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Tech News
A new report from the Center for an Urban Future finds that entry-level tech jobs in New York City have fallen roughly by half, even as the city's overall tech sector keeps expanding. The report notes major firms including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have expanded their New York presence, with tech employment up 160% between 2008 and 2023, second only to San Francisco's growth.
With election forecasters shifting more races toward Democrats six weeks before voting, existing Democratic-authored AI bills are being cited as a preview of the party's regulatory priorities if it gains control of Congress. Fast Company's AI Decoded newsletter highlights these bills as indicators of favored approaches to AI oversight, including transparency and safety requirements.
Robert Herjavec, an investor on ABC's 'Shark Tank,' recounted to the Wall Street Journal how his family fled Yugoslavia in 1970 with just $50 after his father was repeatedly arrested for opposing the Communist Party. He described arriving in Canada unable to speak English, working an unpaid office manager job in his early 20s to break into tech, and eventually earning equity that funded his 1990 founding of the Herjavec Group, an IT security firm.
Commentary on tech industry layoffs points to a broader trend: the US labor participation rate has dropped to levels last seen in the 1970s. Observers argue that the focus on layoff headlines obscures this larger shift, which they link partly to the growing use of AI in workplaces.
A newly released app called ZuckOff scans for Bluetooth signals emitted by popular AI smart-eyewear brands and warns users when such devices are nearby. The tool is designed to flag the presence of camera-equipped smart glasses, such as those from Meta, in a user's vicinity.
German outlet PC Games Hardware tested Lisuan Tech's LX 7G100 four months after launch and multiple driver updates, finding its performance essentially unchanged. The Chinese GPU roughly matches AMD's nine-year-old Radeon RX 580, trails the seven-year-old GeForce RTX 2060 by up to 35%, and delivers only about a third of the performance of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5060.
Technology industry associations are pressing the Trump administration to withdraw a proposed Department of Homeland Security rule that would impose a $103,265 fee on H-1B visa applications. The proposal has revived long-running tensions between the administration and tech companies over the future of skilled-worker immigration policy.
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is starting a new academy aimed at training aspiring startup founders, backed by $42 million in funding. The program is positioned as an alternative to traditional college education for people who want to build tech companies.
Eight Sleep released its Pod 6 smart mattress cooling/heating device with a 50% smaller footprint and a new solo size for single sleepers, priced from $1,999 for solo and $2,699 for standard sizes. The company says the new pod adjusts temperature 20% faster and has 9x more sensors than the prior generation, letting it distinguish between two sleepers or ignore a pet or child on the bed. The device launches today in more than 37 countries and is compatible with existing accessories.
US safety regulator NHTSA has launched an investigation into Comma.ai's aftermarket openpilot driver-assistance system following five reported crashes, two of them fatal, resulting in three deaths and up to 11 injuries. The agency says the incidents involved the system failing to detect or respond to slow or stopped vehicles ahead in the same lane, and notes some crashes may have involved modified 'forked' versions of the software, including one fatal Louisiana crash running a fork called FrogPilot.
Eight Sleep launched the Pod 6 bed-cooling system, featuring a hub 50% shorter than the Pod 5 with more thermal power, and for the first time offering solo-size options like twin XL and half sizes. Solo configurations start at $1,999, while standard sizes start at $2,699, and the device now includes 80% more sensors per side for sleep tracking.
A growing number of people are buying gadgets, including a $60 plastic cube, designed to lock down smartphone features and reduce compulsive scrolling. These tools intentionally strip phones of advanced functions, pushing them back toward the simplicity of older devices.