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Ice discs slingshot across a metal surface all on their own

Scientists have figured out how to make frozen discs of ice self-propel across a patterned metal surface, according to a new paper published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. It's the latest breakthrough to come out of the Virginia Tech lab of mechanical engineer Jonathan Boreyko. A few years ago, Boreyko's lab experimentally demonstrated a three-phase Leidenfrost effect in water vapor, liquid water, and ice. The Leidenfrost effect is what happens when you dash a few drops of

The Apple Watch Is Finally Getting Blood Oxygen Sensing Back

If you have an Apple Watch Series 9, 10, or Ultra Watch 2 that you bought in the US in the past year, you'll finally get the blood oxygen sensing feature back via a software update later today, according to Apple. To make sure you get the feature, update your paired iPhone to iOS 18.6.1 and the Apple Watch to watchOS 11.6.1. Sensor data will be calculated in the app, and you will be able to see your blood oxygen in the Respiratory section of the Health app. If you bought your watch before 2024

Elon Musk’s gangster tech regulation comes for Apple

is a reporter who writes about tech, money, and human behavior. She joined The Verge in 2014 as science editor. Previously, she was a reporter at Bloomberg. Elon Musk is calling in another return on his investment in American politics: he’s threatening Apple with a lawsuit because neither X nor xAI’s Grok have been recommended on the iOS App Store. How serious this threat is — well, that’s hard to say, as it was posted between Grok-generated waifus. “Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to

Topics: app apple apps musk store

Is streaming about to have a Wordle moment?

Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. It’s game time for streaming services: a growing number of streamers are betting on casual games as a way to keep viewers hooked when they’ve run out of things to watch. Toronto-based Zone-ify added free casual games to its ad-supported streaming service in June. Last month, close to 70 casual games arrived on Happykids and Fawesome, two ad-supported streaming services run by streaming startup Future Today.

Airbnb will allow US users book stays without paying up front

Airbnb has launched a new feature called “Reserve Now, Pay Later” that lets users in the U.S. reserve a property without paying upfront, potentially allowing people to cancel their bookings with less hassle if their plans change. The feature is applicable to properties that have a “flexible” or “moderate” cancellation policy. Flexible policies let users cancel their reservation up to 24 hours before they check-in, while moderate policies allow for no-fee cancellations until five days before che

Buzzy AI startup Multiverse creates two of the smallest high-performing models ever

One of Europe’s most prominent AI startups has released two AI models that are so tiny, they have named them after a chicken’s brain and a fly’s brain. Multiverse Computing claims these are the world’s smallest models that are still high-performing and can handle chat, speech, and even reasoning in one case. These new tiny models are intended to be embedded into Internet of Things devices, as well as run locally on smartphones, tablets, and PCs. “We can compress the model so much that they ca

Loveable projects $1B in ARR within next 12 months

In Brief Vibe coding startup Loveable aims to hit $1 billion in annual recurring revenue within the next 12 months, according to its CEO, Anton Osika. Speaking on Bloomberg TV on Thursday, Osika said the company grows by at least $8 million in ARR each month. In a blog post written this summer, the company said it passed $100 million in ARR just eight months after making its first $1 million. Osika told Bloomberg Thursday the company is projecting to reach $250 million in ARR by the end of thi

Computing’s Top 30: Zhihao “Zephyr” Yao

On a typical mobile device today, financial and medical apps nestled up next to everything from karaoke playlists to time-killing games like Fruit Ninja. How to secure data that matters in this diverse digital buffet is a challenge for many researchers. For Zhihao “Zephyr” Yao, it’s a challenge that fuels his life’s work and also led to an award-winning project. That project—which earned ACM MobiSys 2023’s Best Artifact Award—demonstrated that making systems less complex can actually enhance m

Cisco reports narrow earnings beat, issues inline forecast for the year

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins speaks at the Business Roundtable CEO Workforce Forum in Washington on June 17, 2025. Cisco reported results on Wednesday that narrowly exceeded analysts' expectations and issued quarterly guidance that was also better than expected. Here's how the company did in its fiscal fourth quarter comparison with LSEG consensus: Earnings per share: 99 cents adjusted vs. 98 cents expected 99 cents adjusted vs. 98 cents expected Revenue: $14.67 billion vs. $14.62 billion expecte

