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Motorola is giving the Razr a crystal-studded special edition and here’s your first look

TL;DR Motorola is preparing to launch a special edition Razr 2025 in collaboration with Swarovski. Images of this special edition foldable have now leaked. It appears this collaboration is limited to just the base model It’s not uncommon for Motorola to loop in collaborators to create special editions of its products. For example, the company recently teamed up with jewelry maker Swarovski to launch a special edition of its new Moto buds loop. That partnership isn’t ending with earbuds, howev

The FBI Is Using Polygraphs to Test Officials' Loyalty

Typically, the F.B.I. has turned to polygraph tests to sniff out employees who might have betrayed their country or shown they cannot be trusted with secrets. Since Kash Patel took office as the director of the F.B.I., the bureau has significantly stepped up the use of the lie-detector test, at times subjecting personnel to a question as specific as whether they have cast aspersions on Mr. Patel himself. In interviews and polygraph tests, the F.B.I. has asked senior employees whether they have

U.S. will review social media for foreign student visa applications

U.S. will review social media for foreign student visa applications toggle caption Alexander F. Yuan/AP WASHINGTON — In yet another twist for foreign students hoping to study in the U.S., the State Department says it will resume processing student and visiting scholar visa applications for foreign citizens but plans to review their social media accounts as part of the process. All students applying for a visa will need to set their social media profiles to "public," according to a post Wednes

The death of partying in the USA

In January, The Atlantic's Ellen Cushing published an essay with an admirably blunt title: “Americans Need to Party More.” Burrowing into the appendix tables of the American Time Use Survey, she unearthed the fact that just 4.1 percent of Americans said they “attended or hosted” a party or ceremony on a typical weekend or holiday in 2023. In other words, in any given weekend, just one in 25 US households had plans to attend a social event. The ATUS is a government questionnaire that asks a larg

The Death of Partying in the USA and Why It Matters

In January, The Atlantic's Ellen Cushing published an essay with an admirably blunt title: “Americans Need to Party More.” Burrowing into the appendix tables of the American Time Use Survey, she unearthed the fact that just 4.1 percent of Americans said they “attended or hosted” a party or ceremony on a typical weekend or holiday in 2023. In other words, in any given weekend, just one in 25 US households had plans to attend a social event. The ATUS is a government questionnaire that asks a larg

YPlasma zaps the air to cool chips for data centers

If you didn’t know any better, you might think it’s magic. David Garcia gave TechCrunch a demo video demonstration of a device developed by his company, YPlasma. A row of five candles sit in front of a harmonica-like device with wires hanging off it. Suddenly, the flames flicker and then snuff out. Inside the device, two strips of copper coursing with electrical current are generating plasmas, or clouds of charged particles, that induce airflow through the cavity and out over the candles. It’

The New ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Trailer Is All About Suffering From Success

Netflix has finally released the official trailer for its popular Tim Burton Addams Family spin-off series, Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega. If you need a reminder of the chaos and drama from season 1, we’ve got you covered. However, the official trailer for season 2 of Wednesday assumes you remember everything that happened back in 2022, and are ready to see the titular sardonic teenager thrown back into the action. In the trailer, we see Wednesday return to Nevermore Academy, only this time

Z Fold 7? Samsung exec confirms that Galaxy Z Fold 8 is in the works

TL;DR A Samsung executive has confirmed that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is already in development. The executive was responding to a question about a possible Galaxy Z Fold 7 Special Edition phone. This news comes after the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition was released last year as an unofficial proof of concept for the Fold 7. Samsung has just launched the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and it looks like a major design upgrade over last year’s foldable phone. However, a company executive has also confirmed that t

Yplasma zaps the air to cool chips for data centers

If you didn’t know any better, you might think it’s magic. David Garcia gave TechCrunch a demo video demonstration of a device developed by his company, Yplasma. A row of five candles sit in front of a harmonica-like device with wires hanging off it. Suddenly, the flames flicker and then snuff out. Inside the device, two strips of copper coursing with electrical current are generating plasmas, or clouds of charged particles, that induce airflow through the cavity and out over the candles. It’

The 203 best Prime Day 2025 deals that we found

You can gauge how well you know your friends and family by playingwhich is on sale at Amazon right now for $14.99 ($10 off), its best price of the year. You only get to say one word associated with multiple tiles on the board, and your teammates have to figure out which ones you’re talking about. If you’re too vague, your teammates may guess incorrectly, giving the other side an edge.

