Some loosely organized thoughts on the current zeitgeist
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In the last five years since we’ve been making the show, we’ve seen an unfortunate amount of violence in the United States: the kidnapping attempt on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer; the January 6th attack on the Capitol; the assassination attempts on President Trump; the political assassinations of Democratic representatives in Minnesota; the attack on Speaker Pelosi’s husband; the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk; the recent shooting at an ABC affiliate station in Cali
In Brief Microsoft is leaning into its new partnership with OpenAI’s chief rival, Anthropic. Starting Wednesday, the software giant will incorporate Anthropic’s AI models into its AI assistant Copilot, which has previously been fueled mainly by OpenAI. The deal signals yet another step toward the slow disentangling between the erstwhile exclusive partners, and comes a couple of weeks after Microsoft inked a deal to use Anthropic’s AI in Office 365 apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook. Copilot b
Introducing SedonaDB: A single-node analytical database engine with geospatial as a first-class citizen The Apache Sedona community is excited to announce the initial release of SedonaDB! 🎉 SedonaDB is the first open-source, single-node analytical database engine that treats spatial data as a first-class citizen. It is developed as a subproject of Apache Sedona. Apache Sedona powers large-scale geospatial processing on distributed engines like Spark (SedonaSpark), Flink (SedonaFlink), and Sno
The Artemis 2 mission will be NASA’s most ambitious human spaceflight endeavor since the Apollo 17 Moon landing. Preparations for this feat have reflected its arduousness, with multiple delays pushing the launch back several years. Now, Artemis 2 may lift off sooner than expected. During a press briefing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Tuesday, officials said the 10-day-long crewed flight around the Moon could launch as early as February 5 and no later than April. ”The administr
NAD plus supplements are gaining attention on social media thanks to a claim that they can help to "reverse" the aging process. NAD plus is a compound that naturally exists in your body and is responsible for keeping your skin looking youthful. However, its levels decrease as you age, so it stands to reason that a supplement could help increase those levels. Many people have taken to Reddit and social media to inquire about the potential skin care effects of this supplement, particularly for mor
On Tuesday, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced plans for five new US AI data center sites for Stargate, their joint AI infrastructure project, bringing the platform to nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity and over $400 billion in investment over the next three years. The massive buildout aims to handle ChatGPT's 700 million weekly users and train future AI models, although critics question whether the investment structure can sustain itself. The companies said the expansion puts them on t
In a five-month joint operation led by Interpol, law enforcement agencies have seized more than $439 million in cash and cryptocurrency linked to cyber-enabled financial crimes that impacted thousands of victims worldwide. Codenamed Operation HAECHI VI, it involved authorities from 40 countries and five continents between April and August 2025. HAECHI VI targeted a wide range of criminal activities, from voice phishing, investment fraud, e-commerce fraud, and online sextortion to business emai
OpenAI’s massive Stargate project, an AI infrastructure partnership with Oracle and SoftBank, just announced five new sites, setting the stage for AI data centers to start popping up across the U.S. over the next decade. OpenAI said on Tuesday that the new data centers, along with the project’s flagship site in Abilene, Texas and other ongoing projects, would bring Stargate to nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity and more than $400 billion in investment over the next three years. For context,
Taiwan has begun evolving its trade strategy to start wielding its dominant position as a leading supplier of cutting-edge chips as a weapon, Bloomberg reported. The move comes amid Donald Trump's heightening global trade war and after years of Taiwan's use of its chip dominance as a shield against Chinese aggression, with Taiwan allying with the US to stave off China's threats of invasion. Under the so-called "one-China principle," China has rejected Taiwan's independence, requiring allies to
It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot The news: The first large-scale computational analysis of the Reddit community r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, which is dedicated to discussing AI relationships, found that many people formed those relationships unintentionally while using AI for other purposes. In fact, only 6.5% of them said they’d deliberately sought out an AI companion. Why it matters: The study found that AI companionship provides vital support for some but exace
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is the strategy RPG I have been waiting for. I’ve been a Final Fantasy girlie ever since I discovered Final Fantasy VIII on my brother’s PSX demo disk when I was a teenager. While I have loved, or found something to love, in every title since the original PlayStation era, this is my first time playing Tactics — a title widely considered among Final Fantasy diehards to be one of the franchise’s best. With this new remaster, I now understand why. In t
In Brief The U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Wednesday that a man was arrested in connection to the ransomware attack that has caused delays and disruptions at several European airports since the weekend. The hack targeted check-in systems provided by Collins Aerospace on Friday, causing delays at Brussels, Berlin, Dublin, and London’s Heathrow airport, which lasted until yesterday. While the NCA did not name the man, it said he is “in his forties” and that he was arrested in the s
That meant that more people met the criteria for an autism diagnosis. Lerner points out that there is also far more awareness of the condition today than there was several decades ago. “There’s autism representation in the media,” he says. “There are plenty of famous people in the news and finance and in business and in Hollywood who are publicly, openly autistic.” Is Tylenol a contributor to autism? Some studies have found an association between the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy and autis
“The demand for chatbot relationships is there, and it is notably high—pretending it’s not happening is clearly not the solution,” she says. “We’re edging toward a moral panic here, and while we absolutely do need better guardrails, I worry there will be a knee-jerk reaction that further stigmatizes these relationships. That could ultimately cause more harm.” The study is intended to offer a snapshot of how adults form bonds with chatbots and doesn’t capture the kind of dynamics that could be a
Gael Cooper CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
These Deodorants Are Just OK Photograph: Louryn Strampe Kopari Performance Plus Deodorant for $20: This deodorant smells great—like a floral, beachy coconut. It’s more fresh than sweet, and I’d say it’s unisex-leaning-feminine. It goes on clear and smooth, and it didn’t stain my clothes at all. However, it didn’t last me through a workout without reapplying, unlike some other brands I tried. I think it’s fine, but I wouldn’t call it a “performance deodorant.” If you’re looking for a clear form
Token Probabilities Tap on the token inspector icon to reveal the probabilities for each token, showing you exactly what the model was thinking at each step. Here you can also select alternative tokens to generate an alternative response.
