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The Debrief: Power and energy

Yet in many ways right now the US seems to be forgetting those lessons. It is moving backward in terms of its clean-­energy strategy, especially when it comes to powering the grid, in ways that will affect the nation for decades to come—even as China and others are surging forward. And that retreat is taking place just as electricity demand and usage are growing again after being flat for nearly two decades. That growth, according to the US Energy Information Administration, is “coming from the

The Bank Secrecy Act is failing everyone. It’s time to rethink financial surveillance.

The US is on the brink of enacting rules for digital assets, with growing bipartisan momentum to modernize our financial system. But amid all the talk about innovation and global competitiveness, one issue has been glaringly absent: financial privacy. As we build the digital infrastructure of the 21st century, we need to talk about not just what’s possible but what’s acceptable. That means confronting the expanding surveillance powers quietly embedded in our financial system, which today can tra

Fairphone Gen 6 is here with a modular design that gives you even more freedom

Supplied by Fairphone TL;DR Fairphone has announced the Fairphone Gen 6 smartphone. The phone maintains a repairable, modular design, but now has accessories that attach to its back. The Fairphone Gen 6 has a recommended price of ~$695, while a deGoogled version will be available in the US for $899. Fairphone has made a name for itself over the years thanks to its repairable designs, long update policies, and sustainable approach to smartphone manufacturing. We’ve been expecting a new phone

Why I always put my phone face down on a table - and it's not just about being polite

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET A friend of mine recently told me, "I always keep my phone on silent mode… which doesn't matter because I compulsively look at it every three minutes anyway." He's not the only one. From becoming a text addict to having full-blown smartphone dependency, the urge to look at and interact with our "flat things" has been deeply ingrained into our collective behavior for some time now. Also: Best early Prime Day deals 2025: 30+ sales on tech products live now Monitoring your p

This Acer laptop has a game-changing feature for multimedia consumption (and it's $300 off)

ZDNET's key takeaways The Acer Swift Go 14 (2024) is on sale now at B&H for $599. It's a lightweight, responsive laptop with a touchscreen, and a slick media playback menu. However, for a laptop so optimized for media, its speakers aren't the best. $599 at B&H Photo-Video The 14-inch Acer Swift Go was among the first round of laptops to come loaded with Intel's Meteor Lake AI processors last year, and it does so for $899 (on sale now for $599), a mid-range price point right in the sweet spot

The best noise-canceling earbuds of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed

When did everything become so noisy? The best noise-canceling earbuds don't just improve your music-listening experience, they also offer up complete silence when you need zero distractions. Active noise-cancelation (ANC) is a highly coveted feature in the current earbud market. With the help of tiny microphones on the earbuds' exterior, ANC earbuds actively cancel out incoming sound waves, preserving quiet while amplifying in-ear sound. No matter how strong a pair's noise-canceling powers are,

Lyon Drops Microsoft to Boost Digital Sovereignty

▼ Summary – Lyon will gradually replace Microsoft software with open-source alternatives like Only Office, Linux, and PostgreSQL to reduce dependency on U.S. solutions. – The city aims to achieve digital sovereignty by transitioning to free and interoperable software. – Lyon will use the Territoire Numérique Ouvert suite, developed with SITIV and Métropole de Lyon, for its digital needs. – The Territoire Numérique Ouvert suite is already used by thousands of employees across 9 local governmen

$2,000 Slashed Off Dell’s 15-Inch Laptop, Prime Day Deal Leaves Amazon’s Margin Gone

If you’re looking for a premium laptop, this early Prime Day deal on the Dell Inspiron 15-inch touchscreen laptop is one you won’t want to miss – and it’s open to both Prime and non-Prime members. Amazon has bundled this powerful (i7, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) machine with a set of high-value accessories including a lifetime subscription to Microsoft Office Pro, a USB drive, a mouse, and a 7-in-1 USB hub. The regular retail price is $2,599 but with this limited-time offer, you can have the laptop for

Want a Sustainable Android? The Modular Fairphone 6 Delivers

Sustainable tech leader Fairphone unveiled its latest modular device on Thursday at an event in Amsterdam, presenting a clear challenge to mainstream phone-makers everywhere. The Fairphone 6 is a fully repairable Android phone built to last, with what the company says is its lowest carbon footprint yet. Fairphone is a phone-maker like no other. Rather than being just another tech company making a generic Android phone, Fairphone is a value-driven Dutch social enterprise that sources materials e

