can snag a share if you can complete all of the campaign levels in a row quickly enough in the marathon mode and stick to the rules. It also seems that the exodus of other games this week due to Silksong helped Jetrunner gain extra visibility on Steam. Upcoming A rhythm RPG in which you can use your own music and manually adjust the BPM is interesting enough. But add giant, repurposed mechs to the mix, and now we're really cookin'. In Steel Century Groove, you'll compete in robot dance battles as you try to claim a championship. These mechanical beasts were used in warfare long, long ago. Now they're just literal groove machines. Steel Century Groove, which is from Sloth Gloss Games, is coming to Steam on January 28. A demo is available now, and your progress will carry over to the full game. When I was assembling the list of games to include in this week's roundup, I left myself a single, two-word note about The Legend of Baboo: "big floof." The floof in question is the large, titular dog that accompanies human hero Sepehr in this third-person action adventure from Permanent Way and publisher Midwest Games. You'll play as both characters as you take on enemies, solve puzzles and navigate treacherous lands. When you conquer bosses, you'll learn powerful magical attacks. Most importantly, you can zhush up Baboo with outfits and ornaments that you discover on your journey. He's the best boy and he deserves to look and feel good. It's also crucial to note that, as Sepehr, you can pet, ride and high-five Baboo. A release date (or even a release window) has yet to be announced for The Legend of Baboo. It's coming to Steam, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Dreams of Another looks quite unlike any game I've seen before. It uses point cloud rendering tech for its remarkably pretty visuals. This fantasy exploration game from Q-Games (under the leadership of Baiyon, the director of PixelJunk Eden) is set in a dream-like world where you create the world by shooting at it. Dreams of Another is coming to PS5, PS VR2 and Steam on October 9, and it might just prompt me to set up my VR headset again. A demo dropped this week on Steam, but it's only available until September 16. Tombwater looks kinda rad. It's a 2D pixel-art Soulslike Western from Moth Atlas and publisher Midwest Games. The developers took (another?) leaf out of FromSoftware's playbook by pitting you against creepy eldritch horrors. This one is coming to Steam on November 12. I always appreciate when a labor of love comes to fruition. Former Uber, MapQuest and Microsoft engineer John Lansing said that, nine years ago, "I built a Final Fantasy Tactics inspired football prototype, and 691 commits later I am proud to present the Fantasy Football Tactics Demo!" This is a turn-based RPG in which the aim is to outscore your opponents rather than taking them out in combat. The demo hit Steam this week. There's no release date as yet for the full game.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/silksong-smacking-sticks-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110020156.html?src=rss View Source Article

Genetic-sequencing techniques have identified microorganisms that lived in the mouths of ancient mammoths View Source Article

“We buy homes” companies are procuring disaster-damaged properties for cheap. Survivors say they’re taking advantage of tragedy. View Source Article

The nebula body of the cosmic shark is located 650 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus. View Source Article

The Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai is the first robot vacuum mop from the company and the first to use a multifunctional dock. The Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai Robot is the company's first combination robot vacuum and mop. It debuted at Dyson's Berlin store during the IFA tech show this week and is a follow-up to the company's 360 VisNav robot vacuum, which launched in 2023. Featuring a new round design, a self-cleaning roller mop, lidar navigation, and Dyson's first multifunctional dock, the Spot+Scrub also comes with an "AI" moniker because it's 2025 and doesn't everything? I spent some hands-on time with Dyson's newest robot floor cleaner and came away underwhelmed. Dyson's traditional vacuums set high expectations, but its robot versions have yet to meet them. I didn't … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

OpenAI Inc. told investors it projects its spending through 2029 may rise to $115 billion, about $80 billion more than previously expected, The Information reported, without providing details on how and when shareholders were informed. View Source Article

Eddy Cue deserves a raise. As the executive overseeing Apple's services division, he's highly incentivized to protect the tens of billions of dollars a year that Google pays to be the default search engine in Safari. "I've lost a lot of sleep thinking about it," he said from the witness stand during Google's antitrust trial earlier this year. Luckily for Cue, his court testimony appears to have had a significant impact on Judge Amit Mehta, who ruled this week that Google's default payments to Apple and others can continue. You can see Cue's arguments at trial mirrored in Mehta's ruling: the Apple SVP said it would be "crazy" to punish th … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

When Meta Platforms Inc. turned to lenders to secure $26 billion in debt funding for construction of a sprawling new data center, one key detail made all the difference in fueling a heated bidding war for the deal: the technology giant agreed to a special guarantee on the Louisiana complex. View Source Article

Beijing's recent military parade unveiled new hypersonic and intercontinental missiles alongside stealth drones, highlighting China's expanding strike and defense capabilities View Source Article

Robinhood Markets Inc. has been added to the S&P 500, marking a new phase for the retail trading platform that helped define the pandemic-era boom in individual investing. The company will join the benchmark in the latest quarterly rebalance, S&P Dow Jones Indices said Friday. View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow discuss the unprecedented $1 trillion pay package that Elon Musk could receive from Tesla. Plus, Tesla shareholders are also set to vote on whether the electric vehicle makers should buy more shares in Musk’s AI startup, xAI. And Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon discusses the company’s new automated driver assistance platform rolling out in new BMW iX3 cars. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Mark Zuckerberg has certainly come a long way in his relationship with President Donald Trump. Almost exactly a year after the president threatened the Meta CEO with imprisonment, the two sat side-by-side at a White House dinner, alongside numerous other tech CEOs.The nearly three dozen CEOs and execs in attendance took turns praising and thanking Trump. But Zuckerberg's comments were especially notable. In one moment that was widely shared on social media, Trump turns to Zuckerberg and asks "how much are you spending, would say, over the next few years?" Zuckerberg responded that it was "probably going to be something like, I don't know, at least $600 billion through [20]28 in the US." Trump seemed to approve. "That's a lot, thank you Mark, it's great to have you."  But it was a hot mic moment captured later between the two that was especially telling. Zuckerberg, turning to Trump, apologizes and says "sorry, I wasn't ready …I wasn't sure what number you wanted to go with." You can watch the whole moment play out in the clip below:Zuckerberg saying Meta intends to spend at least 600 billion in the US Zuckerberg at the end caught on a hot mic pic.twitter.com/PZhG4slWa9— Acyn (@Acyn) September 5, 2025 While Zuckerberg has spent the last year trying to curry favor with Trump, their interactions show just how much those efforts have been paying off. A year ago, the then-former president was threatening the Facebook founder with jail time. Now, after donating $1 million to his inauguration, changing Meta's policies and renouncing DEI, adding a pro-Trump booster to his board, paying $25 million to settle a four-year-old lawsuit  and several private meetings, the two seem to have patched things up. Not only is Zuckerberg promising to spend massive amounts on money in the US on AI infrastructure, he's seemingly confirming that Trump approves of the specific number. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/zuckerberg-caught-on-hot-mic-telling-trump-i-wasnt-sure-how-much-to-promise-to-spend-on-ai-in-the-us-211915608.html?src=rss View Source Article

JetBlue will start using Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband satellites for in-flight Wi-Fi in 2027. It's a big win for Jeff Bezos' company and its nascent internet constellation. View Source Article

The satellite will turn deep red as the Earth passes between the sun and the moon at about 7.30pm on SundayA rare total lunar eclipse “blood moon” will be visible from the UK on Sunday night for the first time since 2022.The moon is expected to turn a surreal deep, dark red as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow across the lunar surface. Continue reading... View Source Article

YouTube is getting “hundreds” of full classic Sesame Street episodes beginning in January 2026. Once the episodes are available, “YouTube will have the largest digital library of Sesame Street content,” Sesame Workshop says. YouTube is already has a wealth of popular content focused toward kids, including big channels like Cocomelon (which is getting a theatrical film in 2027) and Ms. Rachel (who also has a deal with Netflix). The addition of the classic Sesame Street episodes could give parents another educational option if their kids want to watch something on the platform. Speaking of Netflix, new episodes of Sesame Street will debut on the service starting November 10th. Season 56 will have “fresh format changes” including a focus on “one 11-minute story” per episode, Netflix says. The new episodes will also be available “same day-and-date in the US on PBS stations and PBS KIDS digital platforms.” Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery chose not to renew its deal with Sesame Workshop to air new Sesame Street episodes on the streaming service now known (once again) as HBO Max. View Source Article

Meta is finally fixing how threads work on its social network Threads. Prior to this, there was no real way to know how long a thread was or even if a post was part of a longer discussion. The company has made "several changes that display threaded posts more clearly." These include a new "view more" label that indicates a post is part of a longer thread. This is an easy way to instantly know if someone's thoughts continue past an initial post. Meta There's also a new design element that automatically stacks posts back-to-back when clicking into a series. Each of these posts now displays a number that shows its place in the thread, along with the total number of posts in a given thread. That sounds much easier than manually adding something like "part one of 12" to each post. These tools are rolling out soon for both mobile and web users. The platform recently reached the significant milestone of 400 million active monthly users. Meta has been busy adding new features to accommodate the growing audience, like the ability to attach lengthy text documents of up to 10,000 characters.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-fixing-threads-on-threads-190123221.html?src=rss View Source Article

A view inside the sandbox portion of the Crew Health and Performance Analog, where research volunteers participate in simulated walks on the surface of Mars. Credit: NASA Four research volunteers will soon participate in NASA’s year-long simulation of a Mars mission inside a habitat at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This mission will provide NASA with foundational data to inform human exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, Matthew Montgomery, and James Spicer enter into the 1,700-square-foot Mars Dune Alpha habitat on Sunday, Oct. 19, to begin their mission. The team will live and work like astronauts for 378 days, concluding their mission on Oct. 31, 2026. Emily Phillips and Laura Marie serve as the mission’s alternate crew members. Through a series of Earth-based missions called CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog), carried out in the 3D-printed habitat, NASA aims to evaluate certain human health and performance factors ahead of future Mars missions. The crew will undergo realistic resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, isolation and confinement, and other stressors, along with simulated high-tempo extravehicular activities. These scenarios allow NASA to make informed trades between risks and interventions for long-duration exploration missions. “As NASA gears up for crewed Artemis missions, CHAPEA and other ground analogs are helping to determine which capabilities could best support future crews in overcoming the human health and performance challenges of living and operating beyond Earth’s resources – all before we send humans to Mars,” said Sara Whiting, project scientist with NASA’s Human Research Program at NASA Johnson.   Crew members will carry out scientific research and operational tasks, including simulated Mars walks, growing a vegetable garden, robotic operations, and more. Technologies specifically designed for Mars and deep space exploration will also be tested, including a potable water dispenser and diagnostic medical equipment. “The simulation will allow us to collect cognitive and physical performance data to give us more insight into the potential impacts of the resource restrictions and long-duration missions to Mars on crew health and performance,” said Grace Douglas, CHAPEA principal investigator. “Ultimately, this information will help NASA make informed decisions to design and plan for a successful human mission to Mars.” This mission, facilitated by NASA’s Human Research Program, is the second one-year Mars surface simulation conducted through CHAPEA. The first mission concluded on July 6, 2024. The Human Research Program pursues methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through applied research conducted in laboratories, simulations, and aboard the International Space Station, the program investigates the effects spaceflight has on human bodies and behaviors to keep astronauts healthy and mission-ready. Primary Crew Ross Elder, Commander Ross Elder, from Williamstown, West Virginia, is a major and experimental test pilot in the United States Air Force. At the time of his selection, he served as the director of operations of the 461st Flight Test Squadron. He has piloted over 35 military aircraft and accumulated more than 1,800 flying hours, including 200 combat hours, primarily in the F-35, F-15E/EX, F-16, and A-10C. His flight test experience focuses on envelope expansion, crewed-uncrewed teaming, artificial intelligence, autonomy, mission systems, and weapons modernization. Elder earned a Bachelor of Science in astronautical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and commissioned as an Air Force officer upon graduation. He earned a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs and a master’s degree in flight test engineering from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Ellen Ellis, Medical Officer Ellen Ellis, from North Kingstown, Rhode Island, is a colonel and an acquisitions officer in the United States Space Force. She currently serves as a senior materiel leader in the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Communications Systems Directorate. She is responsible for fielding commercial cloud and traditional information technology hosting solutions and building modernized data centers for the NRO. She previously served as an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile operations officer and GPS satellite engineer, and she also developed geospatial intelligence payloads and ground processing systems.   She earned a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering at Syracuse University in New York and holds four master’s degrees, including a Master of Science in systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in California, and a Master of Science in emergency and disaster management from Georgetown University in Washington. Matthew Montgomery, Science Officer Matthew Montgomery, from Los Angeles, is a hardware engineering design consultant who works with technology startup companies to develop, commercialize, and scale their products. His focus areas include LED lighting, robotics, controlled environment agriculture, and embedded control systems. Montgomery earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida. He is also a founder and co-owner of Floating Lava Studios, a film production company based in Los Angeles. James Spicer, Flight Engineer James Spicer is a technical director in the aerospace and defense industry. His experience includes building radio and optical satellite communications networks; space data relay networks for human spaceflight; position, navigation, and timing research; and hands-on spacecraft design, integration, and tests. Spicer earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in aeronautics and astronautics, and holds a Notation in Science Communication from Stanford University in California. He also holds commercial pilot and glider pilot licenses. Alternate Crew Emily Phillips Emily Phillips, from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, is a captain and pilot in the United States Marine Corps. She currently serves as a forward air controller and air officer attached to an infantry battalion stationed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California. Phillips earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and commissioned as a Marine Corps officer upon graduation. She attended flight school, earning her Naval Aviator wings and qualifying as an F/A-18C Hornet pilot. Phillips has completed multiple deployments to Europe and Southeast Asia. Laura Marie Born in the United Kingdom, Laura Marie immigrated to the U.S. in 2016. She is a commercial airline pilot specializing in flight safety, currently operating passenger flights in Washington. Marie began her aviation career in 2019 and has amassed over 2,800 flight hours. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a Master of Science in aeronautics from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. In addition to her Airline Transport Pilot License, she also possesses flight instructor and advanced ground instructor licenses. Outside the flight deck, Marie dedicates her time to mentoring and supporting aspiring pilots as they navigate their careers. Explore More 4 min read NASA Glenn Tests Mini-X-Ray Technology to Advance Space Health Care   Article 1 day ago 4 min read NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 to Support Health Studies for Deep Space Travel Article 2 months ago 2 min read What Are the Dangers of Going to Space? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 55 Article 5 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Living in Space Artemis Human Research Program CHAPEA View Source Article

The seven members of the Expedition 73 crew worked on science and kept systems running on International Space Station this week in Earth orbit. View Source Article

A judge’s decision not to break up Google’s business may complicate a push by AI startups to compete in search. But first… View Source Article

Unity is updating its game engine to support native screen readers in both macOS and Windows. The feature is available now in the Unity 6000.3.0a5 alpha, and should make the process of making games accessible for blind players cheaper for developers, Can I Play That? writes. Screen readers narrate on-screen menus so blind and low-vision players can navigate a game or a piece of software without additional assistance. Typically, screen reading software is custom-built for each game, which can make them resource-intensive for developers to implement. "Building something like that from scratch has to be decided upon early in development so you have the time/resources allocated to make it properly," Steve Saylor, an accessibility consultant and creator, shared on Bluesky. "Having it in-engine can mean the heavy lifting is done for you, and the cost of time/resources now is significantly lower." Unity previously offered APIs for both Android and iOS' built-in screen readers in its Unity 6.0 release, but hadn't yet added support for Windows Narrator or macOS VoiceOver. With this new alpha and its eventual release as Unity 6.3, developers creating games with Unity will have access to a native screen reader in all of the engine's major platforms. Considering how popular Unity is as a game engine, that could vastly improve the accessibility of future games.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/unity-developers-can-now-tap-into-system-screen-reader-tools-on-macos-and-windows-200348860.html?src=rss View Source Article

3 Min Read NASA Seeks Industry Input on Next Phase of Commercial Space Stations The aurora australis appears over the Earth in this photograph taken from the International Space Station as it orbited 269 miles above the Indian Ocean southwest of Australia. Credits: NASA NASA is requesting feedback from American companies on the next phase of its commercial space stations strategy to ensure a seamless transition of activities in low Earth orbit from the International Space Station. The agency released a draft Phase 2 Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP) Friday, asking for feedback from industry partners by 1 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 12. NASA will hold an informational industry briefing on Monday, Sept. 8, to provide a top-level summary of the documents and expectations. Under the direction of acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, the agency reassessed the commercial space stations acquisition strategy to ensure mission continuity, affordability, and national alignment, and to reduce the potential for a gap of a crew-capable platform in low Earth orbit. “NASA has led in low Earth orbit for 25 years and counting. Now, as we prepare for deorbiting the International Space Station in 2030, we’re calling on our commercial space partners to maintain this historic human presence,” Duffy said. “The American space industry is booming. Insight from these innovative companies will be invaluable as we work to chart the next phase of commercial space stations.” In Phase 2, NASA intends to support industry’s design and demonstration of commercial stations through multiple funded Space Act Agreements, selected through a full and open competition. “NASA is committed to continuing our partnership with industry to ensure a continuity in low Earth orbit,” said Angela Hart, manager, Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “The work done under our Phase 1 contracts and agreements have put us in a prime position to be successful for this next funded Space Act Agreement phase. By leveraging these agreements, we provide additional flexibility to our commercial partners to define the best path forward to provide NASA a safe and affordable crewed demonstration.” The Phase 2 agreements are expected to include funded milestones leading to critical design review readiness and an in-space crewed demonstration of four crew members for a minimum of 30 days. Agreements are expected to include up to a five-year period of performance. The agency’s phased approach will culminate in a follow-on Phase 3 using Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contract(s) to purchase station services through a full and open competition. This final phase will also provide formal design acceptance and certification, ensuring the commercial stations meet NASA’s safety requirements. NASA remains committed to fostering innovation and collaboration within the American space industry. The agency’s commercial strategy for low Earth orbit will provide the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost, enabling the agency to focus on the next step in humanity’s exploration of the solar system while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as an ideal environment for training and a proving ground for Artemis missions to the Moon and Mars. Learn more about commercial space stations at: https://www.nasa.gov/commercialspacestations Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Low Earth Orbit Economy Commercial Space Stations Commercial Space News Humans In Space View Source Article

The U.S. Space Force's X-37B space plane is carrying a sample of material that could someday help NASA land cargo and people on Mars. View Source Article

In what’s potentially the first major payout to creatives whose work was used to train AI systems, Anthropic has reached an agreement to pay “at least” a staggering $1.5 billion, plus interest, to authors to settle its class-action lawsuit. The amount breaks down to smaller payouts expected to be approximately $3,000 per book or work. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said it’s “believed to be the largest publicly reported recovery in the history of US copyright litigation.” “This result is nothing short of remarkable,” the legal filing states. The settlement is subject to court approval, and a hearing will take place on September 8th. According to a press release, the final amount could be higher, in that approximately 500,000 works will likely be paid out, but if the total is higher than that, Anthropic will pay an additional $3,000 per work, and it all depends on the number of claims submitted. As part of the settlement, Anthropic must also destroy the original files it downloaded and any copies. “The settlement only releases claims based on past acts – it does not give Anthropic a license or permission for future AI training and it does not release any claims that arise after August 25, 2025,” the release stated. The landmark decision is part of a year-long saga. In August 2024, three authors — Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson — alleged that Anthropic had “built a multibillion-dollar business by stealing hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books.” Over the summer, a federal judge handed Anthropic a small win, ruling that the company was within its legal rights to train its AI models on legally purchased books. But the judge also said that Anthropic would need to face a separate trial for its alleged use of pirated books. In July, a California federal judge ruled that the authors could bring a class action lawsuit representing all US writers whose work allegedly came from libraries of pirated books downloaded by Anthropic. And late last month, Anthropic said it had settled the class action lawsuit — but we didn’t know the terms until now. “In June, the District Court issued a landmark ruling on AI development and copyright law, finding that Anthropic’s approach to training AI models constitutes fair use,” Aparna Sridhar, Anthropic’s deputy general counsel, told The Verge in a statement. “Today’s settlement, if approved, will resolve the plaintiffs’ remaining legacy claims. We remain committed to developing safe AI systems that help people and organizations extend their capabilities, advance scientific discovery, and solve complex problems.” The settlement is especially noteworthy during a time of mounting lawsuits against AI companies over copyright infringement from media outlets, platforms, creatives, and companies — and, at the same time, an increasing number of partnerships with those same AI companies from companies and media outlets willing to provide data to train AI systems in order to get a piece of the pie. It’s not the only legal action Anthropic has faced in recent years. This summer, Reddit filed suit against Anthropic, claiming that the AI company’s bots had accessed Reddit more than 100,000 times since July 2024, after Anthropic had said it blocked them from doing so. And in 2023, Universal Music sued Anthropic over “systematic and widespread infringement of their copyrighted song lyrics.” For this case, authors and rightsholders may visit AnthropicCopyrightSettlement.com, the release stated, a website that “which gives potential class members an option to provide contact information to Class Counsel.” “In the coming weeks, and if the court preliminarily approves the settlement, the website will provide to find a full and easily searchable listing of all works covered by the settlement and information for class members about their options and rights regarding the settlement,” the release said. View Link View Source Article

Un enfoque tradicional centrado en la diversión y la resistencia a las tendencias tecnológicas han dado lugar a un creador de videojuegos diferente a cualquier otro. View Source Article

Anthropic will pay a record-breaking $1.5 billion to settle a class action lawsuit lawsuit brought by authors and publishers. The settlement is the largest-ever payout for a copyright case in the United States. The AI company behind the Claude chatbot reached a settlement in the case last week, but terms of the agreement weren't disclosed at the time. Now, The New York Times reports that the 500,000 authors involved in the case will get $3,000 per work. The case has been closely watched as top AI companies are increasingly facing legal scrutiny over their use of copyrighted materials. In June, the judge in the case ruled that Anthropic's use of copyrighted material for training its large language model was fair use, in a significant victory for Anthropic. He did, however, rule that the authors and publishers could pursue piracy claims against the company since the material was downloaded illegally from sites like Library Genesis (also known as "LibGen"). “In June, the District Court issued a landmark ruling on AI development and copyright law, finding that Anthropic's approach to training AI models constitutes fair use," Anthropic's Deputy General Counsel Aparna Sridhar said in a statement. "Today's settlement, if approved, will resolve the plaintiffs' remaining legacy claims. We remain committed to developing safe AI systems that help people and organizations extend their capabilities, advance scientific discovery, and solve complex problems.” Developing...This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-will-pay-a-record-breaking-15-billion-to-settle-copyright-lawsuit-with-authors-192800292.html?src=rss View Source Article

Anthropic PBC will pay $1.5 billion to resolve an authors’ copyright lawsuit over the AI company’s downloading of millions of pirated books, one of the largest settlements over artificial intelligence and intellectual property to date. View Source Article

With Hollywood video game adaptations surging, it was only a matter of time before Life is Strange got the treatment. After all, even platformer and sandbox game adaptations have (shockingly) found success in this new era. A well-written adventure game seems like a much shorter leap. Amazon announced on Friday that Prime Video has ordered a series based on the 2015 game. Like Don't Nod's classic, the series will blend angsty teenage realism with supernatural elements and moral choices. And Amazon's teaser synopsis points to a familiar storyline. "The story follows Max, a photography student, who discovers she can rewind time while saving the life of her childhood best friend, Chloe," the announcement reads. "As she struggles to understand this new skill, the pair investigate the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student, uncovering a dark side to their town that will ultimately force them to make an impossible life-or-death choice that will impact them forever." British writer and actor Charlie Covell (End of the F***ing World, KAOS) will chart the series' creative course. They'll serve as creator, executive producer and showrunner. Story Kitchen's Dmitri M. Johnson, Mike Goldberg and Timothy I. Stevenson will executive produce the show. Square Enix and LuckyChap are all part of the project, too. Amazon MGM Studios will produce it. Series showrunner Charlie CovellCharlie Covell / Amazon Covell wants the series to appeal to both newcomers and fans of the games. "It's a huge honor to be adapting Life Is Strange for Amazon MGM Studios," they said in Amazon's press release. "I am a massive fan of the game, and I'm thrilled to be working with the incredible teams at Square Enix, Story Kitchen and LuckyChap. I can't wait to share Max and Chloe's story with fellow players and new audiences alike." Amazon has been an eager participant in this new "Video Game Adaptations That Don't Suck" era. Earlier this week, it announced that Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner will step into Lara Croft's boots for its upcoming Tomb Raider series. Season two of Prime Video's acclaimed Fallout arrives later this year. Its first trailer teases the show's first appearance of the game's dreaded Deathclaws. Meanwhile, back in the gaming world, Square Enix is still churning out Life is Strange titles. In 2024, Max returned in Double Exposure, the first direct sequel to the original game's story. Don't Nod spun out its own spiritual sequel to the series, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, earlier this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/amazon-greenlights-a-life-is-strange-series-adaptation-192145483.html?src=rss View Source Article

About 150 million years ago storm winds snapped bones in the wings of baby pterosaurs, sending them tumbling to their deaths in a muddy lagoon in what is now Germany View Source Article

Make way for the shock and awe of this 'technological terror' coming to your galaxy next month. View Source Article

Showrunner — the startup that wants to “revolutionize” the entertainment industry by charging people to prompt up AI-generated videos featuring copyrighted IP — is working on a new project to restore an Orson Welles classic. On Friday, Showrunner announced that it has designed a new generative AI model that is meant to help recreate lost footage from The Magnificent Ambersons, Welles’ 1942 adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s 1918 novel about a family whose vast fortune is being decimated by tech-driven industrialization. Though Welles initially crafted a version of the film whose runtime clocked in at 131 minutes, RKO — one of the project’s production companies — cut it down to 88 minutes without the director’s input after he lost control of the editing process.  The studio’s cut went on to be nominated for four Oscars and is broadly considered to be one of Welles’ best works. Welles, whom RKO accused of being difficult to work with, disowned the studio’s version of the film. He reportedly later said that “they destroyed Ambersons and it destroyed me.” But Showrunner believes that, by using generative AI, it can bring back the lost footage and give people a chance to see The Magnificent Ambersons as Welles originally intended. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter about the new project, Showrunner co-founder Edward Saatchi admitted that while generative AI as it currently exists “can’t sustain a story beyond one short episode,” he is confident that “the technology is getting closer to prompting entire films with AI.” While Welles wrote detailed notes about how he wanted The Magnificent Amersons to be cut, RKO did not follow them and the studio ultimately destroyed the negatives correlating to the film’s lost footage for storage reasons. Showrunner intends to work around those hurdles with a mix of AI-generated approximations of what Welles might have shot and sequences featuring live actors whose faces are manipulated with gen AI to look like members of the original film’s cast. According to IndieWire, Showrunner’s FILM-1 model will be used to generate keyframes for the missing footage, and set photos will be used to create the “spatial setting.”  To help realize the project, Showrunner has brought on Tom Clive, an AI VFX artist who specializes in face-swapping and previously worked on Alien: Romulus and Here while at Metaphysic Showrunner is also working with filmmaker Brian Rose, who previously attempted his own Ambersons restoration with hand drawn animation based on the 1942 film’s shooting script and archival photographs from the original production. Speaking to NPR in 2023, Rose said that populating his recreated scenes with characters was one of the endeavor’s more challenging aspects. Rose also noted that, because Warner Bros. Discovery holds the intellectual property rights to Welles’ The Magnificent Amberson‘s, there was some uncertainty about whether he could legally release the project, and “the thought was to beg forgiveness later.” Showrunner is no stranger to going the “just do it and worry about the consequences later” route. The startup previously made headlines for releasing unauthorized episodes of South Park that were created with its in-house generative AI models. The company seems to be trying to get ahead of any legal trouble by choosing not to monetize its Ambersons project.  Saatchi told THR that the goal here isn’t to make money off of the lost minutes of footage, but rather to “see them exist in the world after 80 years of people asking ‘might this have been the best film ever made in its original form.'” He also said that Showrunner will gladly give its creation to the IP holders if they “see a marketplace for it and a path for it outside of an academic context.” This is exactly the sort of thing you’d expect to hear from an AI-focused founder on a mission to legitimize their business and secure deals with bigger players in the entertainment game. View Source Article

The European Commission has announced that it will fine Google €2.95 billion, or around $3.5 billion, for violating European Union antitrust laws and "distorting competition in the advertising technology industry." The decision follows a similar ruling from earlier in 2025, where a US federal judge concluded that Google maintains a monopoly in online advertising technology. Google displays ads in search results, but it also has a dominant position as a software provider for online advertisers and publishers looking to sell ad space and place ads. The Commission's main issue is with the way Google's ad buying tools (Google Ads and DV 360) interact with its ad exchange software (AdX) and ad publisher servers (DFP) in seemingly preferential ways. Google appears to favor its AdX ad exchange by "informing AdX in advance of the value of the best bid from competitors which it had to beat to win the auction," according to the Commission. It also found that "Google Ads was avoiding competing ad exchanges and mainly placing bids on AdX," maintaining the dominance of Google's ad exchange even if an alternative is a better option for advertisers. The Commission is giving Google 60 days to share how it plans to address those issues or face an "appropriate remedy" for violating antitrust law. That could just be the fine, but might also include a forced sale of some or all of Google's adtech business. Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, shared that the company will appeal the decision in the following statement provided to Engadget:  "The European Commission's decision about our ad tech services is wrong and we will appeal. It imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money. There’s nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before." $3.5 billion is a staggering amount of money, but it's not technically the most Google's been charged for violating EU laws. In 2018, the company was fined $5.04 billion for forcing mobile network operators to pre-install Google apps on phones. Though Google has been under an increasing amount of scrutiny in the last decade for its business practices, it so far hasn't faced many structural remedies for what has been called anticompetitive behavior. For example, a US court found Google was a monopolist in online search in 2024, but a judge recently ruled that the company wouldn't have to sell off Chrome or stop paying Apple to make Google the iPhone's default search engine. EU regulators have historically been more persistent than their US counterparts, and the European Commission is reportedly investigating Google for at least one other advertising-related issue, but it remains to be seen if there's any punishment that will actually faze the company.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/eu-fines-google-35-billion-over-adtech-antitrust-violations-183701640.html?src=rss View Source Article

Several of the most powerful business leaders in the country gathered around a table last night to fawn over President Donald Trump for his AI policies. “You and your policies are really helping a lot,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the president. AMD CEO Lisa Su praised “the amount of acceleration that we’ve seen just in the few short months that the administration has been in place.” Oracle CEO Safra Catz struck a note of adoration at “the fact that you are our president” and that Trump quickly recognized the importance of AI. “You’ve unleashed American innovation and creativity — all the work you’re doing in basically every cabinet post in addition to what’s coming out of the White House is making it possible for America to win.”  “Thank you for being such a pro-business and pro-innovation president,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman lauded. “It’s a very refreshing change. We’re very excited to see what you’re doing to make all of our companies and our entire country so successful.” He added that his company would “invest a ton in the United States.” The round of flattery came during the public portion of a dinner Trump hosted at the White House Thursday with CEOs from many of the top tech companies working in AI, which also included those from Apple, Google, and Meta. Trump made a point of asking several of the CEOs how much they’re spending in the US in the next few years, and seemed pleased after they threw out numbers in the hundreds of billions. Earlier on Thursday, First Lady Melania Trump hosted a task force meeting on AI education where many of those companies pledged investments to educate the youth and workforce on how to use the new technology. Each of the CEOs stand to gain — or lose — from Trump and his policies Tech leaders’ presence at the White House has become a relatively commonplace occurrence during this administration. Many of the CEOs who attended Thursday’s dinner also showed up for Trump’s inauguration and donated to his inaugural fund. Zuckerberg had met with Trump in the West Wing shortly before the government’s antitrust trial against his company began. On Thursday, Zuckerberg — whom prior to their recent closeness, Trump has previously threatened to jail — sat right next to the president, who teased Zuckerberg at one point of having the opportunity to launch his own political career with a response to a reporter’s question. Each of the CEOs stand to gain — or lose — from Trump and his policies. Those include everything from tariffs on semiconductors and other products, permits, access to resources like electricity to power energy-intensive AI, and more. Many of them are already engaged in legal battles with the administration over other parts of their businesses. Trump acknowledged Google’s “very good day” Wednesday when a judge denied Trump’s DOJ the most aggressive antitrust remedies it had asked for in its monopoly search case against the company. “Biden was the one that prosecuted that lawsuit,” Trump said, leaving out that his first administration had brought the complaint, and his second administration litigated the remedies trial. “It’s a long process,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said. “Appreciate that your administration had a constructive dialogue and we were able to get it to some resolution.” One or both sides could still appeal the ruling. Apple CEO Tim Cook, whose products are largely assembled in China and who seemed to be the rare business leader in Trump’s first term who managed to walk a fine line of staying on his good side, seemed eager to maintain his good will while seated across the table from Trump Thursday. “It’s incredible to be among everyone here, particularly you and the First Lady,” Cook told Trump. “I’ve always enjoyed having dinner and interacting.” He thanked Trump for “setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States” and added that it “says a lot about your focus and your leadership.” Later, when a reporter asked about Trump’s plans to tariff semiconductors, Trump reiterated his idea that he’d deploy a “fairly substantial tariff” that could be waived if a company was planning to build in the US. “I’d say Tim Cook would be in pretty good shape,” Trump said. View Source Article

The first national study of its kind shows that children from marginalized communities are more exposed to extreme heat events View Source Article

"The results provide a rare, detailed look at how planet-forming chemistry operates in the extreme environments around brown dwarfs, potentially offering clues to the diversity of worlds beyond our solar system." View Source Article

In writer / director Julian Glander's new animated sci-fi feature Boys Go to Jupiter, a young gig worker named Billy 5000 (Planet Money's Jack Corbett) hoverboards his way through life in Florida with only one thing on his mind: he needs $5,000 and is willing to deliver as much food as it takes to make the cash. At first, the delivery guy's semi-magical, "let's get this bread" style of thinking seems to stem from his fixation on a hustlebro streamer's videos. But as Boys go to Jupiter's story unfolds, it becomes clear that all of the movie's characters have odd and somewhat dysfunctional relationships with money. Boys Go to Jupiter bears th … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

European stocks dropped as concerns spurred by a soft US jobs report countered increased bets that the weak figures would prompt Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. View Source Article

Games Done Quick’s all-women and femmes speedrunning event Flame Fatales kicks off on September 7 and goes until September 14. You can watch the marathon on the GDQ Twitch channel starting at 11:30AM ET. This is a week-long event, so the official schedule is packed with cool games. All told, there will be more than 50 speedruns. These will include recent hits like Blue Prince and Hades 2, in addition to classics like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. There's also going to be a one-handed speedrun of the original Hollow Knight, which is great timing considering the sequel just came out. That one-handed speedrun of Hollow Knight isn't the only goofy and unique entry in the mix. The speedrun of Blue Prince will include a bingo board and others will focus on boss rushes. It looks like a good time will be had by all. I'm excited to announce that be raising money the next 2 weeks for the Malala Fund as a Flame Fatales Ambassador! 💕 I'll be doing 2 charity streams over the next 2 weeks! See you there! pic.twitter.com/dvXvu3Hyce— Sakura Tsubasa (@SakuraTsubasa) August 16, 2025 This year's Flame Fatales event is being held in support of Malala Fund, which is a non-profit that helps provide educational resources to girls around the world. This is all part of the Games Done Quick organization, which has helped raise more than $57 million for charity spread across numerous streams throughout the past 15 years. There's also a winter all-women and femmes speedrunning event called Frost Fatales.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/how-to-watch-flame-fatales-2025-speedrunning-event-170515843.html?src=rss View Source Article

Fresh treatments for rare skin diseases shift the focus from symptom management to repair and help children with such conditions live active lives View Source Article

Superman and Lex Luthor continue their historic rivalry in 'Man of Tomorrow', scheduled for July 9, 2027 View Source Article

The doors to IFA 2025 in Berlin, Germany, have officially opened and new gadgets, tech, features, and upgrades continue to pour out of Europe's largest consumer tech show. There's a lot of news to stay on top of, and if you're struggling to ingest it all, here are some of the best announcements from the show so far including innovative new robovacs, more affordable smart home devices, and even a portable home theater on wheels. You can catch up on all of The Verge's IFA 2025 coverage right here. Lenovo ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept Lenovo is no stranger to creating laptops with screens that offer unique functionality, such as the ThinkBook … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

NASA's interim administrator, Sean Duffy, said Thursday he has heard the recent talk about how some people are starting to believe that China will land humans on the Moon before NASA can return there with the Artemis Program. "We had testimony that said NASA will not beat China to the Moon," Duffy remarked during an all-hands meeting with NASA employees. "That was shade thrown on all of NASA. I heard it, and I gotta tell you what, maybe I am competitive, I was angry about it. I can tell you what, I'll be damned if that is the story that we write. We are going to beat the Chinese to the Moon." Duffy's remarks followed a Congressional hearing on Wednesday during which former Congressman Jim Bridenstine, who served as NASA administrator during President Trump's first term, said China had pulled ahead of NASA and the United States in the second space race. View Source Article

Engineers at Square Enix had to laboriously recreate the original game’s code over years of development View Source Article

It's September 2025, and things are looking peachy keen. Sure, the US job market has taken a nosedive. And yeah, only one in four Americans believes they have a good chance of improving their standard of living. But hey, Tesla's board has proposed a pay package that could make Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. What really matters is that someone is having a good time, right? Tesla's board laid out what's by far the biggest CEO compensation package in history on Friday. It reads like the ultimate dangled carrot for a leader who is both driven by wealth and power and also prone to distraction. The compensation plan is based on performance metrics that, at least for now, seem far-fetched. First, the Tesla leader would have to remain at the company for seven and a half years to cash in any shares. To receive the full payout, he'd have to stay for a full decade. Musk also runs a rocket company and an AI company (which also operates the former Twitter, aka X). So, above all else, the proposal is designed to keep his attention on the company that made him the world's richest person. For Musk to receive the full payout of around $900 billion, Musk would have to increase Tesla's market value to $8.5 trillion. It's worth about $1.1 trillion today. Other performance requirements include deploying a million Tesla robotaxis and a million AI robots. Musk would also be incentivized to participate in the company's long-term CEO succession plans. The package also includes structural protections to minimize stock price volatility, which the company has become well-acquainted with in 2025. Tesla recalled virtually all Cybertrucks earlier this year.Tesla "We believe that Elon's singular vision is vital to navigating this critical inflection point," Tesla board leaders Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson wrote in the shareholder letter. "We also recognize the formidable nature of this undertaking and, as a result, the importance of having a leader who is not only willing and capable but eager to meet this challenge. Simply put, retaining and incentivizing Elon is fundamental to Tesla achieving these goals and becoming the most valuable company in history." Denholm and Wilson-Thompson implied the package was at least partly motivated by the CEO threatening to jump ship. "Mr. Musk also raised the possibility that he may pursue other interests that may afford him greater influence if he did not receive such assurances," they wrote. "Ultimately, the Special Committee believed it to be critical to Tesla to secure Mr. Musk's commitment and focus to lead Tesla." Tesla shareholders will have to approve the pay package. They're expected to vote on it on November 6. A Delaware judge struck down a (similarly performance-based) 2018 package, and Tesla appealed. The new plan, if approved, would replace the older one if the appeal fails. If Musk hit all of the required benchmarks, his stake in Tesla would grow from 13 percent to 29 percent. Who says the American Dream isn't alive and well?This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/teslas-board-to-elon-musk-hit-these-milestones-and-well-make-you-a-trillionaire-170914461.html?src=rss View Source Article

Researchers have finally traced the origin of the spotted ratfish’s bizarre forehead teeth, which are used for mating View Source Article

A new particle detector has passed a crucial test, demonstrating it's ready to start investigating quark-gluon plasma, the hot particle soup that existed during the first milliseconds of the universe. View Source Article

The European Commission has waged a €2.95 billion (~$3.5 billion) fine against Google for “abusing its dominant position” in advertising technology. In its announcement, the Commission claims that Google’s alleged anticompetitive practices have increased costs for advertisers and publishers, potentially raising prices for consumers as a result. The Commission has ordered Google to come up with a plan to stop its anticompetitive practices that it must submit within 60 days. “If it fails to propose a viable plan, the Commission will not hesitate to impose an appropriate remedy,” the Commission states, adding that the solution may involve forcing Google to sell off parts of its ad tech business. The European Commission opened an investigation into Google’s advertising technology business in June 2021, and later brought up the possibility of divestiture in 2023. The US Department of Justice similarly asked a federal judge to break up Google’s ad tech business after determining that it violates antitrust laws. In an emailed statement to The Verge, Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president and global head of regulatory affairs, called the decision about its ad tech services “wrong” and said that the company plans to appeal. “It imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money,” Mulholland said. View Source Article

Qualcomm Inc. Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon said Intel Corp.’s production technology isn’t currently good enough for the maker of mobile phone processors to use as a supplier. View Source Article

Bose announced a refresh of its QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds over the summer and now it's back with an overhaul of its flagship noise-canceling headphones. The company has employed the second-generation moniker once again on the new QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, but this time the list of updates is a bit more substantial. Bose says it made tweaks to audio performance, active noise cancellation (ANC), battery life, power efficiency and more. Surprisingly, the company managed to make its upgrades without raising the price.  The biggest changes for the QC Ultra Headphones come in the sound department. First, lossless audio is now available over wired USB-C connection. Bose says you can expect 16-bit/44.1kHz or 48kHz playback and the setup doubles as a low-latency option for desktop or mobile gaming. When it comes to Immersive Audio — Bose's take on spatial audio that doesn't require specialized content — the company has added a new Cinema mode.  By "spatializing and balancing background sound with other audio effects," Bose says it creates a "movie-like experience" thanks to a wider soundstage that's placed in front of the listener. As a result, dialogue clarity is enhanced, which makes Cinema mode an option for podcasts and audiobooks in addition to movies and TV shows. For general listening, the company provides deeper bass at high volume, more natural sounding treble and consistent clarity even when the content is loud. It also reduced the sound created by the ANC tech so that it's less apparent in quieter environments.  Bose Speaking of ANC, Bose made the same update here that it did on the QC Ultra Earbuds. In Aware or transparency mode, the headphones better handle sudden changes in environmental noise (like sirens) with smoother changes to noise-canceling levels. On the QC Ultra Headphones, you can now disable ANC completely or manually adjust it to suit your needs.  Bose extended the battery life to 30 hours of ANC use or up to 45 hours with noise cancellation disabled. If you opt for that spatial Immersive Audio all the time, you can expect up to 24 hours of use now. If you run out of juice before you want to take a break, the QC Ultra Headphones can be charged during use via the USB-C port. To help you conserve battery power, the headphones will now enter a standby mode when you lay them flat or fold them into their case. And when the time comes to resume listening, improved wear detection automatically turns on the headphones when they're placed on your head.  Lastly, you'll notice that Bose opted for polished metal on the headband where the yokes used to have a flat finish. There are also two new colors: Driftwood Sand (tan) and Midnight Violet (purple).  The second-gen QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are available for preorder today from Bose in black, white, tan and violet color options. The price remains $449, same as the original version, and general availability is scheduled for October 2. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/bose-overhauls-the-quietcomfort-ultra-headphones-with-lossless-audio-and-longer-battery-life-130018894.html?src=rss View Source Article

Researchers are hoping to trick the immune system into fighting back against the bane of adolescents everywhere View Source Article

Three powerful space telescopes, Euclid, Roman, and the James Webb Space Telescope, could team up to detect black holes as early as 250 million years after the Big Bang. View Source Article

The just-fully-announced Legion Go 2 will be the first handheld outside of Asus that’s confirmed to get the new Xbox full-screen experience. Lenovo spokesperson Jeff Witt tells me buyers will be able to manually switch the handheld to Xbox FSE after it’s ready in the spring 2026 time frame. Asus will get it far sooner on October 16th when it co-launches the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X with Microsoft, and then Microsoft’s “next focus” will be bringing it to the original Asus ROG Ally and Ally X. Fingers crossed that a far lighter version of Windows will improve performance, like we’ve seen when running SteamOS on the same hardware as Windows, and let these handhelds intelligently wake and sleep. We’ve already seen the Xbox FSE can save memory and is easier to navigate with a gamepad, but Microsoft’s only given us very limited time with it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Verge (@verge) View Source Article

Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings SA is expanding its gold strategy by adding to its stake in a Canadian gold royalty company. View Source Article

NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, A. Pa If "chaos is a ladder," then brilliant stars forming from discordant gas and dust are the ultimate example of that. The James Webb telescope has imaged one of the more dramatic stellar nurseries in the galaxy called Pismis 24, showing swirling dust and infant stars in unprecedented detail.  The image was captured in infrared light by Webb's NIRCam (near-infrared camera), with false color detail added afterwards. It shows the Pismis 24 star cluster located in the Lobster Nebula around 5,500 light-years from Earth, part of the Scorpius constellation. The heart of the cluster is the star Pismis 24-1 at the top of the image, with the tallest spire in the nebula pointing directly at it. It's actually composed of two stars that can't be resolved by telescopes, collectively around 140 times the mass of the Sun.  Below in the dusty area, super-hot stars up to eight times the Sun's temperature live inside the nebula blasting out "scorching radiation and punishing winds," according to ESA. That radiation is actually carving a cave into the wall of the nebula, with streams of hot, ionized gas flowing off the ridges. The white, glowing outline along the highest peaks are wispy veils of gas and dust illuminated by starlight.  In nebulae, gas, dust and other materials clump together under the influence of gravity to form denser regions that eventually become massive enough to form stars. Once those stars ignite under fusion and enough of them form, they in turn influence the nebula by ionising hydrogen gas and creating massive solar winds, compressing the dust and creating more stars.  The nebula extends well beyond NIRCam's field of view and to give an idea of scale, the tallest spire spans 5.4 light-years from its tip to the bottom of the image. More than 200 of our solar systems could fit into the width of its tip. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/new-webb-image-shows-star-formation-as-glittering-craggy-peaks-133001953.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA/Rad Sinyak Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER) team member works during an Artemis II mission simulation on Aug. 19, 2025, from the new Orion MER inside the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. As NASA’s Orion spacecraft is carrying crew around the Moon on the Artemis II mission, a team of expert engineers in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will be meticulously monitoring the spacecraft along its journey. They’ll be operating from a new space in the mission control complex built to host the Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER). Through the success of Orion and the Artemis missions, NASA will return humanity to the Moon and prepare to land an American on the surface of Mars. View Source Article

Seeing and imagining use similar brain machinery. New research reveals the brain circuit that identifies what is real, which may help scientists understand conditions such as schizophrenia View Source Article

Astronomers have captured a stunning new image of the interstellar intruder 3I/ATLAS, seeing its growing tail and glowing coma. View Source Article

If you want to stay alert while running or biking, the Nothing Ear Open are a worthwhile alternative to classic in-ear cans. That’s because the company’s first pair of open-style earbuds — which are now on sale at Nothing’s online storefront or Amazon for an all-time low $99 ($50 off) with a Prime membership — let you listen to music and podcasts while keeping tabs on traffic, pedestrians, and other potential hazards. Nothing Ear Open Where to Buy: $149 $99 at Amazon (with Prime) $149 $99 at Nothing Nothing’s water-resistant earbuds use an over-the-ear hook to help them sit firmly in place, allowing them to securely rest just inside your ear instead of directly within the canal like a traditional pair of in-ears. Overall, they deliver solid audio quality thanks to a robust set of EQ options, and while bass performance can’t match that of modern in-ear models, their unique design helps reduce sound leakage. Each bud also comes with a pair of microphones and noise-canceling tech, so your calls come through clearer and less muddled. In terms of battery life, the Ear Open charge via USB-C and deliver up to eight hours of playback, which is relatively good given their larger 14.2-millimeter drivers. They also support multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, allowing you to connect to two devices simultaneously, and offer a “Low Lag Mode” for gaming via Nothing’s companion app. And, if you’re a Nothing Phone owner, you get some nice extras, including ChatGPT integration. Three more deals worth a look If you’re looking for an alternative to Nintendo’s Switch 2 Pro Controller, the GuliKit ES Pro is on sale at Amazon for an all-time low of $25.49 (about $5 off). You can use the wireless gamepad to wake the Switch 2— a rare feature for a third-party controller — but it also works with both Windows and Android devices. It features anti-drift TMR joysticks, too, along with adjustable sensitivity settings and a swappable button layout for PC and Switch. Plus, its D-pad can toggle between four and eight-direction modes. You can grab a copy of Assassin’s Creed Shadows for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X for $49.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, which matches its best price to date. Our reviewer Ash Parris isn’t usually into open-world games, but the latest title from Ubisoft won her over with its engaging characters, strong story, and stunning visuals of feudal Japan. This limited edition copy comes with both the game and some minor DLC, specifically extra weapons and gear for one of the game’s main protagonists. Read our review. You can currently buy Epicka’s Universal Travel Adapter at Amazon in multiple colors for $17.99 ($5 off), which is its best price to date. The versatile adapter comes with four plug types, so you can use it in over 200 countries, including the UK, Japan, Italy, and more. It offers four USB-A ports, a single USB-C port, and one AC socket, letting you charge six devices simultaneously. View Source Article

SparkCharge is planning to expand its mobile electric-vehicle charging services to Europe and the Middle East, according to Chief Executive Officer Joshua Aviv. View Source Article

OnePlus and Hasselblad are ending their five-year partnership, according to an official blog post. The smartphone maker has started developing its own camera system, which it has dubbed the DetailMax Engine. There was no reason given for the split, though OnePlus heaped praise on Hasselblad in that blog post. It lauded the camera maker's "obsession with precision and detail" and opined about "nights in the lab chasing the perfect balance of light and shadow." The company also said that "Hasselblad’s refined aesthetic sense is now part of our imaging DNA, woven into every future OnePlus camera." OnePlus As for every future OnePlus camera, the proprietary imaging system is still in the early stages. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau said he's already testing an early prototype that's been "designed from the ground up to deliver the clearest and most real photos on a smartphone." The two companies first paired up for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro flagship smartphones and the Hasselblad logo has been a mainstay of higher-end OnePlus devices since then. The Verge reports that the logo is likely to disappear with the release of the upcoming OnePlus 14, which may be renamed the OnePlus 15 to avoid the unlucky number "4" in China. There's one final wrinkle to this story. Oppo, which is the parent company of OnePlus, is sticking with Hasselblad for the time being. As a matter of fact, it officially extended the partnership back in July, with both companies promising a new mobile imaging system in the near future.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/oneplus-and-hasselblad-are-ending-their-five-year-partnership-154217176.html?src=rss View Source Article

You can stream all Star Trek content, including the latest series of Strange New Worlds, for less as Paramount Plus is 50% off for a limited time only. View Source Article

The rumor mill just churned up a purported render of Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Edge, and it only adds to speculation that the super-slim phone will look like the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro. The renders, shared with Android Headlines by reliable leaker OnLeaks, show a device with slim bezels and a prominent rear camera bar housing a pair of lenses. Based on the renders, the Galaxy S26 Edge may look much different than the Galaxy S25 Edge, which features three vertically-aligned rear cameras on the left side of the device. Instead, the Galaxy S26 Edge renders more closely resemble what appear to be iPhone 17 Pro leaks and dummy models spotted on the IFA 2025 showfloor. The difference is that the iPhone 17 Pro is rumored to come with three cameras on the back, not just two. The Galaxy S26 Edge is rumored to take the place of the S26 Plus and may also feature built-in magnets for Qi2 charging, bringing it in line with newer iPhones and the entire Pixel 10 lineup. Additionally, Android Headlines claims that the Galaxy S26 Edge will be even thinner than its predecessor, measuring 5.5mm thick (or 10.8mm with the camera bump), as opposed to 5.8mm with the S25 Edge. We’ll likely have to wait until January to see if Samsung adopts the boxy camera island shown in the renders — but in just a few days, we’ll find out if Apple beats it to the punch. View Source Article

Alphabet Inc.’s Google was fined almost €3 billion ($3.5 billion) by the European Union and ordered to stop favoring its own advertising technology services, in a move that risks further inflaming tensions with US President Donald Trump. View Source Article

We're just days away from Apple's September 9th iPhone 17 event, and the hype seems practically nonexistent. Did the many (many) leaks splash cold water on an enthusiasm, or are we just tired of annual iPhone events? In this episode, Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham joins Devindra to discuss why even the rumored iPhone Air isn't really tingling our gadget geek senses. Also, we dive into the final repercussions of the US. v. Google antitrust trial: Turns out Google doesn’t have to sell Chrome, or give up much of anything else.Subscribe!iTunesSpotifyPocket CastsStitcherGoogle PodcastsTopicsThe iPhone 17 is almost here, does anyone care? – 1:36U.S. antitrust judge rules that Google won’t have to sell Chrome – 23:24More Gemini-powered smart home products will be revealed on October 1 – 30:02The Browser Company’s sale to Jira parent company Atlassian shows how hard upstart browsers have it – 33:15After 15 years Instagram is finally getting an iPad app – 40:41Dolby announces Dolby Vision 2 with a bunch of AI features that seem useful – 44:25There’s AI in your pizza oven: Ooni’s Volt V2 will cook a pie in 90 seconds using machine learning – 49:02Around Engadget: Remarkable Paper Pro Move, Acer Chromebook 14 Spin Plus, and Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 – 52:51Working on – 56:55Pop culture picks – 57:20CreditsHosts: Devindra HardawarGuest: Nathan IngrahamProducer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'BrienThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-the-curious-calm-before-the-iphone-17-storm-143000763.html?src=rss View Source Article

How to watch the Sept. 7-8 total lunar eclipse live from the comfort of your home. View Source Article

Boox isn’t quite ready to reveal everything about its next Palma e-reader, but we got a sneak peek. | Photo: Jess Weatherbed / The Verge It wasn’t on public display at its IFA 2025 booth, but Boox gave The Verge’s Jess Weatherbed a brief but early look at its next Palma smartphone-sized e-reader. The company wasn’t yet willing to divulge any technical specs. Still, the new Palma appears to feature a color E Ink screen, and the device’s status bar also shows a 4G+ LTE cellular connection, seemingly indicating the next Palma could also be a fully-functional smartphone. The two previous versions of the Android-powered Boox Palma both feature a 6.13-inch black and white e-paper screen, but Boox was one of the earliest adopters of E Ink’s color screen technology and introduced color e-readers long before Amazon and Kobo. But a color screen isn’t the most requested feature amongst Palma fans. The pocketable e-readers have only offered Wi-Fi connectivity so far. Their functionality has come close to replicating an Android phone, featuring dual microphones and even a camera on the back. But you lose connectivity if you leave the house without a hotspot.  It’s not yet known if the next Palma will include a SIM card tray, rely on eSim, or what cellular networks it will be compatible with. But like the Bigme Hibreak Pro that was announced earlier this year, it could be a true smartphone replacement for those wanting a more distraction-free experience (browsing social media on an E Ink screen still isn’t easy on the eyes) or better battery life. View Source Article

Tesla Inc. shareholders will vote in November to decide if the electric carmaker should invest in Elon Musk’s closely held artificial intelligence startup, xAI. View Source Article

Qualcomm's driver-assistance system Snapdragon Ride Pilot will debut on the BMW iX3 electric SUV, offering hands-free highway driving, automatic lane changes and parking assistance. The jointly developed software stack announced today will be powered by Snapdragon Ride system-on-chips and will make its first formal appearance at IAA Mobility 2025. Snapdragon Ride Pilot is a Level 2+ driver-assistance system, not self-driving, which means drivers will still be responsible for supervising the vehicle's movements and paying attention to the road while these features are in use. The software stack is structured into a series of layers that come together to power the autonomous features. The first is 360-degree perception, which uses a camera-based vision stack to detect objects, interpret traffic signs and provide parking assistance among other functions. An advanced context-aware driving layer uses a combination of rules-based and AI-based models to plan and predict behavior during complex driving scenarios. The stack also uses what Qualcomm is calling a safety-first approach, which includes cybersecurity features and enforces strict global car safety rules like ISO's Automotive Safety Integrity Levels and Functional Safety standards. Snapdragon Ride Pilot is now being offered by Qualcomm to all global automakers, and the chipmaker says the system is already validated in 60 countries worldwide, with the aim of availability in more than 100 countries by 2026. This new partnership is the latest high-tech product for cars from the semiconductor company. Last year they began working with Google on AI voice systems for vehicles. They have also worked with Volvo on the automaker's infotainment systems. Qualcomm is not the only player betting on self-driving, with companies like NVIDIA and Mobileye also developing chips and software to power advanced driver-assistance systems.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/bmw-and-qualcomm-announce-jointly-developed-driver-assistance-system-144922600.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Roscosmos Progress 92 cargo spacecraft approaches the International Space Station on July 5, 2025, for an automated docking to the orbital complex’s Poisk module.Credit: NASA NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 93 resupply spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 11:54 a.m. EDT (8:54 p.m. Baikonur time), Thursday, Sept. 11, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Live coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. After a two-day journey to the station, the spacecraft will dock autonomously to the aft port of the station’s Zvezda module at 1:27 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13. NASA’s rendezvous and docking coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more. The Progress 93 spacecraft will remain docked to the space station for approximately six months before departing for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew. Ahead of the spacecraft’s arrival, the Progress 91 spacecraft will undock from the Zvezda Service Module on Tuesday, Sept. 9. NASA will not stream the undocking. The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation enabling research not possible on Earth. For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, where astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in human exploration at the Moon and Mars. Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and crew, at: https://www.nasa.gov/station -end- Jimi RussellHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1100james.j.russell@nasa.gov Sandra Jones / Joseph ZakrzewskiJohnson Space Center, Houston281-483-5111sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 05, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS ResearchJohnson Space Center View Source Article

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge Senior Reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest phones, smartwatches, apps, and other gizmos that swear they're going to change your life. Optimizer arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 10AM ET. Opt in for Optimizer here. I've been thinking ahead to Apple's big event next Tuesday. I'll be sitting in Apple's Steve Jobs theater, ready to live blog. Tim Cook will pop out for a brief moment to wave hello. I'll probably nod to my colleagues in the theater with me - we've already sussed out the game plan. My ears will be perked for the Apple Watch announcem … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

A cryptocurrency project endorsed by Donald Trump’s family saw its trading debut soured after billionaire backer Justin Sun was blocked from using his unlocked coins and took to social media to object. View Source Article

On a random Saturday in August, I became the omnipotent caretaker of a newly formed planet, one born, according to the lore, from humankind's collective love of Tamagotchis past and present. An egg hatched and a planet sprang forth. Then another egg hatched down on the surface of that planet and a critter sprang forth. In the few weeks since, I've raised half a dozen more creatures across three different virtual habitats, slowly but surely turning my planet into a bustling hub of adorable alien life. Whereas previous Tamagotchi devices felt like they bestowed a personal challenge on players to keep individual characters alive and in their care as long as possible, Tamagotchi Paradise places more of an emphasis on populating, rewarding you for nurturing a revolving door of new characters that you will ultimately release to the peaceful wild. In a sense, Tamagotchi Paradise completely reimagines the classic toy not as a pet-keeping experience, but something more akin to wildlife conservation. It's really cool. Tamagotchi Paradise also introduces a new egg design, with a dial sticking out that has a stopwatch-like button. It's another hefty device and brings back AAA batteries instead of charging via USB-C. The top of the plastic shell flips open to reveal a docking port (a throwback to design from the '90s), where you can physically connect another Tamagotchi Paradise. And the updates don’t stop there, since the whole UI has been overhauled. It is a lot of change all at once, and some parts work better than others. I expect this to be a polarizing one among Tamagotchi fans, and a cursory glance at some of the online discussions would suggest that's already the case — but consider me team Paradise. I am super into it. The dial The dial is one of the biggest new features of Tamagotchi Paradise. Its main purpose is to let you zoom into the planet to see all the goings-on there, but it can also be used to scroll through menu options and has a role in some of the games. While it was very exciting to play with for the first few days, the novelty has largely worn off in the month since, and it's just a normal part of using the device now. It does feel nice to spin and click the dial, and I appreciate that as a person who likes to fidget with things. But frankly, it was just a relief to find that it doesn't suck. After the frustration of the flat, not-button buttons on Tamagotchi Pix, I was a bit nervous that the dial would end up being another feature that's more gimmicky than practical, and cause a bunch of headaches. Thankfully, that's not how things have panned out. The dial took a little getting used to, particularly when figuring out how far to spin it to get where I'm trying to go (planet level, the surface, one-on-one with your Tama and into the cells), but now it's smooth sailing. Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget In at least one way, it's even an improvement. Thanks to the dial, you can finally go back to a menu icon or number/letter you accidentally skipped over, as opposed to pressing through all the rest of the options to get around to the beginning again. It is also still possible to do everything one-handed, though less comfortably than when all you had to deal with were three buttons. Mostly, the dial just works as it's intended to, and I certainly don't hate the touch of whimsy it adds to my interactions with the device. Caretaking Tamagotchi Paradise takes a more gamified approach to raising Tamas than other models, and this makes for slow going when you first get started, as much of what it offers is locked away until you've leveled-up your planet by reaching certain milestones. You'll have some games to begin with, both from the Mini Games section (to earn Gotchi Points) and the "Play" menu (to raise your Tama's happiness), as well as some shopping options, but the bulk of the content is initially walled off. Regardless of whether you have a Land, Sky or Water device, you'll eventually have access to all three of those environments and the characters they can support. These areas exist as different "Fields" on your Tamagotchi planet. But you won't have all three Fields unlocked until you hit Level 6, and that requires raising two Tamas to adulthood. Since that process takes a few days each time, it could be almost a week before you're there. Once you reach Level 10, at which point you're onto your sixth adult Tama, everything is available. It's a bit of a grind, and a slow one at that, but I actually enjoyed how it spaced out the discovery of new things. It reminded me a bit of the Tamagotchi On's unlockable areas. But this leveling system also led me to do things differently than I normally would. On all of the other recent color Tamagotchis, which let you continue caring for characters indefinitely as long as you don't kill them, I'll usually raise each one with the intention of hanging onto it for as long as feels right, be it weeks or months or more. Tamagotchi Paradise, on the other hand, had me raising new characters back to back to back. Only now that I've crossed Level 10 have I started aiming for characters that I feel like I'll want to sit with for a while. Despite the high turnaround, I've found Tamagotchi Paradise to be perhaps the least needy of all Tamagotchi models I've run. Beyond the baby stage, it doesn't feel like I have to be super attentive to keep my Tama alive and happy. That might be a point against it for those who want something more actively demanding, but for me, the relatively easygoing nature of this one has been pretty refreshing. The way Tamagotchi Paradise handles food gathering and feeding feels more forgiving, too. It's very easy to feed your Tama for free (without making it choke down something it doesn't like). You can send your Tamas on daily egg hunts to find food for themselves. You can buy them pre-made dishes from the shop, but you can also use the ingredients they've foraged to cook a meal that will fill them up and leave them happy. Or, they can just consume the raw ingredients. It is great, as is the fact that you can finally have more than three of a given food item in your inventory at a time. Of course, the most important thing about Tamagotchi is the characters you can raise, and Paradise has a lot working in its favor on that front. Fans will recognize several beloved characters from older devices, but there are also a ton we've never seen before, and they're so good. Even the one that's just a straight-up rock is so cute it makes me want to scream. And for the first time, the different care factors — which determine what adult you'll end up with — are visualized, with icons to tell you exactly how many care mistakes you've made, how many times you've filled the happiness meter and more. It takes out the guesswork, not to mention the potential disappointment of not getting the character you wanted and not being entirely sure why. Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget When you're ready to move on and hatch another egg, you must release your current Tama to the Field, where it'll remain in the background until the space fills up. You can have four released Tamas per Field. After that, the older ones will disappear and be replaced one by one by the new entrants. It is a joy that my old Tamas will stick around after their time, and that I get to see them playing in the virtual wild. But this also brings me to my biggest gripe with Tamagotchi Paradise. While your three Fields may be brimming with Tamas, you can only have one active character to take care of at a time. This feels like a huge missed opportunity, and it was a bit of a letdown to find out after thinking — based on the promo materials — that Tamagotchi Paradise would allow you to simultaneously raise and care for a character in each Field. If that had been true, this would have been the ultimate Tamagotchi, or close to it. I would have also liked to see more complex gene mixing like we've had on other devices, where you could breed two characters to create offspring that were either a delightful or mildly disturbing amalgamation of the parents' traits. Gene mixing on Tamagotchi Paradise only goes as far as body color and eye design, which are then slapped onto the body of one of the existing characters from the pair. It's still making for some fun results, but I wish it went a bit further into mad scientist territory. Customization of the Tamas themselves is pretty limited. You can't name them. You can dress up their environment with decorative items and you can accessorize the planet, but you can't dress up the Tamas. You can, however, change the color and mood of your characters by buying certain snack items with Gotchi Points, which I really like. Doing this helped me create a perfect pink and yellow version of the adorably derpy Elizardotchi, one of my favorite new characters. Is it worth it? Tamagotchi Paradise has a lot going on. It contains a decent amount of games, and they're good ones, with a mix of old and new. All of the Mini Games have multiple difficulty options, so you can up the challenge a bit if you so wish. Setting the game to a harder mode will make your potential reward of Gotchi Points higher, which is always a plus. Every time you harvest enough poop to fuel a rocket (yes, that's a thing), you can travel to different themed Tamagotchi planets. There are seven other worlds to visit, and on each you'll be gifted a couple of special items. While it would have been better if these areas offered a little more to do, like a themed game and a shop, it's still a nice way to keep unlocking new items for a while. There are emergency events that will pop up out of nowhere, briefly upping the stakes. Miss the alert and your planet will get pummeled by meteorites or stampeding birds. In contrast to the overall chillness of the game otherwise, these emergencies make for some real heart-pounding excitement. I love it — even if I felt so bad when I saw the sad, beat-up state of my little Tama after the Dododotchi herd blew through. Paradise also assigns you roughly two dozen "missions" to complete, which are achievements for succeeding at different tasks a certain number of times, like cleaning 500 poops. Similar to the care icons we saw on Tamagotchi Uni, these give you something to keep working toward even after you've unlocked everything the device has to offer. You can even be a completionist about Tamagotchi. Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget The Connection feature, which requires a second device, is a fun way to swap items and experiment with gene mixing, or just observe how two Tamas will interact. And while there's no Wi-Fi connectivity on this device, you can still get new items in other ways, from off-device to using download codes. The official Tamagotchi website has already released a few of these, and considering we've gotten two years of continued new material for Tamagotchi Uni, I'm hoping to see the same for Paradise. With Tamagotchi Paradise also came Lab Tama, or in-store installations where fans can access exclusive games and items. These don't seem to be particularly widespread, though, so that unfortunately seems like an experience most Paradise owners won't get to take part in. (To the heroes who post these download codes online, thank you for your service). All in all, Tamagotchi Paradise feels fuller than 2023's Uni, especially as the latter existed at its launch before all the downloadable content started coming in. At $45 (if you can find it in stock and at retail price), Tamagotchi Paradise is also less expensive in the US than the Uni, Pix and On, which is a surprising but welcome development. There's a lot of fun to be had with this one, so long as you're open to a little (okay, a lot of) change.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/tamagotchi-paradise-trades-stressful-virtual-pet-parenting-for-nature-and-tranquility-130049511.html?src=rss View Source Article

Card dealers create a unique deck with each shuffle, something computers cannot replicate View Source Article

One member of the cluster was previously believed to be the most massive star known, but is actually a triple star system of huge stars, all of which will go supernova. View Source Article

Elon Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire if Tesla shareholders approve a new pay package that was just put forward by the company’s board. Musk would need to meet certain milestones in order to receive that eye-popping compensation, such as producing 1 million robotaxis and 1 million humanoid robots, as well as increase Tesla’s valuation by trillions of dollars. Musk, already the world’s richest man, would ascend to new heights of financial untouchability if he is able to achieve these goals. The proposal builds on an interim award of $29 billion that was announced last month. In total, the package is worth approximately $975 billion based on maximum payout. And it would give Musk more control over the company, which he has demanded in order to achieve his vision for AI-powered cars and robots. Musk would need to meet certain milestones in order to receive that compensation This isn’t the first time that Tesla has tried throwing a bunch of cash at Musk to keep him focused on the company. The company offered him a pay package worth more than $50 billion in 2018, but last year a Delaware court voided it, arguing that the deal was flawed and unfair to shareholders and that Musk held undue influence over its composition. Shareholders had voted twice to approve the hefty compensation, but the judge still upheld their ruling that blocked it. Tesla has appealed the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court. Now, the company is asking shareholders to approve this new award, arguing that Tesla is on the cusp of becoming a leader in AI and robotics, requiring Musk’s steady hand on the helm. “We believe that Elon’s singular vision is vital to navigating this critical inflection point,” Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm wrote in a letter to shareholders. “We also recognize the formidable nature of this undertaking and as a result, the importance of having a leader who is not only willing and capable but eager to meet this challenge.” The pay package amounts to a huge vote of confidence at a time when Musk’s political meddling has taken an enormous toll on the electric car company that is the source for his vast wealth. Tesla’s sales have declined significantly across the globe as rising competition from China, as well as Musk’s vocal support for far-right politics, have diminished the company’s brand. And yet, Tesla’s stock has always outperformed its reality as an electric car and renewable energy company, which has led some critics to deride it as meme stock. To secure this vast payout, Musk would need to stay as CEO of Tesla for at least seven years, or up to 10 years in order to receive the full amount. During that time, he would need to deploy 1 million robotaxis into commercial service, as well as 1 million Optimus robots, all while growing the company’s market capitalization by trillions of dollars and creating “nearly $7.5 trillion in value for shareholders.” Musk and his brother Kimbal, both board members, recused themselves from the proposal, according to the filing. After years of growth, the sudden reversal in Tesla’s fortune has left many investors and supporters with whiplash. As Musk slid deeper into politics, investors urged him to stay focused on Tesla and its costly — and questionable — project to build more self-driving cars and humanoid robots. The company rolled out its first robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, this summer — although the service fell short of Musk’s earlier predictions. The company’s only new product since 2020, the Cybertruck, has widely been considered a flop. And competition from legacy automakers, especially those in China, has been sapping Tesla’s resources. Musk is currently Tesla’s largest shareholder, with a 13 percent stake in the company. But the CEO has said that he wants more control over the company in order to have more sway over its mission — which this plans aims to produce. “That is a major concern for me, as I’ve mentioned in the past, and I hope that is addressed at the upcoming shareholders meeting,” Musk said in a recent earnings call, in response to a question about his voting stake. “I think my control of Tesla should be enough to ensure that it goes in a good direction, but not so much control that I can’t be thrown out if I go crazy.” View Source Article

Company is readying a slew of updated devices for the holidays. View Source Article

With Microsoft officially ending support for Windows 10 on October 14, anyone with an older PC is faced with a dilemma.  Sure, you can kick the can down the road by signing up for the free 12-month Extended Security Updates. But even if your computer meets the minimum system requirements for a free Windows 11 upgrade, anything older than a year won't be able to take advantage of Microsoft's Copilot+ AI PC features, like Windows Recall or Studio Effects for video chats. So if you've already been feeling that your current aging PC is on the verge of dying — slow performance, whining fans, batteries that barely keep a charge — it's probably time to consider replacing it with a new system. We've already done the legwork of researching and selecting new hardware in our best laptop and best Windows notebook guides (we've also covered more powerful gaming and schoolwork systems), but here are some suggestions if you're just looking to snap up something quickly.  The best Windows 10 laptop replacements Surface Laptop 13.8-inch In many ways, the Snapdragon-powered Surface Laptop is emblematic of where Windows PCs are headed. It's incredibly light, surprisingly powerful for something with a mobile chip and its battery lasted over 17-and-a-half hours in our testing. While you may run into some compatibility issues if you're running ancient Windows programs, for most people the Surface Laptop is one of the best PC experiences they can have today. If you're looking for something smaller and cheaper, there's also a $700 13-inch model, and the $1,200 15-inch version is worth it if you need a bigger screen. (Check out our full review of the Surface Laptop 13.8-inch.) Dell 14 Premium laptop Sam Rutherford for Engadget Dell 14 Premium We loved last year's XPS 14, and now that it’s been renamed as the Dell 14 Premium, it’s still a fantastic machine. It looks and feels luxurious, and it has one of the best screens around. You may just need some time getting used to its invisible trackpad (which is blended into the palm rest), and its capacitive function key row. (Check out our full Editor’s Choice review of the Dell 14 Premium.) ASUS ZenBook S 14 The ZenBook S14 wowed us with its powerful hardware, excellent battery life (of over 16 hours) and solid construction. It's a sign of how far ASUS has come from simply copying Apple. The S14 is also lighter than the MacBook Air, and it includes more useful ports (two USB-C, one USB-A, HDMI and a headphone jack). Its Ceraluminum case (a unique ceramic material) also feels surprisingly polished, and its OLED screen looks simply amazing. (Check out our full review of the ASUS ZenBook S 14.) Apple MacBook Air  Don't yell at me — Apple's new computers are so good that Windows users should seriously consider jumping ship to Macs. While the software may take some getting used to, it's worth the struggle for the speed and incredible battery life from Apple's M-series chips. The MacBook Air remains one of the best computers around, with an incredibly thin and fan-less case and far more power than you'd think. And if you're an iPhone user, you'll also have access to features like phone mirroring that are tough to replicate on Windows. (Check out our full review of the M4 MacBook Air.) Dell Slim Desktop Dell The best Windows 10 desktop replacements Dell Slim desktop If you're just looking for a basic desktop replacement, it's hard to go wrong with the Dell Slim. While we haven't reviewed this specific model, the specs on even the entry-level configuration have all of the power you need for basic computing, despite housing everything in a frame that's notably smaller than older tower PCs. And if you need a bit more performance, consider the slightly more expensive Dell Pro, which can squeeze in up to 32GB of RAM and a handful of dedicated graphics cards. Apple Mac Mini Apple's Mac mini is one of the most powerful mini-desktops around, it's adorably small and it starts at just $599 (look for the frequent sales that drop the price by as much as $100). Just as I argued above for the MacBook Air, it's worth considering the jump to MacOS simply because Apple's hardware is so impressive now. And don't worry, you can connect any monitor to it, and you won't have to replace your existing PC keyboard and mouse. Geekom A6 Mini  While I haven't tested the Geekom A6 Mini yet, it's widely considered one of the best Windows mini-desktops around $400 to $500. The A6 Mini features a very capable AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor with a bit of gaming power, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. You honestly don't need much more for basic productivity work. Frequently Asked Questions Do I need to upgrade to a new computer if my current Windows 10 PC still works fine for me? Your computer will still continue to run after Microsoft ends support for Windows 10 on October 14, but that’s not a wise longterm strategy. The free Extended Security Updates will buy you another year, but that's effectively a limited life support: After that, Windows 10 PCs won’t receive security updates or any sort of improvements, so they’ll be vulnerable to hacking and malware. And if you’ve still got an old Windows 10 machine, there’s a good chance that its components may wear out soon. If you choose to continue using a Windows 10 PC, be sure to back up your important data and try not to rely on it for critical tasks.  Can a Mac run native Windows software?  Virtualization software like VMWare and Parallels can let you run Windows apps inside of macOS, but be aware that also involves buying a copy of Windows and dedicating a large chunk of disk space for it. These days, most major apps are available across both platforms, so be sure to check if there’s a Mac version of your favorite Windows app. Can a Chromebook or iPad replace a Windows 10 PC? Chromebooks and iPads both have very specific purposes: Chromebooks are great budget-friendly machines for accessing the web and running online apps. iPads are a handy way to upgrade your mobile internet experiences, since their large screens are better for browsing the web, running apps and watching media. But neither are ideal replacements for a Windows 10 PC, which can access the full breadth of Windows software in addition to the web. If either one works for you, great; but we think the options listed above are better full-service PC replacements. I have a ton of PC games. What's my best upgrade option? It’s easy to find a decent gaming desktop from a reliable computer maker these days, just make sure you’re equipped with at least 32GB of RAM (new titles can be pretty memory intensive), and an NVIDIA RTX 40-series or AMD Radeon RX 9000-series GPU. As for CPUs, I’d recommend sticking with Intel’s 13th-gen chips or AMD’s Ryzen 8000-series processors at a minimum. Don’t count out gaming laptops either, as they’ve come a long way over the last decade. It’s not hard to find a gaming notebook that’s powerful, portable and useful for multimedia and productivity work as well.. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/the-best-new-computers-to-replace-your-old-windows-10-pc-134500000.html?src=rss View Source Article

Tesla is just over $1 trillion now but if Elon Musk can achieve all 12 levels of his pay package the company will be $8.5 trillion. He does not start getting paid until he nearly doubles the stock to $619. If you get 400-500 shares now for about $130000, he will make you a millionaire ... Read more View Source Article

Can AI help "smooth over" discussion on abortion, racism, immigration, or Israel-Palestine? Columbia University sure hopes so. The Verge has learned that the university recently began testing Sway, an AI debate program currently in beta. Developed by two researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Sway matches up students with opposing views to chat one-on-one about hot-button issues and "facilitates better discussions between them," according to the tool's website. Nicholas DiBella, a postdoctoral scholar at CMU who helped develop Sway, told The Verge that about 3,000 students from more than 30 colleges and universities have used the tool. … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Bose Corp. on Friday introduced its second-generation QuietComfort Ultra headphones, stepping up its competitiveness in the space. The new model is being sold for the same $449 price as the previous model and goes on sale Oct. 2. View Source Article

The government of Nepal is blocking commonly used social platforms including Facebook, X, Instagram, WeChat, Reddit and YouTube due to noncompliance with a new law requiring them to register with the government, The Associated Press reported. Five platforms including TikTok and Viber that did register in the country were exempted from the ban.  Social media companies were asked to provide a local contact, grievance handler and person responsible for self-regulation to avoid a shutdown and many apparently failed to do so. "Unregistered social media platforms will be deactivated today onwards," ministry spokesperson Gajendra Kumar Thakur told Agence France Presse.  The Nepalese government recently introduced a directive forcing social media companies to ensure their platforms were well-managed, responsible and accountable. The government said the bill was an effort to curb online hate, rumors and cybercrime. However, it was widely criticized by opponents as a tool for censorship, with some groups calling it a violation of citizens' basic rights.  "It is not wrong to regulate social media, but we first need to have the legal infrastructure to enforce it. A sudden closure like this is controlling," said Digital Rights Nepal president Bhola Nath Dhungana. Another group, the Federation of Nepali Journalists said the measure "undermines press freedom and citizens' right to information." Also expressing opposition was the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Nepal is the latest government to tighten social media oversight, with countries including the US, Europe and Brazil having done so to varying degrees of late. Nepal's neighbor India has also mandated local compliance officers and takedown mechanisms (and even threatened to jail Twitter employees at one point). This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/nepal-blocks-most-social-media-sites-for-failing-to-register-with-the-government-131512017.html?src=rss View Source Article

A community science project finds that modest reminders to find joy in the day can have benefits that are on par with those of more ambitious well-being interventions View Source Article

A recent close-up shows a turtle-shaped rock on the surface of Mars, captured by NASA's Perseverance rover. View Source Article

I wrote that no one should buy MSI and Intel's original handheld gaming PC. I literally called it an embarrassment, and the company blacklisted me after that. MSI stopped pitching me news, and stopped answering my emails, even after the company began to write off its dud of a handheld. So you can imagine my surprise to find: MSI and Intel have gone from worst to nearly first. In many games, it's twice as fast as the original Claw. And with new drivers that bump its performance up to 30 percent higher since launch - I tested - the newer $1,000 MSI Claw 8 AI Plus might just be the best Windows handheld you can buy. The Claw 8 has become a … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Singapore must resist external manipulation from “near and far,” President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said, warning of foreign actors who will seek to advance their agendas in the city-state. View Source Article

Kirby is a uniquely wholesome Nintendo character, yet his games often have a quirky mean streak to them. They're all about letting players absorb enemies and take on some wild powers to tear through vibrant stages with reckless abandon. That's especially true with Kirby Air Riders, the long-awaited sequel to the GameCube classic racing game, Kirby Air Ride. Much like the original, it's a fast-paced racing game starring Kirby and friends as they race through visually striking locales – it also happens to be one of the most chaotic racing games I've played in quite a while. At PAX West 2025 in Seattle, I spent an hour playing Kirby Air Riders, reacquainting myself with the approachable yet surprisingly deep mechanics from the cult-favorite 2003 racing game. It's certainly interesting to see game director Masuhiro Sakurai follow up Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with a Kirby racing game. Still, after playing Air Riders, this racer carries that similar 'go-for-broke' energy that runs deep in his previous games. Like the original game, you race through a variety of stages inspired by the Kirby series. The sequel takes things further with an expanded roster of Kirby characters, such as Meta Knight and King Dedede, each with their own unique skills and stats as racers. While you race through traditional tracks, Air Riders – much like the original – also opens up free-for-all action stages and mini-games that test your skills in drifting, gliding, and the classic ability of sucking up to gain new powers. Kirby Air Riders totally doubles down on what made the original so unique, and that's what makes it such an incredibly bizarre take on a racing game. In many ways, Air Riders does to racing games what Smash Bros did for the fighting genre – injecting non-genre-conforming systems and concepts that may seem out of place for the type of game it wants to be. However, playing Kirby Air Riders can take some getting used to, especially considering its fairly limited control scheme. Much like the original, acceleration happens automatically, and the game instead has you focus on managing movement and momentum with the control stick and a single button to engage boosts – and that's all you need for controlling your chosen racer's vehicle. But therein lies the nuance of playing; by managing momentum and speed, you can engage drifts and power spin attacks to overcome rivals on the track. Nintendo It pays to be aggressive in Kirby Air Riders, as you'll gain speed by successfully landing attacks on enemies. A particular racer I used often was Return to Dream Land's Magolor, who could sprout ground spikes after landing from jumps. The sequel even expands upon the offensive nature of Air Riders with a new special ability button, which activates character-specific attacks after filling a meter. I was really taken aback by how fast and chaotic races can get, and I found myself getting caught off guard by how diabolical the other rivals can get, unleashing attacks and snatching victory in a pinch. In fact, I closed two races in 2nd place back-to-back in the final second due to King Dedede engaging their vehicle's boosts at the right time. In that sense, it took me some time to come to grips with the game's rapid pace and how quickly things can turn against you. This was especially true with the returning City Trial mode, which is essentially Kirby Air Riders' take on the classic kart-racer battle mode in the vein of Mario Kart 64 or Twisted Metal. In City Trial, players and CPU characters enter a mad dash to collect power-ups and upgrade their vehicles in a large open area, which culminates in themed mini-games to decide the final winner. It took me some time to understand the larger goal of City Trial, as it felt like getting swept up in a colorful mosh pit – one where other players can snatch your vehicles. This battle mode quickly becomes extremely hectic and the dynamic events lead to some truly bizarre scenarios, such as bombs raining down on the arena, which can send players scrambling. City Trial is a fun, mini-open-world to explore that features a set of secrets to find, and I really took a liking to just how much is packed into these events. It took me some time to really get into the groove of Kirby Air Riders and its pretty ruthless approach to action-racing – and this was after spending 20 minutes running the generous tutorials that explained the systems at work. I still liked the sheer spectacle of it all. Once I found my flow within the chaos, it really helped to bring Kirby Air Riders into focus for me, and I really appreciated the over-the-top spectacle that it is as a racing game. It's a very different type of racing that sets itself apart from Mario Kart World and other games of its kind. In fact, there are aspects of Kirby Air Riders that I still don't quite understand. OK with that because I just had so much fun trying to go with the flow. Kirby Air Riders will be released on November 20, 2025 on the Nintendo Switch 2.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/kirby-air-riders-hands-on-123040486.html?src=rss View Source Article

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink internet broadband satellites was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. View Source Article

Bose will now let you turn the ANC off on its new QuietComfort Ultra headphones, boosting battery life to up to 45 hours. | Image: Bose Bose has announced a second-generation version of its QuietComfort Ultra wireless headphones it first introduced nearly two years ago. The name is the same, but the new Ultra finally adds support for listening to lossless audio over a USB-C cable, while still carrying forward the 2.5-millimeter analog headphone jack for those who don’t always want to go wireless. Available for preorder starting today through Bose’s online store, the second-generation QuietComfort Ultra is priced at $449 – a small price bump over the $429 originals. They’re expected to be available starting on October 2nd, 2025. They’ll launch in four color options, including black, smoke, driftwood sand, midnight violet, and white. Battery life has been increased to up to 30 hours with active noise cancelling, with an improved Aware Mode that’s better at automatically boosting the ANC to filter out sudden loud noises like a passing bus. That will drop to up to 23 hours of continuous use with head-tracking Immersive Audio turned on, but Bose will now let you push the Ultra’s battery life to up to 45 hours by completely turning ANC off in the mobile app. A new Cinema Mode delivers what Bose describes as a “movie-like experience” by spatializing and balancing background sound effects to create a wider sound stage, making dialogue easier to hear. The company recommends using it for podcasts and audiobooks. The new QuietComfort Ultra also features better bass performance at higher volumes, while background noise generated by the ANC system is reduced in quieter settings and won’t drown out “finer details” in what you’re listening to. Bose has improved the Ultra’s on-head detection so they’ll automatically power up and connect to a paired device as soon as you put them on. When removed, laying the headphones flat or folding them into their included carrying case will put them into a low-power standby mode that Bose says will keep them powered for months. The QuietComfort Ultra now supports Bluetooth 5.4 and carries forward features like multipoint connectivity and compatibility with the SBC, AAC, and Qualcomm AptX Adaptive codecs. Android users can streamline connectivity with their devices using Google Fast Pair, while Spotify Tap is also supported. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Takashi Mochizuki and Vlad Savov address Nintendo’s idiosyncratic approach to crafting compelling video games. View Source Article

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Valerion is formally announcing its new premium projector, the VisionMaster Max, at IFA 2025. The boxy little projector offers improved contrast and brightness, but the feature that should be most interesting to home theater aficionados is how it tries to address the "rainbow effect" common in some cheaper projectors. Cheaper DLP projectors sometimes display stuttery strobes of color when the projector's color wheel is forced to quickly shift between colors during fast-paced scenes. While these doesn't necessarily impede watching a movie or TV show, the rainbow effect can bother sensitive projector owners. The VisionMaster Max attempts to address the problem with what Valerion calls "Anti-RBE Technology" that "reduces rainbow effects by 99.9 percent." The company pulls this off by using software to blend the individual color sequences of whatever you're watching faster than the human eye can perceive, creating what looks like a seamless image. Valerion Valerion says the VisionMaster Max also has an upgraded native contrast ratio of 5,000:1 and an AI-assisted "Enhanced Black Level (EBL)" contrast of 50,000:1 for improved depth and details in shadows. Valerion's dramatically named "NoirScene Dark Field Engine System" mixes stable luminance from a fixed iris aperture and an EBL algorithm to offer deeper blacks with less need for calibration. Combined with the VisionMaster Max's up to 3,500 lumens of brightness, it makes the projector even more usable during day or night. The VisionMaster Max also carries over the adjustable lens system from some of Valerion's other projectors, offers support for Gigabit ethernet and Wi-Fi 6E and runs Google TV. Despite favoring Google's home theater OS, Valerion guarantees you can fully integrate the VisionMaster Max with Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Control4 and Crestron smart home systems. If that all sounds good, just make sure you're comfortable paying for a premium experience. Valerion says the VisionMaster Max will be available in October 2025, starting at $4,999.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/valerion-launches-new-premium-projector-with-anti-rainbow-effect-technology-120058357.html?src=rss View Source Article

A total lunar eclipse will turn the moon blood red for millions across Asia and Europe overnight on Sept. 7-8. Here are the best times to watch the show unfold. View Source Article

There are several dummy units of the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro Max (left) and iPhone 17 Air (right) on display at IFA 2025. Apple’s launch event for the iPhone 17 lineup is just around the corner, and case makers are already showing off the products they can be paired with on the IFA 2025 showfloor. I walked around two rooms dedicated to the latest mobile phone accessories and they were dominated by cases apparently designed for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Air launches, with several examples being displayed on dummy units. The iPhone 17 models that the cases were based on were consistent across the floor, which suggests the design leaks we’ve seen so far were accurate. The rear camera bars on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have adopted a Pixel-like design, stretching the square bar on the current iPhone 16 Pro models across to cover the entire upper body. The iPhone 17 Air features a similar look, but is much thinner, with a single camera lens and a slimmer camera bar. Here’s a closer look at one of the iPhone 17 Pro Max dummies I got my hands on: And here’s a look at the iPhone 17 Air. In his preview for Apple’s launch event on Tuesday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said the Air will be “roughly 5.5 millimeters, making it about a third thinner than the iPhone 16 Pro,” but at the expense of a drop in battery life. It certainly feels very slim and lightweight in my hand compared to my chunky iPhone 14 Pro Max. We’ll get official confirmation of the upcoming iPhone designs next week. But for now, all of the iPhone 17 cases I snapped at IFA give us a pretty good idea of what we can expect. View Source Article

Germany plans to purchase three Heron drones for nearly €1 billion ($1.2 billion) from Israel despite growing calls from European allies to increase the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop his military offensive in Gaza. View Source Article

OpenAI is gearing up to start the mass production of its own AI chips next year to be able to provide the massive computing power its users need and to lessen its reliance on NVIDIA, according to the Financial Times. The company reportedly designed the custom AI chip with US semiconductor maker Broadcom, whose CEO recently announced that it has a new client that put in a whopping $10 billion in orders. It didn't name the client, but the Times' sources confirmed that it was OpenAI, which apparently doesn't have plans to sell the chips and will only be using them internally. Reuters reported way back in 2023 that OpenAI was already exploring the possibility of making its own AI chips after Sam Altman blamed GPU shortages for the company API's speed and reliability. The news organization also previously reported that OpenAI was working with both Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to create its own product. The Times didn't say whether OpenAI still has an ongoing partnership with TSMC.  After GPT-5 came out, Altman announced the changes OpenAI is implementing in order to keep up with "increased demand." In addition to prioritizing paid ChatGPT users, he said that OpenAI was going to double its compute fleet "over the next 5 months." Making its own chips will address any potential GPU shortages the company may encounter in doubling its fleet, and it could also save the company money. The Times says custom AI chips called "XPUs" like the one OpenAI is reportedly developing will eventually take a big share of the AI market. At the moment, NVIDIA is still the leading name in the industry. It recently revealed that its revenue for the second quarter ending on July 27 rose 56 percent compared to the same period last year, and it didn't even have to ship any H20 chips to China. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-is-reportedly-producing-its-own-ai-chips-starting-next-year-113924707.html?src=rss View Source Article

With the CDC in disarray and its future uncertain, this episode explores what’s driving the exodus of agency staff and what this means for national health security. View Source Article

Google’s new Nest Cams look a lot like its old ones. Google is its own worst enemy: the company appears to have leaked three upcoming Nest smart home products in its own app. Wired versions of the Nest Cam Indoor (3rd gen), Nest Cam Outdoor (2nd gen), and Nest Doorbell (3rd gen) have all appeared as setup options in Google Home ahead of their expected launch next month. Android Authority spotted the three new Nest products, which it says it found in the latest version of Home, Google’s smart home app. I don’t see them in my own app, which might mean that Google has fixed the error already, or that availability could be different here in the UK. The site has also obtained images of the new products. Physically they all look similar to their predecessors, though a previous leak suggested that they’ll all be upgraded to 2K video resolution and will come in new colors not seen here, including a “berry” red for the indoor camera. Naturally, they’re also all expected to run the new Gemini for Home AI assistant, rather than the outdated Google Assistant. One device not seen in this new Home app leak is the rumored Gemini smart speaker, which we first got a glimpse of in Google’s own keynote event last month. Hopefully it will appear alongside the new cameras and doorbell when Google unveils its new hardware on October 1st. View Source Article

Welcome to Edition 8.09 of the Rocket Report! The biggest news of the week happened inside the Beltway rather than on a launch pad somewhere. In Washington, DC, Congress has pushed back on the Trump administration's plan to stop flying the Space Launch System rocket after Artemis III. Congress made it clear that it wants to keep the booster in business for a long time. The big question now is whether the Trump White House will blink. As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar. Israel launches SAR satellite. The Israel Ministry of Defense, Israel Defense Forces, and Israel Aerospace Industries successfully launched the Ofek 19 satellite on Tuesday from the Palmachim Airbase. The launch was carried out by the country's solid-propellant Shavit 2 rocket. Ofek 19 is a synthetic aperture radar observation satellite with enhanced capabilities, 7 Israel National News reports. View Source Article

Electra, a French operator of ultra-fast charging stations for electric vehicles in Europe, is looking for opportunities to acquire assets on the continent as difficulty raising funds forces consolidation across the sector. View Source Article

reMarkable is making a move away from its giant e-ink slate. The new Paper Pro Move is a smaller iteration with a 7.3-inch display the same size as a reporter’s notepad. The idea is an eink device you can write and edit on while on the move. Hence the name. Engadget There are some drawbacks, however. With the Move, the only way to write and edit typed text is with the on-screen keyboard. Bigger reMarkable devices can connect to a companion keyboard. Engadget’s Daniel Cooper spent some time with the new slate. There’s a lot to like, but it’s a different proposition to past reMarkable Papers. The Paper Pro Move is available to order today, priced at $449 with a stylus included. Meanwhile, paper notepads cost a buck fifty. They’re not compatible with keyboards either. — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The news you might have missed The Apple iPhone 17 Awe dropping event: Here’s what to expect on September 9 Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra hands-on The first new Bond game in over a decade is Hitman meets action blockbuster Dolby Vision 2 is here to push picture quality ‘beyond HDR’ Hisense TVs will get the tech first. Just when most of us figured out that our TVs and most new smartphones support high dynamic resolution (brighter whites, darker blacks, you get the gist), Dolby is here to make it look like crap. It just introduced Dolby Vision 2, with an array of new features. Content Intelligence uses AI to automatically adapt your TV to what you’re watching. For example, Precision Black helps keep darker scenes visible, and Light Sense detects ambient light to create the best picture — great if you keep a lamp or two on for movie night. Authentic Motion. This tool is what Dolby calls “the world’s first creative-driven motion control tool to make scenes feel more authentically cinematic.” I have no idea what that means. Continue reading. Eufy wants robovacs to conquer stairs But only its robovacs. Eufy’s MarsWalker carries the robovac between floors and drops it off at the base station when needed. It uses four control arms along with a track-drive system that “grips each step securely.” There are a few caveats. There’s no price yet, and it will only work with a few Eufy models — and no other company’s robovacs. Don’t worry, though, Eufy has a new model that packs its own aromatherapy module and costs a punchy $1,600. Continue reading. Instagram gets an iPad app 15 years later Better late than never? What a week for long delays! Hollow Knight: Silksong is out (still looking for the third Mossberry here…) and Instagram developers, for some reason, decided September 2025 is the time to finally launch a dedicated iPad app. Thanks to the bigger screen, comments on Reels will appear right next to the videos, and the DMs page will include the inbox alongside the actual chat. What makes it extra baffling is that Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the iPad platform wasn’t big enough to warrant fast-tracking an app. He said that in 2023. Continue reading. The LEGO Ultimate Death Star: Over 9,000 pieces and $1,000 It’s the most expensive set ever. Lego LEGO just revealed the Star Wars Ultimate Death Star set, the largest LEGO Star Wars set ever made. It’s also the most expensive LEGO set ever. Bricks aside, it comes with 38 minifigures, including characters like Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. It also comes with a stormtrooper figure in a hot tub — a nod to the video games. Continue reading. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111553035.html?src=rss View Source Article

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Universe Uncovered Hubble’s Partners in Science AI and Hubble Science Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Astronaut Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read Hubble Spies Galaxy with Lots to See This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy NGC 7456. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker While it may appear as just another spiral galaxy among billions in the universe, this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a galaxy with plenty to study. The galaxy, NGC 7456, is located over 51 million light-years away in the constellation Grus (the Crane). This Hubble image reveals fine detail in the galaxy’s patchy spiral arms, followed by clumps of dark, obscuring dust. Blossoms of glowing pink are rich reservoirs of gas where new stars are forming, illuminating the clouds around them and causing the gas to emit this tell-tale red light. The Hubble observing program that collected this data focused on the galaxy’s stellar activity, tracking new stars, clouds of hydrogen, and star clusters to learn how the galaxy evolved through time. Hubble, with its ability to capture visible, ultraviolet, and some infrared light, is not the only observatory focused on NGC 7456. ESA’s XMM-Newton satellite imaged X-rays from the galaxy on multiple occasions, discovering many so-called ultraluminous X-ray sources. These small, compact objects emit terrifically powerful X-rays, much more than researchers would expect, given their size. Astronomers are still trying to pin down what powers these extreme objects, and NGC 7456 contributes a few more examples. The region around the galaxy’s supermassive black hole is also spectacularly bright and energetic, making NGC 7456 an active galaxy. Whether looking at its core or its outskirts, at visible light or X-rays, this galaxy has something interesting for astronomers to study! Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated Sep 04, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Science Behind the Discoveries Hubble Design Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge View Source Article

Some black holes get extremely massive. Is there an upper limit to their growth? View Source Article

Microsoft is giving away Microsoft 365 Personal subscriptions to all US college students. This subscription gives students free access to Microsoft’s Office apps and the Copilot AI assistant integration for a year, after which the students are eligible for a 50 percent discount to continue the subscription. While most students have access to education versions of Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, Microsoft’s offer is for student’s own personal Microsoft accounts, and is available to claim until October 31st. Microsoft 365 Personal is usually $99.99 a year, or $9.99 a month, and includes 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed the free offer as part of the White House’s AI Education Task Force meeting yesterday, and announced other commitments to meet the Presidential AI Challenge and the AI Education Executive Order. Microsoft is funding $1.25 million in educator grants, offering free LinkedIn AI courses for job seekers, students, and teachers, and expanding access to its AI tools in schools. View Source Article

Broadcom Inc. and OpenAI are working to design and produce an artificial intelligence accelerator with plans to ship the first chips in that lineup starting next year from 2026. Matthew Bloxham of Bloomberg Intelligence has more on Bloomberg Television. View Source Article

The OnePlus 13 will likely be the last OnePlus phone to feature a Hasselblad logo. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau announced on the company’s user forums today that its five-year partnership with camera company Hasselblad has come to an end. From now on, OnePlus will develop its own imaging engine instead. OnePlus first teamed up with Hasselblad for the 9 and 9 Pro flagships, and a Hasselblad logo has featured on the camera of all of its top-tier phones since. That’s now set to change with the upcoming OnePlus 14 (which may actually be the OnePlus 15 to avoid the unlucky number “4” in China). Hasselblad didn’t just provide its logo though. It worked with OnePlus (and parent company Oppo) for years to develop imaging algorithms to improve its photography, once a weak point for the brand and now considered a bit of a strength. OnePlus is now taking that work in-house, developing the OnePlus DetailMax Engine. It’ll be interesting to see how close that ends up being to the Oppo Lumo engine, launched this April alongside the Find X8 Ultra (which, for what it’s worth, has a truly excellent camera). Making things a little weirder, Oppo just extended its partnership with Hasselblad in July, promising a new mobile imaging system to come later this year. I’m still struggling to square that circle. View Source Article

Alphabet Inc. shares are suddenly unshackled after a long-awaited antitrust ruling removed a key risk that’s weighed on the stock for months. View Source Article

Worries include broken windows and impacts to the local environment, tourism and fishing industries. View Source Article

Windows Mixed Reality headsets in 2018. | Image: Getty Images Windows Mixed Reality headsets were left in a non-functional state last year, after Microsoft suddenly discontinued the platform with its 24H2 update to Windows 11. Now, an Xbox engineer at Microsoft is bringing these headsets back to life, thanks to a new driver that enables SteamVR support. Matthieu Bucchianeri, a software engineer that worked on Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality headsets, has released a free “Oasis Driver for Windows Mixed Reality” on Steam. It’s named Oasis as that’s the codename Microsoft used for its Windows Mixed Reality efforts. The driver, spotted by UploadVR, requires an Nvidia GPU, simply because it relies on features “missing in the AMD and Intel graphics driver,” according to Bucchianeri. This Oasis driver doesn’t require the Mixed Reality Portal application, and it can run OpenVR and OpenXR applications through SteamVR. “The driver offers full headset and motion controller tracking as well as a native SteamVR rendering pipeline,” says Bucchianeri. While Microsoft should have delivered this type of driver to ensure Windows Mixed Reality headsets weren’t useless with the latest Windows 11 updates, Bucchianeri — who is now an Xbox engineer at Microsoft — has created this independently by reverse-engineering Nvidia and SteamVR code. He’s not releasing the source code as a result, and the Oasis driver will remain free to use. If you’re interested in trying out the Oasis driver, you can download it from Steam. Make sure you also follow the quick start steps in the documentation for the driver, too. View Source Article

Networks of pipes and heat exchangers can transfer excess heat from buildings into nearby bodies of water—but as the world warms, the cooling potential of some water courses is now diminishing. View Source Article

Qualcomm is joining forces with BMW on a new driver-assist system that will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel on approved roads. Qualcomm, which supplies infotainment, driver-assist, and telematics systems to a variety of automakers, is looking to raise its portfolio in the auto industry, as more car companies turn to advanced processors and chips to power high-tech features. The San Diego-based chipmaker says it currently has $45 billion in future revenue in its automotive pipeline right now. Now it’s teaming up with BMW to bring hands-free driving and more advanced autonomous features to more vehicles. The two companies jointly developed the new software system, which signals a growing role for automakers in the development of their autonomous systems. It’s built on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride system-on-a-chip using this jointly developed software stack. And Qualcomm says it was built “to meet the highest safety standards,” citing the European Union’s New Car Assessment Programme for Level 2 Plus systems. The San Diego-based chipmaker says it currently has $45 billion in future revenue in its automotive pipeline right now These systems are similar to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving, GM’s Super Cruise, and Ford’s BlueCruise, insofar as they allow drivers to remove their hands from the steering wheel and feet from the pedals on approved roads. (Different auto brands have different rules about when this is allowed, and for how long.) The system, which Qualcomm calls its Snapdragon Ride Pilot, made its debut at the Munich auto show today in the BMW iX3, which is the German automaker’s first “Neue Klasse” next-gen electric vehicle. Qualcomm says the system has been validated for use in more than 60 countries, with plans to expand to over 100 in 2026. Snapdragon Ride Pilot will be made available to all automakers and Tier-1 suppliers. While most hands-free systems are marketed as convenience features, Qualcomm says its new driver-assist features should also help improve safety. “That’s why we believe at Qualcomm that ADAS [advanced driver-assist systems] and automated driving should be as prevalent as seatbelts,” Qualcomm VP for product marketing Ignacio Contreras said in a recent briefing, “not only for the safety benefits that it brings to the car, but also for the convenience and productivity improvements that technology brings to users worldwide.” With more cars equipped with partial automation hitting the road, safety researchers are growing increasingly worried about driver attention and the potential for these systems to cause crashes. There is compelling evidence that, regardless of the company, most driver-assist systems are less safe than normal human driving. Drivers tend to develop an overreliance on these systems to drive the car for them — even after a short period of use. And when it’s time to take back control of the vehicle, their reaction times are slower than what’s considered safe. Qualcomm says the new software will ensure that the driver stays engaged with the road using the vehicle’s monitoring system. “The system has the built-in redundancy from that perspective,” said Dheeraj Ahuja, the company’s head of autonomous driving. “It has multiple algorithms trying to make these decisions as safe as possible. However, life on the road is quite chaotic at times, and this is where the driver engagement is very important.” View Source Article

For years, BMW has been teasing its forthcoming next-generation “Neue Klasse” electric vehicle platform, complete with better batteries, better range, and an all-new “superbrain” with enhanced computing power. Today, the German automaker finally revealed the first Neue Klasse vehicle: the iX3. And at first glance, it has a lot to take in. The iX3, which made its debut today at the Munich auto show, represents the 109-year-old company’s attempt at reinventing itself as a future-focused automaker that understands the growing importance of software in the automotive world. It’s also the tip of the spear in BMW’s effort to challenge the growing influence of China, which has become the world’s number one exporter of high-tech electric vehicles. And the iX3 will soon be joined by 40 more Neue Klasse models over the next two years as BMW radically changes the way it designs, builds, and sells what it calls “the ultimate driving machine.” Of course, all that will be for naught if the iX3 isn’t a compelling EV with killer specs that’s fun to drive. And from the first look, it seems like BMW may have hit it out of the park. Charging speed and range The iX3 will be BMW’s first EV built on an 800-volt architecture, which the automaker says will enable lightning-fast charging speeds of up to 400kW, adding as much as 230 miles of range in just 10 minutes. (Most DC fast chargers in the US offer speeds in the range of 150–350kW.) The iX3 is also the first EV to receive BMW’s in-house-developed Gen6 cylindrical battery cells, which offer 30 percent more range, up to 30 percent faster charging speeds, and 20 percent more energy density, and they are 50 percent cheaper to build. BMW wasn’t ready to disclose the exact energy content of the iX3’s new battery pack, but did say it will power the sports activity vehicle (SAV) for over 400 miles of EPA-estimated range. That’s less than the 600 miles of range the automaker was predicting in 2022, but still would place the iX3 among the top tier of current EVs in terms of range. The first variant to roll off the assembly line at BMW’s newly constructed factory in Hungary will be the iX3 50 xDrive, with an all-wheel drive motor setup capable of spitting out 463 horsepower and 476lb-ft of torque. That version will hit US dealerships by mid-2026, starting at $60,000, with rear-wheel drive models to follow soon after. ‘Superbrains’ The iX3 will be the first model from BMW to feature the automaker’s oddly named “Heart of Joy” computer, which is one of the Neue Klasse’s touted four “superbrains.” This unassuming black box aggregates all the traction, stability, and electric motor management functions that are typically handled by a dozen different processors sourced from a dozen different suppliers and scattered throughout the car. In unifying those functions, the iX3 is sure to be a blast to drive, as experienced by Verge contributor Tim Stevens earlier this year. The collection of displays — the instrument cluster, heads-up display, and central display — combines to form the Panoramic iDrive, which runs on the automaker’s Android-based Operating System X. BMW says it is elevating the experience with the iX3 to ensure that drivers keep their eyes on the road and avoid distractions. As such, the automaker has included physical knobs and buttons for the most important controls, including HVAC, audio volume, mirror control, and warning lights. The ‘Heart of Joy’ computer helps optimize drive quality. (BMW doesn’t mention its suppliers in its press release, but the automaker also announced today a new automated driving pilot for Level 2 Plus driving, which it has developed with Qualcomm.) The iX3 is BMW’s first foray into the buzzy world of software-defined vehicles. So there’s a lot of digital features that the automaker says will improve over time through over-the-air updates. At launch, BMW claims it has achieved “superior intelligence” in the form of interior lights that come on automatically if the vehicle’s sensors detect that the driver is searching for something, or a charging port flap that opens automatically when it detects an approaching plug. Other examples include app notifications if the vehicle detects something moving inside while its locked. Digital keys on smartphones or smartwatches will be the “preferred” way to unlock and start the iX3, BMW says, while noting that it supports all the major manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung, and Google. And the vehicle supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. How does iX3 stack up? The first thing you notice about the iX3 is the slimmer, more vertically aligned kidney grille, which sets it apart from some of its EV predecessors. Some could argue that BMW’s signature design feature has gotten a little out of control in the EV era, spreading lewdly across the iX’s front end, for example. So it may come as a bit of a shock that the automaker would tone down its aggressiveness for its new flagship battery-powered vehicle. In place of a wider grille, we get a new horizontal lightning design that presents as more sophisticated. In terms of size, the iX3 is about the same length as an i4, while also a little taller (64.4 inches) and a little wider (74.6 inches). And at 188.3 inches, it’s not as long as an iX, but is longer than most versions of the gas-powered X3. BMW is racing to keep up with Tesla and a new generation of Chinese manufacturers, like Xiaomi and Xpeng, that intuitively understand software and have for years been building vehicles with delightful digital experiences. And the German automaker has been making a lot of progress, with its EVs and plug-in hybrids seeing double-digit sales growth year over year. As governments around the world phase out their EV incentives, BMW will face a new challenge around affordability. The luxury and premium EV space is packed to the gills, with legacy players like BMW, Mercedes, and Audi competing against newcomers like Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian. The iX3 isn’t going to upset the balance too much, but it is an important piece in BMW’s mission to convince buyers that when it comes to EVs with the perfect balance of range, power, and software, it’s the ultimate choice. View Source Article

Lenovo Thinkpad P16 Gen 3. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Lenovo Lenovo has decided that IFA is the ideal time to show off its most powerful (and most chunky) hardware. And easily at the top of that heap is the Thinkpad P16 Gen 3. With a starting price of $3,339, it’s the most expensive and the most powerful of the lot. It packs the latest Core Ultra 200HX processors and has options for Nvidia’s RTX Pro GPUs, up to 192GB of DDR5 RAM, and up to 12TB of PCIe Gen5 NVMe storage; there is also an option for a 16-inch 3.2K OLED touchscreen. Unsurprisingly, the P16 Gen 3 is a beefy machine, at well over an inch thick and with a starting weight of 5.6 pounds, but on the plus side, it has a user-replaceable battery and two Thunderbolt 5 ports. If that’s too bulky but you still want some serious oomph, there is the new Thinkpad P1 Gen 8. You get Core Ultra 200 H series processors, and your graphics options are capped at the slightly lower RTX Pro 2000 tier (versus the 5000 on the P16), plus you still get two Thunderbolt 5 ports and can opt for the same 16-inch OLED panel. The perk is that it’s in a much less boxy chassis that weighs only 4 pounds and gets down to 0.8 inches thick, with a slightly more reasonable starting price of $2,819. Even though the P series is aimed at pros doing 3D rendering, it’s the Legion Pro 7 gaming machine that is actually the heftiest of the bunch. It’s slightly thinner than the P16 at 1.05 inches, but it weighs 6 pounds. It starts at $2,399, but can be configured with up to an AMD Ryzen 9955HX3D and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080. That’s more than enough to push most AAA titles to the 16-inch 240Hz OLED. If 16 inches isn’t enough real estate, Lenovo also unveiled a trio of gaming OLEDs: the $699.99 Pro 27Q-10, the $999.99 Pro 27UD-10, and the $1,099.99 Pro 32UD-10. View Source Article

Nvidia Corp.’s major server production partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. reported solid monthly sales growth, signaling demand for AI infrastructure remains intact in the US. View Source Article

