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The Big EV Tax Credit Mystery

If you’re thinking about buying an electric vehicle, brace yourself: the federal tax credits that offer up to $7,500 off new EVs and $4,000 off used ones could change as soon as September 30. But here’s the real issue: Nobody knows for sure what happens next. Carmakers, consumers, and even some dealerships have been operating under the belief that a signed contract before September 30 locks in the credit. But now, some automakers are quietly admitting that the IRS has not finalized that rule.

This Emoji Won Most Popular New Emoji, but It Was Never Really a Contest

Emoji are a fun way to communicate with others, and the internet celebrates this with World Emoji Day every July 17 (since that's the date on the calendar emoji). As part of those celebrations, Emojipedia, an online directory of emoji and their meanings, announces awards for most popular new emoji, most anticipated emoji and even lifetime achievement awards. In my opinion, this year's winner for Most Popular New Emoji was bound to win. Based on Emojipedia's site data, the winner of the Most 202

ICE Is Getting Unprecedented Access to Medicaid Data

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are getting access to the personal data of nearly 80 million people on Medicaid in order to acquire "information concerning the identification and location of aliens in the United States,” according to an information exchange agreement viewed by WIRED. The agreement, which is titled “Information Exchange Agreement Between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Disclosure of Identity and Locat

US Mobile is upgrading its Unlimited plans with uncapped data, improved roaming, and more

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR US Mobile’s Unlimited Premium plan now offers truly unlimited, uncapped data on all three networks, with upgraded hotspot, roaming, and international benefits. The Unlimited Starter plan also sees improvements, including higher data caps and optional priority access on the Warp (Verizon) network for a small fee. Customers can even try US Mobile’s multi-network feature free for 30 days, allowing access to all three major networks without switching or p

Dell's new Pro Max lineup offers top-tier laptops for sky-high prices

'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

Nintendo Switch 2 account bans continue: warning after buying old copy of Bayo 3

A Switch 2 owner has had their console “restricted by Nintendo” after installing a Switch game they bought on the used market. Quinn Nelson, the creator behind popular YouTube channel Snazzy Labs, fell foul to the long arm of Nintendo law, and now assumes the “old copy of Bayo 3 on eBay” they bought must have been dumped/ripped by its previous owner and got flagged by big N’s anti-piracy servers. PSA: be EXTREMELY careful buying used Nintendo Switch games. Bought an old copy of Bayo 3 on eBay a

All AI models might be the same

Project CETI is a large-scale effort to decode whale speech. If AI models do learn a universal language, we might be able to use it to talk to whales. Growing up, I sometimes played a game with my friends called “Mussolini or Bread.” It’s a guessing game, kind of like Twenty Questions. The funny name comes from the idea that, in the space of everything, ‘Mussolini’ and ‘bread’ are about as far away from each other as you can get. One round might go like this: Is it closer to Mussolini or bre

‘Arcane’ Season 2 Gets a Lavish Home Release, Just in Time for Emmy Season

With Emmy season in full swing and a lot of eyes on whether Riot Games and Fortiche’s League of Legends studio will sweep an already steep competitive lineup of animated shows, GKids has announced a slew of home release pre-order editions for Arcane season two, freeing it from the confines of streaming. In a press release, GKids announced that the home release of Arcane season two will feature a limited-run Collector’s Edition. This will include SteelBook Editions in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray for

Netflix Green-Lights 'Assassin's Creed' TV Series Adaptation

You can now add Assassin's Creed to the Netflix game-to-show adaptation portfolio. The streamer has green-lit a new TV series based on the game franchise from Ubisoft. Netflix was sparse on details regarding the story itself but said the live-action adaptation, five years in the making, will include the "rich storytelling" that players of the games would expect. Assassin's Creed is a historical action-adventure game that spans multiple time periods and has players assuming the role of multiple

Bandages made of medical waste cost Medicare $10B last year—limits are coming

Last year, Medicare spent over $10 billion on dubious bandages—called skin substitutes—that come with eye-popping prices. Some are made from medical waste, like dried bits of discarded placentas or infant foreskin, and many have not gone through rigorous testing to prove they offer any advantage over standard bandages. Yet, in some cases, Medicare reportedly paid for bandages priced at more than $21,000 per square inch. And individual patients have quickly racked up bills over $1 million just fo

