Two NetEase-funded companies founded by MMO veterans, T-Minus Zero Entertainment and Fantastic Pixel Castle, shared the fate of losing NetEase's support, just like many other studios. Both have scrambled to find alternate publishers and ways to stay alive, and now, they have two announcements - one of hope and another of (almost) defeat. T-Minus Zero announced in a press release that a small group of veteran directors and founders has decided to acquire the studio name to carry the team's spirit forward, and they are relaunching as an independent production company. The studio now aims to create high-quality gaming experiences [โฆ]
This morning, Nintendo reported its quarterly and half-year results for 2025, covering the period from April to September, and revealed that the Nintendo Switch 2 is already outselling its predecessor. As of September 30, the new hybrid handheld console has sold 10.36 million units, significantly outpacing the original Switch (which took about ten months to sell a similar amount of units). When it comes to Nintendo Switch 2 software sales, they have reached 20.62 million units, meaning that there's an average of nearly two Switch 2 games per unit. Mario Kart World, the big launch exclusive, predictably secured the lion's [โฆ]
Dash price has gone parabolic over the past few days, reaching its highest level since Jan. 22 as demand for privacy tokens jumped. According to data from crypto.news, Dash (DASH) soared 83% to an intraday high of $147.86 before settlingโฆ
The U.S. Travel Association has warned that the ongoing federal government shutdown could cause widespread disruption for millions of Thanksgiving travelers, urging Congress to act immediately to reopen government operations. Nearly 500 organizations across the [โฆ]
Polymarket hit record highs in October for volume, active traders, and new market launches, driven by the POLY token announcement, U.S. market re-entry plans, and a potential $15B fundraising round. Polymarket reached record highs in October, with over 477,000 activeโฆ
Samourai Wallet founders could be looking at a five-year prison term as U.S. prosecutors have pushed for maximum sentencing for their alleged roles in operating a crypto mixing service used to launder hundreds of millions in illicit funds. A sentencingโฆ
The unprecedented $38 billion compute deal between OpenAI and Amazon Web Services, as reported by CNBCโs MacKenzie Sigalos on the Halftime Report, signals a seismic shift in the foundational infrastructure powering artificial intelligence. This strategic agreement, which sent Amazonโs shares soaring to new record highs, underscores the escalating demand for high-performance computing resources and the [โฆ]
Doing justice to the modern age while taking into consideration the artistic intricacies of the past, Elbel, San Michele, a Belmond Hotel, set to be opened on the 28 of April in 2026, has been one of the highly anticipated additions to Tuscanyโs hospitality, thanks to the 18 month restoration period the property underwent to maintain the rustic feel while basking in contemporary glamour. Lazzari Frago architects, the firm in charge of the property, has maintained the modern, graceful intricacies of the structure while preserving its age-old charm.
Having eas constructed as a Franciscan ecclesiastical structure, the site has survived the test of time as one of the few traces of historical charm juxtaposed with Renaissance architectural beauty to be found in Tuscany. Owing partially to the wisdom of the great Michelangelo, the property has been said to owe itโs elegance and balance in the visage to the artist. The restoration works on the villa has otherwise ensured the continuity of the splendourโs charm, terraced gardens and regions had so often been spoken of as works of fine art enveloped in spiritual finesse.
The goal of the redesign was to reconfigure the space and keep the spirit of the Renaissance period. The architectural renovations utilise original Tuscan marbles, terracotta, woods, and woven textiles to maintain a splendid, splendidly modern and timeless aura. The balance of the historical and modern features of the building positions Villa San Michele to be a valid work of contemporary luxury.
Renaissance-Inspired Luxury: The Design and Accommodation
The newly renovated Villa San Michele will boast a collection of 39 redesigned accommodations, and among them will be three signature suites, each capturing distinct elements of Florentine life. Each suite will offer guests a different vantage point of Florenceโs rich cultural history, coupled with decadent modern-day luxuries that epitomize the elegance of the Renaissance.
The design approach blends rich Tuscan country style elements with modern opulence, such as ostentatious marble floors, wood paneling, grandiose fresco murals, lavish linens, high-tech room features, and other amenities, in addition to private terraces that offer sweeping sights of Florence and the Tuscan hills. Guests will be encouraged to engage in an intimate interaction with the history and culture of the villa, coupled with a modern-day experience of luxury.
The villa will feature unique signature suites, which will offer guests a glimpse of Florentine life through its rich tapestry of art, history, and nature. These suites will allow guests a more personal and high-end experience with the history of Florentine life.
A Retreat of Peace and Creativity
The intended peace and creativity for the villa goes beyond the architectural aspects as it attempts to achieve transformation through these more abstract ideals. The cloister meditation, the lush tiered gardens, the distant expanse of Tuscan countryside, and the sheltering hills beyond combine to create a refuge of leisure for the guests. Guests will relish the wine as they meditate by the sundial and ancient fountains, slipping into magical gardens which whisper of peace.
The sounds of nature will accompany those taking time to relish the local environment as historical works will combine with treatments that offer the luxury of healing methods inspired by the region. Healing methods will include the use of locally available ingredients alongside holistic techniques. The healing methods will also feature nearby walking paths that skirt the villaโs extensive grounds, encouraging guests to engage with the stillness of the landscape and spend time in self-reflection.
Tuscany has to offer can easily be accessed from Villa San Michele which is located in Fiesole. Fiesole is located within a short distance of Florence town, and Villa San Michele is ideally located so that its guests can enjoy some a few of the biggest attractions in Tuscany to the fullest. Guests can day trip to the Uffizi, Florence Cathedral, and Ponte Vecchio, alongside a serene trip back to the Villa at the end of the day.
The Chianti region with its rolling hills and picturesque vineyards, alongside Siena famous for its medieval structures and the Palio horse race, is a quick trip from Florence. Visitors looking to escape the city for the day, can enjoy the neighbouring Tuscan countryside, which is filled with its own landscape beauty and a few stunning towns.
The Tuscan countryside and Villa San Michele is located within the mountains which provides guests the best of both worlds. Calm and quiet from the city, and the rich artistic and cultural components available in the city.
Sustainability and Environmental Commitment
With the recent improvements, Villa San Michele has adopted different sustainable practices to maintain minimal impact to the environment. The landscaping of the villa is aimed at conserving local flora, and the construction comes with energy efficient and environmentally sustainable systems and materials. Guests and visitors alike take part in the villaโs sustainability practices, including the use of local, organic agricultural produce and involvement in community-based environmental activities.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Luxury in Tuscany
With the reopening in April 2026, Villa San Michele is set to change the face of luxury tourism in Tuscany. The villaโs unique offering combines hundreds of years of history enriched with innovative design and sustainable practices, and it promises to provide a one-of-a-kind experience to those in search of culture, relaxation, and art.
As a Belmond Hotel, Villa San Michele is part of a globally cherished collection of iconic buildings the brand owns and adds to the Tuscany experience, cementing the regionโs position as a sought-after destination for ultra-exclusive and extravagant immersive getaways.
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) โ Things are looking up for Rochelle senior football standout Dylan Manning. According to a social media post by the football team, Manning is now out of intensive care at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood near Chicago.
The report also states that Manning โis able to walk with assistance and working on his appetite now that the feeding tube it out.โ
Manning, a running back and defensive back, suffered a severe head injury during the Hubs game at Ottawa on October 3. He was immediately taken to Loyola for medical attention. He underwent multiple procedures to relieve swelling in his brain.
Manning had rushed for 829 yards and 11 touchdowns this season prior to the injury. Since the injury, Rochelle fans and folks from surrounding areas have done all they can to show their support for Manning and his family through prayers and by making signs and T-shirts encouraging them.
Rochelleโs football season ended last weekend when the Hubs lost a playoff game at Geneseo.
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The move reflected cautious accumulation rather than broad conviction, as trading volumes remained below trend despite multiple volatility spikes during the session.
Kraken has taken a notable step in expanding its European offering, introducing a new feature for clients on its regulated trading platform. Krakenโs European clients can now use Bitcoin, Ethereum, and select stablecoins as collateral for perpetual futures trading onโฆ
Tokenomics simply means the economic system of a crypto token. It shows how a token works, how supply flows, and how value is created inside a crypto project. In early-stage crypto investing, tokenomics can be the big difference between a project rising slowly or rising fast, and also between a token that grows long-term or one that dies soon after launch.
Many new crypto projects look exciting on the outside, but inside, they do not have strong token rules. When token rules are weak, the price can crash fast. Early investors then lose confidence, and markets stop moving. So tokenomics matters a lot for investors who are just starting in crypto and want to enter projects very early.
Good tokenomics is basically when supply is managed in a smart way, demand grows slowly or steadily, and the token gets real use inside the platform. When these things are balanced, the project has a better chance to grow in the future. So understanding tokenomics makes early-stage investing a lot safer and smarter, too.
Why Tokenomics Matters in Early Stage Crypto
Many people buy early crypto coins only because social media talks about them or maybe because friends told them. But doing that can be risky. Tokenomics gives a clear way to judge if a token is real or if it is just hype.
When tokenomics is strong, it helps price growth stay more stable. This happens because supply is planned, unlocks are slow, and real demand keeps building with time. When tokenomics is weak, early investors sometimes get too many tokens, and they sell fast, making the price drop very suddenly.
Also, tokenomics can help anyone understand long-term value. If a token has a real use inside a game, or a finance platform, or a cross-chain wallet, then users must hold or spend the token. This builds natural demand. So tokenomics is not only charts and numbers, it also shows how the token becomes useful in real-world use cases.
A good habit in crypto is to always check tokenomics before looking at price. This can save a lot of mistakes and prevent buying into projects that only pump for a short time but fall after that.
Understanding Token Supply Basics
Supply is the first thing many investors check. It looks boring, but it is maybe one of the most important things in the early stage of crypto. If supply is too high and unlocked too fast, the price may fall. If supply is controlled and released slowly, price can grow more smoothly.
There are three main supply types used in tokenomics, and all are simple to understand. Total supply is the full amount created by the project. Circulating supply is how many tokens are actually trading in the market right now. Max supply is the highest number that can ever exist.
When the circulating supply is low but the future supply is very large, early price rallies can be temporary. Investors should check how much supply remains locked and when it will enter the market in the future because that will affect the price very strongly. Supply and demand always matter in crypto, same like in normal markets.
Token Metric
Meaning
Why it matters
Total Supply
All tokens ever created
Shows full token count
Circulating Supply
Tokens available right now
Impacts price movement
Max Supply
Maximum future supply
Helps judge scarcity
Token Distribution: Who Gets the Tokens
Token distribution means who receives tokens and how much they get. This is a key part of early token research. If founders hold too many tokens, they can sell big amounts and the price will drop. If private investors and seed backers get too many tokens early, they can dump as well. Good projects balance distribution so no one group has too much power.
A healthy token distribution normally gives a fair amount to the public sale and to the community. Team tokens are okay but with long lock periods. Also, treasury and ecosystem tokens must be planned carefully so the project has resources to grow while still protecting the price.
Liquidity is another part of distribution. If there is not enough liquidity, users cannot trade easily and the price becomes unstable. A project should always show a clear and transparent token distribution plan so investors feel safe and informed. If the distribution looks confusing or hidden, that can be a red flag.
Category
Percentage
Notes
Team
20 percent
long vesting
Seed Investors
15 percent
unlock slowly
Public Sale
40 percent
very fair
Treasury
15 percent
future development
Liquidity
10 percent
supports trading
Token Unlocks and Vesting Periods
Token unlocks are moments when more tokens enter the market. When too many unlocks happen together, it can push the price down because more tokens are suddenly available. This is why early-stage investors always check unlock schedules before investing.
Vesting means tokens are released slowly over time, not all at once. For example, team members might have their tokens locked for one year and then slowly get them every month for the next three years. This builds trust because it shows the team is committed to the projectโs long-term success.
Without vesting, team or early investors can sell fast and leave the project. That usually hurts the community and kills momentum. So long vesting plans are a signal of a strong project culture and a safer investment structure.
Holder
Cliff
Vesting
Impact
Team
12 months
36 months
protects price
Seed Investors
6 months
24 months
reduces dump risk
Public Sale
none
none
open trading
Utility and Real Use Case
Utility means what the token is used for. If a token has no job inside a project, then it is only speculation. That can work for a short time, but it usually fails later. Real use makes a token stronger. A good token should do something like pay fees, stake for rewards, access tools, or help run the network.
Some tokens are only made to trade or hype. Those can grow for a bit, but after the excitement ends, there is no real reason to hold them. On the other hand, tokens that power real apps or services gain natural demand. This helps price in the long run.
A real use case might be paying to access a game, earning from staking, using it to vote on governance decisions, or using it for transaction fees. When users need to hold a token for using the platform, then the token has value. That is the type of token many early investors prefer since it feels like it has a real job.
Market Capitalization Understanding
Market cap tells how big a crypto project is right now. It is simply the token price times the circulating supply. Many beginners only look at price and think cheap tokens are better. But a one-dollar token with a small supply can be smaller than a one-cent token with a huge supply. So price alone never gives the full picture.
Low market cap projects have more space to grow, but also more risk. High market cap projects are more stable but growth can be slower. When investing early, market cap helps understand how early the project really is. A project might have a cheap price but if the planned supply makes FDV huge, then growth might be harder and slower.
FDV means fully diluted valuation. That is price times total supply, including tokens not released yet. If FDV is too big compared to market cap, it means more tokens will come later, and price pressure can happen. So both values matter.
Token Burn and Buyback Models
Burn means removing tokens forever so supply becomes smaller. Some projects burn automatically. Others do burns sometimes after profits. When supply goes down while demand stays same or goes up, it can help price rise long term. But burns need to be real and not just marketing.
Buyback is when a project buys its own tokens from the market. This also supports the price because it reduces selling pressure. Good projects usually buy tokens from real income or fees. Weak projects might promise burns and buybacks without real income, which is not sustainable.
Burns and buybacks work best when the token has a strong demand already. They are not magic tools to save bad tokenomics. But when combined with real utility and fair supply, they can boost price and investor trust.
Governance and Staking Rewards
Governance lets token holders vote on project decisions. This gives community power and builds loyalty. When users vote on upgrades and roadmap plans, it feels more like a shared ecosystem. Strong governance can make a project grow healthier because decisions come from many minds, not only the founders.
Staking means locking tokens to help secure the network or get rewards. Many projects pay APY for staking. But if rewards are too high and there is no real usage, the price can fall later when everyone sells rewards. So staking is good but it should be balanced.
APR and APY sound confusing but very simple. APR is a flat yearly reward. APY means the reward compounds if reinvested. Bigger is not always better here, because high APY sometimes hides inflation. It is better when staking rewards come from real project activity or fees.
Red Flags in Tokenomics
There are a few signs that make a token look risky very early. When seeing these things, it means hold caution. One big red flag is when the team owns too much supply. If founders have a huge share, they can sell fast and put pressure on the price. A good, balanced model allows team rewards but not a giant slice.
Another red flag is fast unlocks. If a project releases most tokens within a few months, the price can collapse because too many tokens hit the market at once. Coins with very short vesting systems often look like they are built for hype and exit, not long-term success.
Also, watch when a token promises big staking rewards but the project has no real product or real income. That usually means inflation will happen later, and prices could fall. Tokens that need hype only to survive normally do not last long. Real utility should come first; rewards come later.
A small red flag list for extra clarity is fine here:
Too many tokens unlocked early
unclear token distribution
Rewards with no real revenue
How to Read Tokenomics Sheets and Whitepapers
Whitepapers and token charts can look scary for beginners, but they are not hard to read if taken step by step. First, look at supply. Check the circulating supply today and the total supply for the future. Then look at vesting. Try to see how long early investors wait before they can sell. This already gives half the picture.
Then check the distribution. Good projects show who gets tokens very clearly. If things look hidden or numbers feel confusing, it might not be safe. Also, read how the token works inside the platform. Look for real use cases like governance, payments, staking access, or service unlock features. If the token does nothing useful, then there is no fuel for long-term demand.
Finally, check if project explains revenue or an ecosystem growth plan. A real project tells how it will keep the token valuable. A weak one only talks about price and hype. If any part feels unclear, it is better to ask questions or wait before investing. Rushing in crypto is usually where losses come.
Conclusion
Tokenomics is not complicated when broken into small, easy parts. It is about supply, allocation, unlocks, demand, and how the token fits inside real system. People who learn these parts avoid many common mistakes in early investing. Instead of guessing or following social buzz, they use real logic.
Crypto can change very fast, but tokenomics gives a way to stay stable and think clearly. A project with fair supply, good vesting, and real use is much better than a loud project with hype but no purpose. Even if growth is slow at first, long term value feels safer and more reliable.
Many early investors who study tokenomics end up making smarter choices over time and protecting their capital better. It takes simple learning and patience. Over time these skills help find strong early projects before most people even notice.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tokenomics
What is tokenomics in simple words?
Tokenomics means how a crypto token is designed, how supply works, how tokens unlock, and how the token gains value inside a project. It helps understand if a cryptocurrency is strong or risky.
Why tokenomics is important in early-stage crypto investing
Because many early projects look good on the outside but can fail if supply unlocks too fast or if the team holds too many tokens. Strong tokenomics protects investors and helps long-term growth.
Is a low token price always a good thing
No. Sometimes a token looks cheap because the supply is huge. It is better to look at market cap and FDV, not only price, so the full value picture becomes clear.
How to find vesting information
Most whitepapers and token documents show vesting charts or tables. If a project does not show it clearly, that can be a risk signal because they might not want investors to see the unlocks.
Summary
Tokenomics is a core part of crypto investing, especially when entering early. By learning simple ideas like circulating supply, vesting, distribution, and real utility, investors can avoid weak projects and focus on real growth ones. A token that has real use and fair unlocks normally becomes stronger with time. Many mistakes happen when people chase hype and forget to check token rules. Mastering tokenomics slowly helps build smarter choices and long term success in crypto markets.
Learn tokenomics in simple language. Understand supply, vesting, FDV, utility, and key metrics for early stage crypto investing. Easy guide for new investors.
OpenAI, the vanguard of generative AI, has inked a significant $38 billion compute deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS), a move that reverberates through the intricate web of tech giants and AI startups. This landmark agreement, first reported on CNBCโs Power Lunch by Brian Sullivan and MacKenzie Sigalos, marks OpenAIโs inaugural foray into Amazonโs cloud [โฆ]
At Brandweek 2025, marketing leaders at some of the most popular beauty and lifestyle brands painted a picture of brand marketing shaped by culture and community, rather than aspirational aesthetics.
Over the last year, certain AI markets appear to be nearly sewn up by startup market leaders. But beyond these areas, a vast swath of AI remains anyoneโs game.
Bitcoin development nonprofit Btrust has named Nigerian Bitcoin Core contributor Abubakar Nur Khalil as its new chief executive officer, the organization announced today.ย
Khalil had previously served as interim CEO while sitting on the board as a non-voting member. Khalil will step down from his board position and report directly to the organizationโs directors in the full-time role.ย
His three-year term is renewable once.
Founded to support open-source Bitcoin development in the Global South, Btrust has expanded its footprint across Africa, Latin America, and India over the past year. The non-profit received initial funding from Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey.
During his interim leadership, the group increased partnerships with organizations including Bitshala, Vinteum and 2140, and reported record grant distribution.ย
Since mid-2024, Btrust says it has issued more than $1.7 million in funding, with over half going directly to developers.
Khalil co-founded Btrust Builders, an initiative focused on growing the open-source developer pipeline in emerging markets. He is recognized as a prominent advocate for Bitcoin development in Africa.
โIโm honored to have led Btrust as interim CEO over the past year,โ Khalil said in a statement, adding that he aims to strengthen the organizationโs systems and scale its impact in 2026 and beyond. โEnsuring that Bitcoin continues to be a money that works for everyone worldwide.โ
Board member Obi Nwosu said Khalil is well-positioned to guide Btrust through its next phase as it builds out long-term programs and developer support infrastructure.ย
The organization said continuity will be a major focus as it transitions from early-stage growth to broader execution.
Btrustโs board launched the CEO search in July, citing the need for dedicated leadership as its programming expands globally. The organization said the appointment marks โa meaningful next chapterโ in its mission to strengthen decentralized Bitcoin development.
Abubakar Nur Khalil will also be speaking at Bitcoin MENA, happening December 8โ9, 2025, at the ADNEC Center in Abu Dhabi.
"BITCOIN IS MONEY."
We're thrilled to announce Btrust CEO, Abubakar Nur Khalil, to speak at Bitcoin MENA! pic.twitter.com/1ozbQyNBoK
โReal AI is when you can take massive amounts of cost out of the system and deliver that back in savings to the consumer.โ This assertion by Vishal Garg, Founder and CEO of Better.com, cuts through the current hype surrounding artificial intelligence, laying bare the true promise of the technology for established, often inefficient, industries. [โฆ]
CNBC Crypto World, hosted by MacKenzie Sigalos, recently convened a segment on November 3, 2025, featuring Dan Dolev, Senior Analyst at Mizuho, to dissect the latest earnings reports from prominent crypto companies and offer a nuanced perspective on the sectorโs evolving dynamics. Amidst a turbulent week for major cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana all [โฆ]
Jefferies Equity Analyst Brent Thill, in a recent CNBC โClosing Bell Overtimeโ segment with Sara Eisen and Jon Fortt, dissected Palantir Technologiesโ Q3 results, presenting a stark dichotomy between the companyโs โrock solidโ fundamentals and its โlike anything weโve ever seenโ valuation. Despite Palantirโs impressive operational performance, Thill maintained a โSellโ rating and a $60 [โฆ]
Wedbushโs Global Head of Technology Research, Dan Ives, joined CNBCโs โClosing Bellโ with Scott Wapner and Michael Santoli to dissect Palantir Technologiesโ market position and future trajectory, particularly in the lead-up to its earnings report. The discussion centered on Palantirโs robust AI capabilities, its ambitious valuation, and the critical role of its commercial growth in [โฆ]
Southwest Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Bristol Bay have all received a storm warning, while the National Weather Service (NWS) Anchorage is reporting powerful winds, an abundance of rain, and dangerous seas. The warning lasts from 2:39 PM AKST on November 3, 2025, until 5:00 PM AKST on November 4. The weather forecast indicates large-scale disruptions which will have an impact on the lives of local populations, visitors, and the different tourist spots around in the area.
As the storm continues to develop, officials are advising tourists to take extra precautions when travelling to or within the affected areas. With gusts of wind reaching up to 50 knots (about 58 miles per hour) and sea heights surging to 27 feet, it is essential for visitors to remain informed about the weather conditions and follow safety protocols.
Key Affected Areas and Tourist Destinations
The storm will primarily affect the following regions of Alaska:
Southwest Alaska: This area, including popular destinations such as Kodiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula, is expected to see severe weather with high winds and rough seas.
Bristol Bay: Known for its fishing villages and scenic landscapes, this region is also expected to face hazardous conditions.
The Aleutian Islands: A key tourist region known for its natural beauty, the Aleutian Islands will experience particularly intense winds and waves.
Tourists planning to visit these destinations should take heed of the stormโs impact and reconsider outdoor activities during the warning period. For example, cruises along the Aleutian Islands or planned fishing trips in Bristol Bay may need to be adjusted or rescheduled due to safety concerns. Visitors to the Kenai Peninsula should prepare for potential disruptions in transportation services, including flight delays or cancellations.
Detailed Forecast and Weather Impacts
The NWS has issued specific forecasts for the storm:
Tonight (November 3): Winds from the southwest at 30 knots, increasing to 40 knots after midnight. The seas will reach up to 13 feet, with rain expected.
Tuesday (November 4): Winds from the northwest at 50 knots, gradually decreasing to 40 knots in the afternoon. Seas will be 16 feet.
Tuesday Night (November 4): Northwest winds of 35 knots and seas of 14 feet.
Wednesday and Wednesday Night (November 5): Winds will shift to the southwest at 25 knots, with seas decreasing to 10 feet.
Thursday (November 6): Winds will be from the west at 30 knots, with seas of 11 feet.
Friday (November 7): East winds at 45 knots, with seas reaching 25 feet.
Saturday (November 8): Southwest winds at 45 knots and seas reaching 27 feet.
These conditions will create dangerous sea states, especially for those in smaller boats, ferries, or coastal tourism ventures. The stormโs progress also makes travelling by sea extremely risky for both tourists and locals alike. Additionally, the high winds may cause dangerous coastal flooding and erosion, posing further risks to nearby communities.
Key Safety Protocols for Tourists
Given the severity of the storm, the National Weather Service urges tourists to prioritise safety. Here are some critical safety measures to consider:
Monitor Weather Updates: Tourists should regularly check the National Weather Serviceโs official website for real-time weather alerts. Those visiting the region are encouraged to stay updated with both general weather and specific advisories for coastal waters and nearby islands.
Avoid Outdoor Activities: Strong winds and heavy seas make it dangerous for activities such as hiking, fishing, and boating. Visitors should postpone these activities until conditions improve. Even scenic coastal viewpoints may be impacted by the stormโs severity.
Secure Accommodations: For tourists already in Southwest Alaska or the Aleutian Islands, it is recommended to secure a safe place indoors. Many hotels and accommodations in the area are designed to withstand severe weather, so checking with local management about storm preparedness can ensure safety.
Be Prepared for Delays and Cancellations: Travel disruptions are expected, particularly for flights and ferry services. Passengers are advised to confirm their bookings in advance and consider alternate dates for their travel plans if possible.
Follow Local Authoritiesโ Guidance: Local emergency management teams may issue additional advisories or evacuation orders depending on how the storm evolves. Tourists should follow these instructions promptly.
Emergency Kits and Supplies: For visitors who may be stranded, packing emergency kits including food, water, and a flashlight is highly recommended. Itโs always better to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Protecting Tourists and Locals Alike
As the storm approaches Southwest Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, tourists should remain vigilant and take necessary precautions. The combination of high winds, heavy rainfall, and hazardous seas makes this a potentially dangerous storm, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the regionโs unpredictable weather.
What Next?
The local tourism infrastructure is strong, but visitors must change their expectations and plans. In case one is visiting the Kenai Peninsula, sailing through the Aleutian Islands, or enjoying the unspoiled beauty of Bristol Bay, it will be safer and more pleasant if one follows the advice of the local authorities and stays safe when the storm is over.
The Atari 2600+ Pac-Man Edition console was initially announced earlier this year, back towards the end of July, but at the time, it was only available for pre-order. Pre-orders went live on July 23, one day after the consoleโs announcement. Now, a few months later, the hardware is finally available to purchase, and any pre-orders would have been shipped by this point. You can now snag this retro machine directly from Amazon, but it does come at a price.