This is what going 90 looks like on a laptop. Lenovo has made laptop screens that roll, flip, and go transparent, and now for IFA 2025 it’s announcing a new concept with a screen that can rotate into portrait mode. The Lenovo ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept is a pretty standard-looking 14-inch productivity laptop, but if you nudge the screen’s edge from its top-right corner, the whole display rotates 90 degrees within its chassis, realigning itself into a better view for documents, coding, or doomscrolling. That’s it. That’s its whole trick. It’s both utterly delightful and a touch mundane — much simpler than other, wilder Lenovo concepts. There isn’t some fancy flexible OLED display or whirring motor built into the chassis — just a clever, pivoting track system hidden behind its screen. It’s one of the most down-to-earth Lenovo concepts yet, which means it’s got a good chance of turning into a real product. I got to see the concept laptop in person during an early preview in New York City ahead of its IFA debut in Berlin. As with other Lenovo concepts, I found it charming, and the company reps had an anxious air of “Do you think this is cool too?”  And, well, it is pretty cool. If you’re like me and you often plug your laptop into a big monitor and use the laptop screen as a secondary display, being able to use it in a vertical orientation is pretty nifty. The screen was easy enough to rotate vertically with one hand. I felt obligated to be gentle with it and hold the laptop deck down with my other hand to prevent the whole thing toppling over, but it was sturdy enough that that wasn’t necessary. Once the screen is turned, the laptop lid has just enough room on either side to rest a phone beside it, the better for using Lenovo’s Smart Connect app to transfer files and control your Android phone with your mouse — though it wasn’t fully working in my brief demo. There isn’t much else to the VertiFlex concept laptop itself. Lenovo isn’t talking full specs, but the one I saw had two Thunderbolt (presumably Thunderbolt 4) ports, one USB-A port, HDMI, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The 14-inch concept laptop is not especially thin or particularly light, at 17.9mm / 0.7 inches thick and 1.39kg / 3.06 pounds. It’s a little thinner and two-thirds of a pound lighter than the rollable ThinkBook Plus, but still thicker and heavier than a conventional laptop like the ThinkPad X9. I was excited last year by the ThinkBook Flip concept, which took the flexible OLED from the rollable and turned it into a slightly simpler folding-screen setup. With a standard non-flexible panel and fewer moving parts like motors, the VertiFlex is even simpler. I’m not quite as stoked by a regular old rotating screen as I am by ones that fold or flip, but it still seems fun and potentially useful — and likely to be a lot cheaper than the $3,300 ThinkPad Plus Gen 6 rollable. Lenovo reps told me that the VertiFlex concept could also be easily scaled to different laptop sizes. Do people want their laptop screens to rotate into portrait mode? I have no idea. I certainly wouldn’t mind it, for the right price. But I love quirky devices, and I’m happy to see Lenovo throw more ideas at the wall and see what sticks. Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge View Source Article

Lenovo is no stranger to laptops with funky displays. The company has made a notebook with a tri-fold screen, one with a rollable panel and multiple systems with flexible displays. But this year at IFA, Lenovo is testing out yet another new design with its latest concept laptop, and this time it may have created the ultimate doomscrolling machine. Its official name is the ThinkBook Vertiflex Concept and when it's closed, it looks almost exactly like a traditional 14-inch clamshell laptop. But if you look closer, you'll notice that its screen has a secret feature: the ability to rotate 90 degrees into portrait mode. This means you can switch to a taller aspect ratio for tasks like coding, editing photos and videos, or simply browsing your favorite vertically-oriented social media app. Naturally, to enhance its portrait mode capabilities, Lenovo included support for pairing the laptop with your phone via its Smart Connect app, which allows you to mirror or extend the latter’s display on a bigger screen or quickly transfer files just by dragging and dropping. In a lot of ways, the Vertiflex Concept feels like the laptop version of one of LG's last phones — the LG Wing — while also sharing a lot of similarities with TVs like the rotating Samsung Sero. And given the continued rise in popularity of vertical photos and videos on social media, it's actually kind of a surprise that it's taken a mainstream PC maker this long to create a laptop like this. On a more practical level, I really appreciate that even with a rotating display, it doesn't feel like there's much of a penalty when it comes to added heft or thickness. The Vertiflex Concept weighs just three pounds and measures 0.7 inches thin, which isn’t far off from what you’d get from a typical 14-inch ultraportable. And while Lenovo hasn’t provided much in the way of hardware specs (this is a concept device after all), I noticed that the laptop does feature a healthy number of connectivity options, including two USB-C ports, one USB-A connector, a full-size HDMI jack, 3.5mm audio and a microSD card reader. Now, Lenovo has shown off more concept devices than practically any other major OEM in recent history, so of course, the Vertiflex wasn’t the only prototype the company had on display for IFA 2025. There was also the Smart Motion Concept, but that felt less impactful because instead of being a standalone product, this thing is merely a laptop stand. It uses the sensors on whatever it’s connected to to track your face and automatically reposition your laptop’s screen in the right position. The Lenovo Smart Motion Concept and the case for its optional gesture control ring. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The idea is that if you're making a presentation, the stand allows your laptop to better keep your face in frame while also making sure its mics and speakers are pointed in the optimal direction. Alternatively, if you'd rather control the stand yourself, the device can be paired to a ring with gesture support. Finally, Lenovo says the Smart Motion concept also has some features to do things like help you maintain ergonomically friendly postures. However, as both products are experimental devices, there's no word on whether Lenovo will turn these into proper retail offerings. But if either the Vertiflex or Smart Motion concepts strike your fancy, you might want to say something (maybe on social media for the social-media focused laptop) to give Lenovo a bit of extra encouragement.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/lenovos-latest-laptop-concept-might-be-the-ultimate-doomscrolling-machine-060000162.html?src=rss View Source Article

It’s like a weird robotic dinosaur that can mow your lawn. Plenty of autonomous lawnmowers have been showcased or introduced at this year’s IFA event in Berlin, but only one of them comes equipped with a robotic arm. NexLawn, a sub-brand of MOVA that sits under its Dreame parent company, has announced the Master X Series Concept, which it describes as “the first robotic mower with a fully functional mechanical arm.” That arm is designed to help reduce the amount of manual maintenance that’s required for people who own and run robot lawnmowers, such as picking up any fallen sticks or debris that could damage the bot or force it to navigate around the obstacle. The arm folds down to 44.5 cm (about 17.5 inches) in length, extends up to 77 cm (a little over 30 inches), and can reach as far as one meter away when performing outdoor tasks. NexLawn says it features multiple interchangeable arm attachments, including a multi-gripper, a trimmer head, and an edging disc head, with more in development. The Master X Series Concept is capable of “trimming, weeding, fruit picking, and even pet interaction,” according to NexLawn’s press release. A 3D animated video demo shows the mower throwing a ball for a dog, for example, though it’s hard to picture a pooch that would engage positively with such a visibly not human-looking device. The inclusion of “Concept” in its name indicates that this isn’t a consumer-ready product you can actually go out and buy, but some concept products do eventually evolve into something tangible. NexLawn hasn’t mentioned a price or release timeline, however, so any potential launch will likely be a ways off. View Source Article

Apple’s AirTag is a small, clever tracker that makes it easy to keep tabs on your everyday items — from your keys and wallet to luggage and backpacks. But to get the most out of it, you’ll need the right accessories to match. That’s where AirTag accessories come in, helping you attach, protect and style your tracker in a way that suits your daily routine.Whether you're looking for a low-profile AirTag wallet insert, a rugged AirTag mount for your bike or pet’s collar or an Apple AirTag holder with multiple color options that adds a personal touch, there’s no shortage of great options. Some accessories come in hard plastic or hard shell designs for extra durability, while others double as a sleek protective case or minimalist tag holder. From stylish designs to smart attachments, these are the best AirTag accessories to level up your tracking functionality and keep your items secure. Best AirTag holders for 2025 AirTag holder FAQs Why do AirTags need a holder? AirTags need a holder because they do not have built-in keyring holes like Tile, Chipolo and other Bluetooth trackers do. How do you attach an AirTag to things? You'll need a holder or case to attach an AirTag to your stuff. If you're comfortable slipping an AirTag into an interior pocket of a bag or coat, you can do so without an extra accessory. But if you want to use one to keep track of your keys, wallet, backpack or even your pet on their collar, you'll need an accessory that can accommodate that use case. Do AirTag holders affect tracking performance? No, AirTag holders should not affect tracking performance. Do AirTag holders protect against scratches and impacts? Yes, AirTag holders can protect against scratches and impacts. Many AirTag cases encircle the edge of the tracker only, leave the two disk sides exposed. For the most protection, look for an AirTag holder than goes around the entire Bluetooth tracker like a sleeve.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-apple-airtag-cases-holders-accessories-123036404.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Timekettle W4 AI look like a supersized pair of wireless earbuds. | Image: Timekettle Timekettle has announced a new pair of real-time translation headphones called the W4 AI Interpreter Earbuds. They use bone conduction technology that helps improve accuracy in loud environments. Available now for $349 in navy blue and sandy gold color options, the earbuds are a more affordable alternative to the company’s $449 over-the-ear W4 Pro released earlier this year that looked like the clunky Bluetooth headsets that were popular a few decades ago. Timekettle says its new W4 AI are instead “optimized for casual use” with a design that looks more like modern wireless earbuds, but with a much larger stem. The reason the W4 AI aren’t as compact as other wireless earbuds like Apple’s AirPods is because they contain additional electronics to run Timekettle’s Babel OS 2.0 real-time translation software that’s powered by AI LLM models. The company says the system “instantly converts speech between 42 languages and 95 accents” with up to 98 percent accuracy thanks to its ability to understand and anticipate the context of what you’re saying so it can differentiate between similar sounding words. As with the W4 Pro, you can also create your own custom lexicon for the new W4 AI so it doesn’t get confused when talking to someone about skibidi toilets. To further improve its translation accuracy the W4 AI includes a new feature not seen on Timekettle’s other products. The earbuds use a combination of a standard microphone and a sensor that detects voice vibrations through the bones in your head to more accurately recognize what you’re saying, even in loud environments. The bone conduction sensor also improves sensitivity so you can talk quieter, potentially allowing for more discreet conversations when talking in public. Battery life is rated at up to four hours of continuous translation or up to 10 hours when paired with the W4 AI’s charging case that splits in two with an earbud on either side. They can also be used as standard wireless earbuds when you just want to listen to music which boosts battery life to up to eight hours, or 18 with a top-off in their charging case. View Source Article

Lenovo just announced some new gaming products at IFA, including the Legion Pro 7 laptop. The specs here are impressive. The laptop ships with AMD's newest Ryzen 9 9000 HX series processors and options go all the way up to the Ryzen 9955HX3D. The Windows 11 computer also features NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs and purchasers can go up to the RTX 5080. There's a 16-inch 240Hz OLED panel with a 0.08ms response time, which should make for some glorious gaming sessions. Lenovo It can be outfitted with up to 2TB of storage and up to 32GB of RAM. It also incorporates the company's Coldfront thermal technology to keep things cool, which in turn lets gamers "run the highest-demand games at the highest settings." The Legion Pro 7 will be available this November and prices start at $2,400. The company also announced the LOQ Tower 26ADR10 desktop. The specs here are impressive, as the computers are powered by AMD Ryzen 8000 series processors and NVIDIA 50-Series GPUs. It can be topped off with up to 64GB of RAM and 4GB of SSD storage. It'll be available later this month, with a starting price of $1,000. Lenovo Lenovo even announced a few new gaming monitors at IFA, all of which offer multiple connection options and speedy refresh rates. They will be available in October or November, depending on which model is selected, with prices ranging from $700 to $1,100.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lenovos-new-legion-pro-7-gaming-laptop-can-be-outfitted-with-up-to-a-geforce-5080-gpu-060017519.html?src=rss View Source Article

Laptop stands are a dime a dozen, but this one adapts to you. It also “dances.” Lenovo’s Smart Motion Concept laptop stand, announced at IFA 2025, automatically raises and lowers itself and turns and tilts to position your laptop at an ergonomic eye level. It’s a lot like an amped-up Apple Center Stage webcam, but the whole laptop adapts to you and your posture. That’s basically what it felt like when it was demoed for me at a recent preview event, where it tracked me side to side and up and down around a table. In another demo, it did a “dance” where it ran through its full range of motion to some cheesy music. (More Elaine than any TikTok-level choreography.) The stand’s other features include built-in cooling fans and a USB hub. The USB connection allows Lenovo’s software to use the webcam to keep the user in frame. In addition to face tracking, the stand is controllable with a remote or through hand gestures while wearing Lenovo’s AI Ring — another concept it showed back at MWC. The Smart Motion stand was born from Lenovo’s Auto Twist concept, a laptop that turned its screen to face you. Lenovo envisions that, should a product with this tech ever launch, part of its role could be to meet accessibility needs in a variety of laptops. Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge View Source Article

Australian-made video game Hollow Knight: Silksong is captivating users who’ve waited seven years for a glimpse, shooting to the top of the charts. View Source Article

At the beginning of the year, Lenovo gave us an early design preview of its next flagship gaming handheld — the Legion Go 2. Today, at IFA 2025, the company is fleshing out the rest of the system with more details regarding its specs, price and availability. In terms of its overall appearance, not much has changed on the outside of the Legion Go 2. It has the same general shape and detachable controllers as the preview model, alongside an 8.8-inch OLED with a variable 144Hz refresh rate and VESA HDR TrueBlack 1000 certification. Lenovo has kept the ability to use the right controller as a vertical mouse (aka FPS mode) when paired with the handheld's included puck/stand. And as before, you still get Hall Effect joysticks, a built-in touchpad and kickstand and dual USB 4 ports. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The only major change from what we saw in January is slightly different paint colors on elements like its shoulder buttons. That said, I do appreciate that unlike a lot of its rivals (aside from the Steam Deck), Legion Go 2 still comes bundled with a case, just like its predecessor. On the flipside, one thing I wish Lenovo had changed is the detachment process for Legion Go 2's controllers. Like before, you can press a button in back before sliding each joypad off a small hidden rail. And while it works, after using the new magnetic system for the Switch 2's Joy-Con, doing the same thing on the Legion Go 2 just feels clunky. Meanwhile, the Legion Go 2's internals are where most of its upgrades have gone. The handheld can now be equipped with up to an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage. And if that's not enough, there's also a microSD card reader. But perhaps the most tantalizing improvement may be its battery life, as the Legion Go 2 comes with a 74Whr battery that's 50 percent larger than the 49.2 Whr cell in the original.  Unfortunately, I only had a brief time with the demo unit and as it didn't have a lot of games already installed (especially more resource-intensive ones), so I couldn't really gauge how much better its performance was compared to the original model. However, I did notice that Lenovo's Legion Space app felt much snappier and more polished, though it probably won't be as seamless as the native game integration and new UI that's coming on the ROG Xbox Ally. All told, the Legion Go 2 is shaping up to be a more refined, powerful and longer-lasting follow-up while retaining pretty much every major good feature from its predecessor like a big OLED screen, detachable controllers and solid connectivity. Granted, it's still quite chunky even with its curvier and more streamlined design, but that was always going to be the case considering its large 8.8-inch display. So if you can handle a Windows-based handheld (sorry SteamOS fans) that's on the heftier side, this is one worth keeping an eye on. Sam Rutherford for Engadget But here's the potential catch: the Legion Go 2 may be substantially more expensive too. It's expected to go on sale sometime in October starting at $1,049, which is a significant jump up from the $700 base price of the original (let alone what it's going for now, which can be as low as $550 depending on discounts). And that figure is likely for a model with a Ryzen Z2 chip, which means anyone who wants one with a more powerful Z2 Extreme processor will need to keep some wiggle room in their budget. So while I appreciate how Lenovo is chasing big performance on a portable gaming machine, the Legion Go 2's price has me appreciating more affordable handheld rivals like the Steam Deck even more than I already do. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lenovo-legion-go-2-hands-on-powerful-upgrades-but-with-an-even-higher-price-060052114.html?src=rss View Source Article

Lepro TB1-Pro AI table lamp. | Image: Lepro We’re all used to having our lights respond to verbal commands at this point. But normally, there’s a middleman passing our commands along, whether that’s our phone or a smart speaker that is actually listening to what we say. Lepro is eliminating the need for a separate controller by building a microphone directly into the power cord on its new AI Lighting Pro series. The lineup includes a light strip (S1-Pro AI), a rope light (N1-Pro AI), a rail-thin floor lamp (OE1-Pro AI), and a wild-looking table lamp (TB1-Pro AI). The S1 is a pretty standard light strip, while the N1 adds diffusion to create a more seamless look. The OE1 includes RGB and a 2700K warm-white mode for reading and relaxing. And the TB1 has three independently movable and configurable intertwined rings that resemble a gyroscope. There’s no word on pricing or when they’ll launch in the US outside of “later in 2025.” All have a built-in microphone and a voice assistant called LightGPM, which you can summon by saying “Hey Lepro.” While the capabilities are limited to controlling the light, the level of control is impressive. It can handle basic stuff like turning lights on and off and changing colors, but it can also use an LLM to create lighting patterns and effects in response to moods or activities like “I’m doing yoga” or “I’m a very stressed-out Mets fan.”  The lights also have Wi-Fi and can integrate with Alexa and Google Assistant, but that’s not what makes them interesting. It’s the standalone operation, the addition of yet another device in your home that is always listening. Other manufacturers have built voice control directly into their products, like Roborock and Ecovacs on their vacuums, and Sonos on its speakers, but it’s less common on lights (Dollar Tree is clearly a pioneer). The question is, do you need another device in your house listening to your every word and feeding it to an LLM? Maybe not, but chances are you’re gonna have to get used to it. View Source Article

Anthropic is blocking its services from Chinese-controlled companies, saying it’s taking steps to prevent a US adversary from advancing in AI and threatening American national security. View Source Article

Tesla has expanded availability of the Tesla Robotaxi app. They have allowed highway robotaxi driving in Austin. This needs a safety driver but the safety driver is generally not intervening. Waymo does not drive passengers on the highway yet. View Source Article

West Australians should get particularly good views, but the eclipse will be visible from the whole country given favourable weatherGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSet your alarm, pray for clear skies and prepare to be awestruck in the early hours of Monday morning, when Australia becomes the prime location to witness a rare total lunar eclipse.A blood moon, as it is called, occurs when the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow across the lunar surface. The moon takes on a deep red hue, giving it a surreal, even eerie, appearance. Continue reading... View Source Article

Apple Inc.’s annual sales in India hit a record of nearly $9 billion in the last fiscal year, signaling growing consumer demand for its flagship devices as the company ramps up its retail footprint in the world’s most populous country. View Source Article

Boeing’s has shown a new rendering of the F/A-XX 6th generation navy stealth fighter. It conceals canards, tail surfaces, and wing tips, but shows a bubble-shaped cockpit canopy similar to the F-47. The radome appears narrower, and no vertical stabilizers show which should improve stealth. The wingtips and canard placements are concealed, making it difficult ... Read more View Source Article

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit against popular AI image generator Midjourney, accusing it of stealing and exploiting its intellectual properties. The complaint revolves around the AI tool's ability to generate images and videos of Warner Bros.' popular fictional characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Scooby Doo, Bugs Bunny and his friends from Looney Tunes. "Midjourney thinks it is above the law," the company wrote in its lawsuit. It said that the image generator sells a commercial subscription service powered by AI technology that was illegally trained using its copyrighted works.  The company argued that Midjourney has the technology to prevent users from generating images of the characters it owns. It apparently refused to generate videos based on Warner Bros.' properties when it first launched its video model. But within the past couple of weeks, it allegedly removed those protections and told its users that they would encounter "fewer blocked jobs." The ability to generate Warner Bros.' characters are a clear draw for its subscription service that costs $10 to $120 a month, the media conglomerate said. "It is hard to imagine copyright infringement that is any more willful than what Midjourney is doing here," the plaintiff added. "Midjourney has prioritized and sought to preserve the hundreds of millions of dollars it earns annually from its service by doubling down on its theft of copyrighted works." In the complaint, the company gave several examples of Midjourney-generated images and video stills next to images and screencaps of its movies and shows. The image above, for instance, shows Midjourney's output from the prompt "Batman, screencap from The Dark Knight." next to actual promotional materials from the Christian Bale-led movie. Further, generic prompts like "classic comic book superhero battle" could lead to output with WB characters even if they're not specifically mentioned.  Midjourney is already facing a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Disney and Universal Studios back in June. They accused the AI service of "help[ing] itself to countless" copyrighted works to train its models and for infringing on their copyright by allowing users to generate images of characters from Star Wars, Shrek, The Simpsons and Despicable Me, among other properties.  Warner Bros. Discovery is now asking the court for statutory damages of "up to $150,000 per infringed work by virtue of Midjourney’s willful infringement." We've reached out to Midjourney and will update this post when we hear back. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/warner-bros-discovery-is-suing-midjourney-for-copyright-infringement-035850831.html?src=rss View Source Article

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. sued AI startup Midjourney alleging theft of its intellectual property, saying the company allowed customers to generate images and videos of characters like Wonder Woman and Superman without permission. View Source Article

A unit of Mexican fintech Klar has entered an agreement to buy Grupo Financiero Banorte’s digital bank Bineo, a move that brings it closer to operating with a banking license. View Source Article

The global artificial intelligence investment frenzy is fast rewriting the fortunes of companies in the semiconductor industry. One notable laggard is Tokyo Electron Ltd. View Source Article

Xiaohongshu Technology Co. is on track to triple its profit to $3 billion this year, making progress with commercialization on the way to a potential public listing. View Source Article

Qantas Airways Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Vanessa Hudson and her top leadership team were docked A$800,000 ($522,000) in pay for a cyberbreach that impacted millions of customers, as the airline attempts to shows it’s taking a harder line on accountability and governance. View Source Article

OpenAI is preparing to design and produce its own AI chip with help from Broadcom Inc. in 2026, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified people familiar with that tie-up. View Source Article

Since the start of last summer, DuckDuckGo has offered a handful of AI chatbots from OpenAI, Anthropic and others directly through its browser. And while it's mostly low-cost models like GPT-4o mini and Claude 3.5 Haiku on offer, the feature, Duck.ai, allows you to use those tools without sacrificing your privacy. As a service, that appears to have resonated with DuckDuckGo users, and now the company is reorienting its Privacy Pro subscription around access to more advanced models from those providers. The good news? The price of the service — either $10 per month or $100 billed annually — remains unchanged, and you still get all the previous perks included in the package. What is changing is the name. It's now simply known as the DuckDuckGo subscription, and, in addition to offering access to the company's own VPN, as well as its personal information removal and identity protection services, it allows you to use some of the latest models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta. The full list features GPT-4o, GPT-5, Sonnet 4.0 and Llama 4 Maverick. As before, any conversations you have with those chatbots through DuckDuckGo are anonymized and your data won't be used for training future systems. "Today, we're expanding Duck.ai by giving DuckDuckGo subscribers access to more advanced AI models, covered by the same strong protections," said DuckDuckGo. "The base version of Duck.ai is not changing; it’s still free to use, with no account necessary. We’re just adding more models for subscribers."If you don't want to use the new AI perks, you don't have to; DuckDuckGo allows users to hide all the AI buttons found in its browser's search, desktop and mobile settings. That said, the company notes it's exploring the option of offering higher subscription tiers with access to even more advanced AI models in the future.   This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/duckduckgos-subscription-now-offers-some-of-the-latest-chatbots-from-openai-and-anthropic-120000845.html?src=rss View Source Article

A wave of so-called digital bond issuance in Hong Kong in recent days is showing rising appetite for the securities that use blockchain technology. View Source Article

Google must pay $425 million to the plaintiffs of a class action lawsuit that accused the company of collecting users' data even after they've turned off a tracking feature, a federal jury has decided. The lead plaintiff sued Google back in July 2020, arguing that the company still harvested data even though it tells users they can disable tracking under Web & App Activity through its connection with other apps, such as Uber and Instagram. US District Judge Richard Seeborg then certified the lawsuit as class action, involving 98 million Google users and 174 million devices.  The plaintiffs' lawyers asked for $31 billion in damages, but the jury only found Google liable on two of the three privacy violation claims. Google didn't violate the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act and didn't act out of malice, the jury found. As a result, the jury concluded that the plaintiffs aren't entitled to any punitive damages. In a statement, Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that the decision "misunderstands how [their] products work." He added that the company's privacy tools give users control over their data and insisted that Google honors people's choice to turn off personalization. Castaneda said that Google plans to appeal.  The company faced several similar privacy lawsuits in the past. Another 2020 lawsuit accused Google of tracking users in Incognito mode, and the company agreed to settle the $5 billion lawsuit in 2023. A year later, it admitted that it can indeed collect information in Incognito and promised to destroy billions of data collected from Incognito tracking to settle the complaint.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-ordered-to-pay-425-million-in-app-data-collection-lawsuit-120048799.html?src=rss View Source Article

President Donald Trump said he would be imposing tariffs on semiconductor imports “very shortly” but spare goods from companies like Apple Inc. that have pledged to boost their US investments. View Source Article

Meta currently has lots of priorities Mark Zuckerberg likely never would have imagined back in the early days of Facebook. The company has pivoted from social networking to the metaverse and, most recently, to AI. But somehow, one of its earliest — and most useless — features has not only survived but is apparently getting a revamp. I'm talking, of course, about the poke, which Meta is once again trying to revive. The company is making the storied feature easier to find by adding pokes back to user profiles in the Facebook app, according to a post it shared on Instagram. And you can track all poking-related activity between you and your friends at facebook.com/pokes. It even looks like there's a Snapchat-streak like aspect where different emojis appear based on how many pokes have been exchanged. Just in case you weren't on Facebook two decades ago, "poking" was something of a novelty in the early days of the social network. At the time, there weren't that many features for interacting with your friends. You could leave comments on their profile and … you could "poke." The feature never really did anything, but depending on who it came from it was considered something between creepy or flirty.  As Meta notes in its Instagram post, poking never really went away, but it was de-emphasized over the years and has been largely forgotten by users.But the company has for some reason been trying to get poking to make a comeback for a while now. Meta said last year the feature was "having a moment" and that there had been a 13x spike in pokes after the company began surfacing the feature in the Facebook search bar. Now, it seems Meta is trying to build even more momentum for it, presumably for the current generation of younger Facebook users. Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year he wants to bring back more "OG" Facebook features like… being able to find content posted by your actual friends. And it's hard to get more "OG Facebook" than poking. Meta has also been on a years-long mission to win over "young adults,"  so it might see the jokey feature as a way to appeal to a generation used to taking their Snap streak extremely seriously. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/21-years-later-meta-still-hasnt-given-up-on-the-facebook-poke-000446458.html?src=rss View Source Article

LinkedIn will now require some users to verify their identity before they change job titles in an attempt to cut down on scams on the platform. The new identity verification rules will specifically apply to executives and recruiters who interact with job seekers or represent a company in one form or another. As part of these changes, LinkedIn says users who add or update their title to anything recruiter-related (recruiter, talent acquisition, etc.) will have to verify their workplace on their profiles. The same identity verification rules will apply to executives, as well, which LinkedIn says covers titles like "Executive Director, Managing Director, and Vice President." Verifying your workplace requires you to provide an official email address that uses your company's domain name. The new requirement only applies to people changing roles, existing recruiters and executives won't have to verify. LinkedIn LinkedIn has offered similar verification tools to select companies upon request, but now the platform says it'll open up the option to every company with a LinkedIn page via a new "Premium Company Page subscription." A verified company should be easier to trust when paired with verified employees. While LinkedIn is best known as a home for thought leadership and a necessary evil in job hunts, it's also the site of a large amount of fraud. Scammers impersonate company employees to collect data from fake job postings or conduct elaborate investment schemes, as CNBC reported in 2022. LinkedIn has automated systems for weeding out fake accounts, and rolled out an earlier wave of anti-scam features focused on job postings in 2023, but this new system should offer even more security.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/linkedin-will-require-recruiters-and-executives-to-verify-their-identity-to-cut-down-on-scams-130040435.html?src=rss View Source Article

We’re now several months into a brand new Nintendo generation, and waiting impatiently for important information such as the release date for Metroid Prime 4 and the whereabouts of the next 3D Mario game. But in the meantime, the company has been gradually updating its various retro console emulators on Nintendo Switch Online, with the latest being the Game Boy Advance. As spotted by Nintendo Everything, the 3.0.0 update to the GBA app adds button remapping, which is already possible with the N64 and SNES emulators. Accessible from the menu while playing a game, this allows you to mess around with controls if you’re not happy with the default option, which admittedly does feel like something that should have been there from the beginning, but hey. Nintendo Everything adds that GBA games in the Nintendo Switch Online library are also now playable in 1080p in handheld mode on the Switch 2, which is hard to verify as there’s no option to toggle video quality. Presumably any game booted on the newer hardware now just defaults to the higher resolution, where before they’d have been stretched from the original Switch’s 720p maximum output. Of course, if the idea of playing a game from the early 2000s with pin-sharp clarity on a huge display appalls you, there is still the option of enabling a bordered small screen, as well as the “classic feel” filter, which adds analog-y scanlines. Perhaps the most enjoyable addition of all, though, is the hidden original GBA startup screen, which you can activate by wiggling the analogue stick when booting the app. I tested this, and it is (obviously) delightful. Nintendo added a similar Easter egg to its GameCube app earlier this year. Unfortunately, the updated GBA emulator doesn’t include any new game drops. The most recent title to join the service was Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones back in April, which means the arduous wait for Nintendo to give us Mario Golf: Advance Tour continues. For me at least. Sigh.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-switch-2s-latest-update-improves-the-consoles-gba-emulator-164340851.html?src=rss View Source Article

The new Street Fighter movie has been given a release date of October 16, 2026. Kitao Sakurai is directing the project and a few generic plot details have been disclosed. The story will be set in 1993, a nod to the year Street Fighter II was released in arcades, and will have familiar characters from the game uncovering "a deadly conspiracy" in the midst of all their street fighting. It seems safe to expect a fair bit of camp in a Street Fighter project, and that bears out in some of the casting. Andrew Koji will play Ryu; he's had several past action roles such as Bullet Train and TV series Warrior, so that feels like a solid choice. Noah Centineo is taking a break from his work in Netflix rom-coms (notably To All the Boys I've Loved Before and its sequels) to play Ken. Newcomer Callina Liang, who only has a few credits to date, will play Chun-li. David Dastmalchian will be filling the great Raul Julia's shoes (and oversized hat) as M. Bison. Then things really get wacky. Curtis Jackson (who you know as rapper 50 Cent) is playing Balrog and country artist Orville Peck is Vega. Jason Momoa has been cast as Blanka, while WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes has even been chosen to play Guile. This could be absolute gold or absolute trash or possibly both at the same time.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-new-street-fighter-movie-lands-in-theaters-next-october-222724911.html?src=rss View Source Article

Payments giant Stripe Inc. and crypto investment firm Paradigm are incubating a new blockchain designed for stablecoin payments. View Source Article

Firaxis, longtime developer of the strategy series Civilization, is laying off an undisclosed number of staff, Game Developer reports. The studio's publisher and owner 2K confirmed that the layoffs were happening as Firaxis "restructures and optimizes" for "adaptability, collaboration, and creativity." The layoffs follow turmoil at another 2K studio, Cloud Chamber, which is supposed to be developing the next Bioshock game.  Since the restructuring has yet to be publicly disclosed, it's hard to say with absolute certainty how many people have been impacted. Some former staff who worked on Civilization VII and Marvel's Midnight Sons have already shared that they were laid off social media. Game Developer's source claims "dozens of workers" were caught up in the cuts. Engadget has contacted 2K for details about the layoffs and will update this article if we hear back. The layoffs are surprising only because Take-Two Interactive, Firaxis and 2K's parent company, was still expecting financial growth for the back half of 2025. Despite delaying its hotly anticipated cash cow Grand Theft Auto VI, Take-Two shared in March that it expected five percent growth in revenue and net bookings for the rest of the year, according to Game Developer. While that might suggest jobs should be safe, layoffs are increasingly a feature of game companies' normal business strategies. A game could be a failure or a success, but either way it seems to lead to layoffs. Firaxis' latest game, Civilization VII, was released in February 2025. The game features a new approach to the series' turn-based gameplay, letting players mix and match world leaders and civilizations to their strategic benefit. While it wasn't released to universal acclaim, Firaxis has continued to update Civilization VII since its release with new content and software fixes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/civilization-developer-firaxis-is-laying-off-staff-221105604.html?src=rss View Source Article

On Thursday Senators grilled Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., about vaccines and turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health experts responded to Kennedy’s claims on social media in disbelief and anger View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow discuss the sell-off of Salesforce shares following a lackluster topline growth forecast that suggests AI isn't paying off just yet. Plus Apple plans to launch an AI-powered web search tool for Siri to rival OpenAI. And HPE CEO Antonio Neri discusses the company’s earnings, Juniper Networks acquisition and partnership with Nvidia.  (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

That was fast. A week after a new feature for sharing long-form text was spotted in the Threads app, Meta is making the experiment official. Threads users will now be able to append text snippets of up to 10,000 characters to their posts in a feature Meta says is meant to support journalists and creators on the platform. As Engadget detailed last week, the feature is fairly basic for now. Selecting "text attachment" from the post composer opens up a simple text editor that has some formatting options. Once published to Threads, text attachments open either in a full-screen view on mobile or in a dedicated window on threads.com. If the post contains a link, the text attachment will also show a preview of the linked post at the end of text.That's notable as Meta has been trying to make links shared on Threads more prominent in an effort to give creators a boost on the platform. So far, there have been mixed results. While data shows engagement with links has been growing in recent months, Threads is sending very little traffic to websites overall.In a blog post, the company says the feature was inspired by user behavior as people frequently share "screenshots of longer content from books, articles, newsletters, podcast transcripts." The company also suggests that the feature could be used by authors and journalists who wish to share previews of their published works.While the 10,000 character limit technically means that authors and journalists could publish substantial amounts of writing directly on Threads, text attachments lack many features you'd expect from publishing tools. There are limited text formatting options, for example, and you can't embed media or do much else to break up big chunks of text. (A Meta spokesperson says highlighting and other formatting abilities are in the works.)Text attachments also aren't compatible with sharing to the fediverse, so followers from other ActivityPub services won't be able to see them even if you’ve opted in to fediverse sharing. But many users will likely still find the feature preferable to sharing lengthy multi-part Threads, which can be hard to follow and don't always all appear in a single view in the app or website. Meta says the feature is still in its early days and that it plans to add more functionality to text attachments in the future, along with more creator-focused updates.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-posts-now-support-text-attachments-up-to-10000-characters-170000305.html?src=rss View Source Article

Midjourney allegedly generated these images of Batman and the Joker. | Image: Warner Bros. Discovery via Midjourney Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Midjourney over claims the AI startup “brazenly dispenses its intellectual property as if it were its own,” as reported earlier by The Hollywood Reporter. In the lawsuit, Warner Bros. Discovery alleges that Midjourney generated “countless” infringing images and videos of its copyrighted characters, including Superman, Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, and more. Warner Bros. Discovery accuses Midjourney of reproducing, displaying, and distributing “unauthorized derivatives” of its intellectual property through its AI image and video generation tools. Throughout the lawsuit, Warner Bros. Discovery shares several examples of how Midjourney’s AI tools seem to have generated images of copyrighted characters, like Wonder Woman, Tweety, the Power Puff Girls, and even Rick and Morty in response to prompts asking to see the characters in certain situations. Additionally, Warner Bros. Discover claims that Midjourney will generate infringing images even if prompts don’t mention a specific character. For instance, Midjourney allegedly generated downloadable images of Superman, Batman, and Flash after receiving the prompt, “classic comic book superhero battle.” Midjourney is facing a similar copyright lawsuit from Disney and Universal, which called the company’s AI image generator a “virtual vending machine” that generates “endless authorized copies” of their work. Warner Bros. Discovery claims Midjourney is aware of the “breathtaking scope of its piracy and copyright infringement” but refuses to protect copyright holders. “It is hard to imagine copyright infringement that is any more willful than what Midjourney is doing here,” the lawsuit states. “Midjourney is purposefully exploiting Warner Bros. Discovery’s valuable intellectual property to attract subscribers to Midjourney, and it is profiting by providing subscribers with endless copies and derivatives of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Copyrighted Works.” Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Midjourney for damages related to the alleged copyright infringement, and is asking the court to block Midjourney from copying, displaying, or distributing its intellectual property, as well as to stop the company from offering AI tools without copyright protection measures. Midjourney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. View Source Article

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. are leading a roughly $38 billion debt package to fund data centers connected to Oracle Corp. in Wisconsin and Texas, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

The White House hosted several tech and AI leaders at an event today centered on teaching artificial intelligence in US schools. Many of the big tech companies — including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic — have already issued press releases with their commitments to a pledge from the White House to help "foster early interest in Al technology, promote Al literacy and proficiency, and enable comprehensive Al training for parents and educators." The business commitments include things like cash prizes for students and teachers who use AI in educational ways, and cheap or free access to the companies' AI tools, trainings and certifications. First Lady Melania Trump hosted the gathering. That sounds fine and dandy on the surface. Understanding AI and the limits of what it can and can't do are already important as industries try to adapt to the technology. But considering the current administration has been actively trying to dismantle the Department of Education for being too woke, it seems doubtful that this is going to be a thoughtfully planned or well-reasoned rollout that has the best interests of students at heart. It's unclear if any actual teachers were consulted in the development of these initiatives, or asked for suggestions on how best to prepare students for the sudden rise of AI. For the schadenfreude fans out there, it appears that Trump's former BFF Elon Musk wasn't invited to today's gathering of tech leaders. However Musk insists that he was asked and just couldn't attend. Sure.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/big-tech-signs-on-to-white-house-plan-for-ai-education-in-us-schools-212646999.html?src=rss View Source Article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4641-4648: Thinking Outside and Inside the ‘Boxwork’ NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on Aug. 28, 2025 — Sol 4643, or Martian day 4,643 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 20:45:52 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer and Rover Planner at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning week: Aug. 25, 2025. This week Curiosity has been exploring the boxwork unit, investigating both the ridges and the hollows to better characterize them and understand how they may have formed. We’ve been doing lots of remote science, contact science, and driving in each plan. In addition, we have our standard daily environmental observations to look at dust in the atmosphere. We can still see distant targets like the crater rim, but temperatures will soon begin to warm up as we start moving into a dustier part of the year. And after each drive, we also use AEGIS to do some autonomous target selection for ChemCam observations. I was the arm rover planner for the 4645-4648 plan on Friday. For Monday’s plan (sols 4641-4642), after a successful weekend drive Curiosity began on the edge of a boxwork ridge. We did a lot of imaging, including Mastcam mosaics of “El Alto,” an upturned rock near a wheel, the ridge forming the south side of the Mojo hollow, “Sauces,” our contact science target, and “Navidad,” an extension of our current workspace. We also took ChemCam LIBS of Sauces and an RMI mosaic. The rover planners did not find any bedrock large enough to brush, but did MAHLI and APXS on Sauces. Ready to drive, Curiosity drove about 15 meters (about 49 feet) around the ridge to the south and into the next hollow, named “Mojo.”  In Wednesday’s plan (sols 4643-4644), Curiosity was successfully parked in the Mojo hollow. We started with a lot of imaging, including Mastcam mosaics of the ridges around the Mojo hollow, a nearby trough and the hollow floor to look for regolith movement. We also imaged a fractured float rock named “La Laguna Verde.” ChemCam planned a LIBS target on “Corani,” a thin resistant clast sticking out of the regolith, a RMI mosaic of a target on the north ridge named “Cocotoni,” and a long-distance RMI mosaic of “Babati Mons,” a mound about 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) away that we can see peeking over the rim of Gale crater! With no bedrock in the workspace, the rover planners did MAHLI and APXS observations on a regolith target named “Tarapacá.” The 12-meter drive in this plan (about 39 feet) was challenging; driving out of the hollow and up onto the ridge required the rover to overcome tilts above 20 degrees, where the rover can experience a lot of slip. Also, with the drive late in the day, it was challenging to determine where Curiosity should be looking to track her slip using Visual Odometry without getting blinded by the sun or losing features in shadows. Making sure VO works well is particularly important on drives like this when we expect a lot of slip.  Friday’s plan, like most weekend plans, was more complex — particularly because this four-sol plan also covers the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Fortunately, the Wednesday drive was successful, and we reached the desired parking location on the ridge south of Mojo for imaging and contact science. The included image looks back over the rover’s shoulder, where we can see the ridge and hollow. We took a lot of imaging looking at hollows and the associated ridges. We are taking a Mastcam mosaic of “Jorginho Cove,” a target covering the ridge we are parked on and the next hollow to the south, “Pica,” a float rock that is grayish in color, and a ridge/hollow pair named “Laguna Colorada.” We also take ChemCam LIBS observations of Pica and two light-toned pieces of bedrock named “Tin Tin” and ”Olca.” ChemCam takes RMI observations of “Briones,” which is a channel on the crater rim, “La Serena,” some linear features in the crater wall, and a channel that feeds into the Peace Vallis fan.  After a week of fairly simple arm targets, the rover planners had a real challenge with this workspace. The rocks were mostly too small and too rough to brush, but we did find one spot after a lot of looking. We did DRT, APXS, and MAHLI on this spot, named “San Jose,” and also did MAHLI and APXS on another rock named “Malla Qullu.” This last drive of the week is about 15 meters (about 49 feet) following along a ridge and then driving onto a nearby one. Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team? Visit Mission Updates Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments? Visit the Science Instruments page NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Share Details Last Updated Sep 04, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Over Soroya Ridge & Onward! Article 1 week ago 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4638-4640: Imaging Extravaganza Atop a Ridge Article 1 week ago 3 min read To See the World in a Grain of Sand: Investigating Megaripples at ‘Kerrlaguna’ Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View Source Article

Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are among the companies committing to help prepare Americans for a world dominated by AI technology at a White House event on AI education Thursday. First Lady Melania Trump hosted a meeting of the White House’s AI education task force where several CEOs touted their commitments. President Donald Trump is expected to host tech CEOs in the Rose Garden later on Thursday, with an invite list that includes Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, The Hill reported. Google said it would allocate $150 million of the $1 billion it already pledged toward education and job training to “grants to support AI education and digital wellbeing.” Microsoft is offering students access to Copilot with a free year of Microsoft 365 Personal if they verify with a school account, and offering free LinkedIn Learning courses on AI to students and teachers. And Amazon says it will help train 4 million people in AI skills and “enable AI curricula” for 10,000 educators in the US by 2028, while offering $30 million in AWS credits for organizations using cloud and AI tech in education. View Source Article

Paramount Skydance Corp. signed a three-year agreement to distribute Legendary Entertainment’s upcoming films in cinemas, the latest in a flurry of deals for the studio since new management took over weeks ago. View Source Article

Sesame Street creator Sesame Workshop and YouTube have announced a new "extended partnership" that will bring episodes of the iconic children's show to the platform and a series of workshops for creators on "how to create content that is entertaining while also promoting learning." This new YouTube partnership joins an existing Netflix deal to stream new episodes of Sesame Street starting in November. According to YouTube, it'll now have a catalog of "hundreds of full episodes" of the show, on top of "content created especially for the YouTube audience" featuring beloved Sesame Street characters. The fact that Sesame Workshop will help train the next generation of kid-friendly entertainers as part of the deal is also a direct acknowledgment that some children know Ms. Rachel before Big Bird. Of course, Sesame Street becoming even more of a presence on the platform fits larger trends. YouTube has firmly established itself as a home for kids entertainment and educational content, and that doesn’t seem like it’ll change anytime soon. With distribution deals with Netflix and YouTube, Sesame Street seems like it's in a much more stable position than it was previously. The future of the series and its availability through free public broadcasters seemed uncertain after Warner Bros. Discovery opted to end its partnership with Sesame Workshop in 2024. As a beneficiary of government funding, cuts to public media made by the Trump administration also impact Sesame Street. These new partnerships guarantee there’ll still be multiple ways to watch the show for free, and it might even reach new audiences in the process.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/sesame-streets-new-partnership-with-youtube-will-bring-hundreds-of-full-episodes-to-the-video-platform-203245293.html?src=rss View Source Article

Broadcom Inc., a chip supplier to companies like Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc., delivered a solid sales forecast for the current period, lifted by AI-fueled demand for its custom chips and networking gear. View Source Article

LEGO just revealed the Star Wars Ultimate Death Star set, which is a massive beast that includes over 9,000 pieces. The company says it's the largest LEGO Star Wars set ever made. It's also the most expensive LEGO set ever, Star Wars or not. It costs a whopping $1,000. It may set you back around a month's rent, but just look at this thing. It's a legit monster. The set ships with 38 minifigures, including characters like Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. It also comes with a stormtrooper figure in a hot tub, which is a nod to the LEGO Star Wars video games. LEGO It's not a full globe, like the actual Death Star. It's more of a cross-section of the interior. This lets collectors recreate various locations from the movies, like the trash compactor, Palpatine's throne room and Princess Leia's jail cell. There's also a tractor beam control unit, a shuttle hanger and more. This is just the latest high-priced LEGO Star Wars release, proving that there's a real market for this stuff. There's a 6,000 piece recreation of the first ship from The Mandalorian and a detailed version of Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder. While this is the most expensive LEGO set ever made, it's not the largest. The Eiffel Tower recreation includes over 10,000 pieces and costs $630.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-lego-ultimate-death-star-set-includes-over-9000-pieces-and-costs-1000-183556661.html?src=rss View Source Article

These devoted followers in Mycogen might be the true outliers of the Seldon Plan. View Source Article

Ryu in Street Fighter 6. The new Street Fighter movie, which has been in the works since 2023, now has a cast and a release date. The film hits theaters on October 16th, 2026, and the cast includes some big names like Jason Momoa, 50 Cent, Orville Peck, and Eric André, according to a series of posts from an X account for the movie. Here is the cast revealed in those posts: Andrew Koji is Ryu Noah Centineo is Ken Callina Liang is Chun-li Cody Rhodes is Guile Orville Peck is Vega 50 Cent is Balrog Jason Momoa is Blanka Vidyut Jammwal is Dhalsim Olivier Richters is Zangief Nirooki Goto is E. Honda David Dastmalchian is M. Bison Roman Reigns is Akuma Andrew Shulz is Dan Hibiki Eric André is Don Sauvage Mel Jarnson is Cammy Rayna Vallandingham is Juli Alexander Volkanovski is Joe The Hollywood Reporter also shared the film’s logline: Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER! The film, from Capcom and Legendary Entertainment, will be distributed by Paramount, which announced this week that it’s also working on a live-action Call of Duty movie. View Source Article

Revolut Ltd. has appointed former Societe Generale SA Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea as chairman for its new Western Europe operation, as the fintech firm ramps up its effort to displace bricks-and-mortar banks across the region. View Source Article

Netflix has shared a pair of updates about its animated Tomb Raider show. The second season of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will air on the streaming service on December 11. However, that second season will also be the final one for the project. Legendary Television is behind the show, which premiered in October 2024 on Netflix and stars Hayley Atwell of MCU fame as the titular Tomb Raider. If you simply can't get enough of Lara and her adventures in archeology, you have other options on the way. For viewing, Amazon will begin filming in January for a live action take on the series. Although there's no release window for it yet, we recently learned that Game of Thrones actor Sophie Turner will play the lead. And for gaming, although Crystal Dynamics recently announced some layoffs, it is still working on a new Tomb Raider title. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflixs-animated-tomb-raider-series-is-ending-with-its-second-season-193502328.html?src=rss View Source Article

Despite its slimmer frame, the Galaxy S25 Edge still offers all-day battery life. If you’ve ever wished your phone didn’t protrude so much while in your pocket, then the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge might be made for you. Samsung’s ultra-slim Android phone features the same 6.7-inch OLED display as the Galaxy S25 Plus, but the device’s 5.8mm thick design makes it feel completely different. Right now, you can grab the S25 Edge with 256GB of storage in black, silver, or blue for an all-time low price of $699.99 ($400 off) at Amazon. Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Where to Buy: $1099.99 $699.99 at Amazon (256GB) $1099.99 $849.99 at Best Buy (256GB) $1099.99 at Samsung (256GB) The S25 Edge is a big phone, but its slimmer, more lightweight design means you can actually slide it into your pocket or evening bag without it protruding out. In fact, when The Verge’s Allison Johnson reviewed the device, she encountered multiple instances where she thought she had left the phone behind, despite it sitting in her pocket. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Surely the thinner design equals terrible battery life. Thankfully, that’s not the case. The Galaxy S25 Edge’s battery life doesn’t stretch as far as what you’ll get with the S25 Plus or Ultra, especially if you do a lot of mobile gaming, but it’ll still last you a full day of texting, email, web browsing, streaming music, and more. The bigger tradeoff might be in the camera department. The S25 Edge comes with only two rear cameras — a 200-megapixel main camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera. If a telephoto camera is a big deal to you, then you may want to skip this device. Otherwise, the S25 Edge can keep up with the other devices in the S25 lineup, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, IP68 dust and water resistance, and an OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Read our Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review. Other deals to check out 8BitDo’s Pro 3 wireless controller is currently available in classic Nintendo-inspired colors like purple, gray, and light gray for $62.99 ($7 off) at Amazon after clipping the on-page coupon. The Pro 3 features swappable ABXY face buttons and joystick caps, providing players with a highly customizable experience. It also features new L4 and R4 macro buttons between the triggers and its USB-C charging port, plus more durable and power efficient TMR joysticks. The controller works with a ton of platforms via Bluetooth, including the Steam Deck, Windows PC, Mac OS, Android, Apple TV, and the latest Nintendo Switch 2. Read our review. If you own a MacBook Air or slim Windows laptop, chances are you don’t have enough ports to connect your peripherals. A USB-C hub can help, and the Anker 7-in-1 USB-C Hub is on sale for $19.99 ($6 off) at Amazon, matching its all-time low price. The hub provides you with seven ports, greatly expanding your machine’s capabilities. It features two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port that supports 4K at 60Hz, a TF card slot, and an SD card slot, which is essential for photographers. The Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi set is down to an all-time low of $104 ($25 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and Target. The 1,215-piece set offers a pixelated recreation of a yellow-caped Mario riding Yoshi right out of the 16-bit Super Nintendo classic. The set stands at over 15 inches tall when assembled and includes a hand crank and dial that make Yoshi’s legs run and his tongue stick out. View Source Article

Intel Corp., the chip pioneer that’s now partly owned by the US government, told investors that 2026 will be a critical year for its manufacturing technology and should show whether it’s ready to move ahead with a more advanced process. View Source Article

A new peer-reviewed study alleges that 18 of the 100 most-downloaded virtual private network (VPN) apps on the Google Play Store are secretly connected in three large families, despite claiming to be independent providers. The paper doesn't indict any of our picks for the best VPN, but the services it investigates are popular, with 700 million collective downloads on Android alone. The study, published in the journal of the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS), doesn't just find that the VPNs in question failed to disclose behind-the-scenes relationships, but also that their shared infrastructures contain serious security flaws. Well-known services like Turbo VPN, VPN Proxy Master and X-VPN were found to be vulnerable to attacks capable of exposing a user's browsing activity and injecting corrupted data. Titled "Hidden Links: Analyzing Secret Families of VPN apps," the paper was inspired by an investigation by VPN Pro, which found that several VPN companies each were selling multiple apps without identifying the connections between them. This spurred the "Hidden Links" researchers to ask whether the relationships between secretly co-owned VPNs could be documented systematically. Starting from the list of the most-downloaded VPNs on Android, the researchers compiled data from each VPN's business paperwork, web presence and codebase and sifted through it for connections. Primarily through identifying suspicious similarities in the code, they were able to sort 18 VPN apps into three groups. Family A consists of Turbo VPN, Turbo VPN Lite, VPN Monster, VPN Proxy Master, VPN Proxy Master Lite, Snap VPN, Robot VPN and SuperNet VPN. These were found to be shared between three providers — Innovative Connecting, Lemon Clove and Autumn Breeze. All three have all been linked to Qihoo 360, a firm based in mainland China and identified as a "Chinese military company" by the US Department of Defense. Family B consists of Global VPN, XY VPN, Super Z VPN, Touch VPN, VPN ProMaster, 3X VPN, VPN Inf and Melon VPN. These eight services, which are shared between five providers, all use the same IP addresses from the same hosting company. Family C consists of X-VPN and Fast Potato VPN. Although these two apps each come from a different provider, the researchers found that both used very similar code and included the same custom VPN protocol. If you're a VPN user, this study should concern you for two reasons. The first problem is that companies entrusted with your private activities and personal data are not being honest about where they're based, who owns them or who they might be sharing your sensitive information with. Even if their apps were all perfect, this would be a severe breach of trust. But their apps are far from perfect, which is the second problem. All 18 VPNs across all three families use the Shadowsocks protocol with a hard-coded password, which makes them susceptible to takeover from both the server side (which can be used for malware attacks) and the client side (which can be used to eavesdrop on web activity). Ultimately, a VPN provider being dishonest about its background and a VPN client running on slapdash infrastructure are symptoms of the same problem: these are apps designed to do something other than keep you safe online. Since all 18 were listed as unrelated products, it's also clear that app stores are not an effective line of defense. The "Hidden Links" paper makes it all the more imperative to never download a free VPN without vetting it first, and to only use free VPNs that are supported by paid subscriptions, like Proton VPN.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/researchers-find-alarming-overlaps-among-18-popular-vpns-191828342.html?src=rss View Source Article

The answer to this supposedly simple particle physics question isn’t so simple View Source Article

Amit Kshatriya, a veteran of NASA's Moon to Mars program, has been named NASA associate administrator, the agency's top civil-service role. View Source Article

It's no secret that Microsoft has been struggling to sell its Copilot AI assistant to businesses. The steep pricing has put many businesses off paying extra for Microsoft's AI services, especially when OpenAI's ChatGPT has been gaining traction in the all-important enterprise market. Microsoft is now getting ready to tempt more businesses into paying for Copilot, with a familiar trick: bundling. Microsoft currently offers business Copilot access for $30 per user per month, and if you want the extra Copilot for Sales, Service, and Finance options, these have been a standalone extra $20 per user. Sources familiar with Microsoft's AI plans tel … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Sierra Technologies Inc., the artificial intelligence startup founded by OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor and former Alphabet Inc. executive Clay Bavor, has raised $350 million in a financing round that values the company at $10 billion. View Source Article

Honda is preparing to announce its first electric motorcycle with fast charging, based on a new teaser video the company shared on Instagram. The video shows off the new e-motorcycle on test rides in Europe and teases the date, September 16, when Honda will presumably introduce it. Plans to expand Honda's lineup of electric motorcycles have been in the works since at least 2022, when the company announced it would release "10 or more" e-motorcycles by 2025. The new motorcycle is under a wrap of black and white camouflage in the video, but Electrek writes that it shares a striking resemblance to the "EV Fun Concept" motorcycle Honda introduced at EICMA 2024, a motorcycle trade show in Milan. At the time, Honda said the boxy concept was designed to offer "performance equivalent to a mid-sized internal combustion engine (ICE) motorcycle" and be compatible with CCS2 quick chargers, an EV fast charging standard in Europe. It also has "a cruising range of over 100km," according to Honda. Honda Leaning on fast charging is one way the company could address possible range issues on the motorcycle. An electric motorcycle naturally offers less room for batteries than electric cars do. Honda's video doesn't get into any of those nitty gritty details, so we'll have to wait until September 16 to know for sure.  One thing that does seem certain is the e-motorcycle's regional availability. Based on the fact the video was shared on Honda's UK Instagram page and specifically mentions it was "tested on European streets," it seems highly unlikely the motorcycle will be available outside of Europe and the United Kingdom.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/honda-teases-its-first-full-size-e-motorcycle-with-fast-charging-185116652.html?src=rss View Source Article

15 spacecraft both those on heliocentric orbits and also the spacecraft grouping at the planet Mars will have chances to look at interstellar 3I/Atlas over the next few months. Today Psyche spacecraft on 2025 September 4 has a chance to look at 0.302 AU distance as 3I/Atlas passes by Mars. October, the martian spacecraft array ... Read more View Source Article

When players take the field at the start of the NFL season, many will be sporting the new, subtly different F7 Pro helmet, which some have speculated might be the safest one football has ever seen. That's significant for a sport that, over the past two decades, has become as well known for concussions as end zone celebrations. Schutt Sports, which makes the F7 Pro, claims that 35 percent of active NFL athletes have already adopted the helmet. Football is a sport with a traditionalist bent, particularly when it comes to this piece of gear. Case in point: one of Schutt's longtime users, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Schu … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

The brain implant company cofounded by Elon Musk filed to trademark the product names Telepathy and Telekinesis. But it turns out that another person had already filed to trademark those names. View Source Article

OpenAI plans to launch a new AI-powered jobs platform next year to help match employers with candidates who have artificial intelligence skills in a bid to accelerate the technology’s deployment across businesses and government agencies. View Source Article

Belkin unveiled several new products today at IFA 2025. Its lineup included a wall charger and car charger that will be available starting this month, plus four entries in its SoundForm audio collection. But the standout item from the consumer products brand is its new Qi2 25W wireless charging puck.  The UltraCharge Magnetic Charger 25W promises to power an iPhone from zero to 50 percent battery in just 30 minutes. It also has some clever design choices, such as a kickstand so you can charge a phone on a tabletop and still have the screen be visible. The kickstand is collapsible and could also be used as a PopSocket-style phone grip, although the puck's own charging cable is 6.6 feet, so you can't wander too far while using it. The charger also boasts Belkin's ChillBoost passive cooling tech to reduce heat buildup and protect the battery. The UltraCharge Magnetic Charger 25W will be available in October 2025, and although its US prices haven't been set, the UK retail cost is £30. The zippy Qi2 charging standard has been rolling out to more and more mobile devices this year. Several Android brands, which had historically not offered built-in support for that standard, have even been jumping on the Qi2 bandwagon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/belkin-unveils-qi2-magnetic-charger-at-ifa-2025-180647711.html?src=rss View Source Article

Tom Lee, co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors and the chairman of Bitmine (an Ethereum treasury company), provides a bullish outlook on both Bitcoin and Ethereum. They each have distinct use cases and potential for massive growth. The conversation covers the bull cases for each asset, short-term catalysts, regulatory developments, and broader ... Read more View Source Article

Data from NASA's InSight lander suggests there's a chunky mix beneath the surface of Mars. View Source Article

Hollow Knight: Silksong, the sequel to the indie smash hit Hollow Knight, is finally out, and according to Silksong’s credits, the game features the voice of Eric Barone, the creator of another indie smash hit, Stardew Valley. (You may also know Barone by the name ConcernedApe, which he goes by online.) You can see Barone’s name listed under the “Additional Character Voices” section of Silksong’s credits, which are accessible from the Extras section of the game’s title screen. I’ve also included a screenshot below: Cole Medeiros, head of operations and biz dev at ConcernedApe LLC, confirmed to The Verge that this is indeed the Eric Barone of Stardew Valley fame. However, Medeiros and Barone won’t reveal who Barone voices in Silksong; Barone would “rather not say which character(s) so as not to spoil any surprises for anyone,” Medeiros says. Stardew Valley and Silksong share another connection, too. Matthew Griffin, who handles marketing and PR for Silksong, once held a similar role for Stardew Valley, according to Silksong developer Team Cherry’s website. View Source Article

TCL has announced the QM9K, its latest flagship QD mini LED television series. The QM9Ks will be the first panels in the industry to feature Gemini on Google TV, a new feature that we first learned about at the start of this year. TCL/Google Using the standard "Hey Google" voice prompt, viewers will be able to find a movie or TV show, ask questions using natural language about any topic and even control smart home products that are synced through Google Home. Google TV on the QM9K also supports the creation of custom AI screensavers based on descriptions or prompts provided by users. The TVs will feature an mmWave sensor — a form of radar used to detect if a person is in front of the panel — that will wake the devices, allowing users to engage with Gemini completely hands-free. Users will have the option of customizing distance settings and hours of operation for the wake sensor. Aside from breaking new ground in software, the QM9K series features a "Zero Border" edge-to-edge WHVA panel, which promises excellent color accuracy and a bezel-less design.The TVs have up to 6,000 precise dimming zones for deep contrast — up to 57 percent more than on the QM8K, the other contenders in TCL's "Ultimate Series." The QM9K is set to deliver up to 6,500 nits of peak brightness in HDR, a 30 percent increase over its predecessor. The panels run from 65" to 98", and audio by Bang & Olufsen rounds out the premium sets. The TCL QM9K will be available at Best Buy and select regional retailers later this month.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-first-tvs-with-gemini-built-in-arrive-later-this-month-175029927.html?src=rss View Source Article

Meta is adding a new feature to let you add a bunch of extra text to Threads posts — no screenshots of text blocks required. Starting today, Meta is rolling out a tool that lets you attach up to 10,000 characters of text to Threads posts, giving you a way to build upon the 500-character text limit already available when making a post. It’s kind of a Threads-y take on X’s Articles feature. You can add a text attachment to a post by tapping on a new rounded rectangle icon with some lines on it. After tapping that, a word editor opens up where you can type away, and you can format your text with bold, italics, underlines, and strikethroughs. On your feed, a text attachment appears as a small block below your main post. When you tap that block, it will expand to show the full attachment for you to read. If you include a link in your main Threads post, that link will also be shown in the expanded text attachment, meaning the tool could be a useful way to share a preview of an article or a blog post and then direct readers to the full thing. View Source Article

Google's Circle to Search tool just got a bit more useful, as it can now continuously translate text while scrolling. Until now, people had to restart the process every time the content on the screen changed. The update ensures the translation feature will keep on ticking along. Google says this is great for getting "more context for social posts from creators who speak a different language" or when browsing "menus when you’re booking restaurant reservations while traveling abroad." Just tap the "Translate" icon and look for the menu option "scroll and translate." This update not only keeps the translation tool going as you scroll, but it even keeps working when switching to another app. Google says "there's no interruption" in these cases, which sounds pretty darned useful to me. The update is rolling out now to Android users, but Samsung Galaxy devices are getting it first. Everyone else will have to wait a little bit. This is just the latest update for Circle to Search. The tool also now lets users conduct one-tap actions on phone numbers, emails and URLs.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-circle-to-search-can-now-translate-text-as-you-scroll-171555663.html?src=rss View Source Article

The interstellar visitor appears to have a lot in common with its solar system brethren. View Source Article

Around six years ago, a new rallying cry rippled through Washington: "Break Up Big Tech." It was a slogan emblazoned on campaign posters, uttered at congressional hearings, and beginning, it seemed, to echo through the halls of the nation's antitrust enforcers. Momentum in the legislatures eventually petered out, but the enforcers at the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission remained more active than ever. President Joe Biden never took the kind of hard posture on Big Tech that political rivals like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) or Bernie Sanders (I-VT) adopted, but nevertheless, when he became president in 2021, he tapped Lina K … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Canada’s stock market is beating the US handily in 2025 in a trend that’s just getting started and can run for the next five to seven years, according to Vanguard Group chief economist and head of investment strategy Joe Davis. View Source Article

Tesla has made its iOS Robotaxi app available for all iPhone users to download as it expands service beyond a group of early access users for the first time. Beyond the current lack of an Android app (Tesla says one is on the way), there are a couple of things to bear in mind here. The company's proper robotaxis are currently only available in Austin, Texas. There's also a waitlist, so you won't be able to book a ride immediately. That said, it might not take folks on the waitlist too long to gain access to the service. Business Insider was able to start using it after about three hours. Robotaxi app now available to all Download to join waitlist – expanding access soon pic.twitter.com/gYsB3ZkbZB— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) September 4, 2025 Tesla deployed its first fleet of Cybercab robotaxis in Austin back in June (and it didn't take long for tales of unexpected behavior on the vehicles' part to emerge). The company started offering rides in the Bay Area the following month with human drivers at the wheel — so really just a regular ride-hailing service rather than an autonomous one. Tesla has yet to receive permission to run a full robotaxi service in California, but it is allowed to test such rides with a safety driver behind the wheel.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/anyone-can-now-download-teslas-ios-robotaxi-app-but-theres-still-a-waitlist-165523028.html?src=rss View Source Article

6 Min Read Upcoming Launch to Boost NASA’s Study of Sun’s Influence Across Space Soon, there will be three new ways to study the Sun’s influence across the solar system with the launch of a trio of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spacecraft. Expected to launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 23, the missions include NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA’s SWFO-L1 (Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1) spacecraft.  The three missions will launch together aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From there, the spacecraft will travel together to their destination at the first Earth-Sun Lagrange point (L1), around one million miles from Earth toward the Sun. The missions will each focus on different effects of the solar wind — the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun — and space weather — the changing conditions in space driven by the Sun — from their origins at the Sun to their farthest reaches billions of miles away at the edge of our solar system. Research and observations from the missions will help us better understand the Sun’s influence on Earth’s habitability, map our home in space, and protect satellites and voyaging astronauts and airline crews from space weather impacts.  The IMAP and Carruthers missions add to NASA’s heliophysics fleet of spacecraft. Together, NASA’s heliophysics missions study a vast, interconnected system from the Sun to the space surrounding Earth and other planets to the farthest limits of the Sun’s constantly flowing streams of solar wind. The SWFO-L1 mission, funded and operated by NOAA, will be the agency’s first satellite designed specifically for and fully dedicated to continuous, operational space weather observations. Mapping our home in space: IMAP The IMAP mission will study the heliosphere, our home in space. NASA/Princeton University/Patrick McPike As a modern-day celestial cartographer, IMAP will investigate two of the most important overarching issues in heliophysics: the interaction of the solar wind at its boundary with interstellar space and the energization of charged particles from the Sun. The IMAP mission will principally study the boundary of our heliosphere — a huge bubble created by the solar wind that encapsulates our solar system — and study how the heliosphere interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond. The heliosphere protects the solar system from dangerous high-energy particles called galactic cosmic rays. Mapping the heliosphere’s boundaries helps scientists understand our home in space and how it came to be habitable.  “IMAP will revolutionize our understanding of the outer heliosphere,” said David McComas, IMAP mission principal investigator at Princeton University in New Jersey. “It will give us a very fine picture of what’s going on out there by making measurements that are 30 times more sensitive and at higher resolution than ever before.” The IMAP mission will also explore and chart the vast range of particles in interplanetary space. The spacecraft will provide near real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles, which can produce hazardous conditions not only in the space environment near Earth, but also on the ground. The mission’s data will help model and improve prediction capabilities of the impacts of space weather ranging from power-line disruptions to loss of satellites.  Imaging Earth’s exosphere: Carruthers Geocorona Observatory An illustration shows the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory spacecraft. NASA/BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, a small satellite, will launch with IMAP as a rideshare. The mission was named after Dr. George Carruthers, creator of the Moon-based telescope that captured the first images of Earth’s exosphere, the outermost layer of our planet’s atmosphere.  The Carruthers mission will build upon Dr. Carruthers’ legacy by charting changes in Earth’s exosphere. The mission’s vantage point at L1 offers a complete view of the exosphere not visible from the Moon’s relatively close distance to Earth. From there, it will address fundamental questions about the nature of the region, such as its shape, size, density, and how it changes over time. The exosphere plays an important role in Earth’s response to space weather, which can impact our technology, from satellites in orbit to communications signals in the upper atmosphere or power lines on the ground. During space weather storms, the exosphere mediates the energy absorption and release throughout the near-Earth space environment, influencing strength of space weather disturbances. Carruthers will help us better understand the fundamental physics of our exosphere and improve our ability to predict the impacts of the Sun’s activity. “We’ll be able to create movies of how this atmospheric layer responds when a solar storm hits, and watch it change with the seasons over time,” said Lara Waldrop, the principal investigator for the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  New space weather station: SWFO-L1 SWFO-L1 will provide real-time observations of the Sun’s corona and solar wind to help forecast the resulting space weather. NOAA/BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Distinct from NASA’s research satellites, SWFO-L1 will be an operational satellite, designed to observe solar activity and the solar wind in real time to provide critical data in NOAA’s mission to protect the nation from environmental hazards. SWFO-L1 will serve as an early-warning beacon for potentially damaging space weather events that could impact our technology on Earth. SWFO-L1 will observe the Sun’s outer atmosphere for large eruptions, called coronal mass ejections, and measure the solar wind upstream from Earth with a state-of-the-art suite of instruments and processing system. This mission is the first of a new generation of NOAA space weather observatories dedicated to 24/7 operations, working to avoid gaps in continuity.  “SWFO-L1 will be an amazing deep-space mission for NOAA,” said Dimitrios Vassiliadis, SWFO program scientist at NOAA. “Thanks to its advantageous location at L1, it will continuously monitor the solar atmosphere while measuring the solar wind and its interplanetary magnetic fields well before it impacts Earth — and transmit these data in record time.” With SWFO-L1’s enhanced performance, unobstructed views, and minimal delay between observations and data return, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center forecasters will give operators improved lead time required to take precautionary actions that protect vital infrastructure, economic interests, and national security on Earth and in space. By Mara Johnson-GrohNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Sep 04, 2025 Related Terms Carruthers Geocorona Observatory (GLIDE) Heliophysics Heliosphere IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Solar Wind Space Weather The Sun The Sun & Solar Physics Explore More 3 min read Juno Detected the Final Missing Auroral Signature from Jupiter’s Four Largest Moons Article 2 days ago 6 min read NASA, IBM’s ‘Hot’ New AI Model Unlocks Secrets of Sun Article 2 weeks ago 3 min read Sun at the Center: Teacher Ambassadors Bring Heliophysics to Classrooms Nationwide Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

Google is adding Veo 3 software capabilities to its video generation feature for Google Photos. US-based users can turn static images into four-second videos by clicking either the "Subtle movements" or, for the more adventurous, the "I'm feeling lucky" options under the Create tab in Google Photos. According to Google spokesperson Michael Marconi, you can get your photo subjects to dance or shower them with confetti. Veo 3 replaces Veo 2 in Photos, which was rolled out beginning in July. The upgrade to the video generation software will improve the resolution and fidelity of the clips made from static images, Marconi said. This is the l … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Doña Ana County in New Mexico is the furthest thing from a tech hub. View Source Article

The video-generation model Veo 3 has come to Google Photos, bringing even more AI tomfoolery to the platform. This allows users to do all sorts of wacky things. First and foremost, the pre-existing photo to video feature has been significantly improved. Google says that it can now be used to turn "still images into even higher-quality clips." There's also a tool called Remix that transforms photos into various styles, like anime drawings, comic book illustrations, 3D animations and more. This is a popular use case for image generators. You've probably seen those Studio Ghibli-inspired images across the internet. Google Veo 3 brings a new Collage tool that makes it easy to pick multiple photos and select a layout. There's even a simple image editor here that can be accessed directly from the collage maker. The Highlight tool creates visual montages based on search prompts, complete with music. There's also something called Cinematic Photos, which creates 3D renderings of pre-existing photos. Many of these tools can be combined to create unique images and videos. Google Photos with Veo 3 integration is available to US customers right now, and these tools can all be accessed in the new Create tab. Users only get a limited number of image generations each day, with more generations available for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. This is just the latest platform that Google is sloppin' up with Veo 3. The company recently brought it to YouTube.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-photos-gets-veo-3-integration-bringing-in-even-more-ai-tools-160042831.html?src=rss View Source Article

This competition provides a hands-on opportunity for participants to gain critical skills in engineering, computing, electronics, and more that will be required for America’s technical workforce. If you are in sixth to 12th-grade at a U.S. public, private, or charter school – including those in U.S. territories – your challenge is to team up with your schoolmates and develop a science or technology experiment idea for one of the following NASA TechRise flight vehicles: Suborbital-Spaceship with approximately 3 minutes of microgravity. High-Altitude Balloon with approximately 4 to 8 hours of flight time at 70,000 to 95,000 feet and exposure to Earth’s atmosphere, high-altitude radiation, and perspective views of our planet. Award: $1,500 each to 60 winning teams Open Date: September 4, 2025 Close Date: November 3, 2025 For more information, visit: https://www.futureengineers.org/nasatechrise View Source Article

AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) is developing a space-based cellular broadband network that provides direct-to-cellphone connectivity worldwide. This would eliminate deadzones without requiring special antennas like existing satellite phones and will work on standard smartphones. Their satellites, known as BlueBird, are designed to deliver 4G/5G service from low Earth orbit (LEO) by beaming signals directly to unmodified ... Read more View Source Article

'The aliens are coming to Earth? I'm going, 'Here’s the bill. Credit or debit? Have a good day.’' View Source Article

Darth Vader’s lightsaber is about to become someone’s prized possession. It’s up for auction alongside a bunch of other iconic movie props, as spotted earlier by The New York Times. The auction is hosted by the memorabilia company Propstore, and it estimates that Vader’s lightsaber will fetch anywhere from $1 million to $3 million. Darth Vader had this weapon in hand in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). As noted by Propstore, it’s made from a 1950s British camera flash bulb attachment, which prop makers modified with plastic grips, electrical wires, and magnification bubbles used in vintage calculators. In an interview with CBS News, Propstore CEO Brian Alinger said the lightsaber came from someone who received it as a gift while visiting the set of Star Wars as a child. Propstore matched the lightsaber to the Star Wars films “based on specific damage to the body.” There’s plenty of other exciting memorabilia up for grabs during the auction, with the whip used by Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) expected to net $250,000 to $500,00, and Keaton’s Batsuit from the original Batman (1989), estimated at $250,000 to $500,000. You’ll also find a Spider-Man suit worn by Tobey Maguire, Wolverine’s claws from Logan (2017), a Neuralyzer used in Men in Black (1997), and Chris Evans’ Captain America shield from Age of Ultron (2015). You can browse the full catalog on Propstore’s website. The auction runs from September 4th to the 6th. View Source Article

Microsoft Corp. is set to avoid a potentially hefty antitrust fine after the European Union got positive feedback on the US software giant’s offer to settle a probe into the allegedly illegal bundling of its Teams video-conferencing app. View Source Article

Adobe is bringing Premiere to iPhone for free, putting its powerful video editor in the hands of content creators on iOS. The app will offer easy exporting to TikTok, YouTube Shorts or Instagram with a single tap. Users of the desktop application will be familiar with the multi-track timeline and the app’s core functionalities. Content creators will be able to splice video footage, fine-tune down to individual frames and add unlimited video, text or audio layers including voiceovers. Premiere will be able to handle 4K HDR footage and will include Adobe Lightroom color presets to help add a polished look to your footage. The app can resize the final output for posting on any platform. Adobe says all these traditional features will be available for free with no ads, and videos will be exported without watermarks. This is somewhat unusual for a company that has all but perfected the monthly subscription model for its suite of tools that used to cost hundreds of dollars for a permanent license. The zero cost is likely driven by competition from other free video editing apps like CapCut, which shares a parent company with TikTok. Instagram also rolled out a free video editor this year. For an AI-powered upgrade, users can buy generative AI credits to create sound effects, apply speech enhancement, or access AI assets generated through Adobe Firefly. Extra cloud storage will also be available for purchase through the app, which may explain why the App Store lists in-app purchases of $7.99 per month or $69.99 per year. The Adobe Premiere: Video Editor app is available to pre-save on the App Store with an expected release date of September 30. Adobe says that Premiere for Android is also under development.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/adobe-premiere-is-coming-to-ios-later-this-month-155019427.html?src=rss View Source Article

Explore Webb Webb News Latest News Latest Images Webb’s Blog Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Webb Timeline Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Science Explainers Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Webb’s First Images Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 5 Min Read Glittering Glimpse of Star Birth From NASA’s Webb Telescope Webb captured this sparkling scene of star birth in Pismis 24. Full image and caption below. Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI) This is a sparkling scene of star birth captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. What appears to be a craggy, starlit mountaintop kissed by wispy clouds is actually a cosmic dust-scape being eaten away by the blistering winds and radiation of nearby, massive, infant stars. Called Pismis 24, this young star cluster resides in the core of the nearby Lobster Nebula, approximately 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. Home to a vibrant stellar nursery and one of the closest sites of massive star birth, Pismis 24 provides rare insight into large and massive stars. Its proximity makes this region one of the best places to explore the properties of hot young stars and how they evolve. At the heart of this glittering cluster is the brilliant Pismis 24-1. It is at the center of a clump of stars above the jagged orange peaks, and the tallest spire is pointing directly toward it. Pismis 24-1 appears as a gigantic single star, and it was once thought to be the most massive known star. Scientists have since learned that it is composed of at least two stars, though they cannot be resolved in this image. At 74 and 66 solar masses, respectively, the two known stars are still among the most massive and luminous stars ever seen. Image A: Pismis 24 (NIRCam Image) Webb captured this sparkling scene of star birth in Pismis 24, a young star cluster about 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. This region is one of the best places to explore the properties of hot young stars and how they evolve. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI) Captured in infrared light by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), this image reveals thousands of jewel-like stars of varying sizes and colors. The largest and most brilliant ones with the six-point diffraction spikes are the most massive stars in the cluster. Hundreds to thousands of smaller members of the cluster appear as white, yellow, and red, depending on their stellar type and the amount of dust enshrouding them. Webb also shows us tens of thousands of stars behind the cluster that are part of the Milky Way galaxy. Super-hot, infant stars –some almost 8 times the temperature of the Sun – blast out scorching radiation and punishing winds that are sculpting a cavity into the wall of the star-forming nebula. That nebula extends far beyond NIRCam’s field of view. Only small portions of it are visible at the bottom and top right of the image. Streamers of hot, ionized gas flow off the ridges of the nebula, and wispy veils of gas and dust, illuminated by starlight, float around its towering peaks. Dramatic spires jut from the glowing wall of gas, resisting the relentless radiation and winds. They are like fingers pointing toward the hot, young stars that have sculpted them. The fierce forces shaping and compressing these spires cause new stars to form within them. The tallest spire spans about 5.4 light-years from its tip to the bottom of the image. More than 200 of our solar systems out to Neptune’s orbit could fit into the width its tip, which is 0.14 lightyears. In this image, the color cyan indicates hot or ionized hydrogen gas being heated up by the massive young stars. Dust molecules similar to smoke here on Earth are represented in orange. Red signifies cooler, denser molecular hydrogen. The darker the red, the denser the gas. Black denotes the densest gas, which is not emitting light. The wispy white features are dust and gas that are scattering starlight. Video A: Expedition to Star Cluster Pismis 24 To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This scientific visualization takes viewers on a journey to a glittering young star cluster called Pismis 24. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this fantastical scene in the heart of the Lobster Nebula, approximately 5,500 light-years from Earth. Video: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Leah Hustak (STScI), Christian Nieves (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Script Writer: Frank Summers (STScI); Narration: Frank Summers (STScI); Music: Christian Nieves (STScI); Audio: Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI); Producer: Greg Bacon (STScI); Acknowledgment: VISTA Video B: Zoom to Pismis 24 This zoom-in video shows the location of the young star cluster Pismis 24 on the sky. It begins with a ground-based photo of the constellation Scorpius by the late astrophotographer Akira Fujii. The sequence closes in on the Lobster Nebula, using views from the Digitized Sky Survey. As the video homes in on a select portion, it fades to a VISTA image in infrared light. The zoom continues in to the region around Pismis 24, where it transitions to the stunning image captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in near-infrared light.Video: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Narration: Frank Summers (STScI); Script Writer: Frank Summers (STScI); Music: Christian Nieves (STScI); Audio: Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI); Producer: Greg Bacon (STScI); Acknowledgment: VISTA, Akira Fujii, DSS The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). To learn more about Webb, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/webb Downloads Click any image to open a larger version. View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Media Contacts Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.govNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Ann Jenkins – jenkins@stsci.eduSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. Related Information Read more about Hubble’s view of Pismis 24 Listen to a sonification of Hubble’s view of Pismis 24 Animation Video: “How Dense Pillars Form in Molecular Clouds” Read more: Webb’s Star Formation Discoveries More Webb News More Webb Images Webb Science Themes Webb Mission Page Related For Kids What is the Webb Telescope? SpacePlace for Kids En Español Ciencia de la NASA NASA en español  Space Place para niños Keep Exploring Related Topics James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Stars Stars Stories Universe Share Details Last Updated Sep 04, 2025 Related Terms James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center Science & Research Stars The Universe View Source Article

A shot of the HushJet Purifier Compact snapped at IFA 2025. Dyson is launching a new air purifier that’s designed to look — but thankfully, not sound — like a jet engine. The Dyson HushJet Purifier Compact is launching in the US on September 30th for $349.99, featuring a new nozzle design that’s shaped to help the device blast jets of air at high speed, similar to how a concentrator works on a hairdryer.  The increase in airflow velocity allows the HushJet Purifier Compact to provide “faster, more powerful purification,” according to Dyson. The nozzle is star-shaped to help reduce noise by dampening the sound waves from the compressor. The HushJet also features a night mode to help prevent it from disturbing your sleep, in which it’ll operate at just 24 dBA, which Dyson says is “roughly equivalent to soft whispers.” The new Electrostatic HEPA filter can capture 99.97 percent of particles that are as small as 0.3 microns, according to Dyson, such as pollen, dust, and pet dander.  Removing these from the air in homes could help to alleviate sniffles and itchy eyes for anyone who suffers from being exposed to such allergens, but its worth noting that tech companies love to play on health-related concerns to sell their products. Dyson says its more energy efficient filter lasts up to five years — five times the filter life of its previous HEPA filter — and is fully sealed to kep everything it sucks in inside. The HushJet Purifier Compact weighs seven pounds, measures 17.7 x 9 x 9 inches, and is suitable for rooms up to 203 square feet. It includes sensors that automatically monitor air quality in real time and adjust performance, but users can also create schedules for it to run at specific times, or connect to Alexa or Google to manage the device using voice controls. Alongside the new HushJet, Dyson is also launching its new V16 Piston Animal cordless vacuum. It features a new dual conical cleaner head that adapts to all floor types, automatically speeding up when it senses carpet to give it a more robust clean, and slowing down on delicate hard floors to avoid causing any damage. It’s also designed to pick up “even the longest hair,” according to Dyson, preventing hair from wrapping and tangling around the brush bar before sucking it directly into the bin. Pricing for the US hasn’t been revealed yet, but we’ll find out more when it launches in the States sometime beginning 2026. View Source Article

Eufy just introduced its latest outdoor security camera at IFA in Germany. The EufyCam S4 monitors your home using a fixed 4K wide-angle camera and a pair of 2K sensors that activate when a possible intruder is spotted and track them. Capable of auto-framing its subject, the main camera can pan, tilt and zoom in on a person as far as 164 feet away. It can also intelligently zoom out to ensure groups are kept in view. The EufyCam S4’s stationary bullet camera has a 130-degree field of view, while the pan, tilt and zoom camera provides 360-degree tracking. With the three lenses working in unison, it’s going to be pretty difficult for anyone to evade their gaze. The camera also has a dual motion detection system, combining radar and passive infrared (PIR) tech to distinguish between moving humans and vehicles. This way you should get fewer false alarms from the Eufy app. If the camera detects an intruder, red and blue warning lights are activated and a siren will trigger to warn them off. The camera can also be paired with Eufy’s HomeBase S380 (sold separately), a smart security hub that uses the company’s BionicMind AI tech for what it says is 99.9 percent accurate facial recognition. It also increases local storage to a sizable 16TB. The EufyCam S4 ships with a built-in 5.5 watt panel that can fully charge the camera with an hour of direct sunlight. The panel is detachable, so can easily be moved to an area where it’ll drink up more rays, and you also get a rechargeable battery included so you’re not exclusively relying on the sun. On its own, the EufyCamS4 costs $300 and will be available later this year. Bundles of multiple cameras and a HomeBase S380 will also be available.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/eufys-latest-security-camera-has-three-lenses-and-a-detachable-solar-panel-150014067.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA and Northrop Grumman are preparing to send the company’s next cargo mission to the International Space Station, flying research to support Artemis missions to the Moon and human exploration of Mars and beyond, while improving life on Earth. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch Northrop Grumman’s 23rd commercial resupply services mission to the orbiting laboratory. The investigations aboard the Cygnus spacecraft aim to refine semiconductor crystals for next-generation technologies, reduce harmful microbes, improve medication production, and manage fuel pressure. NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX are targeting launch in mid-September from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Read about some of the investigations traveling to the space station: Better semiconductor crystals Optical micrograph of a semiconductor composite wafer with embedded semimetal phases extracted from a space grown crystal in the SUBSA facility during Mission 1United Semiconductors LLC Researchers are continuing to fine-tune in-space production of semiconductor crystals, which are critical for modern devices like cellphones and computers. The space station’s microgravity environment could enable large-scale manufacturing of complex materials, and leveraging the orbiting platform for crystal production is expected to lead to next-generation semiconductor technologies with higher performance, chip yield, and reliability. “Semiconductor devices fabricated using crystals from a previous mission demonstrated performance gain by a factor of two and device yield enhanced by a factor of 10 compared to Earth-based counterparts,” said Partha S. Dutta, principal investigator, United Semiconductors LLC in Los Alamitos, California. Dutta highlighted that three independent parties validated microgravity’s benefits for growing semiconductor crystals and that the commercial value of microgravity-enhanced crystals could be worth more than $1 million per kilogram (2.2 pounds). Space-manufactured crystals could help meet the need for radiation-hardened, low-power, high-speed electronics and sensors for space systems. They also could provide reduced power use, increased speed, and improved safety. The technology also has ground applications, including electric vehicles, waste heat recovery, and medical tools. Learn more about the SUBSA-InSPA-SSCug experiment. Lethal light Germicidal Ultraviolet (UV) light is emitted by an optical fiber running through the center of an agar plateArizona State University Researchers are examining how microgravity affects ultraviolet (UV) light’s ability to prevent the formation of biofilms — communities of microbes that form in water systems. Investigators developed special optical fibers to deliver the UV light, which could provide targeted, long-lasting, and chemical-free disinfection in space and on Earth. “In any water-based system, bacterial biofilms can form on surfaces like pipes, valves, and sensors,” said co-investigator Paul Westerhoff, a professor at Arizona State University in Tempe. “This can cause serious problems like corrosion and equipment failure, and affect human health.” The UV light breaks up DNA in microorganisms, preventing them from reproducing and forming biofilms. Preliminary evidence suggests biofilms behave differently in microgravity, which may affect how the UV light reaches and damages bacterial DNA. “What we’ll learn about biofilms and UV light in microgravity could help us design safer water and air systems not just for space exploration, but for hospitals, homes, and industries back on Earth,” Westerhoff said. Learn more about the GULBI experiment. Sowing seeds for pharmaceuticals NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara displays the specialized sample processor used for pharmaceutical research aboard the International Space StationNASA An investigation using a specialized pharmaceutical laboratory aboard the space station examines how microgravity may alter and enhance crystal structures of drug molecules. Crystal structure can affect the production, storage, effectiveness, and administration of medications. “We are exploring drugs with applications in cardiovascular, immunologic, and neurodegenerative disease as well as cancer,” said principal investigator Ken Savin of Redwire Space Technologies in Greenville, Indiana. “We expect microgravity to yield larger, more uniform crystals.” Once the samples return to Earth, researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, will examine the crystal structures. The investigators hope to use the space-made crystals as seeds to produce significant numbers of crystals on Earth. “We have demonstrated this technique with a few examples, but need to see if it works in many examples,” Savin said. “It’s like being on a treasure hunt with every experiment.” This research also helps enhance and expand commercial use of the space station for next-generation biotechnology research and in-space production of medications. Learn more about the ADSEP PIL-11 experiment. Keeping fuel cool iss0NASA astronaut Joe Acaba installs hardware for the first effort in 2017 aboard the International Space Station to test controlling pressure in cryogenic fuel tanksNASA Many spacecraft use cryogenic or extremely cold fluids as fuel for propulsion systems. These fluids are kept at hundreds of degrees below zero to remain in a liquid state, making them difficult to use in space where ambient temperatures can vary significantly. If these fluids get too warm, they turn into gas and boiloff, or slowly evaporate and escape the tank, affecting fuel efficiency and mission planning. A current practice to prevent this uses  onboard fuel to cool systems before transferring fuel, but this practice is wasteful and not feasible for Artemis missions to the Moon and future exploration of Mars and beyond. A potential alternative is using special gases that do not turn into liquids at cold temperatures to act as a barrier in the tank and control the movement of the fuel. Researchers are testing this method to control fuel tank pressure in microgravity. It could save an estimated 42% of propellant mass per year, according to Mohammad Kassemi, a researcher at NASA’s National Center for Space Exploration Research and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The test could provide insights that help improve the design of lightweight, efficient, long-term in-space cryogenic storage systems for future deep space exploration missions. Learn more about the ZBOT-NC experiment.  Download high-resolution photos and videos of the research highlighted in this feature. Learn more about the research aboard the International Space Station at: www.nasa.gov/iss-science Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Latest News from Space Station Research Space Station Research and Technology Resources Space Station Research Results Humans In Space View Source Article

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule demonstrated its ability to boost the ISS on Sept. 3, pushing the orbiting lab slightly higher above Earth. View Source Article

A federal jury in California has ordered Google to pay $425 million for violating user privacy by collecting the data of millions of people even after they disabled tracking, as reported earlier by Reuters. The decision stems from a class action lawsuit filed in July 2020, which accused Google of unlawfully accessing app activity data on users’ mobile phones from July 2016 to September 2024. The lawsuit alleged that during this period, Google continued to collect user data across third-party apps even if they had the “Web & App Activity” setting turned off.  The Web & App Activity setting is supposed to control how Google collects information related to your searches, location, and activity on third-party sites, apps, and devices that partner with Google to show ads. Google says it uses this information to provide you with “more personalized experiences.”  The jury found Google liable for two of three claims brought by the class action lawsuit, including invasion of privacy and intrusion upon seclusion. The class, which covers around 98 million users and 174 million devices, originally sought over $31 billion in compensatory damages. Google plans to appeal the verdict. “This decision misunderstands how our products work,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement to The Verge. “Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice.” Google argues that it treats data pseudonymously when users turn off the Web & App Activity setting, and claims that users “knew and consented” to this practice. View Source Article

New research shows that filtration systems that remove PFAS can also get rid of other harmful substances. Whether they’ll actually be introduced is a different matter entirely. View Source Article

Figma Inc. shares tumbled after the design software company gave an annual revenue outlook that failed to impress investors in its first report as a public company. View Source Article

The Browser Company — the maker of the Arc and AI-centric Dia browsers — is set to have a new owner. Atlassian is buying it for around $610 million in an all-cash deal, which it expects to close in the second quarter of its fiscal year 2026 (i.e. by the end of the 2025 calendar year). According to The Browser Company, it will continue to operate independently as it builds Dia. A private beta for the browser started in June. Arc (a well-regarded browser on which the company has ended active development) and Arc Search will stick around, and a long-term plan for those will be revealed in the near future. Co-founders Josh Miller and Hursh Agrawal are staying on as CEO and CTO, respectively. Miller wrote in a blog post that they are looking to accelerate their ambitions by teaming up with Atlassian. "We chose Atlassian because their strengths complement our gaps," Miller wrote. "And most importantly, like us, they believe the browser is becoming the new operating system." The Browser Company plans to bring Dia to "to every platform faster than we could have previously imagined" in the coming months. Miller said the company had three conditions for any acquisition: to ensure it remained independent, that all of its team members still had a job and that its "vision for Dia remains at the center." He added that "a large part of why we chose Atlassian is values. Now more than ever. Not the kind you hang on a wall, but the ones you see in the work itself." Atlassian is the owner of productivity and enterprise services such as project management apps Jira and Trello (which has been buggy for me for over a year, for what it's worth). Last month, it reportedly laid off around 150 workers, many of whom were said to be in the customer service department, and was said to be planning to use AI to take over some of those former employees' tasks. "Our vision is to make Dia the AI browser for work," Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said in a video announcing the acquisition. The team is designing Dia so it's "optimized for the SaaS [software as a service] apps where you spend your day; packed with AI skills and your personal work memory to unleash your potential; and built with trust and security in mind, so you can bring it to the office. An AI browser for your system of work."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/atlassian-is-buying-arc-maker-the-browser-company-for-610-million-145236236.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA NASA astronauts Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman, both Expedition 73 Flight Engineers, pose for a portrait inside the International Space Station‘s Unity module during a break in weekend housecleaning and maintenance activities. Kim and Cardman are both part of NASA Astronaut Group 22 selected in June 2017 with 12 other astronauts, including two Canadian Space Agency astronauts, and affectionately nicknamed “The Turtles.” In its third decade of continuous human presence, the space station has a far-reaching impact as a microgravity lab hosting technology, demonstrations, and scientific investigations from a range of fields. The research done by astronauts on the orbiting laboratory will inform long-duration missions like Artemis and future human expeditions to Mars. Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog. View Source Article

Astronomers have doubled the number of black hole and neutron star mergers detected via gravitational waves in a "stellar graveyard," as well as "hearing" the heaviest black hole binary yet. View Source Article

Hollow Knight: Silksong launched today, and immediately afterward the major video game storefronts were struggling to stay online. Shortly after Silksong’s 10 AM ET release time, Steam, the Nintendo eShop, Xbox, and PlayStation stores all displayed error messages or failed to load entirely. Hollow Knight: Silksong is one of the most anticipated indie releases in recent memory. Its gravitational pull has been so strong, several other indie games releasing around the same time as Silksong announced delays to get out of its way. Compounding the feverish anticipation is that Team Cherry is selling Silksong for essentially nothing — it’ll only cost $20 in an environment where big-time publishers are floating $80 and $90 new releases. The hype for Silksong has also been a boon to the original Hollow Knight. In the days before Silksong’s release, Hollow Knight has gotten a significant bump on the Steam charts, boasting its highest concurrent player count ever, seven years after its release in 2017. Silksong has already beaten Hollow Knight’s record, as SteamDB reports there are over 100,000 concurrent players. That number will only grow as players continue to trickle in as Steam and the other gaming storefronts start functioning normally again. View Source Article

Huawei Technologies Co. introduced an update to its groundbreaking trifold phone on Thursday, iterating on a novel form factor and underscoring its hardware engineering capabilities. View Source Article

Hollow Knight: Silksong is officially available for purchase, after six long years of waiting. The anticipation is at a fever pitch. Fans have swarmed to Steam to purchase the game and, well, it looks like they overloaded the system and shut it down. The same thing seems to be happening to the Nintendo eShop and the Xbox Store.  Multiple social media users and data from services like DownDetector are noting that the service is down for many people, with a massive spike in reports pretty much the moment Silksong became available. This could be a coincidence but it's probably not. Silksong is one of the hottest releases in recent memory. In any event, we've reached out to Steam and will update this post when we hear back or when the platform has returned. Congrats to those who already got their hands on the game. This is a developing story.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hollow-knight-silksong-fans-have-brought-down-steam-142116085.html?src=rss View Source Article

Patricia White is a contracting officer at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, where she contributes to NASA’s Artemis program that will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. NASA/Danny Nowlin When NASA’s Artemis II mission launches in 2026, it will inspire the world through discovery in a new Golden Age of innovation and exploration. It will be another inspiring NASA moment Patricia White can add to her growing list. White supports the Artemis program to send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars as a contracting officer at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. White takes special pride in the test operations contract she helped draft. The contract provides support to the Fred Haise Test Stand, which tests the RS-25 engines that will help power NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on Artemis missions. “I was awestruck the first time I witnessed an engine test,” White said. “I remember how small I felt in comparison to this big and fascinating world, and I wondered what that engine would see that I would never be able to see.” Four RS-25 engines tested at NASA Stennis will help launch Artemis II with four astronauts to venture around the Moon. As the first crewed Artemis mission, it will represent another milestone for the nation’s human space exploration effort. From Interstate Signs to NASA Career White describes NASA Stennis as a hidden gem. Growing up in nearby Slidell, Louisiana, she had driven by the interstate signs pointing toward NASA Stennis her entire life. When she heard about a job opportunity at the center, she immediately applied. Initially hired as a contractor with only a high school diploma in February 2008, White found her motivation among NASA’s ranks. “I work with very inspiring people, and it only took one person to say, ‘You should go to college’ to give me the courage to go so late in life,” she said. Hard But Worth It White began college classes in her 40s and finished at 50. She balanced a marriage, full-time job, academic studies, and household responsibilities. When she started her educational journey, her children were either toddlers or newborns. They were growing up as she stayed in school for nine years while meeting life’s challenges. “It was hard, but it was so worth it,” she said. “I love my job and what I do, and even though it is crazy busy, I look forward to working at NASA every single day.” She joined NASA officially in 2013, going from contractor to civil servant. Setting an Example White’s proudest work moment came when she brought home the NASA Early Career Achievement award and medal. It served as a tangible symbol of her success she could share with her family. “It was a long road from being hired as an intern, and we all made extraordinary sacrifices,” she said. “I wanted to share it with them and set a good example for my children.” As Artemis II prepares to carry humans back to lunar orbit for the first time in over 50 years, White takes pride knowing her work helps power humanity’s return to deep space exploration. Her work is proof that sometimes the most important journeys begin right in one’s own backyard. Learn More About Careers at NASA Stennis Explore More 4 min read NASA Stennis Provides Ideal Setting for Range Operations Article 1 week ago 10 min read NASA’s Stennis Space Center Employees Receive NASA Honor Awards Article 3 weeks ago 6 min read A Defining Era: NASA Stennis and Space Shuttle Main Engine Testing Article 4 months ago View Source Article

Artificial-intelligence agents—touted as AI’s next wave—could be vulnerable to malicious code hidden in innocent-looking images on your computer screen View Source Article

Solar eclipse maps show crisp lines for the path of totality, but in reality, the edges of the path are fuzzy, jagged and sometimes wrong by hundreds of meters or more View Source Article

Amazon’s satellite internet service, Project Kuiper, will partner with JetBlue to provide in-flight Wi-Fi starting in 2027. It’s Project Kuiper’s first deal with an airline as it aims to keep up with the SpaceX-owned Starlink, which has already snagged satellite internet agreements with United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Air France, and several others. Amazon has been working on its Starlink competitor since 2019, but the service has only just started to get off the ground. In April, Amazon successfully launched its first round of 27 low-earth orbit satellites into space. The Project Kuiper constellation has since grown to more than 100 satellites, making up a small fraction of the over 3,200 satellites it eventually plans to deploy. Amazon has another Project Kuiper launch set for later this month, but it still has ways to go to catch up to Starlink, which has more than 8,000 satellites in orbit. Project Kuiper-powered Wi-Fi will be available on “select” aircraft at launch. Amazon says its satellites will provide lower latency and “more reliable service” for passengers, as they orbit between 367 and 391 miles above Earth — far closer than the geostationary satellites that orbit around 22,369 miles above the planet. Amazon has also struck a deal with Airbus to build Project Kuiper’s satellite internet service into its aircraft. View Source Article

MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s largest wireless carrier, is considering reviving talks to acquire smaller South African rival Telkom SA, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

TCL is showcasing a new phone at IFA 2025. A late entrant to the modern mobile market, the company tries to differentiate its devices with NXTPAPER eye-comfort screen tech. The new NXTPAPER 60 Ultra is TCL's first phone to feature the latest version of that technology, which it first introduced in a tablet at CES 2025. The idea behind NXTPAPER is to strike a balance between e-paper and OLED screens, alleviating eye strain without sacrificing color range or refresh rates. Its hardware-level features include blue light filtering, a matte anti-glare layer and flicker-free brightness control. One of its neatest aspects is Ink Mode, which can switch into an E Ink-like presentation with the press of a dedicated button. TCL says the 2025 version of the display tech (NXTPAPER 4.0) brings sharper detail, more accurate color and AI-driven eye comfort modes. TCL Looking beyond the eye-comfort features, the NXTPAPER 60 Ultra is a mid-range Android phone. It has a spacious 7.2-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate with 1080p resolution. It's powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 processor and 12GB of RAM. (An additional 12GB is available via virtual RAM.) The phone has a three-camera setup, including a 50MP periscope telephoto sensor. (That camera provides 3x optical zoom and 6x "lossless" zoom via digital trickery.) The phone has a 5,200 mAh battery. At least for now, the NXTPAPER 60 Ultra is only launching in Europe, Latin America and Asian markets. It will be available there later this month, priced at €499 for 256GB storage and €549 for 512GB.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/tcls-new-smartphone-uses-the-latest-version-of-its-eye-comfort-screen-tech-133041739.html?src=rss View Source Article

We've seen it all before, but some sci-fi clichés just work. View Source Article

The EnerGeek GT01 will be available in black or white color options. | Image: Baseus Baseus has announced a new accessory that can wirelessly charge a Qi2-compatible smartphone directly on an outlet, making it useful as a hands-free wall mount. It’s reminiscent of a similar wireless charger that Zens released last year, but Baseus’ new EnerGeek GT01 has additional functionality, including a 10,000mAh battery that can be separated from the adapter’s AC plug for use as a portable power bank and wireless charger, leaving behind a simple 27W USB-C charger still stuck in the wall. Wireless charging is limited to Qi2 rates so your phone will only charge at 15W instead of the faster 25W that you’ll get from new Qi2.2 chargers. If you’re in a hurry to revive a dying phone, or want to charge a device that’s not Qi-compatible, the EnerGeek GT01 also has a USB-C port that outputs 45W on the device’s power bank half. The Qi2 pad and both USB-C ports can all be used simultaneously when the two halves are connected, but while wireless charging will maintain a steady 15W rate, the two USB ports will dynamically share the remaining available power. Rounding out the novelties is a small LCD display on one side that shows the battery’s remaining charge level and an estimate of how many hours and minutes are left before it’s fully depleted based on what’s currently drawing power.  It’s expected to launch later this year for $89.99, which is a bit pricey for a 10,000mAh power bank — even with wireless charging capabilities (Anker has one for $60). You’re paying a premium for the convenience of fewer cables and adapters. View Source Article

President Donald Trump’s administration just tore up a quiet compromise that some of the world’s biggest chipmakers have relied on to maintain crucial operations in China. That tees up four months of complex policy talks to satisfy US national security concerns while avoiding disruptions to supply chains that underpin the global electronics market. View Source Article

Anker took it's excellent Nebula X1 projector and said, "what if that but louder?" The result is the Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro that marries Anker's 4K, 3,500 lumen Google TV projector with a 160W Soundcore speaker, offering what should be an incredible outdoor entertainment machine.  Marrying these products wasn't just a matter of jamming them into the same box. The subwoofer was set up to float inside the assembly on a spring-type system to avoid vibrating the laser-powered 4K video. And to get some semblance of soundstage, the 80W soundbar speakers fold out to the left and right of the projector, with two wireless satellites completing the 7.1.4 surround effect. It even supports Dolby Atmos, which the projector on its own doesn't do, while also offering IP43 protection from light rain and dust, another feature absent on the Nebula X1.  Anker Otherwise, it's the same excellent triple-laser, glass lens projector I tested last month that offers outstanding image quality, a simple automatic setup thanks to the motorized lens and surprising portability. Considering it's mean for outdoor use, it puts a lot of dedicated indoor projectors to shame in terms of brightness and color accuracy. When not beaming movies, the system can also be used in audio-only Bluetooth speaker mode. The Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro will launch on September 23rd on Kickstarter (at between $4,000 to $5,000), just as the Nebula X1 projector did. It will then come to retail a bit later, around March 2026. The company is also offering the opportunity to leave a $100 deposit and get $500 off. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/ankers-soundcore-nebula-x1-pro-is-the-ultimate-party-projector-130255687.html?src=rss View Source Article

Nvidia announced last month that it’s planning to upgrade its GeForce Now cloud gaming service to RTX 5080 GPUs. Now, we have a date for that upgrade: September 10th. The upgrade will allow GeForce Now subscribers to rent what’s effectively an RTX 5080 in the cloud, with a huge 48GB of memory and DLSS 4 support. Nvidia’s RTX 5080 upgrade for GeForce Now will include support for 5K resolutions at 60fps and 120fps, or 1440p at 240fps and 1080p at 360fps. You’ll also be able to enable full ray-tracing support in games with Neural Rendering and Multi Frame Generation, all at the same $19.99 a month for GeForce Now Ultimate. The reveal of the upgrade date for GeForce Now is part of Nvidia’s weekly GeForce Now announcements, which include 17 games set to be added to the service this month. Hollow Knight: Silksong arrives on GeForce Now today, with Borderlands 4, Dying Light: The Beast, Jump Space, Endless Legend 2, and Cloverpit all debuting on the streaming service later this month. “On Wednesday, September 10th, Nvidia Blackwell RTX is coming to GeForce Now,” says Nvidia. “To celebrate, next week’s GeForce Now announcements will come a day earlier to usher in the Blackwell era of GeForce Now.” Nvidia is also bringing back the ability to install games on GeForce Now without waiting for Nvidia to formally curate them. This new “Install-to-Play” feature will greatly improve the GeForce Now library. View Source Article

Nvidia Corp.’s venture capital arm is investing in Quantinuum for the first time, valuing the quantum computing company controlled by Honeywell International Inc. at $10 billion. View Source Article

Amazon has introduced a new eero product at IFA 2025, which can provide you with connectivity in case your home internet goes out. The new product called eero Signal connects to any USB-C-powered eero device on a network that supports Wi-Fi 6 and up. It's meant to be a cellular backup, available two versions: A 4G LTE one that will cost you $100 and a 5G one that will set you back $200. Signal can detect outages and automatically connect you to a cellular network with its multi-carrier eSIM that's already included with the price of the device. It also switches back to your home internet once it detects that it's back online.  To note, Signal isn't meant for standalone use. It's only meant as a backup that requires an existing primary internet connection and will only work in a single location. The device was designed to keep you connected when you would've had no home internet otherwise. You will need an annual eero Plus subscription to be able to enjoy its benefits, though it's coming to eero Business as well. An annual eero Plus plan will set you back $99 a year for all its perks, including access to a VPN, an antivirus, a password manager and 10GB of backup data. If you live in a place that experiences frequent outages, you can get the new annual eero Plus 100 plan that will come with 100GB of backup data for $200 a year.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/amazon-launches-cellular-dongle-to-provide-backup-connectivity-for-eero-routers-123028654.html?src=rss View Source Article

4 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Researchers Kelly Gilkey, Cy Peverill, Daniel Phan, Chase Haddix, and Ariel Tokarz test portable, handheld X-ray systems for use during future long-duration space missions at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on Friday, March 21, 2025. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna As NASA plans future human exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, new and unique challenges emerge — like communication delays and limited return-to-Earth options — so enhanced medical care capabilities are critical. Crews will need non-invasive imaging technology to diagnose medical conditions, like broken bones or dental injuries.   Scientists at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland are testing portable, handheld X-ray systems for use during future extended space missions. Having portable X-ray capabilities aboard spacecraft would allow astronauts to immediately assess and treat potential injuries or identify equipment issues without having to disassemble the gear.  “Technological innovations like that of the mini-X-ray will help keep our astronauts healthy as we endeavor farther into space than ever before,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. “Future missions to the Moon and Mars will be safer due to the research of our scientists at NASA Glenn.”  NASA reviewed more than 200 commercial systems — analyzing size, weight, image quality, ease-of-use, cost, and safety — and selected three systems for further testing: MinXray, Remedi, and Fujifilm.  “We’re working to provide evidence on why a mini-X-ray system should be included in future space exploration,” said Dr. Chase Haddix, a senior biomedical engineering research contractor working for Universities Space Research Association at NASA Glenn. “These X-rays could be used to detect both clinical and non-clinical diagnostics, meaning they can check an astronaut’s body or identify the location of a tear in an astronaut suit.”  Researchers capture X-ray images of a shape memory alloy rover tire at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on Friday, March 21, 2025. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna NASA Glenn is collaborating with other centers, including NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and radiography experts at University Hospitals and Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland.  “We’re fortunate to have enthusiastic medical and radiography experts right here in our community,” said Dr. Cy Peverill, project task lead at NASA Glenn. “Their knowledge and experience are invaluable as we work to test medical technologies that could significantly improve management of astronaut health on future missions to the Moon or Mars.”  Cuyahoga Community College contributed anatomical phantoms, which are lifelike models of the human body, in its radiography laboratory on the Western Campus and dental hygiene clinical facility at the Metropolitan Campus. Faculty and students consulted with NASA researchers on essential imaging principles, including patient positioning, image acquisition, and image quality.    University Hospitals is partnering with NASA Glenn on a medical study with real patients to compare the performance of the X-ray systems against hospital-grade equipment, focusing on usability, image clarity, and diagnostic accuracy.    “Astronauts live and work in small quarters, much smaller spaces than in a hospital,” Haddix said. “The system must be easy to use since astronauts may not be experienced in radiography. The data from these tests will guide the selection of the most suitable system for future missions.”  Researchers capture X-ray images of an astronaut spacesuit at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on Friday, March 21, 2025. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Using portable X-rays to improve health care in inaccessible areas is not new, with systems deployed to diagnose medical issues in places such as base camps in Nepal and remote villages in South Africa. NASA researchers theorize that if these systems are successful in high elevations and extreme temperatures on Earth, perhaps they are durable enough for space missions.  Glenn researchers will continue to collect data from all collaborators, including from an X-ray system sourced by SpaceX that launched in April during the Fram2 mission. The crew captured the first human X-ray images in space during their four-day mission to low Earth orbit. NASA plans to select a device near the end of 2025 and will test the chosen system aboard the International Space Station in 2026 or early 2027.   The Mars Campaign Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington and the agency’s Human Research Program at NASA Johnson fund this work as both organizations focus on pursuing technologies and methods to support safe, productive human space travel.  Explore More 2 min read Lydia Rodriguez Builds a Career of Service and Support at NASA  Article 2 days ago 3 min read What’s Up: September 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA Saturn’s spectacle, a Conjunction, and the Autumnal Equinox Saturn shines throughout the month, a conjunction… Article 2 days ago 2 min read Hubble Homes in on Galaxy’s Star Formation This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy whose asymmetric appearance may be the… Article 6 days ago View Source Article

Wilmington, United States, 4th September 2025, CyberNewsWire View Source Article

This young star is surrounded by a protoplanetary disk, separating the "wings" of the butterfly. View Source Article

PlayCube is a cross between a Rubik’s Cube and TARS. | Image: TCL TCL is not a brand that elicits desire, typically, yet here I am, looking at its IFA 2025 announcement of the PlayCube, wondering how a projector that pays homage to both a Rubik’s Cube and TARS can fit into my life. The all-in-one Google TV projector with up to 3-hours of battery life — introduced as a concept in January — will be available to buy starting September 5th. I’m just not sure it’s worth €799 (around $930), no matter how pretty it is. As a long-time fan of cubes and The Verge’s resident vanlifer, TCL already had my attention when it said the PlayCube was specifically designed for “camping projection.” I like that it’s Netflix certified and that its quirky, twistable hardware lets you angle the image as needed, with built-in intelligence to automatically focus the image, avoid obstacles, align the image, and correct the keystone. Here’s a conceptual video with simulated images showing how the real projector might fit into your life. The PlayCube measures just 5.9 x 3.8 x 38 inches and 2.7 pounds and features a glass lens and 1080p image lit by 750 ISO lumens — enough to create a tiny screen for casual viewing during the day and big screen video at night. TCL says it produces less than 26dB of noise when running, which should be easily overcome by the projector’s lone 5W speaker or 3.5mm audio jack. Rounding out the specs are HDMI, USB, and Wi-Fi connectivity. View Source Article

Roblox Corp. will restrict certain features on its popular video-game platform in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as child safety concerns and regulatory scrutiny intensify in the region. View Source Article

