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To be a better programmer, write little proofs in your head

This is a brief write-up of a trick I learned that helps me write code faster and more accurately. I say "trick", but it's really something I started to do without noticing as I moved further into my career. When you're working on something difficult, sketch a proof in your head as you go that your code will actually do what you want it to do. A simple idea, but easier said than done: doing this "online" without interrupting your flow takes a lot of practice. But once you get really good at it,

Google Discover adds AI summaries, threatening publishers with further traffic declines

As publishers fret about decreased traffic from Google, the search giant has begun rolling out AI summaries in Discover, the main news feed inside Google’s search app on iOS and Android. Now, instead of seeing a headline from a major publication, users will see multiple news publishers’ logos in the top-left corner, followed by an AI-generated summary that cites those sources. The app warns that these summaries are generated with AI, “which can make mistakes.” Image Credits:Google The feature

My sleeper pick for best noise-canceling earbuds isn't made by Apple or Bose

ZDNET's key takeaways Sony's LinkBuds Fit are $198 These earbuds boast a solid ANC feature and a comfortable design that is second to none. Their audio output, however, isn't very powerful. View now at Amazon View now at Best Buy more buying choices What is the most important aspect of a pair of earbuds? My answer changes depending on the circumstances. I prefer power and volume when I'm at home listening to music. If I'm at the gym, I need something rugged and capable of blocking out sound.

Petabit-class transmission over > 1000 km using standard 19-core optical fiber

An international research team led by the Photonic Network Laboratory at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki Ph.D.), and including Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (Sumitomo Electric, President: INOUE Osamu) have set a new world record in optical fiber communications, achieving data transmission at 1.02 petabits per second over a distance of 1,808 kilometers (roughly equivalent to the distance from Sapporo to Fukuoka, from Misso

GOP’s pro-industry crypto bills could financially ruin millions, lawmaker warns

It's "Crypto Week" in Congress, and experts continue to warn that legislation Donald Trump wants passed quickly could give the president ample opportunities to grift while leaving Americans more vulnerable to scams and financial ruin. Perhaps most controversial of the bills is the one that's closest to reaching Trump's desk, the GENIUS Act, which creates a framework for banks and private companies to issue stablecoins. After passing in the Senate last month, the House of Representatives is hopi

Fitbit’s Charge 6 fitness tracker is at its lowest price ever at Walmart

The Fitbit Charge 6 is one of the best fitness trackers we’ve tested, and down to an all-time low price of $93 ($66.95 off) at Walmart. The deal includes a six-month subscription to Fitbit Premium, a service that includes guided workouts, a wellness report, and other perks, and usually costs $10 per month or $80 per year. You can get the Charge 6 for $99.95 ($60 off), along with the same six-month subscription, at Amazon. The Charge 6 is the only fitness tracker under $200 with an FDA-cleared E

Venture gets a rare Native American-led fund in Betsy Fore’s Velveteen Ventures

When Betsy Fore was five, her grandmother got her a gift she has never forgotten: A Velveteen Rabbit from Goodwill that Fore believed, with enough love, could spring alive. Decades later, that rabbit has lent its name to Fore’s venture firm, Velveteen Ventures, which came to life on Tuesday. “I realized after building companies for nearly two decades that I could make the greatest ripple in this one precious life by being on the other side of the table,” she told TechCrunch. Her companies inclu

The Hidden Costs of AI: How Small Inefficiencies Stack Up

AI is having a major impact on society, from consumer technologies to driving businesses. But among all these large language models and deep neural networks, there are lurking inefficiencies that most people aren’t taking into account. Wasted computational power, hidden costs, the environmental footprint, and more. Whether these inefficiencies are big or small, they all add up. With 58% of companies planning on increasing their investments in AI this year, it’s essential these decision-makers k

I take this Sony speaker to the beach every summer - for one obvious reason

Sony Ult Field 1 ZDNET's key takeaways The Sony Ult Field 1 is a portable speaker available for $130 (but on sale for $98) The speaker prioritizes crystal-clear sound and pronounced bass, with vibrant audio that sounds like it's coming from a much more expensive device It doesn't boast as long a battery life as its predecessor, but what it lacks in battery, it makes up for in stellar sound. $99.99 at Target Amazon is discounting this Sony Ult Field 1 speaker by $30 right now, bringing the pri

