Between scrubbing government websites of information about everything from vaccine efficacy to LGBT health matters and the ongoing war with higher education, the Trump administration seems to have a problem with freely available information that doesn't align with its particular ideology. Earlier this week, a Trump appointed attorney sent a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation accusing it of allowing the spread of propaganda and threatening its nonprofit status. Martin accuses the Wikimedia Foundation of falling short of te requirements to maintain that status because, he claims, Wikipedia is “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda,” and “permitting information manipulation on its platform, including the rewriting of key, historical events and biographical information of current and previous American leaders, as well as other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States.” He also claims that because the foundation's board is made up of “primarily foreign nationals,” that it is “subverting the interests of American taxpayers.” In order to quell these supposed concerns that read more like a thinly veiled threat to fall in line with the administration's preferred version of history, Martin requested documents and responses to a slew of questions, including details about the organization's safeguards to prevent propaganda and processes in place to prevent foreign influence campaigns. This type of attack made on Department of Justice letterhead has become Martin's calling card, so Wikipedia is in good company for a very bad precedent. Martin also sent letters to CHEST Journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology in recent weeks, accusing the peer-reviewed scientific journals of being “partisans in various scientific debates” and failing to include scientists with “competing viewpoints” in their publications. Martin is also the guy who threatened to take legal action against publications that reported on employees working for the Department of Government Efficiency and demanded that multiple lawmakers who spoke out against Elon Musk's ongoing dismantling of the federal government clarify their statements that he alleged were threats against him. Given that Musk has made Wikipedia a target, calling it “Wokepedia” and claiming that it is “an extension of legacy media propaganda,” it's no surprise that Martin turned his attention to the free, community-managed online encyclopedia. He's serving as the government's attack dog, and frankly he comes off as a petty little tyrant about the whole thing. But credit where it's due, he's very good at sending letters. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. News from the future, delivered to your present. Efficient appliances used to have bipartisan support. If you like your job as a medical researcher, better not have any mean thoughts about what's happening in Gaza. Weird how chaos seems to follow him. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. This function arrives with Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.550 on the Dev Channel. From there, you can click on the Filter profanity toggle to disable it, allowing your PC to record your curse words and type them as they are. What's more interesting is that Microsoft introduced this feature to “address the top customer feedback for voice typing by rolling out a new setting that lets you control the profanity filter.” Before this feature became available, you could not write curse words using voice typing because Windows would automatically censor them. Thankfully, the filter is on by default, ensuring you won't get any surprise expletives in your voice-typed document. But if it doesn't have any bugs and Microsoft does not receive a glut of complaints, you can expect the profanity filter switch to get a general release in the coming months. Aside from this interesting toggle, the Dev Channel also gets to test a couple of new features. It's similar to the right-click function PC users have been familiar with over the decades, but is supercharged with local AI processing. We're also getting Improved Search, allowing you to use natural language to find files saved on your PC, instead of relying on file names and keywords. However, unlike the Windows voice typing feature, which you can use on any PC running Windows 11 and is connected online, these AI-powered features run locally. So, you need a Copilot+ PC with an NPU that can deliver at least 40 TOPs to enjoy them. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

Amazon is raising eyebrows with the timing of its big book sale for 2025, which runs from April 23 to 28 — which means it's competing directly with Independent Bookstore Day. As writer Maris Kreisman explained in Lit Hub, Independent Bookstore Day is an annual event organized by the American Booksellers Association (ABA), with events, special guests, and exclusive merchandise at 1,600 participating bookstores. But of course, Amazon remains dominant — in 2020, a House committee estimated that the company controlled more than 50% of the total online and offline print book market, and it's even more dominant in e-books. In fact, Bookshop.org — an Amazon competitor that partners with indie bookstores — emailed customers with a note from CEO Andy Hunter describing Amazon's sale as “a calculated move by a company that has already put half the bookstores in the country out of business, controls over 60% of the market and sells far more books than all indie bookstores combined.” Amazon, however, released a statement describing the timing overlap as “unintentional”: “The dates for our sale were set this year to accommodate additional participating countries.” Slate Auto eyes former Indiana printing plant for its EV truck production An OpenAI researcher who worked on GPT-4.5 had their green card denied Bezos-backed Slate Auto debuts analog EV pickup truck that is decidedly anti-Tesla Wait, how did a decentralized service like Bluesky go down? Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized' ads