TikTok child data protection inadequate, Canadian privacy officials say TikTok told the BBC that it will introduce a number of measures to "strengthen our platform for Canadians" although it disputes some of the findings. The investigation also found TikTok had collected sensitive personal information from "a large number" of Canadian children and used it for online marketing and content targeting. Hundreds of thousands of children in the country use TikTok each year despite the firm saying i
Venezuelan Bolivar and U.S. Dollar banknotes and representations of cryptocurrency Tether are seen in this illustration taken Sept. 8, 2025. Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin, is evaluating a major fundraising round, its CEO Paolo Ardoino, has confirmed, in a deal that could reportedly put the crypto company's value on par with OpenAI. The El Salvador-based company is looking to raise between $15 billion and $20 billion for a roughly 3% stake through a private placement, acc
Upon release of Hotfix #34 on your Steam Deck, your device will install the Native version. If you are unsure whether the build has been installed correctly, you can do the following: Go to the game’s Steam page. Click on the Settings button and select Properties. Once in the Properties page, go to the Compatibility tab. Tick the box for “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool”. Select any version that has Linux Runtime. Allow the game to update if an update appears.
It's been more than 50 years since astronauts last went to the moon, and yet few NASA missions stir the kind of excitement that the Apollo program once did. But now, NASA has new moon plans. The upcoming Artemis II mission, scheduled for February, will be the closest humanity has come to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. And it'll be setting the stage for another moon landing. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
In Brief OpenAI announced on Tuesday that it plans to build five new AI data centers across the United States with partners Oracle and SoftBank through its Stargate project. The new data centers will bring Stargate’s planned capacity to seven gigawatts — enough energy to power more than five million homes. Three of the new sites are being developed with Oracle. They’re located in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and an undisclosed location in the Midwest. The other two s
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) — the country’s largest organization of Earth and space scientists, engineers, and technologists in Greenbelt, Maryland — is making drastic changes following severe budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. According to an internal memo sent to staffers obtained by NASA Watch, the center is kicking off a “series of moves” that will “reduce our footprint into fewer buildings” as soon as this week. The memo shows a surprising degree of urgency.
Jonathan Feist / Android Authority The Narwal Freo X Ultra may no longer be the latest and greatest from the brand, but it was our favorite robot vacuum until its successor came around. Even in 2025, this is a formidable robot vacuum and mop combo, especially at today’s low price. Get the Narwal Freo X Ultra robot vacuum and mop for only $499.99 ($900 off) This offer is available from Amazon, and it comes in two stages. The product has an automatic discount that brings the cost down to $699.99
OpenAI is planning to build five new data centers in the United States as part of the Stargate initiative, the company announced on Tuesday. The sites, which are being developed in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank, bring Stargate’s current planned capacity to nearly 7 gigawatts—roughly the same amount of power as seven large-scale nuclear reactors. “AI is different from the internet in a lot of ways, but one of them is just how much infrastructure it takes,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said durin
Following countless delays plaguing its efforts to return the first astronauts to the lunar surface in over half a century, NASA could finally be bucking the trend. NASA officials revealed today that the agency’s Artemis 2 mission, which will see a crew of four astronauts travel around the Moon and back, could launch as soon as February 5, roughly two months earlier than previously anticipated. Back in December, NASA’s administrator at the time Bill Nelson announced that Artemis 2 would be pus
September 22, 2025 • 2 min read I was lucky enough to make a few friends my first semester of college. We ended up hanging out quite a bit during those early months. We’d all get excited for the weekends because Friday nights meant going out to party. Everyone except for Anna, that is. Anna was quiet, shy, and a definitely a goody-two-shoes. She was from Alabama and spoke with a pronounced southern drawl I’d rarely heard in Maryland. She was reserved but friendly once you got to know her. Ann
You know how annoying it is to click multiple edits on a photo? What's that? It's actually pretty easy to do. Well, Google says otherwise and has a solution for you: conversational editing, a feature that lets you tell Google your requested edits, rather than have to make them yourself. Google first introduced conversational editing to Pixel 10 phones, but the company is now rolling it out to Android users in the US. It should be available for any adults who have their Google account set to Eng
Today, we're starting to roll out the conversational editing feature first introduced on Pixel 10 to all eligible Android users in the U.S. Forget switching between tools and adjusting sliders. You can simply describe the edits you want using your voice or text and watch Google Photos bring your vision to life. And now even more people can try it. Just tap “Help me edit” in the editor, describe what you want changed and voila, Photos takes care of it for you — with a little help from advanced G