Sony's most portable speaker yet also fills up the room with powerful sound

ZDNET's key takeaways The Sony Ult Field 3 speaker is a midrange powerhouse with great sound and ample bass, and it's $50 off right now at Amazon. With a 24-hour battery life and features that encourage speaker syncing, the Ult Field 3 would be perfect for regular hosts and music lovers. I can't think of anything wrong with this incredible speaker, and its price competes with other speakers of this size and spec. View now at Amazon View now at Walmart more buying choices The Sony Ult Field 3

Android’s screen magnifier can’t zoom the keyboard, but a fix is finally on the way

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority TL;DR Android is updating its screen magnifier to finally allow users to zoom in on the on-screen keyboard, addressing a major accessibility limitation. A new “magnify keyboard” toggle enables the full-screen magnifier to enlarge the keyboard and navigation bar, which were previously fixed in size. Contributed by an Amazon engineer, the feature is now live in the Android Canary channel and is expected to arrive in a future update for Pixel phones. The Andro

These 6 Linux file managers are way better than your default

D3Damon/Getty The file manager might not be a feature on your desktop that you've ever considered changing, but once you've seen a better option, you can't unsee it. I've used nearly every file manager on the market, and some are far better than others. Also: 5 Linux file and folder management commands you need to know If you find the file manager on your Linux desktop of choice isn't cutting it, here are six alternatives. One of these could well become your favorite Linux file manager. 1. K

Perplexity offers free AI tools to students worldwide in partnership with SheerID

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 Perplexity, the AI-powered search engine that competes with Google and ChatGPT, has partnered with identity verification company SheerID to offer up to two years of free premium service to more than 264 million students worldwide, the companies announced Monday. The deal tackles a key challenge for AI companies: providing educational acces

Five EU countries to test age-check app under new child safety rules

France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Greece are preparing to test a new age verification system as part of the EU’s push to regulate how children access online content. Here are the details. The pilot program, announced by the European Commission on Monday (via Reuters), is built on the same technical standards as the upcoming European Digital Identity Wallet, which is set to launch across the EU next year. The move comes alongside new EU guidelines aimed at helping platforms comply with the Dig

Interlock ransomware adopts new FileFix attack to push malware

Hackers have adopted the new technique called 'FileFix' in Interlock ransomware attacks to drop a remote access trojan (RAT) on targeted systems. Interlock ransomware operations have increased over the past months as the threat actor started using the KongTuke web injector (aka 'LandUpdate808') to deliver payloads through compromised websites. This shift in modus operandi was observed by researchers at The DFIR Report and Proofpoint since May. Back then, visitors of compromised sites were prom

Android malware Konfety uses malformed APKs to evade detection

A new variant of the Konfety Android malware emerged with a malformed ZIP structure along with other obfuscation methods that allow it to evade analysis and detection. Konfety poses as a legitimate app, mimicking innocuous products available on Google Play, but features none of the promised functionality. The capabilities of the malware include redirecting users to malicious sites, pushing unwanted app installs, and fake browser notifications. Instead, it fetches and renders hidden ads using

The Promise of Li-Fi Technology: What Is It and Can It Change the Future of the Internet?

It sounds like it's from a sci-fi movie --- but you heard that correctly. The future of connecting to the internet could be as simple as turning on the light. Picture this: Using this technology to connect to the internet promises speeds that will blow Wi-Fi out of the park. The average household requires more and more bandwidth, with users spending an average of 21-plus hours streaming weekly, according to the latest OpenVault report. That makes the promise of Li-Fi convenient. Li-Fi has made p

WeTransfer says files not used to train AI after backlash

WeTransfer says files not used to train AI after backlash The firm has now updated its terms, saying it has "made the language easier to understand" to avoid confusion. A WeTransfer spokeswoman told BBC News: "We don't use machine learning or any form of AI to process content shared via WeTransfer, nor do we sell content or data to any third parties." The file sharing company had received lots of criticism from customers on social media after changing its terms of service, which some interpre

Anthropic launches finance-specific Claude with built-in data connectors, higher limits and prompt libraries

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 As some regulated enterprises cautiously expand their use of AI, platform and model makers are starting to offer bespoke versions to specific industries. Anthropic is making its first step into that direction with the new Claude for Financial Services, essentially a special version of its Claude for Enterprise tier, that could soothe some

Review: SwitchBot Wallet Finder is an incredibly useful accessory to track your wallet with iPhone Find My

I have an AirTag on my keychain to keep track of my keys, but obviously an AirTag is too big and bulky to fit inside a wallet. That’s what the SwitchBot Wallet Finder is for. Disguised inside a thin, credit-card form factor, the SwitchBot Wallet Finder connects to the Find My app on your iPhone, so you can follow its location, and it even houses a speaker so you can make it beep to help you find your wallet when it inevitably gets lost somewhere in your home. Read on for my review … Setup Set

Samsung reportedly gearing up to produce foldable iPhone displays

Following a recent Digitimes report that Apple’s foldable iPhone has reached the initial P1 prototyping stage, two new reports now claim that Samsung Display is preparing to begin panel production by the end of this year, including Ming-Chi Kuo. Yet another claim that the foldable iPhone is on track for a 2026 release According to the report by Korea JoongAng Daily (via MacMagazine), Samsung Display is aiming to kick off mass production of foldable OLED panels for Apple in Q4: “Samsung Displa

The best fitness trackers for 2025

Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products . If you're looking to get fit, sleep better or just keep a closer eye on your health, a fitness wearable is a great place to start. Whether you're into intense workouts or just want to hit your step goal each day, the best fitness trackers available today can offer loads of helpful feat

A Recession Could Be Hiding in Plain Sight. Here’s the Best Advice to Prepare

Recession risks are down, but keep your guard up. Getty Images/Jeffrey Hazelwood/CNET In April, recession fears surged after President Trump began his chaotic tariff campaign. Forecasts for a severe economic downturn hit 66%, according to Polymarket. As Trump deferred some of his most aggressive trade proposals, those forecasts leveled out, but the contours of a potential recession are hard to ignore. Growth in the first quarter of 2025? Down. Jobless claims? Sharply higher. Consumer sentiment

Reddit is rolling out age verification in the UK

Reddit users in the United Kingdom will now be blocked from accessing “certain mature content” unless they complete the platform’s new age verification process. Reddit announced on Monday that UK users will need to upload a selfie or a photo of their government ID in order to view content that’s restricted for under-18s by the UK Online Safety Act (OSA), including abusive, violent, and sexually explicit materials. The age verification process is performed by Persona, a third-party provider that

The EU is testing a prototype age verification app

The European Union is piloting a blueprint for age verification apps in Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, and Italy that aims to make it easier for online platforms to comply with rules that require them to protect minors. The app prototype was announced on Monday alongside guidelines that online platforms are recommended to adopt in order to comply with the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA). “Making sure our children and young people are safe online is of paramount importance to this Commission,

Show HN: VS Code extension to edit the filesystem like a text buffer

Voil View on the Visual Studio Marketplace. Youtube video showing voil features: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_L0c7rcYLs&t=5s. Edit file system like a text buffer (similar to oil.nvim). Create new files/directories by typing their names in the editor (names ending with / are treated as directories). Convert your existing text-editing skills to file system manipulation skills, as opposed of the vscode's default file explorer which requires mouse interaction or memorizing new keybinds (and

Show HN: CallFS – S3-style object store in one Go binary (MIT)

CallFS: A High-Performance, Distributed REST API Filesystem CallFS is an ultra-lightweight, high-performance REST API filesystem that provides precise Linux filesystem semantics over various backends, including local storage, Amazon S3, and a distributed peer-to-peer network. It is designed for speed, reliability, and horizontal scalability. 🚀 Key Features Multi-Backend Storage : Seamlessly use Local Filesystem, Amazon S3, or other S3-compatible services (like MinIO) as storage backends. : S

Block leads rebound in fintech stocks as analysts downplay JPMorgan data fee risk

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies during a remote video hearing held by subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on "Social Media's Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation" in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2021. Block jumped more than 5% on Monday, leading a rally in shares of fintech companies as analysts downplayed the threat of JPMorgan Chase's reported plan to charge data aggregators for access to customer financial information. The recovery fol

Walt Disney Returns as a Surreal Animatronic for Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary

As of this week, Walt Disney returns to his original Magic Kingdom, with a little help from the magic-makers at Imagineering. Through the audio-animatronics technology Walt Disney introduced when he opened Disneyland 70 years ago, the evolution of the show robots has gone from static positioning with some movements, as first seen on the singing birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room, to a roaming animatronic of Uncle Walt. Stationed in the Main Street Opera House, the (m)animatronic is the crown jewe

Want to be Seated for ‘The Odyssey?’ Some Showtimes Are Out Over a Year in Advance

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey opens in theaters one year from this Thursday—on July 17, 2026—and something big might be coming to celebrate. Showtimes (just showtimes, not a way to actually buy tickets) for select IMAX 70mm screenings of the film have begun to show up on ticketing websites, which is odd because a) It’s over a year in advance, b) Nolan is still making the movie, which means c) there isn’t a locked-in runtime yet. And yet, if you head over to a site like Fandango, there they ar