Netflix Noooo! One of My Favorite Games and 21 Others Will Get the Axe Soon

More than a year after Netflix added the award-winning game Hades to its gaming service, the streaming giant will remove the game from its service on July 1. No, I'm not crying, I just have something in my eye. Supergiant Games released Hades in 2018 to near-universal acclaim before releasing the game on Netflix. It won numerous awards, including Game of the Year and Action Game of the Year at the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. It also made history as the first (and so far only) game to win a Hug

Snake Venom, Urine, and a Quest to Live Forever: Inside a Biohacking Conference Emboldened by MAHA

I have been to the undying convention. I have been pressurized in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and bathed in flickering gamma-wave light. I have had my electromagnetic field manipulated. I have taken an IV drip of green liquid that looked nearly radioactive. I have been frozen in a cryochamber (and felt amazing afterward) and baked in a one-man, zippable sauna (I didn’t). I have eaten more consecutive meals of beef than ever in my life, grinding unrefined Kalahari desert salt over the slabs of f

This New Watch Is Being Purpose-Built for Space Exploration—and It's Not an Omega

When you think of space exploration and watches, one name immediately comes to mind: Omega. Since its Speedmaster chronograph was selected by NASA half a century ago it has become synonymous with space travel. The timing of a 13-second engine burn to save Apollo 13 cemented its role in space history, and Omega has not missed a single opportunity to deepen the partnership, from officially naming it the Moonwatch to creating endless commemorative limited editions (even if it is by no means the onl

The smaller Fairphone 6 introduces swappable accessories

is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid. Fairphone has announced its latest repairable smartphone, nearly two years after introducing the last upgrade. The new Fairphone 6 is smaller and 9 percent lighter than its predecessor, but it includes a larger 4,415mAh battery — easily replaceable by removing just seven screws — that will power the phone for up to 53 hours on a full charge. It’s

Updating to Android 16 gives you 2 useful security features - but you need to enable them

Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Google released Android 16 a bit earlier than expected, and although it was missing some crucial features, there are key additions to the platform that go a long way to improve security. This was an important step forward, as the need for improved security grows every year. Without companies like Google, Apple, and others upping the ante on security, the mobile space would wind up the wild west of the technological landscape, with ne'er-do-wells poppi

Advanced Python Function Debugging with MCP Integration

Gnosis Mystic 🔮 AI-Powered Python Function Analysis and Control Gnosis Mystic gives AI assistants direct access to your Python functions through runtime hijacking and intelligent analysis. Add minimal decorators, and Claude can inspect, optimize, and control your code in real-time. Inspiration and Work Mystic was inspired by Giantswarm's mcp-debug. Code by fairly stock Claude Code. Prompts, code sketches, and planning by Claude Desktop using Gnosis Evolve tools. ✨ Why Gnosis Mystic? The P

Best Portable Air Conditioners: Cooling Your Home One Room at a Time

Not only did the Midea MAP14HS1TBL excel in performance compared with most portable air conditioners we tested, but it also has a lot of features and specialty options. This model isn't cheap, but it's a well-rounded luxury AC unit with everything you need -- and then some. To start, the MAP14HS1TBL has the highest cooling capacity of any other model we tested. Those 12,000 BTUs come in handy for cooling larger spaces up to 550 square feet, and it showed in the performance. The Midea model beat

The economics behind "Basic Economy" – A masterclass in price discrimination

Basic Economy fares are ultra-restricted airline tickets that offer a lower base price in exchange for fewer benefits than standard economy class. Introduced by major U.S. carriers in the 2010s, these fares have become a widespread strategy for market segmentation - a textbook example of price discrimination in practice. By design, Basic Economy compels travelers to self-select based on their willingness to pay and tolerate restrictions, thus allowing airlines to maximize revenue from different

If You Own an iPhone, Amazon Is Offering a Free AirTag Before Prime Day

Apple doesn’t often discount products, and AirTags have never been on sale from the Apple website or in Apple stores. Amazon, however, occasionally surprises us with exclusive pricing on these useful Bluetooth trackers. For the best value, a pack of AirTags is nearly always a better buy than a single one. Amazon is also running a great deal just in time for Prime Day: purchase three AirTags and receive a fourth free. That drops the price of four AirTags to just $74, down from the regular $99 ($

Immune molecules may affect mood

“If you’re sick, there’s so many more things that are happening to your internal states, your mood, and your behavioral states, and that’s not simply you being fatigued physically. It has something to do with the brain,” she says. In the cortex, the researchers found certain receptors in a population of neurons that, when overactivated, can lead to autism-like symptoms such as reduced sociability in mice. But the researchers determined that the neurons become less excitable when a specific form