The AI Industry Just Got Some Horrible News

For years now, big tech and its financial backers have been blowing past the warning signs that human-level AI — the theoretical technology with hundreds of billions of dollars riding on it — could turn out to be a pipe-dream, at best. Now, however, Wall Street appears to be yanking its money out of one of the largest datacenter providers in the game, possibly an early indicator that reality could be finally catching up to the massively hype-dependent AI industry. On Tuesday, datacenter and te

Gemini’s getting a nice usability upgrade for its text responses (Updated)

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority TL;DR Google is working on an easier process for sharing text responses from Gemini. The new workflow can be initiated by double tapping or dragging to select specific text, and users can bypass the “Select text” option. However, this new method won’t work on text in a list, only the text before or after it. Update, August 14, 2025 (10:42 AM ET): After first identifying Google’s work towards bringing Gemini a greatly improved interface for text sharing a fe

Google Home finally adds full temperature scheduling for older Nest thermostats

Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority TL;DR Google is finally starting to roll out the long-awaited temperature scheduling features for the 3rd Gen and E Nest thermostats in the Google Home app. This addresses the last major reason many users were forced to keep using the old Nest app, which was previously required for this function. While the new feature is now live for some, users should note that their old schedules from the Nest app will not automatically carry over. Back in April, Google

Apple shares video of epic Severance mural in LA

LA is populated with marketing materials for all sorts of entertainment, but this giant painted Severance mural is one-of-a-kind. Apple shared photos of “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor” mural on display near an Apple TV+ billboard on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles this week. The finishing touches were put on the mural at the end of July, according to passersby on social media. These are the shots shared by Apple, including a selfie by Severance lead actor Adam Scott: Meanwhile, a Facebook

iPhone 17 Pro could redefine Apple’s Pro color strategy

After two years of titanium iPhone Pro models and many more years of stainless steel, Apple is rumored to be switching to aluminum for the iPhone 17 Pro. Titanium, instead, will be used on the ultra thin iPhone 17 Air. That may seem like a step away from premium materials for the Pro model. For anyone bored by variations of gray for Apple’s best iPhones, however, it appears to be good news. The reason comes down to color. Apple has done a decent job making a range of colors out of stainless s

New Mac Pro could boast M4 Ultra chip, per report

Apple has long been rumored to have a new Mac Pro in development, and a new report suggests it will come with a more powerful chip than we’ve yet seen: the M4 Ultra. Earlier this year, Apple was expected to have two pro-focused hardware updates coming: a new Mac Studio and also the next-gen Mac Pro. The Mac Studio launched in March, but there’s been no update on a new Mac Pro since then. Now, a Macworld report indicates that’s because it will come with a brand new chip that’s still in develop

Topics: m4 mac new pro ultra

Teenage Engineering is giving away a free computer chassis, but it's already 'sold out'

Teenage Engineering, the hip Swedish tech/design brand that makes synths of all kinds (and a portable game machine with a crank ) has built another computer chassis. And it’s free! But you also can’t get one, right now at least. (Sorry about that.) Described by its maker as a "small form factor, mini-ITX computer case," the Computer-2 is made of a single sheet of semi-transparent plastic with snap hooks and living hinges for screw-free assembly. The engineering wizards at Teenage Engineering se

This Anker 3-in-1 wireless charging station is cheaper than ever

Anker's 3-in-1 MagSafe charging station is on sale for a record low price of $63 — that works out to savings of 30 percent.The Qi2-certified charger wirelessly charges your compatible iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods on one compact and convenient dock. Qi2 boasts 15W of power, so you can take advantage of fast charging on compatible devices. This means the station can charge an iPhone 16 Pro Max to 20 percent in just 20 minutes and an Apple Watch Series 10 from zero to 100 percent in just over

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: We tested both, and here's the winner

Kerry Wan/ZDNET A quick scan through ZDNET's list of the best phones, and two names usually top the list -- Samsung and Apple. That's no exception with our most recent picks, as the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max take the top two spots. That list will likely be changing soon, though, as Apple is expected to unveil a successor that is the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Also: Should you buy the iPhone 16 or iPhone 17? How to decide which model to buy Both the 16 Pro Max and the S25 Ultra are th

Topics: 16 iphone pro s25 ultra

I'm an avid AirPods user, but these Google earbuds can sway me any day - especially at this price

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

AWS launches AI agent marketplace with a hackathon and $100k in prizes for developers

