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HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery told CNBC that AI is transformational and will boost productivity across the bank, but warned investors to be selective when backing data center infrastructure. He said quality of tenancy agreements and contract pricing vary widely, with some deals far less sound than others.
Anthropic announced it will set aside 5% of its total equity for a new fund dedicated to the 'public good.' The announcement has prompted skeptical reactions from observers questioning the company's motives and intentions.
IEEE has published its 2025 Social Impact Report, detailing volunteer-led programs that apply engineering expertise to public-good initiatives worldwide. The report compiles projects previously covered by The Institute, showing how members work to raise awareness of technology's societal effects.
Creality has introduced the Pika, a compact, battery-powered 3D scanner weighing about 260 grams that connects wirelessly to iPhones running iOS 15 or newer and Android 10+ devices, as well as laptops via cable or wireless link. It ships with rechargeable AA batteries, a tabletop tripod, and a manual turntable, and runs the same Creality Scan software used by the company's pricier Sermoon scanners. It is currently available for pre-order at $699.
AI researcher Nick Cammarata, now at startup Goodfire, released a roughly 26,000-word essay arguing that neural network neurons are not as inscrutable as long assumed, and that the 'superposition' phenomenon causing unrelated concepts to share neurons can be better understood than previously thought. The essay has drawn praise from figures including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and a prominent OpenAI researcher who called it a 'major moment in scientific history.'
Consumer packaged goods companies are increasingly offering mini cans, personal packs and single-serve portions instead of family-size packaging. The shift responds to changing household sizes and shopping habits that no longer match traditional bulk-oriented packaging.
In a Verge interview feature, former Radiolab host Jad Abumrad discusses the everyday and digital tools he relies on, from a flat travel pillow to the calendar app Fantastical, which he says makes scheduling meetings enjoyable. The piece also recaps his career, including his Peabody Award-winning shows Dolly Parton's America and Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, and his 2022 departure from Radiolab, the show he founded that pioneered cinematic sound design in podcasting.
New research indicates that microplastics are not chemically inert as once assumed, but may actively participate in chemical reactions inside the body. The researchers describe this as a 'possibly overlooked mechanism' by which microplastic particles could contribute to health problems.
A commentary piece examines the popular claim—often misattributed to Confucius—that career success requires loving one's work. It argues that the assumption aligning talent with personal interest is a reliable career strategy is more widespread than it is actually supported by evidence.
Companies including Loyal are testing longevity drugs for dogs, with one trial involving roughly 1,300 pet dogs in the US targeting metabolic health, alongside other firms developing treatments for age-related conditions like obesity and osteoarthritis, and even cat longevity medicines. Separately, Viagen Pets offers pet cloning for $50,000, producing a genetic twin rather than an exact replica by implanting a pet's DNA into a donor egg and growing it in a surrogate.
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures voted to abolish the leap second, moving up a previously agreed 2035 deadline to May 20, 2026, timed to World Metrology Day. Instead of periodic one-second adjustments, timekeepers will allow atomic and astronomical time to diverge until a full 'leap hour' is needed, a scenario not expected for roughly 3,000 years.
NVIDIA's RTX Spark platform pairs a Blackwell GPU with large unified RAM, targeting AI developers who want to run large local models like a 125B-parameter Qwen3.8-Flash-Next variant. NVIDIA says the chips deliver RTX 50-series gaming features including DLSS 5, with performance comparable to an RTX 5070 at 1440p, and a new DLSS Frame Generation mode that pushed Cyberpunk 2077 to 280fps. Being Arm-based, RTX Spark relies on Microsoft's Prism emulator for x86 compatibility, with NVIDIA naming supported titles like Gears of War: E-Day, NBA 2K27 and World of Warcraft: Forever, and says it is working with anti-cheat vendors on multiplayer support.