Over the past weekend, when weather models first started forecasting a winter storm that would sweep over large parts of the country, Sean Sublette, a meteorologist living in Virginia, started telling people in his area to prepare for snow. “This does not mean I am buying it hook, line, and sinker yet. But it is a sobering chunk of data to suggest heavy freezing rain, which is that type of precipitation that's liquid until it touches something and then freezes. But, they say, people in several states should begin thinking ahead to the weekend and next week, and keep an eye out for more up-to-date forecasts from local trusted sources over the next few days. On Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service issued a series of possible forecasts—what it called “Key Messages”—on the upcoming storm, predicting heavy snow starting on Friday falling from the Rocky Mountains and Plains regions and moving to the East Coast on Sunday. Freezing rain and sleet are projected to hit states south of the snow zone. There's still a lot of uncertainty about how the storm will form and how it will affect specific areas. “We know that this storm system is absolutely waterlogged,” says Matthew Cappucci, an atmospheric scientist and meteorologist, who contributes to The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang. But there's still uncertainty about how other atmospheric elements will shape the storm. That includes a cold, low-pressure eddy of air in the higher levels of the atmosphere (called, in meteorologic speak, an upper level low) that's forming over the Pacific, whose formation will help determine how and where precipitation will fall. The National Weather Service's announcements are not winter weather warnings, Sublette says, but “messages”; forecasts will get more specific as the storm keeps developing. But there's enough data available to start preparing for worst-case scenarios. Many of the regions that could be hit by the storm are historically underprepared for extreme winter conditions: A 2014 ice storm that swept across portions of Georgia and South Carolina left some areas without power for days. This storm will hit just a few weeks shy of the five-year anniversary of a winter storm in Texas that caused a two-week power outage and ultimately killed nearly 250 people. A stretch of predicted cold temperatures immediately following the storm, similar to the one that hit Texas, could also create hazardous conditions—especially if snow or ice take out power lines or make driving difficult. “It's 20 degrees,” Sublette says, imagining a scenario in which freezing rain hits Virginia. Stuff starts getting knocked over, and you've got thousands of power outages by Monday morning. It's only 28 degrees in the afternoon—oh my God, we've got a problem.” Despite some of the dire predictions being distributed online, both Sublette and Cappucci caution against buying into specific scenarios days out from a possible storm. “Ultimately, the public has to be able to sift through the noise and find a trusted source, but that's becoming increasingly difficult in a sea of clickbait, hype, and monetized posts.” 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.

Jigar Thakkar is now vice president of Amazon Quick Suite, a platform that uses agentic AI to automate business workflows, research and data access. Thakkar is returning to Seattle after more than seven years at New York-based financial services firm MSCI, where he worked as chief technology officer and head of engineering. Before MSCI, Thakkar spent nearly two decades at Microsoft where he was the founding engineering leader of Microsoft Teams and held the title of corporate VP. “I'm excited about Jigar's customer-centric approach and ability to scale transformative products, his passion for agent technology, and his experience building platforms that serve millions of users,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, VP of agentic AI at AWS, in announcing the news. — Sara Vaezy joined healthcare consulting firm Chartis as chief product and technology officer. Vaezy previously spent nearly a decade at Providence, where she was chief transformation officer with the Renton, Wash.-based multi-state healthcare provider. “We viscerally know the healthcare system is broken and needs to change. Clinicians are overburdened, patient care isn't always well coordinated or affordable, and costs continue to increase unsustainably,” Vaezy wrote on LinkedIn. “This is an opportunity to help Chartis navigate a landscape that's rapidly changing and actually do something about it, along with clients.” — After raising $60 million last year, legal-tech startup Supio has named two new executives: — Chronus named Ankur Ahlowalia as CEO of the Seattle-based mentoring software platform. “I'm delighted to lead a company that has pioneered mentoring software and is now leveraging artificial intelligence to make mentorship more accessible, personalized, and impactful for all employees,” Ahlowalia said in statement. Ahlowalia joins Chronus from the Dallas-based software company Korbyt, which he led for more than five years. The Seattle-based drug discovery company is working with genetically diverse populations globally to develop new therapies. “Craig's career uniquely spans deep human genetics, rigorous clinical science, and successful drug development at scale,” said Andrew Farnum, Variant's CEO. He joins Variant from Bitterroot Bio, which is focused on using immunotherapy to treat cardiovascular disease. — Longtime Seattle-area tech leader Larry Colagiovanni is now leading AI product innovation at outdoor gear retailer REI. Colagiovanni's career has included multiple stints at Microsoft, most recently as lead of product vision and strategy for Microsoft Shopping where he launched the company's first conversational shopping assistant. Colagiovanni said on LinkedIn that the role “brings together my passion for the outdoors with my belief in human-centered AI that supports better discovery, decision-making, and experiences.” — Diego Oppenheimer is now an executive fellow with the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. The serial entrepreneur founded Algorithmia, which was acquired by DataRobot. “Couldn't be more excited to continue helping to build companies, invest in founders, and now helping shape the next generation of AI-native entrepreneurs,” he said on LinkedIn. — Smarsh, a Portland, Ore., company that helps customers manage their business communications to identify regulatory and reputational risks, announced multiple leadership changes: — Rachel Fukaya is now vice president of marketing at Textio, the Seattle startup that helps companies write job listings and other communications. Fukaya has been with Textio for more the two years and previously worked at multiple public relations companies. — Stephen Delano is now principal software engineer at Seattle's Yoodli, an AI roleplay startup recently landed a $40 million investment. Lange spent more than three decades with the heavy machinery company Caterpillar. Great teams still win, and finding them is harder than ever. Together, we help employers cut through the noise and hire smarter, faster. Learn more about GeekWork: Contact GeekWire co-founder John Cook at [email protected]. Tech Moves: Microsoft CVP jumps to Google; Seattle engineers launch new startup; GitHub names VP Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman departs after leading Seattle real estate giant for 20 years GeekWire Studios has partnered with AWS for the Guide to re:Invent. This interview series took place on the Expo floor at AWS re:Invent 2025, and features insightful conversations about the future of cloud tech, as well as partnership success stories. Amazon takes on Microsoft and Google in the workplace with new ‘Quick Suite' business AI platform UiPath hires former F5 executive as CMO, relocates Bellevue offices to Lincoln Square Seattle startup Gradial raises $35M to boost agentic tools that automate enterprise marketing

Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin has just announced a satellite internet network called TeraWave which will be capable of offering data speeds up to 6Tbps, and geared towards enterprise, data center, and government customers. The low-Earth orbit satellites Blue Origin is building will use RF connectivity and have a max data transfer speed of of 144 Gbps, while the medium-Earth variety will use an optical link that can achieve the much higher 6Tbps speed. For reference, SpaceX's Starlink currently maxes out at 400 Mbps — though it plans to launch upgraded satellites that will offer 1 Gbps data transfer in the future. “TeraWave adds a space-based layer to your existing network infrastructure, providing connectivity to locations unreachable by traditional methods,” the new website for the satellite network reads. The announcement of the TeraWave network comes just a few months after Bezos' other company, Amazon, announced a rebrand of its own satellite network geared toward consumers. That network, called Leo, will ultimately consist of around 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit and offers more traditional broadband speeds. Taken together, these two networks could provide more robust competition to SpaceX's Starlink, which has become the leading satellite internet provider with more than 9 million customers. Starlink currently sells its connectivity to regular consumers, commercial customers (like airlines), and governments. That said, the two networks from Amazon and Blue Origin are distinct. “We identified an unmet need with customers who were seeking enterprise-grade internet access with higher speeds, symmetrical upload/download speeds, more redundancy, and rapid scalability for their networks. TeraWave solves for these problems,” Blue Origin said in a statement to TechCrunch. Blue Origin has spent years in development on a number of projects, and is best-known for the short trips to space it offers on its small New Shepard rocket. The company has recently started to emerge as a multi-faceted commercial space player. Now, with TeraWave, it will add “satellite manufacturer and operator” to its growing list of offerings. Sequoia to invest in Anthropic, breaking VC taboo on backing rivals: FT Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California (it's not the 5%) AI cloud startup Runpod hits $120M in ARR — and it started with a Reddit post

VCs who have backed OpenEvidence are apparently not worried about OpenAI and Anthropic's new health information products. On Wednesday, the startup announced that it raised an additional $250 million in Series D funding at a $12 billion valuation, co-led by Thrive Capital and DST. That's double the valuation from its last raise in October: $200 million at $6 billion, led by GV. It has now raised a total of $700 million, the company says, from backers including Sequoia, Nvidia, Kleiner Perkins, Blackstone, Bond, Craft Ventures, Mayo Clinic, and others. OpenEvidence is an AI-powered medical information platform, similar to what WebMD was for the previous internet generation, but it's geared toward doctors. This puts it somewhat more in competition with Anthropic's Claude for Healthcare, which is intended for patients, payers and providers, whereas ChatGPT's new health product is aimed more at consumers. That compares to about 3 million searches per month a year ago. Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch's coverage. Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly. Provides movers and shakers with the info they need to start their day. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice.

While some automakers are getting cold feet about releasing new electric vehicles in the U.S. amid uncertain economic conditions and rapidly slowing sales towards the end of 2025, others are pressing forward with some highly advanced cars. Volvo is one of those companies prepared to launch an entirely new model this year. Between delays caused by software issues, tariffs making production in China tenuous, and its inability to take advantage of any federal incentives, it's been a rough couple of years for Volvo's EVs. Volvo says the most efficient EX60 will go up to 400 miles on a full charge, which is more than the similarly sized BMW iX3, Cadillac Optiq and Mercedes-Benz GLC EV. Two other versions will be offered, one with an estimated 310-mile range and two-wheel drive and an all-wheel drive model with up to 320 miles on a charge. The EX60 also uses new underpinnings for Volvo called HugInCore, which is its way of describing a new set of electric motors, battery cells and mega casting that Volvo says reduces weight and increases performance and efficiency. All models will come with a built-in Tesla-style North American Charging Standard (NACS) charge port, rather than an adapter that Volvo uses on its existing EVs, for access to that company's Supercharger network. Even the seatbelts have been redesigned, which is significant since Volvo introduced the three-point seatbelt as we know it almost 70 years ago. Volvo will also use the EX60 to launch an integrated version of Gemini, Google's AI assistant, which is set to appear in more vehicles as it replaces Google Assistant. Apple Music will also be pre-installed, the company said, along with Dolby Atmos, and will be offered with a 28-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system on some versions. Along with Google, the EX60 will use pieces from Nvidia and Qualcomm to power infotainment and advanced driver assistance system technologies, with Volvo promising “no-lag” UX systems. That's also significant, as the early versions of the EX30 and EX90 models were criticized for slow and bug-riddled systems that required over-the-air updates to operate. There will also be an EX60 Cross Country off-road-themed version with slightly more ground clearance and styling modifications. And now it's looking to get a fresh start. Lucid's EVs will use HERE location data to improve EV routing and advanced driving features. For the auto industry, reality is about to set in. How about a whole car with built-in Remote Play? Is it being paused, only to be quietly killed later on?