Kmatta ZDNET's key takeaways The new agents marketplace will launch in beta next month. The companies will also launch an educational hub for IT clients. Developers could win a chunk of $100,000 for building agents. As is often the case with hyped-up new technologies, interest in AI agents among business leaders is soaring -- some CFOs report committing 25% of their AI budgets to them. However, practical understanding of how to implement and use them effectively remains somewhat fuzzy. A ne

The HP OmniBook 5 laptop is my top pick for students and hybrid workers - and it's $580 off now

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Finally, an ultraportable Windows laptop I'd confidently use at work (even though it's for gamers)

Razer Blade 14 ZDNET's key takeaways The Razer Blade 14 (2025) is on sale now starting at $2,000. It's a gorgeous laptop that redefines portability for gaming machines. However, the ultraportable form factor results in trade-offs when it comes to performance and upgradability. View now at Razer Get more in-depth ZDNET tech coverage: Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome and Chromium browsers. The Blade 16 has been Razer's flagship gaming laptop for years, but the thinner, sleeker des

This SSD gadget locks prying eyes out and makes me feel like James Bond

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET Most of us already know that carrying unencrypted data on portable drives is a bad idea. The consequences of that data falling into the wrong hands can range from embarrassing to damaging to potentially opening up you or your company to legal headaches. But encrypting data on external drives can also be a pain. If you have to run separate applications, things quickly become a big hassle, and that's how data gets left unencrypted. Also: 10 tiny tools I carry with m

Topics: data drive like ssd use

Why LLMs Can't Build Software

One of the things I have spent a lot of time doing is interviewing software engineers. This is obviously a hard task, and I don’t claim to have a magic solution; but it’s given me some time to reflect on what effective software engineers actually do. When you watch someone who knows what they are doing, you'll see them looping over the following steps: Build a mental model of the requirements Write code that (hopefully?!) does that Build a mental model of what the code actually does Identify t

Great Myths #16: The Conflict Thesis

The “Conflict Thesis” forms a kind of underlying historial metamyth that informs and undergirds a substantial amount of historical assumptions by anti-theist polemicists. This is the assumed and unquestioned idea that Science and Religion have been perpetually at war down the ages. Also known as the Draper-White Thesis or Warfare Model, it is a conception of the history of science that presents religion as the perpetual and consistent enemy of science, technology and progress. It is a pervasive

"None of These Books Are Obscene": Judge Strikes Down Much of FL's Book Ban Bill

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She's the editor/author of (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View All posts by Kelly Jensen Judge Carlos Mendoza of the U.S. Middle District Court of Florida has ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a major case related to book banni

Jujutsu and Radicle

Jujutsu + Radicle = ❤️ How I use Jujutsu in tandem with Radicle Published by fintohaps on 14.08.2025 Roughly a year ago at the first ever Local First Conference, a friend and previous colleague – Alex Good – told me about this tool called jj (Jujutsu). We did the usual thing and I sat down beside him as he explained it to me. My brain did the usual thing and took in some of the information but not enough of it, and so I didn’t touch jj for quite some time after that – but what’s good enough f

Topics: git jj patch rad radicle

Brilliant illustrations bring this 1976 Soviet edition of 'The Hobbit' to life (2015)

The Soviet Hobbit Bilbo and Gollum behind the Iron Curtain Alex Q. Arbuckle 1976 Credit: Via English Russia First published in 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, has been translated into more than 40 languages. In addition to different translations, dozens of uniquely illustrated versions of the children’s story have been released over the years. This 1976 Soviet edition features illustrations by M. Belomlinskij, depicting Bilbo, Ga

The ‘Wednesday Season 2 Part 2’ Trailer Welcomes Back a Familiar Face

Now that we’re just over a week out from the first half of the season 2 release of Netflix’s The Addams Family remake, Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega, the streamer has finally released a new trailer for its second half. The trailer starts nightmarishly, at least for Wednesday, with her waking up in a hospital bed. Although she’s not greeted by Momma Monster herself, Lady Gaga, who has yet to make an appearance on the show despite all the hype surrounding her mysterious involvement, Wednesday

Blood Oxygen Tracking Returns to U.S. Apple Watches Today After 5-Year Patent Dispute

Good news: Apple Watches sold in the U.S. after January 2024 lost their built-in blood oxygen tracking because of a patent dispute with medical company Masimo, but the feature will return via a software update coming out today. In a Newsroom post, Apple says it’s introducing a “redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.” The reworked blood oxygen feature will be pushed out on iPhone and Apple Watch via an iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1 soft