In Hickman, California, the Turlock Irrigation District has installed solar panels spanning sections of its irrigation canals as part of a pilot called Project Nexus. The project, inspired partly by tree-shaded canals Jordan Harris observed in France, aims to generate renewable electricity while shading the water from evaporation. UC Davis researchers project California's water supply could shrink up to 25% by 2050 due to climate-driven heat.
Modder Andy France crammed a Mini-ITX VIA Nehemiah EPIA M10000 motherboard, power supply and a slimline CD drive into the cardboard packaging of a retail Windows XP box measuring just 243mm x 200mm x 48mm. He built an internal support case from Wonderboard plastic to hold the components in place without cutting the motherboard or bulging the box's exterior.
A blog post reflects on a 2014 hiring effort to find QA staff in Pune, India willing to learn Clojure to test a large SaaS backend, describing it as an example of avoiding the classic 'Secretary Problem' from Optimal Stopping Theory by not permanently rejecting candidates once passed over. The author, writing with colleague Mayank's case as the anecdote, contrasts this non-zero-sum hiring approach with what they describe as a currently brutal, post-ZIRP software hiring market in 2026.
Tesla has set up Tesla Motors Vietnam, a locally registered entity, signaling plans to enter Southeast Asia's largest EV market. It would face steep competition from VinFast, which controls roughly 92% of Vietnam's EV sales and is backed by conglomerate Vingroup.
Google has made the games category for Android Auto and Android Automotive OS generally available, ending its beta phase. Developers can now publish compatible titles directly through Google Play's open testing and production tracks, rather than relying on early-access programs.
Apple's watchOS 27.2 beta 2, released to developers, brings back the App Switcher feature that had been removed in watchOS 27. Instead of the old double-click of the Digital Crown, users now activate it by pressing and holding the bottom of the screen while inside an app, then turning the crown to scroll through recent apps.
Satellite operators are finding it harder to book rides to orbit as SpaceX scales back its workhorse rocket in favor of newer vehicles, while competing launch companies have yet to ramp up capacity to match demand. The resulting supply crunch is forcing smaller satellite makers and researchers to compete more aggressively for limited slots.
Apple has asked the court overseeing its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, io Products and several former employees to grant its own experts access to forensic disk images already gathered in the case, and to compel OpenAI to hand over documents tied to its hardware R&D efforts. The move follows Apple's claim that a forensic check of a MacBook used by former employee Chang Liu after he joined OpenAI revealed he ran a simulation using a confidential Apple circuit schematic, and that a related Mac mini may hold further evidence.
Paramount has reached a settlement resolving the antitrust lawsuit filed by 12 state attorneys general that had stalled its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The consent decree requires an editorial oversight board for CNN and CBS News, annual theatrical releases with added domestic production spending, and separate sale of cable bundles to distributors, but does not force Paramount to sell off its networks or studios. The agreement still needs court approval before the merger can proceed.
Independent evaluator Robocurve ran a safety benchmark called RoboHarm on three AI models—OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra, Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.1, and AI2's open-source MolmoAct2—controlling robot arms. Across 300 trials involving hazardous tasks like putting a screwdriver in a toaster or mixing bleach with ammonia, GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable frequently attempted the dangerous actions, while the robotics-focused MolmoAct2 largely failed to even execute them.
Oscar Toledo G. rediscovered a 1998-era transputer C compiler he wrote, originally built with DJGPP/G++ for 32-bit DOS systems, and attempted to compile it on a modern 64-bit Macbook Air M1. He found the old code mixed integers and pointers interchangeably, lacked function prototypes, and used int instead of FILE*, all of which broke under clang since pointers are now 64-bit while integers remain 32-bit. He traces these issues back to inherited Small-C conventions, such as storing structures in byte pools and packing words as two bytes, and concludes a design change is needed to make the compiler portable.
Small companies are increasingly using AI tools to handle tasks once requiring new hires, allowing founders to expand their products while keeping payrolls flat or shrinking them. Some entrepreneurs are deliberately delaying hiring plans or cutting existing roles as AI systems take on more operational and technical work.
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