This choice to show off the EX60 with a preserved straight roofline is clearly deliberate, at best aimed at keeping the design team happy, and at worst possibly misleading unsuspecting customers looking to buy the flagship model. With 503 miles of maximum range (measured using the WLTP standard), this should still be a very impressive 400-plus miles on the US's EPA estimate. Plus the EX60 is all-wheel drive and, thanks to an 800-volt architecture, it can add 210 miles of range in 10 minutes—provided you happen upon a 400-kW fast charger and your battery is in the 10 to 20 percent sweet spot when you roll up. Volvo is saying in the best possible conditions just 19 minutes should be good to get you from 10 to 80 percent. Drag coefficient is a very respectable 0.26, which will help the car reach those high range targets. The EX60 will be electric only, but a combustion-powered XC60 is still available. Volvo claims this improves energy density by 20 percent, while reducing weight and taking up less space. Not many other manufacturers have gone down this road yet, but expect to see more doing so. Volvo is also very pleased with how it has used megacasting to make sections of the car, such as the entire rear underbody, as giant, single aluminum pieces with an 8,400-ton casting machine. This replaces around 100 separate parts with a single sheet of metal, and it makes the whole body structure stiffer and lighter. This is not novel to Volvo; Tesla and XPeng are using this same manufacturing technique in some EVs. Its Snapdragon Cockpit Platform uses the Nvidia Drive AGX Orin and a new Qualcomm 8255 CPU, making the EV's “brain” capable of more than 250 trillion operations per second. It's also the first Volvo to feature Google Gemini integration, again going toe to toe with BMW, which announced at CES in January that the iX3's Intelligent Personal Assistant was powered by Amazon's Alexa+. Volvo's Pilot Assist Plus means you can travel on highways at speeds of up to 80 mph while the system steers and changes lanes for you. But the driving assistance software is not “eyes off.” Differing from the conventional system you know, this belt apparently uses real-time sensor data to adjust tension based on your body characteristics, the traffic conditions, and the severity of a crash. As has been the fashion for some years now, conventional exterior door handles have been ditched, but this time in favor of small pull-tabs similar to what you might see on the Ford Mustang Mach-E. However, to satisfy proposed Chinese regulations requiring mechanical release handles on the inside and outside of every car, operable without tools after accidents, these are mechanical tabs rather than electrically operated. It will be interesting to see if this workaround, allowing designers to still have doors uninterrupted by messy handles, will catch on. Lastly, there's also an alternative flavor of the EX60 coming. The Cross Country version has different exterior colors and design elements intended to give it an ever-so-slightly more “adventurous” look. (Think wider wheel-arch claddings and black upper door moldings.) Air suspension adds another 20 millimeters of travel to provide more comfort on those country roads. Welcome to the future of noise canceling Big Story: Cashing in on the apocalypse Livestream AMA: Welcome to the Chinese century 10% off Dell Coupon Code for New Customers 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.

Researchers in Indonesia have identified what may be the oldest rock art known to science—a hand stencil on a wall of a limestone cave on Muna, an island off the bigger island of Sulawesi. The research sheds light on early human migration to Sahul (a bygone continent that once included Australia and New Guinea), but other researchers are cautious about the dating results. “Art painted on rock by our ancestors thousands of years ago provides the most spectacular early example of being human—creating art is a very human trait with which we can easily identify,” Kira Westaway of Macquarie University's School of Natural Sciences, who wasn't involved in the study, told Gizmodo. “Rock art is the closest evidence we have to understand our ancestors, but this understanding is limited by the difficulty in dating the art—so this type of systematic research of exploration, survey, and robust dating is vital to improve our understanding of these early artists.” The hand stencil on Muna is unique—the fingers were intentionally made thinner, akin to claws. What's more, researchers found that ancient people consistently made art in this particular cave for a very long time, at least 35,000 years up to around 20,000 years ago. “It is now evident from our new phase of research that Sulawesi was home to one of the world's richest and most longstanding artistic cultures, one with origins in the earliest history of human occupation of the island at least 67,800 years ago,” Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist and geochemist at the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, said in a university statement. According to Adhi Agus Oktaviana, a co-author of the study and a rock art specialist at Indonesia's national research and innovation agency (BRIN), the recently described Sulawesi paintings strongly inform knowledge of early Australian Aboriginal cultural history. The hand stencil's dating also holds implications for debates over when and how people first arrived in Sahul. The “short chronology model” dates it to around 50,000 years ago. Paul Bahn, however, a British expert in prehistoric rock art who did not participate in the study, argues against the significance of minimum ages. So in this case, the [67,800 years] obtained for the hand stencil may mean that the stencil was made just a few years before that, or several or many millennia before that,” he told Gizmodo. 44,000-Year-Old Cave Painting Could Be the Earliest Known Depiction of Hunting Siyakha Mguni, senior lecturer in subjects including rock art at the University of Cape Town, says that more research is necessary to confirm the new date. However, if it turns out to be right, “the discovery carries enormous implications in archaeology that will bring about a shift of attention away from southwestern Europe, particularly France and Spain, which has long been regarded as the global centre of parietal [wall] art advance and the touchstone of the oldest and finest representational art forms,” he explained to Gizmodo. Indonesia's restriction on Grok is temporary, and X has been invited to discuss the matter. Several European countries are already working on their own versions. Researchers in Spain investigated what kind of noise shells used by Neolithic societies made. Archaeologists in Israel have discovered the oldest known figurine representing human-animal, uh, interactions. The third season of this Apple TV+ natural history docuseries invites viewers to experience life during one of Earth's most dramatic climatic shifts.