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Hyte, a popular case manufacturer known for sleek designs like the Y60 and Y70 Touch, has temporarily paused shipments of certain products to the U.S. In a recent AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit, Hyte's Product Director, Rob Teller, said that while the company is still fulfilling open customer pre-orders, all other shipments have been paused or redirected to other regions. He also added that the company strives to be as transparent as possible regarding shipment timelines for delayed orders, though some uncertainty remains with their manufacturing partners. A recent deep-dive video by Gamers Nexus on the ongoing tariffs fiasco gives more critical information. Hyte was quite transparent in sharing a complete cost breakdown of its Y40 PC case, where it is making a mere 5% profit, roughly $5 per unit sold before the tariffs. An extra 25% tariff under Section 301 is also expected to be implemented by the end of May. Meanwhile, other PC components like fans, coolers, and power supplies have not been spared, complicating matters for companies like Hyte that sell complete ecosystems of components. Responding to a Gamers Nexus inquiry about why Hyte doesn't manufacture its products in the U.S. instead of China, Teller explained that the costs would be prohibitively high. Teller reassured customers that Hyte is working on longer-term solutions, including shifting manufacturing where possible and adapting logistics strategies to minimize disruptions. However, if tariffs continue to impact costs, chances are that some price adjustments across Hyte's product lines might be unavoidable. For now, customers in the U.S. with existing pre-orders can expect their shipments to arrive as planned. Still, those looking to purchase new Hyte products may face limited availability and potentially higher prices in the coming months. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom's Hardware. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

This CPU deal comes with a couple of good freebies. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Right now at Newegg, you can purchase the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X CPU for the lowest price we've seen since it first launched in August of last year. Using promo code SSER2A34 at checkout will take an additional $10 off, bringing it down to $219. This offer comes with some free gifts that further sweeten the deal. When you buy this processor from Newegg, you also get a Patriot P400 500GB M.2 SSD and a copy of the game Monster Hunter Wilds. Combined, the value of these adds up to over $100. We reviewed the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X ourselves and appreciated our experience, but we still recommend checking out our CPU hierarchy list to see how it compares to other processors on the market. AMD Ryzen 5 9600X: now $219 at Newegg (with coupon) (was $279) The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is built around Zen 5 architecture. It has six cores and a total of 12 threads. This model supports PCIe 5.0 and can use up to 192GB of DDR5-5600. The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is unlocked for overclocking and has integrated AMD Radeon graphics, so you don't need an external GPU to get video output. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site. Whether printing important documents, last-minute forms or vital reports, the need hasn't disappeared completely. Instead of spending $500 on a pricey model, there is a better and less expensive option: the HP LaserJet M209d. This black and white compact laser printer is now available on Amazon for just $69, which is a huge 42% markdown from its original price of $119. The compact size of this laser printer enables it to find a comfortable home in any small work space or home office without occupying much real estate. Although small in stature, the HP M209d offers breathtaking speed and quality. With a print speed of up to 30 pages per minute for single-sided prints and up to 19 images per minute for automatic duplex printing, you'll not be kept waiting long for your documents to finish. The HP LaserJet M209d produces clear black-and-white prints at a resolution of 600 x 600 dpi which is perfect for text documents, forms, and business reports. The printer has a 150-sheet paper input tray, which means that you will not need to reload paper frequently – not even for large print jobs. Only when required, smart-guided control panel buttons illuminate and allows simple usage even for those who are not tech-savvy. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. News from the future, delivered to your present. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site. If you've been waiting for the perfect moment to upgrade your kitchen with a top-rated air fryer, now is the perfect time to act. This is only $2 cheaper than its record low price history and a huge decrease from its standard $119 price tag, so this sale is just too good to pass up. Over 20,000 units alone have sold so far this month, and clearly, this air fryer is a home cooking enthusiast who is looking for convenience. The combination of these two technologies yields perfectly crispy and juicy results whether air frying chicken wings, roasting vegetables or baking desserts. The higher airflow system and precise temperature control make sure each dish cooks with perfect consistency so you've consistent textures and flavors with every bite. With nine separate functions including air fry, roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, proof, reheat, frozen, and keep warm, this machine wipes out an array of kitchen appliances and enables you to experiment with an unlimited amount of recipes. The compact yet spacious 6-quart square basket allows enough space to cook family-serving sizes without claiming too much precious counter real estate. Its deeper and broader build means you can prepare more in a single sitting which makes it ideal for families or those who love meal prep. This lets you cook perfectly crispy fries or a batch of chicken tenders in record time even on the most hectic weeknights. Health-conscious chefs will appreciate that this air fryer uses up to 95% less oil than deep frying so you can enjoy all your favorite crispy foods with a lot less guilt. A customizable preheat function offers the option to optimize results or skip preheating for an even faster start. This COSORI air fryer is not frequently priced below $119, so to be able to get it today for $89 is a really great opportunity. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

It needs so much more power than what the grid delivers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. This was supposed to be a temporary solution. It's already 2Q25, and Ars Technica reports that residents say the site is still using over 30 gas turbines, which “release harmful pollution that is tied to asthma, respiratory illnesses, and certain types of cancers.” Currently, xAI has an ongoing application with the Memphis authorities for 15 turbines. But with July 2025 coming quickly, xAI needs to have its applications approved. Otherwise, it risks slowing down its operations (or shutting down completely) without access to the electricity it needs for all its GPUs. We have to note that we only spot eight bright hotspots on the image shared by Ars Technica, which probably indicates an operating generator. The other hotspots are dimmer, which might suggest that they're either idle or cooling down. So, it could be that these generators are being used in shifts to avoid excessive damage to a unit. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. The Colossus Supercomputer has already been approved for 150 MW, but experts say it needs at least 155 MW to run all 100,000 GPUs concurrently. Furthermore, Musk is aggressively expanding his AI dreams, and the site has doubled its computing power to 200,000 GPUs in just 92 days. If xAI is running all of these AI GPUs simultaneously, it would require at least 310 MW of power — this doesn't include its miscellaneous power requirements, including electricity for lights, air conditioning, security systems, and more. Residents are complaining because xAI uses multiple methane gas turbines to cover the shortfall in its electrical needs. They told Ars Technica that it “likely make[s] xAI the largest emitter of smog-forming” pollution, and that they're now working with the SELC to petition the Shelby County Health Department to reject xAI's gas generator applications. What's disconcerting is that flyers from an anonymous group called “Facts Over Fiction” have started appearing around the affected neighborhoods. Still, Justin Pearson, a Tennessee House of Representatives member, has urged local authorities to determine who was behind them. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He's been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he's been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

The hype around OpenAI is so high that some of these startups, like Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence and Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab, have been able to raise billions of dollars without even launching a product. But there are lots of other startups in the OpenAI mafia ecosystem. These range from AI search giant Perplexity to xAI, the new owner of X (formerly Twitter.) There's also smaller outfits with some futuristic plans, like Living Carbon, which is creating plants that suck more carbon out of the atmosphere, or Prosper Robotics, which is building a robot butler. Below is a roundup of the most notable startups founded by OpenAI alumni. Siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei left OpenAI in 2021 to form their own startup, San Francisco-based Anthropic, that has long touted a focus on AI safety. Later, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman joined Anthropic in 2024, pledging to build a “safe AGI.” OpenAI reportedly remains multiple times larger than Anthropic by revenue ($3.7 billion compared to $1 billion for 2024, The Information reported). But Anthropic has quickly grown to become OpenAI's biggest rival and was valued at $61.5 billion in March 2025. OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever left OpenAI in May 2024 after he was reportedly part of a failed effort to replace CEO Sam Altman. But investors are clamoring for a piece anyway, and it's been able