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Tech News
A back-to-school roundup recommends various personal transportation devices, including unicycles, bicycles, and other wheeled options, to help students move around campus more efficiently. The guide focuses on practicality and enjoyment for daily commutes between classes.
A New York Times reporter who has tracked tech industry influence in education for over a decade argues in a new book, 'Coding Kids: Big Tech's Battle to Remake Public Schools,' that major technology companies help write learning standards, sit on curriculum committees, and push schools to adopt industry-aligned subjects like coding and AI. The reporter contends these efforts often function as marketing rather than neutral education, giving students and teachers a sanitized view of tech products and their risks.
A roundup covers Meta's reckoning moment alongside separate stories: the real-world impact of school phone bans, the rise and fall of a self-styled 'Nostradamus of AI' figure, and Nvidia's push to power robotics infrastructure globally.
Schools nationwide are increasingly restricting student phone access during the day, often using lockable pouches or storage systems. Early research on these policies shows students report better mood and social interaction, but academic performance and classroom attention have not meaningfully improved.
A Harvard Business School survey found that about half of U.S. workers favor working from home, with 40% willing to accept a pay cut of at least 5% for the option to telecommute. The trend is fueling interest in launching home-based startups, with several viable small-business ideas requiring no traditional office space.
Schools increasingly rely on laptops and tablets for coursework, but these same devices expose students to games, social media, and web browsing that can pull focus from schoolwork. Parents often have limited ability to adjust settings on school-managed devices, making it harder to curb distractions than on family-owned technology.
Kelan and Brittany Kline, a former jail deputy and elementary school teacher, launched the personal finance blog The Savvy Couple in 2016 while paying off roughly $40,000 in student debt. The site grew into a seven-figure online business, and by 2020 the couple's combined net worth, including their business and home, surpassed $1 million.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent Catholic bishops a letter arguing there was no valid religious basis for refusing to grant vaccine exemptions in Catholic schools, and threatened to cut state scholarships and vouchers if they didn't comply. The bishops publicly rejected his theological reasoning and legal claims, stating that Catholic teaching supports vaccination and that they don't need to justify church doctrine to the state.
OpenAI expanded its free ChatGPT for Teachers initiative to 55 more school systems across 20 states, adding over 100,000 educators and staff. The company now partners with more than 100 K-12 organizations in 30 states, offering free access and training to over 300,000 educators through June 2028. OpenAI also introduced a 16-state data privacy agreement giving districts a shared framework to assess the tool against student data protection standards.
A Bloomberg report finds recruiters increasingly relying on networking, referrals and live skills tests to sift through job applicants because AI tools have made resumes and cover letters look uniformly polished. London Business School's Zoe McLoughlin says knowing someone at a company before applying has become essential rather than optional. Meanwhile, nearly 84% of entry-level finance candidates surveyed by AmplifyME admit to using AI to prepare applications or interview answers.
A back-to-school buying guide highlights a selection of portable speakers suited to dorm life, ranking options by priorities like portability, sound quality, multi-functional features, and volume for parties. The recommendations span a range of prices and speaker types to fit different student needs.
Harvard Business School has introduced HBS Foundry, an eight-week online entrepreneurship program priced at $699 that lets participants practice pitches and business conversations with AI video avatars of real faculty, including senior lecturer Jeff Bussgang. The course has already been piloted with more than 100 universities and guides users from refining a business idea through pitching investors and customers, combining course materials, AI tools and a peer community.