Cancer-targeting nanoparticles are moving closer to human trials

In the original production technique, layers with different properties can be laid down by alternately exposing a particle to positively and negatively charged polymers, with extensive purification to remove excess polymer after each application. Each layer can carry therapeutics as well as molecules that help the particles find and enter cancer cells. But the process is time-consuming and would be difficult to scale up. In the new work, the researchers used a microfluidic mixing device that al

PyTorch Reshaping with None

PyTorch Reshaping with None Currently I am learning attention mechanism from Dive into Deep Learning book. In the book I see following implementation in masked softmax: def sequence_mask (X, valid_len, value = - 1e6 ): """ X is 2D array (number_of_points, maxlen), valid_len is 1D array (number_of_points)""" max_len = X . size( 1 ) mask = torch . arange(max_len, dtype = torch . float32, device = X . device)[ None , :] < valid_len[:, None ] X[ ~ mask] = value return X In sequential data process

World Curling tightens sweeping rules, bans firmer broom foams ahead of Olympics

World Curling has tightened its sweeping equipment rules heading into the Olympic season. The move, announced Friday, follows concern over firmer broom foams that many players said gave sweepers too much control. Several high-profile models — including some from Goldline, BalancePlus and Hardline — are now banned. Only brushes with less-firm foam are approved for competition, effective immediately. World Curling said the decision followed extensive consultation with players, manufacturers and

Forget the Mac Mini, This HP Mini PC with Windows 11 Pro Is 70% Off in Early Prime Day Deals

HP is competing directly with Apple’s Mac Mini in the world of compact desktops. The HP Pro Mini 400 G9 Mini PC is currently available at a record low price on Amazon and makes it a great chance to get a high-end machine at a much lower cost. The price is the big news: this model (32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD, Intel 6-Core i5-12500T) is now just $699 which is 70% off its usual price of $2,339. On HP’s own website, a similar setup would cost close to the original price. See at Amazon Build for

Topics: mini pc price type usb

Facebook Group admins complain of mass bans — Meta says it’s fixing the problem

After a wave of mass bans affecting Instagram and Facebook users alike, Meta users are now complaining that Facebook Groups are also being impacted by mass suspensions. According to individual complaints and organized efforts on sites like Reddit to share information, the bans have affected thousands of groups both in the U.S. and abroad and have spanned various categories. When reached for comment, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed the company was aware of the issue and working to correct

New data highlights the race to build more empathetic language models

Measuring AI progress has usually meant testing scientific knowledge or logical reasoning – but while the major benchmarks still focus on left-brain logic skills, there’s been a quiet push within AI companies to make models more emotionally intelligent. As foundation models compete on soft measures like user preference and “feeling the AGI,” having a good command of human emotions may be more important than hard analytic skills. One sign of that focus came on Friday, when prominent open-source

Ambarella shares soar more than 20% on report chip designer is exploring sale

Ambarella shares popped 20.6% after a report that the chip designer is currently working with bankers on a potential sale. Shares also notched their best session since September 2021. Bloomberg reported the news, citing sources familiar with the matter. While no deal is imminent, the sources told Bloomberg that the firm may draw interest from semiconductor companies looking to improve their automotive business. Private equity firms have already expressed interest, according to the report.

You’ve got one week to stock up on Philips Hue gear before a tariff-fueled price hike

We’d usually advise most shoppers to wait until Prime Day to get the best prices on tech, but smart home buyers in the US may want to consider stocking up in the next week. Philips Hue devices are already on the costly side, but it has now been confirmed that prices will increase from July 1. The unsurprising reason is the impact of US tariffs. After alluding to the price hike in a marketing email, Hue’s parent company, Signify, confirmed the increases in a statement to HueBlog. No further deta

Topics: home hue july price smart

Save $25 on the Anker Laptop Power Bank and keep all your devices juiced up

Dave Carr So yoy keep running out of juice mid-day? The best solution is to get a power bank, and this one is one of our favorite ones right now. The Anker Laptop Power Bank is very portable, well-built, and plenty capable. It’s also $25.01 off today! Buy the Anker Laptop Power Bank for just $109.98 ($25.01 off) This offer is available from Amazon. You can get the same discount on both the Black and Silver color models. The Anker Laptop Power Bank seems to have suffered from the recent market

Google Fi rolling out visual voicemail support for the iPhone

As previewed in April, Google Fi Wireless is rolling out support for visual voicemail on the iPhone. With this update, voicemail will no longer be available in the Fi app. Going forward, voicemail will appear in the iOS Phone app. Previously, subscribers had to use the Google Fi companion app to hear and read those messages. Now, Fi users will be able to “play, share, and delete voicemail messages directly through their device’s Phone app. Additionally, they will “no longer receive duplicate v