to raise $2 billion, with its latest valuation reportedly rising to $32 billion this month. SSI is based in Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel. Mira Murati, OpenAI's CTO, left OpenAI last year to found her own company, Thinking Machines Lab, which emerged from stealth in February 2025, announcing (rather vaguely) that it will build AI that's more “customizable” and “capable.” The San Francisco AI startup has no product or revenue but plenty of former top OpenAI researchers and is reportedly in the process of raising a massive $2 billion seed round valuing it at $10 billion, minimum. His startup has attracted a string of high-profile investors like Jeff Bezos and Nvidia, although it's also caused controversy over alleged unethical web scraping. Palo Alto-based xAI recently acquired X, formerly Twitter, and gave the combined entity a valuation of $113 billion. The all-stock transaction raised some eyebrows but is a good deal if you're betting on Musk's empire. Emmett Shear is the former CEO of Twitch who was OpenAI's interim CEO in November 2023 for a few days before Sam Altman rejoined the company. Shear is working on his own stealth startup, called Stem AI, TechCrunch revealed in 2024. Although there are few details about its activity and fundraising so far, it has already attracted funding from Andreessen Horowitz. Computer vision expert Andrej Karpathy was a founding member and research scientist at OpenAI, leaving the startup to join Tesla in 2017 to lead its autopilot program. Karpathy is also well-known for his YouTube videos explaining core AI concepts. Pilot, which focused initially on doing accounting for startups, last raised a $100 million Series C in 2021 at a $1.2 billion valuation and has attracted investors like Jeff Bezos. Arnold worked as Pilot's COO until leaving in 2024 to launch a VC fund. The startup last raised $350 million at a valuation north of $1 billion in 2023, but Luan left in late 2024 to oversee Amazon's AI agents lab after Amazon hired Adept's founders. Tim Shi was an early member of OpenAI's team, where he focused on building safe artificial general intelligence (AGI), according to his LinkedIn profile. The trio all worked at OpenAI in 2016 and 2017 as research scientists before founding Covariant, a Berkeley, California-based startup that builds foundation AI models for robots. After a few years at data-labeling startup Scale AI, he co-founded London-based Prosper Robotics in 2021. The startup says it's working on a robot butler for people's homes, a hot trend in robotics that other players like Norway's 1X and Texas-based Apptronik are also working on. Margaret Jennings worked at OpenAI in 2022 and 2023 until she left to co-found Kindo, which markets itself as an AI chatbot for enterprises. Slate Auto eyes former Indiana printing plant for its EV truck production An OpenAI researcher who worked on GPT-4.5 had their green card denied Bezos-backed Slate Auto debuts analog EV pickup truck that is decidedly anti-Tesla Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized' ads

This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site. If you've been considering swapping out your home sound system (or simply seeking a better way to watch movies), you need to take a good hard look at this sale on the Sony S100F 2.0ch Soundbar. Today, Amazon is offering this very popular soundbar for just $98 which is a record-low and a staggering 25% off its normal price ($129). With the tariffs increase looming that would soon enough apply to all electronics, having this type of deal now is a wise move not to be hurt by any shock later. Thin (35.5 inches wide by 2.5 inches high) but powerful, this soundbar delivers robust and clean sound from its 120W S-Master digital amplifier and 2.0 channel design. You will also love the S100F voice boost feature so that every word can be heard clearly and loudly. The S-Force Pro Front Surround technology used in the soundbar creates a virtual surround sound for a sound that envelops your room but is much bigger than something of its size would provide. One of the great things about the Sony S100F is that it is Bluetooth-enabled: That means the soundbar is not just for TV use-only-you can also plug in your smartphone or laptop and use it as a powerful wireless speaker. The soundbar also supports USB playback so you can plug in a flash drive and play your favorite albums immediately. While tariffs on electronics rise, those kinds of sales are not common. Make sure you grab yours before it runs out of stock. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site. Who hasn't been left stranded with a dead phone in the worst possible moment? What's really amazing about this deal isn't the price but the quality and features packed into such a small package. Despite its ultra-slim profile, this power bank packs enough juice to fully recharge all the latest iPhone 16, Galaxy S25 and more, several times. The speed is also very impressive: Because of its 3A high-speed charging, you can charge your phone up to 78% in an hour twice as fast as with most standard chargers. Power bank's AutoFit technology automatically detects and delivers the optimal charging speed for your device so you get the fastest (and safest) charge every time. Safety is INIU's top priority and this power bank has a unique 15-layer SmartProtect system: The advanced safety net guards against overheating, overcharging, and damaging your batteries so that you can charge your devices with complete confidence. There's also a top-tier three-year warranty which gives you confidence that this power bank is built to last and will keep your devices safe. As you'd probably imagine, this power bank is compatible with most devices including the latest iPhones and Samsung Galaxies, Pixels, iPads, Bluetooth headphones, fitness trackers, and more. Whether you have to charge your phone, tablet or even smaller devices like AirPods and smartwatches, the INIU power bank will be able to accommodate that. Deals this good don't last long – and with this charger, you'll never have to worry about running out of battery again. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The Ryzen 5 7533HS is a new Rembrandt-R-based APU that AMD quietly introduced to the market last year and is just now appearing in budget laptops via realVictor_M at X. This isn't entirely surprising as AMD has a history of abandoning naming schemes, evident with their latest shift to "Ryzen AI". In terms of specifications, the Ryzen 5 7533HS is nothing special. The included Radeon 660M iGPU offers six RDNA2-based Compute Units. There's a 150 MHz drop in boost clocks compared to the Ryzen 5 7535HS. As the 'HS' modifier indicates, the APU has a configurable TDP between 35W and 54W, with support for DDR5-4800 (SODIMM) and LPDDR5-6400 (Soldered RAM) memory types. While the Ryzen 5 7533HS won't certainly top any performance charts, it still appears to be a solid choice for affordable laptops. On that note, this chip has only appeared in several of Lenovo's newest laptops, like the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7, IdeaPad Slim 3/5, just to name a few. This strongly hints at Lenovo exclusivity, and that's not surprising considering that rumors suggest AMD's latest Ryzen Z2 Go, launched in January, was developed explicitly for Lenovo's Legion Go S. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he's not working, you'll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Fujifilm's Instax cameras have taken over what Polaroid started so many decades ago. There are still Polaroid cameras, but Instax is the far more popular choice. No matter which Instax camera you buy, it's fun. The latest in Fujifilm's Instax line is the new Instax Mini 41, a budget option like the very popular Mini 12, but with a more retro, camera-like design. It lacks the manual controls that photographers might want, but it's simple and fun in a way that more capable cameras often aren't. The design makes it look a little like Fujifilm's insanely popular X100VI. It feels like an Instax Mini 12 in a different suit of clothes. It's good in that the simplicity and automation remain, but it's not so good in that the plasticky vibes are strong. Why spend more than $80 for nearly the same features? Essentially, you get a camera that looks more like a “camera.” It still has the same fully automatic features of the Mini 12, (including some not-so-good features, like the automated flash that occasionally washes out photos in bright daylight), but it doesn't have the bubbly cartoonish design of the Mini 12. All products featured on Wired are independently selected by our editors. The minute you touch it, it feels not like actual knurling but like plastic imitating knurling. I found it functional enough, if not entirely pleasant to hold. One big improvement over the previous model is the new lens design, which matches what we've seen in nearly every Instax released in the past year. The lens twists to turn on, then twists further if you want to put it in close-focus mode. This is simple and intuitive and much better than the push level approach of the Mini 40. And fear not, kids, there is still a selfie mirror on the side of the lens. It weighs just under a pound (15.1 ounces) with batteries and film loaded. The batteries are AA, which is nice. Grab yourself a four-pack of rechargable AAs and you'll never have to worry about replacing the batteries. Images eject out of the top of the camera and take about a minute and half to develop. I found the automatic focus worked well, and adjusting between normal range and close focus gives you a little extra control. All products featured on Wired are independently selected by our editors. Ostensibly, picture quality should be on par with the Mini 12, and in many situations it is, but the Mini 41 also produced the single best image I've ever taken with an Instax camera. Call it a fluke if you want, or perhaps it was just the right combination of elements that make for a great Instax image. I kind of doubt either of those explanations, though, because I shot it into the rising sun and somehow ended up with a great image. Whatever the case, I love that image. It's the image above with tooth marks in it—a strong argument for the Mini Evo, which would have a digital copy and allow me to reprint. The wallet-sized image area (1.8 by 2.4 inches) of Instax Mini film does not lend itself to complex photographic compositions but should feel very familiar to anyone used to shooting portrait-oriented images, which is to say everyone. It's also the cheapest film at just over $1 per print. If you want a budget Instax camera, with fully automatic controls that looks good and is simple to use, the new Mini 41 fits the bill. On the other hand, if you want any manual control or creative options, you'll want to look at more expensive Instax models like the Mini 99 ($200) or the Mini Evo ($200). All products featured on Wired are independently selected by our editors. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.