PC and peripherals maker Razer believes that somebody, somewhere, is desperate to put an anime cat girl on their desk, like their personal imprisoned Tinkerbell who's forced to compliment them on command. The company's Project Ava includes either a female waifu or male husbando hologram housed inside a glass jar that uses conversational AI to talk to users. The thing is, Razer doesn't know when it will be out, or—apparently—much else about this device it promises will be an actual product. It's stuffed with technology we've seen before—namely, an animated avatar and AI chatbot that's meant to act as a player's gaming mentor and desktop companion. Razer is mostly known for its PC gaming laptops, mice, and headsets, but it often goes to CES with a fair few concept devices in tow; hence Ava's “Project” nomenclature. In this case, Razer swore to consumers that Project Ava and its other AI gadget—a pair of headphones with cameras and AI visual capabilities called Project Motoko—would become real products… eventually. During an interview on The Verge's Decoder podcast, Razer's co-founder and CEO, Min-Liang Tan, couldn't offer many specifics about what's going on with its waifu in a jar, nor much about how people can buy it. Project Ava is currently open for “reservations” that cost $20. Those reservations will eventually become preorders with a promised, though vague, release date in the second half of 2026. At the same time, Tan said they were still getting feedback and “hear[ing] what the concerns are.” And there certainly are concerns, considering we've yet to see an AI-centric gadget accomplish anything our existing products couldn't already do. Tan said, “We have not disclosed the actual specs of the product, and not even, for example, which character models, or even which model it's gonna be running at this point in time. We're leaving that absolutely open.” Razer previously told Gizmodo it was working with esports stars to potentially stick their mugs and voices in the jar. Tan also told The Verge's Nilay Patel, “So what we have actually said is that these are reservations. It sets you up in line to get a Project Ava (knowing that's definitely not the final name) with the hope that you'll actually want it once the company reveals what's actually going on inside. On its product page, Razer promises you can cancel the reservation and ask for a refund. The company further implied that Project Ava may be in hot demand, and only those who get in line first can hope to get their waifu shipped to their door at some vague future date. Project Ava, as an AI chatbot companion, was already a concept Razer had shown off before. In my short time with Project Ava, the waifu AI wouldn't offer me any solid advice on how to manage recoil in a game like Battlefield 6. Never mind that Grok is at the center of numerous controversies on X (formerly Twitter), where the chatbot was willing to talk openly about “MechaHitler” and share nonconsensual sexual images. The reason why Grok seems more conversational is because it's designed with “tone” in mind and fewer guardrails—or, more specifically, made to parrot Musk's increasingly nativist worldview. “My focus to date has been more in terms of what's the best conversational model that we've got, and they're great, they're fantastic,” Tan said. This may be the moment when ARM really takes off on PCs, though it couldn't come at a worse time. OpenAI just rehired former employees who previously left the company to work at Thinking Machines Lab. It was only a matter of time, to be honest. AI slop and price hikes may not be a winning combo when Apple Music is breathing down your neck. We can already tell 16GB graphics cards will become an exclusive commodity in 2026.

OpenAI's first sales leader, Aliisa Rosenthal, has found a new career: venture capital. She's joining Acrew Capital as a general partner, working alongside founding partner Lauren Kolodny and the firm's other partners, Rosenthal and Kolodny tell TechCrunch. Rosenthal left OpenAI about eight months ago after a three-year sprint at the AI lab that saw the launch of DALL·E, ChatGPT, ChatGPT Enterprise, Sora, and other products. “I wasn't initially looking to join a VC fund,” she told TechCrunch. But after growing OpenAI's enterprise sales team from two people to hundreds, she saw the appeal when Kolodny pitched her on venture capital. In her time at OpenAI, “I learned a lot about behavior, both on the side of the buyers, how people are thinking about these purchases, and the gap between what most organizations think is possible and what they can actually deploy today,” she said. For instance, she has firsthand insight into what kind of moat an AI startup can build that won't leave it vulnerable when model makers like OpenAI launch competing products. Will OpenAI “just build everything and put every company out of business? I don't think they are going to go after every potential enterprise application,” she says. So one moat is for enterprise AI startups to offer specialization. And I think what we're seeing is going beyond sort of the basic RAG towards this idea of a context graph, which is persistent,” she says referring to Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) the de facto method as of 2025 to minimize hallucinations by training LLMs on trusted, specific sources (and having the LLM cite them). I think this year we will see new approaches — the idea of context and memory,” Rosenthal says. But beyond startups working directly on context engineering, Rosenthal thinks enterprise apps that bake it in will have the advantage. “Ultimately, when we talk about moat, I think who owns and manages this context layer will become a large advantage for AI products,” she says. Another opportunity she sees: startups not building atop a major lab's state-of-the-art models, with their high prices. “I think there is room in the market for cheaper models that are lighter weight and innovate on inference costs,” she says. “Where I'm really excited to invest is on the application layer. I'm really interested in what will be the durable applications built on all of these different models, not just on the foundational models,” she says. Many have already founded startups that have raised big bucks at high valuations, ranging from OpenAI's biggest competitor, Anthropic, to buzzy early-stage companies like Safe Superintelligence. There is also a growing precedent for high-level ex-OpenAI folks to become seed-stage investors. About a year ago, Peter Deng, OpenAI's former head of consumer products, joined Felicis. “I actually had a call with Peter a few months ago, and he helped me make the decision,” Rosenthal said of her choice to become an investor. “There's a really large gap that I am very optimistic can be filled. Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California (it's not the 5%) AI cloud startup Runpod hits $120M in ARR — and it started with a Reddit post Mira Murati's startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is losing two of its co-founders to OpenAI

AI GPU demand is so high that it allowed Nvidia to overtake Apple as TSMC's number one customer. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said in an interview that Nvidia is TSMC's largest customer at the moment, dethroning Apple, which has previously held the record for some time. “I remember Morris Chang has a similar story when he first met you, that you immediately said, ‘I'm going to be your biggest customer or one of your biggest customers. And he's like, ‘Wow, that's a lot of gumption.' So, where did that confidence come from at such an early age?” Shelton asked. “By the way, Morris will be happy to know Nvidia is TSMC's largest customer now.” More than that, enterprise customers are willing to pay billions and billions to Team Green to get as many AI processors as they can, whereas many consumers have a price ceiling after which they will go with another brand if a smartphone, tablet, or laptop is priced too high. Aside from losing its top spot, there are also rumors — reported by WCCFTech from the Apple leaker Fixed Focus Digital — that TSMC is hiking up the prices it's charging Apple for chips, especially as the AI demand is squeezing capacity for other semiconductors. Furthermore, Cupertino might no longer have production priority. Nvidia's success is directly tied to the AI hype, with many tech companies pouring money into acquiring thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of GPUs just to get the horsepower to train the most advanced models. And with Team Green cornering the market for AI processors, it's basically printing cash as long as companies feel that they can make more money by adding more computing power. But if the AI bubble pops and we're left with a lot of AI data centers with no customers, then we expect Apple to retake its position as TSMC's number one customer. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. 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.

The Tukwila, Wash.-based startup says it's the first commercial deal ever struck to provide “deorbit-as-a-service,” or DaaS, for a satellite constellation in low Earth orbit. This is an actual service, in a structure that allows that service to scale for this constellation, for an entire industry,” Starfish Space co-founder Trevor Bennett told GeekWire. Starfish is developing a spacecraft called Otter that would be able to capture other satellites, maneuver them into different orbits, release them and then move on. Starfish's system doesn't require the target satellite to be pre-outfitted with specialized hardware — which is a significant selling point. Today, most satellite operators either have to execute a deorbiting maneuver while they're sure that the propulsion system still works, or risk having their spacecraft turn into unmanageable space junk. “With the tow truck kind of capability, we can provide that service as needed, but we are not trying to replace normal operation,” he said. Starfish's deal with the Space Development Agency builds on a previously awarded mission study contract that supported work on the concept in 2024 and 2025. The $52.5 million won't be paid out all at once. An initial payment will cover costs leading up to the first deorbiting operation, and from then on, the agency will pay Starfish for services rendered. The oven-sized spacecraft could also be used to change a satellite's orbital path, or bring it in for servicing. “With Otter, we've dramatically reduced the cost and complexity of satellite servicing across orbits,” Austin Link, Starfish Space's other co-founder, said in a news release. “Those Otters are all under construction and in testing,” Bennett said. “Actually, we'll see a couple of those launched this year. GeekWire Studios has partnered with AWS for the Guide to re:Invent. This interview series took place on the Expo floor at AWS re:Invent 2025, and features insightful conversations about the future of cloud tech, as well as partnership success stories. Click for more about underwritten and sponsored content on GeekWire. Starfish Space brings in new funding as it gears up for orbital inspection and docking Starfish Space wins contract to help NRO advance capabilities for orbital operations Starfish Space wins $15M NASA award for a SSPICY mission to visit dead satellites Otter Pup rides again: Starfish Space gears up for its second satellite docking attempt

This fully enclosed 3D printer from Creality is an absolute bargain When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. If you've never given 3D printing a try, or if you're a seasoned pro looking for an upgrade, then Creality has the answer. This fully enclosed Core XY printer is on sale right now with a huge 33% discount. You're also getting a slightly improved 2025 version, too, over the 2024 model we tested in our Creality K1C review. The two are nearly identical, but this new model reportedly unlocks multi-color printing with support for a redesigned filament system. It has a build volume of 220 x 220 x 250 mm and features an AI-supported camera to help with build issues and to record timelapse videos. This isn't Creality's flagship printer, but it does come with an elite set of features. As we mentioned, this 3D printer is fully enclosed, which makes it ideal for high-temperature prints. A direct drive extruder does offer better pressure control while printing takes place, which can help to improve print accuracy, even when you're printing fast, to help you avoid wasted filament. You're also getting a few nice-to-have goodies with the Creality K1C. One additional is the AI assisted camera to help automatically detect print errors, as well as to help you create timelapse videos. The printer arrives almost completely assembled, making it easy to set up for beginners. There are a few included methods for printing, too, with support for printing models via USB, over your Wi-Fi or wired network, or using Creality's own cloud system. $399 for an enclosed 3D printer like this Creality K1C is an absolute steal, and places it in direct competition against the Bambu Lab P1S. If you're keen, make sure to grab it before Creality's New Year sale runs out, or you might miss out on a serious bargain. Ben Stockton is a deals writer at Tom's Hardware. He's been writing about technology since 2018, with bylines at PCGamesN, How-To Geek, and Tom's Guide, among others. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

Bunch of dumb people running the room and no experts. In a mark to market world, the value of a bond is its acquisition cost, so buying bonds enough to raise prices increases their value, but not their coupons or their face value. It's hard to make sense of the value of a sequence of payments, it's reasonable to consider the present value and the market price is an easily justified present value for a bond.Selling bonds and buying stocks is a different thing altogether. Selling US stocks and buying EU stocks wouldn't change the value of the underlying assets, however, having an increased stock price does have benefits for the company when issuing new shares or bonds. Selling bonds and buying stocks is a different thing altogether. Selling US stocks and buying EU stocks wouldn't change the value of the underlying assets, however, having an increased stock price does have benefits for the company when issuing new shares or bonds. If you're trying to escape an expected upcoming crash you don't necessarily need to look for growth but instead stability. Precious metals are always popular but simply shifting a portion of your money into an index fund of a different stock exchange should help minimize your exposure to any catastrophic loss.This is, of course, not financial advice. Also I don't see that EU as a whole is on a downward trajectory, there are a lot of areas that are super strong, one being the defence industry.US on the other hand - who wants to invest in or trade with them when they treat the rest of the world (including close friends) as shit. The only choice that comes close is China whose bonds are too illiberal to trade the same (and China has no interest in liberalizing them). > Also I don't see that EU as a whole is on a downward trajectoryThat's an extremely contrarian take that you can't justify with EU defense did good for once in it's life. Maybe we'll see something from the EU but remember the USA and EU GDP were basically identical 10 years ago now the US is 50% bigger.Seriously in 2008 the EU had a bigger GDP and now is a fraction of the USA and member nations have done basically nothing to fix the core issues that left them behind.> US on the other hand - who wants to invest in or trade with them when they treat the rest of the world (including close friends) as shit.Sadly it doesn't really matter about a "want" it's a need at this point unless people are going to cut off their arm and collapse their own economies they don't really get a choice. That's an extremely contrarian take that you can't justify with EU defense did good for once in it's life. Maybe we'll see something from the EU but remember the USA and EU GDP were basically identical 10 years ago now the US is 50% bigger.Seriously in 2008 the EU had a bigger GDP and now is a fraction of the USA and member nations have done basically nothing to fix the core issues that left them behind.> US on the other hand - who wants to invest in or trade with them when they treat the rest of the world (including close friends) as shit.Sadly it doesn't really matter about a "want" it's a need at this point unless people are going to cut off their arm and collapse their own economies they don't really get a choice. Seriously in 2008 the EU had a bigger GDP and now is a fraction of the USA and member nations have done basically nothing to fix the core issues that left them behind.> US on the other hand - who wants to invest in or trade with them when they treat the rest of the world (including close friends) as shit.Sadly it doesn't really matter about a "want" it's a need at this point unless people are going to cut off their arm and collapse their own economies they don't really get a choice. > US on the other hand - who wants to invest in or trade with them when they treat the rest of the world (including close friends) as shit.Sadly it doesn't really matter about a "want" it's a need at this point unless people are going to cut off their arm and collapse their own economies they don't really get a choice. Sadly it doesn't really matter about a "want" it's a need at this point unless people are going to cut off their arm and collapse their own economies they don't really get a choice. It's time to stop magical, wishful thinking about how you want the world to be, and deal with the world as it is. Clarence Thomas?The first rule of neo-America is that you're playing the Chairman's Game[1], and there are no more rules. It was inspired by a formerly prominent, but now somewhat disgraced Chinese politician that was famous for coming up with a lot of interesting new rules for his subjects to follow, and enforcing those rules very harshly, without necessarily informing those subjects what those rules were. It's a little bit like Uno, a little bit like Crazy Eights, and the only thing that I can tell you about it is that there are times, when playing this game, when it is not a good idea to speak. It was inspired by a formerly prominent, but now somewhat disgraced Chinese politician that was famous for coming up with a lot of interesting new rules for his subjects to follow, and enforcing those rules very harshly, without necessarily informing those subjects what those rules were. It's a little bit like Uno, a little bit like Crazy Eights, and the only thing that I can tell you about it is that there are times, when playing this game, when it is not a good idea to speak. It was inspired by a formerly prominent, but now somewhat disgraced Chinese politician that was famous for coming up with a lot of interesting new rules for his subjects to follow, and enforcing those rules very harshly, without necessarily informing those subjects what those rules were. It's a little bit like Uno, a little bit like Crazy Eights, and the only thing that I can tell you about it is that there are times, when playing this game, when it is not a good idea to speak. It was inspired by a formerly prominent, but now somewhat disgraced Chinese politician that was famous for coming up with a lot of interesting new rules for his subjects to follow, and enforcing those rules very harshly, without necessarily informing those subjects what those rules were. It's a little bit like Uno, a little bit like Crazy Eights, and the only thing that I can tell you about it is that there are times, when playing this game, when it is not a good idea to speak. It was inspired by a formerly prominent, but now somewhat disgraced Chinese politician that was famous for coming up with a lot of interesting new rules for his subjects to follow, and enforcing those rules very harshly, without necessarily informing those subjects what those rules were. It's a little bit like Uno, a little bit like Crazy Eights, and the only thing that I can tell you about it is that there are times, when playing this game, when it is not a good idea to speak. Sort of definitionally, nothing in that list is going to be more politically stable than the US.In the second link, the author gives slightly lower country risk premiums (0% vs 0.2%) to Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and Switzerland. Setting aside the practicality of these recommendations (how much debt does Liechtenstein issue? ): in a world where the US is unstable, it's hard to imagine Canada being risk-free. In the second link, the author gives slightly lower country risk premiums (0% vs 0.2%) to Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and Switzerland. Setting aside the practicality of these recommendations (how much debt does Liechtenstein issue? ): in a world where the US is unstable, it's hard to imagine Canada being risk-free. Canada needs to pursue further armament (Carney is pursuing a doubling of its defense budget) and training in asymmetrical warfare. I make it only 1.5 trillion equities - they run about a 70 / 30 split stocks to bonds.They could easily trim up their $50bn of Nvidia or their $50bn of Microsoft or their $40bn of Apple etc and put it to better use. EU together with UK and Canada hold more Treasurys than the entire rest of the world combined, and if they dumped them all at once it would be significantly painful for the average American as interest rates would spike, as would inflation. The Dollar would decline against most other major currencies.However dumping that much debt all at once would require the sellers to heavily discount a large portion of their bonds, earning them increasingly fewer, and paying in (depreciating) dollars.It's exceedingly likely that de-dollarization accelerates from here, but it's also unlikely that even the Norwegian government sells it all at once. Rather than mass selling, expect EU entities to curtail or even cease buying US bonds altogether if the geopolitical situation doesn't improve. However dumping that much debt all at once would require the sellers to heavily discount a large portion of their bonds, earning them increasingly fewer, and paying in (depreciating) dollars.It's exceedingly likely that de-dollarization accelerates from here, but it's also unlikely that even the Norwegian government sells it all at once. Rather than mass selling, expect EU entities to curtail or even cease buying US bonds altogether if the geopolitical situation doesn't improve. Rather than mass selling, expect EU entities to curtail or even cease buying US bonds altogether if the geopolitical situation doesn't improve. Showing that you don't want to be the last one out since either the risk or inflation hits you. Indeed and QE is a major inflationary pressure. That's an elephant-in-the-bathtub situation where your moves disturb the market because of their size.Even the first entity to dump would still have to discount a lot of their bonds. Nobody on the bond market is going to make a $200B snap purchase. Nobody on the bond market is going to make a $200B snap purchase. They would set an interest rate (perhaps with no auction, because they have no actual obligation to sell a predetermined amount, although an auction could still be used), sell bonds, delete the money used to buy the bonds, and issue new money to repay them with interest when they mature. This could be used as a way to act efficiently as a reserve currency and to exert a degree of control over inflation and the economy, kind of like how the Fed does it. The bonds would likely be considered extremely secure on account of the issue being entirely debt-free.I would be surprised if the EU did this as such, since the EU probably does not want to be in the business of competing for capital with its own members, who do have a fair amount of debt that they need to finance. I would be surprised if the EU did this as such, since the EU probably does not want to be in the business of competing for capital with its own members, who do have a fair amount of debt that they need to finance. Additionally, French bonds, while likely less-correlated with US Treasuries than other instruments, suffer from its own government having high debt levels; it's not a suitable safe-haven asset. Swiss and German bonds appear to be obvious alternatives. However, Swiss and German bonds' interest rates are low and in practice are little different than holding cash.While gold appreciated in the short term, it is not simply inversely correlated with the value of the US Dollar. Its volatility is also driven by investors mitigating strict currency controls, mining productivity, and central bank activity. An unrelated downturn in one market could lead to a sell-off and wipe out gains. Personally I think it's useful only in its physical form as a hedge for medium-term catastrophic events. Even then, a stockpile of food and clean water is likely far more valuable, if not substantially more difficult to store and maintain.I ended up giving up, learning to love the S&P 500, and white-knuckling it ahead. (Chinese GDP growth is higher but its equities have low returns compared with other markets, due to political risk.) Its volatility is also driven by investors mitigating strict currency controls, mining productivity, and central bank activity. An unrelated downturn in one market could lead to a sell-off and wipe out gains. Personally I think it's useful only in its physical form as a hedge for medium-term catastrophic events. Even then, a stockpile of food and clean water is likely far more valuable, if not substantially more difficult to store and maintain.I ended up giving up, learning to love the S&P 500, and white-knuckling it ahead. (Chinese GDP growth is higher but its equities have low returns compared with other markets, due to political risk.) (Chinese GDP growth is higher but its equities have low returns compared with other markets, due to political risk.) Swedish pension fund Alecta cuts US Treasury holdings citing US politics - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46705118 - January 2026 (0 comments)Bessent Shrugs Off 'Irrelevant' Danish Treasuries Sales - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46702927 - January 2026 (0 comments)Danish Pension Fund AkademikerPension to Exit US Treasuries - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46693791 - January 2026 (2 comments)Danish pension fund to divest its U.S. Treasuries - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46692594 - January 2026 (730 comments) Bessent Shrugs Off 'Irrelevant' Danish Treasuries Sales - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46702927 - January 2026 (0 comments)Danish Pension Fund AkademikerPension to Exit US Treasuries - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46693791 - January 2026 (2 comments)Danish pension fund to divest its U.S. Treasuries - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46692594 - January 2026 (730 comments) Danish Pension Fund AkademikerPension to Exit US Treasuries - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46693791 - January 2026 (2 comments)Danish pension fund to divest its U.S. Treasuries - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46692594 - January 2026 (730 comments) Danish pension fund to divest its U.S. Treasuries - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46692594 - January 2026 (730 comments) Honda doesn't care about the secondary sale of any one Honda, per se, but they'd certainly care if people start opening dealerships with fleets of effectively brand new Hondas immediately next to every Honda dealership.Additionally, every seller that was a previous long-term holder represents decreased demand for Treasuries at the primary auction. Mark Carney put it eloquently yesterday during his speech with his analogy of "taking the sign out of the window". This represents someone taking their bid out of the auction. Additionally, every seller that was a previous long-term holder represents decreased demand for Treasuries at the primary auction. Mark Carney put it eloquently yesterday during his speech with his analogy of "taking the sign out of the window". This represents someone taking their bid out of the auction. Or if we want to be cynical, they hope the price will drop on this news and they can buy back in more cheaply. But their demand is also satiated at a certain price point. Hell, if they wanted to buy from other sellers then it's not like T bills were not liquid.Would you say the same if Norway's wealth fund offloaded their $181B? At those scales it would be more likely that it'd be visibly price affecting, and therefore affect the US's ability to borrow at existing cost.So yes, when you sell your one NVDA, you are reducing demand and thus price. Would you say the same if Norway's wealth fund offloaded their $181B? At those scales it would be more likely that it'd be visibly price affecting, and therefore affect the US's ability to borrow at existing cost.So yes, when you sell your one NVDA, you are reducing demand and thus price. I don't see how this is huge in context, it is indeed symbolic.Please don't get me wrong here, I am neither advocating the selling or not selling of US bonds. This specific sale just isn't statically significant in a vacuum. If this precipitates a snowball effect of bond-selling, completely different story. This specific sale just isn't statically significant in a vacuum. If this precipitates a snowball effect of bond-selling, completely different story. If someone thinks the value of those bonds is going to drop, then selling would have great significance for the seller. Not, that it also fun to go with that story, but as long as everyone in the room understands it's sort of a wishful fantasy. This will take years, possibly a decade or more...if the US is, in fact, collapsing. Note that China has been selling US treasuries for months now (https://www.barrons.com/articles/china-sells-treasuries-9-st...) and there are signs that India has been quietly selling large amounts too. So it feels like the start of something much bigger, a total decoupling from the US due to its unstable politics, foreign policy, and quickly accumulating debt (Trump has added $5 trillion already and may add much more).

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an interview during the 2026 World Economic Forum annual meeting that artificial intelligence needs to have a wider impact or else it risks losing “social permission,” especially given the amount of energy and other resources that AI data centers consume. Nadella made this comment during his talk with Laurance D. Fink, CEO and chairperson of BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, that has been shared on YouTube. But I think we, as a global community, have to get to a point where we are using it to do something that changes the outcomes of people and communities and countries and industries,” Nadella said. “Otherwise, I don't think this makes much sense, right? In fact, I would say we will quickly lose even the social permission to actually take something like energy, which is a scarce resource, and use it to generate these tokens, if these tokens are not improving health outcomes, education outcomes, public sector efficiency, private sector competitiveness across all sectors, small and large. The rush to build AI infrastructure is putting a strain on many different resources. For example, we're in the middle of a memory chip shortage because of the massive demand for HBM that AI GPUs require. It has gotten to a point that U.S. politicians from both sides of the aisle have taken notice, with Democratic Senators demanding an explanation from big tech companies about their energy usage and President Donald Trump telling AI tech companies to “pay their own way” when it comes to their electricity consumption. However, it is still an open question whether other hyperscalers will follow suit. Many industry leaders and institutions are warning about an AI bubble, especially as tech companies are continually pouring money into its development while only seeing limited benefits. I mean, I think, a tell-tale sign of if it's a bubble would be if all we're talking about are the tech firms,” said the Microsoft chief. He then gave an example of how AI tech is being used in the pharmaceutical industry to develop new drugs, wherein it was used to accelerate the clinical trial. Nadella even emphasized that AI wasn't used to discover the “magical molecule” — instead, it was used for all the other things needed “to make something much more relevant.” Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. 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.

Meta has emphasized in pretrial motions that the only questions the jury should be asked are whether Meta violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act because of how it has allegedly handled child safety and youth mental health, and that other information—such as Meta's alleged election interference and misinformation, or privacy violations—shouldn't be factored in. WIRED was able to review Meta's in limine requests through a public records request from the New Mexico courts. These motions are part of a landmark case brought by New Mexico attorney general Raúl Torrez in late 2023. The state is alleging that Meta failed to protect minors from online solicitation, human trafficking, and sexual abuse on its platforms. According to the complaint, Meta did not flag suggestive remarks that other users commented on her posts, nor did it shut down some of the accounts that were reported to be in violation of Meta's policies. “While New Mexico makes sensationalist, irrelevant and distracting arguments, we're focused on demonstrating our longstanding commitment to supporting young people,” Simpson said. It also asked the court to exclude an op-ed article by Murthy and Murthy's calls for social media to come with a warning label. Meta has also insisted that the state of New Mexico should not be able to admit in court any third-party surveys—or Meta's own internal surveys—that purport to show a high amount of inappropriate content on Meta's platforms, because the surveys are, in legal terms, hearsay. Meta has asked the court to preclude the state from introducing any argument, testimony, or evidence about Zuckerberg's college years, saying “any effort by the state to pluck unflattering comments or incidents from when Mr. Zuckerberg (now in his 40s) was a college student would be both unfairly prejudicial and an impermissible use of propensity evidence to attack Mr. Zuckerberg's and Meta's character.” (Zuckerberg famously created an attractiveness-rating website in 2003; Meta's lawyers have also sought to keep this information out of court in a consolidated trial in California that's set to begin later this month.) It asks that the court not refer to former Meta employees or contractors who the state may call as witnesses as “whistleblowers,” insisting the word “whistleblower” is a legal term of art and that inaccurate or misleading references to people who may not qualify as whistleblowers “would serve only to inflame and confuse the jury.” And it has asked the court that any law enforcement officials who appear as witnesses not appear in uniform. Meta also wants the court to exclude any reference to Molly Russell, a British teenager who died by suicide in 2017 after consuming content on social media that depicted self-harm and suicide. Meta has argued that “evidence about her use of Instagram and material she allegedly saw on Instagram, her tragic death by suicide, and the United Kingdom Coroner's investigation into her death” bear no connection to New Mexico or Meta's case there, nor does the testimony of Russell's father. Some of these requests, such as withholding references to “previous cases, Meta's wealth, or Mark Zuckerberg's college hotness-rating app, seem pretty standard and straightforward,” says Mark Lemley, a partner at litigation firm Lex Lumina and the William H. Neukom Professor at Stanford Law School. (Lemley previously defended Meta in a high-profile copyright lawsuit, then parted ways with the company because of what he described as the company's “descent into toxic masculinity and neo-Nazi madness.”) Meta's alleged failures to prevent child exploitation on its apps have been previously reported. Over the past two years the social media company has been sued by more than 40 US states for allegedly harming youth mental health and has come under fire for reportedly halting internal research that showed that people who stopped using Facebook apps were less depressed and anxious. The New Mexico case is now headed to trial court for jury selection in Santa Fe on February 2; hearings have been ongoing leading up to the trial. Big Interview: Margaret Atwood wants to keep up with the latest doom 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.

The Gates Foundation and OpenAI are launching a new partnership aimed at bringing artificial intelligence into frontline health care systems across Africa, starting with Rwanda. The initiative, called Horizon1000, will deploy AI-powered tools to support primary health care workers in patient intake, triage, follow-up, referrals, and access to trusted medical information in local languages. “I spend a lot of time thinking about how AI can help us address fundamental challenges like poverty, hunger, and disease,” Bill Gates wrote in a blog post. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, health systems face a shortage of nearly six million workers — a gap Gates said cannot be closed through training alone. “AI offers a powerful way to extend clinical capacity,” wrote the Microsoft co-founder. OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, earlier this month rolled out ChatGPT Health as part of its foray into healthcare. PATH, a Seattle-based global health nonprofit, has received funding from the Gates Foundation to support this work. GeekWire Studios has partnered with AWS for the Guide to re:Invent. This interview series took place on the Expo floor at AWS re:Invent 2025, and features insightful conversations about the future of cloud tech, as well as partnership success stories. Click for more about underwritten and sponsored content on GeekWire. Bill Gates says there's ‘no upper limit' on AI, citing opportunity and risk Global health backslide: Gates Foundation report links funding cuts to rising child deaths