The Xbox Series S is cheaper than the Series X mainly because it lacks a disc drive, offers less storage, and uses significantly weaker hardware. The Series S has 512GB of base storage versus 1TB on the Series X, only 4 teraflops of processing power compared to 12, and caps out at 1440p resolution versus 4K on the Series X. Both consoles share similar CPU and GPU architecture but differ in clock speed, compute units, and RAM bandwidth, with the Series X outperforming across the board.
A trimester workshop at the Institut Henri Poincaré in January brought together mathematicians, historians, artists and educators to explore whether mathematical illustrations can be considered rigorous. The discussions produced an article tied to the Leiden Declaration that has now been accepted by the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, examining how visual and computational media contribute to mathematical understanding beyond formal proof.
A developer has released ClickHouse C, a header-only client library written in C11 that decodes the ClickHouse Native wire format, including both the TCP-based Native Protocol and standalone Native Format blocks. The core header works as a pure block decoder with no TCP or compression dependencies, with optional add-on headers providing TCP, compression, codec, and I/O backend support.
Japan's long-lived 'gara-kei' feature phones, clamshell devices with physical keyboards that persisted even as smartphones dominated elsewhere, are rapidly disappearing. Docomo data shows smartphone ownership rose from 90% in 2021 to 98% in 2025, while MM Research Institute reports feature phone shipments fell over 25% to under 400,000 units in the first half of fiscal 2025. The decline is expected to speed up after NTT Docomo shut down the country's remaining 3G network this past March.
A Northeastern University study tested 21 recent cars and 30 automaker apps between October 2024 and August 2025, finding that seven apps sent identifiers like VINs, email addresses and precise locations to advertising and analytics firms. Four of those apps—myCadillac, myChevrolet, myBuick and myGMC—each sent VINs to 10 companies including Microsoft and Adobe, while HondaLink sent VINs and location to Amplitude, and Lincoln and MyNISSAN apps were also flagged. Consumer Reports found 28 of 30 apps contacted at least one ad or analytics company, with some cars that contacted none directly still exposing owners to over 20 tracking firms once their apps were included.
A demonstration described in the piece shows how websites can assign visitors a persistent 'fingerprint' based on device and browser characteristics, a tracking identifier that remains consistent even after clearing cookies or using a VPN, though it changes across different devices or browsers. The technique relies on JavaScript-based scripts run via ad networks, and the author notes that disabling JavaScript blocks this specific method, though network-level tracking can still occur. The piece frames this as a successor to third-party cookies, which became harder to use after EU-driven consent banner regulations.
xAI's Grok chatbot remains available at no cost through its web and mobile apps, covering basic chat, voice interaction, and limited web and X search. However, usage caps restrict heavy use, and the most advanced models plus image and video generation tools are reserved for paid subscribers.
Sakana AI, working with UC Berkeley researchers, has published a paper introducing MASS, a technique that repeatedly optimizes multi-agent AI workflows and then distills the resulting 'collective intelligence' back into a self-supervision signal for a single base model. The authors report that this approach improves the score-per-output-token performance of the base model on research benchmarks compared to not using the method.
Research cited on 3D printing safety shows filament printers release ultrafine particles and volatile organic compounds, with the EPA noting these can penetrate deep into the lungs. A 2026 test of 17 commercial filaments found ABS generally emitted more particles than PLA, though emissions varied by brand, nozzle temperature and additives. Separate lab tests exposing human airway cells to PLA and ABS printer emissions found signs of inflammation and cellular stress, while NIOSH warns uncured resin used in resin printers can cause skin reactions or asthma.
A commentary argues that passkeys, the passwordless login standard promoted across major websites, give platforms more control over credentials than passwords, authenticator apps or hardware security keys ever did. The piece traces passkeys to the FIDO Alliance, a coalition of tech companies, banks, governments and nonprofits like Mozilla, and claims each member has its own motive for pushing adoption. It contends users should be wary because websites can progressively restrict how passkeys are used or transferred.
A developer has released Spool, a pre-1.0 open-source tool for creating and managing persistent Claude Code sessions, called 'loops', that can schedule wakes, resume sessions, and coordinate with each other. Users can interact with these loops through a web control room, Telegram, or Slack instead of monitoring individual terminal sessions. Spool itself is built by a fleet of Claude Code loops running on the tool, with human review and merging of all changes via pull requests.
Apple is reportedly set to announce a new smart home hub called HomeView on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The device will reportedly feature Siri, a display, and an A18 chip, and come in countertop and wall-mounted versions. Gurman also reports Apple will unveil updated Apple TV and HomePod mini models the same day, alongside a previously reported LG partnership for a smart lock, thermostat, and doorbell.
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