This story originally appeared on Vox and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The tricky thing about generating electricity is that for the most part, you pretty much have to use it or lose it. Making sure there are always enough generators spooled up to send electricity to every single power outlet in the country requires precise coordination. That's effectively what those who design and run the grid have had to do. You wouldn't have to overbuild the grid or spend so much effort keeping power generation in equilibrium with users. You could smooth over the drawbacks of intermittent power sources that don't emit carbon dioxide, like wind and solar. You could have easy local backup power in emergencies when transmission lines are damaged. You may not even need a giant, centralized power grid at all. And while the US has actually been using a crude form of energy storage called pumped hydroelectric power storage for decades, the country is now experiencing a gargantuan surge in energy storage capacity, this time from a technology that most of us are carrying around in our pockets: lithium-ion batteries. Power transmission towers outside the Crimson Battery Energy Storage Project in Blythe, California. Some power markets are finally starting to understand all the services batteries can provide—frequency regulation, peak shaving, demand response—creating new lines of business. Batteries are also a key tool in building smaller, localized versions of the power grid. If we can get it right, true grid-scale battery storage won't just be an enabler of clean energy, but a way to upgrade the power system for a new era. Back in 2011, one of my first reporting assignments was heading to a wind farm in West Virginia to attend the inauguration of what was at the time the world's largest battery energy storage system. Built by AES Energy Storage, it involved thousands of lithium-ion cells in storage containers that together combined to provide 32 megawatts of power and deliver it for about 15 minutes. “It was eight megawatt-hours total,” said John Zahurancik, who was vice president of AES Energy Storage at the time and showed me around the facility back then. That was about the amount of electricity used by 260 homes in a day. In the years since, battery storage has increased by orders of magnitude, as Zahurancik's new job demonstrates. He is now the president of Fluence, a joint venture between AES and Siemens that has deployed 38 gigawatt-hours of storage to date around the world. “The things that we're building today, many of our projects are over a gigawatt-hour in size,” Zahurancik said. Last year, the largest storage facility to come online in the US was California's Edwards & Sanborn Project, which can dispatch 33 GW for several hours. It wasn't a steady climb to this point, however. Overall grid battery capacity in the US barely budged for more than a decade. One shift is that the most common battery storage technology, lithium-ion cells, saw huge price drops and energy density increases. That's partly because the cells on the power grid aren't that different from those in mobile devices and electric vehicles, so grid batteries have benefited from manufacturing improvements that went into those products. “It's all one big pipeline,” said Micah Ziegler, a professor at Georgia Tech who studies clean energy technologies. “The batteries in phones, cars, and the grid all share common characteristics.” Seeing this rising demand, China went big on battery manufacturing and, much as it did in solar panels, created economies of scale to drive global prices down. China now produces 80 percent of the world's lithium-ion batteries. And because grid batteries don't have to be small enough to be mobile—unlike the batteries in your laptop or phone—they can take advantage of cheaper, less dense batteries that otherwise might not be suited for something that has to fit in your pocket. There's even talk of giving old EV batteries a second life on the power grid. A major hurdle for deploying grid energy storage systems is that they don't generate electricity on their own, so the rules for how they should connect to the grid and how much battery developers should get paid for their services were messy and restrictive in the past. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Order 841 removed some of the barriers for energy storage systems to plug into wholesale markets and compete with other forms of power. Eleven states to date including California, Illinois, and Maryland have also set specific procurement targets for energy storage, which require utilities to install a certain amount of storage capacity, creating a push for more grid batteries. Together, these factors created a whole new businesses for power companies, spawned new grid battery companies, and fertilized the ground for a bumper crop of energy storage. But it's also an important ingredient in grid stability, reliability, and resilience, helping ensure a steady flow of megawatts during blackouts and extreme weather. If the grid dips below this frequency when a power-hungry user switches on, it can trip circuit breakers and cause power instability. Since batteries have nearly zero startup time, unlike thermal generators, they can quickly absorb or transmit power as needed to keep the grid humming the right tune. Grid batteries can also step in as reserve power when a generator goes offline or when a large power user unexpectedly turns on. They also let power providers save electricity when it's cheap to produce, and sell it back on the grid at times when demand is high and power is expensive. It's often faster to build a battery facility than an equivalent power plant, and since there are no smokestacks, it's easier to get permits and approvals. Batteries have already proven useful for overstressed power networks. As temperatures reached triple digits in Texas last year, batteries provided a record amount of power on the Lone Star State's grid. Between 2020 and 2024, Texas saw a 4,100 percent increase in utility-scale batteries, topping 5.7 gigawatts. Grid batteries have a halo effect for other power generators too. Most thermal power plants—coal, gas, nuclear—prefer to run at a steady pace. Ramping up and down to match demand takes time and costs money, but with batteries soaking up some of the variability, thermal power plants can stay closer to their most efficient pace, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and keeping costs in check. “It's kind of like hybridizing your car,” Zahurancik said. You don't have to build power lines to accommodate absolute maximum electricity needs if you have a battery—on the generator side or on the demand side—to dish out a few more electrons when needed. “What we do with stand-alone batteries, the more and more of those you get, you start to alleviate needs or at least abridge things like new transmission build,” Smith said. These batteries also allow the grid to adapt faster to changing energy needs, like when a factory shuts down or when a new data center powers up. On balance this leads to a more stable, efficient, cheaper, and cleaner power grid. Most grid batteries are designed to store and dispatch electricity over the course of two to eight hours, but the grid also needs ways to stash power for days, weeks, and even months since power demand shifts throughout the year. There are also some fundamental looming challenges for grid-scale storage. Like most grid-level technologies, energy storage requires a big upfront investment that takes decades to pay back, but there's a lot of uncertainty right now about how the Trump administration's tariffs will affect battery imports, whether there will be a recession, and if this disruption will slow electricity demand growth in the years to come. There are 10 US factories slated to start up this year, which would raise the total EV battery manufacturing capacity to 421.5 gigawatt-hours per year. Total global battery manufacturing is projected to reach around 7,900 gigawatt-hours in 2025. Lithium battery modules inside the battery building at the Vistra Corp. Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in Moss Landing, California, in 2021. Interconnection queues for all energy systems, but particularly solar, wind, and batteries, typically last three years or more as project developers produce reliability studies and cope with mounting regulatory paperwork delays. Still, utility-scale energy storage is a tiny slice of the sprawling US power grid, and there's enormous room to expand. “Even though we've been accelerating and going fast, by and large, we don't have that much of it,” Zahurancik said. “You could easily see storage becoming 20 or 30 percent of the installed power capacity.” Big Story: The worm that no computer scientist can crack Yuval Noah Harari: “Prepare to share the planet with AI superintelligence” WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 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All products featured on Wired are independently selected by our editors. At a speedy event in New York City this week, Roku announced its plans for 2025, which includes two new streaming sticks, some nice software updates, and upgrades to its top two Roku TVs—most notably the value-forward Plus Series. The new Roku Streaming Stick has two big selling points—it's compact and it's $30, but like the previous Roku Express, it's confined to HD content. That limits its value, but it could make a solid addition to a small den or kitchen TV, thanks to the addition of the Roku voice remote for searching across the breezy streaming platform. Both devices can be powered by most TVs directly, meaning no need to plug them into a wall outlet, and they include new software features like a “Coming Soon to Theaters” row and personalized sports highlights. On the TV front, Roku's top-line Pro Series TVs get a modest update, including “custom factory calibration” to ensure a more accurate picture. While we'll have to put it to the test, this