Itโs $169.99, which isnโt exactly cheap for this kind of console, one would assume. However, it does come with some nice features, and itโs backward-compatible with classic cartridges, so this price probably isnโt all that bad to begin with. At least when you consider these upgrades. For instance, it does feature a wireless controller now, so thatโs quite convenient. The controllers even come in several colors, with each one matching one of the colors of each ghost in the Pac-Man games. Although the controller you get with the console in the box will be yellow to match the console.
The Atari 2600+ Pac-Man Edition can be picked up at Amazon or directly from Atari
In the US, there seem to be exactly two places you can buy one of these if you feel like taking a trip down memory lane. You can either buy it directly from Atari and have it shipped from Atari, or you can pick it up through Amazon. Amazon might be faster if youโre in a rush to play games on it. However, Amazon isnโt your only option.
You might expect to find these available through retailers like Best Buy or even GameStop, whose whole business is centered around games and game consoles. That isnโt the case, however. The console package comes with the console itself as well as a matching controller and a Pac-Man double feature cartridge inside. For the price of $170, this isnโt too bad. Especially if you consider the cost of a regular Atari 2600 on many aftermarket listings these days.
Obsidian Entertainment's isometric role-playing game Pillars of Eternity is finally getting a turn-based mode, and players can test it starting Nov. 5, 2025.
Nearly a full year after its launch onto Xbox, Windows PC, and Game Pass, GSC Game World's popular survival-horror shooter STALKER 2 is leaving the program.
In the final week of September, a report from The Wall Street Journal claimed that Electronic Arts (EA) was going private in a massive $50 billion buyout, with the major investors being Silver Lake, a private equity company run by Jared Kushner, and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), among others. A few days later, the news would be confirmed, with EA officially announcing it had agreed to be acquired by this 'Consortium' of investors for $55 billion, and the video game industry has had endless questions ever since. Questions about the $20 billion of debt that EA takes [โฆ]
This past week, Adobe added several new features to Lightroom Classic that are powered by AI. My knee-jerk reaction to any new AI feature is immediate skepticism, but after looking at the updates, the additions all look like welcome improvements.
Hippocratic AI has once again captured investorsโ attention. The healthcare AI startup just raised $126 million in a Series C round led by Avenir Growth, pushing its valuation to $3.5 billion and cementing its status as one of the most [โฆ]
For decades, healthcare organizations have struggled to capture one of the richest sources of patient insight โ the phone call. Every day, millions of patients speak with care coordinators, but most of those conversations disappear into the void, undocumented and [โฆ]
Hasbro is going to start developing its own video games starting next year for the first time, CMO Jason Bunge said onstage at ADWEEKโs Brandweek conference in Atlanta.ย
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has sounded a new kind of Bitcoin alarm; one that no price chart can predict. In its latest report, โThe Quantum Threat to Bitcoin,โ the group warns that the worldโs most secure form of money could one day be cracked wide open by quantum computers.
If that happens, Bitcoinโs cryptographic backbone, the math that keeps wallets safe and transactions authentic, could fail, exposing millions of coins, including Satoshi Nakamotoโs, to digital theft.
What the HRF Report Says About the Bitcoin Quantum Threat
The HRF report lays out some alarming numbers. It estimates that about 6.5 million BTC; one-third of all Bitcoins in circulation; could be vulnerable to long-range quantum attacks.
Of those, 4.49 million BTC are in addresses that could be moved to quantum-resistant address types; the remaining 1.72 million BTC (including 1.1 million held by Satoshi Nakamoto) are in old formats and therefore highly exposed. As the report says:
โUpgrading Bitcoin to withstand quantum threats is as much a human challenge as a cryptographic one. Any successful soft fork integrating quantum-resistant signature schemes will necessitate user education, thoughtful user interface design, and coordination across a global ecosystemโฆโ
This means the Bitcoin quantum threat is not just about math; itโs about coordination; migration and social consensus.
How Quantum Computing Breaks Bitcoinโs Cryptography
At the heart of the Bitcoin quantum threat are two main attack vectors; long-range attacks on dormant or reused addresses and short-range attacks on live transactions where public keys are exposed.
Bitcoin uses the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and Schnorr signatures to validate transactions. These rely on the mathematical hardness of discrete logarithms. Quantum algorithms like Shorโs algorithm could in theory compute private keys from public keys much faster than classical computers.
For example, when a Bitcoin address reveals its public key on chain (as happens in Pay-to-Public-Key (P2PK) or when an address is reused), that key becomes a quantum target.
The HRF report says โ1.72 million Bitcoinโฆ will be highly vulnerable to long-range quantum attacks.โ
Researchers also note that while quantum computers capable of this are not yet mature, the window to move funds safely is closing and delays compound the risk.
So the Bitcoin quantum threat seems real; it means the core cryptographic shield that underpins Bitcoin could one day collapse.