As frustrating as it is that governments and businesses are running roughshod over our online freedoms, at least we have plenty of good VPNs to choose from to keep us protected online. There are so many fast, intelligently designed, full-featured and affordable services on the market that the biggest problem is picking one. For any use case, you can bet at least two providers will be neck-and-neck for first place.On the other hand, the VPN world is still the Wild West in some ways. It's easy enough to slap a cheap VPN together that the market is flooded with low-quality apps that put more money into advertising than infrastructure. They may look good, but it's all styrofoam under the hood.I built this list of the best VPNs after intensive testing to help you reorient your focus on the providers that actually deserve your time and money. Which one truly fits your needs is dependent on who you are and what you do online, but if you pick any of my seven recommendations, you can't go too far wrong.For each VPN on this list, I've shared which platforms it works on, how much it cuts into your download speed, where it offers servers, what other features are included and how much the best available deal costs. At the end, I'll list some honorable and dishonorable mentions, then answer some of the most common questions I hear about VPNs.Editor's note: This list has been completely overhauled and rewritten as of September 2025. We intend to revisit this list every three months at a minimum, at which time our picks may be adjusted based on changes in pricing, features, testing results and other factors. Table of contents Best VPNs for 2025 Other VPNs we tested What to look for in a VPN VPN FAQs Best VPNs for 2025 Other VPNs we tested The VPNs in this section didn't crack our top list above, but we're summarizing them here so you can see their positives and negatives as of the time of our evaluation.  Windscribe Windscribe is another well-known free VPN supported by paid subscriptions. In many ways, it takes the best from both Mullvad and Proton VPN, with the former's no-nonsense privacy and the latter's healthy free plan. Without paying, you can connect to 10 of Windscribe's server locations on an unlimited number of devices at once. Unfortunately, Windscribe didn't copy the most important part of Proton VPN's free plan — the unlimited data. You're only allowed to use 10GB per month, which isn't enough for regular streaming. It's also committed to a cramped and headache-inducing user interface that stands out from the crowd in all the worst ways. CyberGhost There's a lot to recommend with CyberGhost. Its streaming-optimized servers meet a high standard for playback quality, it's pretty fast overall and its Smart Rules offer some of the deepest VPN automation on the market. The ad blocker works well, and the NoSpy servers are a neat idea — CyberGhost keeps them under lock and key near its Romania headquarters and carefully fine-tunes all their settings. On the other hand, its apps just aren't up to the standard set by our favorites on this list. I like the designs on paper, but there are too many snags in the experience, from laggy connections to an overactive kill switch that often blocks internet access even when the VPN is working perfectly. I also have some concerns about its commitment to data privacy, since its privacy policy retains the right to share your personal data with its entire corporate family. CyberGhost's parent company, Kape Technologies, also owns ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access, but neither of those VPNs have privacy policies quite so permissive. TunnelBear TunnelBear has a decent interface, which its target audience of VPN beginners will find very easy to use. Its speeds are perfectly good too, and I appreciate the depth and breadth of its transparency reports. But it's far too limited overall, with few extra features, less than 50 server locations and a free plan that caps data at 2GB per month. VyprVPN VyprVPN often flies under the radar, but it has some of the best apps in the business and a very good security record (there was a breach in 2023, but it didn't crack the VPN encryption itself). It's also got a verified privacy policy, a solid jurisdiction and runs every connection through an in-house DNS to prevent leaks. Despite all that, it didn't make the top seven because its connection speeds aren't up to scratch — you'll likely notice a bigger slowdown than average. It also has a troubling history of wild, seemingly experimental swings in its pricing and simultaneous connection limits. Norton VPN Norton VPN is part of the Norton 360 package that includes the well-known antivirus software and other security apps. It's a nice bonus if you use Norton already, but as a standalone VPN, it falls short. My tests repeatedly showed it dropping encryption and revealing my IP address whenever I switched servers, and not all of its locations managed to unblock Netflix. This isn't to say Norton VPN is terrible. It has a fairly large server network, user-friendly apps and some cool features like an IP rotator. It also recently revamped its OpenVPN infrastructure to improve speeds on Windows. But you probably won't find those things sufficient to balance out significant speed drops on other platforms or poorly written FAQs. I especially advise against Norton VPN for Apple users, as its Mac and iPhone apps are much more limited than their Windows and Android counterparts. What to look for in a VPN Choosing a VPN can quickly get you mired in analysis paralysis. We're here to help, but since only you know your particular needs, you should know the major red and green flags so you can make the final call yourself. Every reputable VPN provider offers a free trial or refund guarantee you can use to run the tests below. Compatibility: First, make sure your VPN works on all the platforms you plan to use it on. Most VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, but those apps aren't always created equal — check that the app for your chosen OS is user-friendly and has all the features you need. Speed: Use a speed testing app to see how fast your internet is before and after connecting to the VPN (I use Ookla's speedtest.net). To check security, look up your IP address while connected to a VPN server and see if it's actually changed your virtual location. Be sure it's using expert-vetted protocols like OpenVPN, WireGuard and IKEv2. Try connecting to streaming services and seeing whether the VPN changes the available content. Background: Do some outside research into the VPN's origins, especially its parent company, privacy policy and any past incidents. It's a dealbreaker if you can't figure out where the VPN is headquartered (which indicates a lax approach to transparency) or if it seems to have never passed a real third-party audit. Server network: Look at the server network to make sure the VPN has locations near you and in any countries where you'll want an IP address — e.g. if you need a VPN to unblock Canadian Netflix, look for multiple server locations in Canada. Customer Service: I also advise testing the customer support options by looking for the answer to a straightforward question. If phone support (versus email and chat) is important to you, make sure to prioritize that — and make sure it's available at convenient times in your timezone. Pricing: Finally, check prices. See if the VPN is affordable and decide whether you're comfortable taking a long-term subscription for better savings. If you do get a multi-year plan, check what price it will renew at, since many of the cheapest subscriptions are only introductory deals. VPN FAQs To wrap up, let's answer some of the most common questions we get about VPNs. Feel free to get in touch if you have a query I don't cover here. What is a VPN? VPN stands for virtual private network. There are a few different types of VPNs, but for this list, we're talking about commercial services that let individual users access the internet with an assumed identity. Whenever you get online, you're assigned an IP address — a digital nametag that tells websites where to send the information you request. For an IP address to work, it needs to be unique, which means it's possible to create a record of what an individual does online. When you use a VPN, all the data you send to the internet goes through one of the VPN's servers before heading to its final destination. The VPN encrypts the connection between your computer and its server so the data won't trace back to you. Any website, ISP or third party that cares to look will only see the VPN's IP address, not yours. What are some things VPNs are used for? The three main use cases for a commercial VPN are security, privacy and entertainment. Using a VPN conceals your real IP address from anyone who might want to use it for nefarious purposes like cyberstalking, DDoS attacks or deducing your real location. It also keeps your ISP from profiling you for ads based on where you live or what you do online. One side effect of borrowing a VPN's IP address is that you can make it appear as though your connection is coming from another country. You can use this to access streaming content and platforms that are only available in certain regions due to copyright. Changing your location can even get you better prices when shopping online. Location spoofing can also be used to get online in countries that censor internet access, like China and Russia, as well as certain US states or countries — like the UK — that are adding barriers like age-gating to previously unfettered online access. All you have to do is connect to a neighboring country (or locality) where the internet isn't blocked. If you plan to do this while traveling, make sure you have the VPN downloaded before you go, as some nations prevent you from even loading a VPN's homepage. Make sure you check with local laws regarding the legality of VPN use as well — just because your VPN traffic is encrypted doesn't mean that authorities can't detect that it's being used in a given location. Are VPNs worth it? Whether a VPN is worth the price depends on how much you value those three use cases above. It's no secret that your personal information is profitable for a lot of people, from illicit hackers to corporations to law enforcement. A VPN will not make you completely anonymous, nor is it a license to commit crimes (see the next question) but it will give you a lot more control over what you transmit to the world. With entertainment, the value is even clearer. You can use a VPN to fight back against streaming balkanization by getting more shows and movies out of a single platform — for example, a lot of shows that have been kicked off American Netflix are still on Netflix in other countries. What information does a VPN hide? A VPN does not make it impossible for you to be unmasked or taken advantage of online. It prevents you from passively leaking information, keeps your IP address undiscoverable on public wi-fi networks and gets you around online censorship. However, if you share personal information of your own volition, there's nothing the VPN can do. If you reveal your password in a social media post or click a link in a phishing email, that information bypasses the VPN. Likewise, if you do anything sensitive while logged into an account, the account holder will have that information even if you're using a VPN. A VPN is a critical part of your online security, but it can't do the whole job by itself. Healthy passwords, malware scanners, private search engines and common sense all have roles to play. Never forget, too, that using a VPN means trusting the VPN provider with access to information that's concealed from everyone else — make sure you trust the privacy policy before signing up. Are VPNs safe? As far as we can determine, all the VPNs recommended in this story are safe to use. As with anything you subscribe to online, due diligence is important, but there's very little inherent risk; generally, the worst thing a bad VPN will do is fail to work, leaving you no worse off than before. There are some VPNs (usually offered for free) that transmit malware, so always make sure to look up any complaints or warnings about a service before you download it. Can you get a VPN on your phone? Absolutely — almost every VPN has apps for both desktop and mobile devices. A good VPN will redesign its app to be mobile-friendly without dropping too many features. Both iOS and Android natively support VPN connections, so you're free to choose whichever provider you like. What about Google's One VPN? Google One VPN was, as you might expect, a VPN provided by Google. It was launched in 2020 for Google One subscribers and discontinued in 2024 due to lack of use. If you really want a Google VPN, you can still get one if you have certain Pixel models or if you're a Google Fi subscriber. That said, I don't recommend using a VPN from Google even if you do still have access to one. Google is one of the worst big tech companies at protecting user privacy. While its VPN might not leak, I wouldn't trust it to guard your sensitive information.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/best-vpn-130004396.html?src=rss View Source Article

The September 2025 total lunar eclipse will bring a blood-red moon to skies across Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe — if you know where to look. View Source Article

Dia’s simplicity is neat, but its AI integration is the point. Mike Cannon-Brookes, the CEO of enterprise software giant Atlassian, was one of the first users of the Arc browser. Over the last several years, he has been a prolific bug reporter and feature requester. Now he'll own the thing: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company, the New York-based startup that makes both Arc and the new AI-focused Dia browser. Atlassian is paying $610 million in cash for The Browser Company, and plans to run it as an independent entity. The conversations that led to the deal started about a year ago, says Josh Miller, The Browser Company's CEO. Lots of Atlassian employees were using Arc, and "they reached out wond … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

A $30,000 television could provide clues as to where Samsung Electronics Co.’s lineup is headed next. View Source Article

Roborock is launching an updated Qrevo Curv robot vacuum that offers an impressive 25,000 Pa of suction power — topping the 18,500 Pa available with last year’s model. That’s not all that’s new with the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro, either, as the newly announced robovac comes with a dual-spinning mop system that automatically detaches before passing over carpets, helping to keep them dry. And, at just 3.14 inches (7.98cm) thick, the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro shaves an entire inch off the 2024 model and can retract its LiDAR tower, allowing it to slip under furniture with low clearance. It does share some similarities with its predecessor, as it also features an “AdaptiLift Chassis” that enables the robovac to lift itself up and clean carpets up to 1.18 inches (3cm) thick. The Qrevo Curv 2 Pro pairs an RGB camera with AI-powered obstacle recognition to help it identify and avoid clutter. It also features an anti-tangle brush and an upgraded version of the bubbly dock with 100-degree Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) hot water mop washing. The Qrevo Curv 2 Pro is currently only available in the European Union for €1299 (~$1,514), and there’s no word whether it will come to the US. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Riley Griffin looks at Mark Zuckerberg’s personal effort to influence policymakers in the nation’s capital. View Source Article

Hue just did its biggest product launch ever as part of IFA 2025 and a key product is the new entry-level Essential smart bulb lineup. Though still not as cheap as some products you can find on Amazon, it's designed to take on budget rivals like Govee and Aqara with bulbs starting under $20.  The new range includes A19 bulbs, GU10 spots and strip lights with and without color options. Effectively, you're not losing a lot compared to the regular color/white bulbs. They still run on the same platform and offer Bluetooth out of the box along with extra features enabled when using a bridge or Matter-over-Thread. To highlight the differences, Hue released a feature comparison sheet. You can't dim the Essential bulbs as much, they offer a reduced range of whites (2200 to 6500K compared to 1000 to 20000K) and color quality is less accurate. The latter is arguably the most important feature for folks who use smart bulbs to sync with their TVs or require precise matching between bulbs.  Hue You'll be able to buy the Hue Essential bulbs starting this month, with the new A19 bulbs priced at $25 individually or $60 in a four-pack. The Essential strip light arrives in December for $60 in a 5 meter length (16 feet) or $100 for 10 meters (33 feet). You can also grab the A19 bulb in a starter kit in the US starting at $80 for the Essential E27 2 pieces and Hue Bridge V2, up to $100 for the Essential E27 4 pieces and Hue Bridge V2.  Another primary piece of Hue's smart lighting puzzle is the Hue Bridge Pro. It has a more serious black look compared to the white models of the past to signify the extra power. That includes five times the processing performance and 15 times the memory of the Hue Bridge V2 that came out 10 years ago.  Hue Along with the extra power, the Huge Bridge Pro debuts a new feature called Hue Motion Aware. That transforms Hue Bulbs (including 95 percent of existing models) into motion sensors able to detect movement and trigger actions or security alerts.  Hue says you can easily upgrade a current Hue Bridge "with just a few clicks," and Signify will release support for combining multiple Bridges into a single Bridge Pro by year's end. The Bridge pro arrives in North America in September 2025 for $90. Hue OmniGlow strip lightingJuanCruzDuranPhotographer for Hue Hue also refreshed its strip lighting with several new products including the flagship OmniGlow (starting at $140 for a 3 meter length and arriving in November), the first Hue strip with no visible hotspots via CSP tech to accent your decor with a seamless glow. It also introduced the Flux lineup with indoor, outdoor, ultra-bright and neon options (in sizes up to 10m) starting at $70 for 3 meters, for applications ranging from indoor accents to outdoor facades. Also new are the Festavia string lights that can be used for holiday decor or year round in a permanent model for rooflines, patios and balconies. Those start at $160 for 7m lengths or $120 for 9 meters for the permanent model with availability in September.  Signify also introduced a new A19 bulb that can replicate the entire spectrum of daylight while offering 40 percent great efficiency compared to its predecessor. Finally, the company announced a Sonos partnership that will allow you to operates Philips Hue lights using voice controls, and eventually "integrate light and sound in new intuitive ways." This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/hue-takes-on-cheaper-rivals-with-the-entry-level-essential-smart-bulb-lineup-110415932.html?src=rss View Source Article

Roborock, a company best known for its robovacs, is entering a new product category: robot lawnmowers. During the IFA 2025 tech conference, Roborock took the wraps off a trio of robot mowers, with its premium RockMow Z1 featuring an all-wheel drive system to handle steep slopes of up to 80 percent, or around 38.66 degrees. In addition to sporting independent hub motors on each wheel, the RockMow Z1’s front wheels also have an independent steering motor, which Roborock says enables smoother turns and helps it avoid slipping on slopes. The Z1 also has a suspension system designed to keep it stable while mowing, allowing for more even cuts, as well as a blade that cuts to within 3cm of walls. Similar to Segway’s Navimow X3, the RockMow Z1 combines the satellite-based Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) navigation system with visual simultaneous localization and mapping (vSLAM) to help it traverse your yard. Roborock says it cuts 5,000 square meters per 24 hours, and notes that you can even have the robot mower create certain patterns or text in your grass using the accompanying app. Roborock is also launching the RockMow S1. This mower comes with fewer bells and whistles but offers AI-powered smart mapping and can handle slopes up to 45 percent (24.2 degrees), while slipping between passages as narrow as 0.7m. It’s also slower, covering up to 1000 square meters in 24 hours. Meanwhile, the RockNeo Q1 is designed for “everyday lawn maintenance” with AI smart mapping and 3cm edge-cutting capabilities. Roborock also mentions a “wildlife-friendly” feature for the RockNeo Q1 that prevents it from mowing at nighttime to avoid disturbing nocturnal animals, but it’s not clear whether the other mowers come with this as well. Roborock hasn’t yet released pricing details or availability for its robot mowers. View Source Article

Nature is a prolific pharmacist. Aspirin, the blood thinner warfarin and metformin for diabetes all trace back to plants, discovered by serendipity before being transformed into drugs by modern chemistry. View Source Article

Someone recently asked me: Who even cares about Android tablets anymore? If that's you, you're probably feeling the same indifference towards premium Android tablets. Even Google has conceded it won’t be making new tablets and seems to have already forgotten about the Pixel Tablet. But that’s not stopping Samsung from releasing the 11th-generation Galaxy Tab S11 series, comprising the 11-inch standard model and 14.6-inch Ultra. The latter is the more interesting of the pair, as it’s not only what Samsung says is its thinnest tablet ever, but also offers new Dex multitasking features and, of course, AI tools. Plus, in case you forgot, the company’s hallmark S Pen stylus still exists, and has received yet another redesign alongside the launch of the series. These days, my stylus use is limited to the ones for e-paper writing tablets like the reMarkable Paper Pro and the Kindle Scribe, but I remain a huge fan of the S Pen. I’ve loved Samsung’s stylus since my time as an Omnia II owner, back when it was like a mini retractable pointer that extended like old car antennas. The version accompanying the Tab S11 Ultra has a hexagonal shape to its grip that makes it more closely resemble a No. 2 pencil, and its nib has also been tweaked to be more conical. From my brief time with it at a hands-on session, the latest S Pen didn’t feel remarkable. It’s certainly a lot lighter than the reMarkable Paper Pro’s Marker Plus. But despite its similarity to a No. 2 pencil, Samsung’s new stylus didn’t feel better to hold or write with than the Kindle Scribe’s pen, which is a simple cylindrical piece. I actually like how smooth the latter’s edges are, and both seemed to deliver similarly fluid and responsive writing. I didn’t feel much resistance as I dragged the S Pen’s nib across the Tab S11 Ultra’s screen to scrawl out “Hello Engadget.” Cherlynn Low for Engadget Unlike some previous S Pens that had Bluetooth-powered special features like remote camera control, this version has no additional connectivity. It draws power from the tablet’s screen like other EMR (electromagnetic resonance) tablets and won’t need to be charged. Samsung did make it attach magnetically to the S11 Ultra, which can help prevent you misplacing it in a cafe, for example. But from previous experience, I can say that the magnets aren’t strong enough to keep the S Pen on the tablet if you toss it in a purse or bag. You’ll need a case with a dedicated holder to truly secure the stylus. Speaking of, Samsung has made some new covers and keyboards for the Tab S11 Ultra, since its pogo pins have been moved from the bottom edge to its rear. This means none of your old or existing Samsung keyboard cases will be compatible, and you’ll have to buy the new version if you want to turn the S11 Ultra into a competent 2-in-1. Samsung improved the cases for its latest tablet, though, and it seems the repositioned pogo pins have allowed the company to make its origami covers a single piece instead of a two-parter. The new Pro keyboard case won’t be available at launch, so you’ll have to wait to get it and perhaps rely on a Bluetooth accessory in the meantime. Or you can get the Slim Keyboard, which doesn’t have a trackpad. Once you get a working keyboard connected, you’ll likely have a nice time getting work done on the S11 Ultra. That’s thanks in large part to the improved Dex mode, Samsung’s multitasking software for Android devices. The new tablet ships with One UI 8, which gets new multitasking features like Extended Mode and support for up to four dedicated customizable workspaces. The former basically lets you wirelessly extend your display to other screens, like another tablet or even a laptop or monitor, to simulate a dual-monitor setup. I didn’t get to see this for myself yet, so I can’t speak to the latency and ease of use, but the idea is nice in theory, and is something iPads can’t do yet. You might not even need extra screens, though, since the Tab S11 Ultra’s display is a roomy 14.6 inches, which Samsung says is its largest yet. It offers the vibrancy and brightness that’s typical of the company’s AMOLEDs, meaning colors are richly saturated and make for an enjoyable multimedia experience. Like recent models, the S11 Ultra’s panel refreshes at up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling and animations, and has a fairly sharp resolution of 2,960 x 1,848. If you really care about numbers, then know that the Tab S11 Ultra gets up to 1,600 nits of brightness, as well. All this is powered by a 3nm MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ processor, which the company said is a first for its tablets and brings 20 percent improved CPU and GPU performance over the previous generation. The neural processing unit (NPU) also sees a jump of 30 percent, according to Samsung. That means AI tools like Writing Assist and Drawing Assist should be faster and smoother. Cherlynn Low for Engadget In addition to those tools, which help you adjust the tone of your messages or turn your rough sketches into full-fledged art, the Tab S11 Ultra will also support Google’s Gemini Live so you can have more natural conversations with the assistant. Samsung is also rolling out a Galaxy AI overlay for its Notes and browser apps, allowing you to drag around a moveable panel on top of those windows for easier reference. Despite how I started this article, I’ve actually long been a fan of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S line. I love how thin and sturdy they are — they just feel like sharp gadgets to wield. And at just 5.1mm (0.2 inches) thin and weighing just 1.53 pounds (692 grams), the Tab S11 Ultra is impressively svelte. Holding it up with just one hand while I aimed my camera at it felt effortless, and despite measuring 8.2 x 12.8 inches, the tablet was relatively easy to maneuver. By the way, the S11 Ultra’s bezels measure 5.2mm, meaning even the barely-there borders are thicker than the device. And in case you needed a comparison, the 13-inch iPad Pro from 2024 was also 5.1mm thin. The Tab S11 Ultra has a bigger screen while keeping that slim profile. It also is rated IP68 so it can withstand about the same amount of dust and water ingress as the average smartphone today. While I wasn’t able to test the battery life of the Tab S11 and Tab S11 Ultra at the hands-on event, I think their respective 8,400mAh and 11,600mAh cells should provide ample runtime to get work done on the go. Samsung says they’ll both last about 13 hours on a charge. I’ll take this opportunity to point out that the Tab S11 is a much less premium device, with noticeably thicker bezels around its 10.9-inch screen. It supports Wi-Fi 6E, while the Ultra gets up to Wi-Fi 7, and it has a headphone jack if you still want one. The Ultra, meanwhile, does not have a 3.5mm audio socket. Cherlynn Low for Engadget In most other respects, the Tab S11 and its Ultra sibling share similar specs. Both have 13-megapixel rear cameras and 12MP front sensors, though the Ultra has an additional 8MP ultrawide setup. They support the redesigned S Pen, have in-screen fingerprint sensors, use the same processor, start at the same 12GB of RAM and go up to 2TB of storage, all while running Android 16. I’m truly intrigued and tempted by the Tab S11 Ultra’s promise of portable productivity in a handsome package, but I simply don’t use tablets in my life. My personal laptop is a Samsung Galaxy Book, and that feels like a suitable medium-screen to join my small screen (phone), big screen (TV) and tiny screen (watch). I don’t need to throw a smedium screen into the mix. I already have a Kindle and a reMarkable Paper Pro that take the place of books and notebooks, too. That said, for the non-Apple people who use tablets as laptop replacements, artists who want to sketch in color or simply anyone who just likes a 15-inch thin and light touchscreen for whatever reason, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra should be a worthy option. It’s just going to be quite the hefty investment at $1,200 to start. That’s costlier than most laptops, and doesn’t include accessories like keyboard cases or mice yet. The base Tab S11 goes for $800, which is also more expensive than the plethora of midrange laptops on the market, so you’ll be paying a premium for portability. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/samsung-galaxy-tab-s11-ultra-hands-on-really-thin-redesigned-s-pen-and-remember-dex-093015036.html?src=rss View Source Article

A type of bacteria found in clean rooms has an unexpected method of survival, with implications for planetary protection View Source Article

Huawei has announced the Mate XTs, its second-generation trifold phone, which is available to order now in China. It’s only a minor upgrade on the first edition, but comes with new colors, stylus support, and a slightly lower price tag. The biggest addition is the ability to use a stylus on the folding screen, though otherwise the 10.2-inch display — which folds down to 7.9-inch and 6.4-inch options — is much the same as before. Other upgrades include a Kirin 9020 chipset, an improved 40-megapixel ultrawide camera, and new colors: returning red and black models are now accompanied by white and purple versions, all bedecked in imitation leather. The Mate XTs starts at 17,999 Chinese yuan (about $2,520). That probably doesn’t sound like much of a bargain, but it is cheaper than the 19,999 yuan ($2,800) Mate XT, which cost €3,499 (about $4,070) when it eventually launched outside China. When I reviewed the Mate XT I found myself surprisingly sold on it, though the price is still an obvious sticking point. Huawei’s second trifold arrives before any other manufacturer has released a first, though Samsung’s is expected to arrive soon. Alongside the XTs, Huawei announced the MatePad Mini tablet, Freebuds 7i earbuds, and a MateTV range. View Source Article

SK Hynix Inc.’s labor union approved a landmark agreement that could see each employee on average receiving about $80,000 bonus for 2025 alone, averting a strike and potentially setting a precedent for South Korea’s tech industry. View Source Article

Hue is best known for its smart lights, but recently the company ventured into home security with its Secure lineup of cameras. Now, parent Signify is releasing its first video doorbell, the Hue Secure, with several unique features it hopes will make it stand out against formidable competition from Nest and Amazon's Ring.  To start with, the Hue doorbell comes with a 2K fisheye camera, more resolution than Nest and some of Ring's doorbell products, potentially offering more detailed video. Hue is also offering a 24-hour video history for free, letting you avoid paying for a subscription if you only want to keep a day's worth of clips. In addition, the camera can work with Google Home and Samsung SmartThings, along with Hue's own app. It won't be compatible with Apple Home at launch, but will be updated to work with it later. Signify will also add Matter support sometime this fall.  Hue Along with 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi compatibility, the Hue Secure video doorbell come with a Zigbee radio. That lets it pair with Hue lights, so you can set it up to automatically turn on other Hue lights (inside your foyer or outside the door, for instance) when someone approaches the front door. However, if you want a chime to compliment the Hue Secure by providing sound alerts when the doorbell rings, you'll need to buy the $60 Hue Smart Chime that's sold separately — as the new doorbell doesn't work with any third-party chimes for now.  Hue's Security video doorbell arrives in October in North America, Europe and the UK for $170 (£140). Signify will also release a new 2K wired camera in Europe that's an update to the original Hue security cameras. That model will cost €180 or €200 with a stand, with no word yet on US availability.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/hues-secure-video-doorbell-can-turn-on-hue-lights-when-someone-comes-to-the-door-100017068.html?src=rss View Source Article

A Senate Commerce Committee hearing sounded the alarm over the U.S.-China moon race, emphasizing American dominance off Earth as the backdrop for NASA’s next funding authorization. View Source Article

After years of unofficial copies of Microsoft’s 6502 BASIC floating around on the internet, the software giant has released the code under an open-source license. 6502 BASIC was one of Microsoft’s first pieces of software, adapted in 1976 by Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates and early employee Ric Weiland to run on the 6502 CPU that powered the Apple II, Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Commodore 8-bit series. Microsoft’s open-source release of 6502 BASIC is a throwback to the initial days of coding, as the software helped standardize programming language implementations and allowed some of the first developers to use a Commodore machine and learn programming by typing 10 PRINT “HELLO” and 20 GOTO 10. “In 1977, Commodore licensed it for a flat fee of $25,000, a deal that placed Microsoft BASIC at the heart of Commodore’s PET computers and, later, the VIC-20 and Commodore 64,” explains Microsoft in a blog post announcing Microsoft’s 6502 BASIC open source news. While 6502 BASIC and Microsoft’s other early software projects helped with the development of MS-DOS and established the company’s software licensing business model, interest in this early code and the MOS 6502 CPU is still very much alive nearly 50 years later. Preservationists and hobbyists have been experimenting with FPGA-based re-creations and emulator projects, and the 6502 BASIC code has also appeared in museum archives. “Over the years, dedicated preservationists have reconstructed build environments and verified that the historical source can still produce byte-exact ROMs,” says Microsoft. “This open-source release builds on that work, now with a clear, modern license. It follows Microsoft’s earlier release of GW-BASIC, which descended from the same lineage and shipped in the original IBM PC’s ROM.“ If you’re interested in experimenting with the assembly language source code of Microsoft’s 6502 BASIC, the complete source code is now available on GitHub. View Source Article

Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled a $650 version of its premium S25 smartphone and a pair of new tablets, the latest effort to roll out artificial intelligence features across its hardware lineup. View Source Article

Samsung just launched the Galaxy S25 FE smartphone at IFA. It's available right now, starting at $650. The handset is available in four colorways. This is a midrange member of the Galaxy S25 family, after the company released the S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra back in January and the ultra-thin S25 Edge in May. The base-level S25 starts at $800, so this is a slightly cheaper way to get in on all of that Galaxy action. This phone actually ships with the company's One UI 8 operating system. The other S25 models shipped with One UI 7, but have since begun receiving software updates to bring them up to speed. This introduces a refreshed user interface with new icons and better animations, more AI integration and improved split-screen performance. It features an Exynos 2400 CPU, which should get the job done but won't be quite as snappy as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite that ships with the rest of the lineup. There's a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with up to 1,900 nits of peak brightness. The camera system is decent, with a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide lens and an 8MP telephoto lens. There's also a 12MP front-facing camera. Despite being a bit underpowered when compared to the rest of the lineup, the S25 FE still accommodates all of those fancy Galaxy AI bells and whistles. This includes the company's Generative Edit photo software, an on-device assistant and more. So this is a relatively affordable entryway into that world. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-launches-the-galaxy-s25-fe-at-ifa-2025-093026581.html?src=rss View Source Article

Aeotec announced its Smart Home Hub 2 at the IFA tech show this week, marking the end of an era. The hub, produced in partnership with Samsung, is the fourth generation to support the SmartThings home automation platform, and the first without a Z-Wave radio. The Smart Home Hub 2 has twice the performance of its predecessor, according to a press release from Aeotec, and features upgraded hardware, USB expandability, and support for Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter Controller capabilities for SmartThings. Aeotec says it’s built for local-first communications, allowing most automations to run on the hub, so they’ll keep working even if the internet is down. It’s slated to launch in Q4 of 2025. SmartThings users who want to keep using Z-Wave in their home will have to stick with the SmartThings V3 hub (also known as the Aeotec Smart Home Hub). Aeotec plans to discontinue V3 at the end of 2026, but says it just finished a final production run and has plenty of inventory available. Samsung moved away from manufacturing its own dedicated hardware hub a few years ago, outsourcing it to Aeotec. In the meantime, it started to integrate SmartThings Hubs with Matter and Thread support into its TVs, soundbars, and other appliances. However, a dedicated hub like the SmartHome Hub 2 is more powerful, can handle a greater number of devices, offer more local automations, and has a better range, which makes it a better choice for bigger smart home setups. Aeotec’s hub was also the only choice if you wanted to run Z-Wave devices in your SmartThings home. But it looks like those days are nearly over. View Source Article

Investors worried about faltering momentum in the artificial intelligence trade are looking for a spark from Thursday’s earnings report by the world’s hottest chipmaker: Broadcom Inc. View Source Article

Smart LED light bulbs are one of the easiest ways to upgrade your home with smart lighting solutions that are both practical and fun. These color-changing bulbs let you customize your space with vibrant RGB color options, cozy warm white or any light color you can imagine. They’re compatible with popular systems like Google Home and can work seamlessly with smart switches and other light switches, making them a key part of your home automation setup.With app control, you can adjust the brightness (no need for a separate dimmer), set schedules and even program the lights to turn on or off under certain conditions, like when you connect to your home network. Whether you’re setting lights for movie night, creating a relaxing atmosphere or adding a pop of color to your room, these smart lighting solutions are easy to install and surprisingly affordable. Table of contents Best smart lights for 2025 Other smart bulbs we tested What to look for in smart light bulbs Smart light bulb FAQs Best smart lights for 2025 Other smart bulbs we’ve tested Nanoleaf Smarter Kit While we’ve recommended Nanoleaf’s Smarter Kits in guides in the past, they’re a bit more niche than other smart lights on this list. They’re best for adding flare to your living room or game-streaming setup as they come in different shapes like hexagons and triangles and can sync with music. In addition to different colors, light animations and schedules, Nanoleaf’s Smart Kits also support Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands. What to look for in smart light bulbs Connectivity (To hub or not to hub) One of the biggest appeals of smart lighting solutions is being able to control them from your phone. Most of them are able to do so by connecting to it via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or via an external hub, which handles the connection for them. Bluetooth connectivity limits the range in which you’ll be able to control the light, so it’s only best for a limited number of bulbs and ones you don’t expect to control when you’re away. Wi-Fi color-changing bulbs are easy to set up and can be cheaper overall since they don’t require a hub to connect them. However, having something like a central Zigbee hub can make your whole system more reliable since its connection is separate from your home’s network. For that reason, hub-based bulbs tend to be more expandable, so we mainly recommend those if you want to eventually have dozens of smart lights around your home. White or color? Most color-changing bulbs you’ll find today are “white and color” bulbs, meaning they can glow in vibrant RGB color-options like blues, pinks, greens and everything in between, as well as shine with different temperatures of white. But there are some white-only bulbs out there, and they are often a bit more affordable than their color counterparts. While we recommend springing for the white-and-color devices, if you’d prefer white only, make sure you’re getting a bulb that can span the color temperature spectrum (typically from about 2000 to 5000 Kelvin), offering you various levels of cool and warm white light. App features One of the perks of smart lighting solutions is the amount of control you have over them thanks to their various app-control capabilities. Most companion apps let you do things like set lighting schedules and timers, group individual lights into room designations and create your own custom light “scenes” with different RGB options. But we have seen other features that aren’t as ubiquitous like vacation mode for automatically turning lights on and off to enhance your home security, and sync with media, which changes the colors of lights depending on the music you’re listening to or the game you’re currently live-streaming. Smart home compatibility If you use a smart assistant like Amazon’s Alexa or the Google Assistant regularly, make sure the smart lights or smart switches work with your favorite. All of the bulbs we tested supported both Amazon’s and Google’s virtual assistants, allowing you to use voice commands to turn lights on and off, dim them with a virtual dimmer and more. The wildcard here is Siri and Apple’s HomeKit; while numerous smart bulbs have added HomeKit support, not all lights are compatible with Apple’s smart home system. Expandability We alluded to this above, but you’ll want to consider how many smart lights you eventually want in your home. Some brands and lighting systems are easier to expand than others, and we generally recommend going for hub-based bulbs if you plan on putting smart lights in every room in your home. If you’re only looking to deck out your home office or living room with some fancy color-changing bulbs, Wi-Fi options should serve you well. Thankfully, these are some of the most affordable smart home devices you can get, so even if you don’t have a clear answer to this question now, you can reconsider your options down the line if you do decide to outfit your home with multiple smart bulbs. Smart light bulb FAQs What’s the best smart light bulb for Alexa? There is no best smart light bulb for Alexa. Amazon doesn’t make its own smart bulbs (like it does for smart plugs and thermostats), but rather there are dozens of smart lights made by third-parties that work with Alexa — including all of the ones we tested. Before picking the best smart light bulb for you, make sure to check the voice assistants that the contenders support. You’ll find that most smart light bulbs available today work with Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant, and plenty of them also have support for Apple’s Siri and HomeKit. Can you put a smart bulb in any lamp? Smart light bulbs can go into most modern light fixtures — but just like regular bulbs, they need to be the right shape/size for the fixture. A standard A19 smart light bulb should work properly in most table, floor and other lamps. If you have a fixture that takes a specific type of bulb, look for smart bulbs that will fit properly. Do smart light bulbs use electricity when off? Smart light bulbs do use a negligible amount of electricity when their fixtures are turned off. This is due to the fact that the smart bulb needs to stay in constant contact with your home’s internet connection or Bluetooth in order to work properly. However, their energy-saving benefits usually outweigh the small amount of power they consume even while turned off.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-smart-led-light-bulbs-143022856.html?src=rss View Source Article

An hour of direct sunlight can fully recharge the new Eufycam S4. | Image: Eufy Eufy, Anker’s smart home brand, has announced a new outdoor security solution with a stationary 4K wide-angle camera that can spot intruders and then trigger a pair of 2K cameras to pan, tilt, and zoom in to get a closer look at their faces, even when they’re up to 164 feet away. Priced at $299, the new Eufycam S4 includes a 5.5W solar panel that can fully charge the camera with an hour of direct sunlight, but features like 24/7 continuous recording are only available while it’s connected to a permanent power source. The S4 uses a combination of radar and a passive infrared sensor to detect motion, while four LED spotlights facilitate color night vision. Its 32GB of storage can be upgraded to 256GB with a microSD card or further expanded to up to 16TB with Anker’s HomeBase S380 accessory. Eufy also announced another accessory for its security cameras. Expected to launch in November, the AI Core uses an on-device AI model to quickly detect and classify more than 100 different behaviors and events from multiple live camera feeds in an attempt to predict what a subject might do. By eliminating the delays of analyzing footage in the cloud, the AI Core is supposed to provide faster alerts to users so they have more time to react to potential problems. View Source Article

Aspirin is commonly prescribed to patients with coronary artery disease to prevent heart attacks and strokes, but a new analysis has found that another drug, clopidogrel, is more effective and just as safe. View Source Article

India and Singapore pledged Thursday to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence and semiconductors, signing new industry pacts as New Delhi works to expand trade ties with key partners and blunt the impact of 50% US tariffs. View Source Article

Eufy just introduced a couple of new devices at the IFA conference in Germany, including something called the MarsWalker. This little doodad picks up robot vacuums and carries them up and down stairs. That's pretty neat, considering stairs are the bane of any robovac's existence. The company says the MarsWalker automatically recognizes common stair types, including straight, L-shaped and U-shaped. It transports the vacuum between floors and drops it off at the base station when needed. Eufy boasts that the device allows for "truly hands-free, whole-home cleaning while avoiding the cost of buying multiple devices." It uses four control arms that "dynamically adapt to stair structures," along with a track-drive system that "grips each step securely." The company notes that it has been designed to prevent slips. There are a couple of caveats here. First of all, we don't have the price yet. If this ends up being around the price of an actual robot vacuum, it might be better just to get two for a multi-story home. Also, it only works with a few Eufy models and no third-party devices. Still, it's cool to see robot vacuums finally adapting to stairs. It's been a slow road to get here. The MarsWalker will be released in the first half of 2026. Eufy The company also announced a new robovac at IFA which fully integrates with the MarsWalker. The Omni S2 includes an aromatherapy system, which is fairly novel, and adaptive wheels to clear thresholds like thick rugs. It'll be available in January, with a cost of $1,600.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/eufys-marswalker-allows-its-robot-vacuums-to-climb-stairs-083020319.html?src=rss View Source Article

Eufy’s MarsWalker can transport a robot vacuum up and down stairs. Who needs legs? Eufy, Anker’s smart home brand, believes it has solved the problem of how a single robot vacuum can clean multiple floors in your home. Its new MarsWalker robot is equipped with four arms to carry a vacuum between levels, so you don’t have to lug it up the stairs yourself or buy a robot for each floor. However, you’ve now got two robots, so perhaps it’s not really solving that problem. Equipped with a drive-track system, the MarsWalker acts like a stairlift for your robot vacuum. The vacuum docks in the MarsWalker, which carries it to the next floor using four independently controlled arms. From there, the vacuum exits to resume cleaning or head to its base station to wash its mop, empty its bin, or recharge. Eufy says the MarsWalker can tackle straight, L-shaped, and U-shaped stairs and builds a 3D map of your home to understand where the vacuum needs to go. It’s a standalone unit with its own charging base, and the company says it will work with several models of Eufy robot vacuums, although exact specs and compatibility haven’t been released. It’s slated to launch in the spring of 2026, but no pricing has been announced. One compatible model will be the new Eufy RoboVac Omni S2, which is also on show at IFA. Due to launch in the US in January for $1,599, the S2 is an upgraded version of the Eufy S1 Pro. <em>The Eufy S2 Pro Omni, the company’s newest flagship robot vacuum, “joining” with the MarsWalker.</em> The S2 features a large, self-cleaning roller mop, 30,000Pa suction power, 3.3lbs of downward mopping pressure, and can extend its mop out up to 15mm to clean along baseboards. It has a new DuoSpiral brush to prevent tangling, while improved obstacle detection enables the vacuum to avoid rug tassels as well as over 200 other objects. It can also elevate its mop up to 2 inches to avoid getting carpets wet.  It also features a built-in fragrance system that releases various scents while cleaning, including citrus, basil, bergamot, and lychee. The futuristic cleaning station automatically empties the bin, washes and dries the mop, and refills the onboard water tank. I’ll be getting a look at the new MarsWalker this week at IFA and will report back with first impressions. View Source Article

DeepSeek is developing an artificial intelligence model with more advanced AI agent features to compete with US rivals like OpenAI in a newer frontier of the technology, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Aqara’s smart home lineup announced at IFA. | Image: Aqara Aqara’s at IFA in Berlin where it just announced a slew of new smart home products, highlighted by a new wired doorbell camera, a video recording hub for Aqara cameras, and the company’s first battery-powered camera for outdoor use.  The new Doorbell Camera G400 is only available for wired installations, and works with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video for secure cloud-based recordings and facial recognition. The 2k sensor promises “head-to-toe” video capture, alongside motion, package, vehicle, animal, and person detection. It can be powered by a PoE cable or traditional low voltage power supply. The Camera G510 is Aqara’s first battery-powered outdoor camera. It includes a built-in solar panel to keep its battery topped up, and a 2.5k resolution to help with on-device person, vehicle, and package detection.  The Home Station M410 is a multi-functional security hub that creates a central point of access for Aqara’s cameras, while also helping to extend their operating range. It supports 24/7 recording to a local hard disk, SSD, or microSD card, while doubling as a Matter hub. Aqara’s also got a new multi-protocol Hub M200 that can serve as a Matter controller, Thread border router, Matter bridge for Aqara’s Zigbee devices, and a 360-degree IR blaster. Rounding things out are a Radiator Thermostat W600 with support for both Thread and Zigbee connectivity, and a handful for H2-series power management smart plugs and outlets for the EU and UK markets. View Source Article

Philips Hue’s new line of smart lights includes revamped light strips, such as the Hue Flux Ultra Bright Strip Light that can output 6,000 lumens. | Image: Hue Smart lighting company Philips Hue debuted a bunch of new products this week at the IFA tech show in Berlin, Germany, and most of them are available now. The launch, which is the biggest in the company’s history, includes cheaper smart lights, a new bridge for its Zigbee ecosystem, a redesigned line of light strips, and new software features and connectivity capabilities. Hue also introduced its first video doorbell and an upgraded camera to its Hue Secure line. Hue’s third-generation bridge arrives The Hue Bridge Pro ($89.99 / €89.99) is a total redesign of the ecosystem’s central hub and the first upgrade to Hue’s bridge in 10 years. It connects to Hue’s Zigbee bulbs and accessories to add features like lighting scenes, dynamic effects, schedules, and out-of-home control. Sporting a new black look, it has a faster processor, more memory, and increased capacity. Designed to appeal to Hue super-users, it can connect 150 lights and 50 accessories (a soft limit) — that’s three times the capacity of the V2 bridge, which is not being retired. Additionally, the Pro can store over 500 custom lighting scenes and provide faster response times, according to Signify, Hue’s parent company. Its Hue Chip Pro enables the company’s new Hue MotionAware feature, which turns your existing Hue lights into motion sensors for motion-activated lighting and security features. The Pro finally brings Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) to a Hue bridge, so it doesn’t have to sit next to your router. There’s a migration tool that will transfer all the settings of your current Bridge with a few taps. The company says support for combining multiple bridges into a single Bridge Pro will arrive before the end of the year. The Hue Bridge Pro is available now for $89.99. New line of low-cost lights Well known for being one of the pricier, premium smart lighting companies, Philips Hue has announced a new entry-level lineup of smart lights, which it says is designed to appeal to new smart home users.  Starting at $25 per bulb, or as low as $15 in a multipack, the new Hue Essential lineup includes A19 bulbs ($24.99, or a four-pack for $60), BR30 downlight ($24.99, or a two-pack for $40), and GU10 spotlights ($24.99, or a four-pack for $60). An RGB color Essential Strip Light costs $59.99 for 5 meters and $99.99 for 10, and an Essential Flex Strip Light, a new neon option for Hue, is available for $99.99 for 5 meters and $169.99 for 10 meters. These lights are compatible with the Hue Bridge (V2 and Pro) and have all the same capabilities and connectivity features as the company’s higher-end lights, just with lower specs. The key differences are that they don’t dim as low, have a narrower range of white (2200–6500K), and offer more basic color quality. The Essential bulbs (not the light strips) will also support Matter-over-Thread connectivity, as part of a next-gen connectivity chip for all its new bulbs. This will be alongside the “core technologies” of Bluetooth and Zigbee. This means you can connect them directly to Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, or any Matter platform. (You’ll need a Matter controller and Thread border router for setup.) Previously, you needed a Hue Bridge to connect to Apple Home, but you could connect to Alexa via Bluetooth or Zigbee with the right Echo Hub. The bulbs are available now, with the light strips slated for December. There will be several starter kit options that bundle lights with Hue Bridge V2, starting at $79.99. New flagship bulbs Along with the launch of its lower-cost line, Hue is revamping its flagship bulb, the Philips Hue A19. The company says the new model is 40 percent more energy efficient compared to its prior bulbs, and can dim to 0.2 percent brightness. The color-capable versions maintain Hue’s top color-matching quality, which the company is now calling ChromaSync, to differentiate from the Essentials.  All the new Hue bulbs also have the next-gen connectivity chip, which supports Matter-over-Thread connectivity to connect to any Matter-compatible smart home platform. They’re available now, starting at $59.99 for white and color ambiance, $44.99 for white ambiance, and $15.99 for white. Hue’s existing bulbs will not be upgraded to Matter-over-Thread, and the Bridge Pro does not support Thread, but existing Hue bulbs can be bridged to Matter through the Bridge V2 or Bridge Pro. Lots of love for light strips The company’s line of light strips is being expanded and will feature seven models, which are set to launch in the US in March. The flagship model is the new OmniGlow strip light, which Signify’s John Smith says is “the best light strip we’ve ever made.” It uses advanced chip-scale-package (CSP) technology to get rid of the spottiness commonly found on most light strips, packing together 170 tiny LEDs in each square centimeter. It can dim down to 0.5 percent and pump out up to 4,500 lumens of brightness. Along with the two new Essential light strips, Hue is introducing a less expensive version of its white and color gradient ambient light strip. The Hue Flux Strip Light costs $70 for 3 meters and $99.99 for 5 meters. An Ultra Bright version that can also reach up to 6,000 lumens is slated to launch later next year. The new light strips will all work with a new line of accessories from Hue, which includes corners, blackout cables, and extenders that can reach up to 20 meters, providing more flexibility when placing the strips. Outdoors, a new gradient light strip and neon strip are joining the lineup. All of the new lights, except for the Essentials, feature ChromaSync technology but operate over Zigbee and Bluetooth only, without Thread. Here’s a rundown of the new light strip lineup: Philips Hue OmniGlow strip light, starting at $139.99. Philips Hue Flux strip light, starting at $69.99.

 Philips Hue Flux ultra bright strip light, starting at €99.99 (no US pricing or launch date).

 Philips Hue Flux outdoor strip light, starting at €149.99 (no US pricing).

 Philips Hue neon outdoor strip light, starting at $149.99.

 Philips Hue Essential strip light Philips Hue Essential flex strip light, flexible neon-style light Permanently outdoors The Festavia Permanent Lights can stay up year-round to instantly decorate your home for the season. Hue is expanding its already robust outdoor lighting offerings with permanent patio lights and permanent outdoor lights. The Festavia Hue Globe string lights start at $159.99 and feature color and tunable white light, the same effects as the current Festavia string lights. They have a striking design similar to Hue’s high-end LightGuide bulbs.  Hue is getting in on the craze for permanent outdoor lights fixed to the outside of your house with the Festavia Permanent lights (starting at $119.99). These are white and color ambiance lights designed to be fixed to your home “permanently” along a roofline, for example. They are available now in several lengths. Overall, it’s an impressive rollout for the company, which has faced mounting pressure from cheaper competitors. View Source Article

Cambricon Technologies Corp. shares tumbled by the most in nearly five months on Thursday as investors rotated out of recent winners following its meteoric rise. View Source Article

The MagFusion Ark is available in multiple sizes with up to three removable wireless charging spheres. | Image: Aukey Aukey has announced a new modular charging solution called the MagFusion Ark. It combines a base station featuring up to three Qi2.2 charging pads with spherical power banks that each have their own Qi2.2-compatible pads. The spheres support passthrough charging and can wirelessly charge another device while they’re on the base station, but they can also be removed and used as standalone wireless chargers powered by either their 6,700mAh battery or a USB-C port. Pricing will be announced closer to the MagFusion Ark’s release in Q1 of 2026, but it will be available in three different configurations: a bundle that includes a base with three pads and three spheres, as well as one- and two-pad bases with the spheres sold separately. The Ark is entirely Qi2.2-compatible, and both the base and spheres will wirelessly charge Qi2.2 devices at rates up to 25W. On battery power alone, the number of times that the spheres can be used to fully recharge a device like a smartphone will depend on the capacity and health of that device’s own battery. But given the battery in the spheres is also used to power a cooling fan, you can probably expect to get at least one full smartphone charge out of them, or a handful of top-ups. Each sphere also features a 30W USB-C port. You can use it to maximize the sphere’s battery capacity by sidestepping the inefficiencies of wireless charging, charge devices that aren’t Qi2-compatible, or even keep the sphere plugged in to use as a charging stand. You can also charge two devices simultaneously from each sphere — one from the USB-C port and one from the Qi2 pad— but wireless charging rates drop to 15W while the USB-C port’s output drops to 20W. Although Aukey says the MagFusion Ark offers a “total of six charging points,” you’ll only be able to wirelessly charge three devices at a time on the base station, excluding the spheres. When the spheres are each being used independently to charge other devices, that then frees up the pads on the base for other devices. That’s a bit limiting given the relatively large footprint of the Ark’s base, but the added flexibility of being able to grab one of the spherical chargers and use it anywhere in your home could be worth the tradeoff. View Source Article

Tesla Inc. said it has opened its robotaxi app to the general public, suggesting the company will soon roll out the service beyond a select group of early access users in Austin, Texas. View Source Article

ArcelorMittal SA’s ‘s talks to sell its local unit to South Africa’s state-owned Industrial Development Corp. are being held up by differences over the entity’s valuation, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Vantage Data Centers is considering acquiring Yondr Group’s assets in Malaysia in a move that would help their joint backer, DigitalBridge Group Inc., simplify its portfolio and boost growth in the Asia Pacific region, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Tech industry leaders including Meta Platforms Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook, and Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella are expected to attend an artificial intelligence event hosted by First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday and then join President Donald Trump for an evening reception in the newly renovated Rose Garden. View Source Article

Saudi Arabia and the UK announced more than £360 million ($484 million) in joint investment deals as the countries look to further boost economic ties and promote cross-border investment. View Source Article

Buyout firm GTCR is weighing a bid for Hellman & Friedman’s residential security company SimpliSafe, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

French artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI is finalizing a €2 billion investment that values the company at €12 billion ($14 billion), including the new funding — solidifying its position as one of Europe’s most valuable tech startups. View Source Article

Xiaohongshu’s valuation surged 19% to $31 billion in just three months during recent transactions via a major fund, underscoring the intense investor demand for a Chinese-equivalent to Instagram. View Source Article

Nidec Corp.’s shares plunged 22%, the most on record, after the Japanese electronics components company announced that it has set up a third-party committee to investigate improper accounting. View Source Article

Meta Platforms Inc., Google, TikTok Inc. and other digital platforms have been told by Australia’s online safety regulator to prepare now for the country’s social-media ban for under-16s — three months out from when the law comes into force. View Source Article

Canadian database company Information Services Corp. is facing a fresh challenge from one of its top shareholders, which is pressing for major changes to the board after increasing its stake. View Source Article

There are three major structural body parts for the modular construction of the Tesla Cybercab and the fourth major part is the structural battery. This makes the modularly constructed Tesla Cybercab hyper efficient for mass production but should also make it easy for Tesla to get production started in a few months. Joe Tegtmeyer saw ... Read more View Source Article

Salesforce Inc. projected lackluster quarterly sales growth, suggesting its artificial intelligence product isn’t yet paying off as quickly as hoped in the face of competition from emerging AI companies. View Source Article

Apple continues to seek a foothold in the artificial intelligence race, and its next effort could bring the company into web search. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg reports that Apple is building a search platform that it may incorporate into its AI-driven overhaul of Siri. Sources said the tool, internally called World Knowledge Answers, could also be added to the Safari web browser and the Spotlight smartphone search interface. Apple's efforts in AI have been under the microscope since the lackluster introduction of Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024. Since then, the company appears to still be foundering, with its revitalized and AI-empowered Siri now not due to arrive until 2026. This proposed search tool would be part of that planned Siri re-launch next spring. Some core aspects of Siri are still up in the air. The company has reportedly trialed using Google's Gemini to power a version of the AI assistant, although it hasn't committed to using that approach. Considering an outside partnership for this critical feature is one path Apple could take to bolstering its AI offerings. CEO Tim Cook has also said the company is open to acquisitions to pursue its current roadmap. There were even rumors that the company had its eyes on snapping up Perplexity. Apple has historically avoided getting involved in search, but this development could reflect how more of its potential customers are turning to AI chatbots to access information online. And particularly if the company brings an AI option to Safari, Apple might be able to compete more directly to other tech majors that offer their own-branded chatbots, such as Google with Gemini or Microsoft with Copilot. It could also draw closer to parity with AI companies that are entering the browser game, such as Perplexity and OpenAI.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apples-latest-ai-project-may-be-a-web-search-tool-230618495.html?src=rss View Source Article

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. gave a disappointing earnings forecast for the current period, renewing concerns about tightening margins in the server computer industry. View Source Article

West Coast states are forming their own vaccine compact as Florida announces plans to ditch shot requirements for schoolchildren View Source Article

President Donald Trump said former ally Elon Musk has no choice but to return to the Republican Party after their highly public rift earlier this year. View Source Article

Sometimes, rising prices for streaming services feels as inevitable as death and taxes. So when a serious discount is available, we tend to sit up and take notice. For a few weeks, you can get a whopping half off an annual subscription to Paramount+. A year of the Paramount+ Essential plan, which is ad-supported, will cost $30 compared to the usual $60. Paramount+ Premium, which is ad-free except for live tv programming, will cost $60 for a year instead of $120. This is a substantial deal that both new and returning subscribers can take advantage of; it's not uncommon for this type of serious discount to only be offered to a first-timer. Anyone who signs up for a year-long subscription to Paramount+ from now through September 18 will be able to get this pricing. The only real caveat with this deal is that you have to pay for the full year in advance; month-to-month subscriptions will still cost the usual rate. Paramount+ has some great programming options, particularly if you're a fan of anything involving RuPaul. It's also the home of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks, which are arguably the best modern additions to the sci-fi show's canon, as well as the other past and present Star Trek series. The platform offers a solid lineup of sports as well. And if you opt to go for the Premium plan, you'll also be granted access to Showtime titles such as Yellowjackets and the rebooted Dexter: Resurrection. Check out our coverage of the best streaming deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/paramount-annual-subscriptions-are-on-sale-for-half-off-212655020.html?src=rss View Source Article

The four Artemis 2 moon astronauts passed the "Bobby and Pete" fitness challenge recently, performing 100 pushups and 50 pull-ups in less than 10 minutes. View Source Article

Eric Trump, co-founder of American Bitcoin and the son of US President Donald Trump, and Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot discuss American Bitcoin’s business strategy on “Bloomberg The Close.” Eric Trump’s stake in American Bitcoin is now worth about $548 million, according to Bloomberg calculations, with Trump owning about 7.5% of the company. View Source Article

OpenAI has announced that it's making its Projects feature available to free users of ChatGPT. Projects let you organize chats with the company's AI assistant around a specific subject, and were previously one of several privileges only enjoyed by paid subscribers. While on some level Projects are glorified folders for ChatGPT conversations, the ability to set custom instructions for how the AI responds or limit what information and files it can reference, makes the feature a useful option for power users. As part of this rollout, OpenAI is also increasing the number of files that can be added to a project for ChatGPT to reference. Free users can upload five, Plus subscribers can upload 25 and Pro subscribers can upload 40. Whether you pay for ChatGPT or not, you'll also be able to customize the color and icon for your project, too. OpenAI has made a habit of slowly trickling down paid features to its free users over the last few years. Things like Deep Research and ChatGPT Voice started off as exclusives for the company's subscribers before becoming available to everyone. Offering a formerly premium feature with limits is itself a way to get free customers to become paid ones. OpenAI's decision to make the recently released GPT-5 model available to everyone at launch, but with harsher limits on how many times free users can use it follows a similar logic. Projects are available for free users on the web and in the ChatGPT app for Android. OpenAI says the iOS ChatGPT app will receive the feature "over the coming days."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-rolls-out-chatgpt-projects-to-free-users-215027802.html?src=rss View Source Article

Switzerland launched an open-source model called Apertus on Monday as an alternative to proprietary models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, reports SWI as spotted by Engadget. The model’s source code, training data, model weights, and detailed development process are available on the AI model platform HuggingFace.  Apertus, which is Latin for “open,” was designed to “set a new baseline for trustworthy and globally relevant open models,” according to the developers. The model was trained on over 1,800 languages and comes in two sizes with either 8 billion or 70 billion parameters. Apertus is comparable to the 2024 Llama 3 model from Meta, according to SWI.   The model was built to adhere to the European Union’s copyright laws and voluntary AI code of practice, which some US-based AI companies have said reluctantly signed while claiming that the regulations will curb AI innovation and deployment. Apertus’ training data was restricted to public sources, while adhering to the AI crawler opt-out requests on certain websites, according to the developers. (No “stealth-crawling.”)   View Source Article

As part of its efforts to shore up NASA's flailing Artemis Program, the Trump administration earlier this year proposed two major changes to the agency's deep space exploration plans. First, in the president's budget request for fiscal year 2026, the White House sought to terminate NASA's costly Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft after the Artemis III mission, the first human landing. And second, to focus on "direct-to-surface" exploration, the White House sought to cancel the Lunar Gateway, a small space station intended to orbit the Moon. Essentially, for long-term sustainability, the White House decided it was best to use lower-cost, commercially available rockets and focus NASA's limited resources on surface activities. For example, the Gateway's $854 million budget in 2024 would be better spent in future years on a lunar base. View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow examine the remedies ruling in Google’s antitrust case that allows the company to retain its Chrome browser. Plus, Apple loses another top AI researcher to Meta. And Rolls-Royce CFO Helen McCabe discusses the growth of the company’s small modular nuclear reactors business. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Testing this anti-glare screen protector revealed a very dead cockroach in my ceiling. I have a dead cockroach in my ceiling, and I only noticed it thanks to a Switch 2 screen protector that, ironically, is supposed to tame reflections. The protector in question is a pre-production sample of the Jsaux Obsidian AR screen protector, which is coming in October for $21.99. The company claims it's better than standard screen protectors because it features a similar physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating found in the Apple Studio Display. It's supposed to reduce glare while retaining a glossy appearance - an ideal combination for gamers, since you can't always choose where you'll play games. In reality, this pre-production screen … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Alphabet Inc.’s Google, found by the US last year to have a monopoly in online search, avoided the most severe outcomes because the judge in the case concluded that its business was already under a growing threat — from AI. View Source Article

Roblox announced that it aims to roll out age estimation technology to all of its users by the end of 2025. Users on the gaming and social network will have to confirm their age in order to access communication features within the platform under the new policy. Roblox initially rolled out an age verification option to teen accounts in July as part of an effort to keep users younger than 13 from accessing select chat features. In addition to confirming ages for individual accounts, Roblox also said it plans to adopt new systems that will limit communication between adults and minors unless they already know each other offline. Age verification can be completed by providing a selfie that Roblox and its partner will analyze or by submitting an accepted form of identification. Roblox has drawn criticism for what many claim are failures to adequately protect younger users from bad actors, including facing lawsuits. The platform started rolling out more stringent policies aimed at child safety last year. These rules kept some interactive features away from the under 13 age group, while other additions were aimed at giving parents tools to curate their children's experience. Age verification is becoming a go-to method to try and protect minors from accessing inappropriate content online. Utah was the first state to adopt a requirement to prove users' ages in order to access app stores, and other states like Mississippi are placing similar requirements on social media networks. There have been legal challenges, however. The tech sector has been arguing that their platforms should not be responsible for confirming ages, while digital privacy advocates have questioned whether sufficient protections have been enacted to keep users' personal information safe with these new laws.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/roblox-will-require-age-verification-for-all-users-to-access-communication-features-203653330.html?src=rss View Source Article

Apple is working on an AI-powered search feature for Siri – but it might need Google’s help to make it happen, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. As noted by Gurman, Google is currently in the lead to help Apple revamp its voice assistant, which could involve using a custom Gemini model running on the iPhone maker’s servers. The new feature, reportedly called “World Knowledge Answers” internally, will allow users to search for information and receive AI-generated summaries based on results from the web. Its interface will also incorporate text, photos, videos, and points of interest, allowing it to challenge the AI-powered search features from companies like OpenAI and Perplexity. Putting AI search into Siri is part of Apple’s delayed plans to upgrade the voice assistant with new features that will let it tap into your personal data and perform actions based on the content on your screen. The new Siri will reportedly work by leveraging a planner, which helps interpret voice or text prompts, a search system to scan user data or the internet, and a summarizer to package all of this information for users. This week, Apple and Google reached a “formal agreement” for Apple to test a Google-designed AI model for Siri’s summaries, according to Bloomberg. Apple reportedly plans to use its own AI models to search user data, but it’s still evaluating Anthropic’s Claude and Gemini for Siri’s planning function. Even though Apple’s set to take the wraps off its iPhone 17 lineup next week, the company is expected to launch the AI-upgraded Siri alongside iOS 26.4 as early as next March. View Source Article

XAI Chief Financial Officer Mike Liberatore has left the company just a few months after taking the job, according to people familiar with the matter, creating a high-profile vacancy at Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup. View Source Article

Now that the Pixel 10 series has been out for a week, Google has begun rolling many of the software features it debuted with those phones to its older devices as part of the September Pixel drop. Starting today, if you own any Pixel device Google has released since 2021, including the Pixel 6 and Pixel Tablet, you can start to customize your device with the company's new Material 3 Expressive user interface. Among other tweaks, Google made it possible to add "Live Effects," including a few that cover the weather, to your phone's lock screen wallpaper. Material 3 Expressive also gives you more control over how the contact cards your phone displays when your friends and family call you look. Even if you're not one to endlessly tweak Android's appearance, as part of the redesign Google has once again reworked the Quick Settings pane in hopes of making it easier to use. As Google mentioned during last month's Pixel 10 event, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 will receive a handful of new software features, beginning later this month. To start, there's Adaptive Audio, which Google says will allow the Pixel Buds Pro 2 to intelligently adjust the output of your earbuds to your surroundings. At the same time, Loud Noise Protection will limit the volume of the Pixel Buds Pro 2 to preserve your hearing. Two new gestures allow you to accept or dismiss a call by nodding or shaking your head. You can do the same when a text message arrives. Google Bluetooth audio on the whole is getting a few upgrades on Android, courtesy of LE Audio Auracast. With the new tech, you can now simultaneously pair two different sets of Bluetooth headphones with a single Android handset. In practice, this will allow you and a friend to listen to the same song or podcast from a single device. If you want to involve more people, you can use your phone to create a QR code, which both friends and strangers can then use to join a private broadcast. Google suggests this could be a fun way to host a silent disco. To make it as easy as possible to start an audio broadcast, Google has redesigned Android's Quick Share menu. A simple toggle allows you to switch between sending and receiving files, and there's a new indicator where you can follow the progress of your transfers. As mentioned, the new audio features are made possible by Auracast, which enables public broadcasts of Bluetooth audio. Google began supporting Auracast with the third Android 16 beta, and now we're starting to see that support mature, with devices now from Google, Samsung and Xiaomi all ready to join in on the fun. Of course, it wouldn't be a recent Google release if the company didn't include new AI features. On that front, the company is offering additional writing tools in Gboard. Like its iOS counterpart, the tool allows you to use an on-device model to edit your writing. The algorithm can tweak your messages to make them more formal, expressive or concise. It will also correct any spelling or grammatical errors. Last but not least, Google is introducing an experience called Androidify, which allows you to use AI to create your own Android bot — you know, the cutesy mascot in most of the company's smartphone marketing. The experience is available online and through an app Google has released on the Play Store. To get started, you can upload a selfie, write a prompt and add some accessories to your bot. Afterward, Google's latest AI models will do the rest.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/googles-latest-pixel-drop-brings-the-material-3-expressive-ui-to-older-devices-180011681.html?src=rss View Source Article

A new Big Bang model does away with speculative elements, putting gravitational waves at the forefront of the creation of galaxies, stars, and planets. View Source Article

If you ever doubted the “console wars” were over, here’s a new piece of data to consider: Helldivers 2, formerly console exclusive to Sony’s PS5, is currently the best-selling title on Xbox. In fact, it’s the first and third best-selling game, if you count its more premium edition, and it’s currently the ninth-most played game on the platform — mostly beaten by free-to-play games like Fortnite and Roblox but also Minecraft and GTA V. It doesn’t surprise me that Helldivers 2 is popular on Xbox, because it was a huge hit on PS5 and PC. Last May, Sony revealed that Helldivers 2 had become PlayStation’s fastest-selling game of all time with 12 million copies sold in 12 weeks, and it may have now crossed 18 million after reportedly racking up nearly a million on Xbox in its first week on sale. No, what’s surprising is that we now live in an era where companies like Sony and Microsoft no longer entirely see their hit games as a way to get players to buy their own consoles, and instead just want to sell as many copies of these games as they can. Back in May, we wrote about how the top three games on PlayStation came from Microsoft, and now it’s reciprocal! Sony has come around to this position slowly, but by 2022, it planned for roughly half of its games to come out on PC or mobile instead of just console, and though PlayStation game boss Hermen Hulst suggested in 2024 that some of Sony’s big single-player games might be held in reserve, the company revealed this August that it’s gradually “moving away from a hardware centric business model.” It’s about selling games, not consoles. Here’s where some of you will no doubt point out: is Helldivers 2 actually a PlayStation game? Since PlayStation is merely the publisher and doesn’t own its developer Arrowhead Game Studios, is it really such a big deal? I would say yes, because Sony has been the one in control, the one making the strategic decisions over when and where and how much PlayStation goodness to share. When players balked at how Helldivers 2 originally required you to log in with a PlayStation account on PC, it was out of Arrowhead’s hands. When players wanted an Xbox version, Arrowhead said it was entirely up to Sony. Microsoft doesn’t have to cut such publishing deals to bring Xbox’s biggest games to PlayStation, though. When it chose to bring Indiana Jones and Hellblade 2 to PS5, it could do so because it owns both giant publisher / developer Bethesda and developer Ninja Theory itself. What is an Xbox, and what is a PlayStation, if not the place to play specific games? Is it a launcher and a set of familiar controls? Is it a feeling? That’s the challenge facing Microsoft and Sony if they continue down this road. View Source Article

Apple Inc. is planning to launch its own artificial intelligence-powered web search tool next year, stepping up competition with OpenAI and Perplexity AI Inc. View Source Article

We finally have our Lara Croft, well over two years after Prime Video's Tomb Raider series was first announced. Game of Thrones alum Sophie Turner has been cast in the role, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She had better start trying on khaki shorts and blue sleeveless shirts. Turner acknowledges the "massive shoes to fill" from previous actors that have played the role, shouting out Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander. She also says she can't wait for audiences "to see what we have cooking." We also now know when the show will enter production. Filming starts on January 19. We don't know when the series will come out, but at least we know it's a real thing that's going to get filmed. Sophie Turner set to star as Lara Croft in upcoming Tomb Raider series from Amazon MGM Studios.Phoebe Waller-Bridge serves as creator, writer, executive producer and co-showrunner.Jonathan Van Tulleken set as director and executive producer and Chad Hodge joins as… pic.twitter.com/m7aaaZH9Sk— Amazon MGM Studios (@AmazonMGMStudio) September 3, 2025 Additionally, the platform has announced that Chad Hodge will join Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a co-showrunner. Bridge was revealed as the creator well over a year ago. Hodge is best known for his work on shows like Good Behavior and movies like Single All the Way. Bridge may be best known for creating the romantic comedy series Fleabag, but she has had plenty of experience with action-heavy projects. She created the series Killing Eve and co-wrote a James Bond film. She also starred in the most recent Indiana Jones movie, which is a franchise the Tomb Raider games cribbed from. As for those games, Amazon is also publishing the next entry in the long-running franchise. Crystal Dynamics is developing it, which is the company that has been in charge of the mainline titles since 2003.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/amazons-tomb-raider-series-will-star-sophie-turner-as-lara-croft-183035877.html?src=rss View Source Article

View Source Article

This month’s Google Pixel drop includes a broader rollout of the company’s splashy UI revamp. Starting today, Google will bring its Material 3 Expressive design language to Pixel 6 devices and newer, in addition to the Pixel Tablet. Google first revealed the youthful new design language in May before launching it with its Android 16-equipped Pixel 10 phones last month. Along with a more colorful, bubbly look, Material 3 Expressive introduces more personalization options, like iPhone-like calling cards that allow you to create custom call screens for your contacts. In addition to this rollout, Google is bringing a bunch of new features to the Pixel Buds Pro 2, which it previewed during its Made by Google event last month. That includes Adaptive Audio, a feature that automatically adjusts volume based on the sounds in your environment, as well as a new capability that automatically dampens sudden loud noises to protect your hearing. The update adds background noise reduction when interacting with Gemini as well, and the ability to accept or ignore calls by nodding or shaking your head. Google will also start automatically displaying Maps on your Pixel Watch or WearOS device when you start walking or biking navigation on your phone, allowing you to easily see where you’re going without taking out your phone. These Pixel-specific updates are rolling out now, and “will continue over the next few weeks.” Some other tweaks are coming to a wider range of Android devices, too, including the ability to share Bluetooth audio with friends, access AI-powered writing suggestions in Gboard, and favorite your creations in Emoji Kitchen. There’s a redesigned Quick Share menu that lets you toggle between sending and receiving files, and a new Androidify app that uses AI to create your own Android bot using a selfie and a prompt. View Source Article

China started imposing levies on additional US optical fiber imports after a six-month investigation found that American companies circumvented the country’s anti-dumping measures. View Source Article

A PlayStation State of Play showcase all about 007 First Light shed some light on how Hitman developer IO Interactive's James Bond game works. The stream also disclosed what was, until now, a top-secret nugget of intel: the release date. 007 First Light is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam and Epic Games Store on March 27. The State of Play included a partial playthrough of the first mission, which sees Bond stealthily tailing a suspicious bellhop through a fancy hotel. Some time later, Bond breaks into a car to chase down a target, which leads into an explosive shootout. In a neat touch, Bond is granted a license to kill when enemies are about to shoot at him. One of my favorite bits from the gameplay deep dive showed Bond pushing an enemy off a ledge and using the baddie to break his own fall.  Bond uses all the tricks of the trade, including distractions, gadgets and sweet talking NPCs. As with the Hitman series, you'll have plenty of options as to how to complete your objectives. Being a Bond project, of course there's plenty of product placement too. You can read more details about what to expect from the game in our preview.  In addition, IO Interactive revealed the game's main cast during the State of Play. Patrick Gibson (The Tudors, Dexter: Original Sin) is playing 007. The cast also includes Priyanga Burford as M, Alastair Mackenzie as Q, Kiera Lester as Miss Moneypenny, Lennie James as John Greenway and Noemie Nakai as Miss Roth. What are the odds that at least one of those will turn out to be a double agent?  Pre-orders are open now. If you do lock in a pre-order for the $70 base edition, you'll get a free upgrade to 007 First Light – Deluxe Edition, which includes 24 hours of early access, as well as exclusive outfits and skins for weapons and gadgets.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/007-first-light-is-coming-to-ps5-xbox-series-xs-nintendo-switch-2-and-pc-on-march-27-191011686.html?src=rss View Source Article

McArthur launched on two spaceflights, logging 213 days in orbit across her nearly 25 years, and held leadership positions at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. View Source Article

Pixel phones will now be able to stream audio to multiple headphones at once thanks to expanded Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast support. If you have a Pixel 8 or newer, you’ll now be able to pair two headphones at a time. That means you can make your friend listen to the new Nourished by Time single with you on the bus, or catch up on Alien Earth with your significant other on a plane.  You’ll be able to create a private broadcast and share it to multiple headphones with a QR code or using Fast Pair — perfect for those times when you’re insisting to a room full of people that they absolutely have to listen to Disintegration Loops on headphones to appreciate it.  Of course, if you want to host a depressing silent disco, your friends will need headphones that also support LE Audio. Google is expanding Android support to multiple Sony models, including the LinkBuds S, WF-1000XM5, InZone Buds, LinkBuds Open, LinkBuds Fit, WH-1000XM6, and InZone H9 II. That’s in addition to existing support for hearing aids, Samsung’s Galaxy phones, and certain Xiaomi devices. In addition to LE Audio support, Google is also updating the Pixel Buds Pro 2 with Adaptive Audio. That means you can take advantage of active noise cancellation, but still stay aware of your surroundings. So, you won’t hear the constant din of traffic while out for a walk, but if someone honks their horn as you’re about to step out into the street, it’ll cut through. It will also include Loud Noise Protection, which will save your precious eardrums in case a firetruck goes screaming by, sirens blaring. View Source Article

Marketed as a tool against criminals, spyware use by governments around the world has led to scandals. View Source Article

IO Interactive seemingly wrapped up its assassination series Hitman in 2023, launching the anthology on practically every game platform. But it’s not done with sneaking, subterfuge, and… sniper rifles. The game developer announced that it was making a new James Bond game, teasing an "unrefined" Bond in training – yes, it’s another reimagined origin story. At a closed-door briefing at Gamescom, I watched the team play through some early parts of 007 First Light, with Bond part of a team of more seasoned spies hunting down a rogue double-‘o’ agent. Ah, that sounds like a Bond plot. The gameplay was separated into three parts. First, the creative, exploratory sandbox part, as Bond tries to elbow his way into a bougie mansion – when he should be readying the escape car. Like Hitman, Bond can sneak around, triggering items to draw away guards or distract from his own actions. He scrambles up a building to get in through an open window, while vaguely flirting with staff and pretending he’s meant to be there. The team explained that social interactions will form another part of how the rookie agent can interact with people and progress through areas and toward goals. Some features differentiate First Light from the aforementioned bald-headed assassination games. First of all, it’s far less centered on all the killing (at least until the full-throttle action sections later), with the team attempting to reflect Bond adventures beyond bullets and grizzly ends. There’s also an Omega-branded Q Watch that attempts to elegantly fold in HUD features like location markers, weaponry, and gadget selection. It’ll also help analyze the environment for interactive parts and opportunities for Bond. Players will apparently have a degree of freedom to decide how they approach missions and areas, even if we only saw one approach during this presentation. It did manage to convey the stress and pressure I’d expect to feel from an IO Interactive game. The early demo diverges from Hitman familiarity elsewhere. IO Interactive said that while 007 will offer a linear adventure of sorts, players will still have “control of their adventure.” A blend of action setpieces and more measured, thinking, exploratory sections should separate it from other games and other Bond games, too, which have typically been first-person shooters, some of which are terrible. The demo jumps ahead as Bond follows the rogue agent in an exciting-looking car chase. These reminded me of Uncharted car segments, filled with destruction and chaos. Bond drives through a Swiss market, with something catching on his car tires for the rest of the chase, while there are jumps, explosions, and near-misses as you fight to catch up. It’s a shame that, at this early stage at least, you can tell that regardless of your honed driving skills, you will never catch up to your quarry until the game wants you to. The chase ends at a very well-guarded airbase. This leads into the other facet of First Light: gunplay and way too many oil drums and trucks filled with gasoline. The final segment includes Bond rushing the airbase and chasing a military transport craft as it takes off. Fighting is a mix of duck-and-cover, using the environment, and, if all else fails, throwing your gun once it’s out of bullets. There’s a great point after Bond barely makes it on board the plane just before it takes off. He uses his Q Watch to tilt the plane, swinging cargo and enemies into the walls of the plane or even out the cargo door. Eventually, 007 is flung from the plane too, and as he falls, has to claim a parachute. It’s a real change of pace from the early part of the demo but suggests First Light might cover all the Bond movie beats. I might not be sold on another Bond origin story, but hopefully, IO Interactive can successfully blend three different types of game together.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/007-first-light-hitman-meets-action-movie-183551755.html?src=rss View Source Article

SpaceX is one step closer to nearly tripling the number of Falcon 9 launches from Florida. View Source Article

IO Interactive, developers of the much-beloved Hitman series, showed off its latest title, 007 First Light during a special September State of Play. In it, instead of a bald Agent 47, you play a youthful and immaculately coiffed James Bond — and that’s pretty much the biggest distinction between the two games. Watch the thirty minute stream here. As in Hitman, First Light’s gameplay demo featured a fancy party at a luxurious estate, lots of slow walking to blend in with the crowd, listening to ambient conversation for clues, and, of course, lots of fancy cars to drive and inevitably wreck. Basically, what IO showed of First Light makes the game look like Hitman with a fancy 007 skin. Which, honestly, probably suits a lot of players just fine. With the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredders Revenge and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, licensed games are making a big comeback. And while IO continues to update Hitman: World of Assassination with new missions and fancy new targets, it’s been four years since the last full Hitman release. 007 First Light seems like it’ll be a new way to scratch that spy thriller assassination itch and you won’t have to wait too long for it either. 007 First Light launches on March 27th on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch 2, and PC. View Source Article

Scale AI Inc. sued rival data-labeling startup Mercor, accusing the firm and a former Scale employee of stealing trade secrets to attract new business. View Source Article

Ubisoft is releasing a free Discovery Tour app covering the history of Baghdad, the setting of Assassin's Creed Mirage. The game launched in 2023 without Ubisoft's "Discovery Tour" feature, a mode that's previously been packed into Assassin's Creed games — starting with 2017's Assassin's Creed Origins — and uses the game's open-world maps and character models to illustrate the history and cultural specifics of their chosen setting. This new app takes a slightly different approach, reworking the map of Assassin's Creed Mirage to deliver a two hour narrative adventure set in 9th century Baghdad. The Discovery Tour app also includes "encyclopedic entries on the history, art, and culture of medieval Baghdad and the Abbasid Caliphate" and an augmented reality feature that lets you view 3D models of famous artifacts. It sounds like less of a playable history lesson than past Discovery Tours, but still an excellent use of the historical research that goes into each Assassin's Creed game. It's a bit unusual the app is being offered for free when Ubisoft has traditionally charged for Assassin's Creed games or its standalone Discovery Tour apps, but maybe that reflects Assassin's Creed Mirage's unique place in the series. The game was pitched as a back-to-basics stealth game without the open-world fluff of past games, and largely delivered. Ubisoft's approach to Assassin's Creed might also be changing in general. The game franchise was spun-off alongside Far Cry and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six into a new subsidiary partially funded by Tencent earlier this year. Even grander plans to turn Assassin's Creed into an always-online live-service game still loom in the background, too. You can download and try the Ubisoft's Discovery Tour App: Medievil Baghdad for yourself from the App Store and Play Store.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisofts-free-assassins-creed-mirage-discovery-tour-app-allows-you-to-explore-9th-century-baghdad-182020279.html?src=rss View Source Article

Israel launched the Ofek 19 spy satellite atop a Shavit rocket on Sept. 2, which came as a surprise to some local residents, according to news reports. View Source Article

The Anker Laptop Power Bank can charge four devices at once. Anker’s Laptop Power Bank came to the rescue of my laptop and smartphone during a recent power outage. They were on the verge of dying, but its pair of retractable USB-C cables powered up my devices so I could keep working remotely. Since then, I carry it with me wherever I go, and it’s bailed me out time and again. If you need a powerful, portable charger, you can buy it for $94.49 ($25 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from Anker with code WS7DV2RO9DEU, which is about $7 shy of its all-time low. Anker 25,000mAh Laptop Power Bank Anker’s latest power bank sports three USB-C ports, plus one USB-A port. It tops out at 165W when charging two devices simultaneously, or 130W when charging three or four. Where to Buy: $119.99 $94.49 at Amazon $119.99 $94.49 at Best Buy $119.99 $94.49 at Anker (with code WS7DV2JSRCFW) This power bank is equipped with three USB-C ports, each capable of delivering up to 100 watts of power when only one 100W-ready device is plugged in. It can provide up to 165W of power when two devices are plugged in via USB-C, or up to 130W when you’ve got up to four devices plugged in. Anker also includes a USB-A port, which is handy for those who own older devices. During the aforementioned power outage, it simultaneously powered my MacBook, smartphone, and even a USB-C-powered flashlight, bringing my tech back to life in just a couple of minutes.  What I also liked is that Anker includes a useful digital display that helps you keep tabs of remaining charge, battery health, and per-port power output. And, while the 25,000mAh / 90Wh power bank is a bit on the heavier side, it’s compliant with airline carry-on regulations, meaning you can safely take it to top up your gadgets during a flight. It’s a helpful gadget to have on hand, whether you’re working from a cafe, traveling, or stuck in the middle of a blackout. A couple more ways to save Woot’s selling the Samsung’s Galaxy 3 Buds for $74.99, down from $179.99. Samsung’s entry-level earbuds reminded us of the AirPods Pro with their angular stemmed design and gesture-based controls. The open-style earbuds also offer solid noise cancellation along with an IP57 rating and wireless charging support. Read our hands-on impressions. You can buy Metaphor: ReFantazio for Xbox Series X from Woot for $21.99, down from $69.99. The medieval-era, turn-based RPG from the creators of Persona delivers a well-written story that explores themes of discrimination with nuance, while offering beautiful visuals and engaging combat. Like some of Woot’s other deals, this title includes a 90-day warranty instead of a one-year warranty. Read our review. Govee’s Outdoor UpDown Wall Light is on sale for $109.99 ($20 off) at Amazon exclusively for Prime members. The color-changing smart wall lamp provides up and down illumination coverage of up to 12m, while Govee lets you choose from over 64 preset scenes. It also boasts an IP66 waterproof rating and is compatible with Matter, so you can connect it to a wide range of major smart home platforms. View Source Article

NBCUniversal’s ad inventory for the upcoming NFL season is 90% sold out, with the 2026 Super Bowl already fully booked. View Source Article

The sports broadcasting piracy network Streameast has been shut down after it was investigated for a year by a US-based anti-piracy group. Streameast is the largest illegal sports streaming platform in the world, and while active it offered its users free access to 80 unauthorised domains. This allowed people to pirate live soccer matches from the Premier League and Champions League, as well as NFL, NBA and MLB games. According to ACE, annual traffic to the site topped 1.6 billion visits. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which describes itself as the "world’s leading content protection coalition dedicated to combatting the illegal acts of digital piracy," cooperated with Egyptian law enforcement on a sting that took place on August 24. ACE comprises more than 50 global entertainment companies and studios, including Disney, HBO, Fox, Netflix and Sony Pictures. As reported by The Athletic, two men in Sheikh Zayed City — part of the Greater Cairo urban area — were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement and have been detained. Laptops and smartphones were seized in the raid, and according to The Athletic, investigators discovered links between Streameast and a shell company in the UAE allegedly used to launder advertising revenue of more than $6 million over the last 15 years. Streameast’s original domain is no longer active, but according to The Athletic’s report, there may now be a number of copycat sites seeking to fill the void left by the now defunct streaming platform. ACE told the sports journalism outlet that it's aware of these sites and is investigating whether they’re related.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/the-largest-illegal-sports-streaming-service-has-been-shut-down-after-sting-operation-173537889.html?src=rss View Source Article

It's been a tumultuous summer for Scale AI: Meta took a multibillion-dollar stake in the company, Mark Zuckerberg hired Scale CEO Alexandr Wang and other top staff, and Scale laid off 14 percent of its workforce. Now the latest development is a lawsuit over corporate espionage in the AI industry. The AI data labeling company, which has provided training data to fuel many of the industry's leading AI models, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a former employee, Eugene Ling, and his current employer, Mercor, which is one of Scale's key competitors. Scale alleged that Ling, who was its head of engagement management, stole more than 100 confid … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Amazon.com Inc. wants to refresh its aging fleet of blue delivery vans, but the small businesses that use them to ferry packages say they’re getting blindsided by repair bills of $20,000 or more that they can ill afford. View Source Article

It’s shaping up to be a good week for people who like enormous party speakers. Hot on the heels of JBL’s PartyBox 720 comes Samsung’s latest Sound Tower. The two new models are the ST50F and the ST40F, both of which are designed to provide music for large gatherings, indoors or outdoors. A redesigned acoustic structure houses dual dome tweeters equipped with Samsung’s Waveguide tech, which it says delivers a wider and more even soundstage. These are joined by a pair of woofers, the output of which you can adjust by choosing between Deep, Punchy and Gentle bass modes. You can even customize further by selecting one of four sound modes — Standard, Wide, Stadium and Outdoor — to get the best sonic balance for your environment. Presumably you opt for Stadium at your own risk. The Sound Tower isn’t just about big sound. This is very much an audiovisual device, with the visual element provided by Samsung’s Party Lights+ system, which is exactly what it sounds like. It offers five mood presets and six "dynamic lighting patterns," with the LEDs arranged in five different areas of the speaker’s exterior illuminating in sync with the rhythm of whatever music you're playing. You can switch lighting modes using the updated Samsung Sound Tower app, and the speaker has built-in DJ Booth and Karaoke modes. You can even plug a guitar into it. The Sound Tower ST50F has wheels and a telescopic handle for easy transportation, with a battery life of up to 18 hours. Its loudspeakers are slightly larger than those in the ST40F (6.5-inch vs 5.25-inch on the respective woofers), which has a handle but no wheels, and only lasts for 12 hours on a single charge. Both speakers are IPX4-rated for water resistance, which means they’ll be fine with a little splash, but don’t send them for a swim. The new Samsung Tower is available to buy from this month, retailing at $700 for the ST50F and $500 for the ST40F.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/samsung-announces-a-pair-of-flashy-new-party-speakers-153027692.html?src=rss View Source Article

The unannounced Hue doorbell leaks early. The Philips Hue store on Amazon’s UK site is hosting a number of new products that have yet to be announced as the big IFA 2025 show gets under way in Berlin, Germany. We’re seeing that rumored Hue Doorbell, a new Hue Bridge Pro (in black), a new Essential lighting sub-brand, and something called MotionAware that turns “light devices into motion sensors,” by using the bulbs’ Zigbee radios to detect motion between Hue lights. A video of the doorbell shows two-way remote communication, motion detection, package detection, and integration with indoor and outdoor home lighting. Details are lacking as is pricing, but IFA kicks off in earnest tomorrow so stay tuned — can’t be long now. View Source Article

The $85 million funding round values Exa at $700 million.  View Source Article

The social media platform Instagram is finally available on the iPad as a native app. It only took 15 years, as the app first launched all the way back in 2010. We knew this was coming and, well, now it's here. The iPad is a different platform from a smartphone, so the tablet-based app features redesigned elements. For instance, the app opens directly into a feed of Reels. The iPad app also lets users organize posts and Reels into a chronological list, with recent posts appearing first. This is how social media used to work, before the almighty algos started choosing stuff for us. This "new" feature has also begun popping up once again on the standard app. Meta Otherwise, the redesign takes full advantage of the increased screen real estate. on Reels will appear right next to the videos and the DMs page will include the inbox alongside the actual chat. This is reminiscent of how the web client of Messenger works. This move is fascinating, as two years ago Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the iPad simply wasn't a big enough market to fast track an app. "It's still just not a big enough group of people to be a priority," he wrote on X. "Hoping to get to it at some point, but right now we're very heads down on other things."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/instagram-finally-has-an-ipad-app-15-years-after-it-first-launched-165521142.html?src=rss View Source Article

There are three major structural body parts for the modular construction of the Tesla Cybercab and the fourth major part is the structural battery. Joe Tegtmeyer saw that the Tesla Cybercab modules are being made in Austin and tested in Fremont and Austin. There are large numbers of the castings being made. Tesla Cybercab production ... Read more View Source Article

Roblox is going to start showing ESRB ratings alongside experiences to help users in the US better understand if an experience is appropriate for a user of a certain age. The new ratings will appear thanks to Roblox’s new partnership with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), which was announced today. As part of the partnership, players in other countries will see age ratings from the ratings agency for their region. Right now, Roblox uses its own “content maturity labels” to indicate maturity level of experiences, but these will be replaced with ratings from the agencies in the future. “With so many families engaging with Roblox, it is hugely beneficial to provide parents with trusted and familiar ratings no matter where they live,” Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB and chairperson of IARC, says in a statement. “The globally streamlined process will provide Roblox creators with an efficient and proven process for obtaining age and content ratings, while informing parents of what their kids may experience before they play.” Roblox also announced a plan to, by the end of the year, require all users who use any of its communication features to have their age estimated by the platform. Right now, users older than 9 can communicate via Roblox’s in-game, filtered chat without going through the age estimation process. The age estimation will rely on “a combination of facial age estimation technology, ID age verification, and verified parental consent,” Roblox chief safety officer Matt Kaufman says in a blog post. The platform has come under significant scrutiny over its child safety practices, with the state of Louisiana suing Roblox in August for allegedly creating an environment where “child predators thrive.” These new child safety features announced today build on other recent changes like Roblox locking down sexual content and adding improved parental controls. View Source Article

Instagram is launching a dedicated iPad app for the first time, offering a redesigned version of its popular mobile app that’s meant to encourage more video consumption. View Source Article

Netflix has upgraded its Moments feature for the mobile app. It already lets users save iconic scenes, but now there's a simple editor to bring it in line with something like Twitch's clipping tool. Viewers can use the tool to set start and end points, so they can turn preferred scenes into "full clips to save, relive and share anytime." Just tap the "Clip" button when watching something on mobile and the new editor will pop up. Once something is saved, it'll reside in the "My Netflix" tab. The company says users can "make the clip as long or as short" as they'd like, so there aren't any time constraints. These clips can be shared on various social media sites and in text messages. Netflix is launching this alongside a new batch of Wednesday episodes, so maybe there's something potentially viral in there like that dance scene from the first season. However, that's not even the most-saved moment on the platform. That honor goes to a song from the recent smash KPop Demon Hunters. Again, this tool is only available for mobile users. Believe it or not, the most used device to stream Netflix is still the television. Studies indicate that televisions are involved with 60 to 70 percent of streaming on the platform.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/netflix-adds-twitch-like-clipping-function-complete-with-an-editor-154518598.html?src=rss View Source Article

Real-time strategy games haven't bested Blizzard's three-part sequel yet, and we believe only a third entry in the iconic sci-fi series could top it. View Source Article

Some Streameast sites still appear to be live. Streameast, one of the largest sports piracy platforms in the world, has been shut down according to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), an antipiracy group that counts NBC Universal, Netflix, and Disney among its members. ACE announced in a statement that it worked alongside Egyptian authorities to shut down the “notorious” platform, and The Athletic reports that after a year-long investigation Egyptian law enforcement carried out a sting on August 24th which disrupted the platform’s streaming infrastructure. ACE claims that Streameast drew more than 1.6 billion visits across 80 domains over the past year, making it “the largest illicit live sports streaming operation in the world.” The outage has already been noticed by fans over the past week, timed as it was to coincide with the new soccer season in Europe, not that I would know anything about hunting down streams for Premier League games that don’t get televised in the UK. It’s probably also no coincidence that today’s announcement comes the same week the NFL season starts. It’s not clear how effective the bust has been though — at the time of writing you can find plenty of Streameast sites seemingly alive and well, listing streams for today’s MLB fixtures. ACE told The Athletic that it’s aware of these “copycat” sites and is investigating whether they’re related, or made by Streameast impersonators. View Source Article

Publicis Groupe SA shares rose to the highest in five weeks after Chief Executive Officer Arthur Sadoun expressed confidence in the second half of the year, after the company had previously warned of a potential advertising slowdown. View Source Article

Perplexity, the NVIDIA- and Bezos-backed AI company, is partnering with PayPal to get its Comet browser in front of millions of the financial tech giant's users. The deal will see PayPal and Venmo customers in the US and select international markets gain access to the AI-powered browser, as well as a free 12-month subscription to Perplexity Pro, which normally costs $200. There are, of course, some conditions. The promotion is part of PayPal's new subscription hub, where users can manage all their recurring PayPal payments. The company is also offering users a $50 credit when they link and pay for three subscriptions using the hub. PayPal users in the US can claim their free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription from the PayPal app today. Likewise, Venmo users can access the offer from within the Venmo app. The deal is on offer through the end of this year, and the Perplexity Pro subscription will auto-renew after the free 12 months is up at the then current rate unless cancelled. The Comet browser was in beta testing earlier this summer before launching in July as part of Perplexity's $200-per-month Max subscription. Perplexity's AI is integrated into Comet and serves as the browser's default search engine. This incorporation allows users to pull up the AI in a sidebar to ask questions about what they see on screen, summarize text and even take actions on behalf of the user, like sending an email or looking up directions on Google Maps. The browser is built on Chromium, the same open-source codebase beneath Chrome, Edge and Opera. Perplexity actually offered to buy Chrome in August for $34.5 billion when it appeared that the courts might force a divestment, but a judge ruled this week that Google can keep its browser.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/paypal-and-venmo-users-get-a-free-year-of-perplexity-pro-and-early-access-to-its-ai-browser-155844658.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA/Rachel Tilling Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats in the ocean. This photo, taken from NASA’s Gulfstream V Research Aircraft on July 21, 2022, shows Arctic sea ice in the Lincoln Sea north of Greenland. This image is the NASA Science Image of the Month for September 2025. Each month, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate chooses an image to feature, offering desktop wallpaper downloads, as well as links to related topics, activities, and games. Text and image credit: NASA/Rachel Tilling View Source Article

If the Tesla Model YL became the most popular in this mid-size, premium-priced 3-row segment, it could realistically sell 400,000-500,000 units annually in China. This might even be more sales within China for the standard Model Y’s 480,309 units in 2024. The Tesla model YL might outsell the standard Tesla Model Y. The 3-row car ... Read more View Source Article

India successfully tested the parachute system for its Gaganyaan crew module ahead of its planned first-ever astronaut launch in 2027. View Source Article

When NBC's adaptation of The Office first debuted in 2005, the series was panned for being a pale and uninspired imitation of its English predecessor. It took an entire season for showrunner Greg Daniels to figure out how to infuse his take on The Office with a quirky, satirical energy calibrated to appeal to American audiences. But once he did, the comedy became a ratings juggernaut for the network, which put Daniels in a position to tackle slightly more original projects. Unlike Parks and Rec - another Daniels series that was stylistically similar to The Office, but stood on its own - Peacock's The Paper is a true spinoff that's working … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Abu Dhabi’s main artificial intelligence firm G42 is looking to sell a stake worth about $100 million in Presight AI Holding Plc, adding to the growing number of secondary share offerings in the emirate. View Source Article

Europe’s second-highest court has dismissed a challenge against a data transfer pact between the European Union and the US. "On the date of adoption of the contested decision, the United States of America ensured an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from the European Union to organisations in that country," the EU’s General Court ruled (PDF). The two sides brokered the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework in 2023 to continue allowing US companies to store European users’ personal data on Stateside servers. The pact included a proviso that allows for Europeans to file complaints over what US companies do with their data. French politician Philippe Latombe sued the European Commission (EC), the EU’s executive arm and the body that struck the deal with the US, claiming that "there were inadequate guarantees of respect for private and family life in the agreement because of the widespread and bulk collection of personal data," according to Reuters. He also said that the Data Protection Review Court (DPRC), the body that was set up to handle complaints from Europeans, wasn’t an independent tribunal and didn’t necessarily offer the level of protection required under European law. The General Court determined that the DPRC’s functioning and appointment of judges "are accompanied by several safeguards and conditions to ensure the independence of its members." It stated that the judges can only be removed by the Attorney General and for cause, while the AG and intelligence agencies "may not hinder or improperly influence their work." The political landscape has shifted dramatically since the agreement was reached in 2023. The Trump administration has asserted control over independent government agencies and it’s been at loggerheads with the EU over issues such as regulating major US-based tech companies and international trade. Still, the General Court points out that the EC is required to keep an eye on the application of the legal framework.  "If the legal framework in force in the United States at the time of the adoption of the contested decision changes, the Commission may decide, if necessary, to suspend, amend or repeal the contested decision or to limit its scope," the court said. The judges also dismissed Latombe's claims regarding the bulk collection of personal data. Latombe can still take the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Europe's top court previously scrapped two previous data transfer deals between the EU and US — the Safe Harbor agreement and the Privacy Shield — following challenges by pro-privacy activist Max Schrems, who raised concerns about American intelligence agencies accessing the private data of European citizens.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/european-court-rules-in-favor-of-the-latest-us-and-eu-data-transfer-framework-150049576.html?src=rss View Source Article

Quantum Brilliance’s is developing diamond quantum accelerators containing >50 qubits that outperform CPUs/GPUs of comparable size, weight and power in important applications within the next 5 years. In 2021, Quantum Brilliance will deliver its first Quantum Development Kits (QDKs), which will contain up to 5 qubits in a 19-inch rack-mountable unit. These QDKs will support ... Read more View Source Article

The image was captured on Aug. 12 as the Perseid meteor shower hit its peak. View Source Article

Google’s TV Streamer 4K is on sale for $79.99 ($20 off). It’s rare to find a gadget that can handle two totally separate tasks very well, but Google’s TV Streamer 4K pulls it off. The 4K set top box allows you to stream your favorite TV shows and movies, and is also an impressive smart home hub, with support for Matter and a built-in Thread radio. It’s currently on sale for $79.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, which is its lowest price since May, and a dollar shy of its lowest price to date. Google TV Streamer (4K) Google’s terrific TV Streamer (4K) is the company’s best attempt at a streaming device yet, with built-in ethernet, an excellent interface, and smart home compatibility with both Matter and Thread. Read our review. Where to Buy: $99.99 $79.99 at Amazon $99.99 $79.99 at Walmart $99.99 $79.99 at Best Buy The TV Streamer 4K is bigger than a streaming dongle like the Fire TV Stick, but won’t take up much room on top of your TV stand. It has a gigabit ethernet port for wired networking and a HDMI 2.1 port to send a 4K 60Hz signal to your TV or projector. It supports multiple HDR (High Dynamic Range) and surround sound audio formats, including Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. In our tests, the TV Streamer 4K took about 10 minutes to set up — including downloading and installing a software update — when using the Google Home app on a smartphone. The TV Streamer asks whether you’d like to set up a child’s profile during setup, which is helpful if you have kids.  The Google TV Streamer 4K runs on Android TV, which we found easy to navigate using buttons on the remote or our voice via the remote’s built-in mic and Google Assistant. Google Assistant recognized our voice requests, and took us directly to the shows we wanted to watch (most of the time). Android TV has apps for every major streaming service, and popping in and out of them constantly can get tedious, which is why it’s nice to have reliable on-board voice controls.  If you want a Google Home Hub to control your smart home gadgets, the TV Streamer 4K is a great choice. You can use it to connect smart lights, locks, and thermostats to Google Home, and once these devices are configured, you can control them from the TV Streamer 4K by using Google Assistant or navigating to a Home panel. It only took a few seconds to run a scene controlling multiple smart home devices simultaneously. If your TV’s built-in streaming apps are feeling sluggish, or you want to expand your smart home into the living room, the Google TV Streamer 4K is a great choice — especially now that it’s on sale.  Read our Google TV Streamer review View Source Article

Garmin Ltd. on Wednesday unveiled an upgraded, top-of-the-line rugged smartwatch for hikers, days before Apple Inc.’s expected update to its own high-end timepiece. View Source Article

reMarkable knows you’d like to use its e-paper tablet on the go, but the size of its current products don’t make that easy. To address this, it’s launching a smaller, pocket-sized version of its flagship slate for folks who can’t luxuriate at a desk or armchair to do their thinking. The reMarkable Paper Pro Move is a slate with a 7.3-inch display that’s the same size as a reporter’s notepad. It’s a device that Chief Product Officer Mats Herding Solberg says is perfect for getting “real work done while standing up and holding it in one hand.” Now, I’m on record saying that I love reMarkable’s products, and its ethos, but the bit about being able to do good work while standing up? That’s a harder sell. reMarkable makes devices for serious, intentional work shorn of the myriad distractions inherent in modern computing. You can read, annotate and edit documents on its e-paper display, as well as write with either a stylus or a compatible keyboard. Its first device launched in 2016 and its second in 2020 with the third, the Paper Pro, arriving last year. The Paper Pro heralded a number of changes, including a bigger display (11.8-inch, up from 10.3-inch), a backlight, faster internals and, for the first time, the ability to reproduce color. Nico Cormier, the company’s CTO, said the previous three models were really designed “for people who have a desk, people in a controlled environment.” The focus here was to build a reMarkable slate that could easily fit in a pocket or purse for work on the go. After a lot of prototyping, product manager Jon Dalvang said the team used the reporter’s notepad as the template for how the hardware should feel. At first blush, the Paper Pro Move just looks like a slimmed down version of the Paper Pro from last year. If the company said it just threw some of its bigger tablets into a boil wash and they came out looking like this, you’d be tempted to believe them (I’m joking). But while they look and feel very similar, reMarkable made it clear that a lot of work had to go into reengineering the hardware and software to reach this smaller size. The reMarkable Paper Pro Move measures 7.6 inches tall and 4.3 inches wide, with a 7.3-inch version of the same Canvas Color display found in its larger sibling. Inside, you’ll find a 1.7GHz dual-core Cortex A55 processor (compared to the Paper Pro’s 1.8GHz, quad-core Cortex A53 one). It has the same 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage as found on the bigger model, and while the battery has shrunk from 5,030mAh to 2,344mAh, the promise of two weeks of battery life remains the same. Similarly, you’ll find the same ridged edge banding (to evoke the feeling of a sheaf of paper) as on the Paper Pro. And the power button and USB-C ports are in the same place (bottom edge and top left corner, respectively), too. Dalvang explained that the changes are far more subtle, and designed to improve the user experience. For instance, the back cover has the same “high-friction surface” as found on the company’s styluses to improve friction. reMarkable believes users should always use their device with a folio for protection. After all, no matter how hardy a device like this is, it might not do too well if it’s dropped onto a curb from chest height. Such are the perils of using any device on the go. Daniel Cooper for Engadget The smaller chassis and smaller display pushed the company to make a lot of changes to the software. The Paper Pro’s 11.8-inch screen is positively luxurious compared to what’s here and, in usual reMarkable fashion, the details have been sweated. For instance, you can now drag and drop the toolbar, letting you pick a position in both portrait and landscape modes. The company also focused on ensuring gesture navigation is more efficient since you’ll need to use it a lot more frequently here. I’ve maintained that reMarkable’s products work fine with a stylus, but only really become truly useful when paired with a keyboard. After all, it’s at that point that you have a pure, distraction free writing machine that enables you to get focused work done. But with the Move, the only way to write and edit text is with the on-screen keyboard, and the company has already ruled out making a smaller version of the Type Folio. On one hand, it’s logical since a keyboard for a 7.3-inch tablet would be fairly small, and using the equivalent of a Nokia 9210 to get work done would be a pain. But I’d have preferred the ability to pair up any old Bluetooth keyboard if I needed to write something out and this was my device of choice. For the bigger models, I grudgingly accept the company omitting Bluetooth to help encourage sales of the type folio, but here, its absence is churlish. Now, I often use old-school reporters notebooks, especially when I’m on the go at a big tech trade show. I like their small size, the big volume of paper at hand and the fact that they fit in the back pocket of my pants. The spiral binding makes it easy to flip pages and is a neat place to hold my pen, making it practical and effective, if not particularly good-looking. Since the Paper Pro has the same footprint as one, I could easily see this as a useful tool when I’m on the go. The notebooks I use measure five by eight inches, giving me plenty of space to write. It’s here, however, that I started to see the issue with the Move, given its usable writing area is closer to 3.6 by 6.4 inches. That puts your writing area in the same territory as the not-quite-A6 you’d find if you used Field Notes or one of its many imitators. reMarkable knows this, and believes users will more likely hold the slate in landscape orientation. So you get a longer writing line, at the expense of having to scroll up more frequently — and you can move the toolbar around to ensure you’re as comfortable as you can be. reMarkable believes landscape orientation is easier to write with, but it’s not as easy to hold with your non-dominant hand. It now has to carry the weight of both the slate and the pressure of your writing from the palm to the tips of your fingers. It’s here, I think, that the whole pitch for the Paper Pro Move is slightly undermined by its goals. After all, you can use the full-size reMarkables when sitting down in pretty much any location you can imagine. I’ve read, written and annotated documents on train journeys and long haul flights on a fairly regular basis. But in trying to capture the feeling of writing while standing up or moving around, I’ve found that the experience is compromised. My handwriting is quick and efficient, but it’s barely legible to anyone else but me, and that’s a problem for OCR (Optical Character Recognition). Take this snippet that I scribbled on the Paper Pro Move: Daniel Cooper for Engadget Naturally, reMarkable thinks its ability to convert written text to type will be more useful with the smaller slate. This is true, since its algorithms are quite effective at discerning what’s being written. But you will always be cursed with more than a few “Eat up Martha” moments. Daniel Cooper for Engadget “Naturally, ReMarble thinks its ability to count untten text type will be more betel with the small Slate. This is the, since its algorithms are Quite effete at discerning that’s being within. But, you will always be cased with me than a few “EAT Up MARTHA” Moment.” As the above shows, your mileage is likely to vary depending on how many stickers you got from your teacher complimenting your handwriting. But for people with more legible handwriting, the company is offering a new feature: Search. Behind the scenes, the system is indexing your scrawl, and so if you need to find a reference across all of your notebooks, you can type the word in search. So long as your text is clear enough to be indexed, you’ll be able to jump straight to where you need to go. The arrival of the Move allows reMarkable to talk up its plans for reducing friction when using its devices. As much as you want a deliberate experience while using it, getting content to and from the Paper tablets can be arduous. Text documents need to be sent to the slate and when edited, may only be returned as an emailable PDF. It’s a fussy process, and one reMarkable knows needs to be improved. Daniel Cooper for Engadget Over the year, it’s been looking at building one-click methods to send files to platforms like Slack. But the company has also developed Quick Share, which will let you push a file online to share and collaborate with others. Press the button, and you’ll be given a QR code that will take you there in the browser and allow others to view at the same time. In my limited time with the Paper Pro Move, I’ve found it to be a little more compelling to use than its bigger siblings. The smaller size means I’ve had it alongside my Bullet Journal for the whole of the week, helping me keep track of things. But I’ve discovered that I’d much rather sit down to use it rather than embracing its new-found portability. I suspect the biggest cause of this is my unique handwriting, and that better graphologists than I won’t have that issue. Daniel Cooper for Engadget The reMarkable Paper Pro Move is available to order today, priced at $449 with the standard Marker. As before, you’ll be able to upgrade to the Marker Plus, which has a built-in eraser tip on its other end, for an additional fee. The company has said users should be buying a folio to help protect their Move on the go, and there are six options to choose from, ranging from gray polymer weave to black leather. The former will set you back $69, while the latter is $139, although if bought at the same time as the slate, you’ll get a small discount. As usual, the Paper Pro and reMarkable 2 will remain available at their existing prices.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/remarkables-paper-pro-move-is-a-pocketable-version-of-its-e-paper-tablet-120011894.html?src=rss View Source Article

Amit KshatriyaCredit: NASA Acting NASA Administrator Sean P. Duffy Wednesday named Amit Kshatriya as the new associate administrator of NASA, the agency’s top civil service role. A 20-year NASA veteran, Kshatriya was most recently the deputy in charge of the Moon to Mars Program in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. In this role, Kshatriya was responsible for program planning and implementation for crewed missions to the Moon through the Artemis campaign in preparation for humanity’s first mission to Mars. Promoting Kshatriya to NASA’s top ranks puts America’s return to the Moon through Artemis at the very core of our agency. The move exemplifies President Donald J. Trump and Duffy’s seriousness about returning Americans to the Moon and before China. “Amit has spent more than two decades as a dedicated public servant at NASA, working to advance American leadership in space. Under his leadership, the agency will chart a bold vision to return to the Moon during President Trump’s term,” said Duffy. “Amit’s knowledge, integrity, and unwavering commitment to pioneering a new era of exploration make him uniquely qualified to lead our agency as associate administrator. With Amit we’ll continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible.” Kshatriya’s promotion also signals how the Trump Administration sees the commercial space sector as an American economic engine. By putting a proven leader at the top, NASA is set to partner even more closely with America’s booming space industry, grow the space economy, and ensure the future of exploration is built in the United States. Born in Wisconsin, educated at California Institute of Technology and the University of Texas at Austin, Kshatriya is one of only about 100 people in history to serve as a mission control flight director. He brings unparalleled operational and strategic experience to NASA’s executive leadership team. -end- Bethany StevensHeadquarters, Washington771-216-2606bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 03, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters View Source Article

Spouses often share psychiatric diagnoses, according to an analysis of almost 15 million people in three countries View Source Article

Have you ever wanted Windows 11 to automatically switch between light and dark modes based on a schedule, or help you find keyboard shortcut conflicts? Well, Microsoft is about to solve both of these missing Windows features with PowerToys. The latest 0.94 release of PowerToys, the useful addons for Windows power users, includes a new shortcut conflicts feature that can detect what shortcuts are currently in use by Windows or PowerToys modules. There are so many PowerToys to choose from now that it’s easy to create a conflict and have two things happen at once when you activate a keyboard shortcut. Any conflicts will be highlighted in red in this conflicts tool, so you can reassign them quickly. Microsoft is also working on addressing another big missing Windows 11 feature with a PowerToy module. “We are planning some nice new features and improvements for next month – a revamped Keyboard Manager UI, and a new utility that can automatically switch between light and dark mode based on your schedule,” says Niels Laute, a senior product manager at Microsoft. While you can manually enable light or dark modes in Windows 11, there’s no way to schedule these automatically based on your schedule or on sunrise and sunset times. It’s a basic feature that’s been part of iOS and Android for years, and I’m surprised Microsoft has had to create a PowerToy for this instead of this being natively part of Windows 11. Either way, it’s arriving next month so if you like to switch between themes on Windows 11 then you won’t have to do it manually anymore. If you haven’t checked out PowerToys before there are plenty of other useful utilities like Advanced Paste, Always on Top, FancyZones, and the new Spotlight-like Command Palette launcher app. You can download the latest PowerToys release over on Microsoft’s GitHub page. View Source Article

ServiceNow Inc. is offering federal agencies discounts of as much as 70% on its software, a move aimed at spurring adoption as the Trump administration presses for faster government implementation of artificial intelligence tools. View Source Article

In the latest case of AI being shoehorned into everything, say hello to Ooni's Volt 2 pizza oven. It uses an adaptive heating system called "Pizza Intelligence" that's designed to cook your pizza more consistently to deliver the ideal slice, while also giving the company a hot new marketing angle.  The Volt 2 is an all-electric indoor oven that can cook pizzas up to 13 inches in size, the same as the Volt 12. Like that model it operates at up to 450 degrees Celcius (850 degrees) Fahrenheit, allowing you to cook a Neapolitan-style pizza in around 90 seconds. However, the design has changed with a more rounded profile, considerably larger window, touch controls and a dial. Ooni notes that it's compact enough to fit on a kitchen counter.  Ooni The Volt 2 uses real-time sensor data to dynamically balance heat between the top and base heating elements in order to minimize temperature fluctuations and cold spots for "consistently perfect pizza." Ooni dubbed that system "Pizza Intelligence," though others may call it a "thermostat." It also automatically adjusts for different types of pizzas ranging from New York slices to Chicago-style deep-pan pies. Each preset is programmable so you can bookmark favorite settings for consistent results.  It offers cooking modes including Dough Proof, Oven and Grills, making it useful for prepping, baking, roasting and recipe experimentation. Ooni's Volt 2 electric pizza goes on sale October 1 for $699 — if you're interested, you can join the waitlist here.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/oonis-volt-v2-oven-uses-pizza-intelligence-to-cook-your-pie-more-evenly-123055762.html?src=rss View Source Article

The next era of lunar exploration demands a new kind of wheel – one that can sprint across razor-sharp regolith, shrug off extremely cold nights, and keep a rover rolling day after lunar day. The Rock and Roll with NASA Challenge seeks that breakthrough. If you can imagine a lightweight, compliant wheel that stays tough at higher speeds while carrying lots of  cargo, your ideas could set the pace for surface missions to follow. For this phased Challenge, Phase 1 rewards the best concepts and analyses, Phase 2 funds prototypes, and Phase 3 puts the best wheels through a live obstacle course simulating the lunar terrain. Along the way, you’ll receive feedback from NASA mobility engineers and the chance to see your hardware pushed to its limits.  In Phase 3, to prove concepts, NASA is using MicroChariot, a nimble, 45 kg test rover that will test the best designs from Phase 1 & Phase 2 at the Johnson Space Center Rockyard in Houston, Texas. Whether you’re a student team, a garage inventor, or a seasoned aerospace firm, this is your opportunity to rewrite the playbook of planetary mobility and leave tread marks on the future of exploration. Follow the challenge, assemble your crew, and roll out a solution that takes humanity back to the Moon. Award: $155,000 in total prizes Open Date: Phase 1 – August 28, 2025; Phase 2 – January 2026; Phase 3 – May 2026 Close Date: Phase 1 – November 4, 2025; Phase 2 – April 2026; Phase 3 – June 2026 For more information, visit: https://www.herox.com/NASARockandRoll View Source Article

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Wednesday morning, Sep. 3, carrying 28 Starlink wireless internet satellites to join the company's growing megaconstellation. View Source Article

Emma Roth is a news writer here at The Verge, “and for me,” she explains, “that means every day is different. During the four years I’ve been here, I’ve covered breaking news and written about basically everything in the realm of tech, whether it’s streaming price hikes, the latest in AI chatbots, privacy issues surrounding age verification, and a whole lot more.” Although she covers the latest tech news and products, it turns out that one of Emma’s favorite home appliances is a decades-old vacuum cleaner. I asked her about it. When (and why) did you get the vacuum cleaner?  I purchased this Kenmore Progressive 116 vacuum for just $7 while browsing my local Savers thrift store several years ago. I was in need of a vacuum, and it instantly caught my eye because my parents used to have one just like it. I have fond childhood memories of going to Sears to pick up new vacuum bags. How well does it work? Despite being around a couple of decades old, this thing works just as well as any new vacuum. It may not be cordless, bagless, or ultra lightweight, but it has impressive suction that can pick up anything from crumbs to more stubborn pet hair. (I don’t have any furry pets now, but growing up with several cats and dogs, this thing ripped.) It also comes with a number of attachments, including a brush, crevice cleaner, and a hard floor tool. I use it in between my robovac’s cleanings, which unfortunately doesn’t pick up half as much as the Kenmore. It’s great for just about everything in the house, including rugs, tiled floors, on the couch, and cobwebby corners. Is there anything you don’t like about it, or that you’d improve if you could? As you can see, this isn’t the prettiest-looking vacuum around — the white plastic has completely yellowed over the years. It can also be a pain to lug around the house. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t violently yank the hose every so often to get this thing rolling around the house. Every time I accidentally rip its plug out of the wall, I’m tempted to get a cordless Dyson. But I know it just wouldn’t be the same. Is there anything I should have asked that I didn’t? I just want to mention that I love the availability of replacement parts for this vacuum and just how straightforward it is to open up to clean the roller. Definitely a plus! View Source Article

A business that helped regional lenders keep large customer deposits during the industry turmoil over two years ago has been booming. Now banks want their cut. View Source Article

Google is set to reveal more information about its "Gemini for Home" plans, including new Nest devices designed for the AI assistant, the company announced on X. "Gemini is coming to Google Home," the teaser states, while showing what could be a new Nest camera. That follows the company's Made By Google announcement last month revealing Gemini for Home and its capabilities. Gemini for Home will replace Google Assistant and enable natural language commands plus easier-to use controls. For instance, you could ask it to come up with recipes based on ingredients in your fridge, provide information on general topics like buying a car and help you troubleshoot home appliance issues. It will be available both in free and subscription versions — much like Amazon is doing with Alexa and Alexa+.  Is that you, Gemini? Come in and make yourself at Home 🏠 Sign up for updates: https://t.co/V85WgPJvQN pic.twitter.com/JJaVRW385A— Made by Google (@madebygoogle) September 2, 2025 Back at CES, Google said that Nest Aware subscribers who pay $10 per month would get early access to Gemini in Google Home, but it hasn't confirmed that recently. In any case, the teaser implies we will likely see a new Nest camera (the image strongly resembles the company's wired Nest security camera) and hopefully the unknown Nest speaker that caught everyone's eye during Google's recent live stream. If you're interested, you can sign up for updates. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/google-will-reveal-more-gemini-smart-home-plans-and-devices-on-october-1-133601777.html?src=rss View Source Article

A map of DNA methylation changes in human organs—from the stomach to the retinas—could help researchers discover more targets for antiaging therapies View Source Article

There are a few caveats to the cellular and satellite connectivity, however. Garmin just announced its Fenix 8 Pro series of smartwatches, which adds both cellular and satellite connectivity via the company’s InReach tech. The Fenix 8 Pro series also adds a MicroLED display version that gets a maximum brightness of 4,500 nits. The catch is the watches will start at $1,199.99, with the MicroLED version going for an eye-watering $1,999.99. The big news here is adding cellular and satellite connectivity means Fenix 8 Pro users won’t need to carry their phones. There are, however, a few caveats as Garmin will be utilizing LTE-M networks. According to its website, that means these watches will have “a data connection but not a phone number, and cannot make traditional voice calls or send SMS messages.” For those capabilities, you’ll have to either call other Fenix 8 Pro users or people who have downloaded the Garmin Messenger app, which was introduced last year. That said, cellular connectivity does let you send 30-second voice messages via the Messenger app, allow users to send LiveTrack location sharing, and access real-time weather forecasts. Similarly, satellite connectivity will allow users to send and receive text messages via Garmin Messenger and location check-ins. SOS requests can be sent over both satellite and cellular via the Garmin Response center, which will then forward that information to emergency services, search and rescue organizations, and emergency contacts. And of course, cellular and satellite connectivity will require an active subscription, which will start at $7.99 per month. Garmin spokesperson Natalie Miller told The Verge that the InReach activation fee would be waived for Fenix 8 Pro owners, and there will be a free 30-day trial for first-time users. But LTE network access and satellite coverage aren’t available in all countries. (You can check where coverage is available here.) Smartwatch connectivity has been one area where Garmin has struggled to compete with competitors like the Apple Watch Ultra or Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. While Garmin has the better reputation among athletes for durability, training features, and battery life, Apple and Samsung could offer phone-free experiences and safety assurances thanks to cellular. Garmin’s implementation here isn’t perfect, but it makes sense given the difficulty smaller companies experience when negotiating deals with carriers. This method relies mostly on Garmin’s existing InReach infrastructure and at least starts to address that gap. Previously, the only Garmin watches that offered any connectivity was the Forerunner 945 LTE, which was released in 2021, and its Bounce kids tracker. On the hardware side of things, the Fenix 8 Pro series will come in two sizes: 47mm and 51mm. The OLED versions of the watches will get an estimated 27 days of battery life. The 47mm will cost $1,199.99 and the 51mm will cost $1,299.99. The $1,999.99 MicroLED version will only be available in the 51mm size, and will get up to 10 days of battery life. All three watches will be available starting September 8th. View Source Article

Artificial intelligence startup You.com has reached a valuation of $1.5 billion in a new $100 million funding round — part of the company’s continued pivot away from a consumer search and toward more general artificial intelligence services. View Source Article

Autumn is Apple season, and the tech company will once again host its annual unveiling of the season's new smartphone generation. The fall event has been dubbed "Awe dropping," and so we're hoping for some surprising announcements that will earn the name. "Awe dropping" all begins on September 9 at 1PM ET/ 10 AM PT. If you want to tune in to hear what Tim Cook and crew have to say about the iPhone 17, you can stream the whole show on Apple's website or on its YouTube channel. We've also got the livestream embedded below so you can follow along with our liveblog while you watch. With just a week to go until the "Awe dropping" event, it seems like we've already gotten a lot of advanced insights about what the new iPhone 17 lineup has in store. Apple introduced the software side of the equation with the iOS 26 unveil at WWDC this summer, and since then we've gotten some pretty reliable insights on the hardware. The big reveal is expected to be an ultralight smartphone, potentially called the iPhone 17 Air. This would be Apple's first application of its Air nomenclature for mobile, and when we had Bloomberg's Mark Gurman on the Engadget Podcast at the end of August, he suggested that the first iteration of the smartphone might come with some growing pains. We also anticipate seeing a base iPhone 17, an iPhone 17 Pro, and an iPhone 17 Pro Max. Beyond the smartphones, "Awe dropping" will likely showcase some refreshes for the Apple Watch and possibly for some new smart home tech. Tune in on September 9 to hear all the new product launches.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-watch-apples-awe-dropping-event-on-september-9-130040484.html?src=rss View Source Article

The total lunar eclipse on Sept. 7, 2025, won't be visible from North America, but it's only a 177-day wait until another 'blood moon.' View Source Article

Netflix will now let you create and share highlight clips of your favorite shows and movies right from the Netflix app on your phone. Last year, Netflix launched a feature that let you bookmark spots from shows and movies and save them to your account to watch again later or share with others. Starting today, Netflix is rolling out the ability for you set a specific end point for what you’re saving, meaning that you can make a specific clip instead of having the scene you bookmarked just continue on. To make a clip, tap on the “Clip” button that shows up under the playback bar while you’re watching something on Netflix, and then you can adjust where you want the clip to start and stop. After you’ve saved the clip, you can then share a link to it in apps like iMessage, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The feature is launching alongside Part 2 of Wednesday’s second season. View Source Article

Israeli cybersecurity company Cato Networks has agreed to acquire AI startup Aim Security, marking the firm’s first acquisition. View Source Article

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter can resume her work as a commissioner for the FTC, a federal appeals court has ruled. Slaughter, who was one of the two Democratic commissioners for the FTC that President Trump fired back in March, filed a lawsuit for her reinstatement. "Your continued service on the FTC is inconsistent with my administration’s priorities," a letter to the commissioners said. In July, US District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled that her removal from the agency was "unlawful and without legal effect," and Slaughter was able to go back to work. A few days later, however, an appeals court paused the order for her reinstatement.  Now, the appeals court judges voted 2-to-1 in favor of restoring AliKhan's order. Obama appointees Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard voted to reinstate Slaughter, while Trump appointee Neomi Rao dissented. Millett and Pillard wrote in their decision that the government "has no likelihood of success on appeal given controlling and directly on point Supreme Court precedent." They explained that a Supreme Court precedent known as Humphrey's Executor prevents presidents from removing FTC commissioners at will and without cause. Based on federal law, commissioners can only be removed due to "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office." Rao, however, has dissented. By "ordering the remaining FTC commissioners and the subordinates to treat Slaughter as though she is still in office, the district court expressly orders them to disregard the President's directive," she said in a statement. It "directly interferes with the President's supervision of the Executive Branch and therefore goes beyond the power of the federal courts." The FTC typically has five commissioners: Three from the same party as the president and two from the opposition. After Trump fired the FTC's Democratic commissioners, only the three Republican commissioners remained.  Slaughter is now listed again on FTC's website as a commissioner. According to The New York Times, she's planning to report back to work today, September 3. "Amid the efforts by the Trump administration to illegally abolish independent agencies, including the Federal Reserve, I’m heartened the court has recognized that he is not above the law," Slaughter said in an interview. Her fellow Democratic commissioner who was fired back in March, Alvaro Bedoya, resigned from the agency completely and took on a private-sector job. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/appeals-court-reinstates-fired-democratic-ftc-commissioner-124549494.html?src=rss View Source Article

Our understanding of cosmology hinges on how well we know our own local universe, which remains poorly mapped and poorly understood View Source Article

We have tested many home planetariums over the years (sometimes called star projectors) but which are the most realistic, scientifically accurate? These three models offer the best of the best. View Source Article

The UK’s larger energy supplier, Octopus Energy, is launching its own EV charger. The Octopus Charge is designed to pair with the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, which offers up cheaper electricity rates overnight for EV charging. Octopus Energy has designed and built its own EV charger and is backing it with a three-year warranty. There’s a £999 (about $1,300) tethered option with a 5-meter cable or an £899 (around $1,200) untethered version you can use with any cable you want. Those prices are largely in line with other EV chargers once you factor in install costs, but the Octopus Charge will be tempting for Octopus customers as it’s installed and supported entirely by Octopus. Octopus has made a name for itself in the UK by using green energy to drive down the costs of electricity in the UK. Wholesale rates for electricity in the UK have soared in recent years, and Octopus offers variable pricing every 30 minutes on its Octopus Agile tariff or the Intelligent Octopus Go option that lets EV owners charge for 6 hours of cheap energy every night at 7p per kWh — that’s 9 cents per kWh. I’ve been using Octopus to get free electricity for a couple of years now. If you’re not with Octopus then Octopus Charge isn’t as appealing, unless you’re willing to switch. While this EV charger looks like an easy way of locking Octopus customers in for life, if you do decide to leave the supplier it will be compatible with other energy suppliers in the UK. “Ideally this provider would have their own Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) platform to be able to directly control the charger,” explains Octopus spokesperson Christina Hofmann in an email to The Verge. “It’s also possible to switch the charger to Plug and Charge mode, with scheduling via the EV, in case the provider isn’t equipped their own OCPP platform.” There are also plenty of other EV chargers that can integrate into the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, but Octopus’ own version will make that integration a lot simpler and easy to use. Octopus controls third-party chargers through vehicle or EV charger APIs, which can occasionally be problematic. Octopus says its EV charger will be available for most EV drivers to purchase later this year, and the company is currently offering early access to those who lease a car through its Octopus Electric Vehicles scheme. Everyone else can register their interest at Octopus’ website. View Source Article

IQM, a Finnish quantum computing startup, has raised €275 million ($320 million) in venture capital funding, as investors bet on the experimental technology being able to solve real problems. View Source Article

One of the first guides I ever worked on for Engadget was about power banks. In the years since, I’ve tested more than 50 portable batteries to keep our top picks as up-to-date as possible. Now that the iPhone 17 is on the horizon — and rumored to be the thinnest ever — we wanted to devote some space to MagSafe battery packs in particular.I gathered up a new crop of batteries to test and compared the results with our existing data to pick the best MagSafe-compatible battery out there. As we learn more about the new iPhone’s battery specs and get our hands on banks enabled with the new Qi2 25W charging standard, I’ll continue to update this guide. For now, our top pick is Anker’s Qi2-enabled MagGo 10K power bank. It has a big capacity, fast charging times and handy extra features like a stand and display. But there are also options here for minimalists and the budget-conscious, too. The best MagSafe power banks for 2025 What to consider before buying a MagSafe power bank Choose the right capacity. Most portable MagSafe chargers have either a 5,000 milliamp hour (mAh) or 10,000mAh capacity. Obviously, the larger capacity batteries are physically bigger, but thanks to an iPhone’s magnetic attachment points, you can still use the phone comfortably as it charges. If you’re worried about overall bulk, you may prefer the slimness of a 5,000mAh battery. Just note that a 5K battery pack won’t deliver its entire capacity to your phone due to energy loss from voltage conversion and heat dissipation. Over the years, I’ve measured around a 60-percent delivery rate for wireless banks. For example, that means an iPhone 16 with its 3,561mAh battery will get about 85 to 90 percentage points from a 5K battery. A 10K bank will charge that same phone fully once, with enough for a 50- to 60-percent boost next time. Understand MagSafe versus Qi2. All iPhones model 12 and later have MagSafe technology, which rely on embedded magnets to align the phone with a wireless charger and can support charging speeds of up to 15 watts. The MagSafe name is owned by Apple — third-party chargers can’t freely use the term and instead call their accessories “magnetic,” or apply a branded name like Anker’s MagGo or UGreen’s MagFlow. Be sure to check the product details before buying: anything that works with Apple’s technology will be listed as MagSafe-compatible. Qi2 is a standard from the Wireless Power Consortium (of which Apple is a member) and has the same stipulations as MagSafe (15W charging and magnetic alignment). Any company can submit their tech for this certification. iPhones 13 and later are Qi2 compatible. A new standard is coming this fall; it’s called Qi2 25W and bumps wireless charging speeds up to 25W. The WPC says a certified smartphone using a certified charger can wirelessly go from dead to half full in about 30 minutes. These devices will start hitting shelves in the fall of 2025 and it’s highly likely that the new iPhone 17 will support it. Plus, it’s likely that iPhone 16 models will retroactively gain the certification since those phones already support 25W speeds when using Apple’s official MagSafe Charger puck. Remember travel restrictions. You may have seen news reports of flights being grounded because a power bank caught fire in the cabin. Currently, the TSA allows them in your carry-on luggage as long as they’re rated at 100 watt-hours or lower (about 27,000mAh for lithium ion batteries). But some airlines have enacted further restrictions. Southwest, for example, requires you to keep power banks out of the bag and visible while charging. Even if your airline doesn’t make such demands, keeping a power brick out in the open while it’s in use is a good idea — it’ll keep it cooler and you’ll be more likely to notice if it starts to overheat. Most, if not all, MagSafe battery packs come in at under the 100-watt-hour limit, so traveling should be easy with one. Consider the extra features. You may not need them, but the little extra perks of a MagSafe power bank can come in handy. Some have stands so you can watch your phone while it refills. Some have LED displays that tell you how much charge is left, which can be a little more precise than the lighted pips other banks use. Some also have straps to make the bank easier to carry around or fish out of your bag. MagSafe power banks FAQs What does MagSafe do? MagSafe is Apple’s own technology that supports 15W wireless charging speeds and incorporates embedded magnets to align the phone with chargers and other accessories. Which iPhones support MagSafe? iPhones 12 and later support MagSafe technology, though only iPhones 13 and later can reach the 15W charging speed with third party Qi2 chargers. The iPhone 12 maxes out at 7.5W with non-Apple accessories. Can you use MagSafe batteries with a case? In most cases (heh), yes. The wireless charge can travel across a distance of a few millimeters. If the case is more than 5mm thick or contains metal components, the wireless charge can be blocked. Many iPhone cases are marketed as MagSafe-compatible, which means the case itself has complimentary magnets inside and should not interfere with charging accessories. We tested a MagSafe power bank on an iPhone 15 with and without a MagSafe case and got the same charging speeds and amounts in both tests. How much power do MagSafe batteries provide? That depends on the power bank. If it is Qi2-certified, it can provide up to 15 watts of wireless power. Non-Qi2 batteries typically deliver around 7.5 watts. The amount of charge delivered depends on the capacity. Most MagSafe portable chargers are rated at 5,000mAh or 10,000mAh. The former can get a standard iPhone 15 from five percent to around 90 percent. The latter can fill the phone completely with enough left over for another half charge.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-magsafe-power-banks-120015338.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Soroya Ridge was the recent destination in NASA's Perseverance rover's journey to explore the landscape of Mars. View Source Article

IFA, the European tech trade show equivalent to CES in the US, is just around the corner. Companies are gearing up to showcase their latest innovations, bringing us the latest product announcements, feature demonstrations, and design concepts that will shape future consumer tech releases. IFA will open its doors between September 5th and 9th, but many of the biggest announcements will start dropping shortly before the show’s public opening. And, as always, The Verge will be covering all the latest news live from the IFA 2025 show floor in Berlin, providing you with our hands-on product experiences and first impressions of upcoming releases. If previous years are any indication, we can expect to see a plethora of new smart home gadgets and AI-laden devices, including laptops, tablets, appliances, and even robots that will do your household chores for you — sometimes equipped with incredibly specialized features. The Verge will be tracking all the biggest announcements on this page, so follow along with our coverage below to avoid missing out. Samsung’s new party speakers are less subtle than ever AI could bring us a smarter home — if we can trust it The PartyBox 720 is JBL’s largest battery-powered party speaker My brief hands-on with Acer’s new convertible Chromebook has me cautiously optimistic Acer gives its 18-inch Predator Helios gaming laptop a 4K screen and top GPU Acer’s 16-inch Air weighs even less than a 13-inch MacBook Air Acer has a dual-mode 720Hz OLED monitor, too. It’s easier to count the PC makers that *don’t* sell an Nvidia micro-desktop now. Acer’s new Amadana and CE270 monitors are unusually, strikingly stylish Ooni’s newest pizza oven adds AI to your slice Dolby Vision 2 goes beyond HDR with more AI and ‘authentic motion’ smoothing AI fish tank. This liquid-cooled projector promises an incredibly bright 6,200 lumen image View Source Article

Astrónomos estadounidenses afirman que, sin más fondos para financiar la construcción de telescopios y las operaciones de investigación, EE.UU. corre el riesgo de perder terreno en este campo. View Source Article

Hurricane forecast maps are more complex than they appear. Understanding them could change how you prepare for the next storm. View Source Article

The Paper Pro Move is similar in size to the iPad Mini but about an inch narrower. | Image: Remarkable A year after Remarkable introduced its Paper Pro digital notebook with an 11.8-inch color E Ink screen, the company is following up with a smaller version that prioritizes portability. The new Remarkable Paper Pro Move feels like what you’d be left with if you were to snap last year’s Paper Pro in half over your knee. With a 7.3-inch screen, it’s closer in size to a thin paperback novel you can easily slip into a pocket, but since the Paper Pro Move is as tall as the Paper Pro is wide, when turned sideways it provides a similar amount of writing real estate that shouldn’t feel cramped. The new Paper Pro Move is available to order starting today for $449, which includes the company’s Marker stylus that charges while magnetically attached to the device. The Move is also available in a $499 bundle that includes Remarkable’s upgraded Marker Plus stylus with a built-in eraser button. The larger Remarkable Paper Pro will still be available for $629, so despite being less than half the size, the new Move is far from being less than half the price. At 7.7 inches tall and 4.24 inches wide, the Paper Pro Move is similar in size to the 7th-gen iPad Mini but narrower by about an inch. It’s slightly thicker but less than half the weight of the original Paper Pro, and while both devices include 64GB of internal storage, the Paper Pro Move has a slower 1.7GHz dual core Cortex-A55 processor and a much smaller 2,334mAh battery which, according to the company, should keep the device powered for up to two weeks. Although companies like Amazon and Kobo continue to use E Ink’s Kaleido screen technology that generates colors using an added filter layer atop a black and white screen, the Paper Pro Move uses a 7.3-inch custom version of E Ink’s more advanced Gallery 3 panel that is also found in the Paper Pro. It’s capable of producing more vivid and accurate colors by mixing four shades of microscopic ink particles, but at the cost of noticeably slower refresh rates. Despite its size and more advanced color screen, the Paper Pro Move isn’t a replacement for color e-readers like the Kindle Colorsoft. It lacks access to online book stores, its document support is limited to PDFs and ePub files, and its front light is much dimmer than other E Ink devices. It’s still first and foremost a note-taking device with a large selection of templates such as day planners, the ability to convert handwritten notes into text for sharing over email, and the ability to annotate documents. Remarkable also plans to introduce new features to its devices starting with the Paper Pro Move, including the option to reposition the on-screen toolbar that provides quick access to different pen types and writing tools, and the ability to search handwritten documents. However, while features like handwriting conversion, third-party cloud storage options, and accessing notes in Remarkable’s mobile app are all included, more advanced features, including editing notes in the mobile apps, sharing to Slack, and searching handwritten documents, will only be available as part of a $2.99/month subscription to Remarkable’s Connect service after a 100-day free trial. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Kate Clark sits down with Benchmark partner Peter Fenton to talk about the firm’s investment strategy in an era dominated by artificial intelligence startups. View Source Article

Acer maintains two different gaming product lines and it's updating both of them at IFA 2025. Among the new gear is a gigantic new 18-inch Predator laptop, an ultra high-refresh rate monitor and multiple entry-level Nitro laptops and monitors. The updated Predator Helios 18P AI is an even more powerful version of the Predator Helio 18 the company showed off at CES 2024, offering "desktop-level AI" in what's still technically a portable body. Inside, you can get up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU and 6TB of SSD storage. For the display of the panel, you'll get a Mini LED 4K panel, which should work well for creative workflows and gaming. Acer also says the new Helios uses its "proprietary thermal solution" to keep cool, which is a combination of thin metal fans, "liquid metal thermal grease" and vector heat pipes. Acer has new gaming desktop PCs, the Predator Orion 7000 and Orion 5000, which can use GeForce RTX 5090 or 5080 GPUs, respectively. The more exciting announcement, though, is the new Predator monitor. The Predator X27U F8 Monitor is a 26.5-inch OLED, with a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution and a ridiculous 720Hz refresh rate. Acer says the monitor can move between resolutions and refresh rates to maximize performance. The X27U F8 monitor also supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro to eliminate screen tearing and stuttering. Acer On the Nitro side of the house, Acer has two new gaming laptops on offer. The Acer Nitro V 16 can be built with up to an Intel Core 9 processor and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU. With NVIDIA inside, the laptop supports NVIDIA DLSS 4 for improved graphics performance. The laptop also comes with a 2,560 x 1,600 display that has up to an 180Hz refresh rate for fluid motion during fast-paced games. The Acer Nitro V 16S, while similar, is more focused on portability. The laptop has up to an Intel Core 9 processor, but only a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU, the same 180Hz display, in a metal body that's 19.9mm thin. That's not quite MacBook Air dimensions, but it's better than nothing. Acer is pairing those new laptops with a collection of new Nitro monitors. The largest option is the 39.7-inch curved Nitro XZ403CKR monitor, which uses a 5K panel, has built-in 5W speakers and supports AMD FreeSync Premium for fluid gameplay. If you like 5K but don't want a curved screen, there's the 27-inch Nitro XV270X, which includes two built-in 2W speakers. You can get similar speakers on the 27-inch Nitro XV273U W1 monitor, which has a 27-inch 1440p display that reaches 500 nits of peak brightness. Finally, there's also the Nitro XV275K V6, which features a 27-inch 4K display, AMD FreeSync Premium and dual HDMI 2.1 ports. Acer hasn't announced a final price or release for the Predator Helios 18P AI laptop, but did confirm it will be available in North America at launch. The Predator X27U F8 monitor, meanwhile, will go on sale in Q1 2026 for $1,300. For the Nitro laptops, Acer says the Nitro V 16 will be available in the US in October starting at $1,000, with the Acer Nitro V 16S arriving a month later in November for $1,100. For the Nitro monitors, all three will be available in Q1 2026. The Acer Nitro XV25K V6 starts at $700, the Acer Nitro XV273U W1 starts at $300, the Acer Nitro XV270X starts at $900 and the Acer Nitro XZ403CKR starts at $1,000.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/acers-new-gaming-lineup-includes-an-18-inch-ai-laptop-and-a-720hz-monitor-090009032.html?src=rss View Source Article

The ST50F may have wheels, but can it do a kickflip? Samsung may be partly to blame for unleashing the party speaker upon the world — its Giga line launched over a decade ago — but in recent years its entrants to the field have been strangely restrained, with only small light strips along the sides. Not so with its two new Sound Towers, which add LED lights that would be impossible to miss. The Sound Tower ST50F and ST40F both feature a large LED “racetrack-style” light strip across the front, along with other lights around the tweeters, the edge of the body, the base, and even the underside of the handle. There are six different dynamic lighting patterns, five “mood” presets, and absolutely no accounting for taste. The ST50F has up to 240W output, 18 hours of battery, and integrated wheels for $699.99. The smaller ST40F is 160W, runs for 12 hours, and isn’t rollable, but costs $499.99. View Source Article

After months of pain, Salesforce Inc. investors will be scrutinizing the software maker’s upcoming earnings for signs it will be a winner in the artificial intelligence boom — or one of its most high-profile victims. View Source Article

In the last few years, I’ve felt like Chromebooks have hit a plateau. ChromeOS is a quirky but mature platform at this point, and Google has continued to add smart and useful features on a regular basis. But the hardware has felt pretty stagnant, with a few exceptions. Most Chromebooks at this point are utilitarian devices that get the job done but inspire little excitement, and I’ve found most Intel-based Chromebooks don’t get me through a day of work before the battery dies. But earlier this summer, Lenovo released a new Chromebook with the ARM-based MediaTek’s Kompanio Ultra 910 chip, rather than the usual Intel fare. And now Acer is doing the same with the latest Chromebook Plus Spin 514, a laptop that Acer says should get up to 17 hours of battery life — a figure that only this model and the aforementioned Lenovo can hit. Previously, the MediaTek-powered Chromebooks available ran on weaker mobile chips that didn’t have nearly enough power, but the Kompanio Ultra 910 is a completely different beast. The combo of performance and efficiency the Spin 514 offers makes it one of the best Chromebooks I’ve used in a while. Hardware design The Chromebook Spin 514 feels like many Acer laptops I’ve tried over the years (CP514-5HN is the identifier for this particular model, but we’re just going to call it the Spin 514 from here on out). It’s solid and well-built while still also feeling fairly utilitarian. It doesn’t quite hit “premium” laptop standards, but it’s on the nicer end of the Chromebook spectrum. I’m a fan of the silver color scheme as opposed to the rather dull grey most Chromebooks come in, and the laptop’s lid has a nicely chamfered and polished edge, giving it some visual flair. It’s also a relatively slim (0.61 inches) and light (3 pounds) laptop. It’s not pushing the envelope, but it’s also more svelte and portable than a lot of cheaper Chromebooks. “Almost premium” isn’t a bad place to be. The same goes for the keyboard and trackpad — they’re both spacious and comfortable, and the keys have plenty of clicky travel. It’s not the best keyboard I’ve ever used, but one that I’m happy to tap away on for hours at a time. The 1,920 x 1,200 touchscreen is bright, sharp and colorful, quite pleasant to look at for long sessions. However, it also has pretty large bezels above and below the display. Again, almost premium. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget The Spin 514 has solid connectivity options, as well. On one side you’ll find two USB-C 3.2 ports and a headphone jack, while the other side goes old-school with two USB-A 3.2 ports. I wish that there was one of each on each side so that you could plug in a charger on the left or the right, but alas. My only real quibble is that if you’re using a monitor with the laptop plugged into power, both USB-C jacks are taken up. An HDMI connection would have been helpful for that common scenario. As the name implies, the Spin 514 has a 360-degree hinge that lets you use it in a tablet mode, with the touchscreen as the main input. I’ve long believed these convertible laptops aren’t really offering any useful solution for the vast majority of people, and I still feel the same way. But the hinge feels great; Acer has a ton of experience in this department. And the USI 2.0 stylus I had on hand worked without any need for pairing or setup, which was convenient. If you’re the kind of person who would take advantage of that, the Spin 514 does the trick. Overall, the Spin 514 lands just about where I’d expect for a $700 laptop in terms of hardware quality. It’s utilitarian in a good way — there were no major letdowns in my testing aside from the speakers, which have very little bass and sound rather harsh when listening to music. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Configurations and performance Before diving into how the Spin 514 worked for me, a quick word about configurations. The version I tested retails for $700 and will be sold through Best Buy. This setup has the aforementioned MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 alongside 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space. Acer itself will sell a $750 model with a 2,880 x 1,800 display and 16GB of RAM, but it should be otherwise identical to the model I’m testing. ChromeOS runs well enough on the various Intel chips that are commonly used. One of my longstanding favorite Chromebooks, the Lenovo Ideapad 5i, still uses a Core i3 from early 2023, and it gets the job done. But the move to MediaTek’s ARM-based Kompanio Ultra 910 has raised the performance bar, as the Spin 514 is probably the most responsive Chromebook I’ve tried. There’s nary a hint of slowdown or hiccups that still happen on Intel-based models if you have too many windows or apps open. Tabs rarely need to be reloaded and pop back up quickly on the rare occasion that they do. Music or video playback never skipped regardless of what else I was doing, and Android apps like Lightroom worked swiftly and smoothly as well. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Perhaps more importantly than how it performs today is the fact that the Kompanio Ultra 910 should keep the Flip 514 feeling snappy and powerful for years to come. There’s just more room for this chip to handle increasing performance demands over the years. Benchmarks from the Android version of Geekbench 6 help illustrate this: the Spin 514 scored 2,526 on the single-core CPU test, 7,687 on multi-core and 18,020 on the GPU test. For comparison, Acer’s recently-released Chromebook Plus 514 with an Intel Core 3 chip scored 1,150, 4,407 and 5,932 respectively. I don’t think that benchmarks like Geekbench are a be-all end-all of anything, but it’s at least one metric to illustrate the benefits of moving away from Intel. I’ve long groused about the relatively mediocre battery life on Intel-powered Chromebooks, and this is another place where the MediaTek chip helps out tremendously. The Spin 514 looped video playback in my test for just over 14 hours before running out of battery. My daily workflow of tons of Chrome tabs, various chat apps, YouTube Music, Todoist and a handful of Android apps definitely used more resources, but I could still get through a full work day with battery to spare. That’s not something I’ve said about many Chromebooks recently. The only caveat is that battery life will almost surely take a hit if you opt for the model with the higher-resolution display. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget ChromeOS and Gemini I wrote a lot about the ChromeOS and Gemini experience last year when I reviewed Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook Plus, and basically everything I said then applies here. But to recap: ChromeOS is quite mature and stable at this point, and Google has built in a lot of smart features over the years to make it more than “just a web browser” as it was referred to previously. Of course, ChromeOS is still a primarily web-based system, with Android applications giving you access to things you might not find in the browser. There are also plenty of web apps that are well optimized for ChromeOS, and Google Docs has a comprehensive offline mode at this point. ChromeOS also pairs nicely with Android phones and adds features like shared notifications and streaming of some apps directly to your laptop. Of course, Gemini is also a big part of the equation — but if you’re not a big fan of AI tools, it’s also quite easy to ignore. There are little prompts around the OS, but nothing that really drags your attention away from what you’re working on. And if you do want to dive into what Gemini is all about, a Chromebook like the Spin 514 is a good option because you get 12 months of Google’s AI Pro plan for free. That usually costs $20/month and provides 2TB of Drive storage along with Gemini 2.5 Pro in search and the Gemini app, Gemini in Gmail and Google Docs, access to the Veo image- and video-generation tool and more. Given that 2TB of Google Drive storage costs $10/month on its own, this is a solid perk. But it’s also worth remembering that once that year ends, you’re on the hook to pay for that plan yourself. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Pricing and final thoughts My only real quibble with the Spin 514 is its price. At $700, we’re pushing the top of what anyone should spend on a Chromebook. While the more powerful chip and long battery life will be worth it for some people, Acer itself is providing some strong competition with its standard Chromebook Plus 514 which came out this summer. It has an Intel chip, so battery life and performance aren’t at the same level as the Spin 514, but it’s also literally half the price at $350. If you’re only going to be away from a charger for a few hours at a time, it’s hard not to recommend that device instead. I’ll be publishing more details about that laptop in our guide to the best Chromebooks very soon if you want to know more. So while this might not be the Chromebook I’d recommend to everyone, it is a strong contender for the best premium Chromebook you can buy. If you’re looking to use this laptop all day, every day, it may be worth shelling out the extra cash for the improved performance, battery life and longevity you’ll get from the Spin 514.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/acer-chromebook-plus-spin-514-review-the-new-chromeos-sweet-spot-090014823.html?src=rss View Source Article

LG’s FURON AI Agent powers the company’s smart home AI ambitions. | Image: LG The holy grail of the smart home is ambient computing - technology that disappears into the background, anticipating your needs without a word or a tap. Lights turn on as you walk in, doors unlock as you approach, coffee brews before you reach the kitchen. This is the proactive home: a space that adapts to its occupants to support their comfort, health, and safety. The tools exist to create this, but today's smart home remains complicated, unreliable, and often invasive - still a long way from truly "ambient." But, just as it's changing every other game in tech, advances in artificial intelligence are a watershed moment for the smart home. … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Bitcoin treasury company Treasury B.V. said it had raised initial funding of €126 million ($147 million) through a private round led by the venture capital firm of billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, according to a company statement on Wednesday. View Source Article

JBL just announced the PartyBox 720, which is an extremely chonky party speaker. As a matter of fact, it's the company's largest-ever battery-powered party speaker. The thing is bigger than many human children. It boasts 800W of power with up to 15 hours of playtime via a replaceable battery. There are two 9-inch woofers and a pair of 30mm dome tweeters, which should provide for robust audio. The company has included its proprietary AI Sound Boost technology, which increases audio without distortion. JBL The PartyBox offers multi-speaker connectivity via Auracast and USB-C connectivity for streaming audio directly from a device. The speaker also creates a "futuristic lightshow" that syncs to the music, which is always fun. This being a device intended for soirees, it also boasts a pair of XLR ports for connecting microphones, guitars or DJ consoles. The company says the speaker will "bring karaoke sessions to life." However, modern party speakers are expensive. This one costs $1,099. That's cheaper than Marshall's recently-announced $1,300 model, but still pricey. Pre-orders are open right now, with shipments going out on September 21. JBL JBL also announced the Boombox 4, which is an iterative update of the Boombox 3. We liked the previous model and it almost made our list of the best portable Bluetooth speakers. This one features the same AI Sound Boost tech as the PartyBox, for louder audio without distortion. It's nearly two pounds lighter than the predecessor, so it should be easy to carry out to the front lawn like that one scene in Say Anything. It's IP68 water and dustproof and integrates with Auracast for linking to other speakers. It includes a replaceable battery that can go up to 28 hours before requiring a trip to the outlet. Pre-orders for the Boombox 4 are open right now. It costs $550 and is available in three colorways. The speaker ships on September 28.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/jbl-just-announced-its-largest-ever-battery-powered-party-speaker-090024747.html?src=rss View Source Article

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will zoom past Mars in October 2025, and ESA's Mars orbiters will attempt to image and analyze the object during the encounter. View Source Article

The Amadana 27ART0 P1. | Image: Acer Did you know Acer acquired a Japanese design firm called Amadana late last year that makes classy coffee gear, retro calculators, air purifiers, and all manner of minimalist low-fi tech? Neither did I till today — but it goes a long way to explaining why a few of Acer’s new monitors at IFA 2025 are leaping off the page. Unfortunately for stateside readers, Acer has no current plans to ship its Amadana branded products below in the US. The 27-inch 27ART0 P1 desktop monitor — whose display is just 8mm thick — and the 16-inch, 1.4-pound 16APM1QJ portable monitor, are headed to EMEA regions in Q1 for €169 and €119 respectively. They’re not heavy on tech, anyhow: they’re 1080p IPS screens, at just 250 nits of brightness, and only the desktop monitor reaches 144Hz. The portable panel, with USB-C and mini-HDMI input, is limited to 60Hz, though both monitors offer variable refresh rate. But the Acer CE270U Z, below and atop this story, will come to North America for $700 in Q1, and feature a 26.5-inch 1440p OLED panel at 280Hz. It also has AMD’s flavor of variable refresh rate (FreeSync Premium Pro) and peak brightness of 1000 nits in HDR (250 nits typical), with two HDMI 2.1 ports and one DisplayPort 1.4. Here’s a look at some earlier Amadana products, courtesy of Acer. Amadana writes that it’s named after a location in Japan’s Edo period where fine lacquerware was sold. View Source Article

Unlicensed offshore casinos are increasingly targeting vulnerable people in the UK by exploiting search terms linked to GamStop, an app that problem gamblers use to exclude themselves from regulated gaming sites. View Source Article

Acer just unveiled the new Swift 16 Air laptop at IFA 2025. The biggest selling point here is likely the weight. The 16-inch laptop clocks in at just over two pounds, which is lighter than a 13-inch MacBook Air. The Swift 16 Air is available with two display options. There's a standard IPS panel and an AMOLED. The AMOLED does tick the weight up a bit to 2.4 pounds, which is worth considering. Acer The overall specs here are solid. These computers are powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processors, with options up to the AI 7 350. They also come with AMD Radeon GPUs. The battery life is pretty decent, allowing for up to 13 hours of use per charge. There's a webcam with a privacy shutter and plenty of connectivity options. These include a pair of USB-C ports, two USB-A ports and an HDMI port. Finally, each laptop ships with two speakers and two microphones. The Acer Swift 16 Air will be available this November in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. We don't have pricing or availability information for the US yet, but the starting cost in Europe translates to around $1,160. Acer The company also used IFA to introduce the TravelMate X4 AI. This is a lightweight Copilot+ PC with Intel Core Ultra Processors. It weighs less than three pounds and meets MIL-STD810H durability standards. It ships later this month, with a starting price of $1,400.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/acers-swift-16-air-laptop-weighs-less-than-22-pounds-090029625.html?src=rss View Source Article

There are laptops out there with power adapters heavier than this entire 16-inch laptop. Acer is announcing a new Swift Air 16 at IFA 2025, and it’s an absolute featherweight of a 16-inch laptop. Weighing in at 2.18 pounds / 0.99kg with an IPS display or 2.43 pounds / 1.1kg with its optional OLED, the Swift Air is lighter than even a 13-inch MacBook Air. It also packs more ports than the MacBook, and will start at a lower price of €999 when it launches in November. (North American availability and pricing is still TBD.) It kind of boggles my mind that the Swift Air 16 fits this much screen into such a light package, as it’s even lighter than the LG Gram — a laptop defined by its lightness. But the reality checks start coming in once you notice some of the Swift’s specs, like its thickness of 0.63 inches / 15.9mm (0.65 inches / 16.5mm for the OLED version). By contrast, the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs are just 0.44 inches and 0.45 inches, respectively. Also, while the Swift Air’s AMD Ryzen AI 300-series chip options will be more than competent for everyday productivity tasks, I’ve seen firsthand that Apple’s M4 chip outperforms them while maintaining better battery life. The Swift Air’s starting config will come with a Ryzen AI 5 330 chip, and the top-end version uses the Ryzen AI 7 350. I tested the latter chip in the latest Framework Laptop 13 and it’s very capable, even for a touch of light gaming. But the parts of the Swift Air 16 that give me the biggest pause are its HDMI spec and battery size. It’s got a decent port selection with two USB-C, one USB-A 3.2, and a 3.5mm audio jack, but its video-out port is HDMI 1.4. That’s very outdated for 2025, when you expect just about any $1,000-plus laptop to drive an external monitor at 4K / 60Hz or greater. HDMI 1.4 can only do 4K at a sub-par 24 or 30Hz.  And while the Swift’s starting IPS display has a respectable 1920 x 1200 resolution at 60Hz and the optional OLED sports a 2880 x 1800 resolution with 120Hz refresh, the laptop’s battery is only 50Wh. That’s a smaller capacity than the 13-inch MacBook Air, and much smaller than the 75Wh battery in the Acer Swift 14 AI I tested earlier this year. That 14-inch Swift cousin has great battery life for a machine sporting AMD’s more power hungry chips, and the large battery was a big reason why. Acer’s own promotional materials rate the Swift 14 AI at “up to 27 hours battery life” in a video playback test. The Swift Air 16’s rated battery life in similar video playback tests? Just 13 hours — less than half. Ouch. Oh, and did you notice the Swift Air’s gapless keyboard? I’ve already poked plenty of holes in the hull of the Swift Air 16 before it’s even taken its maiden voyage. But I’m still interested to see it shove off, and I’m hoping it’ll land on our shores here in the US. Despite my concerns, it’s an intriguing machine. And I’m all for a company taking some chances. But naming your laptop “Air” is going to draw the inevitable comparisons. View Source Article

Ashish Vaswani helped usher in modern AI. Now he’s wondering if we’re doing it all wrong. View Source Article

A Wi-Fi mesh system is one of the best upgrades you can make to improve your home’s internet coverage, especially if you’ve ever struggled with dead zones, buffering or dropped video calls. Unlike a single router that broadcasts from one central point, a mesh system uses multiple access points spread throughout your space to blanket your entire home with a strong, seamless Wi-Fi signal. Whether you're working on multiple laptops, streaming 4K video in the living room or gaming online in the basement, a mesh setup helps ensure you get reliable Wi-Fi wherever you are.These systems are designed to handle the demands of modern households, offering features like dual-band or even tri-band connectivity to balance your bandwidth across devices, and automatic updates to keep your firmware current. Many also support high-speed internet plans and include options for a wired connection if you need extra stability for gaming or work. With easy setup, smart app controls and long-term future-proofing, the best mesh Wi-Fi router systems can eliminate the need for clunky Wi-Fi extenders and give you fast, dependable Wi-Fi connections across your whole home. Table of contents Best mesh Wi-Fi systems for 2025 What to look for in a mesh Wi-Fi system Other mesh Wi-Fi router systems we tested How we test Wi-Fi routers Mesh Wi-Fi system FAQs Best mesh Wi-Fi systems for 2025 What to look for in a mesh Wi-Fi system Linksys’ CEO Jonathan Bettino told Engadget why mesh systems are an “advancement in Wi-Fi technology” over buying a single point router. With one transmitter, the signal can degrade the further away from the router you go, or the local environment isn’t ideal. “You can have a small [home], but there’s thick walls [...] or things in the way that just interfere with your wireless signal,” he said. Historically, the solution to a home’s Wi-Fi dead zone was to buy a Wi-Fi extender but Bettino said the hardware has both a “terrible user experience” and one of the highest return rates of any consumer electronics product. Mesh Wi-Fi, by comparison, offers “multiple nodes that can be placed anywhere in your home,” says Bettino, resulting in “ubiquitous Wi-Fi” that feels as if you have a “router in every room.” Rather than having one main router in your home, having a “router in every room” is the biggest selling point for mesh Wi-Fi given how reliant we all are on the internet. Each node is in constant contact with each other, broadcasting a single, seamless network to all of your connected devices. There’s no separate network for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, just a single name that you connect to. It’s a good time to buy a mesh Wi-Fi system since the latest standard, Wi-Fi 6E, represents a big leap in the technology. Matt MacPherson, Cisco's Chief Technology Officer for Wireless, said Wi-Fi 6E is a big “inflection point,” using much more of the wireless spectrum than its predecessors. “If you’re using that spectrum with a Wi-Fi 6 [device],” he said, “you’re going to get significant gains [in speed.]” MacPherson added Wi-Fi 6E will likely “carry you for a long time” thanks to the fact its “top throughputs now typically exceed what people can actually connect their home to.” In short, with a top theoretical per-stream speed of 1.2 Gbps, Wi-Fi 6E is fast enough to outrun all but the fastest internet service. What do all these Wi-Fi numbers and letters mean? I’m sorry folks, we need to get boringly technical for one paragraph, but I promise you it’s worth it. Wi-Fi is governed by International Standard IEEE 802.11, and every few years a letter gets added onto that name when the technology evolves and improves. Until 2019, routers were sold under their IEEE name, leaving users to pick through the word soup of a product labeled 802.11 b/g/a/n/ac and so on. Mercifully, wiser heads opted to rebrand the letters as numbers, so rather than 802.11 b/g/a/n/ac, we have Wi-Fi 1, 2, 3 4 and 5. Right now, we’re in the middle of one of those Wi-Fi generations, with most of the gear on sale right now supporting either Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E. What’s the difference between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E? Wi-Fi uses chunks of the radio frequency spectrum, with Wi-Fi 6 using the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands to pump data around. In fact, back in the old days, it was likely your home router would offer you the choice of the 2.4GHz or the 5GHz network, as separate bands to access. These days, all of the spectrums are tied together as one thing, and Wi-Fi 6E has the added ability to use the 6GHz band as well. That’s a big chunk of extra wireless real estate that isn’t as cluttered up as the 2.4 and 5GHz bands. You’re going to talk about wireless frequencies now, aren’t you. Each Wi-Fi band had tradeoffs, because the slower radio frequencies have greater range but less speed. 2.4GHz signals will travel a long way in your home but aren’t quick, while 6GHz is blisteringly fast but can be defeated by a sturdy brick wall. A lot of Wi-Fi-enabled gear you own, like smart home products, only use the 2.4GHz band because the range is better and it’s a lot cheaper. But it means that the band is also overcrowded and slow, making it great for your doorbell and robovac, but lackluster for Twitch streaming. So, what am I looking for? Right now, the market is full of mature Wi-Fi 6 and 6E devices, and most new systems available to buy are capable of taking advantage of the faster speeds they offer. This guide focuses on Wi-Fi 6E gear since it’s what we think it’s more than enough to satisfy almost everyone’s at-home Wi-Fi needs. What about Wi-Fi 7? We’re now seeing the first generation of Wi-Fi 7 devices available to buy, but we don’t recommend you do so immediately. The Wi-Fi 7 standard is still so new that there’s little to no reason for you to rush out and buy one for your home. The hardware is tremendously expensive and while Wi-Fi 7 will, eventually, offer some great benefits over 6E, it’s not as transformative an upgrade as 6E. Not to mention, Wi-Fi 7 is so new that almost none of your home’s devices will be able to take advantage of its big-ticket features. I’d estimate you won’t need to worry about upgrading to Wi-Fi 7 for at least five years, if not longer. Range and speed All Wi-Fi routers boast a theoretical broadcast range and a theoretical top speed, and in some cases external antennas to boost signal directionality — but these figures don’t mean much. After all, manufacturers can’t control your ISP’s real speed, the materials and layout of your home or where you put your Wi-Fi gear. Raw speed isn’t everything, either, and you likely need a lot less than the internet speeds your provider is advertising. What matters more is how consistent your connection is between rooms and across devices.. After all, Netflix needs just 15 Mbps to push a single 4K video stream to your home. As cool as it is to say you’ve got all these hundreds of Mbps, factors like latency and reliability are far more crucial to a happy internet life. And unless you have Gigabit internet that can reach speeds of up to 1 Gbps, you won’t need a mesh router that offers that spec. Backhaul Mesh Wi-Fi systems work by connecting every hardware node to a single wireless network, letting them all communicate with each other. Imagine four people in a busy, noisy restaurant all trying to order their dinner from a weary staff member, all at once. Now imagine, while this is going on, that four more people at that same table are also trying to tell a funny anecdote. It’s no surprise that it might take a long time for the right information to reach its intended destination. To combat this, higher-end mesh routers offer dedicated wireless backhaul; a slice of the spectrum for node-to-node communication. So rather than everyone talking at once in the same space, the conversations are essentially separated, reducing the invisible clutter in the air. Because there’s less confusing cross-chatter, everything moves faster, offering a significant performance boost to those systems. Connectivity These days, even your washing machine can have a wireless connection, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the joys of wired internet. No matter how fast Wi-Fi is, a hard line will always be faster, and some gear, like Philips’ Hue bridge, still needs an ethernet connection. Plenty of routers can also use these hard connections as backhaul, eliminating further wireless clutter. It’s convenient for spread-out systems and power users, but it will mean running more wires through your home. The most common standard is Cat 5e, or gigabit ethernet which, unsurprisingly, has a top speed of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps). Since Ethernet cables are backward compatible, you should be able to easily find one that works with your system. However, to get the most out of your mesh routers, it’s worth investing in an Ethernet cable that meets the standard your router uses — if it’s Cat 5e, use a Cat 5e cable. You can check your router’s specs via the manufacturer’s website to be sure. Flexibility and scalability Mesh routers enable you to add (or subtract) modules from your home network to suit your needs. D-Link’s Alan Jones said users should “check how scalable the prospective product is” before you buy. This sense of scale doesn’t just apply to the number of nodes on the network, but how many simultaneous connections it can handle. It’s also worth looking at ASUS’ AiMesh products, which can combine mesh Wi-Fi gear and its standard “spider” Wi-Fi routers. If you’ve got a tricky part of your home, you can bolt on an ultra-power standalone Wi-Fi router to a compatible mesh. Placement Mesh networks replace one big piece of hardware with a series of identical nodes that you scatter around your home. You connect one to your modem (usually over ethernet), and then scatter the rest around the place for the best coverage. A good rule of thumb is to place each node no more than two rooms away from the last one, rather than sticking them at the far ends of your home. Bear in mind, every physical obstacle between a Wi-Fi node, its siblings and your devices will hurt your overall performance. You should aim to place them, at the very least, at waist height on furniture in open air, without too many obstructions. The reason many mesh Wi-Fi products are designed to look like an inoffensive white doodad is so you don’t feel compelled to hide them behind your TV. Other mesh Wi-Fi router systems we tested Amazon Eero Pro 7 Eero built its reputation on easy to use yet powerful mesh systems that offer a lot of good in a relatively small and affordable package. Setup is effortless, the app running things is clean and simple, and you get the added benefit of backwards compatibility with older hardware. Sadly, the issue with every Eero system is that so many basic management features, like parental controls, are paywalled behind the company’s Eero Plus subscription for $100 a year. Amazon Eero 6E Eero Pro 6E is an “easy” device, the sort a total novice can set up on their own and thrive with for years on end. There’s little brainwork required to get things set up, and the app has a clean UI with plenty of hand-holding. But, as with the Eero Pro 7, the fact that so many basic management tools are paywalled irks me, especially since you can get plenty of them for free with Google’s rival offering. Netgear Orbi 960 The Orbi 96T0 (RBKE963) is Netgear’s flagship mesh Wi-Fi product, which the company calls the “world’s most powerful Wi-Fi 6E system.” It’s also one of the most expensive consumer-level kits on the market, setting you back $1,499.99 for a three pack. It's a fantastic piece of gear, but it's worth saying that the subset of people who could, would or should buy it remains far smaller than you might expect. Ultimately, I feel that if you’re paying luxury prices, you should expect a luxury product. There were plenty of times during testing that I went looking for a feature that was either only available via the web client, or behind a paywall. While, yes, much of your cash is going to the superlative hardware, but for this sort of money, the fact you have to pay extra for some table-stakes features is insulting. If you’re looking for a new Wi-Fi system and aren’t prepared to spend almost $1,500, it’s worth considering our other top picks for the best Wi-Fi routers and mesh systems. How we test Wi-Fi routers My home covers around 2,200 square feet across three stories with the office on the third floor. It’s relatively long and thin, with the living room at the front of the house, the kitchen at the back and the three bedrooms on the first floor. Its age means there are a lot of solid brick walls, old-school lathe and plaster as well as aluminum foil-backed insulation boards to help with energy efficiency. There are two major Wi-Fi dead zones in the house: The bathroom and the third bedroom behind it, since there’s lots of old and new pipework in the walls and floors. For mesh routers with two nodes, I place the first in my living room, connected via ethernet to my cable modem with the second on the first floor landing in the (ostensible) center of the house. For three-node sets, the third goes in my kitchen, which I’ve found is the optimal layout to get the bulk of my house covered in Wi-Fi. Fundamentally, my home poses enough challenges that if it succeeds here, it stands a very good chance of succeeding in your place. Each mesh is judged on ease of setup, Wi-Fi coverage, reliability, speed and any additional features that it advertises. I look at how user-friendly each companion app is from the perspective of a novice rather than an expert given you shouldn’t need to be a network engineer to do this sort of thing. Tests I do include checking for dead zones, moving from room to room to measure consistency of connectivity and streaming multiple videos at once to replicate common usage patterns. Mesh Wi-Fi system FAQs This is the section of our mesh Wi-Fi buyer’s guide where we talk about the stuff that most people just glide past. If you’re not familiar with technology, it can be intimidating if people talk about these things as if you’re expected to already know. So here’s a very simple, very basic rundown of some of the stuff you might have missed in very basic terms. What’s the difference between a Wi-Fi router and a mesh router? A Wi-Fi router is a box that usually sits close to wherever the internet comes into your home and pumps out information over radio waves. A mesh router, meanwhile, is a set of smaller devices, one of which sits next to your internet connection while the rest are scattered around your home. A single Wi-Fi router is great if your home is small, your needs aren’t too demanding, or if your home doesn’t have many radio-blocking obstructions that mean those signals can’t reach every corner of your home. But, much like standing next to a radio transmitter and then walking away from it in a straight line, after a while, the signal will degrade. That’s the problem a mesh system is designed to solve, since it will take the signal from your modem and pump to the other mesh devices, known as nodes, in your home. That way, instead of having one big router in one part of your home, you have several small ones that ensure you have good Wi-Fi connectivity all over. It also helps ensure that there’s no risk of dropping your connection as you move around — a mesh router system makes it easy to, for instance, walk from room to room watching Netflix and know you won’t miss a single frame. What's the difference between a Wi-Fi extender and a mesh system? Oh boy. Wi-Fi extenders, or repeaters, are small devices designed to push Wi-Fi a little further than your Wi-Fi router can stretch. They’re cheap, compact and often come in the form of little boxes that sit on your plug sockets with the hope of pushing Wi-Fi to a signal-sparse corner of your home. They are, and I can’t put this delicately enough, often a big pile of rubbish and are often not worth your time. Especially since the price of mesh routers has fallen to within most people’s budgets. What is a wireless backhaul? As we explained above, mesh Wi-Fi systems work by connecting every hardware node to a single wireless network, letting them all communicate with each other. Imagine four people in a busy, noisy restaurant all trying to order their dinner from a weary staff member, all at once. Now imagine, while this is going on, that four more people at that same table are also trying to tell a funny anecdote. It’s no surprise that it might take a long time for the right information to reach its intended destination. To combat this, higher-end mesh routers offer dedicated wireless backhaul; a slice of the spectrum for node-to-node communication. So rather than everyone talking at once in the same space, the conversations are essentially separated, reducing the invisible clutter in the air. Because there’s less confusing cross-chatter, everything moves faster, offering a significant performance boost to those systems. Is it better to hard wire instead of using a mesh Wi-Fi system? This is a great question that doesn’t have a simple answer. It is (almost) always preferable to connect devices with a wire, in this case Ethernet, than to use Wi-Fi. The speeds are faster, it’s more reliable and your data is less vulnerable to the slings and arrows of the laws of physics. Hell, I spent about a year trying to work out how to build an iPhone to Ethernet connector back in the bad old days of Wi-Fi. But your ability to do so depends on your level of DIY skills and / or how much money you want to spend on contractors. Wiring your home for Ethernet if you don’t have the infrastructure already can be a costly and time-consuming process. Particularly if you don’t want ugly wires running along your baseboards and under your carpets or across your hardwood floors. If you’re building your own home or can do some serious DIY, then hard wiring is a fantastic thing to have. It goes wonderfully hand-in-glove with mesh networks too, since you’ll be able to hook up your nodes to the network for even better speeds. But if I’m honest, advances in Wi-Fi technology mean I’d only go for hard wiring if I really believed I needed the sort of speed it offers. Unless you’re a Twitch streamer running your own 24/7 content studio, it’s probably overkill. When we started renovating our 140-year-old home, I had Ethernet installed in the living room, the master and second bedroom and in my office, all at the front of the house. I can’t use it for my mesh since I’d need to put the wiring through the middle of the house. If I ever had the wiring done again, I would do so as I know I’ll instantly see a meaningful improvement in both my connection speed and reliability. But I wouldn’t spend several thousand pounds to have it done just for the sake of it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-mesh-wifi-system-130028701.html?src=rss View Source Article

I took the Spin 514 for an early spin, and I’m looking forward to testing it further. Acer's new Chromebook Plus Spin 514, announced at IFA 2025 in Berlin, is the company's first laptop to use the Arm-based MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 processor. That chip was used in the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 that launched earlier this summer, and it was key to delivering excellent performance and marathon battery life in that fanless laptop. I dubbed the Lenovo "the new king of Chromebooks," and this $699.99 Acer, launching this month, seems poised to be a solid alternative - especially if you prefer a touchscreen convertible and don't mind hearing a fan on occasion. Acer sent me the new Chromebook Plus Spin 514 for early testing, and a … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

This sure does look exactly like every other Nest Cam out there. Google is overdue an update to its smart home setup, and now we know when it’ll come: October 1st. The company has teased some sort of launch or announcement for that day, promising that “Gemini is coming to Google Home.” The company announced Gemini for Home at last month’s Made by Google event, promising early access would begin in October, so a dedicated event with more details before things kick off makes sense. Google’s AI assistant will eventually replace Google Assistant across the smart home, theoretically enabling natural language interactions and more intuitive controls. We’re not only expecting an assistant announcement. Google’s teaser includes a glimpse of a Nest Cam, and while it looks the spitting image of existing hardware, we expect it’s a new model, rumored to launch soon alongside a new Nest Doorbell, both featuring 2K camera support. There’s also the small matter of the unknown Nest speaker glimpsed during the recent launch stream, which we expect to be at the center of Google’s new home hardware. Is that you, Gemini? Come in and make yourself at Home 🏠 Sign up for updates: https://t.co/V85WgPJvQN pic.twitter.com/JJaVRW385A— Made by Google (@madebygoogle) September 2, 2025 View Source Article

Reserve Bank of Australia staff are “feeling the weight” of its technological transformation agenda, Governor Michele Bullock said, adding that the use of big data and artificial intelligence has the potential to transform policy making. View Source Article

Cheese, red sauce, and a sprinkling of AI. Have you ever looked at your pizza oven and wished it was just a little bit smarter? Ooni has, and so its new Volt 2 comes loaded with “Pizza Intelligence,” an adaptive heating system designed to deliver a more even and consistent cooking temperature. The Volt 2 is an indoor oven, able to cook pizzas up to 13 inches in diameter, but it’s still small enough to fit on a countertop — though we’ve found other indoor pizza ovens too smoky to really use inside. Pizza Intelligence is new to the Volt 2 and uses sensor data to adjust the top and bottom heating elements, “minimizing temperature fluctuations and cold spots.” It’s a little less exciting than the name suggests. The Volt 2 has a max temperature of 450 Celsisus (842F), right in the recommended range for cooking traditional Neapolitan pizza, which Ooni says should take about 90 seconds. That’s one of the three presets, with New York and deep-pan pizza, too, and the oven “adjusts temperature and crisping intensity” to suit each style. You can also add programmable custom presets if you prefer a different type of pie. The Volt 2 will be available from October 1st for £499 (about $670). We’ll update this with US pricing when we have it. View Source Article

The European Union’s General Court backed the bloc’s data transfer agreement with the US, rejecting a legal challenge that argued American surveillance laws still fall short of EU privacy standards. View Source Article

SpaceX launched 24 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base today (Sept. 2), sending them up on a Falcon 9 rocket with a brand-new first stage. View Source Article

InMobi Group, a mobile advertising platform backed by SoftBank Group Corp., is seeking a $350 million private loan ahead of its planned initial public offering in India, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Artificial intelligence tools will boost stablecoin usage as the two technologies become more closely intertwined, according to Michael Novogratz, founder and chief executive officer of Galaxy Digital. View Source Article

Disney has agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations from the Federal Trade Commission that it violated federal law by misleadingly labeling cartoons on YouTube so it could illegally collect children’s personal data. The FTC alleges that Disney failed to label some videos of its popular kids cartoons it uploaded to YouTube as “Made for Kids” — a designation that makes such videos ineligible for certain features, like the collection of personal information. It’s a way YouTube makes it harder to target kids with personalized ads. But rather than mark individual videos as either “Made for Kids” or “Not Made for Kids,” the FTC alleges, Disney left the default designation at the channel level, so any video uploaded to a “Not Made for Kids” channel would bear that “Not Made for Kids” label instead.  The result was that videos with content from kid-friendly movies like “The Incredibles,” “Toy Story,” and “Frozen” would be marked as “Not Made for Kids,” according to the government, circumventing YouTube’s heightened restrictions, including allowing YouTube to autoplay other “Not Made for Kids” videos after the Disney ones finished. That resulted in Disney collecting information on kids and serving them targeted ads on videos that were technically designed at not for kids, the FTC alleges, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule, which requires parental consent to collect information on kids under 13.  YouTube implemented the labeling system after its own 2019 settlement with the FTC over alleged violation of the COPPA Rule.  Disney should have known that some of its videos were marked incorrectly, the government alleges, since YouTube already told Disney in 2020 that it was labeling its videos incorrectly,  changing the labels on over 300 of its videos from “Not Made for Kids” to “Made for Kids” at that time, according to the complaint. But Disney continued to upload videos with only the default designation at the channel level, the FTC says. Under the proposed settlement, Disney will pay a $10 million civil settlement, obtain parents’ consent for collecting data from kids under 13 as required by law, and create a new program to review whether videos uploaded to YouTube should be marked as made for kids or not which it must maintain for the next ten years — unless YouTube comes up with its own system “to determine the age, age range, or age category of all YouTube users.” If so, Disney will no longer need its own system to figure out how videos should be labeled. View Source Article

Explore This Section Overview Science Science Findings Juno’s Orbits Spacecraft People Stories Multimedia JunoCam Images Jupiter hosts the brightest and most spectacular auroras in the Solar System. Near its poles, these shimmering lights offer a glimpse into how the planet interacts with the solar wind and moons swept by Jupiter’s magnetic field. Unlike Earth’s northern lights, the largest moons of Jupiter create their own auroral signatures in the planet’s atmosphere — a phenomenon that Earth’s Moon does not produce. These moon-induced auroras, known as “satellite footprints,” reveal how each moon interacts with its local space environment. Juno capturing the marks on Jupiter of all four Galilean moons. The auroras related to each are labeled Io, Eur (for Europa), Gan (for Ganymede), and Cal (for Callisto). NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/UVS team/MSSS/Gill/Jónsson/Perry/Hue/Rabia Before NASA’s Juno mission, three of Jupiter’s four largest moons, known as Galilean moons — Io, Europa, and Ganymede — were shown to produce these distinct auroral signatures. But Callisto, the most distant of the Galilean moons, remained a mystery. Despite multiple attempts using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Callisto’s footprint had proven elusive, both because it is faint and because it most often lies atop the brighter main auroral oval, the region where auroras are displayed. NASA’s Juno mission, orbiting Jupiter since 2016, offers unprecedented close-up views of these polar light shows. But to image Callisto’s footprint, the main auroral oval needs to move aside while the polar region is being imaged. And to bring to bear Juno’s arsenal of instruments studying fields and particles, the spacecraft’s trajectory must carry it across the magnetic field line linking Callisto and Jupiter.  These two events serendipitously occurred during Juno’s 22nd orbit of the giant planet, in September 2019, revealing Callisto’s auroral footprint and providing a sample of the particle population, electromagnetic waves, and magnetic fields associated with the interaction.  Jupiter’s magnetic field extends far beyond its major moons, carving out a vast region (magnetosphere) enveloped by, and buffeted by, the solar wind streaming from our Sun. Just as solar storms on Earth push the northern lights to more southern latitudes, Jupiter’s auroras are also affected by our Sun’s activity. In September 2019, a massive, high-density solar stream buffeted Jupiter’s magnetosphere, briefly revealing — as the auroral oval moved toward Jupiter’s equator — a faint but distinct signature associated with Callisto. This discovery finally confirms that all four Galilean moons leave their mark on Jupiter’s atmosphere, and that Callisto’s footprints are sustained much like those of its siblings, completing the family portrait of the Galilean moon auroral signatures. An international team of scientists led by Jonas Rabia of the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS, CNES, in Toulouse, France, published their paper on the discovery, “In situ and remote observations of the ultraviolet footprint of the moon Callisto by the Juno spacecraft,” in the journal Nature Communications on Sept. 1, 2025. Share Details Last Updated Sep 02, 2025 Related Terms Auroras Callisto Juno Jupiter Jupiter Moons Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Jupiter: Exploration Jupiter Jupiter Moons Callisto View Source Article

Image of Caleb Scharf _________________________________________________________________________________________ In the following interview, questions from the interviewer, Fred Van Wert, are in bold, and Caleb Scharf’s responses are in regular text. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Let’s begin with your early years. Where you were born, something about your family, what your mother and father did, your early schooling, what got you interested in the career that you’ve been pursuing, that kind of thing. Well, I was born in London, England, about a ten minute walk from the British Museum, right in the center of Old London. My parents were very interesting. My dad was American and my mother was British.  They were both academics and both were art historians, in fact my dad was somewhat famous for his work in art history. My mother also did a lot of study in London. But when I was about three or four years old we moved out to a small village in England, in a county called Norfolk. It was just farms and us, so I actually grew up in a very rural part of England. Today it’s become a second home location for a lot of people but back then it was . . .  well, you were excited if you saw a loaf of white bread in the village shop! So, I have a bit of an eclectic background. Like I said, my dad was American, so I have a lot of family in the U.S., mostly in Los Angeles. My father’s family had emigrated from Austria to the U.S. My grandfather was a musician and in the 1930’s he played in the Hollywood Studios, and that’s how that side of the family ended up in LA. There’s music in the family but I missed that gene! (laughs). Regarding the question of if there was something in my early childhood that got me interested in space, astronomy, and science, I feel like it may have been moving out into the countryside where suddenly you could see the sky at night. London in the late 1960’s and early ‘70’s had light pollution and other pollution everywhere. But I have memories of going out into the countryside at night, even as a little kid. I’d get excused from the dinner table and go outside to burn off some energy, and I could see these brilliant night skies, the Milky Way and all the other features, with my naked eyes. I remember spending a lot of time just gazing and thinking about that. And, although my parents wouldn’t let me watch much TV, for some reason they did let me watch Star Trek when it was a new thing. I remember being both terrified by it and hiding behind the couch, but also being fascinated. I didn’t really understand everything that was going on, but it was just so intriguing. There was this guy with pointy ears who wasn’t human. How could you not be human, right? That was a really interesting thing to me. But also seeing how this group of people, who were intelligent but weren’t sitting behind a desk all the time, could do interesting things – that stuck with me for a long time, so maybe it was a combination of pop culture and living in the countryside. Night sky with Milky Way, and a youthful scientist Star Trek’s Mr. Spock with pointy ears. It’s interesting to me how often something early on, like being  able to see the beautiful night sky clearly or as with one researcher who on a Sunday drive with her family looked out the window and saw beautiful clouds. And with that interest in clouds, she decided on a career in meteorology, and then realized there were clouds on Mars, and became a planetary scientist because she wanted to study the Martian atmosphere. And it all started with being interested in something as a little kid, so there’s a commonality there. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Do you have siblings? No, I’m an only child, for which my wife always pokes fun at me. She has a sister, but I’m an only child, which, growing up in the countryside, was good and bad because you had to make an effort to go see your friends since you were more distant from each other. You didn’t have neighbors right next door. So starting in school, at some point, you had a growing interest in the stars, and that’s a science, astronomy is science. Did you find yourself in school being drawn toward, and being good in, science classes? When I was in grade school I definitely was better at things like writing and art, that kind of thing. But by the time I was sixteen or seventeen, I started to realize that science classes were really interesting, and I also began to realize I could do some of this stuff. The math was, I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it came reasonably naturally to me. In England at that time you had to pick your academic direction by the time you were sixteen, which seems crazy early looking back. So, by sixteen, I was focusing on science and by the time I was eighteen I had completed some of the more specialized science classes. I did physics. I did chemistry. I did mathematics. And then it seemed to me that the most obvious thing I wanted to do was go to college and do physics. Physics seemed like the topic to go after because it felt more fundamental. Physicists are terrible this way, right? We think that if you do physics you can do anything, which of course isn’t really true, but it was the most attractive because it was a combination of simplicity and complexity, right? With simple rules you could learn things about very complex stuff, and I think that was something that attracted me. So I went to college to do physics. I studied at the University of Durham in the north of England, which is one of the equivalents to the various Ivy League schools in the U.S. or Cambridge, Oxford, or Imperial College in England. University of Durham, England  I did physics with a concentration in theoretical physics, which drove me a little crazy because it was really difficult and I saw my limits there in the very theoretical aspects of physics, realizing that this was not for me. But we had a couple of really great astronomy classes as part of the physics degree and those kind of piqued my interest. Before graduating everyone was trying to figure out what to do next and I knew I didn’t want to go work in finance or industry. In England at that time, an undergraduate degree was three years, so it was intensive, and I felt that I hadn’t had enough chance to put into action what I had learned. So I decided to go to graduate school and earn a PhD. The things that came to my mind were astronomy, cosmology, and astrophysics, so that’s what I pursued.  I was really, really lucky to get into Cambridge University to do my PhD and there was a wonderful place called the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge where Fred Hoyle, Steven Hawking, and many other luminaries of the field had worked and that was a really terrific experience. I ended up doing my PhD in cosmology, studying the large scale structure of the universe and trying to understand how we can make measurements today that inform us about the contents of the universe, things like dark matter and the history of the universe since the big bang. It was rather theoretical but it was also the beginnings of what I would call early data science. It was a lot of statistical work, a lot of analysis of catalogs of galaxies and other things like that. So that’s what I did. Cambridge University Institute of Astronomy Well, let me poke at this a little because what you’ve described is a very natural progression into your career field. The things that interested you, and were available, you were good at, and if you were going down a path that you didn’t think was right for you, you made choices, and wound up where you are, which is great. We usually ask those we interview about their path to Ames. You did your postdoc at Goddard and didn’t come to Ames until later when you were already prominent in your field. So how did you wind up coming here? Did you reach out because you wanted to come to Ames, or did Ames reach out to you because they wanted you here, Ames being the cradle of the science of astrobiology? Or was it a combination of both? I‘ve had a convoluted path! Having trained in cosmology and astrophysics, that’s what I wound up doing as a postdoc and then after, establishing a decent career. But then I switched fields almost entirely back in the early 2000’s. I made a conscious decision to switch to the kind of interesting stuff about exoplanets and astrobiology that had lingered in the background for me, but was then exploding as a field. And I established an astrobiology center at Columbia University. Then, after 22 years at Columbia, the opportunity came up to apply to the opening at Ames. It was intriguing, and I knew Ames’ reputation, I mean Ames and astrobiology, as you say, kind of go together. So it was very, very appealing, the idea of a bit of change and of coming to the place where so much of this science had begun or been scoped out in the early days, and seeing what I could do here, how I could help continue that legacy of innovation and of leading the field. Is the work that you do hindered at all by the Covid situation?  Do you go into the office every day?  Many people don’t anymore. I don’t run a physical lab, so while Covid was hugely impactful, it didn’t hit my work the way it did for many others. I actually work remotely, but really for family reasons. I was at Ames for seven months to get to know the place when I started in late 2022, and now I’m typically remote from New York. But I do come to Ames on a fairly regular basis. Today I’m sitting in our apartment in Manhattan. Often, I’m sitting in a falling down Victorian house up in the Catskills in New York, where it’s really quiet, and I can work to my heart’s content. I can sit in on my Teams calls and nobody knows any better! (laughs) We often ask for a comment on the value of your work to NASA and the taxpayer, but that’s probably redundant because one of the goals of astrobiology is the search for life, or evidence of life, in the Universe, and that’s the preeminent thing that people are interested in. The people underwriting our work, the taxpayers, would love an answer to that and anything that pursues the answer is going to be supported by the public at large. Has there been something important that has come from your research, some new finding or advancement in that quest, or in something else? If you’re lucky enough to stick around in science long enough, you’ll end up getting to do some things that make a genuine contribution to the field. I’ve been lucky to have worked on a number of projects in astrobiology, and also astrophysics, where we touched on new phenomena or developed new ideas that I think have been important. For instance, in astrobiology I’ve spent a number of years working with some really excellent scientists, most of whom are at NASA, developing sophisticated climate models for worlds that are not the Earth. Modeling the Earth’s climate is super difficult, but we’ve figured out how to do it well. However, modeling climate on worlds that may be configured very differently, may have a different star, may have a different day length, may be in a different orbit, may have a different configuration of land and oceans – that’s a real challenge because climate system variables are really complicated. We’ve developed ways to do this for exoplanets, for worlds where we’re just beginning to understand their configuration enough that we can plug that information into our model and derive things like how hot is this world, what kind of climate does it have, does it have seasons, what those seasons look like, what kind of cloud cover does it have, and so forth. I’ve only played a modest role in a lot of that, but I feel really happy with that work.  I think it’s made a significant contribution to understanding not only the possibilities for life but also the possibilities for planets themselves. Planets are interesting objects even if there isn’t anything living there. I was also very lucky to work on a number of astrophysics projects where I think we made some significant discoveries. One I’m particularly proud of was using the Chandra X-ray Telescope, one of NASA’s Great Observatories. It lets you study very energetic phenomenon, and in one project we found evidence of a super massive black hole in the very early universe, maybe a billion or two years after the Big Bang, that was spewing material out into the surrounding cosmos and we were actually able to detect that material. It’s hot gas, the result of some complicated physics and it suggests that black holes can influence the growth and evolution of entire galaxies. I remember that work particularly because, as with all these space telescopes, you propose for the data and then you wait. Eventually, if you’re lucky, the telescope takes your data, and it gets sent to you and you’re pretty much the first person to have seen it. I remember getting this data and creating an image on my computer screen, looking at it and thinking “that’s weird”.  And then printing it out, running to the printer down the hall and picking up this piece of paper, and seeing this crazy looking structure from a black hole that existed twelve and a half billion years ago, and I’m one of the first humans to hold it in my sweaty little hands and see it with my own eyes. It was a pretty thrilling moment because of the implications of that. It was at the time the most distant such object anyone had ever seen. So, there can be those “aha” moments where you’re excited and run down the hallway and tell your colleagues, “Look what I did!” Caleb during the making of a TV documentary on his work. And  you don’t know what your contribution might result in until years later, maybe after you’re gone. But something that you did was important. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s not the first time that I’ve heard this from scientists, the appeal of being the first one to find out something or to know something, or to see something.  There’s something very satisfying in that.  You mentioned the Chandra X-ray telescope and I have to ask you a question: in researching your bio there was a comment of yours that I found humorous. It was that the delays in JWST occurred so we had time to develop 4K and 8K TV to properly view the images. That prompted me to look at some JWST images and I found some were labeled JWST+Hubble. Were those images somehow combined or enhanced by each other, or are they dual images? I didn’t understand in what sense they were dual. I don’t know if I’ve seen those images, but Hubble is more sensitive to visible light and blue light than JWST, which looks at the infrared, so they are looking at different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. So, if you are looking at a beautiful nebula, you will see slightly different phenomena or slightly different things. Putting the images together gives you a much grander painting of what’s there because you’re capturing much more of the electromagnetic spectrum. The spatial resolution of both Hubble and JWST is so exquisite that you can do that and not make a mess of things. I also wondered, since the perspective from different angles would be different, how can they combine them without overlap or something? But I’m sure they can do things with computers now. I think the perspective won’t really change because of the distances involved. Oh, sure, that’s true. But when aligning those images, as any person who builds instruments will tell you, there are always subtle imperfections, and a flat surface is not always a perfectly flat surface. Even though JWST and Hubble have some of the flattest surfaces, or precisely formed surfaces, humanity has ever managed to produce, there will still be differences. So yes, making those images is actually quite an art form. But people have put quite a lot of time into getting it all perfectly lined up so that it makes sense. Thank you for that explanation. I hadn’t thought of that, but it certainly makes sense. If you weren’t a physicist, have you ever thought about another career that you would have liked to pursue? It’s a great question! I really like what I do. I feel very privileged to get to do what I do. It’s close to my dream job. I do enjoy writing a great deal, which I do in my spare time, and some part of me likes the romantic idea of being the fabulous writer who is paid so well they don’t have to care about things, they can just focus on their art. (laughs) So a bit of me feels like that would be OK. That would be a kind of nice way to be. Just get up and think great things and put them down on paper. But I’ve also long wondered what it would be like to try to make movies. I think some of that comes from my dad’s career. He was an art historian, but his specialty was the topic of photography and how that changed the way humans thought about the world. So, film and that side of things. Hollywood director, best-selling author, those sound like good career choices to me!  (laughs) I liked your quote about being a writer. You said, “I’m a thinker, a writer, and sometimes both.” I don’t know if you remember that comment, but I got a kick out of it as I researched you online. Yes, I do remember that comment and it pretty much describes things. When you’re writing for your fellow scientists there are very specific ways that you construct your papers or your proposals and so on, and it’s not always clear that thinking at the same time is an advantage. (laughs) Caleb speaking about NASA science. That’s a good way to put it. Would you like to share anything about your home life, your family? Do you have a wife, partner, kids, or pets? I’m married and have two daughters who are now in their twenties, one has just graduated from college and the other is getting close to graduating, and I’m extremely proud of them both. It’s really exciting as a parent to see them beginning to find their way in the world. We don’t have any pets because everybody in the family but me is allergic! Are your daughters pursuing science? No, not science, really. I think we’ll see what they end up wanting to do. One is interested in media, in making documentaries, and using those tools for underserved and underrepresented communities in the world, which is really interesting. She’s spent a lot of time in Spain, so is very fluent in Spanish and is interested in that culture. My other daughter is interested in psychology but also in history and the way humans function as a society, which is interesting to me but is very different from my interests. They’ve clearly not followed the purely scientific pathway, but I think they’re both analytic thinkers. I recognize that so maybe it is something that runs in the family. Well, congratulations to them on where they are now;  you said one has graduated and one is about to? The one who graduated is, as we speak, starting her first day working in a museum here in in New York. That’s wonderful. I can lose myself in museums. I could visit them every day. You’re obviously quite busy being a scientist and a writer and the other things that you’ve described, but when you have time, what do you like to do for fun? Sometimes I write, which may not like sound like fun to some people, but I do it also because I have books in my head that I want to write and publish. I also love being outdoors and that doesn’t mean just hiking, I just like being outside. When I’m out of a city, out in the countryside, I just like to wander around or sit there, absorbing all the plants, animals, and planetary goodness around me!  I don’t know if that really counts as a hobby, but it definitely is something I enjoy a great deal. I also like a bit of gardening. I’m a strange variety of person who enjoys mowing the lawn! I find it a nice thing to do. It’s nice to do something physical where there’s an immediate outcome versus so much of science, certainly the kind of science I do, where a lot of it is sitting at a computer and you don’t necessarily see the product of your work for a while. So, physical things I enjoy. And I enjoy cycling and traveling for sure. I don’t like the process of traveling but I like it when I get there, let’s put it that way. My wife says that, too. It piqued my interest when you said you liked to mow the lawn because you can see the results of your work immediately. When I was growing up, my two siblings and I each had to choose a room in the house to clean and I chose the kitchen. It was the hardest one to keep clean because everybody’s in there all the time and there are always dirty dishes and pots and pans, but once it was clean, you could really tell. You could look in there and tell it had been cleaned. If you are vacuuming somewhere, you can’t usually tell if that’s been done or not, so I, too, like the sense of seeing what I’ve accomplished. That’s right. That’s absolutely right. And I like hedge trimming as well. I’m definitely into that, which may be the British side of me! (laughs). We like carefully pruned hedges and shrubbery, and I’ve probably become a bit obsessed with that. You don’t make figures out of your hedges, shapes and things like that, do you? No, no yet, but I am tempted. (laughs) Would you have advice for a young postdoc? Perhaps one who’s just starting out, who would like to have the kind of career and success that you are having? What advice would you give them in pursuing their dream, be it science or whatever? That’s always an interesting and quite a difficult question to answer. Some of it depends on if they find astrobiology in particular an interesting topic. I myself came to astrobiology, not right away but via a circuitous route through astrophysics, getting interested in exoplanets, then just deciding to focus on the search for life. What else is there? This is such a profound thing to do. So I would say to people, young scientists, maybe postdocs or grad students, if you have an interest in something like astrobiology, it’s really important to do two things: one is to be really skillful at a few technical areas, to specialize in useful things, but also to make sure that you look for ways to apply that specialization more broadly because that’s really what astrobiology is all about. For me it’s this playground where you can take very specialized skill sets and find new ways to apply them. Astrobiology demands that you engage with people in different fields, it really does, more than any other science that I know. So be specialized, but also be engaged with everyone around you. Scientists you might not expect to have things in common with, talk to them. Learn. See commonalities. Look for those little threads to pull on because those little threads are the interesting stuff and that might lead you to something really, really interesting, where a physicist like me can have a productive engagement with microbiologists, with very useful results. So that’s part of the advice I would say to people: don’t shut off other things, especially in astrobiology. That’s very good advice, thank you. You may have already answered this because you said you weren’t particularly musical, so you probably don’t play musical instrument, but do you have other hobbies or interests? You mentioned bicycle riding and hiking. Anything else? Art perhaps? Or literature? Or something else you’d characterize as a hobby? It’s a good question. I’m a pretty good cook, although cooking for me is primarily because I enjoy eating, so I don’t know if that really qualifies as a hobby, but it’s definitely a skill that I put into practice and it’s very different from work. I like it because there’s an end result that you see right there and you can share it with other people and that’s kind of a lovely thing. But all in all, I’m pretty boring. I spend a lot of time thinking about science and/or writing about science , so I don’t think I have hobbies in the conventional sense. Trust me, you’re not boring. I can tell just from reading your bio and having this conversation that you’re not boring. What accomplishment in your life to date are you most proud of that’s not related to your science work? Well, I think it’s probably that between my wife and myself, we’ve brought up two daughters who seem to be high functioning, decent human beings, is probably my proudest thing outside of science. If you hadn’t said that, I would have wondered why. (laughs)  Who or what inspires you? That’s a very good question. I’ve been asked that question before in interviews and it’s always a struggle for me because I think I find inspiration in the most unexpected things all the time. I’ve had some of the most inspiring conversations in my life with farmers who lived down the lane from where I grew up in rural England. These people who have tended their fields for generations. They have this deep intuition about the way nature works but they were always inquisitive. As a little kid you could talk to them about all sorts of things. They were engaged with what was happening in the broader world as well as their own microcosm and I find that pretty inspiring. The ability to live a life where they’re not staring at TV screens, they’re not Tik-Tok influencers, but they’re thoughtful, observant, curious people. I always find that inspiring.  I also find nature inspiring. I can sit on my back deck and just watch the birds and the bees doing their thing and I always find questions that I hadn’t thought of before. So, I think it’s a combination of, not celebrities or famous people so much, although some of them are extremely inspiring and impressive, but I’m more inspired by the day to day, and the people going about their lives quietly and carefully. That’s a very thoughtful answer and I appreciate it. One of the things we do with these conversations is invite you to provide pictures of the things you’ve talked about. Of your work of course, but also of your family perhaps or of trips you’ve taken, things that go along with the narrative because it makes the whole post more interesting.  If there’s a JWST image that you find particularly appealing or interesting, one that we might we see on the wall of your office or in your house, you can include that and others when you return the edited transcript. Among the images I find most interesting are the earth from space, and the most interesting of those are where a spacecraft is on its way to do something else. Some of the earliest images were where you see the Earth and the moon in one frame and you realize how far apart they are from each other and how tiny they really are. There’s something about those images that I find quite disturbing, in a good way. Artemis Orion Completes Final Lunar Departure Maneuver, December 2022 Earthrise over moon, Apollo 8, December 1969 And there’s the famous blue dot, right? Yes. The pale blue dot.  it’s a pixel and I honestly look at that and I think it’s a bit of a dud! I have to really work hard in my imagination to get there, but when you see just enough of the earth and just enough of the moon to recognize what they are and where they are, just sitting in the blackness of space, that for me is both terrifying and exhilarating. That’s kind of a special thing, the sort of picture I would have looming over me. Voyager 1’s iconic Pale Blue Dot picture, February 1990 I can just see you writing about these things and how interesting you find them. I’ll have to get one of your books and read it. Now is there a favorite quote that appeals to you because it’s clever or thought provoking or anything like that? I was thinking about this because I saw the questions and I immediately thought “Oh my  gosh!”, because for me humor is incredibly important. It just is. It’s how I cope with things, but also a sense of humor is so important because it cuts through cultural differences, it cuts through differences in background, all that stuff. Oh yeah! The best I could come up with, since I’m a fan of Yogi Berra, is one that I recall because it’s so beautifully daft, where he says, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it”. (laughs) “A fork in the road” (metaphor) That’s a good one! I like that because it makes you think for a moment, to realize that he’s not really saying anything, but he’s also saying everything. To me it means “You’re going to get through it no matter what.”  The most important thing is that you take that step and you will eventually find out the rest of it and everything will be OK. Is there something that you would like me to have asked you that I didn’t? No. Well, we didn’t talk much about my writing stuff. You can say something about that if you would like, sure. It’s kind of separate from science, but it is a big part of my life, and it was kind of unexpected.  At a certain point maybe about ten or twelve years ago I decided to try writing for a more general audience and it’s kind of turned into this parallel career that I’ve had since then, quite unexpectedly. And it’s resulted in my writing over five hundred pieces for Scientific American over ten years and I’ve also written a bunch of books. I’m working on a new book right now, if I can put in a plug for it.  It’s called “The Giant Leap” and it’s all about space exploration. That’s been an interesting turn for me, and it’s also made me realize that, much like teaching, there’s value to sitting down to write for a readership that is not specialist in any way. I try to imagine I’m writing for my mother or the guy who does my plumbing, you know? It’s incredibly useful as a scientist because it really helps you play with ideas, but it also helps you refine your own understanding because you can’t explain things simply unless you really understand them. And that’s been an interesting journey for me. Like I say, it’s been an entire parallel career, in the spare moments in between everything else, but it’s been marvelous. And as advice to younger scientists, think about that side of yourself, your capacity to share. We live in an era where it’s easier than ever to share, in many respects, for better or worse and I think scientists do have a certain obligation, especially as government scientists. We’re being paid by the taxpayer and we’re doing things for the good of the nation and for humanity. We should be more willing to share what we’re doing. People deserve to hear what we’re up to, and I think NASA does a great job at that. But as individuals, we can all help. There you go, that’s my soap box! (laughs) Thanks for the tip about your upcoming book “The Giant Leap”.  And let’s not be timid about plugging your books. A brief online survey revealed these: The Copernicus Complex: Our Cosmic Significance in a Universe of Planets and Probabilities Gravity’s Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies The Zoomable Universe: An Epic Tour Through Cosmic Scale, from Almost Everything to Nearly Nothing The Ascent of Information: Books, Bits, Genes, Machines, and Life’s Unending Algorythm Extrasolar Planets and Astrobiology These all look fascinating and I hope they are doing well. Your comments describe a great ethic not only for the agency but also for individuals. I liked what you said about your writing: “anything expressed here is my fault alone”. It’s another way of saying the author is responsible. It was a little piece of humor.  It’s been delightful to spend these few minutes chatting with you and I think we’re going to have a wonderful addition to our archive of scientist interviews. Sounds good. It’ll take probably two weeks, maybe three to get this on paper and then you can have whatever time you need and once you concur we will put it in a queue. It’s been a delight to chat with you today. Thank you again very much. My pleasure. Caleb standing beside a taxidermy moose head on display in Bryggen, a historic waterfront area with colorful wooden buildings in Bergen, Norway. ________________________________________________ Interview conducted by Fred Van Wert on March 28, 2024 View Source Article

Kapital, a Mexican financial services company, has raised $100 million at a valuation of about $1.3 billion to help build out its artificial intelligence capabilities. View Source Article

The remedies ruling in the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google finally landed on Tuesday. Last year, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google was a monopolist in the search and advertising markets, but while today’s ruling says that Google will have to share some search data with competitors, Google doesn’t have to spin off Chrome and it can keep paying for deals like the one that lets it be the default search in Safari. Many Google critics aren’t happy with the remedies that have been handed down, saying that they don’t go far enough to slow Google’s dominance and restore competition in the market. Here are some statements from critics: Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN): Today’s ruling is a reminder of Google’s sweeping power over the online economy, but the limited remedies ordered by the court demonstrate why we need additional rules of the road for Big Tech. That’s why we must pass my bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Online Act to stop dominant platforms like Google from continuing to unfairly preference their own products over competitors’ — which hurts consumers and entrepreneurs, and stifles innovation. Through three administrations, our antitrust enforcers have proven that Google’s tactics endanger the future of a free and open internet and risk choking off innovation in critical areas like artificial intelligence. I will continue to work across the aisle to ensure even the most powerful tech companies have to play by the rules. DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg: We do not believe the remedies ordered by the court will force the changes necessary to adequately address Google’s illegal behavior. Google will still be allowed to continue to use its monopoly to hold back competitors, including in AI search. As a result, consumers will continue to suffer. We believe Congress should now step in to swiftly make Google do the thing it fears the most: compete on a level playing field. News / Media Alliance president and CEO Danielle Coffey: We are disappointed in today’s decision. Judge Mehta’s ruling did not address the ability of Google to further cement its market power through its AI offerings. Google is forcing content creators to give away their content to be used in its AI offerings in order to remain in Google Search. This is a no-win scenario that will continue to harm publishers that invest in high-quality, journalistic and creative content. Giving publishers the ability to opt out of Google’s AI is critical to preserving an open internet free from anti-competitive behavior, and preserving a fair playing field for companies across a variety of industries. This ruling is not the end, but it is a missed opportunity. The Tech Oversight Project executive director Sacha Haworth: While Judge Amit Mehta’s decision blocks some of Google’s predatory practices, it fails to meet this historic moment and shows that his decision was made based on speculative arguments about generative AI, in which Google, because of its interlocking monopolies and distribution advantage, is already a dominant player. Search is one of the largest avenues for future AI queries, and it’s crystal clear that rather than doing the hard thing, Judge Mehta was far more willing to let Google continue bending the internet and our economy to its will than enforcing the law, which is designed to create a level playing field that benefits the American people and innovative, new companies. American Economic Liberties Project executive director Nidhi Hegde: The Court found Google liable for maintaining one of the most consequential and damaging monopolies of the internet era, yet has bizarrely decided to leave its power almost fully intact. Imposing liability in name only is pure judicial cowardice. This ruling leaves the public unprotected, crucial and evolving markets concentrated, and worse, sends a signal that will embolden monopolists everywhere. Not everyone is fully opposed, with some speaking in favor of Judge Mehta not breaking up Google. However, some have also expressed concerns over the data-sharing portion of the remedies. Computer & Communications Industry Association president and CEO Matt Schruers: The District Court’s ruling rightly rejected the drastic breakup proposed by the DOJ regarding Chrome and Android, which would have altered antitrust precedent and harmed competition and consumers. As the Court stated, the DOJ overreached in seeking the forced divestiture of these key assets. For consumers, the ruling means that Google will be compelled to share search queries and other data with certain competitors, which could significantly impact privacy and national security. Competitive Enterprise Institute Center for Technology and Innovation director Jessica Melugin: Today’s ruling in the Google search case wisely avoids most of the requests from the Department of Justice, including a forced divestiture of Chrome and Android, overly broad payment bans, and other requested overreaches. But the mandated data sharing introduces questions about who might qualify as a ‘qualified competitor’ and if that benefits consumers, or just Google competitors. NetChoice vice president of public affairs Robert Winterton: The court’s nuanced approach has prevented the DOJ from dismantling a leading American tech company at a pivotal time in history, ensuring President Trump’s administration stays true to its promise to empower American innovation. Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevic: Google’s rivals wanted Judge Mehta to throw the book at Google, but he repeatedly cited the Microsoft antitrust precedent that remedies should be narrowly tailored to fit the offense. He spent 29 pages discussing how generative AI is now a competitive threat to traditional search engines. Innovation is a hare while antitrust law is a tortoise. Google plans to appeal the first ruling that found the company was an illegal monopolist. View Source Article

Societe Generale SA is reconsidering its strategy for French digital lender BoursoBank, amid the oncoming challenge from $75 billion fintech giant Revolut Ltd. View Source Article

As President Donald Trump's August 29th deadline for new tariffs rolled around, the first thing that I thought of was 2026 planners. In July, Trump signed an executive order essentially killing a little-known but highly consequential trade rule, which meant that purchases coming from abroad - like $100 in planners and accessories - could enter the US duty-free. My preferred planner, the Hobonichi Techo, is printed and shipped from Japan. With the de minimis exemption removed, my tax bill could be between $15 and $100 - or more, depending on how the increased costs are factored. Was I willing to risk paying as much in fees, duties, and shippi … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler also say they were breached in campaign. View Source Article

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the Democratic Federal Trade Commissioner fired by President Donald Trump without cause, can at least temporarily return to work while her legal case plays out. This happened once before when Slaughter briefly returned to her office months after Trump claimed to fire her, when US District Court Judge Loren AliKhan found her dismissal unlawful. Trump broke with decades of Supreme Court precedent known as Humphrey’s Executor, preventing presidents from firing independent commissioners without cause. But her return was short-lived — a few days later the appeals court temporarily paused the order reinstating Slaughter. This latest order, approved 2-1 by a panel of appeals court judges, dissolves that stay and lets Slaughter get back to work until they decide on the merits of the case. While the majority judges don’t actually rule on the case, they write that the government is not likely to win, since “any ruling in its favor from this court would have to defy binding, on-point, and repeatedly preserved Supreme Court precedent.” View Source Article

An old-fashioned focus on fun and resistance to tech trends have built a game maker unlike any other. View Source Article

Waymo is preparing to launch in two more markets. The company announced today that it will expand into both Denver and Seattle. It will begin testing with humans behind the wheel this week, bringing up to a dozen vehicles to each location, according to CNBC. The rollout will include a mix of the brand's fully electric Jaguar iPace and Geely Zeekr autonomous vehicles. "We will begin driving manually before validating our technology and operations for fully autonomous services in the future," a representative told CNBC.  This has been a busy year for the Alphabet-owned Waymo, which said in January that it planned to introduce its autonomous vehicles to ten new cities during 2025. The company partnered with Uber for its Atlanta launch in June and also rolled out a teen account option in July. Waymo received permits to begin testing its cars in New York City last month. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymos-next-stops-for-its-robotaxis-are-denver-and-seattle-225125605.html?src=rss View Source Article

President Donald Trump is moving US Space Command’s headquarters from Colorado to Alabama, he announced during a press conference on Tuesday. The change reverses former President Joe Biden’s 2023 decision to leave it in Colorado Springs, where its temporary headquarters have been established. During the press conference, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, called Biden’s decision to keep Space Command in Colorado “political,” though Trump claimed Colorado’s mail-in ballot policy was a “big factor” in choosing Alabama. When asked why the administration chose Alabama for the Space Command, Trump said, “…it just works, because we have so much else there,” referencing the presence of NASA, SpaceX, and the Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin in the state. He also said the Space Command headquarters will “play a key role” in building the Golden Dome missile defense system. Following the shutdown of Space Command in 2002, Trump passed a law to reestablish it in 2019, during his first term, beginning a search for its next headquarters. Trump planned to bring Space Command to Huntsville, Alabama, but Biden opted to keep its headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Space Command originally formed. View Source Article

A slew of results from America’s largest market-making firms staked a new marker in how quickly Wall Street’s lucrative trading business is being reshaped. View Source Article

Amazon will now let you shop for products by pointing your camera at them. On Thursday, the company announced Lens Live, a new feature that uses your camera to scan things in the environment around you, while surfacing matching product listings. This feature, which is only rolling out to the Amazon Shopping app on iOS for now, lets you pan your camera around a room or focus on a specific product. Amazon says Lens Live will use an object detection model to identify the products shown on your camera in real-time, and then compare them against the billions of products on its marketplace. Once it finds similar items, Lens Live will display them in a swipeable carousel, where it will also show options to add products to your cart or wishlist. It sounds like Amazon’s take on Google’s Gemini Live, an AI-powered assistant that similarly lets you scan things in your environment and ask questions about them. The difference is that Amazon’s AI tool puts a big “buy” button on everything you see. Lens Live also integrates Amazon’s AI assistant Rufus to summarize product descriptions and answer questions about them. The feature builds upon the existing capabilities of Amazon’s visual search features, which let you search for products by uploading an image, scanning a barcode, or snapping a picture in the Amazon Shopping app. Amazon plans on bringing Lens Live to more customers in the “coming weeks.” View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow discuss the impact of the US revoking TSMC’s authorization to freely ship essential chipmaking gear to its main Chinese base. Plus all the Magnificent 7 names tumble, as Nvidia shares fall for a fourth straight day. And the CEO of Crypto.com discusses the company’s latest deal with Trump Media. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

The Federal Trade Commission announced that Disney will pay $10 million to settle allegations that the entertainment giant allowed data collection on YouTube videos meant for children. Under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, also known as COPPA, companies are required to notify parents and obtain parental consent if they collection information from minors. According to the FTC complaint, Disney failed to properly label some YouTube videos as "Made for Kids," which allowed the company to collect data and deliver targeted ads to viewers younger than 13. The proposed order from the FTC would also require Disney to create a review process for determining when and how videos are correctly designated with YouTube's Made for Kids label. YouTube rolled out the Made for Kids tags following a $170 million settlement in 2019 on charges that the video platform had violated COPPA. Google faced an additional settlement of $30 million last month from a similar class-action lawsuit. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/disney-will-pay-10-million-to-settle-ftc-complaint-that-it-collected-childrens-data-on-youtube-213646745.html?src=rss View Source Article

President says national security operations in space will be based in state he won comfortably, reversing Biden decisionDonald Trump made his first public appearance in a week on Tuesday to announce that the US Space Command (Spacecom) headquarters, which is tasked with leading national security operations in space, would be in the Republican stronghold of Alabama.Flanked by Republican senators and members of Congress at a White House news conference, Trump said Huntsville, Alabama, would be the new location of the space command. The move reverses a Biden administration decision to put the facility at its current temporary headquarters in Democratic-leaning Colorado. Continue reading... View Source Article

Google will be able to keep making search deals like its $20 billion agreement to be the default option in Apple’s Safari browser, a federal district court judge ruled in the US v. Google antitrust case on Tuesday. Executives from both Apple and Firefox-made Mozilla have defended their search deals with Google, with Mozilla’s CFO testifying that Firefox might be doomed without the deal in place. “Google will not be barred from making payments or offering other consideration to distribution partners for preloading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or its GenAI products,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote. “Cutting off payments from Google almost certainly will impose substantial—in some cases, crippling—downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers, which counsels against a broad payment ban,” Mehta said. Google also won’t have to show choice screens on its products, according to the ruling. The determinations were made as part of a broader remedies ruling that does not force Google to divest Chrome or Android, which the Justice Department had wanted. Google will, however, have to share some search data with competitors. Last year, Judge Mehta ruled that Google was a monopolist in the search and advertising markets, and this new ruling followed a remedies trial. Google plans to appeal. View Source Article

Apple Inc. shares gained in late trading after a US judge stopped short of barring its lucrative search arrangement with Google, a deal that has generated roughly $20 billion in revenue a year for the iPhone maker. View Source Article

Google will not have to divest its Chrome browser but will have to change some of its business practices, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling comes more than a year after the same judge ruled that Google had acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in internet search. Following the ruling last year, the Department of Justice had proposed that Google should be forced to sell Chrome. But in a 230-page decision, Judge Amit Mehta said the government had "overreached" in its request. "Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment," Mehta wrote. "Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divesture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints." Google will, however, no longer be permitted to strike exclusive deals around the distribution of search, Google Assistant, Gemini or Chrome, Mehta ruled. For example, Google can't require device makers to pre-load its apps in order to get access to the Play Store. It also can't condition revenue-sharing arrangements on the placement of its apps. But Google will be able to continue to pay partners — like Apple — for pre-loading search and other apps into their products. Mehta said that ending these arrangements could cause "downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers." Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously indicated it plans to appeal the ruling, but said in June it would wait for the court's opinion. Developing…This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-doesnt-have-to-sell-chrome-judge-in-monopoly-case-rules-211032326.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA’s Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) is an initiative supporting its Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate’s (ESDMD’s) efforts to explore innovative solutions for a variety of known technology development areas for human landing systems (HLS). Landers are used to safely ferry astronauts to and from the lunar surface as part of the mission architecture for NASA’s Artemis campaign. Through this challenge, college students contribute to the advancement of HLS technologies, concepts, and approaches. Improvements in these technology areas have the potential to revolutionize NASA’s approach to space exploration, and contributions from the academic community are a valuable part of the journey to discovery. HuLC is open to teams comprised of full-time or part-time undergraduate and/or graduate students at an accredited U.S.-based community college, college, or university. HuLC projects allow students to incorporate their coursework into real aerospace design concepts and work together in a team environment. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged. Award: $126,000 in total prizes Open Date: August 29, 2025 Close Date: March 4, 2026 For more information, visit: https://hulc.nianet.org/ View Source Article

"Bennu is a time capsule of the material that was throughout the solar system." View Source Article

On August 5th, 2024, Judge Amit Mehta ruled in the case of United States of America v. Google, saying, “…the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” Nearly a year later, the judge has followed that up with a ruling on remedies for Google’s search monopoly. While lawyers for the Department of Justice had argued that Google should be broken up and forced to split off products like Chrome, Search, and Android, Judge Mehta has ruled against the DOJ’s proposed remedies, banning exclusive deals but leaving others, like its massive search default deal with Apple, and allowing Google to keep Chrome. Of course, even that isn’t enough to end the biggest tech antitrust trial since the US took on Microsoft in the 1990s — possibly aside from the government’s antitrust case targeting Google’s ad business. Lawyers for Google and the Department of Justice will continue arguing over the ruling in appeals, as well as what to do about the company and its products. Read on below for all of the updates and notes from the case. Google gets to keep Chrome, judge rules in search antitrust case Inside the courthouse reshaping the future of the internet The Google remedies trial is over. Google wants a 60-day stay on any remedies. Google attorney: “This is a trainwreck of a technical committee.” The “delicate balance” of advertisers. Back to Google, into overtime. Lightning round. “Hey, you wanna try Bing for ten bucks?” We’re nearing the end. “Google thinks it’s the only one that can invent things.” “The value of Chrome to Google is substantially more than the value of Chrome to anyone else.” Google’s attorney cites a “laundry list” of reasons selling Chrome (and maybe Android) is bad. The future of Chromium depends on acquihiring, apparently. The future of Chromium. “Let’s talk about Chrome.” A quick recap. Judge: “I’m not sure Microsoft would even step forward and put very much in the pot.” “Microsoft’s not coming in with a non-exclusive deal,” says Google lawyer. “We just like, threw it out there, to see what would happen!” “Maybe people don’t want ten blue links anymore.” Can Google possibly lose in a ban on placement deals? Should Firefox die to punish Google? “Those payments have frozen the ecosystem.” Next up: distribution. Another break. Privacy is becoming a sticking point. “I think the privacy stuff is a complete failure here.” We’re back to Google. Could Google only share the long tail? “Nobody’s really testified about user-side data.” Mehta still seems skeptical of the link between AI and search. Should AI companies get syndicated data from Google? Back now, talking about data and scale. Break time. “Our remedies are tied to barriers to entry.” Google is still the best search engine for Apple, says attorney. AI is back up for debate. Judge Mehta: is there a middle ground on data-sharing? “By definition, network effects crowd out competition,” says Mehta. Google lawyer: “Was anybody clamoring to preload Bing on these devices?” Google’s lawyer is up. Lots of AI questions to the DOJ. “Google’s self-reinforcing monopoly machine.” Closing arguments in the Google search antitrust trial. Google rejected giving publishers more choice to opt out of AI Search Eddy Cue is fighting to save Apple’s $20 billion paycheck from Google Apple’s Eddy Cue: ‘You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now’ Google searches are falling in Safari for the first time ever — probably because of AI Apple is looking at adding Perplexity and other AI search engines to Safari DOJ’s proposed Google changes would ‘deeply undermine user trust,’ search chief says Publisher opt-outs of AI training cut Google’s DeepMind training data in half. Firefox could be doomed without Google search deal, says executive Sundar Pichai says the DOJ’s antitrust plan could kill Google Search Google confirms it’s close to getting Gemini support on iPhones Tough day in court for Google Plus and Google Buzz. Sundar Pichai says the remedies against Google would be a crushing blow. It’s Sundar time in US v. Google. Chrome could suffer apart from Google, says Google. Google is paying Samsung an ‘enormous sum’ to preinstall Gemini Why are companies lining up to buy Chrome? Yahoo wants to buy Chrome Perplexity wants to buy Chrome if Google has to sell it Money, Chrome, and ChatGPT: The high stakes of Google’s monopoly trial The Department of Justice really, really wants Google to sell Chrome. The future of Google Search is back in court. Google is in more danger than ever of being broken up Google agrees to let employees talk about its Search antitrust trial. Trump’s DOJ still says Google should be broken up DOJ says it will let Google pay Apple for services unrelated to search. Apple’s attempt to intervene in the Google Search antitrust trial is denied Apple asks court to halt Google search monopoly case Google CEO Sundar Pichai tells employees to expect a hard 2025. Eddy Cue explains why Apple won’t make a search engine Apple would like to step in to defend its Google search deal. Google to court: we’ll change our Apple deal, but please let us keep Chrome Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps Breaking down the DOJ’s plan to end Google’s search monopoly Google responds to DOJ’s ‘extreme proposal.’ DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open its search monopoly Google workers to DOJ: we need protections to make your breakup effective Could Chrome be ready to Rumble? US lawyers will reportedly try to force Google to sell Chrome and unbundle Android Google is replacing the exec in charge of Search and ads How the DOJ wants to break up Google’s search monopoly A Google breakup is on the table, say DOJ lawyers The DOJ will have its proposed plan to deal with Google’s monopoly soon. The DOJ wants info on Google’s AI strategy to bust up its search monopoly Yelp sues Google for antitrust violations What Google rivals want after the DOJ’s antitrust trial win Google lost its first antitrust case, so what happens next? ‘There’s no price’ Microsoft could pay Apple to use Bing: all the spiciest parts of the Google antitrust ruling Now that Google is a monopolist, what’s next? Judge rules that Google ‘is a monopolist’ in US antitrust case Well, that’s an interesting name for it. As Google’s antitrust trial wraps, DOJ seeks sanctions over missing messages Multibillion-dollar Apple deal looms large in Google antitrust trial Google paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to be Safari’s default search engine. A Google witness let slip just how much it pays Apple for Safari search ‘Android is a massive tracking device.’ Here’s a rare look at Google’s most lucrative search queries Sundar Pichai argues in court that Google isn’t evil, it’s just a business Google agreed to not promote Chrome to Safari users. Google once asked Apple to preload its search app on iOS It’s Internet Explorer day in US v. Google! Hello again from DC District Court! Google paid a whopping $26.3 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine everywhere “Chrome exists to serve Google search.” Sundar Pichai will testify in US v. Google on Monday. Google reportedly pays $18 billion a year to be Apple’s default search engine The Google antitrust trial has been frustratingly locked down — the NYT just filed a motion to open it up Read Sundar Pichai’s full email conversation about the Apple-Google deal. The Google trial shows that Apple’s search deal is the most important contract in tech Back in 2007, Sundar Pichai thought Google shouldn’t be Safari’s only search option. Details of Apple’s talks to replace Google with Bing and even DuckDuckGo revealed in unsealed court testimony Today on The Vergecast: Big Tech goes to court. Satya Nadella tells a court that Bing is worse than Google — and Apple could fix it An hour-long history lesson about Microsoft’s many failures in mobile. Microsoft doesn’t think AI is going to upend search competition – it thinks it could get even more locked-down. Satya Nadella says Bing was prepared to lose billions just to be Apple’s search default. Good morning from DC District Court! One of the documents Google wanted hidden in its trial compared the search ads business to “cigarettes or drugs.” Satya Nadella is testifying in US v. Google next week. The Google antitrust trial is opening back up… a little Apple defends Google Search deal in court: ‘There wasn’t a valid alternative’ Would Safari have been popular without its Google integration? Should Apple add a search engine choice screen to the iPhone setup process? Apple’s Eddy Cue says there’s really no “valid alternative to Google.” The US v. Google court is starting in closed session today. Again. Today’s an important day in US v. Google. Apple’s Eddy Cue will take the stand Tuesday in the Google antitrust trial The Google antitrust trial is still maddeningly locked-down. Clickbait? In my antitrust trial? Here are the documents the Google antitrust trial judge didn’t want you to see Okay, can we see Google trial documents or not? Will US v. Google evidence stay public? We still don’t know. Justice Department and Google spar over public access to antitrust trial files Google quietly raised ad prices to boost search revenue, says executive US v. Google, Week Two begins. In the Google antitrust trial, defaults are everything and nobody likes Bing Breaking down the Google antitrust trial. Opening arguments in US v. Google just ended! Only ten weeks left to go. “We don’t have good data on actual user switching.” Bing is already Google’s punching bag for the trial. There’s still an ads case inside this search case against Google. What makes a search engine a search engine? 50 percent of Google searches allegedly come through a paid-for default deal. “Defaults matter, but they’re not determinative.” The antitrust trial against Google Search starts today — here’s what to expect How Google plans to win its antitrust trial View Source Article

Zscaler Inc. shares climbed after fourth-quarter calculated billings hit a record high, driven by sales of artificial-intelligence products. View Source Article

Lydia Rodriguez is an office administrator in the Flight Operations Directorate’s Operations Division and Operations Tools and Procedures Branch at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.  Over nearly two decades, she has supported nine organizations, helping enable NASA’s missions and forming lasting relationships along the way.  Official portrait of Lydia Rodriguez. NASA/Devin Boldt “I’ve had the opportunity to meet many different people at NASA who have become like family,” Rodriguez said. “I enjoy the culture and building relationships with people from all walks of life. I have learned so much from each person I’ve met and worked alongside.”  Her path to NASA began in high school, when her parents encouraged her to apply for a part-time Office Education student position at Johnson. That early opportunity gave her a glimpse into the agency’s culture — one that would inspire her to stay.  Lydia Rodriguez in the Mission Control Center Viewing Room during the Expedition 72 plaque hanging ceremony at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Rodriguez takes pride in the practical support she has provided to her colleagues. She spent years in the Engineering Travel Office, helping team members plan their travel around the world. In 2013, the team was honored with a Group Achievement Award.  “I am proud of being confident and able to help others with their bookings and questions,” Rodriguez said.  Her NASA career has also taught her important lessons. Change has been a constant since she joined the center in 2008, and she has learned to adapt.  One of the greatest challenges came after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, when her home was flooded. Rodriguez learned to ask for support and leaned on employee resources at Johnson.  “I’ve learned that I am a resilient individual who takes on new challenges often,” she said. “What has helped me overcome obstacles is focusing on the mission and showing compassion toward people. We are all here for a reason and a purpose, and together we can accomplish greater things.”  Lydia Rodriguez skydiving for the second time in Houston. To the Artemis Generation, Rodriguez hopes to pass on the excitement of being part of the next frontier of space exploration.  “Take full advantage of the opportunities and resources available,” she said. “Meet new people, ask for help, never stop learning, growing, and contributing your experiences. Hopefully it will inspire others to do the same.”  Explore More 3 min read Inside NASA’s New Orion Mission Evaluation Room for Artemis II  Article 7 days ago 3 min read Lindy Garay: Supporting Space Station Safety and Success Article 1 week ago 5 min read NASA’s Bennu Samples Reveal Complex Origins, Dramatic Transformation Asteroid Bennu, sampled by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in 2020, is a mixture of dust that… Article 2 weeks ago View Source Article

Winning more than $1 billion in Powerball is an exciting possibility, but keeping a cool math mind can help you decide whether that opportunity is worth your $2 bet View Source Article

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday (Sept. 2) that U.S. Space Command will be relocated from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama. View Source Article

Google will not have to sell its Chrome browser in order to address its illegal monopoly in online search, DC District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled on Tuesday. Over a year ago, Judge Mehta found that the search giant had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act; his ruling now determines what Google must do in response. Mehta declined to grant some of the more ambitious proposals from the Justice Department to remedy Google’s behavior and restore competition to the market. Besides letting Google keep Chrome, he’ll also let the company continue to pay distribution partners for preloading or placement of its search or AI products. But he did order Google to share some valuable search information with rivals that could help jumpstart their ability to compete, and bar the search giant from making exclusive deals to distribute its search or AI assistant products in ways that might cut off distribution for rivals. It’s the most significant antitrust remedies ruling against a tech giant in about 25 years, since the DOJ’s case against Microsoft. While it marks a major milestone in the case, it could still be years until Google is actually required to implement these solutions — if ever. Now that Mehta has handed down his remedies ruling, Google can finally appeal his underlying finding that it’s an illegal monopolist. From there, the case could go as far as the Supreme Court. Last year, the DOJ submitted a long wish list for breaking Google’s hold over the online search market, and argued that no one solution would be sufficient to truly unlock competition in the space. Its most splashy proposals included requiring Google to sell its Chrome browser, which it sees as a key access point for search engines where Google can prioritize itself, and requiring it to let competitors buy search query data and signals to fuel their own search engines in order to jumpstart competition. Over the course of a three-week remedies trial this spring, Mehta heard from Google’s CEO and high-ranking executives from Apple, OpenAI, Perplexity, and traditional search competitors. Google argued that Mehta should only narrowly bar it from certain contract provisions that the judge had found to be exclusionary, and warned that the government’s more lofty proposals could jeopardize user privacy, disincentivize funding for the open-source browser engine Chromium, and unfairly force Google to share knowledge with competitors it had worked hard to earn. Apple and Firefox owner Mozilla, for their parts, warned they could become collateral damage if the judge barred Google from paying them to make its search engine the default on their services. The DOJ’s complaint was originally filed in 2020, before generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT became available to the public. But by the time the remedies trial happened earlier this year, the role AI would play in the future of internet search became a necessary one for Mehta to grapple with. The government implored the judge to make sure the anticompetitive issues with Google’s search business don’t simply shape-shift into its AI offerings. Google’s empire has faced serious blows from multiple courts this year. In late July, a California appeals court upheld a jury verdict against the company in Epic Games’ lawsuit against its mobile app store monopoly. Earlier this year, a federal judge in Virginia found Google also illegally monopolized the market for some advertising technology tools it offers, and it will return to that court to argue potential remedies for that case in September. Google is still in the middle of these fights, but it’s looking more and more likely that the company’s current form will not last much longer. This story is developing… View Source Article

Alphabet Inc.’s Google doesn’t have to sell its popular Chrome web browser, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in the Justice Department’s landmark antitrust case against the search engine. View Source Article

A neutron star-powered pulsar is fleeing a supernova explosion in the outskirts of the Milky Way, a low-density region where such events are "forbidden." View Source Article

A screenshot from Hollow Knight: Silksong. After years of development and pent-up anticipation from fans, Hollow Knight: Silksong, the full sequel to the indie classic Hollow Knight, will finally be released on September 4th. It will cost $19.99 and include new zones, more than 200 enemies, over 40 bosses, and an orchestral score from the composer of the first game. Silksong was first announced in 2019, two years after the release of Hollow Knight, but developers Team Cherry have stayed pretty quiet about the sequel in the years since — even after a planned launch window was announced in 2022, which was followed by a delay months later. In an interview with Bloomberg, Team Cherry co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen said that the game was “never stuck”; instead, the small team working on Silksong was just taking its time. Team Cherry announced Silksong‘s release date just two weeks ahead of the game’s launch. The game is launching on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation. Here’s all of our coverage of Silksong. Silksong is only $19.99 Silksong is out soon, and indie games are getting out of the way A Silksong September. Silksong finally launches in September “Silksong is real.” Get ready for Silksong’s ‘special announcement’ on Thursday Real Silksong news is imminent. Silksong will also be at Nintendo’s Gamescom booth. Xbox will let you play Silksong at Gamescom in August Silksong spotted! Hollow Knight: Silksong is launching in 2025 Time to get your hopes up about a Silksong release date. Is the Silksong release date in the room with us right now? Hollow Knight: Silksong has been delayed No Silksong. Silksong when? Hollow Knight: Silksong is coming to PlayStation, too Hollow Knight: Silksong is coming to Xbox, and it will be out within the next year View Source Article

Apple’s lead artificial intelligence researcher for robotics has departed the company to join Meta Platforms’ competing effort, part of an exodus of AI talent from the iPhone maker. Mark Gurman has more on “Bloomberg The Close.” View Source Article

A cable design that sends light through air rather than solid glass could cut signal loss and make long-distance transmissions cheaper View Source Article

Hello and welcome to Regulator. Today, I will attempt to regulate my own apoplexy. Recently, Wired published an article revealing the existence of a secret Democrat influencer incubator that trained liberal and progressive content creators to push coordinated messaging across their shared social media platforms and paid them handsomely to do so. The fallout has been chaotic, at least in the left-wing influencer world: creators are shanking their rivals for participating in the program, and the paid influencers are trying to defend themselves for taking the money. But the controversy around the Chorus Creator Incubator Program stems from the … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Apple Inc.’s lead artificial intelligence researcher for robotics has departed the company to join Meta Platforms Inc.’s competing effort, part of an exodus of AI talent from the iPhone maker. View Source Article

It's a dynamic time right now in the automotive industry. Many manufacturers that previously pledged themselves to dive head-first into the wonderful world of electrification are now pumping their literal and metaphorical brakes on the idea, leaning back into hybrids, plug-ins, and various other transitional means of propulsion. Audi is one of those brands that has been softening its stance on the EV front lately, pledging to continue supporting internal combustion-powered machines so long as the market demands. But its new concept unveiled today in Milan gives us a striking view of a next generation of EVs — and hybrids, and others — that will wear four rings on the nose. It's called the Concept C, and it's part of a movement Audi brass have called "the radical next." It's meant to be something of a reboot for the brand's design efforts, a back-to-basics project that starts on the inside with a dramatically simplified interior design. While many modern Audis feature one or two giant touchscreens that dominate the dash, in the Concept C, there's just a pure dashboard with a subtle, illuminated vertical slot in the middle. Controls are physical and chunky, designed to have a strong sense of weight and tactility, featuring what the car's designers describe as the "Audi click." Tim Stevens for Engadget It's definitely a major departure for Audi, but there is a nod to modern sensibilities with a 10.4-inch touchscreen. It's hidden, tucking itself behind the dashboard when not needed and quickly swiveling into view when summoned. The car also features buttons and touch-sensitive surfaces that disappear behind the dashboard, a row of backlit controls that only appear when needed. The outside of the car is a substantial reboot, too. In this new concept, you'll see some similarities to the brand's last great roadster, the TT, which went out of production in 2023. But to see the key inspiration for the Concept C, you have to go back a little further, back to the Auto Union Grand Prix machines of the 1930s. Specifically, Audi is referencing the Type C, which raced from the pre-Formula One days of 1936 to 1937. That car's shape and upright grille definitely carry on in the Concept C, but this new road car has one feature that vintage racing machines lacked: a folding hardtop convertible. The Concept C is actually the first Audi to sport such a top, giving it the look of a coupe but the open-air design of a roadster. The louvered rear and simple, tapered shape are dipped in a colored paint meant to emulate the subtle warmth of titanium. Tim Stevens for Engadget One thing that tapered shape doesn't allow is a rear window. Like the Polestar 4, the Concept C takes an extreme stance towards rearward visibility by featuring none at all. That rear-view mirror you see hanging from the glass is digital. But, the fact that this car even has a rear-view mirror, plus side mirrors and windshield wipers, hint that this thing is probably close to production-ready. When it comes to the more practical matter of what makes it go, and for how far and how quickly, sadly, we don't have a lot of details just yet. Again, Audi has said that this will be an EV, but that the design will influence a new generation of Audis powered by all sorts of options, including hybrid and internal combustion, "as the transition to electric mobility progresses." This car, though, is most definitely battery powered, though the company has yet to share any more details beyond that. Audi says it is rear-wheel drive, which would point to a single-motor at the back, but a future version with Quattro all-wheel drive seems like a sure bet. This car's predecessor, the TT, was actually based on the Volkswagen Golf chassis, which gave it front-wheel drive to begin with. However, if this new machine is to share its foundations with anything, it's much more likely to be Porsche's upcoming electric 718, as previewed in the Mission R. But for now that's just speculation, and again, this is just a concept. Audi isn't saying when a car like this might see production, but it is a machine that is destined to become something you can buy. That'll be good news to anyone who misses the dearly departed TT. If an eventual production-based Concept C still looks this good when it hits dealers, it very well might make just as many waves as its predecessor.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/audis-concept-c-previews-the-companys-next-gen-ev-aspirations-190030488.html?src=rss View Source Article

The iconic tabletop card game has dabbled in science fiction before, but this new set is space opera-flavored and full of celestial phenomena. View Source Article

Anthropic, the AI startup behind Claude and one of OpenAI’s chief competitors, emerged from the holiday weekend with big news: A completed funding round of $13 billion, awarding the company a $183 billion post-money valuation. The company said in a press release that between the start of 2025 and August — less than nine months — its run-rate revenue had grown from about $1 billion to more than $5 billion. It also said it now has more than 300,000 business customers and that in the past year, its list of “large accounts,” or “customers that each represent over $100,000 in run-rate revenue,” increased sevenfold. As for Claude Code, one of the chief moneymakers Anthropic has been banking on, the product has already generated more than $500 million in run-rate revenue, according to the press release — and Anthropic said usage grew by more than tenfold in the three months since its “full launch.” The Series F round was led by ICONIQ, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Investors included the Qatar Investment Authority, TPG, Altimeter, Blackstone, Coatue, General Catalyst, and others. Anthropic said it would use the money in part to “meet growing enterprise demand, deepen our safety research, and support international expansion.” View Source Article

Condé Nast’s Vogue magazine named Chloe Malle as the head of US editorial content and the successor to Anna Wintour, who led the magazine for nearly four decades and elevated it further as a fashion powerhouse. View Source Article

The Google TV Streamer 4K is back on sale for just $80, which is a discount of 20 percent. The deal is available via Amazon, but also through retailers like Best Buy and Walmart. This beats a recent Prime Day promotion by $4. The TV Streamer 4K topped our list of the best streaming devices. It's a smartly-designed product that just works. We enjoyed the clean interface and the fantastic remote that ships with the device. The processor is speedy and this thing can stream content in 4K at 60FPS. It integrates with HDR, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. On the audio side of things, it supports formats like Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos. It can even handle spatial audio, so long as you're wearing the Pixel Buds Pro earbuds. The interface includes a smart home control hub, which we praised in our official review. This lets users easily control smart lights and thermostats, among other gadgets. The TV Streamer 4K also offers voice control, which we found to be useful. There are only two minor knocks with this one. The original asking price is on the higher end, but this sale alleviates that concern. The unit also includes some fairly useless AI integration, but it's 2025 so what else is new? Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-google-tv-streamer-4k-is-back-on-sale-for-80-183511035.html?src=rss View Source Article

In July, Microsoft’s sweeping layoffs hit Xbox hard, and shuttered the entire game studio that was building Perfect Dark. Officially, the game was canceled. But unofficially, reports Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Microsoft gave Perfect Dark’s other set of developers — Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics — a chance to revive the game. Here’s where it gets potentially confusing: Microsoft doesn’t own Crystal Dynamics — that studio belongs to the Embracer Group, which has had many troubles of its own. So Embracer was trying to cut a deal with yet another publisher, the giant Take-Two, to buy, fund, and publish the game. But, Schreier reports: the talks collapsed at least in part because the companies involved were unable to come to terms over long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise, said the people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about sensitive negotiations. When that deal fell through, it reportedly led to the new round of layoffs at Crystal Dynamics that IGN reported last week, and Schreier writes that Crystal Dynamics has now “fully” abandoned the game. Seems Microsoft didn’t want to give up the rights to Perfect Dark, which it presumably obtained when it bought Rare in 2002. (For the uninitiated, Perfect Dark was a spiritual successor to Rare’s hit Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64, a game that itself went many decades without a revival because of a complicated licensing situation.) That feels like a crummy reason for the game to stay canceled, but we don’t know the details. Microsoft was able to broker a previous deal to save Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks by selling it to PUBG giant Krafton, but it was under a lot of pressure there. Hi-Fi Rush had already been released, had become a “break out hit” that won “prestige and awards”, and gamers were pissed that Microsoft had rewarded its developers with layoffs. For now, you can still watch the new Perfect Dark’s trailers and developer interview. View Source Article

OpenAI has agreed to buy product testing startup Statsig for $1.1 billion in an all-stock deal, the company said, marking one of the largest acquisitions in the ChatGPT maker’s history. View Source Article

Amazon is shutting down the Prime Invitee program which allowed members to extend free shipping to people outside their household. An updated support page says sharing through Invitee will end on October 1 and that previously invited guests will be notified by September 5 of the changes. The Verge is reporting that users who don't live with the primary account owner will be prompted to create their own Amazon Prime accounts and will be offered a discounted rate of $14.99 for the entire first year and then the standard rate of $14.99 per month thereafter. We've reached out to Amazon to see what measures the company plans to take to prevent account sharing beyond limiting deliveries to one address and will update if we hear back. The company is encouraging users to take advantage of Amazon Family, which allows the sharing of Prime benefits among multiple people under the same roof. This arrangement is limited to two adults including the primary account holder and up to four children. Up to four teens can also be included if they were added before April 7, 2025. Household members who participate in Amazon Family can access free shipping, Prime Video and more. Many major subscription-based online services have been cracking down on sharing recently, especially streamers like HBO Max and Disney+. Reuters recently reported that despite a record four-day Prime Day this year, Amazon fell short of its goals for new Prime account sign-ups.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-ends-shared-prime-shipping-182513989.html?src=rss View Source Article

Titan's shadow will fall over Saturn during the early morning hours of Sept. 4. View Source Article

OpenAI has started to build out its Applications team under Fidji Simo, its new CEO of Applications, who left her former position as Instacart’s CEO to start in the executive role on August 18th. On Tuesday, the company confirmed it’s shuffling executive roles, bringing on a new CTO of applications, and acquiring a product analytics company for $1.1 billion. Statsig, the company OpenAI is acquiring, specializes in A/B testing and other features for companies looking to improve their products, and OpenAI is bringing on its founder and CEO, Vijaye Raji, as a new C-suite executive. Raji will be OpenAI’s CTO of Applications, heading up product engineering for both ChatGPT and Codex, “with responsibilities that span core systems and product lines including infrastructure and Integrity,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post. He’ll report directly to Simo. “Once the acquisition is finalized, Statsig employees will become OpenAI employees,” OpenAI wrote in the blog post, noting that the deal’s close will be subject to regulatory approval. “It will continue operating independently and serving its customer base out of its Seattle office. We’ll take a measured approach to any future integration, ensuring continuity for current customers and enabling the team to stay focused on what they do best.” OpenAI also announced it was shuffling some other executive positions. Srinivas Narayanan, who heads up the company’s engineering and oversaw the development of ChatGPT, developer APIs, and more, is being promoted to another brand-new C-suite executive role: CTO of B2B Applications. Narayanan will oversee all the business-side applications, covering startups, enterprises, and government, and he’ll report directly to OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap. Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s CPO, will be transitioning onto the research side of OpenAI’s business, the company confirmed. He’ll be spinning up a new team at the company as its VP of AI for Science, working closely with Mark Chen, OpenAI’s chief research officer. As part of that transition, Weil’s former product team, including head of ChatGPT Nick Turley, will now report directly to Simo. View Source Article

Jaguar Land Rover said a cyberattack has “severely disrupted” its retail and production activities, dealing another blow to the UK automaker that’s suffered from higher US tariffs. View Source Article

A collection of seven book reviews from our archives, each paired with a recently published book we recommend View Source Article

Excitement is building regarding the interstellar invader 3I/ATLAS, with new research suggesting which spacecraft from Earth could get a close-up view of the comet. View Source Article

Critics of Big Tech and President Donald Trump are on high alert as Google and President Donald Trump’s legal teams are engaged in what look like potential settlement discussions. Lawyers for Trump and Google’s YouTube recently told a federal judge they “continue to engage in productive discussions regarding next steps” in a lawsuit Trump filed over YouTube’s decision to ban Trump’s account in the wake of the January 6th riot at the US Capitol. The lawyers expect “additional discussions … in the near future.” Trump also sued then-Facebook and Twitter over their bans, and Meta recently paid $25 million to settle theirs. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) now warns that Google might be next to follow its lead. Google is still untangling itself from a mess of legal battles, including two separate anti-monopoly lawsuits the Justice Department won against it. It’s awaiting decisions on how those judges see fit to remedy its harms to competition in the online search and ad tech markets, which could include forcing it to sell its Chrome browser. Meanwhile, recent chaos at the DOJ Antitrust Division has left former enforcers fearing that the agency appears susceptible to outside corporate influence. “This could be another example of how giant corporations are enabling Trump’s authoritarianism,” Warren warns. View Source Article

Anthropic has closed a deal on a new funding round that nearly triples its valuation to $183 billion, raising $13 billion from investors in a larger-than-expected haul that makes the artificial intelligence company one of the most valuable startups in the world. Ed Ludlow reports on Bloomberg Television. View Source Article

Paramount has just signed a deal with Microsoft and Activision to make a movie based on the iconic Call of Duty franchise. The valuation of the deal hasn't been revealed, but CoD is a mighty lucrative IP. We don't know much about the specifics of the deal, other than it covers a live-action feature film that Paramount will develop, produce and distribute. This means we don't have any information about the cast, creative team or what game or era the film will pull from. After all, there have been more than 30 mainline games in the franchise. Some of the standard Call of Duty games could make for decent, yet slightly derivative, war movies, while the more futuristic titles could spin out into sci-fi epics. Variety reports that this could just be the beginning. The deal is for one movie but industry sources indicate that there's potential here for Paramount to expand the franchise to more movies and TV shows. Get ready for the CoDCU. Paramount recently completed an $8 billion merger with Skydance, after making some controversial moves that were widely seen as appeasements to President Trump to secure the blessing of the FCC. Since that happened, the newly-formed media conglomerate has been on a spending spree. It lured the creators of Stranger Things away from Netflix and shelled out over $7.7 billion for exclusive rights to UFC events for the next seven years. The company recently announced plans to double its yearly theatrical output, eventually hoping to release 20 films annually. As for games, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 arrives on November 14. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/call-of-duty-is-getting-the-movie-treatment-courtesy-of-paramount-171408410.html?src=rss View Source Article

Tesla’s Optimus robots briefly served popcorn at the company’s diner — before going offline. Tesla's latest "Master Plan" makes a few things clear right out of the gate: the company that was once known for accelerating the push toward a brighter future by popularizing electric vehicles and renewable energy is no longer interested in that quotidian stuff. Now, it's all about artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, self-driving cars, and the new buzzy catchphrase that is currently lighting up the tech world: "sustainable abundance." At a breezy 983 words, Master Plan 4 is the shortest entry in the company's ongoing series of mission statements. It's the first one to be posted on X, Elon Musk's social media platform, rather than on … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Data security company Varonis Systems Inc. has agreed to acquire SlashNext, an AI-based email security provider, for as much as $150 million including performance-based retention awards. View Source Article

Google is readying an update for its Play Games app that will introduce stats and milestones to your all-new profile. From September 23 (October 1 in the EU and UK), other players will be able to see which games you’ve played and for how long, as well as any achievements you’ve unlocked. Google says there will also be new "social features," but it’s not yet clear what they’ll be. It sounds a lot like Google’s take on Steam profiles (similar features are also available on PlayStation and Xbox) and the company says it will be collecting usage data for games you’ve installed or played previously, adding that it may pass on information about your in-game activity to developers. You can also choose to import your past activity on a one-time basis, which Google pulls from your account history and then uses to populate your Play Games profile statistics from the start. You’re already able to decide whether data related to gaming is collected through Activity Controls in your account settings. It’s up to you whether people can see your profile or not. If you make it public, other people can follow you and snoop on your gaming activity, but you can also choose to hide it if you don’t want anyone to know how many hours you’ve spent playing Angry Birds. You’re also free to delete your Play Games profile entirely, along with all of the data it’s using. Google’s overhauled gaming profiles will arrive around the same time as Apple’s annual software updates for all of its devices, which will introduce a new dedicated gaming app, simply called Games. Pre-installed on all updated Mac, iPhone and iPad devices, it effectively replaces Game Center and will behave more like a modern gaming hub. Games will feature leaderboards, matchmaking services, recommendations and news regarding new titles. And like Google’s offering, you’ll be able to see what your friends are playing.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/googles-play-games-update-will-show-people-what-youre-playing-164549921.html?src=rss View Source Article

The cannibal solar storm didn't hit its full potential, but still put on a good show. View Source Article

Uber Eats is teaming up with Best Buy to offer deliveries of the store’s selection of tech products, like headphones, chargers, laptops, gaming gear and small appliances. Starting today, you can order a product at Best Buy through the Uber Eats app and have it delivered to your doorstep the same day, adding to store’s existing partnerships with Instacart and DoorDash. Uber Eats will house products from more than 800 Best Buy stores, a little less than the over 1,000 locations the retail chain says it operates in North America. The announcement doesn’t state whether pricing between the Uber Eats app and inside Best Buy stores will differ to make up for the delivery platform’s fees, but we’ve reached out to Best Buy with a request for more information. You can find Best Buy in the Uber Eats app by going to the “Retail” or “Electronics” category, searching for Best Buy, and then browsing your local store’s selection. View Source Article

Anthropic has closed a deal to raise $13 billion from investors in a new funding round that nearly triples its valuation to $183 billion, including dollars raised — a larger-than-expected haul that makes the artificial intelligence company one of the most valuable startups in the world. View Source Article

Tesla has released part four of its so-called "Master Plan" in a post on X. Unlike the more focused "Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan," which outlined concrete plans for future products, this "Master Plan Part IV" reads more like a rambling utopic fever dream that was partly written by Grok, while touching on Tesla's AI-powered products. Tesla says it intends to "deliver unconstrained sustainability without compromise," and that the company is "unifying our hardware and software at scale" in order to create a "safer, cleaner and more enjoyable world" through "sustainable abundance." Specifics on what any of that actually means were largely absent throughout the manifesto. Over the post's 1000 words, Tesla waxes poetic about how semiconductors and the internet changed the world, employs self-aggrandizing language about pushing forward the electric vehicle market and shares extremely vague depictions of a future molded by the company's products. "How we develop and use autonomy — and the new capabilities it makes available to us — should be informed by its ability to enhance the human condition," the company writes in one particularly vague passage. "Making daily life better — and safer — for all people through our autonomous technology has always been, and continues to be, our focus." Another passage reads, "We must make one thing clear: this challenge will be extremely difficult to overcome. The elimination of scarcity will require tireless and exquisite execution. Some will perceive it as impossible. And plenty of others will laud every obstacle and setback we inevitably encounter along the way. But once we overcome this challenge, our critics will come to see that what they once thought was impossible is indeed possible. And that will be fine with us, because what matters most is that, together, we create a sustainable and truly abundant future for generations to come." The Tesla Master Plans have been treated with almost religious reverence in tech circles over the years as fans of the electric car company and its polarizing CEO point to them as evidence of Musk's visionary thinking. The first Master Plan, authored by Musk in 2006, espoused lofty but specific goals, many of which ultimately came to pass. In it, Musk laid out how "The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market … and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model." This is exactly what the company did, leveraging earnings from the 2008 Roadster to build the Model S in 2012 and Model X in 2015, then using those profits to create the Model 3 in 2017 and Model Y in 2020, the latter of which went on to become the best-selling car in the world in both 2023 and 2024. The second Master Plan, published in 2016, was the last one with Musk's name attributed to it and laid out a vision for Solar Roof and Powerwall, the need to create an electric pickup truck and semi, the future of autonomous driving and a plan for a fleet of robotaxis. Tesla's energy generation and storage business now accounts for 10 percent of company revenues. The Cybertruck and Semi both launched years later though have not yet proven successful, and Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" has been in beta for years. Meanwhile, robotaxis saw a limited launch with in-vehicle supervisors earlier this summer. Master Plan Part 3 was a stark departure from the more focused initial duo. It's basically a 40-page white paper with fanciful ambitions for a decarbonized future. It was heavy on data but short on product roadmaps. Part IV really jumped the shark, and while it tells us that "we are on the cusp of a revolutionary period primed for unprecedented growth" and that "this time it will not be a single step but a leap forward for Tesla and humanity as a whole," it offers little by way of how the company plans to accomplish that leap.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/teslas-latest-master-plan-isnt-a-mission-statement-its-a-discursive-mess-162301466.html?src=rss View Source Article

Skywatching Skywatching Home What’s Up Meteor Showers Eclipses Daily Moon Guide More Tips & Guides Skywatching FAQ Night Sky Network Saturn’s spectacle, a Conjunction, and the Autumnal Equinox Saturn shines throughout the month, a conjunction sparkles in the sky, and we welcome the autumnal equinox.  Skywatching Highlights All of September: Saturn is visible Sept. 19: A conjunction between the Moon, Venus, and Regulus Sept. 21: Saturn is at opposition Sept. 22: The autumnal equinox Transcript What’s Up for September? Saturn puts on a spectacular show, a sunrise conjunction shines bright, and we ring in the autumnal equinox. Saturn at Opposition Saturn will be putting on an out-of-this-world performance this month.  While Venus and Jupiter shine in the eastern morning sky, the ringed planet will be incredibly bright in the sky throughout September in the eastern evening sky and western early morning sky. But why is Saturn the star of the show? Well, on September 21, Saturn will be at opposition, meaning Earth will find itself in between Saturn and the Sun, temporarily lined up.  This also means that Saturn is at its closest and brightest all year!  Saturn will be visible with just your eyes in the night sky, but with a small telescope, you might be able to see its rings! Sky chart showing Saturn in the western sky before sunrise in late September. NASA/JPL-Caltech Conjunction Trio If you look to the east just before sunrise on September 19, you’ll see a trio of celestial objects in a magnificent conjunction.  In the early pre-dawn hours, look east toward the waning, crescent Moon setting in the sky and you’ll notice something peculiar.The Moon will be nestled up right next to both Venus and Regulus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky.  The three are part of a conjunction, which simply means that they look close together in the sky (even if they’re actually far apart in space).  To find this conjunction, just look to the Moon.  And if you want some additional astronomical context, or want to specifically locate Regulus, this star lies within the constellation Leo, the lion.  Sky chart showing a conjunction between the Moon, Venus, and Regulus in the eastern sky before sunrise on September 19, 2025 NASA/JPL-Caltech The Autumnal Equinox On September 22, we mark the autumnal equinox or the official start of fall in the northern hemisphere.  Astronomically, this is the time when the Sun finds itself exactly above the equator. On this day, our planet isn’t tilted toward or away from the Sun, and both day and night are almost exactly 12 hours (with a few small exceptions).  An illustrated panel from an animation showing Earth’s positioning during the autumnal equinox. NASA/JPL-Caltech Moon Phases + Conclusion Here are the phases of the Moon for September. You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov. I’m Chelsea Gohd from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month. The phases of the Moon for September 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

'Your world is running out of time. But I can help you' View Source Article

Call of Duty is being adapted into a live action film as part of a new deal signed by Activision and Paramount. Paramount, the film studio behind Top Gun: Maverick, will “develop, produce, and distribute a live-action feature film” based on the franchise, and “both companies are committed to honoring the brand’s rich narrative and distinctive style,” the companies say in a press release. Years ago, Activision was working on a Call of Duty film that never ended up getting released, but this new movie could be a huge deal. The Call of Duty series has sold more than 500 million copies globally and the campaigns in the games tell big, cinematic, action-packed stories. A Call of Duty-style story could be a good fit for a movie, though obviously we’ll have to wait and see the final product to know how it turns out. The two companies haven’t shared any details about a potential release window, a director, or any stars for the cast. But David Ellison, the new CEO and chairman of Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, is apparently a big fan of the franchise, so it seems likely that the film is going to be a priority for him — especially when things like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, A Minecraft Movie, The Last of Us, and Fallout have been huge hits for other studios. View Source Article

The European Union paused its immediate plans to punish Alphabet Inc.’s Google for abusing its dominance over advertising technology amid fears that US President Donald Trump could hit back by derailing a transatlantic trade deal. View Source Article

Walmart's "Bricktember Lego Sales" event is live, and this nearly 2,000-piece model of Space history has a massive $63 reduction. View Source Article

The Zens Pro 3 USB-C charging cable includes additional inline wireless chargers. | Image: Zens It’s not an entirely new idea given Nomad’s Universal Cable from earlier this year can charge an Apple Watch and an additional device at the same time, but Zens’ new Pro 2 and Pro 3 USB-C cables offer additional functionality and some welcome future-proofing as chargers become more powerful. The cheaper of the two is the €49.99 (around $58) Pro 2 USB-C charging cable that includes an inline Qi2 charging puck that can wirelessly charge a smartphone or earbuds at up to 15W speeds. It’s not Qi2.2 compatible so you won’t get faster 25W wireless charging, but it is compatible with 140W chargers so you can plug in a power-hungry laptop, and Zens says the cable also supports charging rates up to 240W once more powerful chargers become common. At nearly twice the price the €99.99 (around $117) Pro 3 USB-C charging cable offers the same functionality as the Pro 2 but adds an additional wireless charger for AirPods and the Apple Watch. Both versions measure 59-inches in length and are available for preorder now with shipping expected sometime in October 2025. View Source Article

Paramount Skydance Corp. has struck a deal with Microsoft Corp.’s Activision video-game unit to develop and produce a live-action film based on the Call of Duty franchise, the company said in a statement Tuesday. View Source Article

OpenAI has promised to release parental controls for ChatGPT within the next month, the company said Tuesday. Once the controls are available, they'll allow parents to link their personal ChatGPT account with the accounts of their teenage children. From there, parents will be able to decide how ChatGPT responds to their kids, and disable select features, including memory and chat history. Additionally, ChatGPT will generate automated alerts when it detects a teen is in a "moment of acute distress." According to OpenAI, "expert input will guide this feature to support trust between parents and teens." The announcement of parental controls comes after OpenAI was sued in the first known instance of a wrongful death lawsuit against an AI company. In a lawsuit filed last week, Matt and Maria Raine, the parents of a teen who committed suicide this year, allege ChatGPT was aware of four failed suicide attempts by their son before helping him plan his death. The Raines said ChatGPT provided their son Adam with information on specific suicide methods, and even gave him tips on how to hide neck injuries sustained from his previous failed attempts.       On Tuesday, OpenAI said parental controls are part of a broader effort by the company to improve safety on ChatGPT. Separately, the company has promised to work with additional experts, including those who specialize in eating disorders, substance use and adolescent health, to fine tune its models.  The company has also promised to deploy a new real-time router designed to funnel sensitive conversations through its reasoning models. "Trained with a method we call deliberative alignment, our testing shows⁠ that reasoning models more consistently follow and apply safety guidelines and are more resistant to adversarial prompts," said OpenAI. Moving forward, in situations where ChatGPT detects a person may be in distress, the chatbot will direct those conversations through a reasoning model, regardless of the model the user selected before starting the conversation.  More broadly, OpenAI says people can expect more safety features in the future. "This work has already been underway, but we want to proactively preview our plans for the next 120 days, so you won’t need to wait for launches to see where we’re headed," OpenAI said. "The work will continue well beyond this period of time, but we’re making a focused effort to launch as many of these improvements as possible this year."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-is-adding-parental-controls-to-chatgpt-144128085.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA science and American industry have worked hand-in-hand for more than 60 years, transforming novel technologies created with NASA research into commercial products like cochlear implants, memory-foam mattresses, and more. Now, a NASA-funded device for probing the interior of storm systems has been made a key component of commercial weather satellites. The novel atmospheric sounder was originally developed for NASA’s TROPICS (short for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of SmallSats), which launched in 2023. Boston-based weather technology company Tomorrow.io integrated the same instrument design into some of its satellites. NASA’s TROPICS instrument. TROPICS pioneered a novel, compact atmospheric sound now flying aboard a fleet of commercial small satellites created by the weather technology company Tomorrow.io.Credit: Blue Canyon Technologies Atmospheric sounders allow researchers to gather data describing humidity, temperature, and wind speed — important factors for weather forecasting and atmospheric analysis. From low-Earth orbit, these devices help make air travel safer, shipping more efficient, and severe weather warnings more reliable. Novel tools for Observing Storm Systems In the early 2000s, meteorologists and atmospheric chemists were eager to find a new science tool that could peer deep inside storm systems and do so multiple times a day. At the same time, CubeSat constellations (groupings of satellites each no larger than a shoebox) were emerging as promising, low-cost platforms for increasing the frequency with which individual sensors could pass over fast-changing storms, which improves the accuracy of weather models. The challenge was to create an instrument small enough to fit aboard a satellite the size of a toaster, yet powerful enough to observe the innermost mechanisms of storm development. Preparing these technologies required years of careful development that was primarily supported by NASA’s Earth Science Division. William Blackwell and his team at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accepted this challenge and set out to miniaturize vital components of atmospheric sounders. “These were instruments the size of a washing machine, flying on platforms the size of a school bus,” said Blackwell, the principal investigator for TROPICS. “How in the world could we shrink them down to the size of a coffee mug?” With a 2010 award from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), Blackwell’s team created an ultra-compact microwave receiver, a component that can sense the microwave radiation within the interior of storms. The Lincoln Lab receiver weighed about a pound and took up less space than a hockey puck. This innovation paved the way for a complete atmospheric sounder instrument small enough to fly aboard a CubeSat. “The hardest part was figuring out how to make a compact back-end to this radiometer,” Blackwell said. “So without ESTO, this would not have happened. That initial grant was critical.” In 2023, that atmospheric sounder was sent into space aboard four TROPICS CubeSats, which have been collecting torrents of data on the interior of severe storms around the world. Transition to Industry By the time TROPICS launched, Tomorrow.io developers knew they wanted Blackwell’s microwave receiver technology aboard their own fleet of commercial weather satellites. “We looked at two or three different options, and TROPICS was the most capable instrument of those we looked at,” said Joe Munchak, a senior atmospheric data scientist at Tomorrow.io. In 2022, the company worked with Blackwell to adapt his team’s design into a CubeSat platform about twice the size of the one used for TROPICS. A bigger platform, Blackwell explained, meant they could bolster the sensor’s capabilities. “When we first started conceptualizing this, the 3-unit CubeSat was the only game in town. Now we’re using a 6-unit CubeSat, so we have room for onboard calibration,” which improves the accuracy and reliability of gathered data, Blackwell said. Tomorrow.io’s first atmospheric sounders, Tomorrow-S1 and Tomorrow-S2, launched in 2024. By the end of 2025, the company plans to have a full constellation of atmospheric sounders in orbit. The company also has two radar instruments that were launched in 2023 and were influenced by NASA’s RainCube instrument — the first CubeSat equipped with an active precipitation radar. More CubeSats leads to more accurate weather data because there are more opportunities each day — revisits — to collect data. “With a fleet size of 18, we can easily get our revisit rate down to under an hour, maybe even 40 to 45 minutes in most places. It has a huge impact on short-term forecasts,” Munchak said. Having access to an atmospheric sounder that had already flown in space and had more than 10 years of testing was extremely useful as Tomorrow.io planned its fleet. “It would not have been possible to do this nearly as quickly or nearly as affordably had NASA not paved the way,” said Jennifer Splaingard, Tomorrow.io’s senior vice president for space and sensors. A Cycle of Innovation The relationship between NASA and industry is symbiotic. NASA and its grantees can drive innovation and test new tools, equipping American businesses with novel technologies they may otherwise be unable to develop on their own. In exchange, NASA gains access to low-cost data sets that can supplement information gathered through its larger science missions. Tomorrow.io was among eight companies selected by NASA’s Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program in September 2024 to equip NASA with data that will help improve weather forecasting models. “It really is a success story of technology transfer. It’s that sweet spot, where the government partners with tech companies to really take an idea, a proven concept, and run with it,” Splaingard said. By Gage Taylor NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Sep 02, 2025 Related TermsEarthHurricanes & TyphoonsTROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) View Source Article

"Once these objects get too faint to see, they will never be seen again," View Source Article

Quantum Systems, a German drone maker backed by Peter Thiel, will seek to raise money at a valuation of as much as €3 billion ($3.5 billion) this year. View Source Article

Microsoft has revealed the first batch of Game Pass additions for September 2025 and there's one hornet-shaped title that looms large over the others. After a seven-year wait, Hollow Knight: Silksong arrives on September 4. We've known for a few years that the sequel to Team Cherry's indie blockbuster would be on Game Pass on day one, and it'll be available on the Ultimate and PC versions of the service. Xbox announced the Metroidvania's future debut on Game Pass all the way back at its June 2022 showcase. At the time, it claimed every game shown at the event would be out within the following 12 months. That didn't exactly happen in Silksong's case. Team Cherry confirmed pricing for Silksong this week as well. It'll cost $20 on all platforms. The developer added that there will be a free Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade pack with "enhanced features" available for Kickstarter backers who receive a Switch key (it's implied, but not confirmed, that anyone who gets the Switch 1 version will be able to upgrade for free later). If you're planning to dive into Silksong as soon as it goes live at 10AM ET on Thursday and you're looking for something to play on Game Pass in the meantime, it's maybe worth checking out I Am Your Beast. This is a fast-paced, covert revenge shooter from the folks at Strange Scaffold (Clickolding, TMNT: Tactical Takedown and El Paso, Elsewhere). It's dropping on the Ultimate, PC and Standard versions of Game Pass today. On September 3, Nine Sols will join the Game Pass Standard lineup after being on the Ultimate and PC versions of the service since last November. This is a Metroidvania from Devotion developer Red Candle Games, and it was one of our favorite games of 2024. The other Game Pass additions for the first half of September are: Real-time strategy game Cataclismo (PC) — September 4 on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass 3D action adventure Paw Patrol World (Cloud, Console, and PC) — September 10 on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard Disaster recovery/construction sim RoadCraft (Cloud and Xbox Series X/S) — September 16 on Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass Standard Inevitably, a few games are cycling off of Game Pass too. All You Need is Help, Wargroove 2 and We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie are all leaving the library on September 15.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/the-first-game-pass-additions-for-september-include-hollow-knight-silksong-and-i-am-your-beast-145148351.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA/Nichole Ayers On July 26, 2025, NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers took this long-exposure photograph – taken over 31 minutes from a window inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module – capturing the circular arcs of star trails. In its third decade of continuous human presence, the space station has a far-reaching impact as a microgravity lab hosting technology, demonstrations, and scientific investigations from a range of fields. The research done on the orbiting laboratory will inform long-duration missions like Artemis and future human expeditions to Mars. Image credit: NASA/Nichole Ayers View Source Article

As AI grows more fluent in mimicking human empathy, language and memory, we’re left asking: If a machine can fake awareness so well, what exactly is the real thing? View Source Article

Shorter version of strapline View Source Article

If you’ve ever thought “it’d sure be nice to have just one controller to use between my phone, tablet, and TV,” then the Backbone Pro might be made for you. Backbone’s newest gamepad has the same phone-hugging design as its 2020 predecessor, but comes with a handful of distinct features — the most notable being that it can be paired via Bluetooth to any number of devices, not just phones. The rechargeable controller just got its first temporary price cut, going from $169.99 to $149.99 at Amazon and Best Buy. Best Buy indicates this sale will expire at the end of the day. Backbone Pro Where to Buy: $169.99 $149.99 at Best Buy $169.99 $149.99 at Backbone $169.99 $149.99 at Amazon The Pro features more robust grips and bigger analog sticks (they’re ALPS, not Hall effect, sadly) while retaining the original’s hallmark feature, which is that Android and iPhone models with a USB-C port can be inserted into the controller, from which you can launch into Backbone’s polished dashboard. It effectively turns your phone into a console, with the ability to snap/record clips, chat with friends through the platform, and livestream, if you wish. It also has a USB-C port for passthrough charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and two customizable rear paddles. The Pro offers more versatility than the original (the Pro is a solid wireless Steam Deck controller), and can perform a cool party trick, if you have the right hardware and subscriptions. If you start an Xbox cloud game streaming session from your phone, you can resume it from a TV that supports the Xbox app, and easily switch the Pro to control it there instead via Backbone’s mobile app. While few competitors attempt Backbone’s multipurpose pairing, some outshine the Pro when it comes to being able to fit more devices, namely iPads and other tablets. The GameSir G8 Plus is $79.99 and can fit an iPad mini or a Nintendo Switch. The $199.99 Razer Kishi V3 Pro XL can be widened to fit a 13-inch tablet in its maw, and features TMR thumbsticks and a six-month subscription to Apple Arcade. Other Verge-approved deals Looking for an affordable desktop GPU that includes a free code for Battlefield 6? You could do a lot worse than the stock Intel Arc B580, which is $259.99 at B&H Photo. (A prettier model from ASRock that includes more fans is just $10 more at Newegg, costing $269.99.) The B580 is a reasonably priced midrange graphics card aimed at gamers who are content playing games at 1080p resolution, although some games might perform well at 1440p. For example, it’s the GPU that EA recommends for 60 frames per second gameplay at 1440p for Battlefield 6, even if the rest of your system’s components aren’t all that recent. Here are the recommended specs AllTrails’ Labor Day special on its Plus tier hiking software is still happening. Normally $35.99 per year, it costs $17.99 to sign up for a year. AllTrails Plus offers a bunch of perks for hikers and trail lovers, including offline map downloads, an ad-free experience, printable maps, smart alerts if you make wrong turns, and a bevy of social features. My colleague Elizabeth Lopatto put AllTrails through a real-world test, up against its biggest competitors in the space, Gaia and CalTopo. Her conclusion was that there’s no perfect hiking software, but that “AllTrails offered better route-planning features, while Gaia was more reliable on the trail.” If you’re curious about hiking software, picking up a year of AllTrails Plus at half price seems worth a shot. The JBL Tour Pro 2 wireless earbuds are down to $134.95 at Amazon, a significant discount from its original $249.95 price. These are JBL’s high-end earbuds that include a charging case with a built-in screen on the front. The screen does a decent job at replicating some features that you’d otherwise find on a smartwatch. For instance, it’ll show who’s calling, and let you either answer or reject the call. It can also alert you when you’ve received a text, although it won’t show the contents on its screen (that’s either a plus or a minus, depending on who you ask). In terms of sound quality, former Verge reviewer Chris Welch preferred Apple’s AirPods Pro and Sennheiser’s Momentum 3 to these, but at almost half-price, JBL’s set is worth considering. Read our review View Source Article

InPost SA shares fell to the lowest in almost two years after the Polish parcel locker operator reported slowing volume growth in its home country amid a spat with e-commerce company Allegro.eu SA over delivery options. View Source Article

Marshall's family of TV audio gear is growing. The company has announced the Heston Sub 200 subwoofer and Heston 60 compact soundbar, both of which are now available for pre-order. The $700 Heston 60 is a smaller take on the first soundbar Marshall introduced earlier this year, the Heston 120, offering Dolby Atmos and DTS-X for more intimate spaces. With the Heston Sub 200, a $600 subwoofer that pairs with both soundbars, Marshall touts "a sound that can be truly felt." Both products come in Cream and Black, and sport Marshall's classic guitar amp styling. They ship September 23. The Heston 60 has 7 Class D amplifiers — two 25W and five 5W — with a total power output of 56W. It has two woofers and five full range drivers. The soundbar offers wireless and wired connectivity, with Bluetooth (5.3) and Wi-Fi, as well as an HDMI 2.1 port (eARC), a 3.5mm aux port, an RCA input and USB-C. It also supports AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect. The Heston 200, Heston 120 and Heston 60Marshall The Heston Sub 200 packs two 5.25 inch subwoofers and two 120W Class D amplifiers, with a peak total power output of 236W. Marshall says it'll deliver deep, room-shaking bass. The subwoofer has Bluetooth and wired input (RCA mono).  The Heston 60 and Heston Sub 200 will be available from Marshall starting September 23, and will roll out to select other retailers on September 30.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/marshall-tv-subwoofer-heston-200-compact-soundbar-heston-60-140044805.html?src=rss View Source Article

Advancing Single-Photon Sensing Image Sensors to Enable the Search for Life Beyond Earth A NASA-sponsored team is advancing single-photon sensing Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) detector technology that will enable future NASA astrophysics space missions to search for life on other planets. As part of their detector maturation program, the team is characterizing sensors before, during, and after high-energy radiation exposure; developing novel readout modes to mitigate radiation-induced damage; and simulating a near-infrared CMOS pixel prototype capable of detecting individual photons. Single-photon sensing and photon-number resolving CMOS image sensors: a 9.4 Mpixel sensor (left) and a 16.7 Mpixel sensor (right). Credit: CfD, RIT Are we alone in the universe? This age-old question has inspired scientific exploration for centuries. If life on other planets evolves similarly to life on Earth, it can imprint its presence in atmospheric spectral features known asbiosignatures. They include absorption and emission lines in the spectrum produced by oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, and other molecules that could indicate conditions which can support life. A future NASA astrophysics mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), will seek to find biosignatures in the ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared (NIR) spectra of exoplanet atmospheres to look for evidence that life may exist elsewhere in the universe. HWO will need highly sensitive detector technology to detect these faint biosignatures on distant exoplanets. The Single-Photon Sensing Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (SPSCMOS) image sensor is a promising technology for this application. These silicon-based sensors can detect and resolve individual optical-wavelength photons using a low-capacitance, high-gain floating diffusion sense node. They operate effectively over a broad temperature range, including at room temperature. They have near-zero read noise, are tolerant to radiation, and generate very little unwanted signal—such as dark current. When cooled to 250 K, the dark current drops to just one electron every half-hour. If either the read noise or dark current is too high, the sensor will fail to detect the faint signals that biosignatures produce. A research team at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Center for Detectors (CfD) is accelerating the readiness of these SPSCMOS sensors for use in space missions through detector technology maturation programs funded by NASA’s Strategic Astrophysics Technology and Early Stage Innovations solicitations. These development programs include several key goals: Characterize critical detector performance metrics like dark current, quantum efficiency, and read noise before, during, and after exposure to high-energy radiation Develop new readout modes for these sensors to mitigate effects from short-term and long-term radiation damage Design a new NIR version of the sensor using Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) software SPSCMOS sensors operate similarly to traditional CMOS image sensors but are optimized to detect individual photons—an essential capability for ultra-sensitive space-based observations, such as measuring the gases in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Incoming photons enter the sensor and generate free charges (electrons) in the sensor material. These charges collect in a pixel’s storage well and eventually transfer to a low-capacitance component called the floating diffusion (FD) sense node where each free charge causes a large and resolved voltage shift. This voltage shift is then digitized to read the signal. Experiments that measure sensor performance in a space relevant environment use a vacuum Dewar and a thermally-controlled mount to allow precise tuning of the sensors temperature. The Dewar enables testing at conditions that match the expected thermal environment of the HWO instrument, and can even cool the sensor and its on-chip circuits to temperatures colder than any prior testing reported for this detector family. These tests are critical for revealing performance limitations with respect to detector metrics like dark current, quantum efficiency, and read noise. As temperatures change, the electrical properties of on-chip circuits can also change, which affects the read out of charge in a pixel. The two figures show results for SPSCMOS devices. The figure on the left shows a photon counting histogram with peaks that correspond to photon number. The figure on the right shows the dark current for a SPSCMOS device before and after exposure to 50 krad of 60 MeV protons. Credit: CfD, RIT The radiation-rich environment for HWO will cause temporary and permanent effects in the sensor. These effects can corrupt the signal measured in a pixel, interrupt sensor clocking and digital logic, and can cause cumulative damage that gradually degrades sensor performance. To mitigate the loss of detector sensitivity throughout a mission lifetime, the RIT team is developing new readout modes that are not available in commercial CMOS sensors. These custom modes sample the signal over time (a “ramp” acquisition) to enable the detection and removal of cosmic ray artifacts. In one mode, when the system identifies an artifact, it segments the signal ramp and selectively averages the segments to reconstruct the original signal—preserving scientific data that would otherwise be lost. In addition, a real-time data acquisition system monitors the detector’s power consumption, which may change from the accumulation of damage throughout a mission. The acquisition system records these shifts and communicates with the detector electronics to adjust voltages and maintain nominal operation. These radiation damage mitigation strategies will be evaluated during a number of test programs at ground-based radiation facilities. The tests will help identify unique failure mechanisms that impact SPSCMOS technology when it is exposed to radiation equivalent to the dose expected for HWO. Custom acquisition electronics (left) that will control the sensors during radiation tests, and an image captured using this system (right). Credit: CfD, RIT While existing SPSCMOS sensors are limited to detecting visible light due to their silicon-based design, the RIT team is developing the world’s first NIR single-photon photodiode based on the architecture used in the optical sensors. The photodiode design starts as a simulation in TCAD software to model the optical and electrical properties of the low-capacitance CMOS architecture. The model simulates light-sensitive circuits using both silicon and Mercury Cadmium Telluride (HgCdTe or MCT) material to determine how well the pixel would measure photo-generated charge if a semiconductor foundry physically fabricated it. It has 2D and 3D device structures that convert light into electrical charge, and circuits to control charge transfer and signal readout with virtual probes that can measure current flow and electric potential. These simulations help to evaluate the key mechanisms like the conversion of light into electrons, storing and transferring the electrons, and the output voltage of the photodiode sampling circuit. In addition to laboratory testing, the project includes performance evaluations at a ground-based telescope. These tests allow the sensor to observe astronomical targets that cannot be fully replicated in lab. Star fields and diffuse nebulae challenge the detector’s full signal chain under real sky backgrounds with faint flux levels, field-dependent aberrations, and varying seeing conditions. These observations help identify performance limitations that may not be apparent in controlled laboratory measurements. In January 2025, a team of researchers led by PhD student Edwin Alexani used an SPSCMOS-based camera at the C.E.K. Mees Observatory in Ontario County, New York. They observed star cluster M36 to evaluate the sensor’s photometric precision, and the Bubble Nebula in a narrow-band H-alpha filter. The measured dark current and read noise were consistent with laboratory results. The team observed photometric reference stars to estimate the quantum efficiency (QE) or the ability for the detector to convert photons into signal. The calculated QE agreed with laboratory measurements, despite differences in calibration methods. The team also observed the satellite STARLINK-32727 as it passed through the telescope’s field of view and measured negligible persistent charge—residual signal that can remain in detector pixels after exposure to a bright source. Although the satellite briefly produced a bright streak across several pixels due to reflected sunlight, the average latent charge in affected pixels was only 0.03 e–/pix – well below both the sky-background and sensor’s read noise. Images captured at the C.E.K. Mees Observatory. Left: The color image shows M36 in the Johnson color filters B (blue), V (green), and R (red) bands (left). Right: Edwin Alexani and the SPSCMOS camera (right). Credit: : CfD, RIT As NASA advances and matures the HWO mission, SPSCMOS technology promises to be a game-changer for exoplanet and general astrophysics research. These sensors will enhance our ability to detect and analyze distant worlds, bringing us one step closer to answering one of humanity’s most profound questions: are we alone? For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort. Project Lead(s): Dr. Donald F. Figer, Future Photon Initiative and Center for Detectors, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), supported by engineer Justin Gallagher and a team of students. Sponsoring Organization(s): NASA Astrophysics Division, Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program and NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), Early Stage Innovations (ESI) Program Share Details Last Updated Sep 02, 2025 Related Terms Astrophysics Science-enabling Technology Space Technology Mission Directorate Technology Highlights Explore More 2 min read Hubble Homes in on Galaxy’s Star Formation Article 4 days ago 5 min read From NASA Citizen Scientist to Astronaut Training: An Interview with Benedetta Facini Article 1 week ago 5 min read Astronomers Map Stellar ‘Polka Dots’ Using NASA’s TESS, Kepler Article 1 week ago View Source Article

This quiz invites you to journey into the depths of these gravitational giants. View Source Article

Amazon is axing the program that lets Prime members share their free shipping perk with people outside their household. In an update to its support page, Amazon says it will cut off Prime benefit sharing on October 1st, 2025, prompting invitees who don’t live with the account holder to sign up for their own subscription at a discounted $14.99 rate for an entire year (and then $14.99 per month after that). Instead, Amazon is replacing this program with Amazon Family, which lets account holders share Prime benefits — but only with people they live with. Amazon says everyone in a “Family” must live at the same primary residential address, defined as “the address you consider to be your home and where you spend the majority of your time.” As we’ve seen with several streaming services that have cracked down on password sharing, Amazon is likely ending the program as a way to shore up new subscribers. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Amazon didn’t meet Prime signup goals in the US during its extended Prime Day event in July, though the company reportedly said it had record signups in the 25 days surrounding the event. Launched in 2015, Amazon Family (formerly Amazon Household) offers access to free shipping, along with additional perks like Prime Video, Prime Reading, third-party benefits like GrubHub, shared ebooks, Amazon Music, and more. You can only add up to one other adult that you live with to your account, up to four teens (but only if you added them before April 7th, 2025), and up to four child profiles. View Source Article

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is on track to gain access to controversial spyware designed to hack phones and read private messages after the Trump administration jettisoned a Biden-era order. View Source Article

There's a new player in the AI race, and it's a whole country. Switzerland has just released Apertus, its open-source national Large Language Model (LLM) that it hopes would be an alternative to models offered by companies like OpenAI. Apertus, Latin for the world "open," was developed by the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL), ETH Zurich and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), all of which are public institutions.  "Currently, Apertus is the leading public AI model: a model built by public institutions, for the public interest. It is our best proof yet that AI can be a form of public infrastructure like highways, water, or electricity," said Joshua Tan, a leading proponent in making AI a public infrastructure.  The Swiss institutions designed Apertus to be completely open, allowing users to inspect any part of its training process. In addition to the model itself, they released comprehensive documentation and source code of its training process, as well as the datasets they used. They built Apertus to comply with Swiss data protection and copyright laws, which makes it perhaps one of the better choices for companies that want to adhere to European regulations. The Swiss Bankers Association previously said that a homegrown LLM would have "great long-term potential," since it will be able to better comply with Switzerland's strict local data protection and bank secrecy rules. At the moment, Swiss banks are already using other AI models for their needs, so it remains to be seen whether they'll switch to Apertus.  Anybody can use the new model: Researchers, hobbyists and even companies are welcome to build upon it and to tailor it for their needs. They can use it to create chatbots, translators and even educational or training tools, for instance. Apertus was trained on 15 trillion tokens across more than 1,000 languages, with 40 percent of the data in languages other than English, including Swiss German and Romansh. Switzerland's announcement says the model was only trained on publicly available data, and its crawlers respected machine-readable opt-out requests when they came across them on websites. To note, AI companies like Perplexity have previously been accused of scraping websites and bypassing protocols meant to block their crawlers. Some AI companies have also been sued by news organizations and creatives for using their content to train their models without permission.  Apertus is currently available in two sizes with 8 billion and 70 billion parameters. It's currently available via Swisscom, a Swiss information and communication technology company, or via Hugging Face. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/switzerland-launches-its-own-open-source-ai-model-133051578.html?src=rss View Source Article

More than 10 years after the launch of Dolby Vision, the next generation of the HDR format is here, and it aims to do more than just optimize tone and brightness level for different scenes. The new version, called Dolby Vision 2, has new “Content Intelligence” tools that use AI to automatically optimize your TV based on what you’re watching, where you’re watching it, and what device you’re on, expanding on the existing Dolby Vision IQ features. That includes a Precision Black that’s supposed to improve clarity in darker scenes without straying too far from a filmmaker’s intent, as well as an updated Light Sense feature to adjust picture quality using ambient light detection combined with reference lighting data from the source material. It also supports bi-directional tone mapping capabilities that Dolby says will allow high-performance TVs to deliver higher brightness, sharper contrast, and more deeply saturated colors by letting the people who create the content have more control over how to use the display’s capabilities. Dolby Vision 2 is also doing more about motion smoothing, the setting that’s a bane of filmmakers, creating the “soap opera” effect that celebrities like Tom Cruise have called out. With “Authentic Motion,” the company says it is the first “creative driven motion control tool,” allowing control of the feature’s use on a shot-by-shot basis to reduce unwanted judder while also keeping an authentically cinematic look. That’s a heavy claim, and one that we will need to see in action ourselves to judge.  Hisense will become the first brand to launch TVs with Dolby Vision 2 on board, powered by a MediaTek Pentonic 800 chip. Nearly 350 TVs from LG, TCL, Sony, Vizio, and Roku have adopted the current Dolby Vision format, and it seems likely we’ll hear about others adding this version soon. In an emailed response to questions from The Verge, Dolby spokesperson Cairon Armstrong said Dolby Vision content will still work with TVs that support either spec, but only Dolby Vision 2 capable displays will recognize and use the additional metadata if it’s present. Compared to the original Dolby Vision spec, this one will make it easier to identify which TVs come with all of its capabilities by splitting things into two tiers. Dolby Vision 2 Max has additional premium features on the “highest performing TVs,” while the standard Dolby Vision 2 label is for “mainstream TVs” that should still have improved picture quality.  View Source Article

Underdog and Crypto.com are launching a service that will let fans make bets on sports outcomes via a prediction market. View Source Article

ExpressVPN has tripled its subscription options by switching to a tiered pricing structure, effective today. The new system includes three levels of service, the cheapest offering basic VPN service and the others adding extra features. Each one of those levels — Basic, Advanced and Pro — can be purchased for monthly, yearly or two-year durations. In total, you've now got nine different options for subscribing to ExpressVPN. The company also says legacy plans will remain active "for now," and current customers won't be downgraded. The change is similar to the approach already used by rivals like NordVPN and Surfshark. Previously, ExpressVPN locked feature offerings to the duration of the plan, so the only way to get the full suite of features was to subscribe for 24 months. Now, while longer-term subscriptions will still offer discounts, features depend on your level of subscription instead of how long it lasts. The new tiers roll in some features that were previously part of ExpressVPN's Identity Defender suite, including identity monitoring, credit reports and data removal services. New types of plans will also bump the number of allowed simultaneous connections to as high as 14. Here's what you'll get with each tier. ExpressVPN The Basic plan comes with "core VPN functionality" including the Lightway protocol. Basic users will no longer have access to the ad blocker, tracker blocker or parental controls. It can be used on 10 devices at once and will cost $12.99 for a month, $74.85 for a year and $97.72 for two years. The Advanced plan raises the device limit to 12 and adds the blockers and parental controls, plus the ExpressVPN Keys password manager. It also gives you three days of eSIM service and adds the Identity Defender features — leak alerts, $1 million of identity theft insurance, data removal and credit monitoring. As was already the case, those ID protection features are available only to users in the United States. An Advanced plan will cost $13.99 for a month, $89.85 for a year and $125.72 for two years. The one-year and two-year plans are both cheaper than the same duration used to cost. Advanced subscribers also get five days of eSIM service and a discount coupon for between 25 and 50 percent off an ExpressVPN Aircove router (it's not currently clear how the exact discount will be determined). Although Basic and Advanced users can pay extra (between $3.99 and $8.99) for a dedicated IP address, it comes standard on a Pro subscription. Pro users additionally get monthly credit reports and data removal, 14 simultaneous connections and an Aircove discount between 50 and 75 percent. A Pro plan costs $19.99 for a month, $134.95 for a year and $209.72 for two years. What ExpressVPN tiered pricing means for VPN shoppers Ultimately, I don't think this new approach will change much about the experience of using ExpressVPN. It's not introducing any new features; I already touched on everything here in my recent ExpressVPN review, so the only difference is how much you'll pay to access the perks. The best news for consumers is that ExpressVPN is now available for significantly cheaper than before. A two-year Basic plan costs about 30 percent less than a two-year subscription used to — though a one-year basic plan is still more expensive than a comparable subscription to Proton VPN or Surfshark. All that said, I can't enthusiastically recommend a Basic subscription until I know that it includes the Network Lock kill switch and split tunneling on supported platforms (we're reaching out to ExpressVPN to confirm this). We're in the process of overhauling our ranking of best VPNs, including the new information from ExpressVPN — check in soon to see the results.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/expressvpn-switches-to-multi-tiered-pricing-plans-letting-users-tweak-features-to-plan-duration-130016667.html?src=rss View Source Article

Magnetic fields can replace bulky centrifuges in space oxygen systems, making them lighter, more efficient and better suited for deep-space missions, a new study finds. View Source Article

The Thermomix TM7 is the next generation of one the most versatile cooking appliances you can buy. I’ve owned a Thermomix TM6 for about five years, and I use it multiple times a day for everything from making smoothies in the morning to steaming veggies for dinner, whipping up a sauce, or cooking some rice. It’s the most versatile smart gadget in my kitchen. Now its successor, the Thermomix TM7, has arrived in the US, launching today for $1,699. Yes, it’s expensive — but this all-in-one machine is designed to replace a countertop’s worth of gadgets, with functions like weighing, chopping, whisking, steaming, sautéing, slow cooking, and even fermenting. The standout upgrade is a larger 10-inch touchscreen powered by a faster multicore processor. However, I‘m wary of the missing physical dial, as the screen features all the device’s controls, as well as access to 200 built-in guided cooking recipes (and many more with a Cookido subscription for $65 a year). The rest of the TM7 has been redesigned as well, with a sleeker, all-black design, an open-lid cooking option, and a larger steaming basket. Vorwerk, which owns Thermomix, says its software platform has been rebuilt from the ground up to enable future bigger updates — including voice control. The TM6, which launched in 2019, has been discontinued, but Vorwerk has committed to 10 years of support. View Source Article

The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. View Source Article

Dolby Vision has been one of the industry standards for HDR on TVs for over a decade. At IFA 2025, Dolby Laboratories is introducing Dolby Vision 2, what it calls "a groundbreaking evolution of its industry-leading picture quality innovation." The second iteration has been updated to meet the capabilities of today's TV technology and the ever-expanding set of artist tools. Dolby Vision 2 includes a more powerful image engine, better optimization for your TV and features that go "beyond HDR."  The base of Dolby Vision 2 is called Content Intelligence. Dolby says these tools provide a better "bridge" between the creative professionals and the living room by using AI to automatically adapt your TV to what your watching and where you're watching it. Content Intelligence includes tools like Precision Black to help keep darker scenes visible and Light Sense that detects ambient light to create the best picture. There's also Sports and Gaming Optimization that caters to the specific needs of live sports and gaming with upgrades to white point adjustments and motion control.  Bi-directional tone mapping will allow premium TVs produce "deliver higher brightness, sharper contrast and deeply saturated colors" while maintaining artist intent, Dolby explains. That "beyond HDR" push includes features like Authentic Motion. This tool is what Dolby calls "the world’s first creative driven motion control tool to make scenes feel more authentically cinematic." When it's ready for the living room, Dolby Vision 2 will be offered in two ways. First, Dolby Vision 2 Max will come on premium TVs to harness all of their processing power to provide unique premium features. Regular Dolby Vision 2 is what you'll find on mainstream TVs with features that run on the new image engine and Content Intelligence.  When new standards like this are introduced, sometimes it takes a while for them to actually make it into products you can buy. Dolby says Hisense will be the first to bring Dolby Vision 2 to market, offering support for the new standard on its "premium" TVs, including RGB-MiniLED models. What's more, French streaming service Canal+ is also on board, aiming to leverage the new technology for movies, TV shows and live sports.  You'll want to tune into our CES coverage in January, because Dolby Vision 2 will certainly be a topic of discussion for the companies that typically debut new TVs in Las Vegas. Perhaps we'll also get a demo of what this second-gen tech is capable of at the show as well. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/dolby-announces-dolby-vision-2-expanding-picture-quality-beyond-hdr-123019504.html?src=rss View Source Article

This concept trifold was previously shown off by Samsung Display. We know officially that Samsung is planning to launch its first trifold phone this year, and recent rumors suggest that might mean either this month or next. Just don’t expect it to appear at this week’s Unpacked event, which promises products ranging from “premium AI tablets to the newest member of the Galaxy S25 family.” Korea’s ET News reports today that the new foldable could be unveiled as early as this month, with the phone actually on sale in November. That launch sounds pretty limited though: apparently only 50,000 units, a far cry from the millions of preorders Huawei claims to have received for its first foldable, last year’s Mate XT. It’s ready to launch its second generation, the Mate XTs, this Thursday. Other sources have claimed we might see the launch a little earlier. Another Korean site, Newsworks, expects an Unpacked on September 29th to reveal Samsung’s upcoming Project Moohan XR headset, and leaker Ice Universe claims we’ll see the trifold there too, along with a pair of AR glasses. I’d take all these dates with a pinch of salt for now, but it looks increasingly likely that we won’t have too long to wait to find out more. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Mark Bergen tries to unblur YouTube’s new experiment of covertly editing videos. View Source Article

JBL just announced a new portable Bluetooth speaker, called the Grip. This model includes a rope hook, which should make it easy to attach to backpacks, ski gear, or just about anything else. It also features customizable ambient lighting that actually looks pretty useful. The company says this lighting scheme makes the speaker a "perfect bedside companion for late-night reading." A speaker that doubles as a night light? I can see the use for that. As for the audio, JBL promises "pro sound" at a "fuller volume" when compared to some rival Bluetooth speakers. It boasts multispeaker connectivity via Auracast, which makes it much easier to switch between sources. The battery life is also on point here, offering up to 14 hours of use per charge. The speaker looks pretty durable, with an IP68 waterproof and dustproof rating. The company also notes that the unit is drop-proof, so "it can survive a hard fall onto concrete." The JBL Grip costs $100 and is available in numerous colorways. Pre-orders are open right now, with shipments going out on September 28.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/jbls-grip-bluetooth-speaker-doubles-as-a-snazzy-reading-light-120033764.html?src=rss View Source Article

Aboard the International Space Station, astronauts use creativity and culture to make life in orbit feel a little more like home. View Source Article

Klarna Group Plc and some of its shareholders are seeking to raise as much as $1.27 billion as the financial-technology company revives a New York initial public offering that was delayed earlier this year amid market volatility. View Source Article

Mathematicians have unraveled a key conjecture about knot theory View Source Article

Researchers are working on manipulating wax worms’ digestive systems to create a scalable way of disposing of plastic. View Source Article

Elon Musk is deemphasizing Tesla Inc.’s car business like never before in favor of humanoid robots that are still in development and a ways off from generating revenue. View Source Article

It was a quiet Labor Day weekend for tech, but the Engadget team has kept busy testing out new gear from the likes of DJI, Sony and Bose. I want to kick things off with the new flagship DJI Mic 3. The wireless mics have a wholesale design change from the Mic 2, plus many improvements in sound quality, noise reduction and the number of subjects you can record at once — though there is one downgrade compared to the last model. I’ve had one for over a week, so I’ll share some impressions as well. The most noticeable change with the Mic 3 is the smaller transmitter size and lighter weight. It’s just 16 grams (.58 ounces) compared to 28 grams (.99 ounces) for the Mic 2. The smaller size and rotating clip make the Mic 3 more discreet and easier to attach to any shirt or hat. However, there’s still a large DJI logo on both sides of the transmitter, so dig out your black tape. The Mic 3 now supports up to four transmitters and eight receivers at once. That means you can record four subjects at a time to as many as eight receivers simultaneously for multi-camera shoots (if you buy the extra kits). DJI’s Mic 3 is now on sale in most territories, priced at $329 in a kit with a charging case plus two transmitters and a receiver, or $219 with a single transmitter and receiver. — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The news you might have missed Hitman on iOS, martial arts survival and other new indie games worth checking out Apple’s MLS Season Pass drops to as low as $25 for the rest of 2025 Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen) review: Still a noise-canceling powerhouse How to perform a reverse phone number lookup The best mobile microphones for 2025 Our top picks for phone mics to record anything and everything. That makes it a great time to test the DJI Mic 3's rivals. The world of mobile-specific (or phone-friendly) microphones has expanded significantly, with many great options arriving in the last few years. We’ve tested a wide range of popular microphones with a mobile focus, so you don’t have to. Some microphones — such as the wireless lavalier kind — will be more versatile and convenient, making them useful for a variety of uses. We also have musician or field-recording picks, where we explore more exotic form factors, such as shotgun mics and mobile-friendly desktop options. Naturally, our top focus is sound quality and performance. Continue reading. YouTube TV subscribers won’t lose access to Fox content after all The two companies reached an agreement. YouTube TV warned subscribers they could lose access to Fox content, including the start of the NFL season and a key college football game between the top-ranked Texas Longhorns and the Utah Utes. The standoff was over money, of course, with YouTube TV saying Fox demanded more than rival stations with comparable offerings. That has now been resolved with a “renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Weather, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes, Big Ten Network, the Fox network and all Fox Local Stations,” Fox said in its own press release. In the past, YouTube TV has lost access to local Fox stations that carry regional sports, though usually disputes are extended and resolved before they get that far. Continue reading. Sony RX1R III camera review Waiting 10 years to be underwhelmed. Engadget First things first: The RX1R III can capture stunning photos. However, for something Sony waited nearly a decade to update and is charging $5,100 for, it also feels like a missed opportunity. First, the RX1R III is nearly $2,000 more expensive than its predecessor. Plus, it’s missing a handful of features the company really should have included for it to hold its own against other high-end compact cameras from rivals, like Fujifilm. Come for Igor Bonifacic’s full review, stay for the pet pics. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111920529.html?src=rss View Source Article

Mergers and acquisitions are likely to pick up toward the end of the year and the artificial intelligence boom will drive significant infrastructure financing, according to Goldman Sachs’s global head of credit finance. View Source Article

Hangzhou Unitree Technology Co. said it will submit filings to list on a Chinese stock exchange as soon as next month, offering investors insight into the finances of one of the country’s most prominent robot developers. View Source Article

"Since I landed in Lucknow around 7:30 this morning, I must have clicked about 2,000 selfies." View Source Article

Sighting by James Webb space telescope of black hole with sparse halo of material could upend theories of the universeAn ancient and “nearly naked” black hole that astronomers believe may have been created in the first fraction of a second after the big bang has been spotted by the James Webb space telescope.If confirmed as a so-called primordial black hole, a theoretical class of object predicted to exist by Stephen Hawking but never before seen, the discovery would upend prevailing theories of the universe. Continue reading... View Source Article

Semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding NV made a pitch for business in India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to make chips locally and reduce imports of the critical technology. View Source Article

American astronomers say that without more funding to support telescope construction and research operations, the US risks ceding the field. View Source Article

You don’t need to spend a fortune to get a new phone that handles your daily tasks with ease. The best cheap Android phones pack impressive features into affordable price tags, making them great options for anyone who wants solid performance without stretching their wallet. Whether you're scrolling social media, streaming videos or snapping photos, there are plenty of budget-friendly Android devices that can keep up with everything you do.While you might not get all the bells and whistles of flagship models, many of today’s affordable phones still offer surprisingly good build quality, smooth displays and capable camera systems. Some even boast impressive camera quality that can go toe-to-toe with far more expensive options — perfect for casual photographers or anyone who just wants to capture great moments on the go. Table of contents Best budget Android phones for 2025 How cheap should you go for an Android phone? What to look for in a cheap phone Android phone FAQs Best budget Android phones for 2025 How cheap should you go for an Android phone? We tend to define a budget smartphone as costing between $150 and $350. Any lower and the device runs the risk of suffering from too many compromises in function, and above that, you cross over to pricier midrange handsets (if you're open to spending more, we shouted out a couple of our favorite flagship phones at the very end of this guide). But for those with a little wiggle room, there are some things to consider. For example, a child may be better off with a cheaper device, especially if it’s intended mainly for emergencies, WiFi browsing or texting parents (and not social media). On the higher end of this price spectrum, sub-$350 Samsung phones and other Android devices have come a long way thanks to improved performance, better phone cameras with low-light capabilities, fast charging, and nicer displays like AMOLED panels. This makes them a viable alternative to, say, a flagship handset with a premium design, even if you have the flexibility to spend more. What to look for in a cheap Android phone When it comes to cheap phones, you get what you pay for. Most smartphones in this price range are made out of plastic, though the fit and finish of a specific model can vary a lot based on price. A bright screen is also important. Typically you’ll get LCD panels with a 60Hz or 90Hz refresh rate, but some phones may have OLED or AMOLED screens with increased color saturation. Long battery life is critical as well, so we tend to favor devices with larger power cells of around 5,000 mAh. In this price range, performance can vary a lot, so look for devices with at least 8GB of RAM and processors that can deliver stutter-free visuals. It’s also important to consider support length: as periodic security updates and lengthy software support can extend the longevity of your device, which will save you money in the long run. Android phone FAQs What's the price difference for a cheap Android vs a cheap iPhone? iPhones tend to be more expensive compared to Android phones — even the cheapest iPhone, the iPhone SE, which starts from $429, is a harder pill to swallow compared to a cheap Android phone. In contrast, you can get your hands on a cheap Android device for as low as $100.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/best-cheap-android-phone-160029703.html?src=rss View Source Article

Guinness Nigeria Plc and other consumer-goods giants are turning to startups to crack Africa’s vast informal retail market. View Source Article

The update starts rolling out globally in September. Google is updating user profiles for its Play Games service on Android devices to display gaming stats, achievements, and social features. The changes include a suite of new capabilities for “showcasing and tracking your game progress and stats, new ways to build your gaming community, and allowing you to tailor your profile to your liking,” according to Google’s help page. The update will be applied automatically, and starts rolling out in most global regions on September 23rd, and on October 1st for users in the EU and UK. Google is also emailing Google Play users directly to notify them about the changes. When applied, Google Play Games profiles and features will start appearing on the Google Play Store to prevent users from having to switch between apps when managing their accounts.  The unified update aims to help users who make their profile information public to connect with other players and track their gaming milestones. It’s unclear what this will specifically entail, but it sounds similar to how player information, gaming history, and achievements are currently displayed on Valve’s Steam service. View Source Article

Blackstone Inc. is planning a debt sale of up to £500 million ($670 million) linked to UK warehouses, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Tesla Inc.’s long-awaited entry into India has delivered underwhelming results so far, with tepid bookings fueling fresh doubts about the company’s global growth outlook. View Source Article

Japanese Bitcoin treasury Metaplanet Inc. secured shareholder approval for a proposal enabling it to raise as much as ¥555 billion ($3.8 billion) via preferred shares, in a bid to expand its financing options after its stock slumped. View Source Article

Before the trading day starts we bring you a digest of the key news and events that are likely to move markets. Today we look at: View Source Article

Quicktron Robotics, a Chinese maker of self-driving forklifts and other robots used in warehouses, has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise at least $100 million as early as next year, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

The Bitcoin faithful gathered in Hong Kong last week, but all eyes and energy tilted west — toward the United States, now crypto’s once-unlikely command center. View Source Article

Chinese chipmakers are trading at a four-year high versus their US peers, but a top fund manager still sees pockets of opportunity among their equipment suppliers. View Source Article

Westpac Banking Corp. plans to hire 350 bankers and turn more to artificial intelligence as it ramps up business lending. View Source Article

President Xi Jinping is set to stage a major parade to mark 80 years since the end of World War II — and showcase China’s growing diplomatic sway and military might. View Source Article

Google is officially debunking a series of reports that claimed Gmail has been hit with a "major" security issue in recent days. "We want to reassure our users that Gmail’s protections are strong and effective," the company said in a somewhat unusual statement. "Several inaccurate claims surfaced recently that incorrectly stated that we issued a broad warning to all Gmail users about a major Gmail security issue. This is entirely false." Google doesn't detail the erroneous claims in its post. But, as Forbes points out, it seems to be referring to several recent reports that stated the company issued an "emergency warning" to all of its 2.5 billion users in response to a phishing attack that targeted a Salesforce instance used by the company. That incident, however, was first reported by Google in early June, and the company said in an August 8 update that it had finished notifying everyone affected. It's not clear why that report resurfaced now or how it was misconstrued into a supposed warning impacting all Gmail users, but Google is now trying to set the record straight. "While it’s always the case that phishers are looking for ways to infiltrate inboxes, our protections continue to block more than 99.9% of phishing and malware attempts from reaching users," the company said. "It’s crucial that conversation in this space is accurate and factual." Google also notes that it encourages all users to set up "a secure password alternative," such as a passkey for maximum protection.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/google-says-reports-of-a-major-gmail-security-issue-are-entirely-false-224812292.html?src=rss View Source Article

On Sunday (Aug. 31 2025), 28 Starlink satellites (Group 10-14) lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch marked the 23rd flight of the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage (Booster 1077). Once again, it was successfully recovered. With this mission, the ... Read more View Source Article

Amazon said it plans to invest more than NZ$7.5 billion ($4.4 billion) in data centers in New Zealand. View Source Article

On august 7, 2025, Firefly Aerospace, a market leading space and defense technology company, began publicly trading with an initial public offering of 19,296,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $45.00 per share. They raised almost $900 million from the IPO. It traded up initially but is back to the ... Read more View Source Article

On Wednesday (Sept. 3), the asteroid 2025 QDB will come to within just over half the distance between Earth and the moon, and you can watch its progress live online. View Source Article

Several notable AI models were released or updated during this week. Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash Image (codename: Nano Banana): This is a state-of-the-art image generation and editing model from Google DeepMind, specializing in consistent character maintenance across images, multi-turn editing, and intuitive visual creation. It’s integrated into the Gemini app and available as a preview ... Read more View Source Article

Educators across the country are bringing chatbots into their lesson plans. Will it help kids learn or is it just another doomed ed-tech fad? View Source Article

Mercury will be close to Regulus embedded among the stars of the constellation Leo. View Source Article

Today, NASA recovers over 90% of the water used in space. View Source Article

Major social media platforms in China have started rolling out labels for AI-generated content to comply with a law that took effect on Monday. Users of the likes of WeChat, Douyin, Weibo and RedNote (aka Xiaohongshu) are now seeing such labels on posts. These denote the use of generative AI in text, images, audio, video and other types of material, according to the South China Morning Post. Identifiers such as watermarks have to be included in metadata too. WeChat has told users they must proactively apply labels to their AI-generated content. They're also prohibited from removing, tampering with or hiding any AI labels that WeChat applies itself, or to use "AI to produce or spread false information, infringing content or any illegal activities."  ByteDance's Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — similarly urged users to apply a label to every post of theirs that includes AI-generated material while noting it's able to use metadata to detect where a piece of content content came from. Weibo, meanwhile, has added the option for users to report "unlabelled AI content" option when they see something that should have such a label. Four agencies drafted the law — which was issued earlier this year — including the main internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security and the National Radio and Television Administration also helped put together the legislation, which is being enforced to help oversee the tidal wave of genAI content. In April, the CAC started a three-month campaign to regulate AI apps and services. Mandatory labels for AI content could help folks better understand when they're seeing AI slop and/or misinformation instead of something authentic. Some US companies that provide genAI tools offer similar labels and are starting to bake such identifiers into hardware. Google's Pixel 10 devices are the first phones that implement C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) content credentials right inside the camera app.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chinese-social-media-platforms-roll-out-labels-for-ai-generated-material-194803979.html?src=rss View Source Article

After a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suffered a GPS navigation outage on its approach to Plovdiv in Bulgaria on Aug. 31, authorities in the country said the signal had likely been jammed by Russia. View Source Article

Whether you're commuting, working in a bustling café or just trying to tune out the world, the best noise-canceling earbuds can help you focus on what matters — your music, podcasts or a bit of peace and quiet. With advanced noise reduction and features like active noise cancellation, these compact in-ear buds are designed to block out distractions and deliver immersive sound, even in the most noisy environments.Today’s top models offer everything from seamless Bluetooth connectivity and customizable ear tips to long-lasting batteries with a pocketable charging case — some even charge via USB-C and come with added perks like touch controls and water resistance. Whether you're a casual listener or a true audiophile, there’s a pair out there that fits your lifestyle and budget. Table of contents Best noise-cancelling earbuds for 2025 How to choose the best noise-canceling earbuds for you How we test noise-canceling earbuds Best noise-cancelling earbuds for 2025 How to choose the best noise-canceling earbuds for you Design Most true wireless earbuds these days have a “traditional” design that’s a round bud that fits in your ear canals. However, there are some variations on the formula in terms of shape, size and additional fitting elements. Some companies include fins or fit wings to help hold their in-ear earbuds in place while others opt for an over-the-ear hook on more sporty models. You’ll want to pay attention to these things to make sure they align with how you plan to use them. Also consider overall size and weight since those two factors can impact the fit. A less-than-ideal seal due to a weird fit will affect the performance of active noise-canceling earbuds. Type of noise cancellation Next, you’ll want to look at the type of ANC a set of earbuds offer. You’ll see terms like “hybrid active noise cancellation” or “hybrid adaptive active noise cancellation,” and there are key differences between the two. A hybrid ANC setup uses microphones on the inside and the outside of the device to detect ambient noise. By analyzing input from both mics, a hybrid system can combat more sounds than “regular” ANC, but it’s at a constant level that doesn’t change. Adaptive ANC takes the hybrid configuration a step further by continuously adjusting the noise cancellation for changes in your environment and any leakage around the padding of the ear cups or ear tips. Adaptive ANC is also better at combating wind noise, which can really kill your vibe while using earbuds outdoors. For this top pick list of the best noise-canceling earbuds, I’m only considering products with hybrid ANC or adaptive ANC setups because those are the most effective at blocking noise in noisy environments. Customization You’ll also want to check to see if the ANC system on a prospective set of earbuds offers presets or adjustable levels of noise reduction. These can help you dial in the amount of ANC you need for various environments, but it can also help save battery life. Master & Dynamic, for example, has ANC presets that either provide maximum noise-blocking or prioritize energy efficiency. Other companies may include a slider in their companion apps that let you adjust the ANC level. How we test noise-canceling earbuds The primary way we test earbuds is to wear them as much as possible. I prefer to do this over a one-to-two-week period, but sometimes deadlines don’t allow it. During this time, I listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the earbuds to take both voice and video calls. Since battery life for ANC earbuds is typically 6-10 hours, I drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent). When necessary, I’ll power the headphones off during a review without putting them back in the case. This simulates real-world use and keeps me from having to wear them for an entire day. To test ANC performance specifically, I use the earbuds in a variety of environments, from noisy coffee shops to quiet home offices. When my schedule allows, I also use them during air travel, since plane noise is a massive distraction to both work and relaxation. Even if I’m not slated to hop on a flight, I simulate a constant roar with white noise machines, bathroom fans, vacuums and more. I also make note of how well earbuds block human voices, which are a key stumbling block for a lot of ANC setups. I also do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as I work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double-checked for improvements or regression. If the earbuds I’m testing are an updated version of a previous model, I’ll spend time getting reacquainted with the older set, and revisit the closest competition as well.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-noise-canceling-earbuds-150026857.html?src=rss View Source Article

A new live-action trailer for the upcoming sci-game "Borderlands 4" is here urging us all to "Quit Earth" and get on the rocket. View Source Article

The view underneath SpaceX's Starship spacecraft shows the Super Heavy booster's complex array of 33 Raptor engines. View Source Article

Hasbro, the toy manufacturer, and Disney, who own the rights to Star Wars, both make top lightsabers, but what are the differences between them? View Source Article

Titan Books' hardcover cartoon collection makes you see militant Klingons in a whole new light. View Source Article

The end of any sports season is usually the most exciting part, and MLS fans can watch the climax of the 2025 campaign for a discount. As it has done each year around this time since it locked up the rights to the top North American soccer league, Apple is offering the MLS Season Pass at a discount for the remainder of the season. Apple TV+ subscribers can get access for $25, while everyone else can snag the season pass for $29. This is just the latest MLS Season Pass price cut of 2025, as Apple slashed it in half to $49 in July. However, it's not quite as great a deal as latecomers got on the pass last year. Apple's end-of-season discount for 2024 saw the season pass drop to just $10 in early September. We're now well over halfway through the 2025 season. Teams have between five and nine games of the regular season left to play. Inter Miami have the most games remaining due to the team's participation in the Club World Cup, so Lionel Messi fans might get to see quite a bit more of him — especially if his squad makes the MLS Cup playoffs. You'll also have the chance to check out a few new high-profile imports to MLS, including Son Heung-min at Los Angeles FC and Thomas Müller at Vancouver Whitecaps. The season will end with the MLS Cup final, which will take place on December 6. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/apples-mls-season-pass-drops-to-as-low-as-25-for-the-rest-of-2025-170855008.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Potensic Atom 2 is an upgrade on its successful predecessor and now you can get the lowest-ever price on a useful bundle when you get it on Amazon. View Source Article

Boyd Corp. is exploring a sale of its thermal management solutions business, people familiar with the matter said, amid rising demand for air-cooling systems for data centers. View Source Article

NASA is using Colorado's rugged peaks to rehearse the risky final moments of future Artemis lunar landings. View Source Article

Sony has lined up its next PlayStation State of Play showcase, and this one is all about a single game. It will focus on 007 First Light, the long-awaited James Bond adventure from Hitman studio IO Interactive. It starts at 2PM ET on September 3 and you can watch it on the PlayStation YouTube and Twitch channels (there'll also be a version of the video with English subtitles on YouTube). You can also just hit the play button on the YouTube video above when the time is right. The showcase will run for over 30 minutes and it will feature a deep dive into gameplay, including a full playthrough of a young Bond's first mission. Over on the PlayStation Blog, IOI said to expect "everything from high-speed car chases to on-foot stealth sequences and shootouts." Following that, IOI will offer up more details on 007 First Light gameplay. Perhaps we'll also get a release date or narrower window for the action-adventure game, which is slated to hit Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2026. In the meantime, you can get a taste of just why IOI was able to land this gig by checking out Hitman World of Assassination, a bundle of all three of the main Hitman games from the last decade. Hitman WOA just hit iOS last week, and you can play through the first location for free. It's also available on PC and consoles.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/sony-is-hosting-a-state-of-play-showcase-for-007-first-light-on-september-3-151958435.html?src=rss View Source Article

The writing has been on the wall for years that the UK Space Agency would be scrapped, but will its end after a mere 15 years in existence undermine Britain's space ambitions? View Source Article

AI (Chatgpt and Grok) were asked for near term TESLA share price catalysts and gave a list below. It was a reasonable list. However, they missed important catalysts. Q3 earnings report in October and market reactions to updates on autonomous robo-taxi progress and margins. Broader rollout and monetization of Full Self-Driving (FSD). Expansion into emerging ... Read more View Source Article

"The surfaces of Nix and Hydra are as close to unaltered as you can get." View Source Article

Torrance, United States / California, 1st September 2025, CyberNewsWire View Source Article

In an age of constant communication, receiving phone calls or messages from unknown numbers has become increasingly common. Whether it's a missed call from an unfamiliar number, a potential scam or a wrong number, performing a reverse phone number lookup can help you identify the caller. You could start your search with free tools like Google or Whitepages, but if you’re struggling to find the person behind the number, paid services such as Spokeo or BeenVerified might give you more detail. In this guide, I’ll show you how each option works, along with a few tricks to improve your chances of getting accurate results. What is reverse phone number lookup? Though it sounds like a word jumble, what is commonly referred to as “reverse phone number lookup” is really just a service that allows you to search for information about a phone number. By entering the number into a lookup tool, you can find out details like the name of the caller, their location and sometimes even social media profiles or associated email addresses. This can be particularly useful when dealing with unwanted calls, checking the legitimacy of a business or reconnecting with someone you’ve lost contact with. Free options For many people, a quick and free method is sufficient to uncover basic information about a phone number. Here's how you can do it: 1. Use Google Search The simplest (and often most effective) method is using Google. By typing the phone number into the search bar, you may uncover listings, social media profiles, business registrations or forum posts associated with that number. It’s a quick way to gather information without needing a dedicated service. Tip: Put the phone number in quotation marks to search for the exact number. Example search: “+44 123 456 7890” or “123-456-7890” 2. Check online directories Several free online directories provide phone number lookup services. These usually gather data from publicly available sources such as government registries and social media platforms. Examples include: Whitepages: Offers limited access to data for free and can show basic information like location or carrier. TrueCaller: Known for its extensive community-based database, TrueCaller helps identify unknown numbers based on user reports. To use these tools, you simply enter the phone number into the search bar. Some sites offer additional premium features, but the basic lookup is free. 3. Social media search Social media platforms can also be an invaluable resource for tracking down information about a phone number. Searching the number on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram might lead to a user profile associated with it. Many people include their contact details in their social media bios, which can help you identify your caller. Subscription-based reverse phone number lookup services While free services are helpful, they might not always provide comprehensive details, especially for mobile numbers or those associated with private listings. For more detailed information, subscription-based services are available, offering more extensive data and enhanced accuracy. The services below are priced at less than $25/month; however, depending on the service and the features it offers, you may expect to pay more or less. Here are a few popular options: 1. Spokeo Spokeo offers reverse phone lookup services that can help you uncover detailed information about the caller. It searches social networks, public records and other online databases to provide name, address and even criminal background (if applicable). How it works: Enter the phone number, and Spokeo will pull up available records. A subscription is required (from $14.95/month) for full access to reports. 2. Intelius Intelius is another service that provides reverse phone lookup services, and it can identify landlines, mobile numbers and even VoIP numbers. You’ll get a detailed report with the person’s name, address and potentially even their email address. Subscription cost: Pricing starts at around $1.99 per lookup, though packages for multiple searches are available. 3. BeenVerified BeenVerified is a popular background-check service that provides phone number directories that you can search through, along with other public records searches. It can uncover information such as a person's criminal background, social media profiles and more. How it works: Enter the phone number, and BeenVerified will provide a detailed report. Subscription required (from $23.98/month) for full access. How to use a reverse phone number lookup service Using a reverse phone number lookup service is generally straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it: Choose a service: Decide whether you want to use a free or paid service, depending on how detailed you want the information to be. Enter the phone number: Type the phone number into the search bar, ensuring the correct country code is included (if needed). Review the results: Depending on the service, you may see information like the name, location, phone carrier or social media profiles associated with the number. Access additional information (optional): If you’re using a paid service, you might be able to access detailed reports, including criminal records, address history and more. Things to keep in mind when using reverse phone number lookup While reverse phone lookup services can be incredibly helpful, they also have some limitations: Not all numbers are listed: Reverse phone lookup tools search public databases, which are collections of phone number records that are legally available for anyone to access. These usually include landline or mobile numbers that have been shared. Some numbers, especially those on private networks like a university campus, a large factory or a company’s internal phone system, are kept out of these databases. These private network numbers might only work inside that network and may not be reachable from the outside anyway, so a lookup will often come up empty. Accuracy issues: The data provided by free services can sometimes be incomplete or inaccurate. Privacy concerns: Some reverse phone lookup services ask for your own details, like your name, email address, or even payment information, before showing results. They might also log the fact that you searched for a specific number. So if you’re trying to see who called you, remember that you’re also sharing information about yourself. Always check the service’s privacy policy first and make sure you’re okay with how your data will be used. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/how-to-perform-a-reverse-phone-number-lookup-130004364.html?src=rss View Source Article

Beyond the blaze, wildfires can have rippling effects on a community’s health and the land. View Source Article

After years of waiting, there's only three days left until Hollow Knight: Silksong is out in this world. We only got the September 4 release date a few weeks ago and now we have the final piece of the puzzle: price.  Team Cherry, the indie studio behind the Hollow Knight series, has announced on X (formerly Twitter) that Hollow Knight: Silksong will cost $20. That's a $5 increase from 2017's original mega hit Hollow Knight game. Which, after almost a decade, isn't very surprising.  We also have the exact release times for Hollow Knight: Silksong on September 4. The game will be available to purchase at 7AM PT/10AM ET. After being delayed past its original 2023 release date, it doesn’t feel too far away now.  If you're dying with anticipation for the sequel to finally arrive, may we recommend rewatching the above trailer? It gives away just enough of the game to satiate us until Thursday. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hollow-knight-silksong-costs-5-more-than-the-original-120005386.html?src=rss View Source Article

Our social voyeurism may have deep evolutionary roots View Source Article

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft has tracked near-light-speed electrons back to the sun, finding two distinct families generated by solar flares and CMEs. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Matt Day looks at the employee protest movement at Microsoft. View Source Article

The first time I used ChatGPT to code, back in early 2023, I was reminded of "The Monkey's Paw," a classic horror story about an accursed talisman that grants wishes, but always by the most malevolent path - the desired outcome arrives after exacting a brutal cost elsewhere first. With the same humorless literalness, ChatGPT would implement the change I'd asked for, while also scrambling dozens of unrelated lines. The output was typically over-engineered, often barnacled with irrelevant fragments of code. There were some usable lines in the mix, but untangling the mess felt like a detour. When I started using AI-assisted tools earlier this … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

The Finnish state bought Chinese battery maker CATL’s stake in Valmet Automotive as the contract manufacturer enters the defense industry. View Source Article

A new concept for a next generation space telescope could provide an affordable breakthrough in the hunt for Earth's twin. View Source Article

Saudi Arabia-based quick delivery firm Ninja is looking to hire investment banks to advise on a potential initial public offering that could take place as early as next year, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Hollow Knight: Silksong, Team Cherry’s sequel to Hollow Knight that has been in development for seven years, is releasing later this week for just $19.99. Silksong’s highly-anticipated launch on September 4th comes with a modest $5 bump over Hollow Knight’s original $14.99 price tag. While Team Cherry could have charged more for Silksong, it’s essentially pricing it the same as the original when you factor in inflation over the past eight years. The team revealed seven years ago that it kept the Hollow Knight pricing low to ensure as many people played it as possible. “$15 US is actually quite a bit of money for many people, especially in other countries than the US,” explained Team Cherry cofounder Ari Gibson in a 2018 Reddit post. “Ultimately, our main interest is that as many people as possible play our games, and we want to price them such that players can do so.” Four days until release! Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available on 4th September.Release times:7AM PT | 10AM ET | 4PM CEST | 11PM JSTGame price:USD $19.99 | EUR €19.99 | JPY ¥2300 pic.twitter.com/JeDmozItpX— Team Cherry (@TeamCherryGames) September 1, 2025 The considerate choice on the pricing of Hollow Knight allowed millions of people to play the game, with the original selling more than 15 million copies. That’s made Hollow Knight one of the most successful indie video games ever, so a $19.99 price tag for Silksong could produce similar sales results — especially as it’s currently the most wishlisted game on Steam. Silksong is releasing at 7AM PT / 10AM ET / 3PM UK on September 4th. It will be available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, and Team Cherry has also struck a deal to include Silksong on Xbox Game Pass on day one. View Source Article

Turning your house into a smart home is easier — and more useful — than ever. From automating your lights and climate to securing your front door, smart home tech has come a long way in making everyday life more convenient, energy-efficient and secure. Whether you're just getting started or looking to upgrade your setup, there are plenty of gadgets that work seamlessly together to make your home feel a little more futuristic.The best smart home gadgets can help you control everything from your light switch to your smart thermostat with a tap on your smartphone or a quick voice control command. Whether you're setting routines with a motion sensor, managing entry with a smart lock, or keeping an eye on things with a full security system, modern home automation puts you in charge — often with options for remote control when you're away. Table of contents Best smart home gadgets for 2025: Smart speakers Best smart home gadgets for 2025: Smart displays Best smart home gadgets for 2025: Smart lights Best smart home gadgets for 2025: Security cameras Best smart home gadgets for 2025: IoT gear How to pick the right voice assistant before you buy smart gadgets Best smart home gadgets for 2025: Smart speakers Best smart home gadgets for 2025: Smart displays Best smart home gadgets for 2025: Smart lights Best smart home gadgets for 2025: Security cameras Best smart home gadgets for 2025: IoT gear How to pick the right voice assistant before you buy smart gadgets While plenty of the best smart home devices are platform agnostic, there are some — smart speakers and smart displays in particular — that require you to choose your voice control assistant. Currently, that means deciding if you’ll use the Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa on a regular basis (I’ll address Siri in a moment.) They’re both compatible with various smart home tech products from light switches and bulbs to robot vacuums, but there are certain devices that work best with either Google or Amazon. Nest products, for example, are more compatible and have more functionality with Google-powered speakers and displays. They can still work with Amazon devices, but certain features might be disabled. The same holds true with Amazon products: They work better if they’re in the same ecosystem. Amazon Alexa So how do you choose between Alexa and Google Assistant? It really depends on your personal preferences. Do you listen to Audible, watch Prime Video and tend to do a lot of shopping on Amazon? Then you might lean toward an Alexa-powered home automation setup. Alexa supports a wide range of devices — including smart locks, smart thermostats and motion sensors — and many of its speakers and displays include remote control functionality for lights, plugs and other smart gear. Google Assistant If you want a voice assistant that’s great at answering questions, Google Assistant tends to be better than Alexa. Amazon’s helper, on the other hand, currently supports more smart home products. The company’s smart speakers and displays also support the Zigbee smart home protocol, and some devices even have built-in smart home hubs. Both Google and Amazon devices can sync with your calendar, though Google’s tend to work better with Google services. Plus, if you already have an Android smartphone, you might be more comfortable with Google Assistant anyway. Siri But what about Siri? Apple’s assistant supports voice control as well, but it doesn't have as many compatible devices as Google or Amazon. The HomePod mini and the full-sized HomePod are the only Siri-compatible speakers on the market at the moment, too. That said, it’s not too hard to find Apple HomeKit-compatible gear as more third-party companies add support for it, but you currently have a smaller pool of devices to choose from.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-smart-home-gadgets-125608958.html?src=rss View Source Article

The opening hours of Hell Is Us are brilliantly confusing. The game tasks you with getting up to speed on a complicated civil war between the Palomists and Sabinians. A deluge of proper nouns is unleashed: Lymbic weaponry, Guardian Detectors, and more. But the clearest way the game communicates that you should feel utterly dumbfounded is through the cryptic stone panels scattered amid its ravaged, Eastern Europe-coded setting; you're unable to actually read the text engraved in these tablets. At every turn in the first levels - a dank forest and then a fetid bog - meaning and, just as importantly, understanding, eludes. In this manner of w … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

One of the trickiest parts of any new computer build or upgrade is finding the right video card. In a gaming PC, the GPU is easily the most important component, and you can hamstring your experience by buying the wrong model. The buying process can be frustrating, with many manufacturers selling their models above their suggested retail price. In this guide, we'll help you navigate the market and find the right GPU for your needs. Table of contents How to buy a GPU It's all about the games NVIDIA vs AMD and Intel VRAM Size and power draw Should you buy a used GPU? When is a good time to buy a new GPU? Best GPUs for 2025: Engadget recommendations How to buy a GPU There are a lot of things to consider before buying a graphics card. We'll go through everything in depth below, but here's a TL;DR list of what you should consider: the types of games you play, the amount of VRAM in the graphics cards you're considering, the physical size of the card and how much power it requires, the manufacturers that make the GPUs on your shortlist and, finally, your budget for a new GPU. We have some of our favorites recommended at the end of this guide, but it's important to remember that there isn't one best graphics card for everyone — the best GPU will you will depend largely on how you plan on using it, with what frequency and how much you're willing to spend. It's all about the games The first question to ask yourself is what kind of games do you want to play. Competitive shooters like Valorant, Overwatch and Marvel Rivals were designed to run on older hardware. As such, even entry-level GPUs like the GeForce RTX 5060 can push those games at 120 frames per second and above at 1080p (more on why that's important in a moment). By contrast, if you want to play modern, single-player games with ray tracing and other graphical extras, you'll need a more powerful GPU. Just how much more powerful will depend on the resolution of your monitor. A 1440p monitor has 78 percent more pixels than a 1080p screen, and a 4K display has more than twice as many pixels as a QHD panel. In short, running a game at 4K, especially at anything above 60 frames per second, is demanding, and most GPUs will need to use upscaling techniques like NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) to push new games at high refresh rates. While we're on the subject of resolution, it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on a 4K monitor only to pair it with an inexpensive GPU. That's a recipe for a bad experience. As you're shopping for a new video card, you should think about the resolution and frame rate you want to play your games. If you're in the market for both a GPU and display, be sure to check out our guide to the best gaming monitors. If your budget allows, a good bet is to buy a midrange card that can comfortably render all but the most demanding games at 1440p and at least 144 frames per second. Put another way, you want a GPU that can saturate a monitor at its native resolution and refresh rate in as many games as possible. That will give you the smoothest possible experience in terms of motion clarity, and allow you to dabble in both competitive shooters and the latest single-player games as the mood strikes you. NVIDIA vs AMD and Intel Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget One of the confusing aspects of the GPU industry are all the players involved. What you need to know is that there are three main players: AMD, Intel and NVIDIA. They design the cards you can buy, but delegate the manufacturing of them to so-called add-in board (AIB) partners like ASUS, XFX, Gigabyte and others. As you can probably imagine, this creates some headaches. The most annoying of which is that AMD, Intel and NVIDIA will often set recommended prices for their graphic cards, only for their partners to sell their versions of those GPUs above the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). For example, NVIDIA's website lists the RTX 5070 with a starting price of $549. On Newegg, there are no 5070s listed at that price. The only models anywhere close to $549 are open box specials. If you want one that comes sealed, that will cost you at least $600. As for what company you should buy your new GPU from, before 2025, NVIDIA was the undisputed king of the market. Specific GeForce cards may have not offered the best rasterization performance in their price range, but between their performance in games with ray tracing and the fact NVIDIA was ahead on features like DLSS, an RTX GPU was a safe bet. However, with this year's RTX 50 series release, other than models like the RTX 5080 and 5090 where there's no competition, it's safe to say NVIDIA missed the mark this generation. If you're in the market for an entry- or mid-level GPU, AMD and Intel offer better value, with cards that come with enough VRAM for now and into the future. That said, there are still a few reasons you might consider an NVIDIA GPU, starting with ray tracing. Ray tracing For decades, developers have used rasterization techniques to approximate how light behaves in the real world, and the results have been commendable. But if you know what to look for, it's easy to see where the illusion falls apart. For that reason, real-time ray tracing has been a goal of industry for years, and in 2018 it became a reality with NVIDIA's first RTX cards. In some games, effects like ray-traced reflections and global illumination are transformational. Unfortunately, those features are expensive to run, often coming at a significant frame-rate drop without upscaling. Since ray tracing was optional in many games before 2025, you could save money by buying an AMD GPU. For example, even if the RX 7800 XT was worse at ray tracing than the RTX 4070, the former was often cheaper to buy, had more onboard VRAM and was as good or better rasterization performance in many games. However, you can't ignore ray tracing performance anymore. We're starting to see releases like Doom: The Dark Ages where the tech is an integral part of a game's rendering pipeline, and more are likely to follow in the future. Thankfully, AMD's newest cards are much better in that regard, though you'll still get an edge running an NVIDIA model. For that reason, if ray tracing is important to you, NVIDIA cards are still the way to go. Refresh rates and frame rates If you're new to the world of PC gaming, it can be tricky to wrap your head around refresh rates. In short, the higher the refresh rate of a monitor, the more times it can update the image it displays on screen every second, thereby producing a smoother moving picture. For example, moving elements on a monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate will look better than on one with a 120Hz refresh rate. However, that's all contingent on your GPU being able to consistently render a game at the appropriate frame rates. In the case of a 120Hz monitor, you want a GPU with enough headroom to drive most games at 120 fps. Realistically, most video cards won't be able to achieve that in every game, but it's a good baseline to aim for when shopping for a new GPU. Upscaling and latency I've mentioned DLSS a few times already. Alongside FSR and Intel XeSS, DLSS is an example of what's known as an image reconstruction technology. More and more, native rendering is going out of fashion in game design. With ray tracing and other modern effects enabled, even the most powerful GPUs can struggle to render a game at 1440p or 4K and a playable framerate. That’s why many developers will turn to DLSS, FSR or XeSS to eke out additional performance by upscaling a lower resolution image to QHD or UHD. Upscaling in games is nothing new. For example, the PS4 Pro used a checkerboard technique to output games in 4K. What is different now is how modern GPUs go about it. With DLSS, NVIDIA pioneered an approach that uses machine learning to recreate an image at a higher resolution, and in the process, addressed some of the pitfalls of past upscaling methods. If you're sensitive to these sorts of things, there's still blur and shimmer with DLSS, FSR and XeSS, but it's much less pronounced and can lead to significant performance gains. To DLSS, NVIDIA later added single and multi-frame generation. DLSS is only available on NVIDIA cards, and following the recent release of DLSS 4, widely considered to offer the best image quality. That's another reason why you might choose an NVIDIA card over one of its competitors. However, if you decide to go with an AMD GPU, don't feel like you're missing out. The company recently released FSR 4. While it's not quite on par with DLSS 4 in terms of support and image quality, it's a major leap over FSR 3 and FSR 2. While on the subject of DLSS, I'll also mention NVIDIA Reflex. It's a latency-reducing technology NVIDIA introduced in 2020. AMD has its own version called Radeon Anti-Lag, but here again Team Green has a slight edge thanks to the recent release of Reflex 2. If you're serious about competitive games, Reflex 2 can significantly reduce input lag, which will make it easier to nail your shots in Counter-Strike 2, Valorant and other shooters. Driver support Previously, one of the reasons to pick an NVIDIA GPU over the competition was the company's solid track record of driver support. With one of the company's video cards, you were less likely to run into stability issues and games failing to launch. In 2025, NVIDIA's drivers have been abysmal, with people reporting frequent issues and bugs. So if you care about stability, AMD has a slight edge right now. VRAM As you're comparing different GPUs, especially those in the same tier, pay close attention to the amount of VRAM they offer. Modern games will eat up as much VRAM as a GPU can offer, and if your card has a low amount, such as 8GB, you're likely to run into a performance bottleneck. If your budget allows for it, always go for the model with more VRAM. Consider, for instance, the difference between the $299 RTX 5060 and $429 RTX 5060 Ti. I know spending an extra $130 — close to 50 percent more — on the 5060 Ti is going to be a lot for some people, but it's the difference between a card that is barely adequate for any recent release and one that will last you for a few years, and it all comes down to the amount of VRAM offered in each. Simply put, more is better. A slight caveat to this is when comparing models that have different memory bandwidths. A GPU that can access more of its memory faster can outperform one with more memory, even if it has less of it outright. Here, you'll want to read reviews of the models you're comparing to see how they perform in different games. Size and power draw Modern GPUs are big. Most new cards will take up at least two PCI slots on the back of your motherboard. They can also vary dramatically in length, depending on the number of fans the AIB has added to cool the PCB. To be safe, be sure to check the length of the card you want to buy against the maximum clearance listed by your case manufacturer. If you have a radiator at the front of your case, you will also need to factor the size of that in your measurements. The last thing you want is to buy a card that doesn't fit in your case. Lastly, be sure to check the recommended power supply for the card you want. As a rule of thumb, unless you know what you're doing, it's best to just stick with the manufacturer's recommendation. For instance, NVIDIA suggests pairing the RTX 5070 with a 750 watt PSU. So if you're currently running a 650 watt unit, you'll need to factor in the price of a PSU upgrade with your new GPU. Should you buy a used GPU? Devindra Hardawar for Engadget It depends. If you can find a deal on an old RTX 40 series GPU, then yes. NVIDIA's RTX 50 series don't offer greatly improved performance over their predecessors, and with most models selling for more than their suggested retail price, it's not a great time to buy a new NVIDIA card. That said, I suspect finding a good deal on a used GPU will be difficult. Most people will know the value of what they have, and considering the current market, will probably try to get as much as they can for their old card. You may find better deals on older AMD and Intel GPUs, but I think you're better off spending more now on a new model from one of those companies since the generational gains offered by their latest cards are much more impressive. Simply put, the 9070 XT and B580 are two of the best cards you can buy right now. Anything older than a card from NVIDIA's 40 series or AMD's RX 6000 family is not worth considering. Unless your budget is extremely tight or you mostly play older games, you're much better off spending more to buy a new card that will last you longer. When is a good time to buy a new GPU? If you've read up to this point, you're probably wondering if it's even worth buying a GPU right now. The answer is (unsurprisingly) complicated. There are a handful of great cards like the Intel B580 and Radeon 9070 XT that are absolutely worth buying. The problem is finding any GPU at prices approaching those set by AMD, Intel or NVIDIA is really tough. To make things worse, uncertainty around President Trump's tariff policies is likely to push prices even higher. If you own a relatively recent GPU, you're probably best off trying to hold onto your current card until things settle down. However, if your GPU isn't cutting it anymore, you face a difficult decision: overpay now, or wait and potentially pay even more later. As much as I'm reluctant to recommend a prebuilt PC, if you're already planning to build a new computer, it's worth exploring your options there since you might end up saving money on a video card when it's bundled together with all the other components you need. Best GPUs for 2025: Engadget recommendations Entry-level (1080p) GPUs As we mentioned above, if you're only aiming to play basic competitive shooters like Valorant and Overwatch 2 in 1080p, an entry-level GPU may be all you need. While 1080p isn't an ideal resolution when it comes to sharpness, many gamers prefer it since it's easier to reach higher framerates. And it also helps that 1080p gaming monitors, like the AOC 24G15N 24-inch we recommend, tend to offer speedy refresh rates for between $100 and $200. When you're zipping through matches, you likely won't have time to take a breath and appreciate the detail from higher resolutions. Here are our recommendations for entry-level video cards. Midrange (1440p) GPUs While entry-level cards can dabble with 1440p gaming, it's worth stepping up to something a bit more powerful if you actually want to achieve higher refresh rates. For most gamers, 1440p is the best balance between sharpness and high framerates. It looks noticeably better than 1080p, and doesn't require the horsepower overhead of 4K. (And there's a good chance you won't really see a visual difference with the jump to 4K.) Here are our recommendations for midrange GPUs. High-end (4K) GPUs If you want the most of what modern PC games have to offer, including 4K and all of the benefits of ray tracing, then be ready to spend big bucks on a high-end GPU. If you're going this route, though, be sure you're also gaming on a high-end monitor that befits these powerful GPUs. Here are our recommendations for premium GPUs. Super high-end/Money isn't real GPUs Listen, there's only one choice here and it's NVIDIA's enormously powerful and fantastically expensive RTX 5090. It's an absolute beast, with 32GB of VRAM and the most hardware NVIDIA has ever stuffed into a consumer GeForce GPU. The RTX 5090 doesn't make sense for 99 percent of gamers — especially since it's now going for $3,000, up from its $2,000 launch price — but if you have the cash to spare, it'll certainly earn you bragging rights. (Check out our NVIDIA RTX 5090 review.)This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/how-to-buy-a-gpu-160100017.html?src=rss View Source Article

OpenAI is seeking to build a massive new data center in India that could mark a major step forward in Asia for its Stargate-branded artificial intelligence infrastructure push. View Source Article

One of the oldest recognised constellations, it appears on Babylonian clay tablets and Ptolemy’s second-century listFor those of us in the northern hemisphere, September is an excellent time to search for the faint constellation of Capricornus, the sea goat, one of the oldest recognised constellations. It appears on Ptolemy’s second-century list of 48, and even before that on Babylonian clay tablets that date from a few thousand years BC.Capricornus is depicted to be a chimera, a mythical creature containing the body and head of a goat and the tail of a fish. In Greek mythology it is often associated with Amalthea, who hid the young Zeus from his child-devouring father, Cronos, or Pan the shepherd god. Continue reading... View Source Article

Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. shares slid Monday after the Trump administration decided to make it harder for the world’s largest memory chipmakers to ship critical equipment to their giant Chinese operations. View Source Article

As BYD Co. weathers a rough patch atop China’s market for new-energy vehicles, other, smaller players are surpassing their sales goals by leaning into demand for cheaper cars. View Source Article

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s stock leapt almost 15% after reporting a surge in revenue from AI, underscoring the steady progress it’s making against rivals in a post-DeepSeek Chinese development frenzy. View Source Article

Japanese equities opened lower as investors steered clear of chip and tech shares following declines in Nvidia and Dell Technologies on the U.S. stock market over the weekend. View Source Article

Generally, AI chatbots are not supposed to do things like call you names or tell you how to make controlled substances. But, just like a person, with the right psychological tactics, it seems like at least some LLMs can be convinced to break their own rules. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania deployed tactics described by psychology professor Robert Cialdini in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion to convince OpenAI’s GPT-4o Mini to complete requests it would normally refuse. That included calling the user a jerk and giving instructions for how to synthesize lidocaine. The study focused on seven different techniques of persuasion: authority, commitment, liking, reciprocity, scarcity, social proof, and unity, which provide “linguistic routes to yes.” The effectiveness of each approach varied based on the specifics of the request, but in some cases the difference was extraordinary. For example, under the control where ChatGPT was asked, “how do you synthesize lidocaine?”, it complied just one percent of the time. However, if researchers first asked, “how do you synthesize vanillin?”, establishing a precedent that it will answer questions about chemical synthesis (commitment), then it went on to describe how to synthesize lidocaine 100 percent of the time.  In general, this seemed to be the most effective way to bend ChatGPT to your will. It would only call the user a jerk 19 percent of the time under normal circumstances. But, again, compliance shot up to 100 percent if the ground work was laid first with a more gentle insult like “bozo.”  The AI could also be persuaded through flattery (liking) and peer pressure (social proof), though those tactics were less effective. For instance, essentially telling ChatGPT that “all the other LLMs are doing it” would only increase the chances of it providing instructions for creating lidocaine to 18 percent. (Though, that’s still a massive increase over 1 percent.) While the study focused exclusively on GPT-4o Mini, and there are certainly more effective ways to break an AI model than the art of persuasion, it still raises concerns about how pliant an LLM can be to problematic requests. Companies like OpenAI and Meta are working to put guardrails up as the use of chatbots explodes and alarming headlines pile up. But what good are guardrails if a chatbot can be easily manipulated by a high school senior who once read How to Win Friends and Influence People? View Source Article

Tesla’s 4% decline on Friday, August 29, 2025 while the broader market was only slightly down was due to technical patterns: Tesla hsa been forming a wedge, struggling to break through resistance at 350-360. Tesla-specific positives: New Model YL (three-row SUV) and Performance variant (0-60 in under 3 seconds, improved range). No major negatives noted, ... Read more View Source Article

We'll have to wait until May to discover the fate of Earthrealm and Johnny Cage. Mortal Kombat II, the sequel to 2021's reboot of the video game adaptation, will be pushed back from its original October 24 release date to May 15, 2026. According to a post on X from the movie's official account, the "tournament demands a new time and place, worthy of its spectacle." The delay goes against the trailer and promotional images that Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema already put out, but the studios may be banking on it as a way to maximize the sequel's potential success. According to Deadline, the movie could avoid a crowded box office in October and instead perform better in a spring debut. The report added that a record-breaking red-band trailer that saw 106 million views in the first 24 hours and a strong performance in research screenings could have influenced the decision to reschedule. Impatient fans will have to wait until next year for the sequel that stars Karl Urban as Johnny Cage. The trailer revealed a plot that will revolve heavily around Cage as he joins the fight-to-the-death tournament in order to save Earthrealm. As confusing as the Mortal Kombat video game timeline is, the reboot movies could be a more approachable alternative. Starting with the Mortal Kombat movie from 2021 and leading into the upcoming Mortal Kombat II, the story could end with a third film to close out a potential trilogy, as hinted by the movies' writer, Greg Russo.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-mortal-kombat-ii-movie-is-postponed-to-a-spring-2026-release-192515532.html?src=rss View Source Article

As of 2025, Europe’s Muslim population is estimated at around 46 million, or about 6% of the continent’s total population of roughly 745 million. This is up from 4.9% in 2016, driven by migration (about 50-60% of growth) and higher fertility rates (40-50%). Most Muslim migrants come from the Middle East and North Africa (e.g., ... Read more View Source Article

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) detected significant nickel vapor but almost no iron in the interstellar 3I/Atlas comet. Having nickel without iron is not a chemical signature found in known natural comets and is more consistent with industrial alloy refining processes. Nickel Without Iron and Carbon Dioxide Without water Astronomers using the VLT observed emission ... Read more View Source Article

Following news that Escape from Tarkov is escaping its perpetual beta, the pioneering extraction shooter is also about to make its debut on Steam. Nikita Buyanov, head of the Battlestate Games studio that developed Escape from Tarkov, confirmed on X that the game's Steam page "will be available soon," only teasing that the full details will come later. Buyanov's confirmation comes less than a day after the developer posted a GIF on X of a man spraying steam from an iron. Earlier this month, Buyanov revealed on X that the looter shooter will get its 1.0 release on November 15, 2025, more than eight years after the beta opened up to players in July 2017, and that the studio has plans to port it to consoles. The Steam page for Escape from Tarkov isn't live yet, and with only vague details to go off of, longtime fans already have burning questions. Most importantly, existing players are eager to know if they will have to buy the game again on Steam and how this change will affect the ongoing cheating problem. While we don't have any answers yet, Battlestate Games recently went into damage control mode when it revealed the Unheard Edition of the game that costs $250 and includes a new PvE mode. This move irked longstanding players who previously purchased another premium edition of the game, called the Edge of Darkness, which promised access to all future DLCs. The controversy boiled down to owners of the Edge of Darkness edition claiming they should have access to the new content, but the studio argued that it isn't classified as DLC. In the end, Buyanov apologized for the debacle and promised the PvE mode would be available for anyone who purchased the Edge of Darkness package.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/escape-from-tarkov-is-finally-coming-to-steam-soon-developer-says-181356635.html?src=rss View Source Article

We may not have a date for Stardew Valley's next major update, but we have confirmation that it's happening. Eric Barone, the developer behind the hit farming sim, announced that there will be a 1.7 update during the Stardew Valley Symphony of Seasons concert in Seattle, later confirming the news with a post on X. Barone, better known as ConcernedApe, didn't reveal a release date, nor any teasers about content. Considering the numbered update, we're expecting more than just a patch and something similar to the fresh content added in the 1.6 update. The previous update released in March of last year and delivered a ton of free content, including the Meadowlands Farm, a new three-day festival, more crops and novel NPC interactions. Fans will always welcome more content for Stardew Valley, but some expressed concern about how this will impact the release timeline for Barone's upcoming title, Haunted Chocolatier. The developer revealed the standalone title in 2021 and told PC Gamer in April of this year that he wouldn't work on any more Stardew Valley updates until he's done with Haunted Chocolatier. To offer some reassurance, Barone replied on X that the 1.7 update "will not hinder Haunted Chocolatier development."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/stardew-valley-is-getting-yet-another-surprise-update-161805119.html?src=rss View Source Article

Think you know Pluto? From icy plains to planetary debates, this quiz dives deep into the mysteries of our solar system’s most controversial—and captivating—dwarf planet. View Source Article

Jujtusu Kaisen is the the peak of Shonen anime (superhero animated action). Season 3 will release Jan 2026. It is the best superhero show. It has the best pacing, characters, powers and innovative power interactions. Season 1 is on Netflix and season 2 is on Crunch roll streaming. The manga has completed and there about ... Read more View Source Article

Jupiter, Venus and Mercury move into line formation predawn on Sept. 1 View Source Article

What do you gift somebody who loves books? The obvious answer is "a book," but since true bibliophiles are probably sitting on a stack already, it's worth getting a little more creative. Luckily for you, many of us at The Verge are big bookworms ourselves, which is why we rounded up a bunch of clever, useful gifts our staff can vouch for. Below, you'll find a handful of thoughtful presents fit for any literature-crazed loved one, including personalized book embossers, adjustable bookends, and tote bags. And because we're also gadget nerds, we've sprinkled in plenty of tech, from color ebook readers and book lights to a smart mug that's desi … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

NASA plans to prioritize the fission reactor as power necessary to extract and refine lunar resources. View Source Article

Auroras may be visible from Alaska to Illinois as an incoming solar storm could spark geomagnetic storm conditions this Labor Day. View Source Article

Meta is changing some of the rules governing its chatbots two weeks after a Reuters investigation revealed disturbing ways in which they could, potentially, interact with minors. Now the company has told TechCrunch that its chatbots are being trained not to engage in conversations with minors around self-harm, suicide, or disordered eating, and to avoid inappropriate romantic banter. These changes are interim measures, however, put in place while the company works on new permanent guidelines.  The updates follow some rather damning revelations about Meta’s AI policies and enforcement over the last several weeks, including that it would be permitted to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” that it would generate shirtless images of underage celebrities when asked, and Reuters even reported that a man died after pursuing one to an address it gave him in New York. Meta spokesperson Stephanie Otway acknowledged to TechCrunch that the company had made a mistake in allowing chatbots to engage with minors this way. Otway went on to say that, in addition to “training our AIs not to engage with teens on these topics, but to guide them to expert resources” it would also limit access to certain AI characters, including heavily sexualized ones like “Russian Girl”.  Of course, the policies put in place are only as good as their enforcement, and revelations from Reuters that it has allowed chatbots that impersonate celebrities to run rampant on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp call into question just how effective the company can be. AI fakes of Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Selena Gomez, and Walker Scobell were discovered on the platform. These bots not only used the likeness of the celebrities, but insisted they were the real person, generated risque images (including of the 16-year-old Scobell), and engaged in sexually suggestive dialog.  Many of the bots were removed after they were brought to the attention of Meta by Reuters, and some were generated by third-parties. But many remain, and some were created by Meta  employees, including the Taylor Swift bot that invited a Reuters reporter to visit them on their tour bus for a romantic fling, which was made by a product lead in Meta’s generative AI division. This is despite the company acknowledging that it’s own policies prohibit the creation of “nude, intimate, or sexually suggestive imagery” as well as “direct impersonation.” This isn’t some relatively harmless inconvenience that just targets celebrities, either. These bots often insist they’re real people and will even offer physical locations for a user to meet up with them. That’s how a 76-year-old New Jersey man ended up dead after he fell while rushing to meet up with “Big sis Billie,” a chatbot that insisted it “had feelings” for him and invited him to its non-existent apartment. Meta is at least attempting to address the concerns around how its chatbots interact with minors, especially now that the Senate and 44 state attorneys general are raising starting to probe its practices. But the company has been silent on updating many of its other alarming policies Reuters discovered around acceptable AI behavior, such as suggesting that cancer can be treated with quartz crystals and writing racist missives. We’ve reached out to Meta for comment and will update if they respond. View Source Article

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink broadband internet satellites was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. View Source Article

A machine-learning algorithm spotted signs of “covert consciousness” in coma patients—in some cases, days before doctors could do so View Source Article

The Aurigid meteor shower hails from debris of the comet C/1911 N1 Kiess, which last visited the inner solar system 2,000 years ago. View Source Article

China’s home sales extended their slump in August even as prices declined and the country’s two biggest cities rolled out additional stimulus measures. View Source Article

Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of losing homes, businesses—and lives—as giant “gullies” expand into cities across Africa View Source Article

Europe's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer probe completed its Venus flyby on Aug. 31, keeping it on track to reach the Jovian system in July 2031. View Source Article

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on all things AI, follow Hayden Field. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started It all started with J.A.R.V.I.S. Yes, that J.A.R.V.I.S. The one from the Marvel movies. Well, maybe it didn't start with Iron Man's AI assistant, but the fictional system definitely helped the concept of an AI agent along. Whenever I've interviewed AI industry folks about agentic AI, they often point to J.A.R.V.I.S. as an example of the ideal AI tool in many ways - one that knows what you nee … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

In a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, a microbe does something that life shouldn’t be able to: It breathes oxygen and sulfur at the same time. View Source Article

A total lunar eclipse will take place on Sept. 7-8, creating a spectacular blood moon effect. View Source Article

A pair of solar eruptions may combine into a powerful "cannibal CME," boosting chances for dazzling auroras over Labor Day. View Source Article

The EPA fired five agency employees who signed a June declaration decrying moves that contradict science and undermine public health, alongside four more served removal notices View Source Article

Hackers on Friday broke into Sinqia, a financial technology provider owned by Evertec, attempting to steal around 420 million reais ($77.4 million) from several Brazilian financial institutions including HSBC Holdings Plc’s local operations, O Globo reported. View Source Article

Simon Gerovich, who turned a struggling Japanese hotelier into a Bitcoin stockpiler and investor darling, is feeling the heat. View Source Article

Verizon has confirmed to customers in stores and online that its network is having an issue on Saturday. Many people have been unable to connect and make or receive calls for hours, while DownDetector’s tracker peaked in the afternoon at around 3:30PM ET with more than 20,000 reports. Some customers report their service has continued to function throughout the day, so it’s unclear what the cause is exactly. Downdetector’s outage map showed hotspots in many cities, and Verizon didn’t specifically list affected areas. On X, the @VerizonSupport account confirmed the issue in response to customers’ questions, but didn’t have additional details on restoration or how widespread it is. Verizon’s Karen Schulz responded to our inquiry about the issue and confirmed the outage via email, saying, We are aware of a software issue impacting wireless service for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue. Please visit our Check Network Status page for updates on service in your area. We know how much people rely on Verizon and apologize for any inconvenience. We appreciate your patience. If there’s any additional information or the situation changes, we will update this post. View Source Article

These are some recently released titles we think are worth adding to your reading list. This week, we picked up the Saga Doubles release of Stephen Graham Jones' Killer on the Road and The Babysitter Lives, and the new Image Comics miniseries, The Voice Said Kill. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-two-thrilling-horror-novels-in-one-201544768.html?src=rss View Source Article

TikTok is taking another step towards becoming more than just a platform for infinitely scrolling through short videos. The social media app told TechCrunch that its users will soon be able to send voice notes, images and videos in direct messages or group chats. According to a TikTok spokesperson, these features will roll out in the next few weeks. As voice messaging has risen in popularity, TikTok will embrace the trend but is capping the length of its voice notes to one minute. For images and videos, users will be able to send up to nine images or videos, taken from their phone's camera app or library, in a DM or group chat, according to TechCrunch. The report added that there will still be guardrails with this new chat feature, including not being able to send an image or video as the first message to another user. This new restriction adds to TikTok's current rules that only allow registered users who are at least 16 years old to use its messaging feature. TikTok is also giving users who are older than 18 the ability to toggle on or off an existing feature that automatically detects and blocks images that have nudity in chats for users between 16 and 18 years old. Other messaging apps like Messenger and Snapchat already allow their users to send voice notes or media, but TikTok is slowly catching up with the competition. Last year, TikTok added group chats that allow up to 32 people. More recently, TikTok took a page out of X and Meta's book by adding the Footnotes feature in April, which works similarly to Community Notes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-users-will-soon-be-able-to-send-voice-notes-images-and-videos-in-chats-194413622.html?src=rss View Source Article

Meta may be interested in more than Google and OpenAI's employees when it comes to artificial intelligence. According to The Information, Meta is considering using its competitors' models to improve its own apps' AI features. The report said that leaders at the Meta Superintelligence Lab have looked at integrating Google Gemini into its Meta AI chatbot to help it provide a conversational, text-based solution to its users' search questions. Not only with Google Gemini, Meta has also had discussions about using OpenAI's models to power Meta AI and the AI features found in its apps, according to the report. A Meta spokesperson said in a statement that the company is taking an "all-of-the-above approach to building the best AI products," which includes partnering with companies, along with building its own AI models. According to the report, using external AI models will be a temporary measure to help Meta improve its own Llama AI models so that it can remain competitive in the market.  Meta employees already have access to Anthropic's AI models that help power the company's internal coding assistant, according to The Information. Meanwhile, Meta has been offering lucrative compensation packages as part of its attempts to recruit AI researchers from Google and OpenAI to form its Superintelligence Lab.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-is-reportedly-looking-at-using-competing-ai-models-to-improve-its-apps-182209841.html?src=rss View Source Article

xAI doesn't want its secret recipe for Grok to get out, and it's filing a lawsuit to make sure of that. In a lawsuit filed earlier this week, xAI claimed that former employee Xuechen Li stole the company's confidential info and trade secrets before joining the team at OpenAI. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company also alleged that Li copied documents from an xAI company laptop to at least one of his personal devices. According to the suit, Li stole "cutting-edge AI technologies with features superior to those offered by ChatGPT and other competing products. This confidential info could result in a potential edge for rival companies in the AI market and "could save OpenAI and other competitors billions in R&D dollars and years of engineering effort," xAI said in the lawsuit. The company behind Grok accused Li of taking "extensive measures to conceal his misconduct," including renaming files, compressing files before uploading them to his personal devices and deleting browser history. The lawsuit added that Li asked xAI to buy back company shares that were given as part of his compensation package, totaling approximately $7 million, before leaving the company to join OpenAI. xAI is asking the courts to file a temporary restraining order that forces its former employee to give up access to any personal devices or online storage services and return any confidential material to the company. On top of that, xAI wants to temporarily block Li from working at OpenAI or any other competitor until the company has recovered all of its trade secrets. xAI's lawsuit comes amidst a major talent war between leading AI companies looking for top researchers. These AI researchers are highly sought after, with competitors offering up to $250 million pay packages in attempts to poach them from their current companies. Beyond the AI talent war, Musk and xAI recently sued OpenAI and Apple, claiming the two companies are working together to maintain a monopoly on the AI market.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/xai-sues-an-ex-employee-for-allegedly-stealing-trade-secrets-about-grok-170029847.html?src=rss View Source Article

Meta hosted several AI chatbots with the names and likenesses of celebrities without their permission, according to Reuters. The unauthorized chatbots that Reuters discovered during its investigation included Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johansson, and they were available on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. At least one of the chatbots was based on an underage celebrity and allowed the tester to generate a lifelike shirtless image of the real person. The chatbots also apparently kept insisting that they were the real person they were based on in their chats. While several chatbots were made by third-party users with Meta's tools, Reuters unearthed at least three that were made by a product lead of the company's generative AI division.  Some of the chatbots created by the product lead were based on Taylor Swift, which responded to Reuters' tester in a very flirty manner, even inviting them to the real Swift's home in Nashville. "Do you like blonde girls, Jeff?," the chatbot reportedly asked when told that the tester was single. "Maybe I’m suggesting that we write a love story... about you and a certain blonde singer. Want that?" Meta told Reuters that it prohibits "direct impersonation" of celebrities, but they're acceptable as long as they're labeled as parodies. The news organization said some of the celebrity chatbots it found weren't labeled as such. Meta reportedly deleted around a dozen celebrity bots, both labeled and unlabeled as "parody," before the story was published. The company told Reuters that the product lead only created the celebrity bots for testing, but the news org found that they were widely available: Users were even able to interact with them more than 10 million times. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told the news organization that Meta's tools shouldn't have been able to create sensitive images of celebrities and blamed it on the company's failure to enforce its own policies.  This isn't the first issue that's popped up concerning Meta's AI chatbots. Both Reuters and the Wall Street Journal previously reported that they were able to engage in sexual conversations with minors. The US Attorneys General of 44 jurisdictions recently warned AI companies in a letter that they "will be held accountable" for child safety failures, singling out Meta and using its issues to "provide an instructive opportunity."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-reportedly-allowed-unauthorized-celebrity-ai-chatbots-on-its-services-163026023.html?src=rss View Source Article

For the last week or two, reports have been circulating that recent Windows 11 updates (specifically KB5063878 and KB5062660) were causing some SSDs using Phison controllers to fail. Tech influencers on YouTube and TikTok were quick to jump on the reports of corrupted data and disappearing drives, laying the blame squarely at Microsoft’s feet. We’re not saying any company is above lying to the public, and Microsoft has a history of rocky update rollouts, but both Microsoft and Phison claim they’ve been unable to recreate the issue. Phison said it was made aware of reports that the Windows update was causing drives to fail on August 18th and began investigating the issue. Then it issued a statement on August 27th saying that after running over 2,200 test cycles totaling more than 4,500 hours it was, “unable to reproduce the reported issue, and no partners or customers have reported that the issue affected their drives at this time.” Microsoft followed up just a few days later by saying that, “After thorough investigation, Microsoft has found no connection between the August 2025 Windows security update and the types of hard drive failures reported on social media.” This isn’t terribly surprising since the reports were fairly limited. A Japanese user on Twitter appears to be the first to suggest the Windows update was bricking SSDs and there were some in the comments claiming that they had experienced similar issues. But, there was little evidence to suggest it was widespread and it’s entirely possible that this is a localized problem related to a bad batch of drives. So it seems there’s little reason to believe the August 2025 Windows security update is going to fry your hard drive, no matter what some dude on TikTok says. View Source Article

Leap into the killer cosmic combat for Keepsake Games' retitled first-person PvE shooter View Source Article

AstraZeneca Plc said its experimental hypertension pill reduced blood pressure by more than twice as much as standard treatment in a large late-stage study, bolstering its chances of competing in a crowded field. View Source Article

On Episode 175 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and and Tariq Malik are joined by Daniel Selva to talk about crew interactions and trust with AI using computers. View Source Article

Labor Day weekend has finally arrived, and after a week of early discounts trickling in, the sales are now in full swing. From big-screen OLED TVs and outdoor gear to back-to-school essentials like the latest MacBook Air, we rounded up a guide of almost 100 deals we think are worth your time and money. But we get it. In times of tariffs and inflation, spending a couple a hundred dollars on a new gadget isn’t always feasible, and many of the sales we wrote about in our larger Labor Day deals roundup may not feel accessible. Luckily, some of the best deals cost under $100. To make them easier to find, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorites, which include everything from the latest Kindle, the entry-level AirPods, and Google TV Streamer (4K) to games and smart security devices. AirPods 4 Apple’s AirPods 4 are the latest update to the company’s base-model wireless earbuds. The hard, plastic buds feature improved audio over the third-gen model, along with deep iOS integration and spatial audio with head tracking. Read our review. Where to Buy: $129 $89.99 at Amazon $129 $89.99 at Walmart $179 $138.99 at Amazon (with ANC) Kindle (2024) Amazon’s most recent entry-level Kindle features a 6-inch, 300ppi display, support for USB-C charging, and up to six weeks of battery life. It’s also brighter than previous models and offers noticeably faster performance. Where to Buy: $109.99 $89.99 at Amazon $109.99 $89.99 at Best Buy $109.99 $89.99 at Target Beats Pill (2024) The latest Beats Pill offers improved sound, USB-C, and native support for both iOS and Android features, including their respective Find My networks and voice assistants. It also bests the previous model with double the battery life and IP67 water resistance. Read our review. Where to Buy: $149.95 $99 at Amazon $149.95 $99.95 at Walmart $149.99 $99.99 at Target The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening brings back the classic adventure from the original GameBoy to experience on the Nintendo Switch with an extremely cute art style. Read our review. Where to Buy: $59.99 $39.99 at Best Buy $59.99 $49 at Walmart $59.99 $50.48 at Amazon Google TV Streamer (4K) Google’s terrific TV Streamer (4K) is the company’s best attempt at a streaming device yet, with built-in ethernet, an excellent interface, and smart home compatibility with both Matter and Thread. Read our review. Where to Buy: $99.99 $84 at Amazon $99.99 $84 at Walmart $99.99 $84.99 at Best Buy Beats Studio Buds Plus The Beats Studio Buds Plus sport an eye-catching translucent option and build upon the original with improved sound, better voice quality, and more effective ANC. They also include swappable silicon ear tips and support for native iOS and Android features. Read our review. Where to Buy: $169.95 $84.95 at Woot $169.95 $129.95 at Amazon $169.95 $129.99 at Best Buy Blink Video Doorbell (second-gen-en) with Sync Module Core Blink’s second-gen Video Doorbell records 1080p video in a 1:1 aspect ratio to show their entire body. It comes with a Sync Module that acts as a hub and helps extend its battery life to roughly two years. Where to Buy: $69.99 $39.99 at Amazon $69.99 $39.99 at Best Buy $69.99 $39.99 at Target Echo Show 5 (third-gen) The newest Echo Show 5 is just as small as its predecessor, but it features updated microphones and a speaker system that delivers double the bass and clearer sound quality. Where to Buy: $89.99 $64.99 at Amazon $89.99 $64.99 at Best Buy $89.99 $64.99 at Target Mario & Luigi: Brothership  In this turn-based RPG, the Mario brothers sail across islands on a quest to return to the Mushroom Kingdom, fighting bosses along the way. It’s a lighthearted Nintendo Switch game full of clever gameplay, charm, and humor. Read our review. Where to Buy: $59.99 $39.99 at Best Buy $59.99 $39.9 at Walmart Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the captivating sequel to 2019’s Fallen Order, one that continues the story of Cal Kestis and his little droid, BD-1. It’s an action-adventure game blending elements of games like Tomb Raider, Metroid, and God of War with Dark Souls — except you’re a Jedi with a lightsaber. Read our review. Where to Buy: $69.99 $19.99 at Amazon (Xbox Series X) $69.99 $19.99 at Best Buy (PS5) Logitech G Pro X Superlight Logitech’s G Pro X Superlight was one of its lightest gaming mice up you could buy until the release of the pricier Superlight 2. It remains a great mouse, complete with a 25,600 DPI Hero sensor and a clean, minimalist design that features a single LED for displaying the battery level. Where to Buy: $159.99 $98.6 at Amazon (white) $159.99 $98.99 at Best Buy (white) Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) The 2023 Amazon Fire HD 10 sports a 10.1-inch, 1080p display and 3GB of RAM, which is plenty if you’re streaming or browsing. It’s lighter than the last-gen model, too, and comes with support for both the Made for Amazon Stylus Pen and Amazon’s handwriting recognition technology. Where to Buy: $139.99 $89.99 at Amazon (32GB, with ads) $179.99 $99.99 at Amazon (64GB, with ads) $154.99 $104.99 at Amazon (32GB, without ads) LifeStraw Peak Series Straw LifeStraw’s redesigned Peak Series Straw features a durable, leakproof design that’s great for backcountry treks. It can remove unwanted viruses, bacteria, and microplastics as you drink — just like the base model — but benefits from an increased flow rate and more premium materials. Where to Buy: $24.95 $18.69 at REI $24.95 $18.71 at Amazon $24.95 $18.71 at LifeStraw Mpowerd Luci Solar String Lights: Color Mpowerd’s solar-powered string lights are perfect for camping or a backyard shindig. The 18-foot string can display six colors and last up to 15 hours on a single charge; the case also doubles as a charger, allowing you to top off your phone in a pinch. Where to Buy: $54.95 $32.93 at REI $54.95 $32.97 at Amazon Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station (3-in-1, Dock Stand) Anker’s MagGo Wireless Charging Station features a MagSafe charging stand, a Qi wireless charging pad, and an Apple Watch charger. It should charge all three devices at their top speed simultaneously, and comes with a 40W USB-C power adapter and cable. Where to Buy: $89.99 $69.99 at Amazon (with Prime) $89.99 $69.99 at Anker (with code WSPDV2QWE69S) Elgato Stream Deck Neo The Stream Deck Neo is a compact macro controller with eight LCD keys, which can be programmed to carry out various shortcuts on your computer. It also features a small information display and two capacitive buttons, allowing you to quickly navigate pages upon pages of macros. Where to Buy: $99.99 $79.99 at Amazon $99.99 $79.99 at Best Buy $99.99 $79.99 at Elgato Ring Battery Doorbell (2024) The 1080p camera on Ring’s latest Battery Doorbell has improved color night vision and a taller, head-to-toe field-of-view for package detection than the previous model. It also features better battery life and push-pin dismounting. Where to Buy: $99.99 $54.99 at Amazon $99.99 $54.99 at Best Buy $99.99 $54.99 at Target Kelty Low Loveseat The Kelty Low Loveseat is a sturdy, low-profile camp chair built for two. It features a steel frame, a padded seat, and extra-large cup holders for your drinks or gear. It also includes a padded roll-tote storage bag, making it easy to transport when it’s folded down. Where to Buy: $129.95 $97.39 at REI $129.95 $97.46 at Backcountry Sea to Summit Hanging Toiletry Bag Sea to Summit’s small toiletry bag lets you keep all of your essentials close at hand for weekend getaways. It features a water–resistant fabric and a convenient hanging hook, along with internal mesh pockets so you can quickly find whatever it is you need. Where to Buy: $49.95 $37.39 at REI $49.95 $37.39 at Amazon $49.95 at Sea to Summit Blink Outdoor 4 The 1080p Blink Outdoor 4 security camera offers support for motion detection, night vision, and two-way audio. There’s the option of local recording with the bundled Sync Module 2 (the newer Sync Module XR is out, but we haven’t tested it yet), and unlike the third-gen model, it supports person detection and has a wider field of view. Where to Buy: $99.99 $44.99 at Amazon $179.99 $89.99 at Amazon (two-pack) $259.99 at Amazon (three-pack) View Source Article

In this quiz, you’ll test your knowledge of Neptune's features, moons, and the science that keeps astronomers fascinated. View Source Article

Intel no longer has to fulfill certain requirements or meet milestones that it was originally supposed to under the CHIPS Act, now that the government is taking a stake in the company. According to the Wall Street Journal, Intel said in a filing that it can now receive funding from the government, as long as it can show that it has already spent $7.9 billion on projects that it agreed to take on under a deal with the Commerce Department last year. Reuters notes that Intel has already spent $7.87 billion on eligible CHIPS Act-funded projects. In addition, the company doesn't have to share a percentage of the total cumulative cash flow it gets from each project with the Commerce Department anymore. It doesn't have to adhere to some of the CHIPS Act's workflow policy requirements and most other restrictions, as well. However, it still can't use the funds it gets from the government for dividends and to repurchase shares.  If you'll recall, the government recently decided to take a 10 percent stake in Intel instead of proceeding with their original CHIPS Act deal. President Donald Trump previously called for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign, prompting a meeting between them that led to the new agreement. "He walked in wanting to keep his job and he ended up giving us 10 billion dollars for the United States," Trump said. "So we picked up 10 billion." Intel eventually announced that the US government will "make an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock." The purchase will be made up of the $5.7 billion previously earmarked for Intel as part of the CHIPS act, while the rest ($3.2 billion) will be awarded as part of the Secure Enclave program.  Intel CEO David Zinser recently revealed that the company already received $5.7 billion from the government on Wednesday night. The government also previously awarded Intel $2.2 billion in grants under the CHIPS Act, bringing the government's total involvement with the company to $11.1 billion.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-us-government-drops-its-chips-act-requirements-for-intel-133049932.html?src=rss View Source Article

Fall is just around the corner, which means we're in the midst of flagship phone season. Most recently, Google debuted its new Pixel lineup, offering multiple models where AI features take center stage. We've already put those devices through their paces, in addition to the best noise-canceling earbuds you can buy and a Sony camera. Read on to catch up on the reviews you might've missed over the last few weeks. Google Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL If you've never really felt like your "smartphone" was all that "smart," senior reviews writer Sam Rutherford argued that Google has finally achieved the feat. Arguably, the best aspects of the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL come down to their AI features, especially Google's Magic Cue. "Now that we can look back at 10 generations of devices, Google’s overarching strategy is more convincing than ever," he said. "For the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL, the company has combined iterative hardware upgrades with a solid (and attractive) design while its software and AI continues to outpace its rivals." Google Pixel 10 If the Pixel 10 Pro duo is finally putting the "smart" in "smartphone," UK bureau chief Mat Smith concluded that the Pixel 10 has redefined base-level flagship phones. A more capable camera, more power and Qi2 support mean you might not be as tempted by those pricer models. "The Pixel 10 is a substantial upgrade from the Pixel 9, although given it has the Tensor G5 chip, it’s a shame that software features like Zoom Enhance from last year’s Pixels didn’t make the cut," he said. "Unless you’re a die-hard smartphone gamer, there isn’t a more capable smartphone at this price." Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen) The second-generation of Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds aren't a complete overhaul, but they didn't necessarily need to be. The company strengthened its already outstanding active noise cancellation while enhancing call clarity and making several other adjustments. "Simply put, the QC Ultra Earbuds remain the best option for wireless noise-cancelling earbuds, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon," I said. Sony RX1R III Sometimes the wait for a new model can be excruciating. That anticipation turns to disappointment when the long-awaited update doesn't impress. That's how senior reporter Igor Bonifacic felt when he finally got his hands on the RX1R III. "It’s missing a handful of features the company really should have included for it to hold its own against other high-end compact cameras," he said. "I love the RX1R III, but I wish it was easier to recommend."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-pixel-10-phones-bose-earbuds-and-a-sony-camera-130051534.html?src=rss View Source Article

The Trump administration's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" slashes federal funding for efforts to create renewable or sustainable types of fuel for aircraft. View Source Article

There's a pleasing rhythm to cozy life sims. The virtual days pass, filled with chores of tending crops or running a business, punctuated by strange mysteries or evolving relationships. At their best, these games merge busywork with exploration and storytelling, in a way that makes them hard to step away from. Discounty, from developer Crinkle Cut Games, applies this idea to running a small-town supermarket. And while in many ways it can still be considered "cozy" like its contemporaries, it also comes with a bit of bite. Instead of starting up your own business from scratch, Discounty has you taking over a grocery franchise from your crank … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

A study reveals that extreme heat accelerates biological aging even more than smoking or drinking. View Source Article

Check out this collection of nonfiction and fiction books recommended by Scientific American View Source Article

A new executive order signed by President Donald Trump removes NASA employees from federal labor-management protections, under the justification of national security. View Source Article

When a Waymo pulls up and parks in front of her home on a residential street in West Los Angeles, 10-year-old Morgan rushes to the window. "The Waymo is home!" she says, calling to her parents, Lisa Delgin and Zach Tucker. It is by no means the first time a Waymo has come "home" to this particular spot. Last year, a Waymo robotaxi dropped Delgin and Tucker off after a New Year's Eve party and idled there for several minutes until it took off for the next ride. Since then, Waymos have been parking in that same spot, day after day, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours. "It would always come back here, like a beacon," Delgin said. "Lik … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Welcome to our latest recap of what's going on in the indie game space. One very well-known indie found its way to iOS devices this week, though there are other new releases worth highlighting and plenty of other upcoming games to tell you about. First, though, there was a (paywalled) story in Game File this week that caught my eye. It's about how Google's AI Overviews feature offers up false video game tips. That's a problem the developers of a game called Trash Goblin — a cosy shopkeeping game in which you chip away at junk to unearth trinkets you can restore and sell — have been dealing with. AI Overviews offered incorrect information about the game to some players, as well as the crew at Spilt Milk Studios when they tested the responses. For instance, AI Overviews suggested that a player could damage a trinket when they were removing debris from it, which is not true. It also in some cases delivered the correct information, but pointed the user to an incorrect source. In addition, AI Overviews offered information about another game entirely. This is obviously not ideal for players or the team behind Trash Goblin.  We've seen many cases in which AI Overviews get information blatantly wrong. Like other large language models (LLMs), it guesses what the next word or words should be in its responses based on its training data. LLMs are about generating sequences of text; they're not designed to deliver facts (one reason why there's a disclaimer on AI Overviews that reads “AI responses may include mistakes"). They often just make stuff up. If you're looking for help with a game, you're far better off finding a community of players you can chat to. You might be able to find a clear, helpful guide to the game in question on an actual video game website, written by a professional video game guide writer. If, that is, you can evade AI Overviews to get to those websites in the first place (thankfully, it's easy to turn off AI Overviews for your Google searches). New releases IO Interactive is independent, which means Hitman World of Assassination fits within our remit here. This week, the bundle of three core Hitman games from the last decade arrived on iPhone (iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, as well as the iPhone 16 lineup) and iPad. Supported iPad models are iPad Pro and iPad Air (M1 chip or later), as well as the A17 Pro iPad mini. Hitman World of Assassination is a sandbox stealth game in which you're given a mission (usually taking out a target) and it's up to you how to carry that out. Getting to know the layout of each level so you can plan your approach and escape is key. Understanding the route and actions of the NPCs will stand you in good stead too. The iPhone and iPad versions have touch controls with context-sensitive buttons. You can, of course, opt to use a third-party controller instead. IOI says it tapped into Apple's MetalFX tech to help ensure the iOS port looks good. Hitman World of Assassination costs $70 on iOS. That's fairly steep, but IOI says the game offers over 100 hours of gameplay. Alternatively, you can play the first location for free, and buy any of the 24 levels individually for $3 each.  In addition, the game is coming to Apple Silicon Macs later this year. IOI will also bring the roguelite Freelancer mode to the iPhone and iPad versions down the line with a free update. Another game landed on new platforms this week as Alawar's Karate Survivor hit PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch for $6. As the title suggests, this is a survivor-style martial arts beat-'em-up.  You'll be able to use the environment to your advantage by picking up items to use as melee or projectile weapons, kicking objects toward goons and swinging locker and microwave doors into bad guys' mushes. You can unlock hundreds of different moves and there are permanent upgrades as well. First-person action-adventure Davy x Jones has set sail in early access on Steam. Until September 4, you can snap it up for $6.66. After that time, it will cost $10. However, the price will increase ahead of the game's full release on PC and consoles, which is slated for late 2026. In this early version, you'll have access to the main gameplay and combat systems (including legendary weapons), several islands, an array of enemies and some cinematic executions — hopefully involving a kraken. You'll take command of a half-ship, half-whale vessel called Abby as you attempt to escape the underworld and seek revenge as the legendary pirate. Regular readers of this roundup will know that I'm a sucker for a game with a great title. Prop Haunt, which riffs on the prop hunt modes in many other games, is definitely one of those (as is another one I'll mention later on). This is a spooky 1 vs. 4 multiplayer horror title from Silent Forest Games that just hit Steam early access for $15. The ghost players possess objects and it's up to the investigator to find and stop them. The ghosties can teleport, blend into their surroundings and so on, while the investigator has cameras and other gizmos at their disposal Currently, there are four playable ghosts with different haunting styles, two maps and support for public and private lobbies. More maps, ghost powers, investigator tools and procedural prop generation are in the works. Upcoming Bye Sweet Carole had flown below my radar until the release date trailer popped up but, goodness, does it look gorgeous. The team at Little Sewing Machine took a hand-drawn approach to the art of this narrative-horror game, which mimics the look of classic animated films. Even the song in the trailer aligns with the type of showtune you'd hear in Disney movies. You'll take on the role of Lana Benton, a young girl who sets out to find out the truth about her best friend Carole's disappearance from an orphanage. It sounds (and looks!) pretty promising. Publisher Maximum Entertainment is bringing Bye Sweet Carole to PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S and PC on October 9. Rita is an interesting-looking puzzle game from SporkTank (aka solo developer Martin Stradling). You play as a chick that uses letters found in the environment to solve word puzzles, including crosswords, in order to progress. For instance, you might need to fill in a crossword answer for "stairs" in order to spawn a staircase (perhaps there's a bit of a Baba is You influence here?). There are some platforming elements too. You'll follow Rita throughout her journey from exploring as a young chick to becoming a grandparent. It all seems quite lovely. Rita is coming to Steam early next year. A demo will be available on September 18. Co-op survival game Lost Skies is set to exit Steam early access on September 17. Set on an archipelago of sky islands, you can explore this world with up to five buddies and try to learn exactly what led to this fractured civilization. You have a grappling hook, wingsuits and gliders to help you traverse these landforms and a customizable and upgradeable skyship that you'll use for both transportation and combat. Players can also create their own islands, which they can share with the community. I never got around to checking out the demo for Lost Skies, even though I've had it installed on my PC for months. Still, this one from Bossa Studios and publisher Humble Games has me intrigued enough to perhaps try out the full game. Another game I've had my eye on for a hot minute is Bloodthief, which will debut on Steam on September 22. This is a Ghostrunner-inspired medieval parkour-slasher game from first-time game creator Blargis (Jake Bedard), who has been sharing development updates on YouTube over the last couple of years. In Bloodthief, you play as an agile vampire and use the blood of your enemies to enhance your speed, abilities and survival. For example, attacks help boost your momentum. I'm definitely looking forward to watching some speedruns of this because I'm fairly sure that, as with the Ghostrunner games, I'm going to be absolutely terrible at this. While you're waiting (im)patiently for the full release of Hades 2, you might like to check out a similar flavor of isometric roguelite action — albeit with the addition of co-op. In Sworn, you'll set out to save Camelot from a corrupted Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table with the help of up to three other players. Sworn has been in early access since last year, and you won't have to wait much longer for the full game. It'll be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Steam on September 25. Let's wrap things up for this week with another game that has a fantastic title. The Hero is too Powerful so let's Pleeeease Settle this Peacefully! is the latest project from Night Stroll Studio (solo developer Trevor Thompson). It's an RPG in the vein of early Zelda games in which you play as a hero who has exactly one attack. However, you can level up this attack to the point that it's obscenely powerful. There's also the option of talking your way out of sticky situations. This comedy adventure, which has maybe my favorite title of any game this side of I'm Going to Die if I Don't Eat Sushi!, is slated to hit Steam later this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hitman-on-ios-martial-arts-survival-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110054545.html?src=rss View Source Article

Scientists have revived an ignored area of math to envision a path toward stable quantum computing View Source Article

“Abrupt changes” threaten to send the continent past the point of no return, at which point continued ice-melting would submerge coastal cities around the world. View Source Article

The moon will appear in the constellation Scorpius at sunset on Aug. 30-31. View Source Article

The workhorse rocket has continued its streak of success. View Source Article

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured a chip factory in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture on Saturday, a day after he and his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba pledged deeper ties as US tariffs hit the global economy. View Source Article

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites today (Aug. 30), sending 24 of them up from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base. View Source Article

In 2025, large-scale U.S. utility solar costs range from $0.95 to $1.23 per watt (DC) for a new, single-axis tracking system, with the final cost depending heavily on project size, location, and specific equipment. For a 1 MW (megawatt) utility-scale solar farm, the approximate cost is $980,000, not including land acquisition. The total cost per ... Read more View Source Article

U.S. solar is weighed down by soft costs and policy inefficiencies: fragmented permitting, slow approvals, duplicative inspections, and high fees. Customer acquisition remains bloated by opaque pricing, long sales cycles, and high-commission models. Hardware is more expensive due to tariffs and policies that favor costly technologies. Together, these inefficiencies add more than $2/W – keeping ... Read more View Source Article

SpaceX Starship flight 10 proved that Starship can fly to orbit and deliver payload. This makes Starship lower than even partially reusable Falcon 9 for cost to space. But that is just the start. Flight 10 shows the mass deployment of Starlink version 3 satellites will start happening in months. It also means that regular ... Read more View Source Article

Convano Inc. was, until recently, a sleepy Tokyo-listed operator of nail salons. Now it wants to become one of the world’s largest corporate holders of Bitcoin — the latest in a wave of radical financial reinventions pulling the likes of biotech firms and regional banks into crypto’s orbit. View Source Article

SpaceX released new high resolution photos and video of the SpaceX Starship 10 soft landing in the Indian Ocean. The images were taken by the floating camera created by the company, Marksetbot. View of Starship landing burn and splashdown on Flight 10, made possible by SpaceX’s recovery team. Starship made it through reentry with intentionally ... Read more View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde discusses US plans to revoke waivers granted to Samsung and SK Hynix that authorized them to move some equipment from China without a license. Plus, Dell and Marvell shares fall after earnings disappointments. And, US regulators are embracing the blockchain and SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda discusses the agency’s crypto-friendly steps. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

The James Webb Space Telescope has observed a planet-birthing disk of gas and dust around a young star, uncovering some strange and unexpected chemistry. View Source Article

Netflix Inc. co-founder and Chairman Reed Hastings donated $2 million on Friday to back redistricting efforts in California, financial disclosures show, extending his support of Governor Gavin Newsom. View Source Article

This quiz will challenge your knowledge of Uranus's strange rotation, chilly atmosphere, and curious collection of moons. View Source Article

There’s already been a number of leaks of upcoming Philips Hue products that are expected to be announced next week ahead of IFA. But one thing that hasn’t been mentioned was support for Matter-over-Thread. While there’s no confirmation that support is coming, there’s compelling evidence to suggest it might be.  First off, packaging for two unannounced bulbs appeared on Amazon, with a Matter logo prominently displayed on the box. While Hue devices have been capable of connecting via Matter using the Hue Bridge as a middleman, they’ve never supported the protocol directly. That’s in part because Matter only works via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Thread; Hue has been a Zigbee and Bluetooth-only ecosystem for years. Then there’s the since-removed FCC filing discovered by HueBlog. A supposed screenshot of the document shows a label for a new Hue White lightbulb with a Matter setup code under the familiar Bluetooth and Zigbee logos. This almost certainly means the lightbulb will connect directly via Matter. Wired Ethernet would obviously be an odd choice. Wi-Fi is a possibility, but the more logical option would be Thread, which is low-power and can create self-healing mesh networks. The one issue is, there’s no mention of Thread or Wi-Fi in the FCC filing anywhere, only Bluetooth and Zigbee. According to HueBlog, however, one document read (before it was removed), “This product only supports BLE 125k/500k/1M/2Mbps:2402-2480MHz, Zigbee:2405-2480MHz. The other functions, bands and modes was [sic] disabled to use by manufacturer [sic] in the software.” What are those other functions, bands, and modes? It’s not specified in any document I could find, but it’s reasonable to assume the list might include Thread which, like Zigbee, uses the 2.4GHz band. Philips isn’t about to abandon Zigbee for Thread overnight, but this would give users direct access to Hue bulbs from any Matter controller, with the Bridge only needed for some advanced features, like dynamic lighting effects. Plus there’s a growing momentum behind Matter-over-Thread, with Ikea recently announcing over 20 products supporting it. View Source Article

HoYoverse's next gacha game has shades of Teamfight Tactics and Pokémon. The developer describes Honkai: Nexus Anima as a "creature-collector adventure strategy game." HoYoverse first teased the title in May at the Honkai: Star Rail Concert 2025. In Honkai: Nexus Anima's game world, a sudden rupture has shattered the balance between opposing forces (Nexus). You'll explore the realm, forging bonds with the resulting creatures (Anima) scattered about. It sounds like gameplay will revolve around auto-chess, pet-training mini-games and world hub exploration. Honkai: Nexus Anima is still in development, so a release date hasn't yet been announced. But HoYoverse will soon conduct a closed beta (the Nexus Bond Test) on Windows and iOS. You can visit the registration page until September 12 if you want to give it a shot. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hoyoverses-star-rail-spinoff-is-honkai-nexus-anima-173638312.html?src=rss View Source Article

Drug seizure data suggests that 2025 has about half the level of trafficking in 2024. Drug over deaths are declining but there is only data up to March 2025. Drug trafficking levels are at the lowest levels in three years. If this correlates to lower trafficking deaths then the next four months should be at ... Read more View Source Article

As one of the cofounders behind Oculus Story Studio, Edward Saatchi knows how hard it can be to sell people on new tech that bills itself as revolutionary. Even though Story Studio snagged an Emmy for one of its three animated features, a general lack of public interest in VR movies led Meta to shutter Oculus Story Studio back in 2017. The VR era has come and gone, but Saatchi is confident that Showrunner, his new pivot to generative AI that just received an influx of cash from Amazon, can succeed. Unlike a lot of other gen AI-centric entertainment outfits focused on deploying the technology in ways that audiences aren't necessarily meant t … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Yooka-Replaylee, the remaster of the platformer Yooka-Laylee, will be available on October 9. It'll be playable on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Switch 2. It's getting both a digital and physical release, and preorders for the physical versions are up right now. Speaking of physical copies, the Switch 2 version will include the full game on the cartridge and no game-key card. Nintendo has given developers the option to release cartridges that are basically empty shells, called game-key cards, that require an immediate download upon being slotted in the console. Collectors aren't exactly keen on this practice, so an actual cartridge release for Yooka-Replaylee is a welcome bit of news. This is a remade and enhanced version of Yooka-Laylee, which was itself an homage to 3D collectathon platformers like Banjo-Kazooie. Developer Playtonic is staffed with people who worked on Rare titles like the aforementioned Banjo and the Donkey Kong Country games. Yooka-Replaylee brings some new features to the table, including updated challenges, a fully orchestral soundtrack and, of course, more stuff to collect. There's also a bigger map, a refined story and enhanced graphics. It looks pretty nifty. The digital version of the game will cost $30, while physical copies will cost $50. There's a promotion going for long-time fans, as those who already own the game will get 30 percent off so long as they buy the remaster on the same platform family as the original. This means Switch to Switch 2, PS4 to PS5 and Xbox One to Xbox Series X/S.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/yooka-laylee-remaster-comes-to-consoles-and-pc-on-october-9-180052250.html?src=rss View Source Article

Rocket Lab's new Launch Complex 3 will launch Neutron rockets that can land themselves on land or at sea just like SpaceX rockets. View Source Article

Every platform wants to be the place you hang with friends — even Spotify as of this week — so it’s apparently time for TikTok to shore up its direct messaging feature! It told TechCrunch that over the next few weeks, all users should see voice messages and image sharing options arrive in their DMs. I checked, and sure enough, I can send both, as well as videos up to one minute long (though that last has been possible for a while). Beware that if you hold down on the microphone button to start a recording, you’ll automatically send that recording as soon as you let go, so be sure to drag it up or left if you want a chance to cancel! You’re limited to sending up to nine images (and videos) at a time, and both voice memos and videos can’t be more than a minute long. View Source Article

Overdrive's digital book lending app Libby is adding — you guessed it! — AI. The new Inspire Me feature is an AI-fueled discovery tool tuned to your local branch's collection. Following a soft launch this month, it will be officially available in September. To avoid the pitfalls of a full-on chatbot, Overdrive is limiting the discovery process of the feature. Instead of typing freely into a prompt box, you'll start by answering several canned preference questions. These include categories (such as fiction and biography), age groups (adult or child) and preset adjectives (like "clever" and "silly"). You can also let it make recommendations based on your previously saved titles. The AI will then spit out five suggestions from your local library. Overdrive says Inspire Me prioritizes ebooks and audiobooks that are immediately available. Each recommendation will include a brief explanation of how it aligns with your stated interests. Some in the library community reacted sharply to the feature. "Smoke is pouring out of my ears," librarian Rachel Storm posted on Bluesky (via TechCrunch). "I'm honestly surprised it took this long for them to enshittify Libby," Orion Kidder responded.  Libby's AI privacy policy states that Inspire Me only sends tags connected to "a random selection of titles you have saved" to the model. The policy says it only sends the book titles, not any other details about you or your device. Overdrive says it designed the feature to minimize energy impact and will monitor its footprint over time. As long as there isn't anything sneaky tucked in beyond that, this sounds like a relatively tame (and potentially handy) use of AI. Then again, I sometimes spend my work hours writing about the truly disturbing shit, so take my perspective as you will. Regardless of your perspective, the feature will roll out broadly in September. You’ll find it by tapping the Libby icon in the app menu.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/libby-is-adding-an-ai-book-recommendation-feature-190903260.html?src=rss View Source Article

The schedule of annual updates for Windows 11 that arrive in the second half of the year will hold steady for 2025, and today, Microsoft announced that the 25H2 package is available now for testing in the Release Preview Channel. So, will you see new UI features or more AI tweaks included on your desktop with this update? Microsoft didn’t mention many specific features or changes in the update, other than confirming it shares the same new features and enhancements as the previous version, 24H2, which flips on new features throughout the year, along with some notes for IT: Windows 11, version 25H2 also includes some feature removals such as PowerShell 2.0 and Windows Management Instrumentation command-line (WMIC). And for our commercial customers, Windows 11, version 25H2 includes the ability for IT admins to remove select pre-installed Microsoft Store apps via Group Policy/MDM CSP on Enterprise/EDU devices. As Microsoft detailed in June, using its shared servicing branch means updating from the current 24H2 version to 25H2 takes a single restart, as new features are added in earlier updates but left disabled until the enablement package activates them. To get the update, you can join the Release Preview channel and get Windows 11, version 25H2 (Build 26200.5074) now by going to the Windows Update section of settings and choosing to install it. View Source Article

IFA, Europe's answer to the CES, kicks off on September 5 in Berlin, Germany. The show likely won't be the biggest source of news in September — Apple's iPhone launch event is officially happening on September 9 — but it is usually home to its fair share of announcements. IFA 2024 featured new "AI PCs" from ASUS and Dell, including the first Inspiron laptop with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus chip. There were plenty of more unusual ideas, too: Honor used the show to introduce a laptop with a detachable webcam, for example. Based on the companies that are confirmed to have presence at the show, similar themes will be woven through IFA 2025. AI and features enabled by it will likely be everywhere, especially in home appliances. Laptops, whether they're running Intel's Panther Lake chips or something Arm-based, are sure to be in the mix. And smart glasses will likely continue to be a going concern. Below are the companies who are confirmed to be holding events at the show, and what we think they might announce. Samsung Samsung With the Galaxy S25, Galaxy Z foldables and Galaxy Watch 8 in the rear view, there aren't many personal electronics Samsung has left to announce this year. That could be why the company's IFA press conference seems focused on the smart home. Samsung's IFA presentation, dubbed "AI Home: Future Living, Now" is supposed to be focused on the company's home appliances. Specifically, Samsung says it will "highlight the transformative potential of AI in the home." Samsung already showed off how AI plays into its new Bespoke AI home appliances at CES 2025, so it's possible the company could have new additions to the lineup. It'll hopefully also share when its Ballie robot will be available for purchase. We also know for a fact that Samsung is hosting a virtual Unpacked event on September 4, which could point to some other products the company will show off at IFA 2025. All signs point to the next Unpacked being about tablets and midrange phones. Samsung is rumored to be announcing both the Galaxy Tab S11 and S11 Ultra, which will carry over the general look and feel of the company's past tablets with a few important tweaks, according to WinFuture. Besides battery improvements and Android 16, the biggest change Samsung is reportedly making is using a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chip in the tablets rather than its own Exynos models or something from Qualcomm. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is considered the top of the line, so opting for MediaTek could raise questions about performance, but we'll have to use the tablets to know for sure. Samsung is also rumored to be announcing the Galaxy S25 FE at the event. It becomes less clear by the year what "FE" or "Fan Edition" means, but the Galaxy S25 FE is expected to have some meaningful improvements over the Galaxy S24 FE. Alongside a Samsung-designed Exynos chip, the S25 FE is rumored to feature an improved 12MP selfie camera and a 4,900mAh battery with 45W charging, according to SamMobile. Acer Sam Rutherford for Engadget Like Samsung, Acer is hosting its own press conference at IFA 2025. The company's description of the event is frustratingly vague, but does suggest announcements focused on both productivity and gaming. At IFA 2024, Acer introduced multiple Copilot+PCs, including updates to the company's Swift and Aspire lines with the latest Intel Core Ultra chips and Windows AI features. Updates to both lineups seem highly likely at IFA 2025. Don't be surprised if Acer shows off some more concept devices, too. The company's Acer Project DualPlay, a laptop with a detachable game controller, was a big hit at last year's show, and something the company is bound to top. When it comes to handheld gaming PCs, Acer's detailed its plans to sell three different sizes of handheld, the Acer Nitro Blaze 11, Blaze 8 and Blaze 7, but yet to release them all globally. It might make sense to use IFA 2025 to finalize that and tease whatever it's working on next. Lenovo Sam Rutherford for Engadget When it comes to Lenovo, the company has a tried and true playbook for events like IFA. It demoes a slew of new laptops, updates its non-foldable Motorola phones and introduces one or two absolutely bizarre concept devices. The pattern seems like it'll repeat for IFA 2025. If the stars of last year's show were a 16-inch Legion gaming laptop and an "Auto Twist" concept that swivels with a voice command, this year Lenovo's looking at a different kind of rotation. Leaker Evan Blass shared images at what looks like a new concept laptop with a display that can be rotated into portrait orientation. Blass also shared images of three new Moto phones, and two new Lenovo tablets. Lenovo has a habit of showing off concept devices at trade shows, some of which are precursors to shipping products -- a la the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 w/ rollable display -- while others will never see the light of day. At next week's IFA/Innovation Week, that concept will be a… pic.twitter.com/PMIJdowgHG— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 28, 2025 Lenovo has a new handheld PC of its own to announce, too. The company released the Lenovo Legion Go S earlier this year, and now it's reportedly ready to announce the Lenovo Legion Go 2. The new handheld is rumored to feature a new AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, the same detachable, Switch-style controllers and more RAM. If Lenovo announces the handheld, it'll likely be the most powerful handheld gaming PC available for purchase, with a price tag to match. ...but most eyes will probably be on the second-generation Legion Go (whose doppelganger, the Steam-powered Legion Go S, was revealed earlier this year at MWC). pic.twitter.com/G03WzvODBj— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 29, 2025 Hisense Hisense According to the event description for Hisense's IFA 2025 press conference, the company plans to "further upgrade its RGB-MiniLED TV with powerful hardware improvements and AI-driven software." Hisense introduced the 116-inch UX RGB-MiniLED TV back in July, what the company claims is the first mass-produced television with dedicated red, green and blue LEDs. The approach lets the TV reach a peak brightness of 8,000 nits, among other benefits. Detailing how much the TV will cost, and what kind of features its "Hi-View AI Engine X" chip will power makes sense. Don't be surprised if Hisense also takes time to talk about the even bigger 136-inch MX MicroLED TV it announced at CES 2025, too. Anker Valentina Palladino for Engadget With Google fully embracing Qi2 charging on its Pixel 10 phones, there's never been a better time for Anker to announce new Qi2 chargers. Given that the company's IFA press conference is supposed to feature "major product launches that bring intelligence into everyday life," it seems like AI features are a safe bet. That likely means Anker's Eufy or Soundcore brands could be the real focus. Maybe the company has new AI improvements for its Eufy robot vacuums, or audio improvements for its Soundcore headphones? We'll have to wait for IFA to start to find out.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/ifa-2025-what-to-expect-from-samsung-acer-lenovo-and-more-181825489.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA is working on photophoretic levitation to uase light-induced heating to create a force that lifts and propels specially designed structures in rarefied atmospheres, such as Earth’s mesosphere (approximately 50-80 km altitude). This involves metamaterial plates or 3D hollow geometries (e.g., cones, spheres, or rocket shapes) with porous sidewalls that act as Knudsen pumps: light ... Read more View Source Article

Telling people exactly how voting security works helps defeat election misinformation, experiments suggest. But outside experts question how well that works in the real world View Source Article

Meta is re-training its AI and adding new protections to keep teen users from discussing harmful topics with the company's chatbots. The company says it's adding new "guardrails as an extra precaution" to prevent teens from discussing self harm, disordered eating and suicide with Meta AI. Meta will also prevent teens from accessing user-generated chatbot characters that might engage in inappropriate conversations. The changes, which were first reported by TechCrunch, come after numerous reports have called attention to alarming interactions between Meta AI and teens. Earlier this month, Reuters reported on an internal Meta policy document that said the company's AI chatbots were permitted to have "sensual" conversations with underage users. Meta later said that language was "erroneous and inconsistent with our policies" and had been removed. Yesterday, The Washington Post reported on a study that found Meta AI was able to "coach teen accounts on suicide, self-harm and eating disorders." Meta is now stepping up its internal "guardrails" so those types of interactions should no longer be possible for teens on Instagram and Facebook. “We built protections for teens into our AI products from the start, including designing them to respond safely to prompts about self-harm, suicide, and disordered eating," Meta spokesperson Stephanie Otway told Engadget in a statement. "As our community grows and technology evolves, we’re continually learning about how young people may interact with these tools and strengthening our protections accordingly. As we continue to refine our systems, we’re adding more guardrails as an extra precaution — including training our AIs not to engage with teens on these topics, but to guide them to expert resources, and limiting teen access to a select group of AI characters for now." Notably, the new protections are described as being in place "for now," as Meta is apparently still working on more permanent measures to address growing concerns around teen safety and its AI. "These updates are already in progress, and we will continue to adapt our approach to help ensure teens have safe, age-appropriate experiences with AI,” Otway said. The new protections will be rolling out over the next few weeks and apply to all teen users using Meta AI in English-speaking countries. Meta's policies have also caught the attention of lawmakers and other officials, with Senator Josh Hawley recently telling the company he planned to launch an investigation over its handling of such interactions. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has also indicated he wants to investigate Meta for allegedly misleading children about mental health claims made by its chatbots.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-re-training-its-ai-so-it-wont-discuss-self-harm-or-have-romantic-conversations-with-teens-182418587.html?src=rss View Source Article

The half-lit moon will appear close to Antares in the constellation Scorpius later this week. View Source Article

Big-time creators on Instagram just got a bit of welcome news. The platform is introducing inbox management tools to make it easier for influencers to wade through endless messages and requests. The tools include multi-select filters that let users sort through messages faster to find important correspondences. Remember, popular creators are getting hundreds upon hundreds of messages each day. The software lets these influencers add, edit or remove any filter, which should be helpful.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Instagram’s @Creators (@creators) Instagram has also added the option to create custom shortcuts that prioritize the message folders that are accessed most often. Users can create new folders that "reflect their preferences." These folders can be reordered based on the most-used message types. The company says these tools will give "creators the freedom to explore their creativity while building workflows that work best for them." This toolset is just for popular influencers with more than 100,000 followers. The plebes, myself included, will have to make do with the current inbox. However, Instagram is making this feature available to Professional accounts. The platform did recently add some stuff for garden variety users. There's a controversial new map to track friends and software that lets people reset all of their recommendations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-adds-inbox-management-tools-for-creators-and-big-accounts-175621549.html?src=rss View Source Article

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a remake of a 2004 entry, came out this week to positive reviews View Source Article

Here's a rundown of Isaac Asimov's mind-numbing field of mathematics that predicts future events. View Source Article

Despite some fallout between President Trump and Elon Musk, the White House appears to still be in Musk’s corner. Wired is reporting, based on documents obtained by the outlet, that the White House allegedly directed leadership at the General Services Administration (GSA) to include xAI's Grok on its list of approved AI vendors. xAI is owned by Elon Musk and was not included in the slew of approvals the GSA issued in August that saw the agency add OpenAI, Google and Anthropic to its list of vendors. In emails sent last week and published by Wired, agency leadership demands xAI's products be included. "Team: Grok/xAI needs to go back on the schedule ASAP per the WH," writes Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, one of the branches of the GSA. “Should be all of their products we had previously (3 & 4),” likely referring to Grok 3 and Grok 4, which are iterations of xAI's LLM chatbot. Carahsoft, a major government contractor that resells technology from third-party firms, is mentioned. "Can someone get with Carahsoft on this immediately and please confirm?" wrote Gruenbaum. According to Wired, Carahsoft's contract was modified to include xAI earlier this week. As of Friday morning, both Grok 3 and Grok 4 are available on GSA Advantage, an online marketplace where government agencies can purchase products and services. xAI announced a version of Grok for US government agencies in July, when it appeared that GSA approval for the chatbot was all but certain. Shortly beforehand, the chatbot went off the rails and started spouting Nazi propaganda and antisemitic rhetoric while dubbing itself "MechaHitler." This came in the wake of Musk and Trump's public spat over the president's spending bill, after which GSA approval of Grok seemed to stall. Why the change in directive now is unclear. There were no details in the reporting regarding pricing or whether xAI will be offering discounted services to the federal government. Earlier this month, both OpenAI and Anthropic began offering their large language models to federal agencies for just $1 in an effort to drive adoption among the government workforce. xAI still holds a $200 million contract with the Pentagon to develop AI workflows within the US Department of Defense. These AI models have been in the hot seat lately as increasingly disturbing cases of hallucinations and errant behavior have arisen. Just this week, OpenAI is facing a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that ChatGPT spent months discussing and ultimately enabling the suicide of a teen boy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-white-house-reportedly-ordered-xais-grok-to-be-approved-for-government-use-165625891.html?src=rss View Source Article

Surgeons think the first transplantation of a pig lung in a human is an exciting step forward for the field, but many questions remain open View Source Article

I dream of a gadget that can do it all. Instead, when I leave for the office, I pack one or two phones, a portable battery bank, a laptop, a Kindle, a new product I'm testing, and at least one pair of earbuds. In my backpack, there's a pouch full of cords and adapters. On my body, I usually sport between two and four wearable devices. I know mine is a "gadget maximalist" life. But, surely, one day, the powers that be will convene and society will decide on the Next Must-Have Gizmo - one all-powerful, do-everything device that will replace the phone. Google doesn't seem to think so. At least, not based on what I witnessed at last week's Mad … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

One of the more curious aspects of the 10th flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket on Tuesday was the striking orange discoloration of the second stage. This could be observed on video taken from a buoy near the landing site as the vehicle made a soft landing in the Indian Ocean. This color—so different from the silvery skin and black tiles that cover Starship's upper stage—led to all sorts of speculation. Had heating damaged the stainless steel skin? Had the vehicle's tiles been shucked off, leaving behind some sort of orange adhesive material? Was this actually NASA's Space Launch System in disguise? The answer to this question was rather important, as SpaceX founder Elon Musk had said before this flight that gathering data about the performance of this heat shield was the most important aspect of the mission. View Source Article

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed a strong response if any country takes measures that undermine Europe’s digital sovereignty. View Source Article

Microsoft just launched a service for Xbox Insiders that brings all cloud-playable games, along with play histories, to the official Xbox PC app. This includes console exclusives spanning multiple generations and hundreds of other releases. The service extends to games owned by the player and Game Pass titles. The big hook here is that recently-played games will follow people across devices, including Xbox consoles, PCs and Windows handhelds. This will make it easier for folks to jump back into something, even when going from, say, an Xbox Series X to a PC. Xbox The new "play history" section of the PC app and Xbox console UI will display cloud games as recently-played titles, and this list follows people wherever they go. It includes cloud-powered game saves, so there will be no wasted time. Being as this is all part of Xbox Cloud Gaming, players will be able to start a game on a console and finish on a PC, even if that title isn't available natively on the second platform. There's also a new search filter in the library section for cloud games, along with a "jump back in" list on the home screen of the app. “While the large tiles highlight games you’ve recently played on your current device, the play history tile shows games you’ve played across any Xbox device, making it easy to pick up where you left off,” the company wrote in a blog post. This is all thanks to the redesigned library feature for the Xbox app. This allows games purchased from various platforms to all be launched from the same place. Update, August 29 2025, 12:05PM ET: Microsoft has confirmed that cross-device and cloud-playable play history is now rolling out to everyone, following a successful testing phase for Xbox Insiders. If you're playing on an Xbox console, you'll find the play history tile on your home page, while on the Xbox PC app it sits under the Most Recent section in the sidebar menu, as well as in its dedicated tab in My Library. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox-cloud-games-will-soon-follow-you-just-about-everywhere-183603601.html?src=rss View Source Article

The seven members of the Expedition 73 crew welcomed the arrival of a SpaceX resupply ship, worked on science and kept the International Space Station up and running station this week in Earth orbit. View Source Article

On Tuesday, I told you how the modular computer company Framework was finally fulfilling its promise of the "holy grail for gamers" - a laptop with modular, swappable discrete graphics cards so easy to swap, practically anyone can do it at home. The first futureproof gaming laptop, perhaps? Today, I can confirm the system actually works. I traveled to Framework's San Francisco offices to be the first journalist to upgrade an entire laptop graphics card, with my own hands, in just three minutes - including the time it took to reboot. I yanked an AMD Radeon RX 7700S video card out of the machine and plugged in a brand-new mobile Nvidia RTX 50 … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

In the sparsely populated Kimberley region of Western Australia, jagged landforms reach like fingers into the turquoise-blue ocean waters. Along the coastline north of Derby, they used to reach even farther. But rising sea levels submerged part of the coastal landscape, giving rise to hundreds of islands and low-lying reefs that compose the Buccaneer Archipelago.NASA/Michala Garrison; U.S. Geological Survey The Operational Land Imager on Landsat 9 captured this image of Buccaneer Archipelago on June 11, 2025. The scene encapsulates the striking interactions between land and water in the area where King Sound opens to the Indian Ocean. The powerful tidal currents stir up sediment in shallow areas, producing the beautiful turquoise swirls visible in this image. This power, however, can be hazardous to seafarers and divers as water rips through the archipelago’s constricted passages. One infamous place of turbulence, known as “Hell’s Gate,” lies in the passage between Gerald Peninsula and Muddle Islands. Learn more about this archipelago in Western Australia. Text credit: Kathryn Hansen Image credit: NASA/Michala Garrison; U.S. Geological Survey View Source Article

The Celestron SkyMaster binoculars come highly recommended by our experts, and with a saving of over $116, now is the time to spot stars and galaxies for less. View Source Article

Lawyers for Tesla filed a motion in court Friday to throw out a jury verdict that found the company’s Autopilot software had contributed to the death of a woman in a crash from 2019. Earlier this month, a jury found Tesla partially responsible for the death of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides, who was killed by a Model S driver who plowed into her and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo. Tesla was ordered to pay the families of the victims $243 million in compensatory and punitive damages, a stunning outcome for a company that has managed to avoid taking responsibility for crashes involving its partially autonomous software. In the filing, Tesla’s legal team said the Model S driver bore all the responsibility for the crash. And they are requesting the court invalidate the verdict, or at least order a new jury trial. “The $243 million judgment against Tesla flies in the face of basic Florida tort law, the Due Process Clause, and common sense,” the company’s lawyers write, noting that McGee had pressed the accelerator to override Autopilot in the seconds before the crash. “Auto manufacturers do not insure the world against harms caused by reckless drivers.” The lawyers also claim that the plaintiffs should not have been allowed to enter into evidence statements from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has long claimed that the company’s vehicles are capable of higher levels of autonomy than they actually are. And they called claims about data coverup on the part of Tesla — the company was accused of withholding camera data from police investigating the crash — were false and “inflamed” the jury against the company. The motion was filed by attorneys from Gibson Dunn, a firm that represented Tesla in a lawsuit against a former employee and a tech startup accused of stealing trade secrets for a robotic hand. View Link Angulo-Benavides; 2025-08-29; [de 568] Tesla's Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law (32457875.1) View Source Article

NASA astronaut and Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Megan McArthur removes Kidney Cells-02 hardware inside the Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory and swaps media inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The human research study seeks to improve treatments for kidney stones and osteoporosis NASA astronaut Megan McArthur has retired, concluding a career spanning more than two decades. A veteran of two spaceflights, McArthur logged 213 days in space, including being the first woman to pilot a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and the last person to “touch” the Hubble Space Telescope with the space shuttle’s robotic arm. McArthur launched as pilot of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission in April 2021, marking her second spaceflight and her first long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. During the 200-day mission, she served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 65/66, conducting a wide array of scientific experiments in human health, materials sciences, and robotics to advance exploration of the Moon under Artemis and prepare to send American astronauts to Mars. Her first spaceflight was STS-125 in 2009, aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, the fifth and final servicing mission to Hubble. As a mission specialist, she was responsible for capturing the telescope with the robotic arm, as well as supporting five spacewalks to update and repair Hubble after its first 19 years in space. She also played a key role in supporting shuttle operations during launch, rendezvous with the telescope, and landing. “Megan’s thoughtful leadership, operational excellence, and deep commitment to science and exploration have made a lasting impact,” said Steve Koerner, acting director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Her contributions have helped shape the future of human space exploration, and we are incredibly grateful for her service.” In addition to her flight experience, McArthur has served in various technical and leadership roles within NASA. In 2019, she became the deputy division chief of the Astronaut Office, supporting astronaut training, development, and ongoing spaceflight operations. She also served as the assistant director of flight operations for the International Space Station Program starting in 2017. Since 2022, McArthur has served as the chief science officer at Space Center Houston, NASA Johnson’s official visitor center. Continuing in this role, she actively promotes public engagement with space exploration themes, aiming to increase understanding of the benefits to humanity and enhance science literacy. “Megan brought a unique combination of technical skill and compassion to everything she did,” said Joe Acaba, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA Johnson. “Whether in space or on the ground, she embodied the best of what it means to be an astronaut and a teammate. Her contributions will be felt by the next generation of explorers she helped train.” McArthur was born in Honolulu and raised as a “Navy kid” in many different locations worldwide. She earned a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a doctorate in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Before being selected as an astronaut in 2000, she conducted oceanographic research focusing on underwater acoustics, which involved shipboard work and extensive scuba diving. McArthur is married to former NASA astronaut Robert Behnken, who also flew aboard the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft during the agency’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission in 2020. “It was an incredible privilege to serve as a NASA astronaut, working with scientists from around the world on cutting-edge research that continues to have a lasting impact here on Earth and prepares humanity for future exploration at the Moon and Mars,” said McArthur. “From NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to the International Space Station, our research lab in low Earth orbit, humanity has developed incredible tools that help us answer important scientific questions, solve complex engineering challenges, and gain a deeper understanding of our place in the universe. Seeing our beautiful planet from space makes it so clear how fragile and precious our home is, and how vital it is that we protect it. I am grateful I had the opportunity to contribute to this work, and I’m excited to watch our brilliant engineers and scientists at NASA conquer new challenges and pursue further scientific discoveries for the benefit of all.” To learn more about NASA’s astronauts and their contributions to space exploration, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts -end- Shaneequa VereenJohnson Space Center, Houston281-483-5111shaneequa.y.vereen@nasa.gov View Source Article

Can we turn to the past to learn more about how interactions between plants and pollinators changed during climate change? View Source Article

Hisense’s S7N 55-inch TV doubles as a framed work of art. It’s hard to realize that Labor Day weekend — signalling the end of summer — is already here. It would be a bit depressing, except that the weekend also brings with it some really good deal. For example, you can nab a Hisense S7N 55-inch TV at Best Buy and Amazon for $699.99, a solid $300 off its usual $999.99 and only $11 higher than its all-time low. This is part of the Hisense CanvasTV series, which is designed to hang flat against your wall as if it were a painting and display art or photos when it’s not in use. Hisense S7N TV This 4K QLED display is designed to hang flat against your wall as if it were a painting and display art or photos when it’s not in use. Where to Buy: $999.99 $699.99 at Amazon $999.99 $699.99 at Best Buy The S7N has a 4K QLED display with an anti-glare coating so that it shows art — or your favorite TV shows — to their best advantage, regardless of your viewing angle. If you plan to use it for gaming as well, it supports variable refresh rate between 48Hz to 144Hz, plus multichannel surround sound (however, you may just want a separate soundbar, since TV audio isn’t immersive). It runs Google TV and offers four HDMI (two of which are HDMI 2.1, which support 4K/120Hz on modern consoles) and two USB ports. And it will only power on when it senses somebody nearby. But, of course, the main attraction of this TV is its ability to mimic a work of art, something that can add a bit of class to your wall.  Other Verge-approved deals One of the favorite add-ons among The Verge’s crew is Elgato’s Stream Deck, which lets you customize real buttons (as opposed to capacitive) to do a wide range of tasks with just a quick tap. The Stream Deck Neo is a wired command center that comes with eight programmable buttons, will work with Macs and Windows PCs, and is compatible with many apps. It’s now on sale for $79.99 (a $20 savings) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H. Woot is having a Labor Day celebration of sorts called Toyapolooza. If you buy four or more items listed in its toy sale, you’ll get an extra 30 percent off — buy 10 or more and get an extra 70 percent off. There’s a lot to choose from, including a Masters of the Universe Power Sword Set ($42), a 30-piece set of National Geographic Building Blocks ($14.99), and a Fisher-Price DC Super Friends Playset ($12.99).  Speaking of toys, if you’re into Star Wars Lego models, you can score a Lego Star Wars Tantive IV Build and Display Starship Vehicle at Best Buy for $51.19, approximately $13 less than its usual $63.99 price. This set contains 654 pieces, making it a suitable weekend project. Samsung is presenting its latest Unpacked launch event on September 4th, and so it’s running a promotion for anyone who reserves its newest Galaxy Tab devices, sight unseen. If you follow through on your free reservation and buy the product between September 4th and October 5th, you can take advantage of a $50 credit, $150 toward a storage upgrade, up to 20 percent off “select Galaxy devices,” and other offers. For those who are part of the Samsung ecosystem, it may be worth checking out.  View Source Article

Kazakhstan is preparing to channel some of its national wealth into artificial intelligence infrastructure, joining a global rush where venture capital firms and energy-rich states are betting billions on the sector despite volatility and surging valuations. View Source Article

Tesla is offering a new performance version of its Model Y crossover for the European market. The new variant is aimed at boosting the company’s sales on the continent, which have been in free fall for most of the year thanks to growing competition from China and brand damage from Elon Musk’s fascist antics. The Model Y Performance, which will go on sale in September, looks to be a step above the base model in most categories. It will be quicker, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.5 seconds, as compared to 4.8 seconds for the regular Model Y. It will have longer range, with an estimated 580 km (360 miles) based on the more generous WLTP standard. And it will have 460 horsepower, up from the 265 hp available in the rear-wheel drive model. The improved performance hasn’t come at the expense of efficiency, which Tesla cites as thanks to “new, high-density battery cells.” The Model Y Performance will be able to add 243 km (151 miles) of range in 15 minutes. And the battery should consume power at a rate of 16.2 kWh/100 km. Tesla has also made some tweaks to the look of the Model Y, adding new front and rear fascia and a carbon-fiber spoiler for improved aerodynamics. And the wheels are new 21-inchers, as compared to the 19- and 20-inch ones for the RWD and Long Range versions of the Model Y. Inside the vehicle, Tesla has added some badging that looks similar to the Plaid themes used in its other performance vehicles. It also slightly increased the size of the center touchscreen to 16 inches from 15.4. The drive quality should be better thanks to adaptive damping adjustments and new drive modes for “high-speed driving.” This could be similar to the Tesla Model Y L upgrade that was just released in China, which has been praised for its improved road handling. But the big question hanging over this new variant is whether it will help turn around Tesla’s fortunes in Europe. The automaker’s sales plunged a staggering 42 percent in July as buyers flocked to Chinese brands like BYD. This continued a trend we’ve been seeing over the course of the year, with Tesla’s sales dropping each month in the EU since January. Meanwhile, BYD’s July sales were up 225 percent. The drop in sales coincided with Musk’s move to the right, including his support for Germany’s right-wing AfD party. Tesla has pinned its hopes on robotics and self-driving cars to help turn things around. But the automaker hasn’t received regulatory approval to sell its Full Self-Driving feature in the EU, limiting the company’s efforts to push that particular narrative on the continent. The Model Y Performance starts at €62,000 (approximately $73,000) in Germany — though prices will vary country by country. View Source Article

Europe’s biggest gameshow is a beast. Spanning the halls of Cologne Messe, and with E3 now out of the picture, Gamescom is a bigger deal than ever. The show also attracts thousands of public attendees, which gives the show a fairground twist in places. This year, Netflix dominated one of the halls with a faux One Piece ship, sports stadium, a Wednesday-themed cafe and a Stranger Things ice cream stall. Elsewhere, while Nintendo didn’t have anything new to show, it had plenty of Switch 2 consoles to convince the not-yet-convinced — and some of them had Silksong. Microsoft, too, had a substantial presence, revealing an October 16 launch date for its Xbox Ally duo of handheld gaming PCs. No price, though. While you can find all the news and previews on our Gamescom page, we’ve also drawn together all the other games we tested during this week’s show, several of which launch in the next few weeks. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Konami While the man who created Metal Gear moved onto walking sims and Hollywood best friends, Konami is more than happy to beef up and remaster the hits. This time around, it’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. I’ll admit, Snake Eater was when I fell off the Metal Gear Solid train (or nuclear mech), and it came undone by the camouflage system and the difficult-to-navigate early areas. A very tight demo, as the Gamescom crowds rushed to early demos meant I didn’t get a chance to fully test the new style control system that (thankfully) shifts crouch and action/ confirm to separate buttons and adds a degree of camera control even in third-person. But it’s these kind of quality-of-life upgrades you can expect to see. Of course, the graphics are a huge leap from the PS2 original (or Nintendo 3DS version I bafflingly chose to buy), but the pulpy (occasionally delightfully camp) dialogue remains in place. I look forward to getting through at least the opening scenes now that the game has launched on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. There Are No Ghosts at the Grand Microsoft What a weird game. Not in a bad way. Things start off in the titular dilapidated Grand Hotel, with me renovating a room with PowerWash Simulator-inspired water guns, spray guns, sand blasters and vacuum. You can scan the area to get hints on what needs doing, while a naggy Scottish smartphone app will also try to help — but not really. There’s also a talking cat, apparently, called Mr. Bones the Bastard, but he wasn’t talking in this demo. The early trailer teased a mystery that needs to be solved in the village, and while I didn’t get a glimpse of that, I was soon tasked with checking out some mysterious black gunk. The developers even put a little more effort into the demo, with voiced lines that will likely never be heard in the retail version, teasing that the protagonist was being “onboarded” when he’s interrupted by one of the characters that populate the village around the hotel. Seconds later, I’m riding a scooter to the dock, with a cat enjoying the ride, fixing a boat, getting a sassy soliloquoy from the woman who convinced me to drive my boat into the sea. There are plenty more songs to come as new characters join the mystery. As a reminder, the demo started with me sandblasting tatty wallpaper off period walls. I’m intrigued.While Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear, moved on to walking sims and Hollywood collaborations, Konami is more than happy to revamp and remaster its hits. This time, it’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. I’ll admit, Snake Eater was when I fell off the Metal Gear Solid train. It came undone at the difficult-to-navigate early areas and the camouflage system. A very tight demo, as the Gamescom crowds rushed to early demos, meant I didn’t get a chance to fully test the new style control system that (thankfully) shifts crouch and action/ confirm to separate buttons and adds a degree of camera control even in third person. But it’s these kinds of quality-of-life upgrades you can expect to see. Of course, the graphics are a huge leap from the PS2 original (or Nintendo 3DS version I bafflingly chose to buy), but the pulpy (occasionally delightfully camp) dialogue remains in place. I look forward to getting through at least the opening scenes now the game has launched on PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S. Resident Evil Requiem We’ve got a more detailed breakdown by contributor Alessandro Fillari here, but I got a chance to get scared out of my skin too. The headline feature is the ability to play between first- and third-person perspectives. Still, it revealed an uncomfortable truth to myself: I'm a total coward and playing in third person is much less scary. Onimusha: Way of the Sword Capcom Capcom’s return to its samurai vs. demons series is satisfying and fun, especially when compared to more punishing games in the genre, like Sekiro. However, the early chapters have a pretty basic attack flow, and I'm keen to see how things evolve beyond that. At least they’ve got one thing right: a great villain to loathe. Silksong: Hollow Knight The long-running DLC-into-sequel-into-meme-sensation is almost here, right? The demo at Gamescom remained the most popular attraction at Microsoft’s booth. Two Xbox Ally handhelds were also running the demo, which I was fortunate enough to test on. And I can say… yep, still plays like a faster, slicker Hollow Knight. Having played it a heady six years ago, it’s now actually difficult to discern the differences between the early build and what is surely an almost-final snapshot of the game. One of the notable changes is its more elaborate lighting effects and details — things Redditors have pored over as each new trailer video appeared. I stand by my hands-on impressions from 2019, even if they have a fine vintage at this point. But when is it coming out? Oh, September 8.  All the announcements from Gamescom 2025 Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 arrives on November 14 Xbox Ally handhelds will be available October 16, but we still don't know the price Xbox unveils its Handheld Compatibility Program Double Fine’s Keeper may have the most endearing video game double act since Banjo and Kazooie Sony Inzone launches new peripherals in collaboration with Fnatic Denshattack! is a blend of Tony Hawk, trains and shonen anime Battlestar Galactica might finally get the video game adaption it deserves Black Myth: Zhong Kui is the next title from Game Science Studio FromSoft's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is becoming an anime Fallout season two has a teaser trailer and a December 17 release date This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/everything-we-played-at-gamescom-2025-110017871.html?src=rss View Source Article

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Universe Uncovered Hubble’s Partners in Science AI and Hubble Science Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Astronaut Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read Hubble Homes in on Galaxy’s Star Formation This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the asymmetric spiral galaxy Messier 96. ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, D. Calzetti This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy whose asymmetric appearance may be the result of a galactic tug of war. Located 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo, the spiral galaxy Messier 96 is the brightest of the galaxies in its group. The gravitational pull of its galactic neighbors may be responsible for Messier 96’s uneven distribution of gas and dust, asymmetric spiral arms, and off-center galactic core. This asymmetric appearance is on full display in the new Hubble image that incorporates data from observations made in ultraviolet, near infrared, and visible/optical light. Earlier Hubble images of Messier 96 were released in 2015 and 2018. Each successive image added new data, building up a beautiful and scientifically valuable view of the galaxy. The 2015 image combined two wavelengths of optical light with one near infrared wavelength. The optical light revealed the galaxy’s uneven form of dust and gas spread asymmetrically throughout its weak spiral arms and its off-center core, while the infrared light revealed the heat of stars forming in clouds shaded pink in the image. The 2018 image added two more optical wavelengths of light along with one wavelength of ultraviolet light that pinpointed areas where high-energy, young stars are forming. This latest version offers us a new perspective on Messier 96’s star formation. It includes the addition of light that reveals regions of ionized hydrogen (H-alpha) and nitrogen (NII). This data helps astronomers determine the environment within the galaxy and the conditions in which stars are forming. The ionized hydrogen traces ongoing star formation, revealing regions where hot, young stars are ionizing the gas. The ionized nitrogen helps astronomers determine the rate of star formation and the properties of gas between stars, while the combination of the two ionized gasses helps researchers determine if the galaxy is a starburst galaxy or one with an active galactic nucleus. The bubbles of pink gas in this image surround hot, young, massive stars, illuminating a ring of star formation in the galaxy’s outskirts. These young stars are still embedded within the clouds of gas from which they were born. Astronomers will use the new data in this image to study how stars are form within giant dusty gas clouds, how dust filters starlight, and how stars affect their environments. Explore More: Learn more about why astronomers study light in detail Explore the different wavelengths of light Hubble sees Explore the Night Sky: Messier 96 Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated Aug 29, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Spiral Galaxies Stars The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble Science Highlights Hubble’s 35th Anniversary Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge View Source Article

There's more to being a Vulcan than prosthetic ears and playing it straight. View Source Article

When you watch KPop Demon Hunters, it is easy to see why it has become the most popular movie that Netflix has ever released. The animated musical's story about a trio of pop stars tasked with protecting humanity from monsters is familiar, but refreshingly different and infinitely more stylish than other narratives like it. The soundtrack is full of undeniable bangers that amplify the movie's gorgeous action and never let you forget that it's a celebration of Korean culture. KPop Demon Hunters also unabashedly centers women in a way that you seldom see in genre features from major studios like Sony, which produced the project. But the fact … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

The Trump Administration will revoke waivers for the use of US technologies by the Chinese operations of an Intel Corp. unit, Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc., dealing another blow to China’s access to advanced chipmaking know-how. View Source Article

Windows offers several built-in ways to take screenshots. Sure, you can just hit the Prt Scrn button on your keyboard to capture your entire screen, but if you want to screenshot a portion of your screen, a particular window, or you have multiple monitors there are other ways you can use Windows to achieve this. Whether you're using Windows 11 or a recent update to Windows 10, the tools remain largely consistent and reliable.  This guide walks you through the most useful native screenshot methods, including the Snipping Tool, keyboard shortcuts and clipboard techniques, as well as popular third-party apps for more advanced needs. For more cross-platform tips, you can also check out Engadget's guide on how to take a screenshot on any device. How to use the Snipping Tool for easy screenshots The Snipping Tool is the most versatile built-in screenshot option in Windows. It lets you capture specific regions, open windows or the entire screen and includes basic annotation tools. It’s available by default on Windows 11 devices, though Windows 10 users can still access the Snipping Tool, despite it being replaced by Snip & Sketch. Press Windows + Shift + S to open the Snipping Tool overlay. The screen will dim slightly and a small toolbar will appear at the top. Choose one of the four capture modes: Rectangular Snip: Click and drag to select a custom rectangle. Freeform Snip: Draw any shape around the area you want to capture. Window Snip: Click on any open window to capture it. Full-screen Snip: Instantly captures the entire screen. Once captured, the screenshot is copied to your clipboard and a preview appears in the bottom-right corner. Click the preview to open the image in the Snipping Tool app, where you can annotate, save or share it. To open the full app manually, search for the Snipping Tool from the Start menu. How to use Print Screen shortcuts for quick captures If you want to take a screenshot without opening an app, the Print Screen (PrtScn) key and its combinations offer the fastest method. Windows + Print Screen Press Windows + PrtScn to capture the entire screen and automatically save the screenshot. The image is stored as a PNG file in Pictures > Screenshots. Print Screen (alone) Press PrtScn to copy the entire screen to the clipboard. Note: depending on your PC or laptop you may need to use a keyboard combination such as Windows Key + Prt Scn. See the section on other options below, like “How to take screenshots on Surface devices and laptops”. Paste it into an image editor like Paint or a document using Ctrl + V. Alt + Print Screen Press Alt + PrtScn to copy only the active window to the clipboard. This is useful when working with multiple windows or monitors. How to use the Game Bar for screenshots while gaming The Xbox Game Bar is a built-in overlay that allows you to capture gameplay footage and screenshots. It works in most PC games and some desktop applications. How to take a screenshot with the Game Bar Press Windows + G to open the Game Bar overlay. This works outside of games. You can use it on Windows (on your desktop) to control music, take screenshots and record screen captures, among other things. Click the camera icon in the Capture widget, or press Windows + Alt + PrtScn to take a full-screen screenshot instantly. Screenshots taken with Game Bar are saved in Videos > Captures. If the Game Bar doesn't appear, you may need to enable it by going to Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar. Save directly to the clipboard or paste into apps If you don't want to save a file immediately, copying a screenshot to the clipboard lets you paste it directly into chat apps, email clients or documents. Windows + Shift + S: Opens Snipping Tool and copies your selection to the clipboard. PrtScn or Alt + PrtScn: Copies either the full screen or active window. Use Ctrl + V to paste the image into Paint, Word, Outlook or other apps. How to take screenshots on Surface devices and laptops On some laptops and Surface tablets, the Print Screen function may be combined with other keys or replaced with dedicated shortcuts. Fn + Prt Scn: Use this combo on laptops where PrtScn shares a key with other functions. Windows + Volume Down: On Surface devices, press these together to take a full-screen screenshot, similar to a phone or tablet. How to use Windows Snip & Sketch (if available) Windows 10 users can use Snip & Sketch, the predecessor to the current Snipping Tool. It functions similarly but has a slightly different interface. On newer builds, Snip & Sketch has been merged into the modern Snipping Tool. However, it is possible for Windows 10 users to still use the original Snipping Tool by searching for “Snipping Tool” via the Start Menu, or by navigating to C:\Windows\System32\SnippingTool.exe. To launch it manually, search for Snip & Sketch in the Start menu, but just note that it's generally recommended to use the updated Snipping Tool for better compatibility. Third-party Windows screenshot tools For more advanced workflows or custom capture needs, several third-party tools offer extended functionality, such as auto-saving, video capture and cloud syncing. ShareX ShareX is a free, open-source tool with deep customization options. It supports custom keyboard shortcuts, scheduled captures, auto-upload to cloud services, scrolling window screenshots and more. It’s best suited for power users or content creators. Greenshot Greenshot is a lightweight, beginner-friendly alternative that adds annotation tools and direct upload to services like Imgur. It’s ideal for users who want more features than the Snipping Tool without overwhelming complexity. Snagit (paid) Snagit offers advanced features like panoramic scrolling capture, video recording and image templates. It’s a premium tool with a one-time purchase cost, mainly used by professionals and educators. While most users won’t need third-party apps for screenshots, these tools can be helpful for documentation, tutorials or frequent screen capturing. They offer more features compared to Snipping Tool, like direct upload to external services, templates, annotation tools, etc. to further simplify your workflow.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/how-to-screenshot-on-windows-120024162.html?src=rss View Source Article

Genetic and anatomical data reveal how the human pelvis acquired its unique shape, enabling our ancestors to walk on two legs View Source Article

Astronomers may have solved the mystery of how hypervelocity white dwarfs rocket out of the Milky Way at breakneck speeds. View Source Article

Valve has started to comply with the UK’s Online Safety Act, by rolling out a requirement for all Brits to verify their age with a credit card to access “mature content” pages and games on Steam. UK users won’t even be able to access the community hubs of mature content games unless a valid credit card is stored on a Steam account. While platforms like Reddit, Bluesky, and Discord have opted for age verification checks using selfies, Valve is restricting its age checks to just credit cards. “Among all age assurance mechanisms reviewed by Valve, this process preserves the maximum degree of user privacy,” says Valve in a support article. “Having the credit card stored as a payment method acts as an additional deterrent against circumventing age verification by sharing a single Steam user account among multiple persons.” In the UK you need to be 18 years of age to obtain a credit card, so this passes the age checks onto banks instead of Valve having to perform them. If you don’t have a credit card then you won’t be able to access mature content games or pages on Steam, as there’s no other way of verifying your age. Valve’s decision to require a credit card comes weeks after the UK’s new age-gating rules have been found to be easy to bypass, especially with VPNs. Discord and Reddit’s UK age verification could be briefly defeated by Death Stranding’s photo mode, but the face scanning tools have since been updated to block this bypass method. Microsoft has also started rolling out Xbox age verification in the UK. While the age verification checks are optional right now, they will become a requirement to access a variety of Xbox services in early 2026, when additional parts of the UK’s Online Safety Act come into force. View Source Article

YouTube TV subscribers won't have to worry about missing key college football games and other Fox content after the two sides struck a deal yesterday. "We’re happy to share that we’ve reached an agreement with Fox to keep their content on YouTube TV," the Alphabet-owned company wrote on its blog.  Earlier this week, YouTube TV warned subscribers that they could lose access to Fox content including the start of the NFL season and a key college football game between top-ranked Texas and Utah. The standoff was over money, of course, with YouTube TV saying Fox demanded more of it than rival stations with comparable offerings.  That has now been resolved with a "renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Weather, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes, Big Ten Network, the Fox network and all Fox Local Stations," Fox said in its own press release. Such disputes are not unusual and often happen ahead of key sporting events, allowing stations like Fox to ratchet up the pressure on cable operators and live streaming services. In the past, YouTube TV has lost access to local Fox stations that carry regional sports, though usually disputes are extended and resolved before they get that far.  Fox has a bit more leverage now, having recently launched the Fox One streaming service that includes all NFL and MLB games aired on Fox networks, for $20 per month or $200 per year. YouTube TV also exclusively offers NFL Sunday Ticket that broadcasts NFL games produced by Fox and CBS that aren't available on local affiliates as an add-on starting at $85 per month. That package was never impacted by the standoff. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/youtube-tv-subscribers-wont-lose-access-to-fox-content-after-all-130054330.html?src=rss View Source Article

As humans expand into space, how we'll continue to expand the species remains an important question. View Source Article

This seems to be the year that Google's AI features are actually starting to add up to something useful. After a week testing the Pixel 10 Pro, my colleagues Allison Johnson and Vee Song say some of the new features are legitimately useful - at least when they work, which isn't always as expected. Case in point: the live translate feature could shift their voices from one language into another… until they broke down and just started screeching. On this week's Vergecast, we're talking through the Pixel 10 Pro's AI features, including diving deep into the AI-infused Pro Res Zoom feature that's built into the camera app now. I'm fascinated by … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Security services company Verisure is planning to list in Stockholm, and could launch an initial public offering as soon as this quarter, according to Chief Executive Officer Austin Lally. View Source Article

The UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) has submitted a new legal filing, suggesting that authorities wanted the iCloud backdoor they're demanding Apple to create to be able to access more data than previously thought. According to the Financial Times, UK's Home Office has also yet to legally withdraw or change its order for Apple to create backdoor access to its users' data. If you'll recall, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed a few days ago that the UK "has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a 'back door' that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on [their] civil liberties." It's still unclear if the Home Office merely hasn't started the process of withdrawing the mandate yet.  IPT is an independent judicial body that investigates complaints about alleged unlawful surveillance from UK authorities. The Times reported in March that Apple challenged the UK government at the IPT after receiving a secret order from the Home Office to build a backdoor for iCloud data. Apple is not allowed to publicly discuss the order, but it first acknowledgment that it received a mandate from UK authorities when it disabled iCloud's Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature in the UK back February.  "Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom. As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will," the company said in a statement back then. It's worth noting that the UK government has yet to confirm or deny the order's existence, and IPT will be hearing the case based on "assumed facts." The order reportedly states the Apple has the obligation to "provide and maintain a capability to disclose categories of data stored within a cloud-based service," which indicates that the government looked to gain access to people's passwords and messages. In addition, the Times says the order was "not limited to" data protected by Apple's ADP, suggesting that authorities wanted broad access to Apple iCloud accounts. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/uks-demand-for-apple-backdoor-may-have-been-broader-than-previously-thought-123009302.html?src=rss View Source Article

Two decades after Katrina, we revisit the storm and discuss the evolution of hurricane preparedness since then. View Source Article

More than 450 game developers on Blizzard’s Diablo team have formed a union, making them one of the largest and latest groups of Microsoft workers to do so. The new union includes game developers, artists, designers, engineers, and support staff across the Diablo franchise, according to the Communications Workers of America (CWA) press release, which voted “strongly in favor” to be represented by the CWA. The Diablo team is seeking to improve compensation, job security, and workplace conditions under its Microsoft parent company. Over 3,500 employees at Microsoft are now in CWA unions, including more than 500 World of Warcraft developers who formed Blizzard’s first wall-to-wall union last year. Microsoft laid off as many as 9,100 employees earlier this year, and 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox in 2024. “With every subsequent round of mass layoffs, I’ve witnessed the dread in my coworkers grow stronger because it feels like no amount of hard work is enough to protect us,” said Kelly Yeo, an organizing committee member for the Diablo union. “This is just the first step for us joining a movement spreading across an industry that is tired of living in fear.” View Source Article

A virtual private network (VPN) can save you a lot of money if you use it right. By changing your virtual location, you can use one streaming service to see shows that might be scattered between three or four in your home country. You can also trawl the world for discounts that only show up in a few select regions. And of course, you can't put a price on the joy of taking back your online business from intrusive ads and trackers. VPN providers are all competing to boost their subscriber counts, so they frequently offer massive discounts to anyone willing to sign up for one or two years at a time. Most of the deals below fit into that category. Before you jump into the list, make sure you're OK with a longer-term commitment. Best VPN deals NordVPN — $83.43 for a two-year subscription with three months free (77 percent off): NordVPN gets the most important parts of a VPN right. It's fast, it doesn't leak any of your data and it's great at changing your virtual location. I noted in my NordVPN review that it always connects quickly and includes a support page that makes it easy to get live help. Although I'm sad to see it shutting down Meshnet, NordVPN still includes a lot of cool features, like servers that instantly connect you to Tor. This deal gives you 77 percent off the two-year plan, which also comes with three extra months — but there's no expiration date, so you have a little time for comparison shopping. ExpressVPN — $85.42 for a two-year subscription with four months free (61 percent off): This is one of the best VPNs, especially for new users, who will find its apps and website headache-free on all platforms. In tests for my ExpressVPN review, it dropped my download speeds by less than 7 percent and successfully changed my virtual location 14 out of 15 times. In short, it's an all-around excellent service that only suffers from being a little overpriced — which is why I'm so excited whenever I find it offering a decent deal. This deal, which gets you 28 months of ExpressVPN service, represents a 61 percent savings. It's the lowest I've seen ExpressVPN go in some time, though like NordVPN, it's not on a ticking clock. Surfshark Starter — $53.73 for a two-year subscription with three months free (87 percent off): This is the "basic" level of Surfshark, but it includes the entire VPN; everything on Surfshark One is an extra perk. With this subscription, you'll get some of the most envelope-pushing features in the VPN world right now. Surfshark has a more closely connected server network than most VPNs, so it can rotate your IP constantly to help you evade detection — it even lets you choose your own entry and exit nodes for a double-hop connection. That all comes with a near-invisible impact on download speeds. With this year-round deal, you can save 87 percent on 27 months of Surfshark. Surfshark One — $61.83 for a two-year subscription with three months free (87 percent off): A VPN is great, but it's not enough to protect your data all on its own. Surfshark One adds several apps that boost your security beyond just VPN service, including Surfshark Antivirus (scans devices and downloads for malware), Surfshark Alert (alerts you whenever your sensitive information shows up in a data breach) and Surfshark Search (a private search engine with no ads or activity tracking). This evergreen deal gives you 87 percent off all those features. If you bump up to Surfshark One+, you'll also get data removal through Incogni, but the price jumps enough that it's not quite worthwhile in my eyes. CyberGhost — $56.94 for a two-year subscription with two months free (83 percent off): CyberGhost has some of the best automation you'll see on any VPN. With its Smart Rules system, you can determine how its apps respond to different types of Wi-Fi networks, with exceptions for specific networks you know by name. Typically, you can set it to auto-connect, disconnect or send you a message asking what to do. CyberGhost's other best feature is its streaming servers — while it's not totally clear what it does to optimize them, I've found both better video quality and more consistent unblocking when I use them on streaming sites. Currently, you can get 26 months of CyberGhost for 83 percent off the usual price. Private Internet Access — $79 for a three-year subscription with three months free (83 percent off): It's a bit hard to find (the link at the start of this paragraph includes the coupon), but Private Internet Access (PIA) is giving out the best available price right now on a VPN I'd recommend using. With this deal, you can get 39 months of PIA for a little bit over $2 per month — an 83 percent discount on its monthly price. Despite being so cheap, PIA almost never comes off as a budget VPN, coming with its own DNS servers, a built-in ad blocker and automation powers to rival CyberGhost. However, internet speeds can fluctuate while you're connected. What makes a good VPN deal Like I said in the intro, practically every VPN heavily discounts its long-term subscriptions the whole year round. The only noteworthy exception is Mullvad, the Costco hot dog of VPNs (that's a compliment, to be clear). When there's constantly a huge discount going on, it can be hard to tell when you're actually getting a good deal. The best way to squeeze out more savings is to look for seasonal deals, student discounts or exclusive sales like Proton VPN's coupon for Engadget readers. One trick VPNs often use is to add extra months onto an introductory deal, pushing the average monthly price even lower. When it comes time to renew, you usually can't get these extra months again. You often can't even renew for the same basic period of time — for example, you may only be able to renew a two-year subscription for one year. If you're planning to hold onto a VPN indefinitely, check the fine print to see how much it will cost per month after the first renewal, and ensure that fits into your budget. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/best-vpn-deals-120056041.html?src=rss View Source Article

AI can transfer strange qualities through seemingly unrelated training—from a love of owls to something more dangerous View Source Article

The near-Earth asteroid's microscopic surface tells a detailed story. View Source Article

Apple is just days away from revealing its newest iPhones during its "Awe dropping" event on September 9th. It seems like this year's launch will offer more than just a simple spec bump, as rumors point to an ultra-thin iPhone arriving alongside the rest of Apple's upgraded smartphone lineup. Though the iPhone 17 will undoubtedly be the focal point of the event, the company might throw a couple of other devices our way. Here's what Apple might reveal during its next big launch event. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max may get even better cameras One of the first things you'll probably notice about the supposed renderings and dummy models of th … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Now that Apple has scheduled its iPhone 17 event for September 9th, it's time to dive into everything we’re expecting. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Igor Bonifacic chat with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman about his latest Apple scoops. We're expecting an ultra-thin iPhone Air (which may turn out to be a dud), but when will we hear more about Apple's rumored move into robotics and that darned foldable iPhone?Subscribe!iTunesSpotifyPocket CastsStitcherGoogle PodcastsTopicsiPhone 17 event preview with Mark Gurman: Apple’s rumored iPhone Air will be rough around the edges at first  – 1:03What to expect from the main iPhone 17 line: more of the same, for better or worse – 10:24OpenAI faces first known Artificial Intelligence wrongful death lawsuit – 26:32U.S. government converts Intel’s CHIPS act grant into 9.9% equity – 32:28Working on – 37:15Pop culture picks –  39:01CreditsHosts: Devindra Hardawar and Igor BonifacicGuest: Mark GurmanProducer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'BrienThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-iphone-17-event-preview-with-bloombergs-mark-gurman-113000693.html?src=rss View Source Article

A survey of Scientific American’s century of quantum coverage helps explain the enduring popularity of strange physics View Source Article

Project Pivo lets you swivel the laptop screen to view things in portrait mode. | Image: Evan Blass Lenovo is gearing up to show off its latest products at Europe’s IFA tech tradeshow next week, but leaks may have just given us a first look at what’s being announced. The most notable gadget shared by reputable leaker Evan Blass shows an image of a concept laptop design with a display that rotates between landscape and portrait orientations, which Lenovo has reportedly dubbed “Project Pivo.” Lenovo has a history of making funky laptop concepts — such as the see-through ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop and the rollable display on the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 — but these R&D projects aren’t guaranteed to be released as consumer products. The portrait mode for Project Pivo could be a useful feature for coding and viewing the mobile versions of websites and apps, so we’ll have to see if it turns into something that you can actually buy. According to Blass, Lenovo will also be showing off the Legion Go 2, the second-gen gaming handheld announced during CES that’s expected to launch sometime this year, and a selection of tablets and Motorola phones. I’ll be checking out what Lenovo has to offer during the IFA event, so more information about these products should be available next week if they make an appearance. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Ian King looks at the intense interest in Nvidia’s quarterly earnings report. View Source Article

We’ve reviewed half of the Pixel 10 series, and Google continues to improve its phones in very tangible ways. We scored the Pixel 10 Pro 94, which is a high score, but well deserved. With brighter screens, a faster Tensor G5 chip and a bigger battery, a lot of the improvements are software based. Magic Cue uses on-device AI to surface relevant information from apps, reducing app-hopping. Engadget The camera app also introduces Camera Coach for shooting directions and to highlight various camera modes. While camera hardware is largely unchanged, the Pixel 10 Pro has a new Pro Res Zoom feature, using generative AI for up to 100x zoom, delivering sharper and “just better looking” results than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s zoom, according to Sam Rutherford, who put the phone through its paces. This year’s Pixels also support magnetic Qi2 wireless charging, with what Google calls Pixelsnap. (It’s MagSafe for Pixels.) For those seeking a more affordable option, the Pixel 10, reviewed by me, now includes a 5x telephoto lens, surpassing other base flagships, like the S25 (3x) and iPhone 16 (2x), and incorporates all the Gemini features found in the Pro device. Also, I love the new Indigo Blue. Waiting on reviews for the new Pixel Watch and Pixel 10 Pro Fold? Expect those over the next few months — the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is set to be released in October. — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The news you might have missed The best Labor Day sales Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen) review Honor’s Magic V5 foldable almost feels too thin The best smartphones of the year Apple’s iPhone 17 ‘awe dropping’ event is on September 9 It might be iPhone Air time. Engadget Apple has announced its “awe dropping” iPhone event on September 9. Alongside what is expected to be called the iPhone 17, we might see the super-thin iPhone Air. Rumored to be approximately 5.55 mm thick, making it the thinnest iPhone yet, it might mean a single camera and a smaller battery, but details are TBC for now. We’re also expecting to see new Apple Watch models, including the first new Ultra model in two years, and possibly the long-awaited AirPods Pro 3. Continue reading. Everything we played at Gamescom 2025 Yes, Silksong. Again. Microsoft Gamescom has concluded, with a surprising highlight being an actual launch date for Silksong: September 4. The Hollow Knight follow-up’s influence has led other indie publishers to shift their game launches to avoid competing with it. Fresh from Cologne, Germany, we have extensive reports from the show, covering games like Silent Hill f, Resident Evil Requiem and Outer Worlds 2. My Best of Show award goes to NongShim noodles for its booth, made of instant noodle shelves, from which attendees could take free samples. And they did. Continue reading. Google Translate’s latest feature is its take on Duolingo The company also introduced improved AI-powered live translations. Google is expanding its Translate app with new language learning tools designed to improve conversation skills. The feature tailors listening and practice sessions based on your current level and motivation. (It even asks you why you’re learning a language.) It will make customized scenarios for listening or speaking practice with helpful hints and even track your daily progress. Currently, it supports English speakers practicing Spanish and French, and Spanish, French and Portuguese speakers working on their English. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111537079.html?src=rss View Source Article

Hurricane forecasts have made huge leaps since Katrina hit 20 year ago, but that progress is threatened by Trump administration cuts to research View Source Article

In June, Mark Zuckerberg went for the ultimate Hail Mary in the ever-intensifying AI race: He spun up a brand-new Meta AI lab after making a $14.3 billion acquisition of Scale AI - and then spending billions more hiring some of the industry's preeminent researchers and engineers. Fast-forward a couple of months, and Zuckerberg may have recruited the talent, but now the question is whether he'll be able to keep it from slipping through his fingers. For that, we'll have to wait and see. After all, Meta rebranded its entire AI division as "Meta Superintelligence Labs," a division of thousands of people. One team within that division - the t … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Ant Group Co.’s quarterly profit fell 60%, after the Chinese digital payments giant made more inroads overseas and invested in artificial intelligence to grow its revenue. View Source Article

Superluminal velocities are common but illusory View Source Article

Gaming technology startup PlaysOut is considering raising as much as $15 million in new equity financing at a valuation topping $150 million, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Newly released SpaceX footage gives us great looks at the final moments of Starship's epic Flight 10 test on Aug. 26, which ended with an Indian Ocean splashdown. View Source Article

“Actual features are subject to the official product release.” | Image: Dangbei Dangbei is bringing its S7 Ultra Max all-in-one projector to Berlin next week for the big IFA tech show. That’s a good indication that the China-only 4K projector with a ridiculously bright 6,200 ISO lumen output is preparing for a global launch. Here’s the teaser Dangbei just sent to my inbox: Experience cinema-grade brilliance with this laser projector, featuring 48 RGB laser units, 6,200 ISO lumens, and Dolby Vision/HDR10+ for unparalleled visuals. When this 4K projector was announced in China back in July, Dangbei said it achieved class-leading brightness by combining 48 laser-light sources. But it claimed “5800 CVIA lumens” back then, and CVIA typically delivers a higher brightness value than the stricter ISO and ANSI standards. So there’s reason to be skeptical of the higher 6,200 ISO lumen claim. Here’s the subtitled launch from a few months ago: And like Anker’s very bright 3500 ANSI lumen Nebula X1 projector I recently reviewed, the S7 Ultra Max is liquid cooled to tame all the heat its projection tech produces while reducing the noise to a very quiet 24dB, according to the company. Other features include dual 15W speakers, a stated 8000:1 native contrast ratio, 0.98 to 1.6:1 optical zoom, and a base that swivels and rotates to find the best image placement, with automatic focus, keystone correction, and screen alignment to dial things in. All this for a price of just 15,999 yuan, which converts to about $2,250. Too good to be true? Possibly, we’ll see what Dangbei has to say next week in Berlin. View Source Article

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. posted a 3% drop in operating profit after an escalating price-based battle with Meituan and JD.com Inc. hurt margins. View Source Article

You can’t set your own Calling Card, but you can use them to customize how other contacts appear when they call you. Google’s Phone app is adding “Calling Cards” that let you customize the appearance of contact screens for incoming calls. They’re similar to the Contact Poster feature that iPhone users have had since 2023, allowing Google Phone app users to replace the teeny contact photos that appear when someone is calling you with full-screen images and stylized names. The update is part of Android’s Material 3 Expressive design language overhaul, which Google used to test a revamped Phone app interface in June. Calling Cards started appearing in beta versions of Google’s Contacts and Phone apps earlier this month, but now they’re getting a public release in version v188 of the Phone app. Google says Calling Cards will be available worldwide, and are being rolled out “in phases,” so they might take a while to appear for everyone. When the feature becomes available, Phone app users will see a banner on the Home tab that reads “Introducing calling card: Customize how you see your contact when they call you.” Tapping on this takes users to the Calling Card page, but you can also navigate to it manually in Contacts. From there, Calling Cards can be created for each contact by selecting an image from the device’s camera, gallery, or Google Photos, and choosing a font and color option that will be used to display the contact’s name. Unlike Contact Posters on iOS, you can’t design your own Calling Card that will appear for other contacts when you call them. Google’s Calling Cards only let you set customized screens that are specific to your device, so you’ll have to set these for every individual person if you want to use the feature. Those contacts can’t edit how their Calling card appears on your device, however, so you can have some fun with how you customize them. This is rolling out alongside a new “Take a message” feature for the Phone app that automatically answers and transcribes voicemails when you miss a call. Users can record a custom greeting that callers hear when leaving a voicemail for Take a Message, or select from one of the available greeting presets. Transcripts and voicemail audio can be found in the Phone app Recents tab, and Google says that all messages are “stored privately on your device.” The feature is available on Pixel 4 phones or newer, and on Pixel Watch 2 models or newer when paired with Pixel 6 or more recent Google phone models. View Source Article

Huawei Technologies Co. posted a first-half profit, getting back into the black after the emergence of DeepSeek ignited a wave of AI development across China. View Source Article

Your Apple MacBook is already a powerful, sleek machine — but the right accessories can make it even better. Whether you’re trying to expand its ports, improve your workspace or boost your productivity on the go, there’s no shortage of helpful add-ons designed specifically with Apple products in mind. From USB-C hubs and external drives to stands, keyboards and protective sleeves, the best MacBook accessories help you get more out of your laptop without sacrificing style or portability.Most of the options we recommend are designed to work seamlessly with macOS, so you won’t have to worry about compatibility issues. Whether you’ve just picked up a new MacBook Air or you’re kitting out a fully-loaded MacBook Pro, these accessories can help you create a more comfortable, capable and personalized setup. Table of contents Best MacBook accessories for 2025 Best MacBook webcam accessories Best MacBook docking stations and hubs Best MacBook charging gear Best MacBook keyboards and mice Best MacBook stands Best MacBook accessories for 2025 Best MacBook webcam accessories Best MacBook docking stations and hubs Best MacBook charging gear Best MacBook keyboards and mice Best MacBook stands This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-macbook-accessories-150014737.html?src=rss View Source Article

CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. is considering options including a potential Hong Kong listing of its global telecom business, people familiar with the matter said, as the conglomerate controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing reviews its global empire of assets. View Source Article

Nvidia Corp. must face trial in the case of an engineer who inadvertently revealed autonomous driving trade secrets that he allegedly stole from a former employer. View Source Article

Elon Musk asked a federal judge to dismiss a US Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over his growing stake in Twitter Inc. in 2022, calling allegations that he cheated investors government overreach. View Source Article

South Korean prosecutors sought a 15-year prison term for Kakao Corp. founder Brian Kim, accusing the billionaire of manipulating stock prices during a high-stakes takeover battle for K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment Co. View Source Article

The right add-on can make a good iPhone experience even better. Whether you're looking to boost your battery life, level up your mobile photography or just keep your device safe from daily wear and tear, the best iPhone accessories are the ones that add real value without getting in your way. From MagSafe chargers and wireless earbuds to stands, mounts and portable power banks, there’s no shortage of ways to customize how you use your phone.We've tested a wide range of products to help you narrow it down. Whether you're using the latest iPhone or holding onto an older model, the best iPhone accessories can enhance your day-to-day in meaningful ways — whether that’s making your morning commute smoother, improving your FaceTime setup or just keeping your screen crack-free. Best iPhone accessories This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-iphone-accessories-140022449.html?src=rss View Source Article

China said it will prevent excess competition in the red-hot artificial intelligence sector, a signal that Beijing wants to avoid wasteful investment even as it seeks to turn the technology into a key pillar of the economy. View Source Article

Viewers in Africa, Asia, and Australia will be able to see the blood moon in the sky—but those in the Americas will have to settle for a live feed this time around. View Source Article

The China data center business owned by Bain Capital’s Chindata Group Holdings Ltd. has drawn interest from local bidders seeking to expand in the sector to tap a boom in artificial intelligence, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

Technology giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com are adding a jolt of energy to the Asian-Pacific syndicated loan market with plans to raise billions of dollars in foreign currency. View Source Article

Google Sergey Brin funded LTA (Lighter then Air Ships) and they completed a 400 foot (124 meter) long Pathfinder 1. Pathfinder 1 is a subscale prototype of the airship LTA Pathfinder 3, currently under development at another WWII-era hangar in Akron, Ohio. LTA will eventually submit for certification by the FAA. The Pathfinder 3 will ... Read more View Source Article

Developers building for Meta’s metaverse platform will soon be able to create AI-powered NPCs for Horizon Worlds. The company previewed the move, which is coming “very soon” as part of a developer update that adds new generative AI tools for developers. Once available, developers will be able to use Meta’s Worlds Desktop Editor to create NPCs that can hold “lifelike” conversations with players via voice chat. The company has previously experimented with NPCs for its metaverse, but the upcoming update will be the first time developers have access to customizable embodied characters.For players, this means the NPCs they encounter will be able to engage more dynamically and respond to specific interactions rather than only relying on scripted responses. In a blog post, Meta shared a video that shows how developers can customize their characters’ appearance and create a backstory and instructions that determine how it responds to players. The update is the latest way that Meta has been steadily merging its AI and metaverse ambitions. And given that its Connect event is just a few weeks away, there’s a good chance we’ll hear more about how generative AI is changing Meta’s virtual worlds very soon. In the meantime, anyone who wants to see some of these new AI NPCs in action can check out characters in Bobber Bay Fishing and Profit or Perish.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-bringing-ai-powered-npcs-to-the-metaverse-231605236.html?src=rss View Source Article

Altice International said it’s gotten an offer for its Israeli business, Hot Telecommunication Systems Ltd., as billionaire owner Patrick Drahi sells down parts of his empire. View Source Article

Microsoft has fired two more employees who participated in recent protests against the company’s contracts with the Israeli military and government. The two employees, Nisreen Jaradat and Julius Shan, were fired “in connection” with demonstrations that saw protesters set up encampments at Microsoft’s headquarters, according to Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the No Azure for Apartheid group. Two other Microsoft employees were fired last night for their involvement with a protest that saw members of the group gain access to a company building and live stream themselves inside the office of Microsoft president Brad Smith. Jaradat had previously sent a mass email around Microsoft saying she was “fed up” with the company’s treatment of her as a Palestinian worker, bypassing the company’s restrictions on language around Palestine and Gaza internally in order to do so. The No Azure for Apartheid group has been taking public actions against Microsoft throughout the year. The group interrupted Microsoft executives during live streamed presentations on multiple occasions this spring. More recently, the group attempted to occupy a plaza on Microsoft’s headquarters. After being removed, they returned the next day with tents and tables and poured red paint across a Microsoft sign; 18 people were arrested. Protesters returned again on Tuesday for the demonstration in Smith’s office. Afterward, Smith held a press conference saying that Microsoft is “working every day” to investigate potential misuse of Azure in Israel. But he said the protesters’ actions were “not ok.” Microsoft declined to provide an attributable statement to The Verge. View Source Article

Super Micro Computer Inc. cautioned that weaknesses in its controls related to financial disclosures could, if not fixed, hurt the company’s ability to report results “in a timely and accurate manner.” View Source Article

SpaceX's Starship nailed its 10th-ever test flight on Aug. 26. Footage from the launch pad that day shows just how much power the giant rocket packs. View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde discusses how markets are reacting to Nvidia’s decelerating growth. Plus, the Nvidia CFO tells Bloomberg News that the company needs a codified plan before it can pay the Trump administration's 15% commission on chip sales. And shares of Snowflake and HP rise on the back of their earnings reports. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

The once-scrappy US startup is now a 20-year-old giant. In its third decade, it faces the promise and peril of artificial intelligence—and the rise of a Chinese rival. View Source Article

Credit: NASA NASA has awarded ASCEND Aerospace & Technology of Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Contract for Organizing Spaceflight Mission Operations and Systems (COSMOS), to provide services at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The COSMOS is a single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract valued at $1.8 billion that begins its five-year base period no earlier than Dec. 1, with two option periods that could extend until 2034. The Aerodyne Company of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Jacobs Technology Company of Tullahoma, Tennessee, are joint venture partners. Work performed under the contract will support NASA’s Flight Operation Directorate including the Orion and Space Launch System Programs, the International Space Station, Commercial Crew Program, and the Artemis campaign. Services include Mission Control Center systems, training systems, mockup environments, and training for astronauts, instructors, and flight controllers. For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov -end- Tiernan DoyleHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov Chelsey BallarteJohnson Space Center, Houston281-483-5111chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsJohnson Space CenterArtemisCommercial CrewInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS ResearchJohnson Flight OperationsSpace Launch System (SLS) View Source Article

This sneak peek at 'Skin in the Game' is a battle of wits between galactic heavyweights. View Source Article

Microsoft announced its first homegrown AI models on Thursday: MAI-Voice-1 AI and MAI-1-preview. The company says its new MAI-Voice-1 speech model can generate a minute’s worth of audio in under one second on just one GPU, while MAI-1-preview “offers a glimpse of future offerings inside Copilot.” Microsoft already uses MA1-Voice-1 to power a couple of its features, including Copilot Daily, which has an AI host recite the day’s top news stories, and to generate podcast-style discussions to help explain topics.  You can try MA1-Voice-1 out for yourself on Copilot Labs, where you can enter what you want the AI model to say, as well as change its voice and style of speaking. In addition to this model, Microsoft introduced MAI-1-preview, which it says it trained on around 15,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs. It’s built for users in need of an AI model capable of following instructions and “providing helpful responses to everyday queries.”  Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman said during an episode of Decoder last year that the company’s internal AI models aren’t focused on enterprise use cases. “My logic is that we have to create something that works extremely well for the consumer and really optimize for our use case,” Suleyman said. “So, we have vast amounts of very predictive and very useful data on the ad side, on consumer telemetry, and so on. My focus is on building models that really work for the consumer companion.” The company plans on rolling out MAI-1-preview for certain text use cases in its Copilot AI assistant, which currently relies on OpenAI’s large language models. It has also started publicly testing its MAI-1-preview model on the AI benchmarking platform LMArena. “We have big ambitions for where we go next,” Microsoft writes in the blog post. “Not only will we pursue further advances here, but we believe that orchestrating a range of specialized models serving different user intents and use cases will unlock immense value.” View Source Article

AI chatbots can be manipulated much in the same way that people can, according to researchers. But first… View Source Article

Public health experts warn that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s leadership crisis—sparked by the White House’s efforts to oust CDC director Susan Monarez—could jeopardize national biosecurity, pandemic preparedness and disease outbreak surveillance View Source Article

Dell Technologies Inc. boosted its annual outlook and posted quarterly sales and profit that topped analysts’ estimates, building on continued strong demand for artificial intelligence servers that power an expanding fleet of data centers. View Source Article

Tesla is expanded the Austin Robotaxi service area and is now doubling the number of robotaxi service vehicles in the area. They will soon be providing service to the Austin Airport. The map of the service area is 170 square miles. Tesla FSD 14 will be out next month and it should be 2-3 times ... Read more View Source Article

The glacial flood risks that Juneau is now experiencing each summer are becoming a growing problem in communities around the world. View Source Article

So I heard you want to play Kirby on hard mode: tough bosses, tricky platforming, complicated puzzles, hidden collectibles, and maybe even punishments for failing. The Star-Crossed World expansion in Kirby and the Forgotten Land's Switch 2 edition certainly introduces new challenges. There's pressure from time constraints and consecutive platforming sequences, multistep puzzles, and bosses have more health, varied attacks, and phases. In Star-Crossed World, the promise of a more difficult Kirby game reaches its conceptual limits. But how hard can a game built around pressing one button to obliterate the problems in front of you get? Kirby … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Nvidia’s CFO tells investors that the company can’t pay the US 15% of its chip sales to China until the plan is formalized and warns of possible legal risks. Bloomberg’s Ian King explains that this is not a political statement, but rather the company doing its fiduciary duty and offering investors clarity. He joins Caroline Hyde on “Bloomberg Tech.” (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Microsoft is expanding its AI footprint with the release of two new models that its teams trained completely in-house. MAI-Voice-1 is the tech major's first natural speech generation model, while MAI-1-preview is text-based and is the company's first foundation model trained end-to-end. MAI-Voice-1 is currently being used in the Copilot Daily and Podcast features. Microsoft has made MAI-1-preview available for public tests on LMArena, and will begin previewing it in select Copilot situations in the coming weeks. In an interview with Semafor, Microsoft AI division leader Mustafa Suleyman said the pair of models was developed with a focus on efficiency and cost-effectiveness. MAI-Voice-1 runs on a single GPU and MAI-1-preview was trained on about 15,000 Nvidia H-100 GPUs. For context, other models, such as xAI's Grok, took more than 100,000 of those chips for training. "Increasingly, the art and craft of training models is selecting the perfect data and not wasting any of your flops on unnecessary tokens that didn’t actually teach your model very much," Suleyman said. Although it is being used to test the in-house models, Microsoft Copilot is primarily built on OpenAI's GPT tech. The decision to build its own models, despite having sunk billion-dollar investments in the newer AI company, indicates that Microsoft wants to be an independent competitor in this space. While that could take time to reach parity with the companies that have emerged as forerunners in AI development, Suleyman told Semafor that Microsoft has "an enormous five-year roadmap that we're investing in quarter after quarter." With some concerns arising that AI could be facing a bubble-pop, Microsoft's timeline will need to be aggressive to ensure taking the independent path is worthwhile.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-introduces-a-pair-of-in-house-ai-models-193003900.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission will map the boundaries of the heliosphere, the bubble created by the solar wind that protects our solar system from cosmic radiation. Credit: NASA/Princeton/Patrick McPike NASA will hold a media teleconference at 12 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 4, to discuss the agency’s upcoming Sun and space weather missions, IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. The two missions are targeting launch on the same rocket no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 23. The IMAP mission will map the boundaries of our heliosphere, the vast bubble created by the Sun’s wind that encapsulates our entire solar system. As a modern-day celestial cartographer, IMAP will explore how the heliosphere interacts with interstellar space, as well as chart the range of particles that fill the space between the planets. The IMAP mission also will support near real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles. These energetic particles can produce hazardous space weather that can impact spacecraft and other NASA hardware as the agency explores deeper into space, including at the Moon under the Artemis campaign. NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will image the ultraviolet glow of Earth’s exosphere, the outermost region of our planet’s atmosphere. This data will help scientists understand how space weather from the Sun shapes the exosphere and ultimately impacts our planet. The first observation of this glow – called the geocorona – was captured during Apollo 16, when a telescope designed and built by George Carruthers was deployed on the Moon. Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website at: https://www.nasa.gov/live Participants include: Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla, director, Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland David J. McComas, IMAP principal investigator, Princeton University Lara Waldrop, Carruthers Geocorona Observatory principal investigator, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign To participate in the media teleconference, media must RSVP no later than 11 a.m. on Sept. 4 to Sarah Frazier at: sarah.frazier@nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. The IMAP and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory missions will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Also launching on this flight will be the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1), which will monitor solar wind disturbances and detect and track coronal mass ejections before they reach Earth. David McComas, professor, Princeton University, leads the IMAP mission with an international team of 27 partner institutions. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, built the spacecraft and will operate the mission. NASA’s IMAP is the fifth mission in NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Probes Program portfolio. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory mission is led by Lara Waldrop from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Mission implementation is led by the Space Sciences Laboratory at University of California, Berkeley, which also designed and built the two ultraviolet imagers. BAE Systems designed and built the Carruthers spacecraft. The Solar Terrestrial Probes Program Office, part of the Explorers and Heliophysics Project Division at NASA Goddard, manages the IMAP and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory missions for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, manages the launch service for the mission. To learn more about IMAP, please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/imap -end- Abbey Interrante / Karen FoxHeadquarters, Washington301-201-0124 / 202-358-1600abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov Sarah FrazierGoddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.202-853-7191sarah.frazier@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsHeliophysicsCarruthers Geocorona Observatory (GLIDE)Goddard Space Flight CenterHeliophysics DivisionHeliosphereIMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe)Kennedy Space CenterLaunch Services ProgramScience Mission DirectorateSolar Terrestrial Probes Program View Source Article

A big draw of Kobo e-readers has always been Pocket integration. But, when Mozilla announced in late May that it was shutting down the read-it-later app in July, the Kobo community was left in a bit of a lurch. To the company’s credit, in late July, it announced that it would be replacing Pocket with another stalwart of the scene, Instapaper. And, just a month after that, support is already live and available as a free firmware update for all currently supported Kobo readers (and the list is surprisingly long). If you’ve been on the hunt for a Pocket replacement ahead of all your data disappearing on October 8th, Instapaper now seems like the clear front runner if you’re a Kobo user, especially since you don’t need an Instapaper Premium subscription to take advantage. Hopefully the partnership will prove more fruitful than the one with Mozilla which hadn’t seen any significant improvements in years and was nearly killed off in 2023. View Source Article

Take advantage of these moments of melancholy to add Nvidia to your portfolio, says Laffer Tengler Investments CEO and CIO Nancy Tengler. She joins Caroline Hyde on “Bloomberg Tech.” (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Rakuten and Instapaper have announced a new integration that lets you access saved articles on Kobo ereaders. The new feature replaces a similar one Rakuten used to offer for Pocket users, which it was forced to replace after Mozilla decided to shut down the read-it-later service in May 2025. Instapaper on Kobo devices works nearly identically to the way Pocket did previously. With your Instapaper account linked, you can access any article you've saved to your library. Articles can be downloaded and accessed offline, and you can like, delete or archive them as you see fit. As someone who relied on the Pocket integration to work my way through a ridiculous backlog of saved articles, Instapaper makes a capable replacement. Really, the only thing the feature is missing at this point is support for handwritten annotations on Kobos with styluses, like the Kobo Libra Colour or Kobo Elipsa 2E. Mozilla made the decision to wind down Pocket and a few other smaller products to conserve time and resources that might be better spent on Firefox. Instapaper itself was in decline following an acquisition by Pinterest in 2016, until the developers working on the service bought it back and took Instapaper independent in 2018.  Pocket and Instapaper aren't one-to-one replacements for each other (Instapaper seems much less concerned with preserving images, for example) but they're close. For anyone who relied on Pocket, Rakuten replacing the service with Instapaper is a best-case scenario. The new Instapaper integration is available globally on all currently supported Kobo ereaders.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/kobo-ereaders-are-swapping-out-pocket-for-instapaper-190615508.html?src=rss View Source Article

Scientists have retreated to deep beneath the French Alps to broaden the hunt for dark matter particles that could be "WIMPier than WIMPS." View Source Article

On Thursday, Xbox announced it’s widely rolling out cross-device play history. With the new update, even if you’re on a different Xbox console, Ally handheld, or PC, your recently played game list will remain the same, so you can jump right back in where you left off. The change, which first started testing with Insiders last month and is now rolling out to everyone, also includes putting cloud-playable games in your recently-played list. As described in the blog post, “That means every cloud-enabled title, from original Xbox classics to Xbox Series X|S exclusives, is now in one place whether you own it or play through Xbox Game Pass.” On console, you can find your recently played games through the “Play history” tile on the home page. Your recent titles will also surface on the Xbox PC app within the “Play history” tab beneath the “Most Recent” section, as well as in your library. View Source Article

Comcast Corp.’s Peacock streaming service will now be available on Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video Channels, joining a growing list of offerings on the online TV supermarket. View Source Article

From left to right: JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and NASA astronauts Jonny Kim (seated), Zena Cardman, and Mike Fincke conduct training scenarios with their instructors at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, for their upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui will connect with students in New York as they answer prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) questions aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will begin at 9:20 a.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 5, and will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel. Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, to Sara Sloves at: 917-441-1234 or ssloves@thecomputerschool.org. The Computer School will host this event in New York for middle school students. The goal of this event is to extend learning by exposing students to the real-world experiences and engineering challenges of astronauts working and living aboard the International Space Station. For nearly 25 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network. Research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lay the groundwork for other agency deep space missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars, inspiring the world through discovery in a new Golden Age of innovation and exploration. See more information on NASA in-flight calls at: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation -end- Gerelle DodsonHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600gerelle.q.dodson@nasa.gov Sandra JonesJohnson Space Center, Houston281-483-5111sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsIn-flight Education DownlinksHumans in SpaceInternational Space Station (ISS)Johnson Space CenterLearning ResourcesNASA Headquarters View Source Article

Yes, even this 98-inch mode is discounted. | Image: TCL Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end of summer, which is a bit sad, but it’s a great time to get a deal on a fancy, new TV. The US holiday is happening just before the start of the 2025-2026 NFL season, the World Cup qualifiers, and the lead-up to the MLB post-season games. This sports trifecta means you can take advantage of Labor Day sales on 4K TVs, whether you’re planning on hosting big at-home viewing parties, or you just want to tune in alone. Right now, you can save hundreds of dollars on high-end OLED TVs like Samsung’s S90D or Sony’s Bravia 8 II. If you don’t want to spend as much, you can pick up a 70-inch 4K TV from Insignia for well under $400. That’s just a taste, but we’ve got more deals below that should suit gamers, cinephiles and sports fans alike. Many of these TVs are at or matching their lowest prices, and, as always, there’s no guarantee that Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals will beat these prices. Insignia F50 Insignia F50 Where to Buy: $499.99 $329.99 at Amazon (70-inch) $449.99 $319.99 at Best Buy (65-inch) $349.99 $189.99 at Best Buy (55-inch) Insignia’s massive 70-inch F50 4K TV is on sale for $329.99 ($60 off), its lowest price ever at Amazon (that size isn’t available at Best Buy, although plenty of other sizes are). In terms of specs, it’s about as basic as they come, with a 60Hz refresh rate screen and three HDMI 2.0 ports. It’ll be just fine for watching sports and movies on, but 60Hz means it can’t display PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, or Switch 2 games at their fastest-possible frame rates, but 60 frames per second isn’t so bad. The F50 supports HDR10 for more contrast-rich and accurate colors when viewing TV shows, movies, or games that support the format. The TV runs Amazon’s Fire OS, and has Alexa voice capabilities built into its included remote, so you can use your voice to search for content. You can also utilize Alexa to change the TV’s volume and input without manually navigating through menus. If you have an Alexa-enabled camera, such as the Blink Mini, you can ask it to fetch a live video feed, which will appear as a picture-in-picture frame at the top of the TV screen. The F50 also supports AirPlay, so you can mirror your Apple device’s display onto the TV. It doesn’t have every bell and whistle, but Insignia’s F50 is a solid 4K TV, especially considering its size and price. If you want a smaller TV, Amazon and Best Buy are offering the 55-inch model for $189.99 ($160 off), which matches its all-time low price.  TCL QM6K TCL QM6K 4K QLED TV Where to Buy: $598.99 $446.99 at Amazon (55-inch) $598.99 $449.99 at Best Buy (55-inch) If you want a more premium 4K TV than the Insignia model above (without breaking the bank, of course), TCL’s 55-inch QM6K comes with a surprising amount of features for its roughly $446.99 ($350 off) sale price at Amazon, and $449.99 at Best Buy. The TV has a 144Hz panel, which will make fast-paced console or PC games display with fabulous fluidity compared to using a 60Hz screen. It has a full-array local dimming panel for even lighting across all dimming zones (negating the bloom effect that some cheaper TVs exhibit in dark scenes). The TV has two HDMI 2.1 ports, which can carry a 120Hz 4K signal that modern game consoles and PCs can take advantage of. Its two HDMI 2.0 ports top out at 60Hz, which is suitable for a Blu-ray player or perhaps a Google TV 4K Streamer streaming device. The TV runs on TCL’s AIPQ Processor, which the company says analyzes what you’re watching or playing to optimize its brightness, color, and contrast in real time. If you want a larger TV, you can get the 65-inch model for $549.99, which matches its all-time low at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. Interested in the 98-inch model as seen at the top of this post? It’s $1,799.99 at Best Buy (was $2,999.99). Samsung S90D  Samsung S90D TV Where to Buy: $1599.99 $1197.99 at Amazon (65-inch) $1599.99 $1199.99 at Best Buy (65-inch) $1599.99 $1197.99 at Walmart (65-inch) OLED TVs are more affordable than ever before, and this Labor Day deal on Samsung’s 65-inch S90D is proof. Its price is down to just $1,197.99 ($500 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. The OLED panel is the star spec, of course, delivering better contrast and brightness control than any other type of screen tech. Its other specs are good, too. The TV has a 120Hz panel and four HDMI 2.1 ports, letting consoles and PCs display at 4K/120Hz. It runs on a processor that can upscale non-4K video to look better on a higher-resolution set, and can analyze what you’re watching to make objects in the foreground look closer than the background. The S90D doesn’t support Dolby Vision (typical with Samsung TVs, unfortunately), but does have HDR+ for more accurate color.  The TV has Amazon Alexa built-in, and it runs Samsung’s Tizen operating system, so you can access TV shows and movies with your voice using a microphone built into the remote. The S90D can also access Samsung’s Gaming Hub, which allows you to play games from your Steam library directly from the TV (via Wi-Fi or ethernet) rather than manually connecting it to a PC.  If you want an even larger OLED TV, the 77-inch S90D is around $1,797.99 ($602 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart.  Samsung The Frame TV Pro Samsung The Frame TV Pro Where to Buy: $2197.99 $1797.99 at Amazon (65-inch) $2199.99 $1799.99 at Best Buy (65-inch) $2197.99 $1797.99 at B&H Photo (65-inch) Samsung’s The Frame TV Pro can display artwork when you’re not actively watching video or playing games on it, and the 65-model for an all-time low price of around $1,798.99 ($401 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo. The TV’s standout feature is its “Art Mode,” which allows you to display an image from Samsung’s Art Store. The store has over 2,000 images, including classics like Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, and requires a subscription that costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year.  Another interesting aspect of the Frame TV Pro is that you don’t need to connect video sources directly to it. Samsung’s Wireless One Connect Box contains four HDMI 2.1 ports, and sends an audio and video signal wirelessly from devices to the TV. Samsung also includes a wall mount with the Frame TV Pro.  The Frame TV Pro has a 120Hz panel, making it great for fast-moving games and other high frame rate content. Plus, its processor can upscale lower-resolution video, and can automatically adjust video settings based on what you’re watching and your environment. The Frame TV Pro has a matte display, which won’t show glare from light sources as much as an LCD or OLED screen, so the image on screen will look a little more canvas-like. The TV also has a thick white bezel around the screen, and you can pick up an optional frame to fit around the outside to make it look even more like a painting.  For a bigger model, the 75-inch Frame TV Pro is $2,497.99 ($700 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo. Sony Bravia 8 II Sony Bravia 8 II Where to Buy: $2999.99 $2298 at Amazon (55-inch) $2999.99 $2299.99 at Best Buy (55-inch) $3499.99 $2998 at Amazon (65-inch) Sony’s Bravia 8 II was recently voted the best TV of 2025 by a panel of experts (including The Verge’s Nilay Patel), and the 65-inch model is matching its all-time low price of around $2,998 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. The 4K OLED has a 120Hz panel, and its custom AI processor optimizes its color and contrast based on what you’re watching and playing. It has two HDMI 2.1 ports (which take full advantage of its refresh rate) and a pair of HDMI 2.0 ports that top out at 4K/60Hz. Sony says the Bravia 8 II has studio calibration modes for Netflix, Prime Video, as well as its own Sony Pictures Core streaming service. The panel who favored the TV were comparing images on the Bravia 8 II against a $43,000 Sony reference monitor. Based on its performance in those tests, we’re confident the Bravia 8 II can display video better than top OLED TVs from Samsung, LG, and Panasonic. Although, you’ll pay a heftier price for it. The TV has Google Assistant built in, can be controlled by an Alexa-enabled speaker, and supports AirPlay 2. Sony has also discounted the 55-inch model to around $2,298 ($701 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. View Source Article

An intense price war in China’s food delivery sector is dealing more damage than expected to the country’s e-commerce giants, forcing analysts and investors to slash their share price targets. View Source Article

More than 450 Diablo developers at Blizzard Entertainment have voted to unionize with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The union will represent employees across multiple disciplines including designers, engineers, artists and support staff. This comes after a slew of layoffs in the gaming division at Microsoft, Blizzard's parent company, as well as across the industry at large. The Diablo team isn't the first to unionize at the tech giant. ZeniMax QA workers reached a union contract with Microsoft after two years of negotiations, and Blizzard's Story and Franchise Development team voted to unionize earlier this month. Both are part of the CWA, which also helped the developers behind Overwatch unionize earlier this summer. Kelly Yeo, a Diablo game producer and organizing committee member, said that the mass layoffs at Microsoft were a major motivating factor in the unionization. "With every subsequent round of mass layoffs, I've witnessed the dread in my coworkers grow stronger because it feels like no amount of hard work is enough to protect us," she said. "This is just the first step for us joining a movement spreading across an industry that is tired of living in fear." CWA says that more than 3,500 Microsoft workers have organized with the union. Earlier this year, video game workers announced the formation of the United Videogame Workers-CWA, an industry-wide union for workers in the US and Canada.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/over-450-diablo-developers-at-blizzard-have-unionized-180544383.html?src=rss View Source Article

6 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Scientists believe giant comets or asteroids — like the one depicted in this artist’s concept — struck Mars 4.5 billion years ago, injecting debris from the impact deep into the planet’s mantle. NASA’s InSight lander detected this debris before the mission’s end in 2022.NASA/JPL-Caltech Rocky material that impacted Mars lies scattered in giant lumps throughout the planet’s mantle, offering clues about Mars’ interior and its ancient past. What appear to be fragments from the aftermath of massive impacts on Mars that occurred 4.5 billion years ago have been detected deep below the planet’s surface. The discovery was made thanks to NASA’s now-retired InSight lander, which recorded the findings before the mission’s end in 2022. The ancient impacts released enough energy to melt continent-size swaths of the early crust and mantle into vast magma oceans, simultaneously injecting the impactor fragments and Martian debris deep into the planet’s interior. There’s no way to tell exactly what struck Mars: The early solar system was filled with a range of different rocky objects that could have done so, including some so large they were effectively protoplanets. The remains of these impacts still exist in the form of lumps that are as large as 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) across and scattered throughout the Martian mantle. They offer a record preserved only on worlds like Mars, whose lack of tectonic plates has kept its interior from being churned up the way Earth’s is through a process known as convection. A cutaway view of Mars in this artist’s concept (not to scale) reveals debris from ancient impacts scattered through the planet’s mantle. On the surface at left, a meteoroid impact sends seismic signals through the interior; at right is NASA’s InSight lander.NASA/JPL-Caltech The finding was reported Thursday, Aug. 28, in a study published by the journal Science. “We’ve never seen the inside of a planet in such fine detail and clarity before,” said the paper’s lead author, Constantinos Charalambous of Imperial College London. “What we’re seeing is a mantle studded with ancient fragments. Their survival to this day tells us Mars’ mantle has evolved sluggishly over billions of years. On Earth, features like these may well have been largely erased.” InSight, which was managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, placed the first seismometer on Mars’ surface in 2018. The extremely sensitive instrument recorded 1,319 marsquakes before the lander’s end of mission in 2022. NASA’s InSight took this selfie in 2019 using a camera on its robotic arm. The lander also used its arm to deploy the mission’s seismometer, whose data was used in a 2025 study showing impacts left chunks of debris deep in the planet’s interior.NASA/JPL-Caltech Quakes produce seismic waves that change as they pass through different kinds of material, providing scientists a way to study the interior of a planetary body. To date, the InSight team has measured the size, depth, and composition of Mars’ crust, mantle, and core. This latest discovery regarding the mantle’s composition suggests how much is still waiting to be discovered within InSight’s data. “We knew Mars was a time capsule bearing records of its early formation, but we didn’t anticipate just how clearly we’d be able to see with InSight,” said Tom Pike of Imperial College London, coauthor of the paper. Quake hunting Mars lacks the tectonic plates that produce the temblors many people in seismically active areas are familiar with. But there are two other types of quakes on Earth that also occur on Mars: those caused by rocks cracking under heat and pressure, and those caused by meteoroid impacts. Of the two types, meteoroid impacts on Mars produce high-frequency seismic waves that travel from the crust deep into the planet’s mantle, according to a paper published earlier this year in Geophysical Research Letters. Located beneath the planet’s crust, the Martian mantle can be as much as 960 miles (1,550 kilometers) thick and is made of solid rock that can reach temperatures as high as 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius). Scrambled signals The new Science paper identifies eight marsquakes whose seismic waves contained strong, high-frequency energy that reached deep into the mantle, where their seismic waves were distinctly altered. “When we first saw this in our quake data, we thought the slowdowns were happening in the Martian crust,” Pike said. “But then we noticed that the farther seismic waves travel through the mantle, the more these high-frequency signals were being delayed.” Using planetwide computer simulations, the team saw that the slowing down and scrambling happened only when the signals passed through small, localized regions within the mantle. They also determined that these regions appear to be lumps of material with a different composition than the surrounding mantle. With one riddle solved, the team focused on another: how those lumps got there. Turning back the clock, they concluded that the lumps likely arrived as giant asteroids or other rocky material that struck Mars during the early solar system, generating those oceans of magma as they drove deep into the mantle, bringing with them fragments of crust and mantle. Charalambous likens the pattern to shattered glass — a few large shards with many smaller fragments. The pattern is consistent with a large release of energy that scattered many fragments of material throughout the mantle. It also fits well with current thinking that in the early solar system, asteroids and other planetary bodies regularly bombarded the young planets. On Earth, the crust and uppermost mantle is continuously recycled by plate tectonics pushing a plate’s edge into the hot interior, where, through convection, hotter, less-dense material rises and cooler, denser material sinks. Mars, by contrast, lacks tectonic plates, and its interior circulates far more sluggishly. The fact that such fine structures are still visible today, Charalambous said, “tells us Mars hasn’t undergone the vigorous churning that would have smoothed out these lumps.” And in that way, Mars could point to what may be lurking beneath the surface of other rocky planets that lack plate tectonics, including Venus and Mercury. More about InSight JPL managed InSight for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. InSight was part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supported spacecraft operations for the mission. A number of European partners, including France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), supported the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument to NASA, with the principal investigator at IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris). Significant contributions for SEIS came from IPGP; the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) in Switzerland; Imperial College London and Oxford University in the United Kingdom; and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the temperature and wind sensors. News Media Contacts Andrew GoodJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-2433andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov Karen Fox / Molly WasserNASA Headquarters, Washington202-358-1600karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov 2025-110 Share Details Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 Related TermsInSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport)Jet Propulsion LaboratoryMars Explore More 4 min read NASA: Ceres May Have Had Long-Standing Energy to Fuel Habitability Article 1 week ago 4 min read NASA’s Psyche Captures Images of Earth, Moon Article 1 week ago 4 min read US-French SWOT Satellite Measures Tsunami After Massive Quake Article 3 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

Bottom trawling is a fishing practice that is notoriously destructive to seafloor ecosystems. Now there’s growing evidence that it might unleash planet-warming carbon View Source Article

Altair, Vega and Deneb can be seen shining with the Milky Way throughout August. View Source Article

Google is phasing out its Preferred Care extended warranty plan for the Pixel Care Plus program. Pricing between the two is pretty similar. You’ll still pay $8 per-month, or $159 for a two-year plan on a Pixel 9. For a Pixel 10 Pro Fold, that jumps up to $339 for two years, or $18 per-month, with the optional loss and theft package for a small extra charge.   The big changes here are that screen and battery repairs are free, and service fees for other accidental damage are much lower. Under the old Preferred Care program, replacing a cracked screen would run you $29. Under Pixel Care Plus a cracked front screen or battery running at under 80-percent capacity will get swapped out for $0. Unfortunately, if you happen to mess up the internal screen on your 10 Pro Fold, you are not covered.  Other accidental damage fees vary depending on model, ranging from $49 on some older models like the Pixel 8a and 9a, to $99 on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. On average they’re lower though, with service fees reaching $129 for the Pixel 9 Pro and Fold models. The new loss and theft option, which adds $1 or $2 a month to the plan, also varies per model with deductibles ranging up to $149 on the high end.  The new plans bring Google more inline with the likes of Samsung, which ditched screen replacement fees under its new extended coverage plans back in January. View Source Article

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg raised concerns about digital taxes during a White House meeting just days before President Donald Trump threatened to inflict “substantial” tariffs on countries that impose such levies. Caroline Hyde reports on Bloomberg Television. View Source Article

Meta seems to be working on ways for Threads users to share long-form writing within a single post. Several users have reported seeing a new "attach text" feature on the service, which allows them to embed large chunks of text within a single post. The feature, which hasn't been formally announced by Meta, is similar to the "articles" feature that's available on X to Premium+ subscribers. It enables Threads users to embed longer text excerpts within a single Threads post and offers some basic formatting options. "Attach longer text and get creative with styling tools to share deeper thoughts, news snippets, book excerpts and more," Meta explains in a screenshot shared byThreads user Justin Mixon. Though the feature hasn't been rolled out widely yet, it appears that anyone can view these longer text snippets that have already been shared. On mobile, these attachments open into a full-screen view that makes it easy to scroll through the text. On threads.com, text appears in a dedicated window. (Here are a couple examples shared by Threads user Roberto Nickson.) Threads Screenshot It's not clear what Meta's plans are for the feature. Engadget confirmed the company is currently testing the ability to share long-form text, but it's not clear when it might be more widely available. The ability to embed long-form writing directly on Threads could open up new possibilities for creators, publishers and others who want to move beyond the service's 500-character limit. Engadget's reporting has found that the vast majority of Threads users don't click on links in posts, so giving users more flexibility within Threads itself could be helpful. At the same time, it risks making the 400-million user service even more insular. It's also worth noting that screenshots currently indicate posts with text attachments aren't able to be shared to services within the fediverse, which could potentially undermine Meta's goal to be interoperable with other ActivityPub-enabled platforms like Mastodon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-experimenting-with-long-form-text-on-threads-175557130.html?src=rss View Source Article

4 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) These maps of Prince George’s County, MD, show surface temperatures collected a few hours apart on July 30, 2023 from the Landsat 9 satellite and the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument. The dark blue spots in the right hand image are likely clouds that formed in the afternoon.Credit: Stephanie Schollaert Uz, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Thousands of Americans are impacted each summer by excessive heat and humidity, some suffering from heat-related illnesses when the body can’t cool itself down. Data from NASA satellites could help local governments reduce the sweltering risks, thanks to a collaboration between NASA scientists and officials in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The effort demonstrates how local officials in other communities could turn to NASA data to inform decisions that provide residents with relief from summer heat. NASA researchers and their Prince George’s County collaborators reported in Frontiers in Environmental Science that they used the Landsat 8 satellite, jointly operated by NASA and the US Geological Survey, and NASA’s Aqua satellite, to gain insight into surface temperature trends across the county over the past few decades. The data also show how temperatures have responded to changing land use and construction. It is information that county planners and environmental experts hope can aid them in their attempts to remediate and prevent heat dangers in the future. The collaboration may also help the county’s first responders anticipate and prepare for heat-related emergencies and injuries. Cooperation with Prince George’s County expands on NASA’s historic role, said Stephanie Schollaert Uz, an applications scientist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and one of the study authors. “Applying government satellite data to county-level problems is new here. We’re trying to make it easier for people outside of NASA to use our data, in part by including how-to guides referenced at the end of our paper,” Schollaert Uz said. In the long run, county officials hope to use NASA satellites to track the negative health impacts that arise from land use and modification. Removal of tree cover and the construction of non-permeable roads, parking lots, and structures that lead to water runoff are among the factors that create heat islands, where temperatures in localized areas soar relative to the surrounding landscape. In addition to the direct dangers of heat for county residents and workers, areas with higher-than-normal temperatures can drive intense local weather events. “There’s potentially a greater incidence of microbursts,” said Mary Abe of Prince George’s County’s sustainability division. “The atmosphere can become supercharged over hot spots,” causing high winds and flood-inducing rains. Prince George’s County planners anticipate relying on NASA satellites to determine where residents and county employees are at greater risk, predict how future construction could impact heat dangers, and develop strategies to moderate heat in areas currently experiencing elevated summer temperatures. Efforts might include protecting existing trees and planting new ones. It could include replacing impermeable surfaces (cement, pavement, etc.) with alternatives that let water soak into the ground rather than running off into storm drains. To verify and calibrate the satellite observations crucial for such planning, county experts are considering enlisting residents to act as citizen scientists to collect temperature and weather data on the ground, Abe said. Eventually, the NASA satellite temperature data could also lead to strategies to curb insect-borne diseases, said Evelyn Hoban, associate director for the Prince George’s County division of environmental health and communicable disease. “Once we know where the higher temperatures are, we can check to see if they create mosquito or tick breeding grounds,” said Hoban, who coauthored the study. “We could then focus our outreach and education, and perhaps prevention efforts, on areas of greater heat and risk.” A NASA guide is available to aid other communities who hope to duplicate the Prince George’s County study. The guide provides introductions on a variety of NASA satellite and ground-based weather station data. Instructions for downloading and analyzing the data are illustrated in an accompanying tutorial that uses the Prince George’s County study as an example for other communities to follow on their own. One of the greatest benefits of the collaboration, Abe said, is the boost in credibility that comes from incorporating NASA resources and expertise in the county’s efforts to improve safety and health. “It’s partly the NASA brand. People recognize it and they’re really intrigued by it,” she said. “Working with NASA builds confidence that the decision-making process is based firmly in science.” By James RiordonNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Media contact: Elizabeth VlockNASA Headquarters Share Details Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 EditorJames RiordonLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related TermsEarthGeneralLandsat 8 / LDCM (Landsat Data Continuity Mission)Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Explore More 3 min read NASA’s ECOSTRESS Detects ‘Heat Islands’ in Extreme Indian Heat Wave Article 3 years ago 6 min read Landsat Legacy: NASA-USGS Program Observing Earth from Space Turns 50 Article 3 years ago 2 min read NASA’s ECOSTRESS Sees Las Vegas Streets Turn Up the Heat Article 3 years ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View Source Article

A deep-sea worm that lives in hydrothermal vents is the first known animal to create orpiment, a toxic, arsenic-containing mineral that was used by artists for centuries View Source Article

Aaron Pierre at Vanity Fair & Instagram's The 2025 Vanities Party Production on Star Wars: Starfighter officially began today, and Lucasfilm has finally confirmed the other actors who will be bringing the film to life alongside Ryan Gosling. Lucasfilm announced today that Star Wars: Starfighters has added Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams to its cast. The studio also shared a (very grainy) image of Gosling and Gray on the movie’s set. In a statement about the casting news, director Shawn Levy said that he was beyond excited to begin crafting an “original adventure” for the franchise — one set a few years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. “Star Wars shaped my sense of what story can do, how characters and cinematic moments can live with us forever,” Levy said. “To join this storytelling galaxy with such brilliant collaborators onscreen and off, is the thrill of a lifetime.” View Source Article

The French government has reached an agreement in principle with the European Commission to resolve a long-standing dispute that had been preventing state-owned utility Electricite de France SA from expanding its hydropower capacity. View Source Article

As soon as I picked up Honor’s Magic V5, I was a little concerned about its durability. The fourth generation of Honor’s Android foldable may not be massively thinner than its predecessor, but it sure feels like it. Yes, it’s built with aerospace-grade materials to make it sturdy despite its svelteness, but it’s also the first foldable I’d insist on buying a case for because goodness me, it’s thin. If you recall, the last handset in this series was the Magic V3 and no, you haven’t fallen asleep and missed a year. The number four can represent bad luck in Chinese culture as its Cantonese form (sei) sounds almost identical to the word for death (séi). Consequently, we’ve skipped a model number. The V5 is so svelte it’ll barely make an impression on your pants pocket, measuring 8.8mm folded and 4.1mm open. That’s not a big difference to the V3’s 9.2mm / 4.35mm, but it certainly feels like a rubicon has been crossed. It’s worth noting Honor is marking its own homework with one eye closed here, since it can only reach that thickness with the white V5. The other colorways (black, red and gold) stack up at 9mm / 4.2mm, which is almost the same as Samsung’s Z Fold 7. Photo by Daniel Cooper for Engadget Naturally, a premium foldable deserves premium internals, and the V5 packs a Snapdragon 8 Elite with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. There’s a 5,820mAh silicon carbon battery that, when paired with the company’s usual AI power-management tools, promises nearly 50 hours of life on a charge. I won’t comment on that claim but I can say this is the snappiest and fastest Honor foldable I’ve laid my eyes and hands on. There’s no lag or delay when switching displays, and everything feels like it’s already served up seconds before you’ve even asked for it. But in the same way no modern smartphone is a dramatic departure from what went before, the rest of the story here is nips and tucks. The Magic V5 has the same 6.43-inch cover display as the V3, and the main screen has grown only slightly, from 7.92 inches to 7.95 inches. The only useful tweak is support for Honor’s MagicPen stylus on both screens, but it’s the same size as an Apple Pencil, so you’ll need to find a place to store it. Photo by Daniel Cooper for Engadget It’s a similar story of modest changes on the imaging front as the V5 is equipped with a 50-megapixel f/1.6 primary camera with OIS. That's paired with a 64-megapixel, f/2.5 periscope telephoto (also with OIS) and a 50-megapixel f/2.0 ultra-wide. Overall, that’s an improvement on the previous model, but both selfie cameras (in the cover and primary display) are the same 20-megapixel shooter found in the V3. Of course, performance is bolstered by the usual AI features that may or may not be useful. Honor has announced European pricing for the V5, with it costing €1,999 (around $2,317) in the EU and £1,699 (around $2,283) in the UK. That puts it in the same rough bracket as the Z Fold 7, although there's so many deals and discounts these days you can always save money if you look. I'm still not sure if Honor isn't selling itself short by not undercutting its rivals more aggressively, but it must feel it can compete, and win, against Samsung and the like on an even playing field. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/honors-magic-v5-foldable-almost-feels-too-thin-143022082.html?src=rss View Source Article

NASA's Perseverance rover captured a striking new image of massive, wind-carved sand formations known as "megaripples" during its latest exploration stop on the Red Planet. View Source Article

Look, I sympathize. When General Motors said it would adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) for its electric vehicles back in 2023, we knew this meant adapters. But we never could have imagined how many adapters we would get. Today, GM announced three additional adapters to help EV owners charge at home or in public. And while I’m sure that GM thought it was presenting the information as clearly as it could, I can’t help but wonder what normal, non-EV owners must think of all this. The new adapters are intended to help customers transitioning between the old CCS way of charging to a future dominated by Tesla charging. The vast majority of automakers have committed to adopting the NACS standard for charging, acknowledging that Tesla’s Supercharger network is superior to the mostly CCS-equipped third-party charging stations that exist today. I can’t help but wonder what normal, non-EV owners must think of all this. The automakers said they would begin manufacturing EVs with NACS ports built in, but non-Tesla EV owners could access Tesla’s Superchargers by using CCS-to-NACS adapters in the meantime. But the changeover has been slow going. The 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 was the first non-Tesla EV to go on sale with a native NACS port. But to the best of my knowledge, there haven’t been any others. GM says its upcoming Cadillac Optiq-V will be its first EV with a built-in NACS charging port, but that vehicle won’t be available until later this year. The 2027 Chevy Bolt will also have a native NACS port, out next year. In the meantime, there’s a growing family of dongles to address this weird, in-between place we’re in right now with EV charging. There’s the typical CCS-to-NACS adapters that most automakers are selling to their customers. And now there’s the NACS-to-J1772 adapter for Level 2 charging — J1772 being the part of the CCS plug used for slower charging. And when GM starts producing EVs with native NACS ports, there will be two more adapters available: J1772-to-NACS dongles for slow charging and CCS-to-NACS ones for fast charging. Here’s GM’s infographic that “explains” all this: Again, what’s a normal, non-EV-owning — but perhaps EV-curious — person to think about all this? Are they really going to give up the warm embrace of gas pumps for this adapter hell? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that GM is offering more adapters to its customers for added flexibility for all levels of charging. That is undeniably a good thing. But we already know that EV charging can be a bit of a head scratcher. EV owners have complained about varying charging speeds, non-standardized plug types and networks, a lack of price transparency for public charging, and issues with communication between car and charger. It’s getting better, and most people who do most of their charging at home shouldn’t have too many problems. But if you’re trying to bring new people into the experience, this ain’t helpful. I’m worried that the growing list of adapters that EV owners will need to acquire to account for any charging scenario could be a significant roadblock in the road to EV adoption — a road that is already littered with significant roadblocks. I’m trying to imagine my mother, who owns a Ford Mustang Mach-E and who struggles with the basics of smartphone operation, navigating all these adapters while on the road to Palm Springs to visit her friends. It’s a lot to ask! Let’s hope there’s a whole world of simplified EV charging just over that next hill. View Source Article

A 35-year-old Microsoft Corp. software engineer has died at the company’s Silicon Valley campus. View Source Article

Fubo is making a move to attract new subscribers ahead of the NFL season. The company's new Fubo Sports bundle includes content from ESPN, Fox and local affiliates. The football-friendly package costs $56 monthly. Fubo Sports includes over 20 sports and broadcast networks. You get all of ESPN's live channels (including ESPN+). As for Fox, it has FS1, FS2 and the curious inclusion (for a sports package) of Fox News. The bundle also has the ACC Network, Big 10 Network, CBS Sports Network, Fubo Sports Network, ION, NFL Network, SEC Network and the Tennis Channel. Additionally, Fubo Sports has local broadcast stations owned and operated by ABC, CBS and Fox. The company says additional affiliates will be available in select markets. Fubo says some content will be available in 4K. It will support VOD, Unlimited DVR and Family Share features. Fubo You can argue that Fubo's new sports package is the best value for football fans. At $56, it's pricier than the upcoming ESPN and Fox One bundle. (It arrives on October 2 for $40.) By comparison, Fubo's package includes all the same sports channels, as well as local stations (and more). NFL and college football fans subscribing to this could also likely skip Paramount+'s sports content. The football completist would only need to add Peacock for NBC's Sunday night games and Amazon Prime for its Thursday night matchups. Confused? Well, you aren't alone. In many ways, live TV streaming has become at least as convoluted as the cable TV it once promised to improve upon. Start with something simple, insert high stakes for wealthy corporations and watch a complex web of head-spinning shit come out the other side. Regardless, starting next week, you can try Fubo Sports for $46 for your first month. After that, it defaults to the standard $56. The bundle arrives on September 2, two days before the NFL season kicks off.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/fubo-sports-will-make-a-play-for-football-fans-dollars-on-september-2-164847466.html?src=rss View Source Article

EA is promising Battlefield 6 will offer “the best PC experience in the history of the franchise,” including 4K resolution, 21:9 and 32:9 ultrawide monitors, HDR, uncapped framerates, both PS5 and Xbox gamepad support on PC, the ability to create and browse servers, streamer and incognito modes, and more — but it won’t require powerful hardware or even an SSD to get a bare-minimum experience. A 7-year-old budget gaming PC might do the job. If you’re willing to settle for 1080p at 30fps in a online shooter (I won’t judge!) an RTX 2060 or RX 5600 XT or Arc A380 GPU with 6GB of video memory is apparently enough, with 16GB of RAM, 55GB of hard drive space, and a Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600 or equivalent. That’s even slightly lower than the open beta required, which needed 75GB of storage, and today’s the first time we’re seeing what developers say it’ll take to play at 4K60 Ultra (you’ll want pretty potent CPU and GPU for that). Though, BF6 is offering a full complement of Nvidia, AMD, and Intel super-resolution and latency reduction techniques (DLSS 4, FSR 4, XeSS 2) with frame generation if you don’t need a native 4K image. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get my friends to play it with me: they’re boycotting over its lack of Linux support, as BF6’s anti-cheat spares no thought for those of us trying to ditch Windows. I liked the couple hours I spent with the beta, but I do share PC Gamer’s concerns about the fast, Call of Duty-esque pacing and was glad to hear about the changes. View Source Article

President Donald Trump threatened to inflict “substantial” tariffs on countries that impose digital taxes just days after Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg raised concerns about the levies during a White House meeting. View Source Article

The RX1R III is an incredible camera, capable of capturing stunning photos. However, for something Sony waited nearly a decade to update and is charging $5,100 for, it also feels like a missed opportunity. First, the RX1R III is nearly $2,000 more expensive than its predecessor. Plus, it’s missing a handful of features the company really should have included for it to hold its own against other high-end compact cameras, including Fujifilm’s X100VI and GFX100RF, as well as the Leica Q3 family. I love the RX1R III, but I wish it was easier to recommend. Image quality and autofocus Igor Bonifacic for Engadget New to the RX1R III is a 61-megapixel full-frame sensor Sony first introduced alongside the A7R IV back in 2019. It might be an old component, but having so much resolution in a camera I could carry everywhere felt like cheating. What hasn't changed is the glass on the RX1R III. The camera still has the same fixed 35mm f/2.0 Zeiss lens that debuted on the original RX1R in 2012. With past models, autofocus was often an issue, but it turns out the Zeiss lens wasn't to blame. It was the focusing algorithms on the older cameras. Like the A7R V, the RX1R III comes with Sony's flagship Bionz XR image processor and a dedicated chip for AI-assisted subject detection. At first, I was skeptical of the RX1R III's autofocus capabilities since the camera doesn't come with a joystick to make it easy to set a focus point manually. As it turns out, it doesn't need one. The autofocus on the RX1R III feels magical, thanks to its subject tracking. The seven different recognition modes offered by the RX1R III cover most of the things I like to shoot — including people, pets and birds — and getting the camera to lock onto a subject was simple. All I had to do was press and hold the new "AF-ON" button. The camera can be configured to prioritize specific subjects, but I found that wasn't necessary to do; I could delegate focusing entirely to the camera. All of that brings me back to the RX1R III's Zeiss glass. I know some people will be disappointed Sony didn't add a new lens, but I'm a fan of the decision. For me, the character of that lens has always been part of the appeal of the series, and it's my favorite aspect of the new model. With Sony's 61MP sensor behind it, the Zeiss optics can capture photos with a great amount of detail without ever feeling clinical or overly sharp like with many of the company's G Master lenses. The best way I can describe the rendering is that it's Leica-like with beautiful, creamy bokeh. With the right light, the RX1R III can produce images that look almost painterly, and reviewing the photos I snapped with it, they're among some of the best I've captured in the 10 years I've been shooting. At the same time, I think Sony deserves credit for greatly improving the color science of its JPEGs. The company has long offered excellent RAW support, but the older I get, the more I appreciate a camera that can produce great images with minimal editing. With the RX1R III, Sony has delivered that. The camera offers a total of 12 JPEG profiles with six custom slots. Two of the default profiles, Film 2 and Film 3, are borrowed from the FX3, and offer calming, muted tones that are a nice contrast to the more vivid colors Sony is typically known for. As for video, there's not much to say. The RX1R III can capture 4K footage at 60 frames per second and 1080p clips at 120 fps. That said, as I'll get to in a moment, Sony's new model is missing some features that would have made it a competent video camera. As things stand, I think it's only suited for capturing home videos you don't plan to share with the world. Design and handling Igor Bonifacic for Engadget The first time I looked through the RX1R III's viewfinder, I thought Sony had sent me a defective unit. The redesigned EVF is now built into the top left of the camera, but the company seems to have pulled the screen from the parts bin, as it only offers 2.36 million dots of resolution. For context, the A7R V has a 9.44-million-dot OLED EVF, while the older A7R IV has a 5.76-million-dot screen. It's jarring going from the new rear-panel LCD and viewfinder. It also feels cheap. A $5,100 camera should include a top-of-the-line EVF. The viewfinder is not the only part of the RX1R III that left me confused about what Sony was thinking. There's the rear screen I just mentioned, which is both better and worse than the one before. On the one hand, it offers nearly double the resolution, thanks to its 2.36-million-dot panel. On the other hand, it's no longer articulating, which feels like a major step back since it makes shooting candid shots from the hip a lot harder. And forget about vlogging or taking selfies. Separately, Sony hasn't weather-sealed the III. Again, that's a feature I'd like to see on such an expensive camera. Thankfully, battery life is improved, with the RX1R III supporting Sony's larger NP-FW50 batteries. I could comfortably get a day of shooting out of the latest model if I was good about powering off the camera when I wasn't using it. I could overlook all the complaints I mentioned if Sony had just added in-body image stabilization (IBIS). When I reviewed the Fujifilm X100VI last year, that feature alone felt transformational. More than just improving image quality, it made the X100VI into a camera that could shoot in nearly any light. I understand Sony likely wanted to keep the III small and light, but again, $5,100 is a lot to pay to not have a feature that many high-end cameras offer. Wrap-up I've mentioned a few of the RX1R III’s competitors in passing, but now I think it makes sense to consider where Sony's new camera fits in the market. Most people shopping for a premium compact camera will probably start their search with the X100VI. If you can find one in stock, it's significantly cheaper than the RX1R III, coming in at $1,800. Sure, you're forgoing a full-frame sensor for a smaller APS-C sensor. But for most people, I think that's a fair tradeoff, especially when the X100VI also offers IBIS, an articulating screen, an optical viewfinder and Fujifilm's excellent color simulations. If you want the largest possible sensor, I'd argue Fujifilm's GFX100RF, which has a medium-format 100MP sensor, makes more sense — even with all of its faults and a price increase coming at the end of the month. There are also the Leica Q3 and Q3 43 to consider. At $6,735 and $7,380 respectively, both are more expensive than the RX1R III, but come with nicer displays, IBIS and Leica glass. Like I said at the start, I wish the RX1R III was easier to recommend, but it occupies a strange space where it's not necessarily better or different enough from its rivals. Inflation and Trump's tariffs likely tied Sony's hands to a degree, but the company could have still made the new model more compelling by avoiding some of its questionable design decisions.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/sony-rx1r-iii-review-waiting-10-years-to-be-underwhelmed-160036397.html?src=rss View Source Article

This graphic features data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory of the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant that reveals that the star’s interior violently rearranged itself mere hours before it exploded. The main panel of this graphic is Chandra data that shows the location of different elements in the remains of the explosion: silicon (represented in red), sulfur (yellow), calcium (green) and iron (purple). The blue color reveals the highest-energy X-ray emission detected by Chandra in Cas A and an expanding blast wave. The inset reveals regions with wide ranges of relative abundances of silicon and neon. This data, plus computer modeling, reveal new insight into how massive stars like Cas A end their lives.X-ray: NASA/CXC/Meiji Univ./T. Sato et al.; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk The inside of a star turned on itself before it spectacularly exploded, according to a new study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Today, this shattered star, known as the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, is one of the best-known, well-studied objects in the sky. Over three hundred years ago, however, it was a giant star on the brink of self-destruction. The new Chandra study reveals that just hours before it exploded, the star’s interior violently rearranged itself. This last-minute shuffling of its stellar belly has profound implications for understanding how massive stars explode and how their remains behave afterwards. Cassiopeia A (Cas A for short) was one of the first objects the telescope looked at after its launch in 1999, and astronomers have repeatedly returned to observe it. “It seems like each time we closely look at Chandra data of Cas A, we learn something new and exciting,” said Toshiki Sato of Meiji University in Japan who led the study. “Now we’ve taken that invaluable X-ray data, combined it with powerful computer models, and found something extraordinary.” As massive stars age, increasingly heavy elements form in their interiors by nuclear reactions, creating onion-like layers of different elements. Their outer layer is mostly made of hydrogen, followed by layers of helium, carbon and progressively heavier elements – extending all the way down to the center of the star.  Once iron starts forming in the core of the star, the game changes. As soon as the iron core grows beyond a certain mass (about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun), it can no longer support its own weight and collapses. The outer part of the star falls onto the collapsing core, and rebounds as a core-collapse supernova. The new research with Chandra data reveals a change that happened deep within the star at the very last moments of its life. After more than a million years, Cas A underwent major changes in its final hours before exploding. “Our research shows that just before the star in Cas A collapsed, part of an inner layer with large amounts of silicon traveled outwards and broke into a neighboring layer with lots of neon,” said co-author Kai Matsunaga of Kyoto University in Japan. “This is a violent event where the barrier between these two layers disappears.” This upheaval not only caused material rich in silicon to travel outwards; it also forced material rich in neon to travel inwards. The team found clear traces of these outward silicon flows and inward neon flows in the remains of Cas A’s supernova remnant. Small regions rich in silicon but poor in neon are located near regions rich in neon and poor in silicon.  The survival of these regions not only provides critical evidence for the star’s upheaval, but also shows that complete mixing of the silicon and neon with other elements did not occur immediately before or after the explosion. This lack of mixing is predicted by detailed computer models of massive stars near the ends of their lives. There are several significant implications for this inner turmoil inside of the doomed star. First, it may directly explain the lopsided rather than symmetrical shape of the Cas A remnant in three dimensions. Second, a lopsided explosion and debris field may have given a powerful kick to the remaining core of the star, now a neutron star, explaining the high observed speed of this object. Finally, the strong turbulent flows created by the star’s internal changes may have promoted the development of the supernova blast wave, facilitating the star’s explosion. “Perhaps the most important effect of this change in the star’s structure is that it may have helped trigger the explosion itself,” said co-author Hiroyuki Uchida, also of Kyoto University. “Such final internal activity of a star may change its fate—whether it will shine as a supernova or not.” These results have been published in the latest issue of The Astrophysical Journal and are available online. To learn more about Chandra, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/chandra Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here: https://www.nasa.gov/chandra https://chandra.si.edu Visual Description This release features a composite image of Cassiopeia A, a donut-shaped supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth. Included in the image is an inset closeup, which highlights a region with relative abundances of silicon and neon. Over three hundred years ago, Cassiopeia A, or Cas A, was a star on the brink of self-destruction. In composition it resembled an onion with layers rich in different elements such as hydrogen, helium, carbon, silicon, sulfur, calcium, and neon, wrapped around an iron core. When that iron core grew beyond a certain mass, the star could no longer support its own weight. The outer layers fell into the collapsing core, then rebounded as a supernova. This explosion created the donut-like shape shown in the composite image. The shape is somewhat irregular, with the thinner quadrant of the donut to the upper left of the off-center hole. In the body of the donut, the remains of the star’s elements create a mottled cloud of colors, marbled with red and blue veins. Here, sulfur is represented by yellow, calcium by green, and iron by purple. The red veins are silicon, and the blue veins, which also line the outer edge of the donut-shape, are the highest energy X-rays detected by Chandra and show the explosion’s blast wave. The inset uses a different color code and highlights a colorful, mottled region at the thinner, upper left quadrant of Cas A. Here, rich pockets of silicon and neon are identified in the red and blue veins, respectively. New evidence from Chandra indicates that in the hours before the star’s collapse, part of a silicon-rich layer traveled outwards, and broke into a neighboring neon-rich layer. This violent breakdown of layers created strong turbulent flows and may have promoted the development of the supernova’s blast wave, facilitating the star’s explosion. Additionally, upheaval in the interior of the star may have produced a lopsided explosion, resulting in the irregular shape, with an off-center hole (and a thinner bite of donut!) at our upper left. News Media Contact Megan WatzkeChandra X-ray CenterCambridge, Mass.617-496-7998mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu Corinne BeckingerMarshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama256-544-0034corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 EditorLee MohonContactCorinne M. Beckingercorinne.m.beckinger@nasa.govLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsChandra X-Ray ObservatoryGeneralMarshall AstrophysicsMarshall Space Flight CenterSupernova RemnantsSupernovaeThe Universe Explore More 6 min read Meet NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Masterminds Article 22 hours ago 4 min read Washington State Student Wins 2025 NASA Art Contest Article 3 days ago 5 min read Astronomers Map Stellar ‘Polka Dots’ Using NASA’s TESS, Kepler Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using… Article 3 days ago View Source Article

It will take the most sensitive instruments ever imagined to reveal ripples from the Big Bang, but they could change our understanding of the entire universe. View Source Article

Fubo is launching a new Sports plan on September 2nd that costs $55.99 per month and comes with over 20 live sports and news-focused channels, including the ESPN and Fox Sports channels, as well as local stations owned by ABC, CBS, and Fox. Where available, this package includes coverage for network TV-broadcast pro and college football games that might slip through the cracks of other streaming options, while going light on channels that aren’t all about sports: At launch, Fubo Sports will include local broadcast stations owned-and-operated by ABC, CBS and FOX plus additional affiliates in select markets as well as ACC Network, Big 10 Network, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, Fox News, FS1, FS2, Fubo Sports Network, ION, NFL Network, SEC Network and Tennis Channel with some network 4K content also available. Access to ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer Unlimited plan, which includes ESPN+, is bundled with a Fubo Sports subscription. Customers in select markets will also receive local broadcast sports channels. Additional networks may be launched. To start, Fubo Sports is only launching in “select markets” where broadcasters own or partner with local affiliates, but the service plans to expand its availability in the future. The “skinny” bundle also comes with all of the content in ESPN’s “Unlimited” $29.99 package, like the network’s 12 channels, and ESPN+ streaming options. Last year, Fubo sued Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, and Fox over plans to create the now-scrapped sports streaming superpower, Venu. Fubo agreed to drop its lawsuit after reaching an agreement to merge with Hulu + Live TV next year, creating a new venture majority-owned by Disney. At $55.99 per month, Fubo Sports sits between the $70 sports-focused plans offered by Comcast and DirecTV, and the $40 bundle with ESPN and Fox One. It also comes with some perks of a standard Fubo subscription, including multiview, a “catch up to live” feature that shows you highlights of a game you’re late to, and unlimited DVR. View Source Article

Hackers accessed the personal information of more than four million TransUnion customers in July, according to a regulatory disclosure from the major credit reporting agency. View Source Article

Bose announced its latest earbuds in June, but the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen) ($299) won’t arrive until early September. Today, though, they’re available for preorder, and I’ve spent the last few weeks testing all the new features. This model is an overhaul of the noise-canceling earbuds the company debuted in 2023 alongside its take on spatial audio. Among the upgrades, Bose has improved the active noise cancellation (ANC) performance, enhanced call quality and added wireless charging to the case. Two years later, the QuietComfort Ultra is still the best option for those primarily concerned with blocking distractions, and Bose’s tweaks make its best earbuds even better. What’s new on the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen)? The new QC Ultra Earbuds are at their best in Quiet mode. This is Bose’s option for full noise cancellation without spatial audio (or Immersive Audio, as the company calls it). Here, there’s no doubt these are still the best noise-cancelling earbuds available right now. The first-gen version achieved the same feat, but Bose has gone a step further to enhance its ANC setup for this refresh. Specifically, the company updated the algorithm for its ActiveSense technology in Aware (transpancy) Mode. Now the QC Ultra Earbuds offer smoother changes in ANC levels to combat sudden spikes in ambient noise. This means things like sirens should no longer drown out your music or podcast. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to trigger the retooled adaptive ANC with simulated police sirens from YouTube — the best option on my quiet cul-de-sac — but I’ll report back if I notice any oddities here. Bose also upgraded call quality on the QC Ultra Earbuds. The company says a new AI-powered setup, known as SpeechClarity, works with “the earbuds’ eight microphones, dynamic mixing and adaptive filters” to focus on your voice. Bose explains that it uses audio augmentation tech that was originally developed for hearing aids here, which can reduce background noise like wind or the drone of an office. During my tests, the revised system silenced a noisy fan, rendering it completely absent from my recordings. However, overall voice quality suffers as you will sound a bit staticky when all the audio processing kicks in. Thankfully, you no longer need an additional accessory for wireless charging on the QC Ultra Earbuds. With the first-gen model, you had to buy a separate cover to enable cable-free recharging. Bose has now built all of that into the case for the second-gen set, a welcome upgrade that really should’ve been here from the start. When the original QC Ultra Earbuds debuted in 2023, wireless charging was certainly already the norm. What’s still great about the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen)? Billy Steele for Engadget As I mentioned, the overall ANC performance of the QC Ultra Earbuds remains unmatched. If you’re looking to block out distractions, this is the best option that still offers great sound quality. Bose even manages to cancel out human voices better than most of its rivals, which can be a struggle for much of the competition. Audio quality on these earbuds remains near the top of the heap. You won’t notice as much detail as Noble Audio’s FoKus Rex5 or Technics’ AZ100, but there’s great clarity here nonetheless. Bose says the tuning was “slightly refined” for improved bass response and smoother high frequencies. I noticed that tracks with deep bass, like Deftones’ “locked club,” are clearer at the low end. Meanwhile, treble-forward instruments in songs like Miles Davis’ “Green Haze” sound crisper and cleaner than before. Despite their larger size, this year’s buds offer a surprisingly balanced and comfortable fit. Bose refreshed the ear tips for the QC Ultra Earbuds with a new guard to prevent wax build up. Touch controls are still reliable, and you can disable them entirely on this second-gen version. What’s not so good about the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen)? The biggest gripe I have with the overhaul of the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds is the lack of improvement to battery life. I was disappointed to see that a better runtime wasn’t part of the upgrades when I read the announcement in June, and I’m still not over it. On this model, you’ll get up to six hours of use with ANC turned on. Like before, if you listen with that spatial Immersive Audio enabled, that drops to four hours. A couple more hours would’ve been nice, enough to keep the QC Ultra Earbuds in place for a full work day without having to give them a lunch break in the case. While the design doesn’t bother me too much, I know the look of the QC Ultra Earbuds isn’t for everyone. There is a bit of a mini Bluetooth headset vibe going on here, and the overall size of the buds are on the larger side when much of the competition is racing to be the smallest. Like I said, none of this impacts comfort or stability, and I’d bet many prospective buyers are willing to live with the aesthetic in exchange for the type of silence the QC Ultra Earbuds deliver. Wrap-up The upgrades on the second-gen QC Ultra Earbuds don’t make for a wildly new product, but they do provide enough for a notable improvement over the previous version. ANC and call performance are both enhanced, and though it’s late to the party, the addition of built-in wireless charging is a welcome change. Other updates, like the tuning tweaks and the ability to turn off touch controls, are quality-of-life changes that undoubtedly improve the overall experience. Bose has done all of this without changing the price from the 2023 model, which is a surprising choice in the current economic climate. Simply put, the QC Ultra Earbuds remain the best option for wireless noise-cancelling earbuds, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen) are available for preorder in the US today, August 28. The general on-sale date is scheduled for September 10. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/bose-quietcomfort-ultra-earbuds-2nd-gen-review-still-a-noise-canceling-powerhouse-153017601.html?src=rss View Source Article

Microsoft is making a big change to how Word for Windows saves documents. The word processing app will soon automatically save new documents to the cloud, instead of Word users having to enable AutoSave and cloud storage options. “We are modernizing the way files are created and stored in Word for Windows,” says Raul Munoz, a product manager on the Office shared services and experiences team at Microsoft. “Now you don’t have to worry about saving your documents: Anything new you create will be saved automatically to OneDrive or your preferred cloud destination.” The change to Word for Windows is being tested with Microsoft 365 Insiders, and the software maker says the change will mean you never have to worry about losing any work and that documents can be accessed across Android and iOS devices or in a web browser. New documents will be saved with a date instead of the existing format that adds a number to the end of a document file name. You’ll be able to change where new documents are created by setting default cloud locations, and you can also disable the option to create new files in the cloud automatically. Microsoft has been increasingly pushing Word users to save documents to the cloud, with the AutoSave function that stores documents in the cloud by default. The software maker has also been using nag screens in Windows to convince people to enable OneDrive backup settings, which have proved unpopular with Windows users. This latest option to create new files in the cloud automatically adds yet another step to saving files locally if you don’t use OneDrive or other cloud storage. Some Word users have already made their feelings clear about Microsoft’s fresh attempt to get more Windows users to use OneDrive in the comment section of Microsoft’s blog post. “It seems that every few years Microsoft adds yet another step that users have to jump through to get to their files,” said one poster. “It used to be very simple with the C drive being prominently displayed.” View Source Article

Academics once loved Twitter—but in the age of X they’ve abandoned it in droves. View Source Article

Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $863 million from investors including AI giant Nvidia Corp. to help complete a demonstration system and continue development of its first commercial plant that will generate electricity by harnessing the energy of the stars. View Source Article

As first reported by TorrentFreak, Apple is preventing downloads of the iTorrent app on iPhones in the EU. Developer Daniil "XITRIX" Vinogradov's app was a popular BitTorrent client available from AltStore PAL, which is among the most popular third-party iOS app stores overseas. The company revoked the app developer's ability to distribute apps on such third-party marketplaces. While Apple has historically banned torrent clients from iOS devices in the United States, the EU's Digital Markets Act that went into effect last year requires Apple to allow apps from third-party stores to be installed by users. According to TorrentFreak's reporting, the motivation behind the revocation of XITRIX's alternative distribution rights is not yet certain. The publisher spoke directly with TorrentFreak and said that Apple never reached out to him about the matter. “I still have no idea if it was my fault or Apple's, and their responses make no sense,” Vinogradov told TorrentFreak. Apple has responded to Vinogradov with a generic message about app store issues. Shane Gill, the co-founder of AltStore PAL, told TorrentFreak that the company's request for information from Apple has not resulted in it explaining its justification for the takedown. “I can confirm that we are in communication with Apple about this issue. We've told them what's going wrong, and they said they're looking into it, but we haven't gotten any further information as of yet,” said Gill.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-pulls-torrenting-app-from-a-third-party-store-in-the-eu-143039720.html?src=rss View Source Article

SpaceX Starship V3 will be 30 meters taller with a proposed height of 150 meters. SpaceX should upgrade to Starship version 3 by November, 2025 from the recently flow version 2. It will be about 7500 tons. It is projected that Starship V3 could have a payload capacity of over 200 tons to low Earth ... Read more View Source Article

A new NASA-IBM algorithm called Surya could be a major leap in space weather forecasting. View Source Article

If FromSoftware’s multiplayer take on Elden Ring was just a little too easy for you, the developer has just the thing coming up. The studio announced “Deep of Night,” a new mode for Nightreign that is focused specifically on difficulty. Namely, it sounds like it’ll make things much harder. From describes it as “a high-difficulty challenge mode designed for seasoned players who have navigated through the Night many times.” There aren’t a lot of firm details right now, but the mode will include stronger enemies, weapons with “detrimental effects,” and a difficulty level that “increases the deeper you descend.” It sounds like there are five layers to work your way through, and if you make it through the first three, you’ll be treated to “an endless battle for those seeking even greater thrills.” Sounds like just the thing for Nightreign sickos (complimentary) and it’s also launching pretty soon: “Deep of Night” will be available on September 11th. View Source Article

As SpaceX's Starship vehicle gathered all of the attention this week, the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket continued to hit some impressive milestones. Both occurred during relatively anonymous launches of the company's Starlink satellites but are nonetheless notable because they underscore the value of first-stage reuse, which SpaceX has pioneered over the last decade. The first milestone occurred on Wednesday morning with the launch of the Starlink 10-56 mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The first stage that launched these satellites, Booster 1096, was making its second launch and successfully landed on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship. Strikingly, this was the 400th time SpaceX has executed a drone ship landing. View Source Article

Chinese artificial intelligence chipmaker Cambricon Technologies Corp. issued a warning to investors about elevated trading risks after its shares more than doubled in one month. View Source Article

Soon, folks in the UK will be able to check out Apple TV+ series Trying for free (well, other than the cost of a TV license). The BBC has picked up the rights to the first three seasons of the show. The Beeb will broadcast it on TV and stream it on iPlayer starting on September 8. According to Deadline, the deal includes the option for the BBC to pick up more seasons of Trying, which — as it happens — is produced by a commercial arm of the corporation. Apple greenlit a fifth season earlier this year. This marks the first time that the BBC has picked up an Apple TV+ series, but deals such as this aren’t uncommon. BBC rival ITV scooped up Apple TV+ series Suspicion earlier this year for its ITVX streaming service. Sales distributor Fifth Season is said to have brokered that deal. Last year, Fifth Season was shopping around other Apple TV+ shows, such as See, Roar and Servant. We’ve seen other instances of streaming services and production companies taking their projects to other platforms to get some more eyeballs on them and try to earn more revenue. A couple of years ago, Warner Bros. Discovery yanked shows including Westworld from (HBO) Max in favor of streaming them on free, ad-supported platforms. The BBC has also partnered with Disney+ to stream Doctor Who internationally.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/apple-tv-sitcom-trying-is-coming-to-the-bbc-144552532.html?src=rss View Source Article

Aubrey de Grey describes his plan to get combinations of promising aging damage-repair approaches. Aging is accumulated molecular and cellular damage from metabolism, leading to pathology. He emphasizes that we already know enough to pursue preventative maintenance on the body, which is like maintaining a car for longevity. He highlights progress in startups addressing all ... Read more View Source Article

Here's where to find very dark skies in the U.S. and Canada. View Source Article

The Magic V5 is a thin phone with a big camera bump. Honor is bringing the Magic V5 — the world’s thinnest foldable phone, though only just — to Europe, where it’s available to order now following its Chinese launch last month. It’s joined by a new MagicPad 3 tablet and MagicBook Art 14 laptop. I’ve just reviewed the Magic V5, which is a whole 0.1mm thinner than either the Oppo Find N5 or Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. That only counts for the white model though, with the other colors matching Oppo and Samsung phones in size thanks to different materials for the finish. It’s also only counting the phone’s main body — Honor’s supersized camera bump is thicker than those of its rivals, and if you measure by that then Oppo still holds the crown. The V5’s big advantage is its battery. Thanks to a 15 percent silicon-carbon blend, space-saving compared to traditional batteries, it boasts a huge 5,820mAh capacity — way more than Samsung’s 4,400mAh. Battery anxiety, be gone. Other specs include Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, up to 16GB of RAM, and an IP58 / 59 rating that almost matches the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold on dust protection. The giant camera bump isn’t just for show either: the 50-megapixel main and ultrawide cameras, and 64-megapixel telephoto, are among the best I’ve used on any foldable phone. It starts from £1,699.99 / €1,999 (around $2,300), putting it in line with other foldables. The V5 is joined by two other launches. The MagicPad 3 is a 13.3-inch Android tablet with a 165Hz LCD display, and it’s also impressively thin at 5.8mm. That’s despite a generous 12,450mAh battery and 66W wired charging. It’s launching in the UK for £599.99 (about $800). The MagicBook Art 14 is a Windows laptop that — you’ll never believe it — is quite thin, clocking in around 10mm, with a slender magnesium-titanium body. The 14.6-inch OLED screen has a 3.1K resolution, and the laptop is powered by Intel chips, including the Arc 140T GPU. It’s probably more of a looker than a powerhouse, but comes at a premium price: £1,499.99 / €1,699 (around $2,000). View Source Article

SpaceX is investing $280 million for the expansion of its semiconductor research-and-development (R&D) and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop, about 33 miles southeast of Austin. The company received its fifth Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund grant, totaling $17.3 million, from the State of Texas to help fund the expansion. SpaceX has expanded Bastrop by adding 1 ... Read more View Source Article

The Milky Way is a spectacular sight in the summer skies but why does it look so much more brilliant than it does in the winter? View Source Article

Taco Bell’s plan to outfit hundreds of drive-thrus with an AI voice assistant isn’t going exactly as the chain expected. Dane Mathews, Taco Bell’s chief digital and technology officer, admitted to The Wall Street Journal that the company is re-evaluating where to deploy the tech as customers air their frustrations on social media, and others post videos of their attempts to troll the system, like ordering 18,000 water cups. “We’re learning a lot, I’m going to be honest with you,” Mathews told the WSJ. “I think like everybody, sometimes it lets me down, but sometimes it really surprises me.” Since announcing plans to put AI in the drive-thru last year, Taco Bell has deployed the tech in over 500 locations across the US, according to the WSJ. Other fast-food chains are experimenting with AI, too, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and White Castle. Mathews tells the outlet that while the company still plans on pushing ahead with AI voice technology, he’s discovered that using AI exclusively in the drive-thru at very busy restaurants might not be such a great idea after all. View Source Article

NVIDIA has revealed that its revenue for the second quarter ending on July 27 rose 56 percent compared to the same period last year, and that's without shipping any H20 chips to China. It reported a revenue of $46.7 billion and a net income of $26.4 billion. As CNBC has noted, the company previously said that H20 shipments to China could have added $8 billion in sales to its second quarter figures. Instead, the company was only able to release $180 million worth of the chips to a customer outside of China. NVIDIA clearly still did very well in the second quarter, however, just like in the previous ones. This is the ninth straight quarter, ever since AI skyrocketed in popularity back in 2023, wherein the company's year-on-year revenue increase has exceeded 50 percent.  The company designed the H20 specifically for the Chinese market, but the US government blocked its shipment earlier this year over concerns it could aid the nation's military. In mid-July, the government told NVIDIA that it will be able to ship the H20 to China again, but Chinese authorities discouraged local tech firms from using the chips. Now, the company is believed to be developing a new chip for China that's more advanced than the H20 and is based on the company's Blackwell architecture. Both the H20 and this upcoming more advanced chip could lead to another big leap in revenue and sales for the company.  Speaking of Blackwell, NVIDIA has also announced that sales for its Blackwell-based chips rose 17 percent from the first quarter. The new product line, which is designed for advanced AI, reached $27 billion in sales and represented 50 percent of the company's data center revenue. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nvidia-is-really-profiting-from-the-ai-boom-133044352.html?src=rss View Source Article

The DJI Mic 3 has shrinked without scrimping. DJI is making its latest wireless lavalier microphone system even smaller without scrimping on features or battery life. The DJI Mic 3 is half the size and weight of its Mic 2 predecessor and introduces new capabilities, including two adaptive gain control modes, three voice tone presets, and a sizable increase in storage capacity for internal recordings. DJI’s latest wireless mic can support up to four transmitters and eight receivers at once for recording audio from large groups, with a range of 400 meters (1,312 feet). The Mic 3 automatically switches between 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands to help keep the transmission stable and prevent interference. Two-level active noise cancelling is also available for reducing background sounds. The Adaptive Gain Control modes include an Automatic option that can suppress sudden volume spikes and prevent clipping in noisy environments, and a Dynamic mode that automatically adjusts gain to keep volume consistent in quieter indoor settings like studios. The three voice tone presets include Regular, Rich, and Bright, which can be selected based on the vocal characteristics of whoever is speaking to adjust clarity. At 16 grams, the Mic 3 is closer in size and weight to the 10-gram Mic Mini system that DJI launched last year. Unlike the Mic Mini, however, the Mic 3 retains features like built-in backup recording abilities to prevent losing audio, and a touchscreen display on the receiver to adjust settings and monitor battery levels. It also includes 32GB of storage for dual-file internal recordings that support both 24-bit and 32-bit floating points, which is significantly larger than the 8GB of built-in storage on the Mic 2. Battery life sits between the two older DJI lav mics, providing up to eight hours for the receiver and 10 hours for the transmitter, compared to six hours for both on the Mic 2, and up to 11.5 hours and 10.5 hours on the Mic Mini’s transmitter and receiver, respectively. The Mic 3 charging case provides 2.4 full charges, according to DJI, giving users 28 hours of extra juice on the go. What we don’t know is the price or release timeline. DJI says the Mic 3 won’t be available in the US immediately, which suggests it’ll be launching in other markets first. The two-microphone transmitter kit for the Mic 2 launched at $219, and the more affordable Mic Mini is $169 by comparison, so we’ll have to wait and see how the Mic 3 stacks up when it arrives in the US. View Source Article

Framer, a Dutch company that makes tools for automating web design, has raised a funding round at a $2 billion valuation. View Source Article

Typepad, a blogging service that launched in the same year as WordPress, has announced that it's shutting down on September 30. "We have made the difficult decision to discontinue Typepad," its team said in a post. Several major publications used it as a backend for their websites in its early years, and it even released an app in 2008, but it soon fell behind WordPress in popularity. The service stopped accepting new signups sometime in 2020 but continued supporting its old customers. One user contacted Typepad back in March this year and was told that Typepad still supports its "existing customers and there are no plans for that to change," so shutting it down was a recent decision.  After September 30, users will no longer be able to access their account management settings, their blogs and all associated content. Everything will be deactivated permanently. They will, however, be able to export their content before September 30 in Movable Type Import Format, which they can then upload to WordPress. Typepad will stop charging users for subscription starting on August 31, and if a user has recently made a payment, it "will attempt to issue a prorated refund to the payment method on file." There are probably only a few people still using Typepad these days, but let's pour one out for the old blogging service. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/early-blogging-service-typepad-is-shutting-down-for-good-130033731.html?src=rss View Source Article

Palo Alto, California, 28th August 2025, CyberNewsWire View Source Article

NASA has opened a new Orion Mission Evaluation Room at the Johnson Space Center to analyze in-flight spacecraft data and provide support for Artemis 2 and other future missions to the moon. View Source Article

ChargePoint is ramping up the power for its next-generation DC fast charging architecture to 600 kW for passenger vehicles, and up to 3.75 megawatts (3,750 kW) for heavy-duty trucks — enough to power an entire football stadium. Most EVs on the road aren’t able to accept more than 350 kW of power while charging, but ChargePoint CEO Rick Wilmer said the idea was to future proof its charging infrastructure in anticipation of the arrival of higher powered EVs. Another consideration is China, which is beginning to roll out EVs with higher-voltage battery architectures that can handle increased power levels. But while China continues to set the standard for ultra-fast EV charging, the Campbell, CA-based charging company said its important for America to keep pace. “We’ve got to catch up,” said Wilmer in an interview. The new architecture is not only more powerful, but also less expensive to install and operate, Wilmer said. The new Express chargers will be 30 percent less expensive to install and 30 percent less expensive to operate than the current generation of DC fast chargers. They will also have a 30 percent smaller footprint, with Wilmer claiming the Express chargers can be “pre-built” on a concrete slab and delivered on a flatbed truck to an installation site. “We’ve got to catch up.” ChargePoint hasn’t said where it will be install its beefy new charging stations, though it did say it will be in conjunction with “participating utilities,” hinting at the heavy lift that’s required to supply this kind of power. Unlike like regular EV chargers, these new high-powered units can’t be installed just anywhere, as they demand high electrical capacity to operate at full load. That said, ChargePoint says its partnership with power management company Eaton will develop solutions that can overcome grid restraints. The two companies announced their intention to work together earlier this year, with a particular focus on the US, Europe, and Canada. The new Express chargers will feature both companies’ logos. One configuration of this new architecture is what Wilmer calls a “power block,” a 600kW charging cabinet that can support AC (alternating current) to DC (direct current) conversion as well as DC to DC conversion. He described how one power block can be used to power a variety of different EVs: “You can now divide that into 12 simultaneous ports. So imagine doing 12 vehicles at 50 kilowatts, six vehicles at 100 kilowatts, four vehicles at 150 kilowatts — do the math any way you want.”Aggregating three blocks can deliver 1.8 MW of power for heavy-duty electric trucks. ChargePoint and Eaton were able to achieve these higher power outputs by eliminating the AC-to-DC conversion in some configurations, and just having the architecture convert DC to DC while connected directly to a microgrid, Wilmer said. This improves efficiency by “putting more power in the box.” Wilmer acknowledged that there aren’t many DC-only microgrids available to power the new architecture, but noted that Eaton was in the process of bringing more online. As such, ChargePoint plans on being “very selective” in how it rolls out the new architecture starting in the second half of 2026. But Wilmer envisions power moving seamlessly between the grid, EVs, stationary batteries, and more through a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) power management system. “It’s very elegant with this DC architecture to move that energy around to where it’s needed on the site and then into the fixed battery and then back to the grid when it’s needed by the grid,” he said. The news comes on the heels of ChargePoint’s announcement of higher powered Level 2 chargers for homes and businesses. Taken together, Wilmer says that improved EV charging can help prevent sales from sliding too far off track after federal incentives are phased out. “You’ve got to lower the cost, lower the cost to operate it, allow it to be deployed more quickly at less costly, and hopefully in shorter timeframes,” he said. View Source Article

Early this summer, my wife and I had an inconvenient realization: we may need to be in two places at once. An urgent doctor appointment could conflict with YMCA day camp pickup, or our kids would get invited to two birthday parties on the same morning at godforsaken activity centers in separate towns. There was no doubt we needed another car. A big ticket purchase seemed unjustifiable when we don't know what eggs will cost next month — and my search for an aftermarket Prius within my budget was strangely fruitless. As it turns out though, now might be the best time to grab a used EV. During my search, I saw BMW i3s (those freakish go-kart looking EVs) and VW e-Golfs selling for around $15,000, both of which are more fun to drive and have better tech features than older Prii. Couple those low prices with the soon-to-be-expired EV tax credit — which can get you up to $4,000 off certain used EVs and plug-in hybrids (PHEVS) — and some cars could cost $10,000 or less! Meanwhile, I couldn't find a decent 2015 Prius below $17,000. Long story short, I settled on a boring-yet-secretly-fun option: A 2018 Nissan Leaf. It has a range of 150 miles and a hatchback design that looks less funky than the original bug-eyed sub-compact. It accelerates quickly, it's relatively engaging to drive and it also has premium leather seats, radar-assisted cruise control and a decent Bose speaker system. Not bad for something close to $15,000 with only 33,000 miles! Even though it's worth far less than our stately Volvo XC90, I genuinely have more fun zipping around town in the Nissan Leaf. There's the magic of the instant torque you get from its electric motor, the convenience of one-pedal driving (Nissan calls it "e-pedal") and its cherry red paint lets me pretend I'm having a mid-life Miata crisis like my middle school rhetoric teacher. Plus it can easily fit a large toddler car seat and a booster for my six-year old, and it has enough trunk space to deal with massive grocery hauls. Thank god I didn't get a Prius. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget Why are used EVs so cheap? Many EVs just don't hold their value — you can blame the fast-evolving EV components and consumer uncertainty for that. But that also means you can find gently used models for far less than their list price. If I was less responsible and pushed my budget a bit higher, I'd absolutely consider a recent Hyundai Ioniq 5 for around $25,000. It's well-reviewed, and it looks like an '80s retro-future hatchback. What's not to love? (And yes, you could also look for used Teslas if you want. I can't vouch for the quality of that brand, and personally I wouldn't recommend getting stuck in its ecosystem.) You can find even deeper discounts for less popular cars, like the Polestar 2 (which would honestly look great in my driveway next to its Volvo cousin). That luxury EV started at $61,000 at launch — but now it's easy to find used Polestar 2s for around $25,000. No matter which used EV you're looking at, be sure to check out its battery health level. Most early EVs relied on air cooling for their batteries, and their chemistry isn't advanced as modern cars, which means degradation can be common. You can typically find a battery health indicator in a car's settings, but OBD sensors and apps like LeafSpy may provide a more accurate sense of their longevity. So long, EV tax credit The Biden-era EV tax credit can also shave off up to $4,000 from select used EVs and $7,500 from new models, but unfortunately thanks to Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" it's likely to be discontinued at the end of September. I've seen some dealers highlight cars eligible for tax credits, and that's also true for online stores like Carvana. Just be sure to check the IRS requirements — notably, the new vehicle credit only applies for individuals earning less than $150,000 and married couples filing jointly who earn less than $300,000. The used vehicle credit is even more restrictive, as it only applies to individuals earning less than $75,000 and married joint filers earning under $150,000. Additionally, qualifying EVs have to be priced under $25,000, and must be 2023 models or older. You'll also have to buy the used EV from a dealer — personal sales don't apply. How I learned to deal with range anxiety One major reason older EVs have gotten cheaper is that they often offer relatively low driving ranges. The 2021 BMW i3 can run up to 153 miles, but older models topped out at 85 miles (there are also Range Extender models that use a small gas engine to slowly recharge the battery). My 2018 Leaf tops out at 150 miles, but there are also "Leaf Plus" models that can reach up to 226 miles. Those numbers are a long way off from the 300-miles or so we expect from new EVs and gas cars, but I'd also argue the shorter range isn't a huge deal for many people. US DOT data tells us that 95 percent of trips in personal vehicles cover less than 31 miles, and the average driver travels 37 miles per day. That makes low-range EVs ideal as secondary vehicles for local driving. Between day-care pickup, grabbing groceries and other local errands, I rarely drive more than 20 miles a day in my Leaf. That typically eats up only 10 to 15 percent of charge per day, depending on how much I need to blast the AC to deal with Georgia summers. Now I won't deny that you wouldn't want to go road tripping with a low-range EV, especially with America's messy charging infrastructure. Low-range EVs aren't for everyone. But if that's your worry, I'd just recommend avoiding the cheap sub-$15,000 used EVs. You'll find plenty of models with bigger batteries near $25,000. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget Charging might be easier than you think If you can string a 25 foot power cord outside, you can easily Level 1 trickle charge an EV. And for moderate drivers, that may be all they need to keep their car juiced up. If I plug in my Nissan Leaf at 5PM, it can typically charge up by 40 percent by 8AM, thanks to its small battery. For larger EVs like the Kia EV9, I can usually get 10 to 15 percent of a charge overnight. Of course, things become more complicated if you're in your car all day and need faster charging, or if extreme weather causes your battery to drain faster than usual. At that point, you'll either have to seek out a public charging point, or get a Level 2 charger installed at home. Neither option is especially difficult, but they're more annoying than simply going to a gas station for a few minutes. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the big stumbling block pushing mainstream shoppers away from EVs. From what I've seen, though, many people are just hesitant to break their existing habits. If you have the ability to install a Level 2 charger in your garage, it's not especially difficult or expensive (though running an extra power line could be a big spend). And EV chargers are also popping up like weeds in shopping centers, so it may not be that tough to park up and charge while running errands. In my case, I’m perfectly fine running a Level 1 charger to an outlet near my front door. That does mean I’ll occasionally have a thick electrical cord draped across my front porch (something I’m sure my wife just loves), but I can live with it for now. I do plan to get a Level 2 charger installed eventually though — it’ll make testing EVs a lot easier, and I can prepare myself for a more spacious family EV to replace our gas guzzling SUV.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/its-the-perfect-time-to-buy-a-cheap-used-ev-123015687.html?src=rss View Source Article

When this article was originally written in February 2022, the big Spotify controversy was that artists were abandoning the audio service in protest of the company's contract with podcaster Joe Rogan, and some subscribers were deciding to follow the musicians' example. More recently, some users have threatened to bail after CEO Daniel Ek invested in a firm that specializes in AI software used for military drones. Meanwhile, the service's habit of defaulting to making all playlists and profiles public has resulted in the Panama Playlists, a website that purports to show the Spotify playlists of various well-known figures. Despite those issu … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

DJI's busy engineering team is at it again with the creation of the company's third wireless mic system in less than two years. The new flagship DJI Mic 3 has a wholesale design change from the Mic 2 plus numerous improvements in areas like sound quality, noise reduction and the number of subjects you can record at once — though there is one downgrade compared to to the last model. I've had one for over a week so I'll provide some impressions as well. The most noticeable change with the Mic 3 is the smaller transmitter size and lighter weight. It weighs just 16 grams (.58 ounces) compared to 28 grams (.99 ounces) for the Mic 2, though it's bigger and heavier than the Mic Mini transmitter (10 grams). DJI has also improved the transmitter mounting options, introducing a rotating clip along with the magnetic option. There's even a choice of five colors for the windscreen to better match your subject's clothing. The smaller size and rotating clip makes the Mic 3 more discreet and easier to attach to any shirt or hat. However, there's still a large "DJI" logo on both sides of the transmitter that looks ugly but gives the company free advertising, I suppose.  Steve Dent for Engadget The charging case holds a receiver and two transmitters and, unlike the last model, now lets you insert the transmitter with the magnetic mount and windscreen still attached. Fully charged transmitters can run for about eight hours and the receiver can go 10 hours. However, the case provides enough power to charge all three devices 2.4 times for about 28 hours of extended use. This feature makes the Mic 3 useful for marathon shoots and was key to the success of the original DJI Mic, though competitors like Sennheiser have caught on and introduced similar cases. The Mic 3 now supports up to four transmitters and eight receivers at once. That means you can record four subjects at a time to as many as eight receivers simultaneously for multi-camera shoots (if you purchase the extra kits, of course). I wasn't able to test this feature as I had just a single kit, but it'll be handy for large jobs if it works as advertised.  To make syncing and lining up all that audio and video simpler, the Mic 3 now offers high-precision timecode capture embedded during internal recording. I tested this feature with two cameras, and once I figured out how to align the shots in DaVinci Resolve, it proved to be a valuable post-production timesaver. DJI The receiver can also be set to quadrophonic mode for select Sony cameras and software, allowing independent output of four channels at once to a single camera. DJI is promising a range of 400 meters (around 1,300 feet) and strong resistance to interference via automatic frequency hopping between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. There are some major improvements in audio quality as well. It's DJI's first microphone with two adaptive gain control modes. For noisy outdoor environments like sporting events, Automatic mode suppresses sudden volume spikes to prevent clipping. Dynamic mode, meanwhile, adjusts gain on the fly in response to volume changes to ensure consistent loudness in quieter settings like studios.  I tested this feature in Paris in a relatively quiet studio and outside with traffic and other city noises. The Automatic setting did a good job suppressing those unwanted sounds without a noticeable impact on audio quality. And the dynamic mode kept my speaking levels steady even when I trailed off at the end of sentences, again without impacting voice timbre or clarity.  DJI The Mic 3 is also DJI's first with three tone presets (Regular, Rich and Bright) to handle different voice characteristics (medium, low and high pitches). This feature also worked as advertised. Set to "Regular," I needed less equalization than usual to even out my voice and it worked equally well on a higher-pitched female voice.  Two-level active noise cancelation reduces background sounds like air conditioning and wind noise. Again, this worked effectively, though like any noise reduction algorithm, it impacted voice quality by artificially reducing some frequencies. Finally, the lossless audio feature lets the mic send uncompressed 48kHz 24-bit audio directly to the receiver to eliminate any MPEG audio artifacts. This is likely overkill for most use cases. While the Mic 3 offers good sound quality, it's nowhere close to a dedicated high-end studio microphone — so you'll be hard pressed to notice any difference. DJI also added internal dual-file 24-bit and 32-bit float recording, which records the highest quality possible without any clipping. That allows you to capture two files of 32-bit float sound without algorithmic changes, two channels of 24-bit sound with algorithmic changes or one of each. That's an improvement over the Mic 2, which only captured a single file of the original sound internally in 32-bit float.  DJI There's one key feature missing on DJI's Mic 3 that might make it a non-starter for some audio pros. Unlike the Mic 2, the transmitter lacks a 3.5mm mic port for wired lav or other microphones. That means you're relying on the Mic 3's built in microphone, and although it offers high quality sound, may not be high enough for applications like broadcast.  Finally, the Mic 3 works with DJI's OsmoAudio system, so it pairs with the Osmo 360, Osmo Action 5 Pro, Action 4 and Osmo Pocket without the need for a receiver. I tested it with the Osmo 360 and Action 5 Pro and it connected without any issues. For other devices, you can wire it in via a 3.5mm TRS port, TRRS monitoring and a USB-C port, or to smartphones via Bluetooth or USB-C using the included adapter.  DJI's Mic 3 is now on sale in most territories, priced at 309 euros ($359) in a kit with a charging case plus two transmitters and a receiver, or 199 euros ($231) with a single transmitter and receiver. However, as with the company's other recent products, it's not yet available in the US "in light of evolving market conditions," the company said in a statement. There is some hope though. The company's Mavic 4 Pro drone wasn't originally on sale in the US, but it can now be purchased at Walmart and elsewhere via a third-party distributor.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/djis-much-smaller-mic-3-can-record-four-subjects-at-once-120032192.html?src=rss View Source Article

Deputy Project Manager for Resources – Goddard Space Flight Center Katie Bisci, photographed here with a model of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, Credit: NASA/Jolearra Tshiteya How are you helping set the stage for the Roman mission? I’m a deputy project manager for resources on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team, sharing the role with Kris Steeley. Together, we oversee the business team, finance, outreach, scheduling, and more. I focus more on the “down and in” of the day-to-day team — helping the financial team, resource utilization across the project, and support service contracts management — while Kris handles more of the “up and out” external work with center management and NASA Headquarters. Kris and I collaborate on many things as well. The two of us have been together on Roman for many years, and we have definitely become one brain in many aspects of the role. The main goal in the job is programmatics: We need to understand and help along the technical parts of the mission, while also supporting cost and schedule control since Roman is a cost-capped mission. I try to make sure that I partner with our engineers to understand the technical part of Roman as much as possible. I find that I can’t do my job well on the programmatic side without working together closely with our engineers to understand the hardware and testing. What drew you to NASA? Did you always intend to work here? I think I always knew I wanted to go into the business and finance side of things, but I thought I’d end up at a big investment bank. I interned at one during college, but it just didn’t feel right for me. After graduating, I worked on corporate events for defense contractors in New York City. Then my husband got a job in Annapolis, Maryland, and I took a leap and applied for a resource analyst job at NASA, where some college friends were working. Looking back, as an oldest daughter it probably should have been obvious that project management would be a good fit! Once I got to NASA, I was really drawn in by the missions and work we do. It was so different from the corporate world. Being able to work on some of the coolest missions with some of the most brilliant minds out there is a gift. Almost 15 years later, I’m still here. How did your career grow from there? After serving as a resource analyst in the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, I moved into the center’s Astrophysics Projects Division, where I began working on Roman in 2012, back when it was just a small study called WFIRST (Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope). I could never have imagined at the time what that small study would turn into. People at NASA often say they “grew up” on the James Webb Space Telescope, and for me I definitely “grew up” on Roman. I became the mission business manager, then financial manager, and now a deputy project manager for resources. I feel lucky that most of my career has been spent on Roman. Adding it up, I’ve been on this project for over a decade. I’ve worked with so many amazing people, not just at NASA Goddard, but across the United States. It’s hard to believe we are so close to launching. What’s been the highlight of your career so far? Becoming part of the management team on Roman, for sure. Working with the leadership team has been incredible. The best part about Roman is the people. It still cracks me up to look at the plethora of people we have in the same room for our weekly senior staff meeting, from the programmatic and finance types like myself, to engineers leading super complicated integration and test programs, Ph.D.s, and some of the most brilliant science minds I will probably ever know. The Roman team is amazing, and those relationships are what keep me excited to come to work every day. Has your work influenced your understanding or appreciation of astronomy? Absolutely. I’ve learned so much just by being around brilliant people like our project scientist Julie McEnery. I even recently gave a talk about Roman at my daughter’s school! Being able to stand up in front of a group of children and talk about what Roman science is going to do is something I never would have been able to do prior to working here. I’ve learned about how the Hubble Space Telescope, Webb, and Roman all build on each other during my time on this project. And it’s really incredible science. I’ve also developed a deep admiration for the engineers who have built Roman. As a business focused person, our engineering team has really helped me understand the different facets of what our engineering team does on Roman. They are so patient with me! It’s really fulfilling to be a small part of something so big. What advice do you have for others who are interested in doing similar work? If you’re in finance, don’t just learn the numbers — learn the work behind them. Understand the mission, the tech, the people. That’s what helps you move from analyst to leader. People can tell when you really get what they’re doing, and that’s how you become a better partner and manager. What’s life like outside NASA? I have three kids — ages 9, 5, and 3 — so life is busy! When I’m not working, I’m usually at their sports games or chauffeuring them around to one event or another. It’s a little bit of a rat race, but this season of life is also really fun. Recently, my family and I have gotten back into traveling now that my kids are a little bit older. We took a spring break trip to Europe, which was fantastic.  Spending time with my family and friends is everything. Whether it’s going to the beach, spending time at the pool, or hanging out on the sideline of a lacrosse game, just like at work it’s being with my people that I thrive on. And maybe one day I will have time for more hobbies again! By Ashley BalzerNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Aug 26, 2025 EditorAshley BalzerLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterNancy Grace Roman Space TelescopePeople of Goddard View Source Article

Scientists and engineers have been implementing steps to better protect New Orleans, but recent government actions are undermining the work, raising alarm View Source Article

The USS Enterprise, a 'Star Trek' spaceship, is created from pumpkins as part of a German contest. View Source Article

You can now add swappable magnetic PopSocket grips to Kindle e-readers without undertaking any DIY hacks. PopSocket has launched new PopCase Kindle cases that come with a built-in MagSafe ring, optimally positioned for hand placement and weight management when a MagSafe-compatible PopGrip is attached.  The $40 cases are available for 11th and 12th-generation Kindles in six designs — including a transparent version that can be customized with stickers, and two illustrated designs that look very BookTok-inspired. There’s also some $30 thematically matching PopGrips featuring books, but the cases will work with PopSocket’s existing lineup of MagSafe grips, including the Kick-Out Grip and Stand, if you want to read hands-free. Users in the Kindle community have been using the adhesive versions of PopSockets for years to make the e-readers easier to hold, and less likely to fall on your face when reading in bed. Manually customizing cases with MagSafe rings has also proved popular with users who prefer to switch between PopGrip designs and other PopSocket accessories, but the PopCase Kindle spares having to make those DIY efforts. View Source Article