should help improve dimming control for better contrast and deeper black levels with less light bleed. All Roku TVs will also now include a Bluetooth headphone mode for quick sound swapping. The new streaming sticks are available for preorder and are expected to ship on May 6, while Roku will announce new TV pricing and availability later this year. That means if you're traveling to another country, you can download the language pack and hold conversations in English, French, Italian, or Spanish without connecting to Wi-Fi or a cellular network. Just say “Hey Meta, start live translation” and you'll hear them talking in your preferred language through the speakers in the glasses, while the other person can view a translated transcript on your phone. I've experienced Meta's translation with text before and found it adequate for reading my children's books in Spanish; Meta AI even offered, unprompted, some funny insights. Live translation with other speakers should make it much more useful. The company also announced new frame styles and colors, like the Skyler cat-eye style in chalky gray, as well as a few more software features. You'll now be able to send and receive messages from Instagram on your glasses, ask Meta AI to play music from an expanded list of music apps (as long as you ask in English), or ask Meta AI to identify songs in passing. Kia EVs are finally part of the Tesla Supercharger club, the company has confirmed, and its cars can now access more than 21,500 of Tesla's DC fast chargers in North America. This week, Cuisinart announced what it's touting as its very first espresso bar collection—a Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear of three bottomless portafilter machines. This is hardly Cuisinart's first foray into espresso, but it does amount to a bit of a reboot for the American brand. Each device in the Espresso Bar collection comes equipped with a frothing wand, a 52-millimeter stainless steel bottomless portafilter, and an option on cold-extracted espresso for iced lattes or martini lovers. With the fanfare and tightly controlled pre-hype usually reserved for iPhone launches, San Francisco coffee device maker Fellow announced its first espresso machine. The retro-futuristic-looking Espresso Series 1 comes in black, cherry red, or malted chocolate. It offers adaptive pressure at the coffee puck, guided brewing, and a steam wand with a thermostat that stops frothing at the designated temp. Fellow reserved its biggest excitement for the Espresso Series 1's patented new boiler system, which the company says will offer what it calls the “holy grail of espresso”—true temperature and pressure stability, in a home espresso machine market best known for wild fluctuations and slow heat-ups. With all three in concert, Terzulli says, you can achieve the thermal stability of a commercial dual boiler on a 120-volt circuit, with less than two minutes heating time. After its infamous green owl mascot faked his death earlier this year, the language learning app continues its abnormal behavior and wants to teach a new subject that transcends language: chess. OK, teaching chess isn't all that abnormal for Duolingo. The company began its first non-language courses in 2023 with music and math. The course is built for people who might find the game intimidating and starts with basics like how each piece moves, patterns, and strategies. You can play fast-paced mini-matches to hone your skills or full games against Duolingo's in-app chess coach. Big Story: The worm that no computer scientist can crack Yuval Noah Harari: “Prepare to share the planet with AI superintelligence” Exclusive: Up To 50% Off 6 Boxes With Factor Promo Code WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.

Elon Musk's xAI Holdings is in talks to raise $20 billion in fresh funding, potentially valuing the AI and social media combo at over $120 billion, according to a new Bloomberg report that says talks are in the “early stages.” If successful, the deal would be the second-largest startup funding round ever, behind only OpenAI's $40 billion raise last month. The funding could help alleviate X's substantial debt burden, which is costing the company a whopping $200 million monthly in servicing fees, per Bloomberg's sources, with annual interest expenses exceeding $1.3 billion by the end of last year. A raise of this size would also showcase AI's continued investor appeal, as well as reflect Musk's surprising emergence as a political power player inside President Trump's White House. Musk will likely draw from some of the same backers who've consistently funded his ventures, from Tesla to SpaceX, including Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners and Luke Nosek of Gigafund. xAI didn't respond immediately to comment. Subscribe for the industry's biggest tech news Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch's coverage. Every Monday, gets you up to speed on the latest advances in aerospace. Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice.