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Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

Key Points After finalising the purchase of a home in Melbourne's northern suburbs, a Melbourne man found something unexpected. There had been no mention of the expansive model train network beneath the home's floors. Coincidentally, new owner Daniel Xu is a keen train enthusiast and engineer. As any new homeowner will know, there are always unknown things to be found in a new place. From a kitchen cupboard that never seems to close properly, a curiously painted over area or the real per

Topics: home model new train xu

The new skill in AI is not prompting, it's context engineering

June 30, 2025 5 minute read Context Engineering is new term gaining traction in the AI world. The conversation is shifting from "prompt engineering" to a broader, more powerful concept: Context Engineering. Tobi Lutke describes it as "the art of providing all the context for the task to be plausibly solvable by the LLM.” and he is right. With the rise of Agents it becomes more important what information we load into the “limited working memory”. We are seeing that the main thing that determine

T-Mobile Is Bringing Starlink to Your Phone. Check If You’ll Get It for Free

Going off-grid might soon be a thing of the past, as T-Mobile’s partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service gets ready to launch on July 23. The alliance will provide direct-to-cell messaging service, called T-Satellite, which will also be available to AT&T and Verizon cellphone customers. T-Mobile says its goal is to “eliminate mobile dead zones for good” by utilizing 657 Starlink satellites that will be used exclusively for cellphone service. T-Satellite has been in beta testing sinc

Sri Mandir keeps investors hooked as digital devotion grows

AppsForBharat, the Indian startup behind the Hindu devotional app Sri Mandir, has raised $20 million in a new round — just over nine months after securing $18 million — as the app continues to attract not only devotees but also strong investor interest. Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital led the Series C round with participation from existing investors, including Indian billionaire and tech veteran Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership, Elevation Capital, and Peak XV Partners. Religious devo

T-Mobile Is Bringing Starlink to Your Phone. Check If You’ll Get It For Free

Going off-grid might soon be a thing of the past, as T-Mobile’s partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service gets ready to launch on July 23. The alliance will provide direct-to-cell messaging service, called T-Satellite, which will also be available to AT&T and Verizon cellphone customers. T-Mobile says its goal is to “eliminate mobile dead zones for good” by utilizing 657 Starlink satellites that will be used exclusively for cellphone service. T-Satellite has been in beta testing sinc

Bell Labs DSP Pioneer Jim Boddie Leaves Lasting Legacy

James R. “Jim” Boddie, a pioneer of the programmable, single-chip digital signal processor, died on 2 December at his home in Canton, Ga., following a long illness. The IEEE senior member was 74. While working as an architect and designer at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, N.J., Boddie applied his expertise in signal processing algorithms to develop a new type of semiconductor: the DSP. The integrated circuit, which Bell Labs called DSP1, was announced at the 1980 International Solid-State C

Topics: bell digital dsp jim labs

Apple may power Siri with Anthropic or OpenAI models amid AI struggles

The company has failed to ship the more capable version of its voice assistant it demoed in 2024. Apple is considering using AI models from OpenAI or Anthropic to deliver the more capable version of Siri it debuted at WWDC 2024, Bloomberg reports. The company has promised it could deliver a new version of its voice assistant that understands personal context and takes action inside of apps since last year, but officially delayed the updated Siri in March 2025. As part of this proposed new plan

The New Skill in AI Is Not Prompting, It's Context Engineering

June 30, 2025 5 minute read Context Engineering is new term gaining traction in the AI world. The conversation is shifting from "prompt engineering" to a broader, more powerful concept: Context Engineering. Tobi Lutke describes it as "the art of providing all the context for the task to be plausibly solvable by the LLM.” and he is right. With the rise of Agents it becomes more important what information we load into the “limited working memory”. We are seeing that the main thing that determine

'Buy Now, Pay Later' Plans Will Start to Impact Your Credit Score Later This Year. Here's How

CNET/Getty Images You can use "Buy Now, Pay Later" for just about everything now, from Costco purchases to DoorDash (although that doesn't mean you should). About 86.5 million people used BNPL in 2024, according to Capital One's research. But the one thing BNPL couldn't do was improve your credit. Although some of Affirm's plans do report to Experian and TransUnion, most BNPL services don't report on-time payments to credit bureaus. However, that could change later this year. FICO, one of the

The best foldable phone you can buy

is a reviewer with 10 years of experience writing about consumer tech. She has a special interest in mobile photography and telecom. Previously, she worked at DPReview. A foldable phone isn’t for the faint of heart. They’re generally heavier, pricier, and have less capable cameras than a standard slab-style phone. And while they’re far less fragile than when they first debuted, foldables are still susceptible to the kind of damage a regular smartphone can shrug off. You really don’t want any du