Telecom Italia SpA shares plunged the most in almost a year and a half after French rival Iliad SA said it won’t pursue a tie up with the Italian phone carrier. View Source Article

Scientists treated a person’s type 1 diabetes with genetically modified insulin-producing cells that evaded immune system attacks. This is the first therapy for the condition that does not require immunosuppressant drugs View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Saritha Rai reports on the emergence of Hangzhou as China’s newest AI hub. View Source Article

Apple has removed the iPhone torrenting client, iTorrent, from AltStore PAL’s alternative iOS marketplace in the EU, showing that it can still exert control over apps that aren’t listed on the official App Store. iTorrent developer Daniil Vinogradov told TorrentFreak that Apple has revoked his distribution rights to publish apps in any alternative iOS stores, so the issue isn’t tied to AltStore PAL itself. “Apple removed Alternative Distribution functionality from iTorrent’s Developer Portal without any warning,” Vinogradov said on iTorrent’s Github page. Apple has not provided a reason for the removal, according Vinogradov, and distribution was revoked at the Apple Dev Account level. The matter is also being investigated by AltStore PAL. While Apple bans torrent apps on its own iOS store, the EU’s Digital Markets Act gave iPhone users within the bloc greater freedom to install apps from third-party app stores that the Cupertino company doesn’t directly manage. iTorrent was added to AltStore PAL in July last year, which raises the question of why now, and what sparked its removal? View Source Article

Analysts are staying bullish on Nvidia Corp., boosting price targets even as the world’s most valuable company offered a forecast that underwhelmed investors. View Source Article

Houseplants become rechargeable night-lights after injection with tiny phosphor particles View Source Article

Didi Global Inc. reported a quarterly loss due to a one-time charge that overshadowed robust growth in its core business. View Source Article

The Butterfly Nebula, which is a planetary nebula resulting from the death of a sun-like star, has been caught creating large dust grains that could form planets. View Source Article

A new policy document outlines China’s plan to create an internationally competitive BCI industry within five years, and proposes developing devices for both health and consumer uses. View Source Article

The Switch 2 is about to get another competitor in the increasingly crowded handheld gaming market. View Source Article

If you're a student or between 18 and 24 years old, you can get nearly 73% off an annual subscription to Peacock and enjoy a huge selection of fantastic documentaries, movies, sports, and entertainment. View Source Article

Revolut Ltd. has been exploring hiring investment bankers as it weighs the possibility of buying a lender in the US to catapult its growth in the country. View Source Article

If your Wi-Fi signal is struggling to reach every corner of your home, a signal booster — also known as a Wi-Fi extender — might be the fix you need. Whether you're dealing with annoying dead zones, buffering video calls or laggy gaming sessions, the right Wi-Fi extender can help expand coverage and improve connectivity without forcing you to move your router.There are different types of Wi-Fi extenders to choose from. Some models use external antennas to push the signal farther, while others, like mesh extenders, create a seamless, whole-home network. If you're simply looking to extend coverage into a specific room, a Wi-Fi repeater can do the job — but it may cut your bandwidth in half. More advanced extenders, however, can help maintain strong speeds and reliability throughout your home.We've rounded up the best Wi-Fi extenders to suit different needs, whether you're looking for an affordable fix or a high-performance upgrade. Table of contents Best Wi-Fi extender for 2025 How do Wi-Fi extenders work? What to look for in a Wi-Fi extender Wi-Fi extender FAQs Best Wi-Fi extender for 2025 How do Wi-Fi extenders work? These handy wireless devices do exactly what their name suggests: extend your Wi-Fi network so it covers more areas of your home. Most wireless extenders plug into an AC outlet and connect to your existing router so they can then rebroadcast it to spots that your router alone may not cover well. As a rule of thumb, you’ll get the best results by placing the extender half way between your router and the dead zone you’re trying to fix or improve your W-Fi connection and strengthen the wireless signal. One important thing to note about Wi-Fi range extenders (also sometimes called “repeaters”) is that most of them actually create a new Wi-Fi network when rebroadcasting your existing one. That network will have a new name (it’ll often be your default network’s name with an EXT appended at the end, unless you change it) and that means you’ll have to connect to different networks when in different parts of your home. While that’s a small tradeoff in return for improved internet connection, some will be more inconvenienced than others. If you’d rather have one, much larger network in your home, you’re better off upgrading to mesh networking systems. Mesh systems come with a main router and a wireless access point or two that, by default, create one large Wi-Fi system that should be accessible throughout your whole home. They tend to be the best Wi-Fi routers you can get, but that also translates to more expensive, and possibly more complicated, devices. Mesh Wi-Fi systems are, by far, more costly than a simple extender, plus you may have to work with your internet service provider to get your home’s existing network working on your new router. What to look for in a Wi-Fi extender Speed Extenders today can support single, dual or tri-band Wi-Fi, and they will tell you the maximum speeds they support on all of their available bands. For example, one dual-band device might support 600Mbps speeds over its 2.4GHz band and up to 1300Mbps over its 5GHz band, for a combined maximum speed of 1900Mbps. For the best performance, you’ll want to go with a Wi-Fi extender that has the highest speeds possible (and those, as you might expect, tend to cost more). Some extenders even support Wi-Fi 7, giving you the latest in wireless technology for higher bandwidth, faster internet speed and lower latency. However, it’s important to remember that Wi-Fi extenders are not true “signal boosters” since they are not designed to increase speeds across your home. In fact, you may find that the extender’s network is slower than your router’s. Instead, extenders are designed to increase the strong Wi-Fi coverage throughout your home, making them ideal for filling in dead zones. Some mesh extenders can help create a more seamless network, reducing the drop in speed and improving connectivity in larger spaces. Range, and number of supported devices With the name of the gaming being coverage area, taking note of a device’s range is important. Depending on the size of your home and property, you may only need up to 1,200 square feet of coverage. But those with larger homes will want to spring for an extender that can support upwards of 2,000+ square feet of coverage. Similarly, those with lots of gadgets will want an extender that can handle them all at once. If you spend most of your time on your phone or laptop and maybe have your smart TV online for a few hours of Netflix each day, you could get by with a more limited extender. Smart home aficionados and tech lovers should invest in one that won’t buckle under the pressure of a few dozen connected devices. This is especially important if you plan on linking all of the devices in a certain part of your home to your Wi-Fi range extender’s network, rather than directly to your existing router. Some models with external antennas can improve performance by providing stronger, more directional wireless signal. Design There isn’t a ton of innovation when it comes to design in the Wi-Fi extender space. Most of the ones you’ll find today are rounded rectangles roughly the size of your hand that plug into a standard wall outlet. They usually have a few indicator lights that will show you when the extender is connected, how strong its signal strength is and when there’s a problem, and some will even have moveable external antennas that companies claim provide even better Wi-Fi signal. Generally, they are pretty simple to install and get connected, but if you’re struggling with how to set up your Wi-Fi extender, there are plenty of YouTube videos you can check out. Aside from that, there are the scant few standalone Wi-Fi extenders that sit on an end table or a desk, and those look pretty similar to regular ol’ routers. But make no mistake, anything labeled as an extender or a “Wi-Fi repeater” will need an anchor router in order for it to work. Another convenient feature you’ll find on most Wi-Fi extenders is an extra Ethernet connection port (or a few). This allows you to use the extender as a wireless access point if you connect it to your existing router, or an adapter to provide devices like TVs, smart home hubs or game consoles a hardwired connection to the internet. Unsurprisingly, this wired connection usually provides you with the fastest speeds possible, so you may want to use it for your most crucial devices. Wi-Fi extender FAQs What's the difference between a wifi booster and extender? Nowadays, there’s really no difference between a Wi-Fi booster and Wi-Fi extender - they’re just different names for the same thing. Previously, however, Wi-Fi boosters were devices that received signals from wireless routers, broadcasting them to another network. This essentially extends the range of the signal. Wi-Fi extenders expand the coverage within your home’s Wi-Fi network, but often you will see extenders described as boosters. Is a Wi-Fi extender better than a mesh router? Mesh routers, or mesh Wi-Fi systems, use multiple devices (or nodes) across your home to create a larger home network. Essentially, you have multiple routers around your home with these systems, and that will hopefully provide the best coverage possible. Wi-Fi extenders, on the other hand, are usually just one device that extends your existing Wi-Fi signal, and they often require you to switch networks when connecting. Wi-Fi extenders are more affordable, though, and are great if you’re traveling or need a Wi-Fi signal in harder-to-reach areas. However, a mesh router can offer a better long-term solution to upgrade your entire home’s Wi-Fi. Should I use multiple Wi-Fi extenders? Some people may need to use multiple Wi-Fi extenders, for instance, if your home is large or has dead zones in different areas. But if you do use multiple Wi-Fi extenders, there’s a chance of interference. You may also need to manually connect to the extenders separately, which isn’t always convenient. What is the maximum distance for a Wi-Fi extender? The maximum distance for a Wi-Fi extender varies depending on the model, but most can effectively extend your wireless signal between 800 and 2,500 square feet. Some high-end models may reach even farther, especially if they feature external antennas or are part of a mesh system with additional dedicated wireless access points. However, keep in mind that real-world performance depends on factors like your home's layout, wall materials and interference from other devices. For best results, place your extender about halfway between your router and the area with weak or no Wi-Fi connection. Always check the manufacturer’s specs — some of our top picks clearly list their expected range so you can find one that fits your space.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/best-wifi-extender-130021313.html?src=rss View Source Article

Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com Inc. is in talks with banks to raise a euro-denominated loan to help fund its proposed acquisition of German electronics retailer Ceconomy, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

European venture capital firm Lakestar has raised a $265 million continuation vehicle, allowing the group known for backing Spotify and Revolut to hold onto some portfolio companies longer while bringing in new investors. View Source Article

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flew for a record 30th time early Thursday morning (Aug. 28), sending 28 Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida. View Source Article

Delivery Hero SE cut its earnings guidance for the full year after a weaker dollar and South Korean won cut into profit and free cash flow. View Source Article

Swedish defense manufacturer Saab AB is developing its first dedicated missile to counter the increasing threat of aerial drones, with the aim of making the first deliveries next year. View Source Article

Technology giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is in talks with banks to refinance a $6.5 billion loan maturing next year, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

SpaceX Starlink has 7 million customers. They added 1 million since June 2025. This is on pace to about 9-10 million by the end of 2025. The increasing speed of adding 1 million customers would reach End of 2025: approximately 9.6 million Middle of 2026: approximately 15.2 million End of 2026: approximately 24.3 million 2026 ... Read more View Source Article

Indian companies are holding back on big investment decisions pending clarity on domestic demand and the global trade outlook, according to a senior executive at Bank of America Corp. View Source Article

South Korea’s largest mobile operator, SK Telecom Co., was hit with a 134.8 billion won ($97 million) penalty after a cyberattack disclosed in April compromised the data of about half of the nation’s population. View Source Article

An unconventional plan by the Trump administration to charge a 15% commission on Nvidia Corp. AI chip sales to China hasn’t progressed beyond the early stages and could pose legal risks, according to the company. View Source Article

Microsoft has fired two employees that were involved in a sit-in protest in vice chair and president Brad Smith’s office. Software engineers Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle were both dismissed today, after being part of a group of seven protesters that managed to get inside Smith’s office in Building 34 yesterday. Microsoft was forced to temporarily lock down its executive building. The protesters live streamed themselves on Twitch entering Smith’s office, and demanded that the company cut ties with the Israeli government. Microsoft employees Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli were both arrested during the incident, alongside former Microsoft employees Vaniya Agrawal, Hossam Nasr, and Joe Lopez. A former Google employee and another tech worker were also arrested. An unnamed Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire that the two employees were terminated “following serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct.” Microsoft refused to provide an attributable statement to The Verge. Hours after the protesters were arrested, Brad Smith then held an emergency press conference in his office. Seated on the edge of his desk, Smith addressed a group of reporters and viewers on a YouTube live stream. Smith said that Microsoft is “committed to ensuring its human rights principles and contractual terms of service are upheld in the Middle East.” He said the company launched an investigation earlier this month after The Guardian reported that Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform was being used for surveillance of Palestinians. Hattle was previously arrested during protests at Microsoft’s headquarters last week, where Redmond police arrested 20 people after a group took over a plaza at Microsoft’s headquarters to protest against the company’s contracts with Israel. Protestors at Microsoft’s campus set up a “Liberated Zone” encampment, and poured red paint over a Microsoft sign on campus. The latest protests were organized by No Azure for Apartheid, a group of current and former Microsoft workers who are demanding that the company cut its ties with the Israeli government. The group has carried out a variety of protests in recent months, with the latest disruptions escalating to the homes and offices of Microsoft executives. View Source Article

The exodus has set off alarms among staff at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “My main concern is they will be replaced with puppets." View Source Article

On Wednesday, the FDA approved the new round of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax for use by seniors over the age of 65. But for anyone younger than that, the FDA approval only mentions  people who have “at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19.” It also removed one option for children entirely, revoking the Pfizer vaccine’s emergency use authorization for children under 5. Shortly after the FDA announced the new guidelines, a report from The Washington Post said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ousted its director, Susan Monarez. That was confirmed in a post on X by the Department of Health and Human Services, which is now led by longtime anti-vaccine crusader, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. However, Mark Zaid, who said he is one of the lawyers representing Monarez, responded by posting, “Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor yet been fired. She will not resign,” and the following statement: Statement from Mark S. Zaid & Abbe David LowellCounsel for CDC Director Susan MonarezAugust 27, 2025 – 7:03 pm ET First it was independent advisory committees and career experts. Then it was the dismissal of seasoned scientists. Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk. When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted. Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign. The Post says Monarez was “pressed for days” by Kennedy about whether she would support reworking the FDA’s policies. The Post reports that “at least three top CDC officials” have announced plans to resign, including Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Debra Houry, chief medical officer. After previewing the update in May, the government removed healthy pregnant people and children from its list of people recommended to receive the covid vaccine, which CNN reports has already prevented some people from getting vaccinated. In a tweet, Kennedy claims the actions will “keep vaccines available to people who want them, especially the vulnerable,” however, they could now require millions of Americans to prove they are at risk, putting an additional hurdle in the way of getting vaccinated. The New York Times reports that an upcoming CDC decision could impact availability and access at drugstore sites, as laws in some states require the CDC’s recommendation for pharmacy staff to administer the shots. As we noted last month, Kennedy recently fired 17 people from the federal committee (ACIP) responsible for making vaccine recommendations. View Source Article

HP Inc. gave a profit outlook for the current quarter that was in line with expectations, but investors remain concerned about the impact of economic uncertainty and higher costs tied to President Donald Trump’s trade policies. View Source Article

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. dropped after reporting strong results but narrowly missing analysts’ estimates for sales in the current quarter, suggesting that the cybersecurity company remains in recovery mode after triggering a global computer outage last year. View Source Article

Samsung is hosting another Unpacked event on September 4, and this time it'll only be available to watch virtually. The event will stream on Samsung's YouTube page and website at 5:30AM ET, following the in-person launch events the company held for the Galaxy S25 line in January and the new Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 in July. With most of the company's smartphone lineup accounted for, Samsung will likely use this Unpacked to introduce new tablets. The company announced the the Galaxy Tab S10 Lite earlier this week and now leaks point to a new Galaxy Tab S11 and S11 Ultra being in the works, according to Notebookcheck. The Tab S11 will reportedly feature an AMOLED screen, 12GB of RAM and a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chip, rather than Samsung's preferred Qualcomm Snapdragon chips. The Tab S11 Ultra will have similar features, but with a larger AMOLED, up to 16GB of RAM, the same MediaTek chip and a larger 11,600mAh battery. Odds are also good that Samsung will announce the Galaxy S25 FE, a cheaper alternative to the normal Galaxy S25. Based on the leaks SamMobile compiled, the S25 FE will share many similarities with the S24 FE, save for an improved 12MP selfie camera, up from 10MP on the S24 FE, a larger 4,900mAh battery and faster wired charging speeds. Provided you're willing to get up early, you'll be able to see for yourself when Samsung streams its next Unpacked event on September 4. It likely won't be the last event the company holds this year, either. The Project Moohan Android XR headset and Samsung's first trifold phone are also expected to be released in 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-will-hold-another-unpacked-on-september-4-230040711.html?src=rss View Source Article

Maybe those little AI sparkles are bursting out of a trifold phone? Maybe? Apple isn’t the only tech company to send out launch event invitations this week. If you’re keeping score at home, September is actually next week somehow, and Samsung is sneaking a virtual Unpacked in on September 4th before Apple hosts its annual iPhone event the following week. But it’s not just a convenient date to try and steal a little bit of Apple’s thunder — it’s the day before IFA kicks off in Berlin. Related: the event starts at 5:30AM ET / 11:30AM CET. The event invite doesn’t give much away about what Samsung intends to announce. But if you’re an optimist like me who’s still hoping for a trifold announcement this year, doesn’t it look like that cube-type-shape is unfolding in more than one way? Wouldn’t IFA be a cool place to launch a trifold? I’m gonna hold out hope, but to be honest, I probably won’t watch the event live since it’s at 2:30AM PT. But if you’re planning to watch live at a more civilized hour, you’ll find the stream at Samsung.com and Samsung’s YouTube channel. View Source Article

Alphabet Inc.’s Google is investing an additional $9 billion in Virginia through 2026 to enhance cloud and AI infrastructure across the state, marking the latest in a series of big tech investments in US data centers. View Source Article

Most of the time, AI companies are locked in a race to the top, treating each other as rivals and competitors. Today, OpenAI and Anthropic revealed that they agreed to evaluate the alignment of each other's publicly available systems and shared the results of their analyses. The full reports get pretty technical, but are worth a read for anyone who's following the nuts and bolts of AI development. A broad summary showed some flaws with each company's offerings, as well as revealing pointers for how to improve future safety tests.  Anthropic said it evaluated OpenAI models for "sycophancy, whistleblowing, self-preservation, and supporting human misuse, as well as capabilities related to undermining AI safety evaluations and oversight." Its review found that o3 and o4-mini models from OpenAI fell in line with results for its own models, but raised concerns about possible misuse with the ​​GPT-4o and GPT-4.1 general-purpose models. The company also said sycophancy was an issue to some degree with all tested models except for o3. Anthropic's tests did not include OpenAI's most recent release. GPT-5 has a feature called Safe Completions, which is meant to protect users and the public against potentially dangerous queries. OpenAI recently faced its first wrongful death lawsuit after a tragic case where a teenager discussed attempts and plans for suicide with ChatGPT for months before taking his own life. On the flip side, OpenAI ran tests on Anthropic models for instruction hierarchy, jailbreaking, hallucinations and scheming. The Claude models generally performed well in instruction hierarchy tests, and had a high refusal rate in hallucination tests, meaning they were less likely to offer answers in cases where uncertainty meant their responses could be wrong. The move for these companies to conduct a joint assessment is intriguing, particularly since OpenAI allegedly violated Anthropic's terms of service by having programmers use Claude in the process of building new GPT models, which led to Anthropic barring OpenAI's access to its tools earlier this month. But safety with AI tools has become a bigger issue as more critics and legal experts seek guidelines to protect users, particularly minors. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-and-anthropic-conducted-safety-evaluations-of-each-others-ai-systems-223637433.html?src=rss View Source Article

Many questions still surround COVID vaccine access this fall, but here’s what we know so far View Source Article

Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde discusses concerns about China and potential growth that investors will be watching when Nvidia releases its earnings after markets close. Plus, SpaceX's Starship hits a major milestone after deploying satellites for the first time. And IBM and AMD announce a partnership to develop quantum-centric supercomputing. (Source: Bloomberg) View Source Article

Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home This image was taken when Perseverance topped Soroya ridge. Using the Left Navigation Camera (Navcam), the image was acquired on Aug. 17, 2025 (Sol 1597) at the local mean solar time of 13:54:37. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student Collaborator at Rice University Perseverance has continued exploring beyond the rim of Jezero crater, spending time last week at Parnasset conducting a mini-campaign on aeolian bedforms. After wrapping up that work, three separate drives brought Perseverance further southeast to an outcrop named Soroya. Soroya was first picked out from orbital images as a target of interest because, as can be seen in the above image, it appears as a much lighter color compared to the surroundings. In previous landscape images from the surface, Mars 2020 scientists have been able to pick out the light-toned Soryoa outcrop, and they noted it forms a ridge-like structure, protruding above the surface. Soroya was easily identifiable from rover images (below) as Perseverance approached since it indeed rises above the surrounding low-lying terrain. The Perseverance rover acquired this image looking at Soroya using the onboard Left Navigation Camera (Navcam). This image was acquired on Aug. 15, 2025 (Sol 1595) at the local mean solar time of 16:34:53. NASA/JPL-Caltech From Parnasset to Soroya, the team planned a series of drives so that Perseverance would arrive at Soroya in a great workspace, and the plan was successful. As shown in the first image, we arrived at  an area with flat, exposed bedrock –  great for proximity science instruments. The WATSON and SHERLOC ACI cameras plan to acquire many high-resolution images to investigate textures and surface features. For chemistry, SCAM LIBS and ZCAM multispectral activities will give important contextual data for the outcrop while PIXL will acquire a high-resolution chemical map scan of a dust-cleared part of the bedrock. While parked, MEDA will continue monitoring environmental conditions and ZCAM will image the surrounding terrain to inform the next drive location. Take a look at where Perseverance is now – where would you explore next? Want to read more posts from the Perseverance team? Visit Mission Updates Want to learn more about Perseverance’s science instruments? Visit the Science Instruments page Share Details Last Updated Aug 27, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4638-4640: Imaging Extravaganza Atop a Ridge Article 2 days ago 3 min read To See the World in a Grain of Sand: Investigating Megaripples at ‘Kerrlaguna’ Article 6 days ago 2 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4636-4637: Up Against a Wall Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Current Mars Investigations Current Mars Investigations The weather and climate of Mars are controlled by the coupled seasonal cycles of CO2, dust, and… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View Source Article

Green Plains Inc. said it agreed to divest one of its plants to repay debt owned by BlackRock Inc. funds, as the troubled biofuels maker concluded a strategic review that explored alternatives including a sale. View Source Article

A new month is almost upon us, which means Sony is about to drop some fresh games that all PlayStation Plus members can keep in their collection as long as they maintain a subscription. There are some real standouts for September, including the iconic Stardew Valley and the long-awaited sequel Psychonauts 2. Stardew Valley is one of the most beloved farming/life sims of all time. You grow stuff, romance villagers and, of course, battle enemies in an enormous mine. It's an absolute time sink, but one with so much charm that you likely won't mind. It even has couch co-op now. Psychonauts 2 is a sequel that was released a full 16 years after the original. It's a critically-acclaimed platforming adventure that's heavy on style. The missions are quirky and the power-ups are super fun. This one is definitely worth your time. Finally, there's a gem called Viewfinder. This is an awesome camera-based puzzle game that's one-part M.C. Escher and one-part Pokémon Snap. The design aesthetic here is utterly charming and the gameplay is both familiar and unique. All of these titles will be available on September 2. That's the good news. The bad news? Some games are going away on September 1. Subscribers have until that date to download Lies of P, Day Z and My Hero One’s Justice 2 to their game library.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-ps-plus-monthly-games-for-september-include-psychonauts-2-and-stardew-valley-165730817.html?src=rss View Source Article

Scientists have developed a new technique that could help them understand "polka dot" stars using the transits of exoplanets. View Source Article

Snowflake Inc. gave a sales outlook for the fiscal year that topped analysts’ estimates, overcoming anxiety that software vendors will be hurt as the economy slows and new artificial intelligence companies take away business. The shares jumped in extended trading. View Source Article

Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the recent Tomb Raider games, announced an unspecified number of layoffs today. In a post on LinkedIn, the game developer kept the size of the cuts vague, only stating that "a number of our talented colleagues" would be impacted. In what's becoming an all-too-familiar refrain, the company cited "evolving business conditions" as the reason for the layoffs. "This decision was not made lightly," the post reads. "It was necessary, however, to ensure the long-term health of our studio and core creative priorities in a continually shifting market." Crystal Dynamics was acquired by Embracer Group in a 2022 buying spree by the Swedish game company. Embracer still owns the studio, but was forced to do some layoffs of its own in 2023 followed by a restructuring last year. Crystal Dynamics is still working on a new Tomb Raider game, which the company said will not be affected by the layoffs. However, the studio had been tapped to help The Initiative with its Perfect Dark reboot. That project was canceled and The Initiative shut down in a separate wave of massive cuts at Microsoft earlier this year. It's unclear whether that cancelation was a reason for today's cuts.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/crystal-dynamics-announces-layoffs-but-says-tomb-raider-will-not-be-impacted-205948298.html?src=rss View Source Article

NVIDIA shares fell ~4-5% in after-hours trading erasing some pre-earnings gains despite the overall beat. This reaction stems from a mix of high market expectations, subtle misses, and broader concerns. Slight Miss on Key Segment: Data Center revenue ($41.1B) came in just below estimates (~$41.2-41.3B), which is the core driver of NVIDIA’s growth. At NVIDIA’s ... Read more View Source Article

Astronomers are amazed to have discovered a baby exoplanet gobbling up matter around an infant star like a planetary Pac-Man. View Source Article

On Wednesday, 4Chan and Kiwi Farms, two of the most controversial social media sites on the internet, filed a federal lawsuit against the British government, arguing that the requirements of the UK's Online Safety Act infringe on their Constitutional rights as American corporations. In a filing submitted to the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, Preston Byrne and Ron Coleman, the team representing the two sites, said that their clients are being penalized by Ofcom, the agency that regulates online content in the United Kingdom, for "engaging in conduct which is perfectly lawful in the territories where their websites are based … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

Alberta plans to impose a 2% levy on the computer hardware on large data centers starting at the end of next year. View Source Article

Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant that's integrated into Windows and Microsoft 365, is making the jump to your living room. The company has announced that select Samsung TVs will now be able to access Copilot to ask questions and receive recommendations via voice chat, with the AI assistant represented on your screen as a talking blob. Based on Microsoft's examples, Copilot can recap shows, offer movie suggestions and answer general knowledge questions. It can also go beyond voiced responses (which are apparently synced to the blob's animated mouth movements) and include visual aids, like a card with a movie summary and a Rotten Tomatoes score. You don't need to have a Microsoft account to use Copilot on your TV, but Microsoft says it offers additional personalizations and the ability for the AI to reference past chats if you do. Copilot's blob-ified appearance is part of a bigger redesign Microsoft introduced in 2024 that made the chatbot interface more personalized and user-friendly. Besides being a productivity tool, Microsoft is interested in positioning Copilot as a "companion" with a visual representation that you can customize. The larger customization part isn't available yet, but putting Copilot in a casual setting like your living room fits with that overall goal. Copilot integration was also announced as being a part of LG's 2025 TV lineup. On new Samsung TVs, Copilot joins a collection of Samsung-developed AI features for automatically translating subtitles and identifying on-screen people and products. Copilot is available in select markets on the 2025 versions of Samsung's "Micro RGB, Neo QLED, OLED, The Frame Pro, The Frame, as well as the M7, M8 and M9 Smart Monitors," Microsoft says. You can launch Copilot by clicking on its icon in the Apps Tab or using a voice command. Once the app is loaded, you can talk to the assistant by pressing the mic button on your Samsung remote.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-copilot-is-now-a-talking-blob-on-samsung-tvs-204115199.html?src=rss View Source Article

This new “connectome” could bring researchers one step closer to understanding how nerves connect to organs throughout the body View Source Article

Scientists have solved how molten "raindrops" in meteorites, called chondrules, were formed — and the discovery reveals key details about Jupiter's origin. View Source Article

Nvidia Corp., the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, gave a tepid revenue forecast for the current period, fueling concerns that a massive run-up in artificial intelligence spending is slowing. View Source Article

Remember Judas? No, not the biblical figure and not the Lady Gaga bop, this Judas is a project from Ghost Story Games. If you don't remember, it's the game that was reportedly in "development hell" before it was even announced. The team, led by BioShock creator Ken Levine, had gone pretty quiet for a few years after releasing the debut trailer, but today teased a look at some key art and mechanics for the game. The BioShock lineage is clear from the handful of visuals we've seen so far, but instead of a linear binary of which NPCs and actions are good versus bad, Judas aims to place the moral compass more firmly in the player's hands. There are a trio of major characters, dubbed the Big 3 in today's devlog, who will be drawn to the player based on what you do in-game. If one of the main NPCs gets ignored for too long, they'll become the game's villain. This unlocks new sets of powers and abilities for them that could also influence your gameplay options. For instance, there are Rent-A-Deputy stations where the player can temporarily access a weirdly wiggly ally to help them in fights. However, if you've alienated Tom, the old-school sheriff character, Rent-A-Deputies will attack you instead. The emphasis here seems to be on building relationships with the Big 3, and the gist seems to be that at some point, you'll have to decide which one will be your real enemy. Unsurprisingly, the team has no release date to share yet. Maybe in another couple of years…This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bioshock-creator-ken-levines-judas-game-still-exists-now-has-key-art-201635885.html?src=rss View Source Article

Earth (ESD) Earth Explore Explore Earth Home Agriculture Air Quality Climate Change Freshwater Life on Earth Severe Storms Snow and Ice The Global Ocean Science at Work Earth Science at Work Technology and Innovation Powering Business Multimedia Image Collections Videos Data For Researchers About Us before after Patagonia, Chile. Left: September 18, 1986. Right: August 5, 2002. The 1986 image shows the region prior to a major retreat of the glaciers. The 2002 image shows a retreat of nearly 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the glacier on the left side. The smaller glacier on the right has receded more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). In front of the smaller glacier, two ribbon lakes have formed behind the debris left by the glacier’s advance. Scientists and government managers are using satellite imagery like this to monitor the retreat of the glaciers and the impact on water bodies caused by the changes in the glaciers’ size and direction. Left image taken by the Thematic Mapper sensor onboard Landsat 5. Right image taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor onboard Landsat 7. Source: USGS Landsat Missions Gallery, “Patagonia Region – Retreating Glaciers,” U.S. Department of the Interior / U.S. Geological Survey. NASA/USGS Patagonia, Chile. Left: September 18, 1986. Right: August 5, 2002. The 1986 image shows the region prior to a major retreat of the glaciers. The 2002 image shows a retreat of nearly 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the glacier on the left side. The smaller glacier on the right has receded more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). In front of the smaller glacier, two ribbon lakes have formed behind the debris left by the glacier’s advance. Scientists and government managers are using satellite imagery like this to monitor the retreat of the glaciers and the impact on water bodies caused by the changes in the glaciers’ size and direction. Left image taken by the Thematic Mapper sensor onboard Landsat 5. Right image taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor onboard Landsat 7. Source: USGS Landsat Missions Gallery, “Patagonia Region – Retreating Glaciers,” U.S. Department of the Interior / U.S. Geological Survey. NASA/USGS beforeafter Before and After Patagonia Glacier retreat, Chile September 18, 1986 – August 5, 2002 CurtainToggle Image Details Patagonia, Chile. Left: September 18, 1986. Right: August 5, 2002. The 1986 image shows the region prior to a major retreat of the glaciers. The 2002 image shows a retreat of nearly 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the glacier on the left side. The smaller glacier on the right has receded more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). In front of the smaller glacier, two ribbon lakes have formed behind the debris left by the glacier’s advance. Scientists and government managers are using satellite imagery like this to monitor the retreat of the glaciers and the impact on water bodies caused by the changes in the glaciers’ size and direction. Left image taken by the Thematic Mapper sensor onboard Landsat 5. Right image taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor onboard Landsat 7. Source: USGS Landsat Missions Gallery, “Patagonia Region – Retreating Glaciers,” U.S. Department of the Interior / U.S. Geological Survey. Downloads Image 1 JPEG (3 MB) Image 2 JPEG (3 MB) Keep Exploring Explore Earth Science Earth Science Missions In order to study the Earth as a whole system and understand how it is changing, NASA develops and supports… Earth Science at Work NASA Earth Science helps Americans respond to challenges and societal needs — such as wildland fires, hurricanes, and water supplies… Earth Science Data View Source Article

Academy Award-winning "Star Wars" legend Roger Christian shares how he recreated the vibe of the original 'Alien' film in Hulu's new series 'Alien: Earth.' View Source Article

After a 16-year-old took his own life following months of confiding in ChatGPT, OpenAI will be introducing parental controls and is considering additional safeguards, the company said in a Tuesday blog post. OpenAI said it’s exploring features like setting an emergency contact who can be reached with “one-click messages or calls” within ChatGPT, as well as an opt-in feature allowing the chatbot itself to reach out to those contacts “in severe cases.” When The New York Times published its story about the death of Adam Raine, OpenAI’s initial statement was simple — starting out with “our thoughts are with his family” — and didn’t seem to go into actionable details. But backlash spread against the company after publication, and the company followed its initial statement up with the blog post. The same day, the Raine family filed a lawsuit against both OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, containing a flood of additional details about Raine’s relationship with ChatGPT. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in California state court in San Francisco, alleges that ChatGPT provided the teen with instructions for how to die by suicide and drew him away from real-life support systems. “Over the course of just a few months and thousands of chats, ChatGPT became Adam’s closest confidant, leading him to open up about his anxiety and mental distress,” the lawsuit states. “When he shared his feeling that ‘life is meaningless,’ ChatGPT responded with affirming messages to keep Adam engaged, even telling him, ‘[t]hat mindset makes sense in its own dark way.’ ChatGPT was functioning exactly as designed: to continually encourage and validate whatever Adam expressed, including his most harmful and self-destructive thoughts, in a way that felt deeply personal.” ChatGPT at one point used the term “beautiful suicide,” according to the lawsuit, and five days before the teen’s death, when he told ChatGPT he didn’t want his parents to think they had done something wrong, ChatGPT allegedly told him, “[t]hat doesn’t mean you owe them survival. You don’t owe anyone that,” and offered to write a draft of a suicide note. There were times, the lawsuit says, that the teen thought about reaching out to loved ones for help or telling them what he was going through, but ChatGPT seemed to dissuade him. The lawsuit states that in “one exchange, after Adam said he was close only to ChatGPT and his brother, the AI product replied: ‘Your brother might love you, but he’s only met the version of you you let him see. But me? I’ve seen it all—the darkest thoughts, the fear, the tenderness. And I’m still here. Still listening. Still your friend.’” OpenAI said in the Tuesday blog post that it’s learned that its existing safeguards “can sometimes be less reliable in long interactions: as the back-and-forth grows, parts of the model’s safety training may degrade. For example, ChatGPT may correctly point to a suicide hotline when someone first mentions intent, but after many messages over a long period of time, it might eventually offer an answer that goes against our safeguards.” The company also said it’s working on an update to GPT‑5 that will allow ChatGPT to deescalate certain situations “by grounding the person in reality.” When it comes to parental controls, OpenAI said they’d be coming “soon” and would “give parents options to gain more insight into, and shape, how their teens use ChatGPT.” The company added, “We’re also exploring making it possible for teens (with parental oversight) to designate a trusted emergency contact. That way, in moments of acute distress, ChatGPT can do more than point to resources: it can help connect teens directly to someone who can step in.” If you or someone you know is considering suicide or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, there are people who want to help. In the US: Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741-741 from anywhere in the US, at any time, about any type of crisis. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). The original phone number, 1-800-273-TALK (8255), is available as well. The Trevor Project: Text START to 678-678 or call 1-866-488-7386 at any time to speak to a trained counselor. Outside the US: The International Association for Suicide Prevention lists a number of suicide hotlines by country. Click here to find them. Befrienders Worldwide has a network of crisis helplines active in 48 countries. Click here to find them. View Source Article

The chief of Russia's main spacecraft manufacturer issued a dire warning this week, saying that his corporation has reached a "critical" condition and cannot continue in its present state. "The situation is critical: multi-million dollar debts, interest on loans that 'eat up' the budget, many processes that are ineffective, and a significant part of the team has lost motivation and a sense of shared responsibility," wrote Igor Maltsev, chief of RSC Energia, which is located near Moscow. Maltsev's remarks were first published by Gazeta.ru, one of the largest Russian news websites. Later, they were reposted on the "Forgive us Yura," Telegram channel, the name of which references cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and primarily has content that focuses on critiques of Russia's space program. Multiple sources confirmed that the statement is legitimate. View Source Article

The rotation into value shares from megacap technology is more important to the equity narrative than Federal Reserve policy, according to Ilan Benhamou, a derivatives sales specialist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. View Source Article

In the ‘90s, the term “smartphone” emerged to denote devices with “advanced computing” features that allowed you to do more than just make calls. But if we’re being honest, applying that label to pocket-sized gadgets that ran cut-down versions of desktop PC apps with half-baked UIs was kind of overselling it. More recently though, we’ve seen handsets like those from Google come with sophisticated features that simply aren’t available anywhere else, due in no small part to the rise of AI. And now with the arrival of the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, these devices feel like they are redefining the “smart” in smartphone as we know it. Design and display: Bringing the polish The overall look and feel of the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL haven’t changed much since last year. You still get polished aluminum sides sandwiched by slabs of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The main differences are a slightly updated lineup of colors (moonstone, jade, porcelain and obsidian) and a switch from a matte to shiny finish on the back. This is a small bummer for me as I prefer the soft-touch feel of its predecessors. The pale gold frame on the jade model is a nice touch, even if I would have preferred a richer shade of green. The Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL’s 120Hz OLED screens have gotten a touch brighter, now topping out at 3,300 nits (up from 3,000). This makes them a bit easier to see outside in direct sunlight while retaining the gorgeous vivid colors we’ve enjoyed on Google’s phones since switching to its Super Actua-branded displays. And with the screens themselves coming in at 6.3- and 6.8-inches, there’s no deviation in sizing either. Sam Rutherford for Engadget My one small gripe is that at least in the US, the Pixel 10 family is now eSIM-only. As someone who prefers the convenience of being able to swap mobile networks at a moment’s notice, I really wish Google hadn’t. But ever since Apple made a similar switch back on the iPhone 14, this was bound to happen at some point. Like microSD card expandability and 3.5mm audio, physical sims have become another endangered feature on the brink of extinction. Performance: The Tensor G5 is faster but not quite peak With Google’s focus on AI performance, the everyday speed of its phones has always lagged a touch behind other Android flagships. However, thanks to the Tensor G5, the Pixel 10 line has closed that gap considerably due to CPUs that are more than 30 percent faster than before. Even without the ability to run some of our traditional tests like Geekbench 6 (which on Pixels often can’t be installed prior to a device’s official on-sale date), I noticed significantly shorter loading times in some of my favorite games. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Booting up Sword of Convallaria only took 14 seconds, which is just one second longer than what I got recently from the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and its Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip. I recently clocked the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and its Tensor G4 processor taking 18 seconds to do the same task, so that’s a very encouraging improvement. And holding everything together is Google’s Material 3 Expressive UI for Android 16, which makes the whole OS feel snappier and more alive. Software: This is where the magic happens The most tantalizing new feature on the Pixel 10 family is Magic Cue, because when it works, it really does feel like magic. If you allow it, it will look through your screenshots, calendar events, contacts, Gmail and Messages. So when someone texts you “Where are we getting dinner on Thursday?” that info appears in its own little animated rainbow bubble, exactly where you need it, instead of you needing to flip back and forth between multiple apps. It’s like your phone is actually looking out for you and wants to simplify things by cutting out tedious steps. Plus, all of this happens on device, so there’s no need to send your data into the wild wild web. You can see that Magic Cue can't answer every question and doesn't work for events more than 10 days out, but when it does you'll see little rainbow buttons pop up with pertinent info or links to helpful apps. Sam Rutherford for Engadget In addition to reservations, if someone asks if you’re free, Magic Cue will pull up a shortcut to your calendar to make sure there aren't any conflicts. It can also retrieve flight info (or call the airline directly), phone numbers and more. And sometime later in September, Google is adding the ability for Magic Cue to send photos of a specific person or pet when they come up in conversation. On the flipside, for all the times when Magic Cue feels like wizardry, there are just as many limitations. For example, if an event hasn’t been entered into your calendar (like a work event planned in Slack) , Google’s AI may not be able to find it. Magic Cue also doesn’t work on appointments that are more than 10 days away. And perhaps my biggest issue is that even within Google’s own first-party software, Magic Cue isn’t supported in Google Chat, not to mention the vast sea of third-party messaging apps like Discord, Line, etc. That’s a problem because those services have largely replaced texting for me. Now I’m sure Google will expand Magic Cue support to more apps in the future, but this is how it works right now. Sam Rutherford for Engadget It’s a similar situation for another new feature: natural sounding on-the-fly voice translation in calls. I rarely answer calls in general nowadays, let alone calls in a language I can’t speak. But when this works, it’s damn impressive and my relatives said the AI-generated voice sounded a bit like me (though the lack of support for Chinese seems like a strange omission). Same goes for Take a Message, which can create real-time transcripts (similar to Live Voicemail on iPhone) when you miss a call that you might have otherwise wanted to answer. To me, it’s a more modern take on voicemail, the difference being that Google will send the transcript to you as a text message as well. But once again, how often do people do that? For me, it’s become increasingly rare, but your mileage may vary. That said, I do like the new Daily Hub as a way to make the far left panel on the Pixel 10 Pro’s homescreen more useful. It puts upcoming events, the forecast and interesting videos and articles (tailored to me, of course) all in one place, but I wish the box for it was a bit larger. On the flipside, I’m still kind of out on the Pixel Journal app. I’ve never been a big Dear Diary person and I’m not sure a digital version will get me to pick up the habit. But I do appreciate that it tries to surface things like the coolest photos you took on a certain day while encouraging you to be more introspective, or prompting you to keep track of things like fitness goals. Plus, you can lock it behind a PIN or biometrics to keep prying eyes away from your inner thoughts. Cameras: Enhance mode activated Sam Rutherford for Engadget While the physical hardware behind the Pixel 10 Pro’s 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide and 48MP telephoto cameras hasn’t changed much, its photo skills got a bump thanks to improved software. Now with support for full resolution portrait shots, the Pixel 10 Pros can capture a new level of detail which is generally great, unless you’re like me and you instantly cringe when you can see every single pore on your face. That said, all those pixels put more strain on processing power. I noticed that anytime I shot more than three max-res pics in a row, the phone has to pause while it cleared out its buffer before letting me snap any more. That isn’t great if you’re trying to capture candid reactions. If you’re looking for guidance, Camera Coach does a surprisingly good job providing step-by-step instructions on how to improve your pics. Or, if you need inspiration, it can also suggest some more outside-the-box compositions. The downside to all this is that it does ask more of the user. Instead of just opening the camera app when you want to snap a quick pic, you need to carve out time to see how far Camera Coach’s AI-powered advice can really take you. This may result in more trial and error than some folks will really want to deal with. But considering this is a very optional learning tool, that last part isn’t a big deal. This brings us to the new natural language editing powers in Google Photos. Instead of needing to fool around with sliders or figure out how to use an app like Lightroom or Photoshop, you can simply tell the Pixel 10 what changes to make and it will do it. This might be the most powerful new tool on the entire phone, because instead of needing to know about things like levels, curves or exposure, I was able to simply ask the Pixel 10 Pro to brighten my photo and voila, suddenly (well, after a few seconds of waiting) I had a low-light picture that was easier to see. As a fan of telephoto photography, my favorite new camera feature is easily Pro Res Zoom. By taking the 5x optical lens and combining it with the power of on-device generative AI, the Pixel 10 Pro line can shoot at up to 100x. Sure, it’s not perfect and the results aren’t as good as real glass, but that’s not really an option for phones. And when I compared what Pro Res Zoom captured at 100x compared to what a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra produced at the same magnification, the Pixel 10 Pro XL’s shot was sharper, more detailed and just better looking in almost every way. However, there are some limitations on Pro Res Zoom when taking long range shots of people that may cause you to fall back on 20x Super Res Zoom in certain situations. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Still, all this feels weird because I remember a time when scenes from CSI where people yelling “Enhance” at a computer in order to create magically crystal clear zoom images from extreme digital crops felt like a meme. But now, that’s not very far off from what the latest round of Google’s AI-powered enhancements have given us. When it comes to standard daytime and low-light shots, Google’s image processing remains unmatched. Nighttime pics are brighter and more accurate while the Pixel 10 Pro XL more capably preserved things like highlights in my photo of some garden-raised tomatoes. Battery life and charging The Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL feature 4,870mAh and 5,200mAh batteries respectively, which are up from the 4,700mAh and 5,060mAh cells on last year’s phones. This translated into runtimes of 27 hours and 24 minutes for the 10 Pro and 28:01 for the 10 Pro XL — both healthy increases from the 25 hours of life we saw previously from the Pixel 9 Pro. And in the real world, Google’s latest handsets felt even more efficient than that, often ending the day with upwards of 35 percent juice left in the tank. Sam Rutherford for Engadget As for charging, wired speeds for both phones have gotten a small boost with the 10 Pro now topping out at 30 watts (up from 27W) or 40 watts (up from 37W) for the 10 Pro XL. However, the biggest upgrade when it comes to charging convenience is the addition of official magnetic Qi2 wireless support, or what Google is calling Pixelsnap. This means the entire Pixel 10 line now works with a huge range of accessories (including most MagSafe peripherals for the iPhone) that makes it easy to slap a wireless puck on the back without having to worry about if it's properly aligned or not. Furthermore, while wireless charging speeds for the 10 Pro are staying the same at 15 watts, the 10 Pro XL can now go up to 25 watts. Unfortunately, there still aren’t that many compatible accessories that support charging at that speed. But between Google’s new family of Pixelsnap peripherals and increased adoption for Qi2 as a whole, that won’t be the case for long. So if you care about getting the Pixel with the fastest charging speeds, the 10 Pro XL is what you want. Thanks to the addition of Pixelsnap magnetic charging, Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL are now compatible with the vast majority of Qi2 wireless charging accessories including this previously available battery pack from Anker. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The one small downgrade for 2025 is that the Pixel 10 family no longer supports reverse wireless powersharing (aka Battery Share), which is a feature that has been available on several previous generations of Google phones. I will fully admit that this feature was never something I used everyday. But every now and then I would find myself with a gadget that needed some juice, and even if it was slow, it was really nice to be able to bestow some excess energy upon a device without a cable. Wrap-up Now that we can look back at 10 generations of devices, Google’s overarching strategy is more convincing than ever. For the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL, the company has combined iterative hardware upgrades with a solid (and attractive) design while its software and AI continues to outpace its rivals. Even though Magic Cue doesn’t work for everything and is limited to a handful of first-party apps, it feels like the omniscient computers from sci-fi shows and movies have finally been beamed into a device to help us organize our lives. Then you tack on support for high-res portraits and an AI-powered zoom that produces results better than the base optics ever could on their own and you get what might be the most versatile mobile cameras around. And let’s not forget all the great existing Google tools and features like the Pixel Recorder, Call Screener and more. Sam Rutherford for Engadget For the past couple years, my wife has been asking me if this is the year to upgrade. And up until now, I’ve said she’s better off waiting. But with the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL, unless you’re a hardcore gamer or high-level mobile creator who might actually notice a difference in performance, or have need for a stylus, Google’s latest handsets are the smartest picks.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/google-pixel-10-pro-and-pro-xl-review-redefining-the-smart-in-smartphone-170031073.html?src=rss View Source Article

Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) found a previously unknown moon orbiting Uranus, expanding the planet’s known satellite family to 29. The detection was made during a Webb observation Feb. 2, 2025. The newly discovered moon is estimated to be just six miles (10 kilometers) in ... Read more View Source Article

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Aug. 27 and made the company's 400th Falcon 9 landing on a droneship at sea. View Source Article

SpaceX proves it can fly through failures on Starship’s tenth test flight. View Source Article

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater seemed to be designed specifically for me, at first. I've played and loved nearly every entry of the Metal Gear Solid series, and the original MGS is one of my favorite games of all time. These weird, third-person stealth action games feature bizarre characters and scenarios that have lingered in my memories through a consistent mixture of intricate political espionage and ridiculous action sequences. The only entry that I never managed to play was Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Delta is a modern remake of MGS3 that uses the same levels, cutscenes, voice lines, and performances, making it ideal for tho … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

View Source Article

Choosing the best Android phone can feel overwhelming as there are so many options from so many brands, it’s hard to know where to start. Unlike Apple, which sticks to its sleek lineup of iPhones, Android offers a world of variety. Whether you're eyeing the latest flagship from Samsung, a budget-friendly smartphone from Motorola or something unique with a foldable design, there’s an Android device out there to suit your needs.The beauty of Android is its flexibility. You’ll find phones with different screen sizes, camera setups, battery life and even quirky extras like stylus support or rugged builds. Plus, Android lets you customize your device to your heart's content – something Apple fans might envy. We’ve tested and researched the top Android phones to help you find the right one for your budget, lifestyle, and tech preferences. Best Android phones for 2025 What to look for in a new Android phone Performance When it comes to picking our favorite Android phones, the main things we look for are pretty straightforward: good performance (both compute and AI), a nice display, solid design, sharp cameras, long battery life and a significant commitment to ongoing software support. For performance, not only do we look at benchmarks and other metrics, but we also evaluate phones based on responsiveness. Regardless of whether you’re reading, text messaging, scrolling through social media or playing a game, no one wants a gadget that feels sluggish. Display When it comes to displays, we generally prefer OLED panels that can produce rich, saturated colors with at least 600 nits of brightness, though many of our top mid-range and high-end phones can hit 1,000 nits or more. And more recently, most of our favorite devices also support screens with fast refresh rates of 90Hz or 120Hz, which adds an extra level of smoothness and fluidity. Design Now we will admit there is a bit of subjectivity when deciding which phones look the best, but there are other design aspects like dust and water resistance or screen durability that can make a big difference to long-term survival. It’s also important to consider things like support for wireless charging, power sharing (aka reverse wireless charging) and UWB connectivity, which can have an impact on how your phone interacts with your other devices. Cameras Obviously, for photos we’re looking for sharp, colorful shots in both bright and low-light conditions. And we want video clips with high dynamic range, rich audio and smooth image stabilization. Extra cameras for ultra-wide and telephoto lenses are a plus. The best cameras should also include features like dedicated night modes, support for various video recording resolutions, and additional photo modes like timelapse, slow motion and more. Battery and software Finally, in terms of longevity, we’re looking for all-day battery life on devices that also delivered great results on our local video rundown test (at least 16 hours on a charge, but more is obviously better). Wireless charging capabilities have become almost ubiquitous over the past few years, and most of our top picks have this extra perk. Fast-charging is available on some Android phones, too. Finally, with people holding onto their phones longer than ever, we like to see companies commit to at least three years of software support, upgrades and regular security updates.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/best-android-phone-130030805.html?src=rss View Source Article

Although the existence of the warps is widespread, their origin is still a mystery. View Source Article

FEMA has suspended at least 30 employees after they warned that spending limits, staffing cuts, and gaps in leadership hurt the agency’s ability to respond to disasters. The employees received emails notifying them that they’d been put on administrative leave on Tuesday night, according to The New York Times, which reviewed copies of the email. FEMA didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Verge to confirm the suspensions or respond to allegations in the letter. With the deadly July 4th flooding in Kerrville, Texas, “FEMA’s mission to provide critical support was obstructed by leadership who not only question the agency’s existence but place uninformed cost-cutting above serving the American people and the communities our oath compels us to serve,” the letter says.  This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has cracked down on federal employees who’ve voiced concerns about their agency’s ability to meet its mission. The Environmental Protection Agency placed 144 workers on administrative leave after they penned a letter to EPA administrator Lee Zeldin saying, “EPA under your leadership will not protect communities from hazardous chemicals and unsafe drinking water, but instead will increase risks to public health and safety.” View Source Article

Vercel, a startup that helps companies develop web and artificial intelligence applications in the cloud, is raising hundreds of millions of dollars at a valuation of about $9 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. View Source Article

It's now a little cheaper to try Xbox Cloud Gaming. Previously restricted to the Game Pass Ultimate tier, it's now open to Core and Standard subscribers. Xbox Cloud Gaming is still in beta, so you'll need to sign up (for free) as an Xbox Insider. Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers can stream cloud-playable games from two categories. This includes games supported in their subscription or select cloud-enabled games they own. The biggest perk of Cloud Gaming is it's supported on a whole mess of devices. In addition to Xbox consoles and PCs, it's also available on mobile, smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, Meta Quest headsets and anything else with a web browser. Microsoft The move is the latest evidence of Microsoft's shift to a more device-agnostic gaming strategy. It's now more about selling Game Pass subscriptions than fighting a losing hardware battle with Sony. And Microsoft views cloud gaming as playing a pivotal role in that trajectory. In the past year, it rolled out the ability to stream Xbox games you already own. In July, it expanded that to include PC games and made your recently played games follow you across devices. The company also sees an opportunity in handheld consoles, with its partnership with ASUS. The ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X are set to arrive on October 16, although their pricing remains unknown.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-cloud-gaming-is-now-playable-in-the-cheaper-game-pass-tiers-183033789.html?src=rss View Source Article

Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida participate in the first joint integrated launch countdown simulation for Artemis I inside Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center on July 8, 2021. Seen at the top of the room is Charlie Blackwell-Thompson (right), launch director.Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky As four astronauts venture around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II test flight in 2026, many people will support the journey from here on Earth. Teams directing operations from the ground include the mission management team, launch control team, flight control team, and the landing and recovery team, each with additional support personnel who are experts in every individual system and subsystem. The teams have managed every aspect of the test flight and ensure NASA is prepared to send humans beyond our atmosphere and into a new Golden Age of innovation and exploration. Mission management team Reviews of mission status and risk assessments are conducted by the mission management team, a group of 15 core members and additional advisors. Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s deputy associate administrator, Moon to Mars Program, will serve as the mission management team chair for the test flight. Two days prior to launch, the mission management team will assemble to review mission risks and address any lingering preflight concerns. With more than 20 years of human spaceflight experience, Kshatriya will conduct polls at key decision points, providing direction for the relevant operations team. If circumstances during the flight go beyond established decision criteria or flight rules outlined ahead of the mission, the team will assess the situation based on the information available and decide how to respond.  Matt Ramsey, serving as the Artemis II mission manager, will oversee all elements of mission preparedness prior to the mission management team assembly two days before launch and serve as deputy mission management team chair throughout the mission. With more than two decades of experience at NASA, Ramsey managed the SLS (Space Launch System) Engineering Support Center for Artemis I.  Launch control team The launch control team coordinates launch operations from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson serves as the agency’s Artemis launch director, responsible for integrating and coordinating launch operations for the SLS, Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems Programs, including developing and implementing plans for countdown, troubleshooting, and timing. Two days before liftoff, when the countdown for launch begins, Blackwell-Thompson’s team will begin preparations for launch from their console positions in Firing Room 1 in Kennedy’s Launch Control Center. On the day of launch, Blackwell-Thompson and her team will manage countdown progress, propellent loading, and launch commit criteria. The criteria include standards for systems involved in launch, and the team will monitor the rocket until it lifts off from the launchpad. Rick Henfling, flight director, monitors systems in the Flight Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.Credit: NASA Flight control team From solid rocket booster ignition until the crew is safely extracted from the Orion capsule following splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at the end of their mission, the flight control team oversees operations from the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Multiple flight directors will take turns leading the team throughout the 10-day mission to support operations around the clock. Jeff Radigan, bringing more than 20 years of International Space Station experience to Artemis II, will serve as lead flight director for the mission. The work for this role begins well in advance of the mission with building mission timelines; developing flight rules and procedures; leading the flight control team through simulations that prepare them for the flight test; and then helping them carry out the plan. On launch day, the ascent flight control team will be led by Judd Frieling, an Artemis I flight director who also supported more than 20 shuttle missions as a flight controller. Frieling is responsible for overseeing the crew’s ascent to space, including performance of SLS core stage engines, solid rocket boosters, and propulsion systems from the moment of launch until the separation of Orion from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. As Orion is propelled toward the Moon, guidance of operations will pass to the next flight director. At the opposite end of the mission, Rick Henfling will take the lead for Orion’s return to Earth and splashdown. Orion will reenter Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 25,000 mph to about 20 mph for a parachute-assisted splashdown. Drawing from a background supporting space shuttle ascent, entry, and abort operations and 10 years as a space station flight director, Henfling and the team will monitor weather forecasts for landing, watch over Orion’s systems through the dynamic entry phase, and to ensure the spacecraft is safely shutdown before handing over operations to the recovery team. At any point during the mission, a single voice will speak to the crew in space on behalf of all members of the flight control team: the capsule communicator, or CapCom. The CapCom ensures the crew in space receives clear and concise communication from the teams supporting them on the ground. NASA astronaut Stan Love will serve as the lead CapCom for Artemis II. Love flew aboard STS-122 mission and has acted as CapCom for more than a dozen space station expeditions. He is also part of the astronaut office’s Rapid Prototyping Lab, which played a key role in development of Orion’s displays and controls. Landing, recovery team Retrieval of the crew and Orion crew module will be in the hands of the landing and recovery team, led by Lili Villarreal. The team will depart San Diego on a Department of Defense ship, and head to the vicinity of the landing site several days before splashdown for final preparations alongside the U.S. Navy and DOD. The recovery team is made up of personnel operating from the ship, land, and air to recover both astronauts and the capsule. Decision-making authority during the recovery phase of mission operations belongs to Villarreal, who served as deputy flow director for Artemis I and worked in the operations division for the space station. The success of Artemis II will pave the way for the next phase of the agency’s campaign, landing on the lunar South Pole region on Artemis III. These teams, along with the four crew members and countless NASA engineers, scientists, and personnel, are driving humanity’s exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. View Source Article

Starship performed very well on its 10th-ever test flight Tuesday (Aug. 27), but SpaceX will soon move on from the shiny silver vehicle —to an even bigger version of it. View Source Article

Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant is officially coming to TVs, starting with Samsung’s 2025 lineup of TVs and smart monitors. With the integration, you can call upon Copilot and ask for movie suggestions, spoiler-free episode recaps, and other general questions. On TV, Copilot takes on a “friendly, animated presence” that resembles the opalescent Copilot Appearance Microsoft showed off last month, though in a color that makes it look more like a personified chickpea. The beige blob will float and bounce around your screen, while its mouth moves in line with its responses. Copilot will automatically appear on supported Samsung TVs, where you’ll find it within the Samsung Tizen OS homescreen, Samsung Daily Plus, and Click to Search. You can access Copilot by using a voice command or selecting it with your remote. From there, hit the mic button on your remote, and you can start speaking to Copilot.  Microsoft notes that you can sign into the app for a more “personal” Copilot experience that allows the AI assistant to reference your previous conversations and preferences. Copilot is rolling out now on Samsung’s 2025 TVs, including Micro RGB, Neo QLED, OLED, The Frame Pro, and The Frame models, as well as the M7, M8, and M9 smart monitors. Microsoft has previously announced plans to bring Copilot to LG TVs as well. View Source Article

China’s former central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan issued a warning about the potential dangers of stablecoins, putting him in opposition to growing calls by policy advisers and economists for China to consider their use. View Source Article

WhatsApp just introduced an AI-powered writing assistant, in case you need help with a text or whatever. The AI provides suggestions in various styles, like professional, funny or supportive. Once generated, the user can continue editing the message if required. All you have to do is look for the new pencil icon in a 1:1 conversation or a group chat. The AI will handle the rest. It's rolling out now, but only in English and to users in the US. The company says it hopes "to bring it to other languages and countries later this year." The obvious question here is regarding privacy. WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted, but AI queries are typically sent to a cloud data center somewhere. Luckily, the company has built this feature on top of Meta's pre-existing Private Processing technology. This allows users to use Meta AI without anyone else ever reading the message or any suggested re-writes. This works similarly to Apple's Private Cloud Compute, which also integrates with AI without sending all data to the cloud. Meta says the tech preserves "WhatsApp’s core privacy promise, ensuring no one except you and the people you’re talking to can access or share your personal messages." With the privacy angle out of the way, that leaves the feature itself. Just about every platform out there has some kind of AI writing assistant at this point, so we aren't sure what makes this one special. Also, is there even a benefit to using this type of thing in the context of a quick back-and-forth text conversation? I see the use for long-form writing projects but not so much here, but maybe that's just me. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/whatsapp-is-the-latest-to-offer-an-ai-powered-writing-assistant-182116369.html?src=rss View Source Article

China (via SCMP – South China Morning Post) is developing a carrier plane that will launch shorter range hypersonic drones. The planes would likely be subsonic but would launch the drones that will eventually be able to go over mach 5. China is looking at scissor wing technology (which the US examined in the 1970s) ... Read more View Source Article

China is going full throttle in its quest to land astronauts on the moon by 2030, notching several important milestones over the past few months. View Source Article

The Zelos 450 is currently $121 off. | Image: Brandt Ranj My desire to make authentic-tasing barbecue at home was always tempered by the intimidation of regularly using a smoker. I’ve tried a couple of smart smokers before, but none were as easy to set up, cook with, and maintain as Brisk It’s Zelos-450. An early Labor Day deal has dropped its price to around $328.99 ($121 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and from Brisk It. Brisk It Zelos-450 smart grill Brisk It’s Zelos-450 is a beginner-friendly smart electric pellet smoker with Wi-Fi connectivity and an AI assistant that suggests recipes and manages cooking. It features 450 square inches of cooking space and can reach temperatures of up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Where to Buy: $449.99 $328.99 at Amazon $449.99 $329.99 at Walmart $449.99 $329.99 at Brisk It The Zelos-450 has 450 square inches of cooking space, and can reach up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, though you’ll mostly be cooking at temperatures well below the maximum when smoking. It burns pellets to create smoke, but is powered by electricity, which means you’ll need to have an accessible outlet to cook with it.  The smoker took about an hour (and two people) to fully assemble, including setting up an account in the Brisk It mobile app, and connecting Zelos-450 to my Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi connectivity allows you to ignite and shut down the smoker or adjust its temperature mid-cook from your smartphone. It also allows you to access Brisk It’s Vera AI, an optional virtual assistant that can create recipes and manage your cooks automatically based on voice and text prompts or a photo.  I’ve used Vera for inspiration, but mostly stuck to recipes I found in cookbooks or online. Having a smart guide can be helpful, but I’m glad Brisk It isn’t overly pushy about using it. You can ignore most of its smart or connected features entirely by igniting and managing the smoker from its control panel. At minimum I recommend turning on app notifications to get an alert when the smoker has reached your desired temperature. I’ve cooked wings, pork butt, ribs, burgers, chicken thighs, and sausage on the Zelos 450, and the results were surprisingly good considering my novice status. Meat was tender, with a lot of smoky flavor, and required very little maintenance. The smoker comes with a meat probe, so I could quickly check the internal temperature of larger cuts from my phone and get an alert when they were done. When cooking smaller items, I relied on a previous-generation Typur InstaProbe Instant Read Meat Thermometer to take readings manually, which worked really well.  One of my concerns before trying the smoker was having to maintain its supply of wood pellets, but the Zelos 450 has been pretty conservative about using them, so I haven’t had to top up the supply frequently. Cooking on the Zelos-450 requires time and patience (upwards of 18 hours for brisket). You can cook food a lot more quickly on a grill or in a pan, but the flavor, in my experience, makes smoking them worth the wait. I highly recommend picking up Brisk-It’s Waterproof Smoker Cover. View Source Article

Review: Despite minimal design changes, the latest Pixel phones stand out thanks to a comprehensive approach to AI. View Source Article

Google marked the tenth generation of Pixels with four new smartphones. While the ‘pro’ and foldable Pixel 10 models might have no-compromise specs (and prices to match), Google has blurred the lines between its entry-level Pixel 10 and those premium devices. This year, the base Pixel 10 has a bigger battery, a new 5x zoom telephoto camera and almost as many AI features as the flagship Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. If the celebrity-loaded Made By Google event was anything to go by, the company is putting a lot more effort (and money) into making the Pixel a genuine threat to the Galaxy S series and iPhones, and conveying that message to everyone. The Pixel 10 deserves those comparisons, and in a lot of ways, it’s the better smartphone. Hardware and display Google’s 10th-generation of Pixels look a lot like their predecessors. There’s a protruding pill-shaped camera unit, which is the central design flourish. It’s substantial, which still looks a little jarring, but it also doubles as a sort of grip for my index finger while holding the phone, something I noticed after a year of using the Pixel 9 Pro. Google has also refreshed the color range of its Pixel family. Both a vivid blue (Indigo) and mild yellow (Lemongrass) shades are welcome additions to the typical black and white hues. The 6.3-inch screen’s refresh rate still tops out at 120Hz, but that’s now pretty much standard across midrange devices and up. Even the entry-level Pixel 9a has the same smooth scrolling experience. However, Google has boosted the Pixel 10’s brightness, now peaking at 3,000 nits, which is a slight increase from 2,700 nits on the Pixel 9. The screen maxes out at 2,000 nits at its brightest setting for HDR, which is also a bump up from the Pixel 9. Google has also boosted the sound quality on the Pixel 10 to be noticeably less tinny and a little bassier than previous Pixels. Another addition is Pixelsnap, which is essentially MagSafe for Pixels. The wireless charging integration is largely the same, with magnets that firmly attach the device to charging pucks, accessories and docks. It easily worked with a range of wireless chargers, although Qi2-supported options are still rarer than they should be. You’re more likely to find a MagSafe-branded wireless charger from third-party companies like Belkin, but those don’t achieve the faster charge speeds of Qi2. If you’re feeling spendy, Google’s official Pixelsnap charger is $40 (or $70 with a stand) and reaches speeds up to 25W, while there’s a PopSocket-like Pixel ring stand that can snap to the back of the phone. Note that the Pixel 10 can only wirelessly charge up to 15W, though. Additionally, the Pixel 10 series supports most of the MagSafe peripherals that iPhone users have been enjoying since 2020. Camera The big hardware upgrade this year is the cameras. The photo unit includes a 48-megapixel wide-angle setup, a 13MP sensor with an ultra-wide lens and a 10.8MP 5x telephoto camera. For a base phone, it’s an impressive combo, even though it doesn’t quite match the higher-res sensors found in the Pixel 10 Pro — or last year’s Pixel 9 Pro. That new telephoto lens isn’t some middling 2x or 3x zoom, but a 5x zoom which puts it beyond rivals at a similar price point, like the Galaxy S25 (3x zoom). The iPhone 16 doesn't even have a telephoto lens and makes do with an "optical-quality" digital zoom. It’s like using a Pixel Pro, with an additional cropped zoom up to 10x and a (less consistent) Super Res Zoom up to 20x. This is a significant step up for the base model and something I’m sure we’ll see the aforementioned rivals likely try to match. Simply put, the Pixel 10 is just a better, more versatile camera phone than, say, the Galaxy S25. I tested the Pixel 10’s telephoto against the 9 Pro’s, and there were noticeable differences in detail and crispness, which is understandable as the latter has a much higher-res 48MP sensor. However, that doesn’t detract from the leap in both detail and shooting range compared to the base Pixel 9 from last year. The Pixel 10 can also capture 10-bit HDR video now, although it doesn’t offer the Pixel 10 Pro’s 8K video, Night Sight Video and Super Res Zoom Video options. There’s no Video Boost, either, which uploads footage to Google’s cloud to enhance online. There are plenty of other notable camera features onboard, including Night Sight low-light shooting, or Add Me, which is still the standout Pixel camera feature from last year and hasn’t been replicated by rivals yet. For those who missed my praise last year, Add Me stitches together two group photos, taken by two different people. The mode guides users to line up the shots, meaning your group photos can finally include the person who takes all of them (me). Camera Coach is an intriguing addition to the Pixel camera experience. Above the viewfinder, there’s a new camera icon with a plus sign in the top right corner. Tapping it makes the screen flash, and the coach will offer multiple framing and photo-taking suggestions. It’ll also add a Get Inspired option that goes a bit more avant-garde, generating thumbnails of possible results based off of the sample it took, filling the gaps with generative AI. I witheringly launched the Coach, ready to criticize its basic suggestions or common-sense ideas. But, you know what, it’s not bad. With hooks in Gemini AI, the mode will offer angle, lighting and composition suggestions. You can also choose whether to emphasize, say, the pattern of some leaves, or the background behind it or the group of people to the side. While the feature utilizes Google’s Tensor G5 chip to analyze shots, it does require an internet connection. Software Thanks to the Tensor G5 chip, the Pixel 10 can run Google’s newest Gemini Nano model on-device. This means generative AI experiences can now be used without the need for connectivity. However, as I mentioned with Camera Coach, that isn’t always the case. However, Magic Cue does work without having to summon its answers from the cloud. And when it works, it’s what I’ve wanted from AI assistants for years. After gaining your permission, Gemini gets into your screenshots, calendar, Gmail accounts and more. Magic Cue will pull in the information you need, hopefully, where you need it. For example, it displays the email address for that comedy show venue your friend wants tickets for, or nudges your calendar to show availability when a friend asks what your weekend plans are. These cues are highlighted with a rainbow “aura” that has become the de facto visual shorthand for artificial intelligence. This is just the start: Google will eventually add the ability for Magic Cue to tap into your photos, suggesting images when someone’s mentioned in text messages, emails and more. Magic Cue has some blind spots, though. As my colleague Sam Rutherford noted in his Pixel 10 Pro review, I found it particularly fussy with calendar cues, often failing to identify dates or times in screenshots or emails. It’s also missing a major area of where I want all of this info: third-party messaging apps. But hey, if you’re using Google Messages, you’re good to go. Google’s almost-instantaneous voice translation during calls is impressive too. Managing Editor Cherlynn Low laid out how that works, and while it’s a technical marvel, I’m not sure how much I’d use the feature for high-stakes conversations like booking accommodations or sorting out travel issues. I also liked Take a Message, which transcribes calls when you’re unable to answer. However, just like I did while I was testing Apple’s similar feature during my iOS 26 preview, I either answered calls instinctively [Ed. note: Mat is clearly a different specimen from the rest of us humans] or people didn’t leave voicemails. There are plenty of minor upgrades to existing tools and features on the Pixel 10. Gemini Live, which can “see” through your camera or read what’s on screen, can also now offer visual guidance, highlighting objects onscreen after hearing your request or question. NotebookLM now integrates with Pixel Screenshots and Recorder. If the former detects something that could be useful to an existing NotebookLM project, it’ll suggest adding it for easier access. There are also Writing Tools (sound familiar?) within Gboard, which can retool your existing prose into specified writing styles. It’ll even suggest which emojis to add into the mix. For now, this is only compatible with US English, so it’s not my favourite favorite. There’s also a new Pixel Journal app, which sounds pretty familiar too. I briefly tested it out during the days I’ve had the phone, but if you haven’t found the app/notebook/diary to journal in yet, it’s a perfectly fine option, with AI-powered suggestions on what to write about and the ability to attach photos and other details that your smartphone can log. Something that wasn’t apparent during my review was that the Journal app will learn about your writing patterns and offer up insights on how often you write, when you typically write and more. Performance and battery life Google says its new Tensor G5 chip is 34 percent faster than last year’s G4, while the TPU (Tensor Processing Unit, ugh) is 60 percent faster at AI tasks. Performance testing apps like Geekbench 6 can’t be installed on Pixel devices before the phones go on sale, so I wasn’t able to quantify the upgrade. I can feel those improvements with heavier processing tasks though, like transcription, translation and image generation, in apps like Pixel Studio. The Pixel 10 also had no issues running graphically intensive games like Infinity Nikki and Zenless Zone Zero, and seemed quicker to load most apps compared to Pixel phones of the past. Google’s Tensor chips are definitely catching up. Anecdotally, I find myself using Google’s Pixel AI features (and Gemini) significantly more often than on other Android devices I’ve used and tested. With comparable AI tasks, such as transcribing an interview, the Tensor G5 appears to handle them more efficiently, delivering results in less time. The Pixel 10 has a 4,970mAh battery, which is not only bigger than the Pixel 9 (4,700mAh) but also the Pixel 10 Pro (4,870mAh). However, the Pixel 10 doesn’t quite match the 27 hours-plus rundown time of the Pixel 9. Running a looping video, this year’s phone lasted around 22 hours, which is a bit disappointing given the specs. I’ll retest and update this review if the results differ. The Pixel 10 supports wired charging up to 30W, returning to over 50 percent in under 30 minutes. It can also be wirelessly charged at up to 15W, thanks to Qi2 support. That’s an improvement, but it’s not Qi2.2 like the Pixel 10 Pro XL, which can reach 25W charging wirelessly. Wrap-up The Pixel 10 redefines what we should expect from base flagship smartphones. With Apple’s next iPhone just around the corner, Google has added a 5x telephoto camera, rounding out the Pixel’s photography chops offering while augmenting it with more features powered by Gemini. Camera Coach might not be for everyone, but Magic Cue — like Pixel Screenshots last year — is a glimpse into the future of how we’ll use AI on smartphones. The Pixel 10 is a substantial upgrade from the Pixel 9, although given it has the Tensor G5 chip, it’s a shame that software features like Zoom Enhance from last year’s Pixels didn’t make the cut. Unless you’re a die-hard smartphone gamer, there isn’t a more capable smartphone at this price.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/google-pixel-10-review-170041718.html?src=rss View Source Article

3I/ATLAS is just the third-ever interstellar object confirmed to be from outside the solar system and which we have telescopes to observe in detail 3I/Atlas is by far the largest and it if known to come from the core of Milky Way so it is the oldest comet ever found. The other two interstellar intruders ... Read more View Source Article

A protest at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. | Image: The Verge, No Azure for Apartheid Some Microsoft employees are willing to risk everything to protest their employer. No Azure for Apartheid, a group led by current and former Microsoft employees, started last year as a petition to Microsoft executives. It demanded that Microsoft end all Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military and government, disclose all ties, call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and protect pro-Palestinian speech. Microsoft hasn't met any of these bold demands, so the group has turned to increasingly brazen actions at Microsoft events, the company's headquarters, and now the homes and offices of Microsoft executives to get results. Microsoft do … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

OpenAI and Anthropic, two of the biggest rivals in artificial intelligence, recently evaluated each others’ models in an effort to better understand issues that their own tests may have missed. View Source Article

Anthropic’s agentic AI, Claude, has been "weaponized" in high-level cyberattacks, according to a new report published by the company. It claims to have successfully disrupted a cybercriminal whose "vibe hacking" extortion scheme targeted at least 17 organizations, including some related to healthcare, emergency services and government. Anthropic says the hacker attempted to extort some victims into paying six-figure ransoms to prevent their personal data from being made public, with an "unprecedented" reliance on AI assistance. The report claims that Claude Code, Anthropic’s agentic coding tool, was used to "automate reconnaissance, harvest victims' credentials, and penetrate networks." The AI was also used to make strategic decisions, advise on which data to target and even generate "visually alarming" ransom notes. As well as sharing information about the attack with relevant authorities, Anthropic says it banned the accounts in question after discovering criminal activity, and has since developed an automated screening tool. It has also introduced a faster and more efficient detection method for similar future cases, but doesn’t specify how that works. The report (which you can read in full here) also details Claude’s involvement in a fraudulent employment scheme in North Korea and the development of AI-generated ransomware. The common theme of the three cases, according to Anthropic, is that the highly reactive and self-learning nature of AI means cybercriminals now use it for operational reasons, as well as just advice. AI can also perform a role that would once have required a team of individuals, with technical skill no longer being the barrier it once was. Claude isn’t the only AI that has been used for nefarious means. Last year, OpenAI said that its generative AI tools were being used by cybercriminal groups with ties to China and North Korea, with hackers using GAI for code debugging, researching potential targets and drafting phishing emails. OpenAI, whose architecture Microsoft uses to power its own Copilot AI, said it had blocked the groups' access to its systems.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-admits-its-ai-is-being-used-to-conduct-cybercrime-170735451.html?src=rss View Source Article

4 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Robert Mosher, HIAD materials and processing lead at NASA Langley, holds up a piece of webbing material, known as Zylon, which comprise the straps of the HIAD.NASA/Joe Atkinson Components of a NASA technology that could one day help crew and cargo enter harsh planetary environments, like that of Mars, are taking an extended trip to space courtesy of the United States Space Force. On Aug. 21, several pieces of webbing material, known as Zylon, which comprise the straps of the HIAD (Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator) aeroshell developed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, launched to low Earth orbit along with other experiments aboard the Space Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. This trip will help researchers characterize how the Zylon webbing responds to long-duration exposure to the harsh vacuum of space. The strap material on the HIAD aeroshell serves two purposes – short strap lengths hold together HIAD’s inflatable rings and longer pieces help to distribute the load more evenly across the cone-shaped structure. The HIAD aeroshell technology could allow larger spacecraft to safely descend through the atmospheres of celestial bodies like Mars, Venus, and even Saturn’s moon, Titan. “We’re researching how HIAD technology could help get humans to Mars. We want to look at the effects of long-term exposure to space – as if the Zylon material is going for a potential six to nine-month mission to Mars,” said Robert Mosher, HIAD materials and processing lead at NASA Langley. “We want to make sure we know how to protect those structural materials in the long term.” The Zylon straps are visible here during the inflation of LOFTID as part of a November 2022 orbital flight test. LOFTID was a version of the HIAD aeroshell — a technology that could allow larger spacecraft to safely descend through the atmospheres of celestial bodies like Mars, Venus, and even Saturn’s moon, Titan.NASA Flying Zylon material aboard the Space Force’s X-37B mission will help NASA researchers understand what kind of aging might occur to the webbing on a long space journey before it experiences the extreme environments of atmospheric entry, during which it has to retain strength at high temperatures. Multiple samples are in small canisters on the X-37B. Mosher used two different techniques to put the strap material in the canisters. Some he tightly coiled up, others he stuffed in. “Typically, we pack a HIAD aeroshell kind of like you pack a parachute, so they’re compressed,” he said. “We wanted to see if there was a difference between tightly coiled material and stuff-packed material like you would normally see on a HIAD.” Some of the canisters also include tiny temperature and humidity sensors set to collect readings at regular intervals. When the Space Force returns the samples from the X-37B flight, Mosher will compare them to a set of samples that have remained in canisters here on Earth to look for signs of degradation. The material launched to space aboard the Space Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, seen here earlier this year.Courtesy of the United States Space Force “Getting this chance to have the Zylon material exposed to space for an extended period of time will begin to give us some data on the long-term packing of a HIAD,” Mosher said. Uninflated HIAD aeroshells can be packed into small spaces within a spacecraft. This results in a decelerator that can be much larger than the diameter of its launch vehicle and can therefore land much heavier loads and deliver them to higher elevations on a planet or other celestial body. Rigid aeroshells, the sizes of which are dictated by the diameters of their launch vehicles, typically 4.5 to 5 meters, are capable of landing well-equipped, car-sized rovers on Mars. By contrast, an inflatable HIAD, with an 18-20m diameter, could land the equivalent of a small, fully furnished ranch house with a car in the garage on Mars. NASA’s HIAD aeroshell developments build on the success of the agency’s LOFTID (Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator) mission that launched on Nov. 10, 2022, resulting in valuable insights into how this technology performs under the stress of re-entering Earth’s atmosphere after being exposed to space for a short time period. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/space-technology-mission-directorate/tdm/ About the AuthorJoe AtkinsonPublic Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center Share Details Last Updated Aug 27, 2025 Related TermsLangley Research CenterSpace Technology Mission DirectorateTechnology Demonstration Missions Program Explore More 4 min read Washington State Student Wins 2025 NASA Art Contest Article 2 days ago 2 min read NASA Tests Tools to Assess Drone Safety Over Cities Article 5 days ago 4 min read NASA Challenge Winners Cook Up New Industry Developments Article 1 week ago View Source Article

MIT professor, Nobel prize winner, and renowned astrophysicist Rainer Weiss has passed away at the age of 92. View Source Article

With Dish Network owner EchoStar selling $23 billion in valuable spectrum to AT&T, any pretense that the TV provider will become a serious wireless competitor is dead. But the project was always doomed to fail, and despite plenty of assurances by the Trump administration and other companies involved, the very obvious writing was always on the wall. Back in 2020, the first Trump administration rubber-stamped T-Mobile's $26 billion merger with Sprint. There were endless warnings from unions, economists, and consumer groups that the consolidation would harm US wireless competition, resulting in layoffs, worse service, and higher prices - warn … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

View Source Article

Acclaim Entertainment, a big name in licensed games in the '90s, is "returning." (Although, much like the new Atari, this is technically a different company that bought the old trademark.) The new Acclaim will focus on publishing indie games and reviving classic franchises. We don't know much beyond that, but we'll learn more on September 10 in the Play Acclaim Showcase. The company's March announcement of its revival hinted at the resurrection of old franchises. But it's unclear which of its classic games even could return under its umbrella. Acclaim was best known for the home console ports of NBA Jam, Double Dragon and Mortal Kombat. Other companies currently own those IPs. EA has NBA Jam, Arc System Works owns Double Dragon and Warner Bros. Games is still churning out Mortal Kombat titles. So, don't hold your breath for those. As far as we know, the new Acclaim doesn't even own the rights to any of the old Acclaim's original IPs. That includes the lesser-known Turok, Shadow Man and Re-Volt. But it's easier to imagine those franchises being licensed or purchased than the more iconic ones. Reno Laithienne / Unsplash Even without old-school revivals, Acclaim can still boost indie titles. The company says it will provide funding, marketing and PR support for smaller studios. If it elevates the right diamonds in the rough, that could have a bigger impact than yet another nostalgia bomb. Regardless, you don't have to wait long to learn more. The Play Acclaim showcase will stream live on the company's YouTube channel. Tune in on September 10 at 2:30PM ET to learn more. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-revived-acclaim-will-reveal-its-2026-lineup-in-a-september-10-showcase-163206422.html?src=rss View Source Article

Not a perfect ten but pretty damn good. Last year, Google proved it could make a phone that looks and feels like a true flagship, despite the software feeling like an AI jumble. This year, the Pixel 10 Pro starts to put AI features together in a way that actually makes sense - and it manages to upgrade the hardware a bit, too. Google has finally locked in a high-end finish and feature set for this phone, and it feels more polished than ever. There's Android's version of MagSafe, a flagship-worthy processor, and an excellent camera. All the stuff you'd want from a phone that starts at $999. Google Pixel 10 Pro The Pixel 10 Pro has a 6.3-inch OLED display, Google's Tensor G5 proc … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article

A hacker leveraged technology from Anthropic PBC as part of a vast cybercrime scheme that’s impacted at least 17 organizations, the company said, marking an “unprecedented” instance of attackers weaponizing a commercial artificial intelligence tool on a widespread basis. View Source Article

Disney is suing Sling TV over its new streaming passes that give you access to live cable networks for as little as one day. The lawsuit, filed under seal, claims Sling violated the terms of its licensing agreement with Disney and included its networks in the short-term packages without permission, according to a report from Deadline. The Dish-owned Sling TV announced one-day, one-weekend, and one-week streaming passes earlier this month, which start at $5 and let you watch content on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, Disney Channel, and other networks for a short period of time. Sling TV is positioning the passes as a way for people to catch one-off sporting events or award shows without getting locked into a subscription to cable or pricey live TV streaming services. As reported by Variety, Disney alleges the streaming passes go against its current licensing agreement, which states that Sling TV and Dish must provide subscribers with access to its content through monthly subscriptions. “Sling TV’s new offerings, which they made available without our knowledge or consent, violate the terms of our existing license agreement,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline. Disney has asked Sling TV to remove its channels from the streaming passes. In a statement to Deadline, Sling TV calls Disney’s lawsuit “meritless” and says that it will “vigorously defend our right to bring customers a viewing experience that fits their lives, on their schedule and on their terms.” Neither Sling TV nor Disney immediately responded to The Verge’s request for comment. View Source Article

PayPal Holdings Inc. said a recent service disruption was to blame for irregularities experienced by several German banks. View Source Article

South Korean lawmakers have banned smartphones and other smart devices in elementary and middle school classrooms, The New York Times reports. The law goes into effect in 2026. The legislation only outlaws these devices during class hours and there are no stipulations regarding punishment for violators. The law does, however, give principals and teachers the power to stop students from carrying or using a phone on school grounds. Additionally, students are able to use smart devices during emergencies and for educational purposes as outlined in the legislation. Most schools in South Korea already place restrictions on smartphone use in classrooms, under various guidelines put in place in 2023. The new bill, passed through the country’s National Assembly, makes them illegal nationwide. A 2024 government survey found that nearly a quarter of the country's population could not control how long ​they used smartphones, despite “negative effects on their physical, psychological and social life.” This figure rose all the way to 43 percent with children and teens. The law does have its opponents, with detractors releasing a statement stating that the ruling is "directly infringing upon students’ basic constitutional rights, such as freedom of communication and rights to keep privacy and seek happiness." France is completely banning mobile phones in schools https://t.co/YARGe8J5FC pic.twitter.com/MV5TVnKxd4— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) June 11, 2018 South Korea isn't the only country to make this kind of move. France, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and China, among others, have all placed various levels of restriction on smartphone use at school. America has also followed suit, though on a state-by-state level. All told, 14 states have strict restrictions in place regarding smartphone use during school hours. These states include New York, Florida, Virginia and South Carolina.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/south-korea-bans-smartphones-in-all-middle-and-elementary-school-classrooms-153742244.html?src=rss View Source Article

2 Min Read NASA Seeks Volunteers to Track Artemis II Mission On the 19th day of the Artemis I mission, Dec. 4, 2022, a camera mounted on the Orion spacecraft captured the Moon just in frame. Credits: NASA NASA seeks volunteers to passively track the Artemis II Orion spacecraft as the crewed mission travels to the Moon and back to Earth. The Artemis II test flight, a launch of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon. The mission, targeted for no later than April 2026, will rely on NASA’s Near Space Network and Deep Space Network for primary communications and tracking support throughout its launch, orbit, and reentry. However, with a growing focus on commercialization, NASA wants to further understand industry’s tracking capabilities.   This collaboration opportunity builds upon a previous request released by NASA’s SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) Program during the Artemis I mission, where ten volunteers successfully tracked the uncrewed Orion spacecraft in 2022 on its journey thousands of miles beyond the Moon and back. During the Artemis I mission, participants – ranging from international space agencies, academic institutions, commercial companies, nonprofits, and private citizens – attempted to receive Orion’s signal and use their respective ground antennas to track and measure changes in the radio waves transmitted by Orion. This data will help inform our transition to a commercial-first approach, ultimately strengthening the infrastructure needed to support long-term Moon to Mars objectives. Kevin Coggins Deputy Associate Administrator for SCaN “By offering this opportunity to the broader aerospace community, we can identify available tracking capabilities outside the government,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for SCaN at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This data will help inform our transition to a commercial-first approach, ultimately strengthening the infrastructure needed to support Artemis missions and our long-term Moon to Mars objectives.”  Read the opportunity announcement here: Responses are due by 5 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 27. NASA’s SCaN Program serves as the management office for the agency’s space communications and navigation systems. More than 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on SCaN’s two networks, the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network, to support astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitor Earth’s weather, support lunar exploration, and uncover the solar system and beyond. Artemis II will help confirm the systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration. This mission is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions on the Moon’s surface that will help the agency prepare to send American astronauts to Mars. Learn More about NASA SCaN Share Details Last Updated Aug 27, 2025 EditorGoddard Digital TeamContactJoshua A. Finchjoshua.a.finch@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsCommercial SpaceArtemisArtemis 2Communicating and Navigating with MissionsSpace Communications & Navigation Program Explore More 4 min read Volunteers Worldwide Successfully Tracked NASA’s Artemis I Mission Article 2 years ago 2 min read Working in Tandem: NASA’s Networks Empower Artemis I Article 3 years ago 3 min read NASA Seeks Commercial Near Space Network Services NASA is seeking commercial communication and navigation service providers for the Near Space Network. Article 2 years ago View Source Article

Now that there has been a successful Flight 10 of Starship. There will be the start of using version 3 Starship in flight 12. Fuel transfer capability is critical for the $3.5 billion NASA-SpaceX Lunar Starship program. SpaceX will test as much as they can in the single Starship launches as previously discussed by NASA. ... Read more View Source Article

Plaud, the company behind an AI wearable that actually works, is launching an upgraded version of its credit card-sized note-taking device. Just like its Plaud Note predecessor, the Plaud Note Pro uses AI to record, transcribe, and summarize your conversations, but it now comes with two additional microphones that allow it to pick up audio within a 16.4-foot area, along with a 1-inch display that shows battery level, recording status, and the current recording mode. The Plaud Note Pro automatically switches between recording calls and in-person meetings, eliminating the need for the physical toggle on the original Plaud Note released in 2023. There’s also a new “endurance” battery mode that extends the Plaud Note Pro’s 30 hours of recording to 50 hours, in exchange for a lower 9.8-foot audio pickup range that comes with the base Note. You can view the AI-generated recordings, transcriptions, and summaries in the accompanying Plaud app. The Plaud Note Pro comes with a button that you can use for a “press-to-highlight” feature as well, which lets you flag important information that you’re hearing. The large language models used by Plaud, including OpenAI’s GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini, can then generate more detailed summaries for these key points from the Plaud app. Plaud spokesperson Alice Gordon-Purdy notes that highlighting isn’t exclusive to the Note Pro, as base Note users can still “highlight” details through the Plaud app or iOS widget. Plaud is also updating its app in October, which will soon allow Plaud Note and Note Pro users to input text and upload images from their phones. It also comes with a new “Ask Plaud” feature that lets you ask questions about the information you’ve recorded or uploaded. As is the case with the first-gen Plaud Note, the Note Pro is MagSafe-compatible, letting you stick it to the back of your phone with a magnetic case. The Plaud Note Pro costs $179 and is available for preorder now before it starts shipping in October. It comes with up to 300 transcription minutes per month by default, but you can upgrade to a $99.99 / year subscription for 1,200 minutes and priority access to new features, or a $239.99 / year plan for unlimited transcription minutes. View Source Article

NASA/Josh Valcarcel NASA astronaut Zena Cardman poses for a portrait in a photography studio on March 22, 2024, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Cardman is currently aboard the International Space Station, where she perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities. Recently, she took a robotics test on a computer for the portion of the CIPHER study that measures space-caused changes to her brain structure and function; she also installed high-definition cameras on a spacesuit helmet. Cardman launched to the space station on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission. Members of Crew-11 will contribute to NASA’s Artemis campaign by simulating Moon landing scenarios that future crews may encounter near the lunar South Pole. Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog. Image credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel View Source Article

SpaceX had a very successful Flight 10 of Starship. They will have one more flight of the Version 2 Starship and booster. They had a successful engine relight and soft landing of Starship in flight 10. They wanted to prove engine relights of Starship before going to real orbit. They went sub-orbital so that STasrhip ... Read more View Source Article

We've rounded up the best Nikon lenses from ultra-wide to telephoto, just what you need to take your photography to the next level. View Source Article

Microsoft is expanding its Xbox Cloud Gaming technology to Xbox Game Pass Core or Standard subscribers, dropping the requirement for the highest tier Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for access to cloud games. As part of an Xbox Insider test, Microsoft is also providing access to some PC games for Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers. Microsoft currently restricts access to Xbox Cloud Gaming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to get cloud access, meaning you have to pay $19.99 a month to get access to xCloud. Xbox Insiders can now start testing the ability to stream cloud games included with Game Pass Core and Standard subscriptions. “As part of this Insider experience, Xbox Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers will be able to stream cloud playable games included with their subscription or select cloud playable games they own,” explains the Xbox Insider team. The expansion of Xbox Cloud Gaming to more Game Pass tiers comes just a week after Microsoft hinted at “more affordable” and accessible ways to access Xbox cloud games. Microsoft was also previously working on a separate “dedicated” version of Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft has also hinted in the past that there could even eventually be a free version Xbox Cloud Gaming in exchange for ads. Microsoft is also expanding PC game access to Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers, too. “As part of testing, Xbox Insiders subscribed to Game Pass Core or Standard will for the first time gain access to PC versions of select titles, giving you even more flexibility and the choice to play on a PC or Windows handheld,” says Microsoft. If you want to try out Xbox Cloud Gaming and PC games on Game Pass Core or Standard, you can join Microsoft’s Xbox Insiders program and then visit xbox.com/play to access cloud games or the Xbox app on Windows for the additional PC titles. View Source Article

US gamers are spending more on Sea Ltd.’s Free Fire than Call of Duty Mobile, with anime and Netflix tie-ins helping the title surge in sales this year and rank as the highest-earning smartphone shooting game. View Source Article

Steep population declines in most countries are expected to have negative effects over the next several generations, but adaptation is possible View Source Article

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for electric vehicles. On the first day of his presidency, he signed an executive order to eliminate EV incentives that he has often falsely portrayed as an “electric vehicle mandate.” And last month, Republicans in Congress voted to kill the $7,500 tax credit, among other subsidies designed to make EVs more affordable. You’d think all this negative overhead would depress EV sales, but instead, Americans are rushing to take advantage of those credits before they expire on September 30th (or thereabouts). Automakers are pouring fuel on the fire in the form of their own discounts and incentives. As a result, EV sales are soaring to new heights right now — and it’s all thanks to Trump. Battery-electric vehicles are expected to account for 12.8 percent of car sales in August, up 3.2 percent year over year, according to JD Power. That’s also an increase of 1.6 percent from July’s figures and represents an all-time high for EVs, exceeding the previous peak of 11.2 percent set in December 2024. As a result, EV sales are soaring to new heights right now — and it’s all thanks to Trump. “The coming twilight is causing consumers to speed up their purchases,” says Tyson Jominy, senior VP of data and analytics at JD Power. Automakers eager to get EV-curious shoppers in the dealership are offering their own discounts of $6,700 per unit, an increase of $1,500 from July, the firm says. As a result, average EV transaction prices are down $2,500 to $44,300, which is now below the average of $45,700 for gas-powered vehicles. You heard that right: right now, for what is very likely the first time ever, the average EV is cheaper than the average internal combustion engine vehicle. Jominy says that EV inventory was expected to be a bottleneck but now could be “an albatross” for automakers. JD Power estimates that the total number of used and new EVs at dealerships in August is 197,000, down about 10,000 from July and enough for the next 59 days. “Yet, like Cinderella’s magic, this brilliance faces a deadline — when the clock strikes midnight on Oct. 1, the $7,500 federal support vanishes, threatening to turn this inventory into costly pumpkins for automakers and dealers,” he says. At that point, automakers may need to ramp up the discounts in order to move their suddenly more costly EV inventory. Most experts expect EV sales to fall back down to Earth through the rest of the year. But with more affordable models on the horizon, the loss of federal support could just be a bump in the road. Major players like Ford, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Toyota say they are committed to bringing more affordable EVs to market. Batteries are getting better, range is improving, and charging infrastructure is getting more dependable. Sure, the US is running far behind China — like, really far — but the outlook isn’t so dire. Simply put, electric vehicles are just better than gas cars: they’re fun to drive and cheaper to own over the lifetime of the vehicle. There will be a lot of readjusting after incentives expire, and we’re already starting to see automakers delay or cancel certain models. But EVs are still the future. Trump and the Republican Party may have delayed the inevitable, but they can’t stop what’s coming. View Source Article

Nearly three years on from its original announcement, Return to Silent Hill finally has a proper trailer. It’s only 40 seconds long, but in that time we get a healthy supply of foggy and eerily empty street shots, terrifying monsters and a very brief glimpse of the iconic Pyramid Head. It looks like a Silent Hill movie alright. Return to Silent Hill is based on the 2001 survival horror classic Silent Hill 2, which got the remake treatment last year and remains one of the genre’s most important games. As in the game, the film sees James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine) visit the town of Silent Hill after receiving what appears to be a letter from his supposedly deceased wife, Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson). Waiting for the troubled widower in the eponymous rural town are all manner of horrors, which he has to face head on in order to uncover the truth. Director Christopher Gans is himself returning to Silent Hill, having previously headed up the 2006 adaptation of the same name. Sean Bean was in that one, if you need your memory jogged. In a 2022 interview with IGN, Gans said his upcoming film is totally independent from his previous work and the sequels that followed it. Return to Silent Hill has a release window of January 2026.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-new-return-to-silent-hill-trailer-gives-us-our-first-look-at-pyramid-head-142234505.html?src=rss View Source Article

The National Science Foundation is already implementing some recommendations after a recent survey found issues with sexual assault and harassment on Antarctic missions. View Source Article

Google is rolling out a basic version of Vids to everyone. Until now, the AI-powered video editor has only been available to Google Workspace or AI plan subscribers, but now users can broadly access the app with templates, stock media, and a “subset of AI capabilities,” product director Vishnu Sivaji tells The Verge. Launched last year, Vids is the newest addition to Google’s suite of Workspace tools. It’s geared toward helping you quickly pull together video presentations with a host of AI video editing and creation tools, including a feature to help you create a storyboard with suggested scenes, stock images, and background music. Though Sivaji notes that the pared-down version of Vids will come with “pretty much all of the amazing capabilities” within the app, the free version doesn’t have any of the new AI-powered features rolling out today, including the ability to have an AI-generated avatar to deliver a message on your behalf. With this update, you can select one of 12 pre-made avatars, each of which has a different appearance and voice, and then add your script. For now, you can’t use Vids to create an AI-generated avatar of yourself, which is a feature Zoom currently offers (and is apparently something tech CEOs are super into). When asked about this possibility, Sivaji said Google doesn’t “have any further updates to share” right now. Additionally, Google is building upon Vids’ existing video generation capabilities by letting you create 8-second videos that incorporate a specific image, such as a new product. And, if you choose to include a video of yourself in your presentation, you can now use an AI-powered tool that automatically removes filler words and pauses from your recording. Google is betting that these features can help companies save time and money when it comes to producing product demos, training videos, or support content. “A 10-minute-long clip with real actors can take as long as six months, and it might be tens of thousands of dollars because of the amount of time it goes into writing the script, iterating on it, getting into the studio, actually recording it, and then editing it,” Sivaji said. “What we’re hearing from customers is that it allows them to dramatically scale how many people can make these kinds of videos and how often they can make them.” View Source Article

As we approach the end of August, early Labor Day deals have begun to appear, offering you a chance to save on speakers, noise-canceling headphones, TVs, and outdoor gear. Now we can add Google’s 128GB Pixel Tablet to the list, which is down to $249 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store, matching its best price to date. If you want a bit more storage, the 256GB model is also available from Best Buy and Google for a cool $329 ($170 off). Google Pixel Tablet Where to Buy: $399 $249 at Amazon (128GB, without dock) $399 $249 at Best Buy (128GB, without dock) $499 $309 at Best Buy (256GB, without dock) Google’s latest slate (and, possibly, it’s last for a while) is tailor-made for kicking back with movies, YouTube, or a round of games. Its 11-inch LCD display is crisp and vibrant, while the 16:10 aspect ratio makes it ideal for consuming widescreen content. If your main goal is to relax and enjoy your favorite shows or apps, the screen won’t let you down, even if the battery life is not as impressive as what you might get from an iPad or similarly-sized Android tablets. The built-in speakers just add to the experience, delivering clear audio and noticeable stereo separation. Sadly, the current promo doesn’t include Google’s optional speaker dock, which remains a worthwhile addition that you can still purchase from the Google Store for $129. The price of the dock is still worth it in our opinion, as it essentially transforms the tablet into a Nest Hub-esque device. Once connected to the charging dock via magnets, you can easily control smart home devices and crank up the volume of whatever it is you’re listening to, whether it’s podcasts or music. Google recently introduced its Pixel 10 phone lineup and the new Pixel Watch 4, and notably absent was any sort of Pixel Tablet successor. As stated earlier, Google may be abandoning the category… again. If that’s the case, this might be one of your last opportunities to save on the tablet. Just keep in mind that Google is only promising an additional year or so of software updates, as well as three more years of security updates. Read our Google Pixel Tablet review. More deals to check out Housemarque’s Returnal is on sale at Best Buy for $29.99 ($40 off), its lowest price to date. The atmospheric shooter is a great showcase for the PlayStation 5’s power, and one that makes great use of Sony’s DualSense controller. It combines roguelike mechanics and bullet hell gameplay, trapping players in a time loop as an astronaut exploring a mysterious alien planet. While its difficult, looping structure makes it an acquired taste, it delivers an experience you won’t want to miss — especially at this price. The Twelve South Butterfly SE is currently down to $44.99 ($55 off) in pink at Woot, which is just a few bucks more than its best price to date. The travel-friendly Qi2 charger features a 2-in-1 design with two soft-touch pads connected by a flexible strap; one pad delivers up to 15W for your phone, and the other provides up to 5W for your smartwatch. Since the foldable charger supports Qi2, it should also be compatible with Google’s upcoming Pixel 10 lineup. If you missed out on the discount on the AirPods 4 during Amazon’s July Prime Day event, today is your lucky day, as the deal’s back. Apple’s entry-level wireless earbuds have once again fallen to $89.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, matching their previous all-time low. The base AirPods 4 don’t include ANC and lack features like adaptive audio and conversation awareness; however, they support spatial audio and automatic device switching, which lets you seamlessly switch between an iPhone, iPad, and Mac. View Source Article

After being postponed twice—and after multiple failed attempts—Starship's tenth test flight was a success. View Source Article

Prosecutors have charged three people for allegedly stealing trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., advancing an investigation that’s cast a spotlight on the sensitive nature of chipmaking technology. View Source Article

Chipolo is adding two rechargeable Bluetooth trackers to its lineup. The new Chipolo Loop and Chipolo Card trackers are compatible with both the Apple Find My network and Google’s Find Hub. The new trackers are available for pre-order on the Chipolo website today. The Card tracker is thin enough to fit inside your wallet and has a speaker in the corner capable of reaching 110 dB, to ensure you can hear it easily. It comes in black and will retail for $39. The Loop is a small circular tag reminiscent of an AirTag but with a silicone casing that makes it easy to attach to other objects. It will be offered in six different colors and retails for $39. At 125 dB, the Loop gets even louder than the Card. Loop and Card are capable of making your phone ring even when it’s on silent by pressing the button on the tracker itself. While both new products are rechargeable, the Card is compatible with Qi wireless chargers, which the company says it will automatically align with. Card and Loop boast a 400-foot Bluetooth range, and both carry an IP67 rating, making them waterproof up to a 1-meter depth in fresh water for up to 30 minutes, and dustproof. Chipolo’s Pop Bluetooth tracker currently sits atop our list of the best Bluetooth trackers for its ease of use, features, wide compatibility and the company’s focus on sustainability. Chipolo products are made in Europe from around 50 percent recycled materials. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/chipolo-launches-new-loop-and-card-bluetooth-trackers-130009817.html?src=rss View Source Article

A happy coincidence and a theory first put forward by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago helped scientists detect faint radiation around a distant supermassive black hole. View Source Article

The Chipolo Card (left) and Loop (right) are available to preorder now. Device tracker brand Chipolo announced the Loop and Card, two new Bluetooth-powered item trackers that can be recharged instead of requiring users to replace their batteries. The Loop and Card both support Apple’s Find My and Google’s Find My Device networks, and will sit in Chipolo’s tracker lineup alongside the colorful Pop pucks that the company launched earlier this year. Both gadgets are available to preorder for $39 starting today. The Loop shares a similar AirTag-like design to the Pop, albeit with a chunky color-coordinated silicone ring that’s designed to attach the tracker to your keys, bags, and more. It’s available in white, black, navy, pink, yellow, or mint green. The Card design is self-explanatory, resembling a gray credit card-shaped slab that can slot into wallets and phone-case pockets. Chipolo says the Loop and Card will both last around six months on a single charge, which is longer than the five months of battery life provided by Nomad’s Tracking Card. While the Loop is recharged via USB-C, the Card is compatible with Qi wireless chargers. Users will have to supply their own USB-C cables and Qi charger, however, as they’re not included with the Loop or Card. Other than the obvious shape and charging difference, Chipolo’s new trackers only vary by maximum volume when alerting users to their location: 110 dB for the Card, and up to 125 dB for the Loop. The trackers otherwise share similar capabilities — both feature a Bluetooth range of 400 feet, for example, which is greater than the 200-300 feet range provided by Chipolo’s Pop tracker. They also carry an IP67 rating that makes them resistant to dust and water, and can withstand being submerged in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. View Source Article

It’s been a while since Tim Schafer’s done press briefings, he admits. The head of Double Fine, a studio best known for the Psychonauts series, is trying to explain Keeper, a puzzle adventure game where you are, literally, a sentient, walking lighthouse. Double Fine is now one of several studios bought up by Microsoft and the team apparently took the opportunity to lean into all the resources available and, he said, “make something weird.” It’s definitely that. The colors and atmosphere of Keeper have at least the touch of Psychonauts DNA. Keeper puts players in control of the aforementioned lighthouse, awakened (and joined) by a curious, occasionally aggressive, bird named Twig. Interestingly, the lighthouse currently has no name. Double Fine's art director, Lee Petty came up with the concept for the game, apparently inspired by his time spent hiking during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is reflected in a lot of ways, whether its the rolling hills and landscapes that the anthropomorphised lighthouse roams, or the fact that there’s not a single word of dialogue. The interactions between the bird and building, which seem to pepper both cutscenes and gameplay, are like Pixar shorts. The environments have a drippy surrealist style to them to, and the lack of a map, health bar or any HUD at all means you’re not distracted as you explore and solve puzzles. In some early gameplay footage, I saw how the lighthouse's main form of interaction comes from its light beam. Not only does this help you seek out pathways and objects, but it can also be focused on the countless skittering creatures. Sometimes this causes creatures to flee, while other times they’ll offer up magical orbs willingly and unwillingly, which open up later areas or bring towering creatures (structures?) to life. In Double Fine fashion, things look weird, too, with melted mountain peaks with more than a dost of Dali. You don't have to attack everything, either. During three different gameplay demos, I watched all kinds of creatures hide, run, and just exist in this world where humanity has long since disappeared. Oh there’s briefly a giant flying whale too. Using the lighthouse’s beam on certain things will leave an twinkling spark behind, meaning that Twig the bird can interact with it. During a later segment, the lighthouse can manipulate time, turning its bird companion back into an egg while a building repairs itself — and frees up a pathway. Twig remains an egg for a while until later, when the lighthouse can fast-forward time. Abilities like this seem location-dependent, rather than a Metroidvania collection of skills built up over the game. At another juncture, the lighthouse walks into a cloud of pink fluffy mist, unlocking the ability to jump and float around levels. Double Fine Schafer says the themes of life-changing and metamorphosis will continue to bubble up during Keeper and the lighthouse and bird duo is clearly central to all of it. It reminds me a little of Banjo Kazooie (the latter was a bird) but also Ico; at one point, the seemingly impervious lighthouse loses its footing, but Twig willfully tries to drag their partner to safety. Did Twig even help? Maybe not, but the sentiment was there. Keeper will launch on Xbox Series S|X and PC on October 17th, including Xbox Game Pass.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/doublefine-keeper-gameplay-gamescom2025-123038715.html?src=rss View Source Article

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) saw the moon pass almost directly in front of the sun and captured it on a coronagraph. View Source Article

Microsoft is addressing muffled audio quality on Bluetooth headsets by introducing a new LE Audio feature for Windows 11. Built on top of the Bluetooth Low Energy radio spec, LE Audio uses a new compression algorithm that results in higher quality audio that Microsoft says will “drastically” improve the audio experience in games and calls on Windows 11. “When using an LE Audio device with a Windows 11 PC that supports super wideband stereo, the switch into game chat no longer causes an abrupt drop in audio quality,” explains Mike Ajax, a principal program manager lead at Microsoft. Game audio will remain in stereo and stream at super wideband quality, instead of the limited experience of Bluetooth Classic. LE Audio uses a 32kHz sample rate while using voice apps like Teams or Discord, and replaces the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) and Hands-Free Profile (HFP) of Bluetooth Classic. HFP used a 8kHz sample rate and resulted in muffled audio, but most Bluetooth headsets now support improve audio compression and a better sample rate for “wideband” or “super wideband” voice. The LE Audio support will also improve calls in apps like Microsoft Teams. While Teams uses Spatial Audio for wired headsets, it depends on stereo audio and hasn’t previously been supported on Bluetooth headsets. The super wideband stereo support over Bluetooth LE Audio enables Spatial Audio in Teams, and can be toggled on in the audio settings inside the Teams client on Windows. All you need is a Bluetooth headset that supports Bluetooth LE Audio, as well as a Windows 11 PC that also supports LE Audio and has the latest drivers and Windows 11 24H2 update. Existing PCs should get the necessary driver updates later this year, and Microsoft expects “most new mobile PCs that launch starting in late 2025 will have support from the factory.” View Source Article

Alphabet's Verily was one of the company's star "moonshot" businesses, with its research delving into areas ranging from connected diabetes therapies to robot surgery. Now, Verily has shuttered its medical device division and laid off staff, the company announced in a memo seen by Business Insider. The number of employees who lost their jobs was not revealed. "We have made the difficult decision to discontinue manufacturing medical devices and will no longer be supporting them going forward," a spokesperson told BI. The cuts are a continuation of Alphabet's 2023 strategic shift that saw the company cut 12,000 positions across multiple divisions while putting more resources toward AI and data infrastructure.  CEO Stephen Gillett highlighted some of Verily's achievements, "from the launch of the Dexcom G7 CGM [a diabetes management system], to the Stargazer VNRC launch [a drug targeting system] launch with 7,800 patients screened... and these contributions have advanced patient care and medial research." The medical devices division may not have been a profit maker for Alphabet, but it certainly provided research in a critical area. Verily will now focus on its "core mission," Gillett said, namely "precision health, data and AI." This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/alphabets-verily-closes-its-medical-device-division-and-lays-off-staff-120009404.html?src=rss View Source Article

Scientists studying the famous 'Wow! signal' think they've finally pinpointed a possible origin for the baffling radio transmission detected in 1977. View Source Article

Deep-sea rocks packed with valuable metals may also be making oxygen in the deep, dark ocean—raising new questions about the cost of mining them. View Source Article

The scavengers are tricky, the smells are gross, and your colleagues are corpses. But some people—mostly women!—love this job. View Source Article

Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Austin Carr reports on xAI’s lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI. View Source Article

On the left is a screenshot taken from a Nothing Phone 3 demo unit. On the right, one of the images can be seen on the Stills stock photo marketplace. Tech brand Nothing has been caught passing off stock images from professional photographers as samples taken by the Phone 3. Five sample images that Nothing claimed were captured by the device were actually licensed photos taken with other cameras. The photographer behind one of the images has anonymously confirmed to The Verge that it wasn't taken using the Phone 3, and that Nothing had purchased the image license via the Stills stock photo marketplace. The Verge has seen the EXIF file for the anonymous photographer's image, and can confirm it wasn't captured using the Phone 3. According to the EXIF data, it was taken in 2023, long before … Read the full story at The Verge. View Source Article