An AI researcher briefed members of Congress and staff on the current state of open-weight versus open-source language models, framed within U.S.-China competition. The briefing distinguished closed API-only models like GPT-4 and Claude from open-weight models such as Meta's Llama, Alibaba's Qwen and DeepSeek, and from fully open-source models like the Allen Institute's Olmo, noting Chinese firms have led in open-weight releases since around April 2025.
Best Buy is offering a limited-time deal on Lenovo's Yoga Slim 7X, a 14-inch laptop with a 2K OLED touchscreen, Snapdragon X2 Elite 12-core processor, 16GB RAM, and 1TB storage, for $1,000. The deal undercuts comparable Windows machines like Microsoft's Surface Laptop, which costs significantly more for less storage.
Researchers led by Jonas Lescroart and Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz of the Programa de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia identified a new small feline species, Leopardus tilcayo, in the Bolivian Yungas, marking the first new cat species found in over a century. Nogales-Ascarrunz first noticed the animal at a wildlife rehabilitation center, mistaking it for a kitten before genetic testing revealed it didn't match any known species. The team also made new findings about tiger cat subspecies during the same research, published in Current Biology.
At a Fast Company-moderated discussion, executives from cannabis brand Cann, telehealth provider Folx Health, and biotech firm Daré Bioscience described how they built profitable companies in sectors long considered taboo—cannabis, gender-affirming care, and sexual wellness. The panelists, including Cann cofounder Jake Bullock, Folx CEO Liana Guzmán, and Daré CEO Sabrina Martucci Johnson, discussed operating amid funding gaps, regulatory hurdles, and public backlash.
Scientists studying a small spotted cat first photographed in Bolivia nearly a decade ago by National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz have confirmed it as a genetically distinct species, not a variant of the previously known tigrina. The findings, published in Current Biology, name the animal Leopardus tilcayo, marking the first entirely new felid species identified in over a century.
A Reddit user known as ActualAerie1011 says they used a custom trainer algorithm alongside Google's recently released fruit fly connectome to play the card game Balatro on its easiest settings. The setup pits the simulated brain against an algorithm that hunts for favorable game seeds, comparing outcomes and reinforcing the brain's decisions through repeated trials. The creator reports a current 20% success rate and says training is ongoing, though no code or detailed methodology has been shared publicly.
AMD's Gigabyte Gaming Radeon RX 9070 GRE, a 12GB RDNA 4 graphics card, has dropped to $499 at Newegg through a promotional email code, matching its lowest price ever recorded and undercutting its $569.99 list price by $70. The card uses a cut-down Navi 48 chip with 48 compute units and 220W power draw, delivering strong 1080p and solid 1440p gaming performance in prior benchmarks.
XChat, the standalone messaging app X launched earlier this year for direct messaging between users, has disappeared from the iOS App Store. The Android version remains available on Google Play, and no reason has been given for the iOS removal.
The Verge's Decoder podcast, hosted by Nilay Patel with producers Nick Statt and Greg Ott, released a mailbag episode responding to audience feedback gathered since April across email, YouTube, Spotify, Bluesky and Threads. The hosts singled out a prior video described as the 'software brain' segment as the most discussed piece of content on the show in the past six months.
Nolan Lawson notes that several prominent frontend web development educators—including Axel Rauschmayer, Salma Alam-Naylor, Josh W. Comeau, Kent C. Dodds, Addy Osmani, Rachel Nabors, and Lydia Hallie—have either scaled back their work or pivoted toward AI-related topics. To illustrate the shift, Lawson tested Claude Sonnet on a nuanced Chrome performance debugging scenario involving high 'Style Calculation' costs, a problem that has historically tripped up even experienced developers, and found the AI's answer impressively accurate.
A new review synthesizes the evolving treatment landscape for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), the liver disease formerly called NASH, drawing on updated epidemiological data, revised diagnostic terminology, and studies on liver fibrosis assessment. It outlines existing approaches alongside emerging therapies aimed at addressing the disease's metabolic, cardiovascular and cancer-related complications.
Anthropic announced it will permanently raise Claude Code's standard weekly usage limits by 25% for Pro, Max, Team, and seat-based Enterprise plans starting September 14. However, this replaces a temporary 50% boost currently in effect, meaning users will actually see a 17% reduction in usage compared to what they have today. Anthropic initially framed the change as an increase before deleting the post and issuing a clarification acknowledging the cut.
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