Joby Aviation stock pops 12% after delivering first flying taxi to UAE

An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation flies near the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 12, 2023. Joby Aviation stock soared about 12% as the flying air taxi maker got closer to launching a service in the United Arab Emirates. The electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, company said Monday that it delivered its first aircraft to the UAE and has completed piloted flight tests as it readies for a 2026 launch in the region. "Our flights and operation

Jacobi Ellipsoid

Shape taken by a self-gravitating fluid body rotating at constant velocity Artistic rendering of Haumea, a dwarf planet with triaxial ellipsoid shape. A Jacobi ellipsoid is a triaxial (i.e. scalene) ellipsoid under hydrostatic equilibrium which arises when a self-gravitating, fluid body of uniform density rotates with a constant angular velocity. It is named after the German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi.[1] History [ edit ] Before Jacobi, the Maclaurin spheroid, which was formulate

There are no new ideas in AI only new datasets

Most people know that AI has made unbelievable progress over the last fifteen years– especially in the last five. It might feel like that progress is *inevitable* – although large paradigm-shift-level breakthroughs are uncommon, we march on anyway through a stream of slow & steady progress. In fact, some researchers have recently declared a “Moore’s Law for AI” where the computer’s ability to do certain things (in this case, certain types of coding tasks) increases exponentially with time: the

Next-gen procurement platform Levelpath nabs $55M

Levelpath, a procurement software startup founded by the duo behind Scout RFP, has raised $55 million in Series B funding led by Battery Ventures as the company looks to quadruple its revenue this year. The funding round also saw participation from existing investors, including Benchmark, which led Levelpath’s $14.5 million seed round, and Redpoint, the lead investor in the $30 million Series A round announced in 2023. The startup was founded by Stan Garber and Alex Yakubovich (pictured right)

Apple might ditch internal AI efforts for Siri revamp, use OpenAI or Anthropic instead

Apple is in talks with Anthropic and OpenAI to power the revamped version of Siri, potentially sidelining its own in-house AI models in the process. Here are the details. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple has asked both OpenAI and Anthropic to train customized versions of their large language models that could run on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. Rather than relying on third-party cloud platforms like AWS or Azure, these models would live on servers powered by Apple s

A Super Mario Maker 2 player has cleared an astonishing 1 million levels

Super Mario Maker 2 was released six years ago this past Saturday. While Nintendo didn't do a whole lot to mark the occasion, one of the game's most dedicated players sure did. DSteves hit a remarkable milestone by becoming the first to clear 1 million SMM2 levels. The Twitch and YouTube streamer had hoped to reach that point by the game's sixth anniversary and got there toward the end of a 18-hour marathon . In fact, DSteves cleared 1,000 levels during that single stream. After the 999,999th

I finally found a wall charger than can replace my AirTag when I travel - and its still on sale

ZDNET's key takeaways Twelve South's PlugBug is a wall charger optimized for iOS, offering native Find My support. It's especially convenient for frequent flyers who are prone to misplacing their vital charging cables. The device is pricey but worth it for its bulk, versatility, and convenience. $129.95 at Apple The PlugBug Travel 120W is currently on sale for $111, which is $10, or 8% off its original price of $120. On my first trip abroad, one of my main concerns was purchasing wall adapte

This power station kept my fridge running during an outage (and just dropped by over $1,000)

ZDNET's key takeaways The EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 battery generator is available now for $3,699 The Delta Pro 3 has a capacity of 4 kWh, can be used with other units for up to 12 kW output, and features wheels for easy transport The DP3 is very heavy, a factor buyers should consider if they plan to load it in and out of vehicles $2,699 at Amazon The EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 power station is available for $2,684, the lowest price we've ever seen. EcoFlow also has a huge deal on an EcoFlow Delta Pro 3,

Scribble-based forecasting and AI 2027

AI 2027 forecasts that AGI could plausibly arrive as early as 2027. I recently spent some time looking at both the timelines forecast and some critiques [1, 2, 3]. Initially, I was interested in technical issues. What’s the best super-exponential curve? How much probability should it have? But I found myself drawn to a more basic question. Namely, how much value is the math really contributing? This provides an excuse for a general rant. Say you want to forecast something. It could be when you

Half a million Spotify users are unknowingly grooving to an AI-generated band

Making art used to be a uniquely human endeavor, but machines have learned to distill human creativity with generative AI. Whether that content counts as "art" depends on who you ask, but Spotify doesn't discriminate. A new band called The Velvet Sundown debuted on Spotify this month and has already amassed more than half a million listeners. But by all appearances, The Velvet Sundown is not a real band—it's AI. While many artists are vehemently opposed to using AI, some have leaned into the tr