Peacock raises its price by $3, now more expensive than nearly all competition

Another wave of streaming service price hikes may be on the horizon: Peacock just announced a $3 increase for each of its plans, which makes its ad-supported option more expensive than almost all of its competitors. Peacock price hitting $10.99/month for ad-supported plan If you’ve been meaning to subscribe to Peacock, you have just a few days left at the current rates. Per Variety, Peacock will hike prices across its two main plans starting July 23. Peacock Premium (ad-supported) will now b

Someone paid $5.3 million for a piece of Mars

Add this to the list of "things that might be fun if you had a buttload of money": Someone forked over $5.3 million in a Sotheby's auction to own a piece of Mars. The Red Planet meteorite was discovered in 2023 in a remote area of the Sahara Desert in Niger. Martian meteorites of any size are incredibly rare. To get here, an asteroid first hits the Red Planet to eject material from its surface. (Sotheby's says there are only 19 Martian craters large enough to have spit out this one.) That chunk

The (Unfinished) PDE Coffee Table Book

THE (UNFINISHED) PDE COFFEE TABLE BOOK Lloyd N. Trefethen and Kristine Embree, editors Unpublished, 2001 During 2000-2001 a group project based in the Oxford University was begun to write this book. The vision was 100 2-page spreads, each one giving exactly the most useful possible starting information about a different partial differential equation, with beautiful color illustrations. Many people at Oxford and around the world contributed drafts, which were then extensively rewritten and e

All AI Models Might be The Same

Project CETI is a large-scale effort to decode whale speech. If AI models do learn a universal language, we might be able to use it to talk to whales. Growing up, I sometimes played a game with my friends called “Mussolini or Bread.” It’s a guessing game, kind of like Twenty Questions. The funny name comes from the idea that, in the space of everything, ‘Mussolini’ and ‘bread’ are about as far away from each other as you can get. One round might go like this: Is it closer to Mussolini or bre

RFK Jr. Begs Canada to Pardon 400 Ostriches So That We Can ‘Understand’ Them

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man whose brain was partially eaten by a worm and who once admitted to keeping jars full of roadkill in his freezer, is begging the Canadian government to spare the lives of 400 ostriches who may have been exposed to bird flu. Kennedy, who also happens to be in charge of America’s federal health policy, believes those ostriches could help scientists “better understand the virus.” The ostriches in question are at the heart of a legal battle in Ottawa, where federal judge

Best Internet Providers in Scottsdale, Arizona

Fiber rollout is limited in Scottsdale, Arizona, andCenturyLink, also known as Quantum Fiber, is CNET's pick for the best internet provider in the city. However, if it's not available at your address, Cox is your next best bet. It's got fast download speeds, but upload speeds suffer as it's a cable operator. Our team considers speeds, pricing, customer service and overall value to recommend the best internet service. Our evaluation includes referencing a proprietary database built over years of

HBO Max: The 28 Absolute Best TV Shows to Watch

Browsing HBO Max for a new show to watch? The service that delivers HBO to the streaming masses is notorious for its name changes, but it seems to have finally settled on a moniker. HBO Max is home to popular shows like The Last of Us, The White Lotus, Hacks and The Pitt. There's no shortage of exceptional fare to stream. Here are the highly rated series you shouldn't wait to watch on HBO Max, plus this month's new releases. What's new on HBO Max in July Note: These descriptions are taken fr

Razer’s new Pokémon collab is not very effective

Razer’s new Pokémon collaboration is a missed opportunity. The four PC gaming peripherals in this lineup are simply reskinned versions of products that already exist, and which cost $20 to $40 more than their all-black counterparts. You really should be getting more for your money here. For example, the themed BlackWidow V4 X keyboard should include at least one highly detailed custom keycap (switching out Alt for pokéball designs doesn’t cut it). Maybe the Kraken V4 X headset could have includ

Synths hunt down deadly monsters in latest Alien: Earth trailer

The premiere of Alien: Earth is just weeks away, and FX/Hulu dropped one last trailer to pique our interest, along with a much more detailed synopsis. It's meditative and existential in tone, with a haunting tune playing over footage of mysterious alien craft, dead bodies, blood-spattered humans fleeing through futuristic corridors, and, of course, a spooky silhouette of a xenomorph in the distance. As previously reported, the eight-episode series is set in 2120, two years before the events of

Defense manufacturing startup Hadrian closes $260 million funding round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund

Defense manufacturing startup Hadrian on Thursday announced the closing of $260 million Series C funding round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Lux Capital. The machine parts company said it will use the funding to build a new 270,000 square foot factory in Mesa, Arizona, and expand its Torrance, California, location as it looks to beef up its shipbuilding and naval defense capabilities. "What we really need in this country is this quantum leap above China's manufacturing model," said CE

