Physicists at the University of Amsterdam came up with a really cool bit of Christmas decor: a miniature 3D-printed Christmas tree, a mere 8 centimeters tall, made of ice, without any refrigeration equipment or other freezing technology, and at minimal cost. The secret is evaporative cooling, according to a preprint posted to the physics arXiv. … Read more
A defiant Brendan Carr testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday in his first public appearance before lawmakers since threatening broadcasters who aired comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show. Over the course of nearly three hours, the Federal Communications Commission chairman ping-ponged between heated exchanges with Democrats and largely muted questions from Republicans. But at least … Read more
If you’ve been holding off on getting a new iPhone, now’s the perfect time to size up your options. Apple’s 2025 iPhone lineup is now available, which includes the iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, and a brand-new model, the ultra-thin iPhone Air. These new phones offer a number of new features over their … Read more
For most of photography’s roughly 200-year history, altering a photo convincingly required either a darkroom, some Photoshop expertise, or, at minimum, a steady hand with scissors and glue. On Tuesday, OpenAI released a tool that reduces the process to typing a sentence. It’s not the first company to do so. While OpenAI had a conversational … Read more
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next administrator of NASA. The private astronaut and founder of the Shift4 payments processing platform will now be in charge of an agency that faces great uncertainty under President Trump. Isaacman’s confirmation comes a little over a year after Trump nominated him. … Read more
Meta has “paused” its program to license its VR operating system to other hardware companies so they could build their own headsets using the platform, as reported by Road to VR . With the program, announced in April 2024, Meta announced that it would be licensing the Quest OS headset — which, at the same … Read more
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) fired off a letter on Tuesday to Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and several major data center developers to investigate the impact they’re having on Americans’ utility bills. The move comes as rising electricity rates became an increasingly hot-button issue in the US, which … Read more
While there’s no evidence of anyone interpreting the meme as a violent threat to school kids, there was a “national uproar” when Bushart’s story started spreading online, his complaint noted. Bushart credits media attention for helping to secure his release. The very next day after a local news station pressed Weems in a TV interview … Read more
If you’re looking for a gadget to get as a last-minute Christmas gift, we’ve got your back. The Beats Solo 4 are among the best on-ear headphones we’ve tested in the last year or two, and they’re currently down to a new low of $79 ($120 off) in select colors at Walmart. If you prefer … Read more
YouTube is pulling its data from Billboard for use in the publisher’s industry-leading U.S. music charts. The decision is in response to a recent change Billboard made to its ranking formula, which continues to add more weight to paid, on-demand streaming compared with ad-supported, free streaming. Billboard justified its decision to adjust its age-old formula … Read more