Meta shares hit all-time high as Mark Zuckerberg goes on AI hiring blitz

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Meta shares hit a record high on Monday, underscoring investor interest in the company's new AI superintelligence group. The company's shares reached $747.90 during midday trading, topping Meta's previous stock market record in February when it began laying off the 5% of its workforce that it deemed "low performers." Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on an AI hiring b

MagSafe Monday: The best gear to travel with this summer

MagSafe for traveling is one of the best use cases. It keeps you from needing a ton of cables in your bag and makes it easy to keep your gear charged. The dream would be a MagSafe cable that worked on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, but life can’t be that simple. Nevertheless, a few MagSafe accessories are must-haves for your summer travel bag. Some of my favorite gear Abode Home Security System Abode is the best home security system and includes compatibility with HomeKit. MagSafe Monday: Every Monday

Proton Mail developer sues Apple in the U.S., says App Store model breaks antitrust laws

Privacy-focused Swiss tech company Proton, best known for its encrypted email service Proton Mail, is suing Apple in the United States on behalf of “millions” of developers around the world. Here are the details. The proposed class action, filed Monday in California (via Reuters), claims Apple has: “eliminated competition and extracted supracompetitive profits from app developers through a web of exclusionary conduct.” Proton says the lawsuit represents millions of iOS developers who are subje

An "Indie Rock Band" That Appears to Be Entirely AI-Generated Is Making Alarming Amounts of Money on Spotify

While real artists struggle to earn money on Spotify, a seemingly AI-generated "band" has garnered enough streams to actually make a buck. As Music Ally reports, the act in question, The Velvet Sundown, recently appeared out of the blue on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and even YouTube — despite having no digital footprint prior to this summer. Despite being so seemingly young, The Velvet Sundown — whose name is a clear ripoff of Lou Reed's legendary psych-rock band The Velvet Un

The Pixel 10 Pro XL may boast the largest battery in Pixel history

Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR A new leak suggests that the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL may offer few changes compared to last year’s models. The devices will reportedly feature the new Tensor G5 chipset, 16GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage. Although the camera hardware is expected to remain the same as last year’s models, the devices will bring some improvements on the battery and charging front. While we’re still weeks away from the rumored Pixel 10 series launch event, we alr

Topics: 10 models pixel pro xl

Helix: A Modern, High-Performance Language

Helix: A Modern, High-Performance Language. Key Goals of Helix: High-performance: The language is designed to be as fast as C, with modern features and a more expressive syntax. Safety: Focused on safe memory management without sacrificing developer productivity and freedom. Borrow Checker: Implements a Advanced Memory Tracking system for memory safety, while being far less strict than other languages. Robustness: Provides tools and features that ensure code stability and reduce runtime err

A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

The United Nations’ Global E-waste Monitor estimates that the world generates over 60 million metric tons of e-waste annually. Furthermore, this number is rising five times faster than e-waste recycling. Much of this waste comes from prematurely discarded electronic devices. Many enterprises follow a standard three-year replacement cycle, assuming older computers are inefficient. However, many of these devices are still functional and could perform well with minor upgrades or maintenance. The i

Project Hail Mary trailer looks like a winner for Andy Weir fans

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller co-direct Project Hail Mary, based on Andy Weir's 2021 novel. We here at Ars were big fans of 2015's The Martian, adapted from Andy Weir's novel of the same name. So our interest was naturally piqued when he heard about a new film, Project Hail Mary, based on Weir's bestselling 2021 novel. Amazon MGM Studios just released the first trailer, and the movie looks great—very much in the vein of The Martian. (Some spoilers below, but nothing that isn't in the traile

Pixelmator Pro just got its first Apple Intelligence features and more

Pixelmator is now owned by Apple, so it was only a matter of time before the suite of photo apps was updated with Apple Intelligence support. Today, Pixelmator Pro for Mac is the first in Apple’s trio of products to get new AI features alongside accessibility improvements and more. When Apple acquired Pixelmator, it gained ownership of three separate apps: Pixelmator Pro for Mac Pixelmator for iPhone and iPad Photomator for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Before the acquisition, Pixelmator Pro was cl

There Are No New Ideas in AI Only New Datasets

Most people know that AI has made unbelievable progress over the last fifteen years– especially in the last five. It might feel like that progress is *inevitable* – although large paradigm-shift-level breakthroughs are uncommon, we march on anyway through a stream of slow & steady progress. In fact, some researchers have recently declared a “Moore’s Law for AI” where the computer’s ability to do certain things (in this case, certain types of coding tasks) increases exponentially with time: the