GoKawiil
Tech News
A growing number of American universities are rolling out three-year bachelor's degree options aimed at reducing tuition costs and time to graduation. The push targets nontraditional and older students, such as 34-year-old Giles Sims, who have been held back in the job market by not holding a degree. Advocates say the accelerated model addresses rising concerns over college affordability.
Retailers are discounting several Garmin smartwatch models early as part of pre-Labor Day promotions, according to a roundup from ZDNET. The deals target fitness-focused buyers, including those training for marathons, looking to save on GPS running watches before the official holiday sales period begins.
Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson says he's built a tool called 'Hochulization' that automatically alters the digital hash of gun-design files without changing how the printed object functions, defeating detection software that scans for known gun-file hashes. The tool targets New York's new law requiring 3D printers to include software that blocks firearm files, and Wilson plans to apply it by default to the 200,000-plus files hosted on his DEFCAD repository.
A Deltapoll survey commissioned by Liberty found that 51% of over 2,000 British adults believe the government's ability to protect free expression has worsened since Labour took office, while only 10% saw improvement. Liberty pointed to Home Office actions including travel bans on activists, mass arrests of Palestine Action protesters, and stricter protest law enforcement as contributing factors.
Walmart has launched early Labor Day sale pricing across tech categories, including discounts on Apple and Samsung products. ZDNET compiled a list of standout deals after comparing retailer listings and pricing data ahead of the holiday shopping period.
Amazon has lowered the price of Apple's 4-pack AirTag 2 bundle to $79.99, down from $99, marking the lowest per-unit price of $20 tracked since its 2026 release. The retailer had already discounted the bundle to $89.99 and then $85 in recent days before this latest cut. Other deals include Apple's M5 MacBook Pro configurations discounted by $320 and $500, plus a $25 Anker Find My wallet card and a heavily discounted LG 6K Thunderbolt 5 monitor.
Taiwan's Keelung District Prosecutors' Office has indicted nine individuals for orchestrating a five-step scheme to divert Nvidia B300 GPU servers meant for Taiwan into China, bypassing Supermicro's export compliance checks. Prosecutors say trading firm Flying Tiger Tech used whitelist status, a distributor intermediary, and a fake colocation lease to pass an on-site inspection despite lacking the infrastructure to actually run the 130 servers it ordered.
An Entrepreneur contributor argues that small business owners often wait until filing season to think about taxes, when the real savings opportunities have already passed. The piece recommends forming an LLC early so owners can later elect S-Corp or other tax treatments, since such elections only apply to an entity that already exists.
A developer explored the world of stylized QR codes, noting how logos and photos are often crammed into codes at the cost of scannability due to Reed-Solomon error correction limits. Inspired by AI-generated and hand-crafted QR art examples, they built their own design tool called QRFrame, which changes how the black-and-white modules are rendered while keeping codes functional.
After AMD held all ten spots on Amazon's best-selling CPU list, two Intel chips have broken through: the newly released Core Ultra 7 270K Plus at #6 ($290) and the older Core i7-14700K at #9 ($312). The 270K Plus offers strong multi-core and single-core performance, trailing only AMD's $569 Ryzen 9 9950X3D among the top 10, while the 14700K remains popular for its compatibility with both older LGA 1700 boards and DDR4 memory.
A Weibo leaker known as Fixed Focus Digital claims Apple is adapting the glass-assembly process used for the iPhone Air to build next year's iPhone Pro models, which are expected to feature an all-glass, quad-curved bezel-free design for the device's 20th anniversary. The leaker says Apple has made progress improving heat dissipation while trying to keep the device slim, though it's unclear how thin the final design will be.
Scientists at Southern Illinois University Carbondale used CRISPR-modified yeast to convert PET plastic and agricultural waste into proteins, fats, and flavor compounds, which were then 3D-printed into cookie shapes called 'µBites.' The team presented the work at the American Chemical Society meeting in Chicago, though the cookies haven't been tasted yet pending university approval.