The 200 best Prime Day 2025 deals that we found

You can gauge how well you know your friends and family by playingwhich is on sale at Amazon right now for $14.99 ($10 off), its best price of the year. You only get to say one word associated with multiple tiles on the board, and your teammates have to figure out which ones you’re talking about. If you’re too vague, your teammates may guess incorrectly, giving the other side an edge.

MCP isn’t KYC-ready: Why regulated sectors are wary of open agent exchanges

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now For something launched in November, the Model Context Protocol (MCP) has begun amassing a large number of users, all but guaranteeing the mass adoption needed to make it an industry standard. But there is a subset of enterprises that are not joining the hype for now: regulated industries, especially financial institutions. Banks and other

Two charged in $650 million global crypto scam that promised 300% returns

A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as "Main Justice," is seen behind the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023. Federal prosecutors have charged two men in connection with a sprawling cryptocurrency investment scheme that defrauded victims out of more than $650 million. The indictment, unsealed in the District of Puerto Rico, accuses Michael Shan

The 197 best Prime Day 2025 deals that we found

You can gauge how well you know your friends and family by playingwhich is on sale at Amazon right now for $14.99 ($10 off), its best price of the year. You only get to say one word associated with multiple tiles on the board, and your teammates have to figure out which ones you’re talking about. If you’re too vague, your teammates may guess incorrectly, giving the other side an edge.

That Amazon listing for the Nintendo Switch 2 is likely fake - here's why

Kerry Wan/ZDNET It's been about a month since the Nintendo Switch 2 debuted, breaking records by selling over 3.5 million units around the world in the first four days of availability. Even weeks after launch, restocks are hard to come by, as consoles sell out within minutes of the announcement. And with physical stock being so scarce, it's tempting to jump at the chance to get your hands on one when you see a listing on Amazon. But with such a high-demand item combined with a high-traffic oppo

An Unknown Entity Has Voice Cloned the Secretary of State and Is Calling High Level Officials

In a perfect example of why it's an absolutely terrible idea for high-level government officials to use personal cell phones, text messaging platforms, and apps like Signal, secretary of state Marco Rubio has fallen victim to a scammer who's been using AI to clone his voice and writing style. As the Washington Post reports, a July 3 State Department cable revealed that an impostor posing as Rubio had "contacted at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a US go

The best Prime Day SSD and external hard drive deals on Samsung, Crucial and more

Prime Day is a great time to pick up gear and upgrades you wouldn't normally think about. In case you've never used a solid-state drive (SSD) before, it's a class of add-ons that bolster a device's built-in storage. Not only will your phone, laptop or console be able to hold more data, but more of those files will be quickly accessible, which can vastly improve your speeds. If you have used an SSD before, you know what you're looking for — the best discounted drives on Amazon. We've curated a li

Show HN: I Got Tired of Calculator Sites, So I Built My Own

I’ve always found that online calculators tend to have bad UIs, especially on mobile. Most of the calculator websites I’ve come across use outdated and inconvenient ways of inputting data, or they format the results in confusing ways. I’ve noticed that fraction calculators (especially mixed fractions) are terrible to use, even on desktop. I haven’t built one of those yet, but it’s something I’m planning to tackle soon. This is a project I’ve always wanted to work on, but I’m relatively new to

AI will boost the value of human creativity in financial services, says AWS

shomos uddin/Getty Images Financial services firms are making early gains from artificial intelligence (AI), which is not surprising given that finance is historically an industry that embraces new technologies aggressively. Also: The AI complexity paradox: More productivity, more responsibilities One surprising outcome is that AI might end up making the most critical functions of banking, insurance, and trading, or the creative functions that require human insights, even more valuable. "Wha

Goodbye to All That – My Resignation from the FBI

On May 31 of this year, in a series of phone calls beginning at nine in the morning and ending that afternoon, the newly installed Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, Dominique Evans, made clear to me that, at the direction of Dan Bongino, my career with the organization had—for all intents and purposes—come to an end. It would be an understatement to say that I had not expected this. In fact, I was in the midst of preparing for a potential mov

‘We Live in a Surveillance State’: Reddit Users Explode Over Reports of ICE’s New Face and Fingerprint Scanning App

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reportedly using a new tool called Mobile Fortify, a smartphone-based facial recognition and fingerprint scanning app that allows agents to identify people in real time using only a phone camera. The tool taps into the same biometric system used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at ports of entry. But ICE is now using it inside the U.S., in field operations across the country. According to internal ICE emails reviewed by 404 Media, the app

Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Special 2025: How to Watch From Anywhere

The Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Special is the premier holiday spectacle, and for good reason. For the past five decades, the nation's largest Independence Day extravaganza has pulled out all the stops to entertain viewers -- both in-person and at home. Now in its 49th year, the showcase is back to celebrate America's big day with an array of jaw-dropping fireworks, colorful arrangements and epic musical performances. This year, the New York institution will feature "more than 80,000 shells,"

Affluent Travelers Are Ditching Business Class for Business Jets

We’re cruising 35,000 feet over the French Riviera, the plane’s wing cutting through billows of white. Below us, the sea is sparkling, and I spot a cluster of yachts anchored along the coastline. A ray of light hits my glass of Champagne and turns it to liquid gold. I take another sip. So this is what it feels like to be on cloud nine. I’m flying from London to St. Tropez with the private aviation company Wheels Up, and for the first time in my life, I don’t want a flight to end. Once you’ve go

Musk's X appoints 'king of virality' in bid to draw in younger users

Musk's X appoints 'king of virality' in bid to draw in younger users 52 minutes ago Share Save Share Save Getty Images Elon Musk has appointed a product developer responsible for several successful youth-focused social media apps to a senior role at X. Nikita Bier has been made X's head of product three years after publicly suggesting on the platform - then known as Twitter - that it should employ him. "I've officially posted my way to the top," he wrote in a post on X announcing the role. X

This 6TB Crucial X10 SSD Costs Less Than the 4TB Version, With Limited Stock on Amazon for 4th of July

We may run out of superlatives when it comes to describing the Crucial X10 external solid-state drive, but we should cut to the most important detail of all right away — the massive 6TB model of the #1 new release in external SSDs is nearly half-price right now at Amazon, just $292. That’s even cheaper than the 4TB model of the same highly rated drive. This phenomenal pre-Prime Day deal slashes over $260 from the price of one of the best external drives on the market. The Crucial X10 is palm-si

The new Crucial X10 1TB Portable SSD just got a 41% price drop

Crucial only launched its latest entrant to the SSD market last month, so we thought it would be some time before we saw a significant price drop on it. However, with Prime Day just around the corner, the Crucial X10 1TB Portable SSD just plunged by 41% in this Amazon deal. Crucial X10 1TB Portable SSD for $81.99 ($58 off) It almost goes without saying that the markdown represents an all-time low price on the storage device, and similar savings are reflected on other variants. For instance, if

Topics: 1tb crucial price ssd usb

I switched to a Wi-Fi-enabled smart lock with facial recognition - and can't go back

ZDNET's key takeaways As part of its Zeno Series, Lockly's Visage smart lock is available now for $349. The Lockly Visage comes with facial ID support, automatic unlocking when you're near, and Apple Home Kit compatibility. The Lockly app can be more user-friendly, as it's difficult to find certain settings, and it's pricier than most locks. $349 at Amazon $349.99 at Best Buy more buying choices I've always been drawn to Lockly because of its PIN Genie technology -- a system that displays a u

Korean students seek 'digital undertakers' amid US visa social media screening

The US Embassy in Seoul resumed accepting applications for student and exchange visas but requested that applicants make any private social media accounts public, prompting some South Korean students pursuing studies in the US to seek the help of "digital undertakers." On June 20, the US Embassy in Seoul announced that it will resume taking in applications for its F, M and J nonimmigrant visas, saying it will conduct “thorough vetting” of applicants’ presence on social media. In a notice poste

CFOs want AI that pays: real metrics, not marketing demos

This article is part of VentureBeat’s special issue, “The Real Cost of AI: Performance, Efficiency and ROI at Scale.” Read more from this special issue. Recent surveys and VentureBeat’s conversations with CFOs suggest the honeymoon phase of AI is rapidly drawing to a close. While 2024 was dominated by pilot programs and proof-of-concept demonstrations, in mid-2025, the pressure for measurable results is intensifying, even as CFO interest in AI remains high. According to a KPMG survey of 300 U.

Apple Ads Aren't Cool Anymore. Here's What I Think Changed

Nothing about Apple's latest promotional video felt like Apple. For over 7 minutes, an awkward comedian explains to a sleepy audience of disinterested teens that the only way parents will buy them an expensive MacBook for college is to make a convincing PowerPoint business presentation. Problem was, the presentation wasn't convincing -- and it was hard to tell who the video was even targeting. Do the parents who raised the iPad generation need to be swayed to buy Apple products? Or was Apple tr