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Lawmakers Panic As They Realize China May Beat the US to the Moon

During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this week, experts warned that the United States is at risk of China beating it to the Moon as NASA's Artemis program continues to lag behind. Earlier this month, China's lunar exploration program tested its "Lanyue" lunar lander at a facility outside of Beijing, declaring that it's hoping to land the first Chinese astronauts on the Moon before the end of the decade. That's well within the margin of error of NASA's first crewed landing attempt, Artemis

Apple’s Wallet app just made it easier to ‘pay later’ for purchases

Ever since Apple Pay Later was abruptly discontinued last year, Apple has been steadily adding third-party ‘pay later’ services as alternatives. And now thanks to an Apple Wallet update, those options are easier to find and use than ever before. Apple Wallet now has a ‘Pay Later Options’ menu with streamlined setup Before today Apple Pay already included support for using third-party ‘pay later’ services such as Klarna and Affirm. But the way that’s historically worked has been pretty hidden a

U.S. Risks Losing the Moon to China if NASA’s Artemis Program Falters, Experts Tell Senate

The U.S. is at risk of ceding its lead in the new space race to China, experts told a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday, September 3, raising serious doubts about NASA’s ability to return American astronauts to the Moon before China. The hearing, titled “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise,” examined legislative priorities for NASA’s upcoming reauthorization to ensure that the U.S. maintains its leadership in space. The nation’s position is increasingly challenged by China, which has ad

DeepSeek Is Working on an AI Agent: Will It Be Better Than ChatGPT?

China-based DeepSeek is working on developing a new agentic generative AI model, Bloomberg reports, citing anonymous sources. Agentic AI is the latest wave of AI technology. AI agents are a kind of digital assistant; they can complete tasks without a lot of human oversight. AI agents can do anything from coding to ordering you a pizza, as my colleague Imad Khan recently tested. Details about the specifics of the DeepSeek agent model are still fuzzy. An August update to DeepSeek's V3 model was

Company Replaces Customer Support With AI, Then Panics and Forces Engineers to Work the Phones as the AI Fails

Of all the startups that have come and gone, the personal finance company Klarna might be one of the best bellwethers for the finance industry overall. Specializing in "buy now pay later" microloans — tiny cash advances for purchases that don't need to go through a bank — Klarna hit app stores at a time when US consumer debt was climbing toward a record high. Now a giant of the personal finance landscape, the billion-dollar company recently reported a jaw dropping 17 percent default rate on its

LinkedIn is cracking down on fake recruiters and executive impersonators - here's how

LinkedIn / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways LinkedIn might verify your next job update to the site. LinkedIn will verify companies, recruiters, and executives. The news comes amid rampant job and recruitment scams. The job market is tough enough already -- but recruitment-related scams make it tougher. On Thursday, LinkedIn outlined several ways it's making its platform more trustworthy to mitigate scams and executive

Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

Tempo was started by Stripe and Paradigm, with design input from Anthropic, Coupang, Deutsche Bank, DoorDash, Lead Bank, Mercury, Nubank, OpenAI, Revolut, Shopify, Standard Chartered, Visa, and more. If you’re a company with large, real-world economic flows and would like to help shape the future of Tempo, get in touch.

The Download: unnerving AI avatars, and Trump’s climate gift to China

—Rhiannon Williams Earlier this summer, I visited the AI company Synthesia to give it what it needed to create a hyperrealistic AI-generated avatar of me. The company’s avatars are a decent barometer of just how dizzying progress has been in AI over the past few years, so I was curious just how accurately its latest AI model, introduced last month, could replicate me. I found my avatar as unnerving as it is technically impressive. It’s slick enough to pass as a high-definition recording of a

How Anthropic's enterprise dominance fueled its monster $183B valuation

PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Anthropic is valued at $183 billion after a new funding round. The company currently serves over 300,000 enterprise customers. A marketing emphasis on safety could be a major driving factor. Anthropic is soaring, and the popularity of its tools among enterprise clients is providing much of the lift. The AI start-up announced on Tuesday that its latest funding round raised $13 bill

5 Things to Know About Why Salesforce Stock is Cratering

Salesforce stock was down almost 8% this morning after a disappointing earnings report last night. The company shared third quarter revenue forecast that came in below expectations and investors worry that has to do with AI monetization problems. The company is all-in on AI, but Wall Street’s patience for the ROI countdown is running thin it seems. At least it’s running thin enough that even though second-quarter revenue came in pretty good and the company shared a $20 billion increase to its

Lull in Falcon Heavy missions opens window for SpaceX to build new landing pads

Remember the first time you saw a SpaceX rocket nail a bullseye landing after hurtling back from space? How about the first time two boosters landed side-by-side, punctuating the inaugural launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket with thrilling synchrony? Some of SpaceX's most defining moments happened on a piece of beachfront property at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This is where SpaceX first landed a reusable Falcon 9 booster coming back from space and, a few years later, land

Should the Company Trucks Go Electric? Depends on When You Charge

Should the company switch its trucks, cars, and vans to electric? It’s a question that plenty of businesses operating fleets of vehicles—in industries like delivery, health care, cable companies, and utilities—are thinking through. Eighty-seven percent of fleet operators polled by Cox Automotive last year said they were expecting to bring aboard some battery-powered vehicles in the next five years. Their top concerns weren’t that different from everyday drivers’: Businesses aren’t sure how to k

Captions rebrands as Mirage, expands beyond creator tools to AI video research

Captions, an AI-powered video creation and editing app for content creators that has secured over $100 million in venture capital to date at a valuation of $500 million, is rebranding to Mirage, the company announced on Thursday. The new name reflects the company’s broader ambitions to become an AI research lab focused on multimodal foundational models specifically designed for short-form video content for platforms like TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. The company believes this approach will disting

Cloud provider Lambda may be gearing up for an IPO

In Brief Cloud provider Lambda might be following rival CoreWeave to the public markets. Lambda, an AI infrastructure company offering on-demand GPUs, has hired bankers for an upcoming IPO, according to reporting from The Information. Lambda has reportedly hired Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, and Citi for a public listing that could happen as early as the first half of 2026. Lambda did not respond to a request for comment. The company has raised more than $1.7 billion in funding, according to

AUKEY’s new modular wireless charger is an absolute game changer

The world's first modular true wireless charger, AUKEY MagFusion Ark TL;DR The AUKEY MagFusion Ark is a modular wireless charging system with a Qi2.2 multi-pad base and detachable spheres. Each sphere has a 6,700mAh battery, a Qi2.2 charging pad, and a bi-directional 30W USB-C port, making it a portable power bank. The official launch and pricing are expected in Q1 2026. Multiple base plate and sphere configurations are planned. If you thought wireless chargers were boring, here’s a new one

Atlassian is buying Arc maker The Browser Company for $610 million

The Browser Company — the maker of the Arc and AI-centric Dia browsers — is set to have a new owner. Atlassian is buying it for around $610 million in an all-cash deal , which it expects to close in the second quarter of its fiscal year 2026 (i.e. by the end of the 2025 calendar year). According to The Browser Company, it will continue to operate independently as it builds Dia. A private beta for the browser started in June . Arc (a well-regarded browser on which the company has ended active de

Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Now on Xbox Game Pass (You're Not Dreaming)

The wait is over. After years of rumors and speculation, Hollow Knight: Silksong, the sequel to the award-winning indie darling Hollow Knight, is here. And Xbox Game Pass subscribers can play the highly anticipated sequel right now at no additional cost. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a CNET Editors' Choice award pick, offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, smart TV and PC or mobile device for $20 a month. A subscription gives you access

Annual Paramount Plus subscriptions are half off until September 18th

Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. If your plan to combat the post-summer blues is binge-watching TV shows, movies, and sports, Paramount Plus is offering a great deal. New and returning subscribers can save 50 percent on an annual subscription to its Paramount Plus Essential and Paramount Plus Premium plans until September 18th. The deal knocks the annual price of an Essential plan to $29.99 (from $59.99) and the cost of a Premium plan to $5

Figma's stock slumps 18% after first earnings report to lowest since IPO

Figma shares plummeted nearly 20% on Thursday, falling to the lowest price since the design software vendor's IPO in July after the company reported earnings for the first time as a public company. Results for the second quarter were largely inline with expectations, as Figma had issued preliminary results a little over a month ago. Revenue increased 41% from a year earlier to $249.6 million, slightly topping analyst estimates of $248.8 million, according to LSEG. Analysts at Piper Sandler des

LinkedIn will require recruiters and executives to verify their identity to cut down on scams

LinkedIn will now require some users to verify their identity before they change job titles in an attempt to cut down on scams on the platform. The new identity verification rules will specifically apply to executives and recruiters who interact with job seekers or represent a company in one form or another. As part of these changes, LinkedIn says users who add or update their title to anything recruiter-related (recruiter, talent acquisition, etc.) will have to verify their workplace on their

TCL's new smartphone uses the latest version of its eye-comfort screen tech

TCL is showcasing a new phone at IFA 2025. A late entrant to the modern mobile market, the company tries to differentiate its devices with NXTPAPER eye-comfort screen tech. The new NXTPAPER 60 Ultra is TCL's first phone to feature the latest version of that technology, which it first introduced in a tablet at CES 2025. The idea behind NXTPAPER is to strike a balance between e-paper and OLED screens, alleviating eye strain without sacrificing color range or refresh rates. Its hardware-level feat

LinkedIn's new tools just made it tougher to pad your resume

picture alliance / picture alliance via Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways LinkedIn might verify your next job update to the site. LinkedIn will verify companies, recruiters, and executives. The news comes amid rampant job and recruitment scams. The job market is tough enough already -- but recruitment-related scams make it tougher. On Thursday, LinkedIn outlined several ways it's making its platform more trustworthy to mitigate scams a

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

In 2004, a team of scientists discovered hydrocarbons called anthracene and pyrene in an amazing structure called the Red Rectangle! Here two stars 2300 light years from us are spinning around each other while pumping out a huge torus of icy dust grains and hydrocarbon molecules. It’s not really shaped like a rectangle or X—it just looks that way from here. The whole scene is about one third of a light year across. This was first time such complex molecules had been found in space: • Uma P. V

TCL’s New Phone Is What You Want if You Stare Too Long at Screens

TCL, the company whose bread and butter is putting giant TVs in living rooms for relatively cheap, seems to understand many of us are tired of looking at screens. The company’s new phone promises to offer all the peak features mobile buyers expect with a display that can become an e-reader with the flip of a switch. And before you ask—no, sorry—you can’t buy it in the U.S. Announced at IFA 2025, the NXTPaper 60 Ultra is the sequel to last year’s budget 50 NXTPaper phone. The phone’s main raison

The TCL NxtPaper 60 Ultra Could Be the Affordable Galaxy Note We've Been Missing

TCL has been releasing phones with its e-reader-style NxtPaper displays for a few years now, most recently with the TCL 60 XE NxtPaper. But the upcoming premium version of that handset, the TCL NxtPaper 60 Ultra, adds two new features only found in high-end phones -- a telephoto camera and a stylus -- for the price of a midrange device. The best phones under $500 category has always been competitive, with high-value handsets like the Samsung Galaxy A55, iPhone SE 2022 and Google Pixel 9A packin

Best Stand-Up Paddleboards for 2025

A great paddleboard should have these three qualities: stability, maneuverability and durability. On top of that, most people also look for a good return on their investment. The Breeze Aero from Bote checks a ton of boxes for what your average paddler wants in a new, quality SUP. Not to mention, it's one good-looking board. The Bote Breeze Aero provides balance, speed, durability and maneuverability all in one SUP package. Speaking of packages, you also get additional gear with the board, like

How to Prevent Tech Neck and Sit Properly With Your Laptop (2025)

I’m a laptop reviewer, meaning I spend most of my time hunched over a new laptop, obsessively testing the display, keyboard, and performance. I’m also 6'2" and often find myself at tables designed for eating, not working. I don’t always have daily access to the laptop stands and ergonomic accessories that fill my home office. Throw in my young kids that I’m always chasing around our house, and surprise, surprise: I’ve got some lower back pain. Turns out, laptops were never designed to be our go

LinkedIn takes on hiring scams with recruiter verification

is a news editor with over a decade’s experience in journalism. He previously worked at Android Police and Tech Advisor. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. LinkedIn is trying to help put a stop to recruitment scams by requiring anyone with a recruitment-related job title to verify their place of employment. Executives will have to go through the same process, while company page verification is now rolling out more widely too. Existing recru

TCL gives parents a monochrome mode to combat kids’ phone addiction

is a news editor with over a decade’s experience in journalism. He previously worked at Android Police and Tech Advisor. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. TCL has been making its E Ink-inspired Nxtpaper phones for years, but it’s taken the company until now to realize that parents are a likely demographic for it. That’s finally been remedied with the Nxtpaper 5G Junior, a kids phone launching in Europe with a focus on eye health and screent

Adobe to bring its video editing app Premiere to iPhones

Adobe is planning to bring its video editing software, Premiere, to the iPhone. The company has listed the app on the App Store with a pre-order link and an expected release date of September 30. The company said that Premier on iPhone will let users edit videos and export them without any watermarks. The app will have some of the same features as its desktop version, including the ability to trim, layer and fine-tune frames. It will also have automatic captions with stylized subtitles, support