Tell HN: Notion Desktop is monitoring your audio and network

If you have the Notion Desktop App installed, you may have started to notice a "In a meeting? Start AI Meeting Notes" notification pop up exactly when you are joining a virtual meeting (e.g. joining a Google Meet on Firefox). At first, I assumed it must have been using my Google Workspace account to snoop on my calendar. But then I started to notice it would notify exactly when I joined even if I was late and the meeting had previously started. This was the response from Notion Support after t

FX/Hulu drops one last trailer for Alien: Earth

The premiere of Alien: Earth is just weeks away, and FX/Hulu dropped one last trailer to pique our interest, along with a much more detailed synopsis. It's meditative and existential in tone, with a haunting tune playing over footage of mysterious alien craft, dead bodies, blood-spattered humans fleeing through futuristic corridors, and, of course, a spooky silhouette of a xenomorph in the distance. As previously reported, the eight-episode series is set in 2120, two years before the events of

News publishers take paywall-blocker 12ft.io offline

is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. The News/Media Alliance, a trade association behind major news publishers, announced that it has “successfully secured” the removal of 12ft.io, a website that helped users bypass paywalls online. The trade association says 12ft.io’s webhost took down the site on July 14th “following the News/Media Alliance’s efforts.” 12ft.io — or 12 Foot Ladder —

The New ‘Tron: Ares’ Trailer Teases Jared Leto’s AI Warrior—and His Wild Ride Through the Real World

A “biblically strong,” super-smart, unkillable warrior crafted from AI and brought from the digital world into the real world. Oh, and he’s on a mysterious mission, so you can add “curiosity” to that list of character traits. What could possibly go wrong? Add in some absolutely dazzling visuals, and you can get a good idea of what’s to come in Tron: Ares. The latest trailer is here, and it gives us our best look yet at Jared Leto’s supersoldier, unveiled by a smug-looking Evan Peters and questi

Will AI end cheap flights? Critics attack Delta’s “predatory” AI pricing.

Delta has become the first airline to announce that it is using AI to boost profits by personalizing pricing through a pilot program that for months has caused customers to pay different prices for the same flights based on their data profile. Critics have warned that this use of AI goes beyond airline practices that charge people who book flights ahead less than people who book flights at the last minute—and could ultimately mean the end of cheap flights across the board if other airlines foll

Netflix takes a leap of faith on an Assassin's Creed series

The company greenlit the show nearly five years after signing a deal with Ubisoft. Hollywood video game adaptations continue to have a moment. Following the success of HBO's The Last of Us and Amazon's Fallout, Netflix has officially greenlit an Assassin's Creed series. The news comes nearly five years after the company signed a deal with Ubisoft to adapt the franchise. Two Emmy nominees will helm the series. Roberto Patino (DMZ, Westworld, Sons of Anarchy) and David Wiener (Halo, Homecoming,

I put this buzzworthy 2-in-1 robot vacuum to work in my house - here's how it fared

ZDNET's key takeaways The Yeedi S14 Plus is available for a retail price of $1,400, though an introductory offer puts it at $999 for a limited time. The Yeedi is a big upgrade from almost any robot vacuum on the market right now, with 18,000Pa of suction and a self-cleaning mop roller. The S14 Plus doesn't have a detergent dispenser, its obstacle avoidance could be better, and it has an odd plastic smell (though that could be my unit). $1,399.99 at Amazon I've been testing what is decidedly t

Topics: mop plus robot s14 yeedi

Trump Moves to Kill California’s Dreams of High-Speed Rail

President Donald Trump’s feud with California Governor Gavin Newsom is hitting the Golden State’s long-awaited high-speed train project with yet another setback. The U.S. The Transportation Department announced Wednesday that it is rescinding $4 billion in funding for a bullet train project that aims to connect Los Angeles with San Francisco. “Governor Newsom and the complicit Democrats have enabled this waste for years,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy — a former cast member

Netflix Is Going to Try to Make Live-Action ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Happen Again

In what might be the biggest flex from a streamer to assert dominance in the video game adaptation space, Netflix has announced that its next venture will be to create a live-action adaptation of Ubisoft’s megapopular series, Assassin’s Creed. In a press release, Netflix announced that its live-action Assassin’s Creed series will be helmed by Emmy nominees Roberto Patino and David Wiener, who respectively worked on shows like Westworld, Sons of Anarchy, and Paramount’s own video game adaptation