Why This Matters for the Bitcoin Ecosystem
The Bitcoin quantum threat is appears structural. If large amounts of BTC became accessible to quantum adversaries, this would undermine trust in Bitcoinโs value proposition as a store of value.
As one analysis notes: โQuantum recovered coins only make everyone elseโs coins worth less.โ
Thereโs also a scaling and migration challenge. The HRF says quantum-secure signature schemes like lattice- or hash-based methods are much larger than current signatures, one alternative is 10ร or even 38ร larger which would bloat transaction sizes and stress the blockchain.
Again, the social and governance dimension is huge. Because Bitcoin upgrades require consensus, the transition to post-quantum cryptography is much harder than a normal code change. The report says:
โThe community must coordinate across coders, wallet builders, advocacy groups, and millions of skeptical holdersโฆโ
In summary, the Bitcoin quantum threat is a problem for Bitcoinโs decentralized upgrade model and could stress its identity as censorship-resistant, neutral money.
What the Bitcoin Community Is Doing (and Not Doing)
In response to the Bitcoin quantum threat, various efforts are underway. For example, Jameson Lopp (co-founder of Casa) has proposed migrating to post-quantum address types and even โburningโ vulnerable funds rather than let them be stolen. Loppโs perspective:
โAllowing quantum recovery of Bitcoins is akin to wealth redistribution. We would enable the transfer of cryptocurrency from those unaware of quantum computers to those who have won the technological race.โ
Meanwhile; the HRFโs report calls for funding; education and coordinated upgrades but it emphasizes the timeline is uncertain.
Despite this; consensus has not been reached. Wallet providers, node operators and users are not equally informed. Many funds are locked in old address formats and may never migrate. This gap takes the Bitcoin quantum threat from theoretical to imminent.
Conclusion
Timing matters as far as this looming Bitcoin quantum threat is concerned. The HRF report says the risk becomes actionable in 5-10 years depending on quantum progress.
Migrating to quantum-resistant schemes is hard and slow. One academic paper estimated it would take at least 76 days of cumulative downtime for the network to be safe.
If thereโs delay, the window for safe migration shrinks. Worse, dormant funds get accessed, user confidence is shaken and Bitcoinโs promise of secure, permission-less money is broken.
Hence; the Bitcoin quantum threat is a countdown and a coordination problem; a test of if the ecosystem evolve without undermining what made it valuable.
Glossary
Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer (CRQC): a quantum computer powerful and stable enough to break widely-used cryptographic algorithms; such as those securing Bitcoin.
Long-Range Attack: a quantum attack vector; that exploits keys or addresses that have been exposed publicly in the past; especially dormant or reused addresses.
Short-Range Attack: a quantum attack targeting recently used addresses or transactions; where public keys are temporarily exposed during processing.
Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC): cryptographic algorithms designed to resist attacks by quantum computers; includes lattice-based and hash-based signature schemes.
Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA):ย signature algorithm used by Bitcoin to prove ownership of keys; which is considered vulnerable to quantum algorithms like Shorโs.
Soft Fork:ย backward-compatible change to a blockchain protocol; which allows non-upgraded nodes to continue participating; it is one possible route for migrating Bitcoinโs cryptography.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bitcoin Quantum Threat
Is Bitcoin currently under quantum attack?
No. Current quantum computers are not believed to be capable of breaking Bitcoinโs cryptography yet; but many think that may change in 5-10 years.
Which Bitcoins are most vulnerable to the Bitcoin quantum threat?
Funds in older address formats like Pay-to-Public-Key or reused addresses where the public key has been exposed are most at risk. The HRF estimates 1.72 million BTC are locked in such vulnerable formats.
What can a Bitcoin holder do now to mitigate the threat?
One thing to do now is to avoid address reuse; move funds to newer wallets that support migration to quantum-resistant address types; and stay informed about upcoming protocol upgrades.
Will the Bitcoin blockchain have to stop or fork entirely?
No. The plan is for a soft fork or coordinated upgrade that introduces quantum-secure signature schemes without stopping the chain. Though itโs complicated.
Goldman Sachsโ Tony Pasquariello offered a compelling counter-narrative to prevailing market anxieties surrounding the AI trade and market concentration during his appearance on CNBCโs โClosing Bell.โ Speaking with Scott Wapner, Pasquariello, Goldmanโs Global Head of Hedge Fund Coverage, dissected the current market structure, arguing against the notion that a top-heavy market is inherently precarious, particularly [โฆ]
The artificial intelligence sector just witnessed a seismic shift as OpenAI, the architect behind ChatGPT, cemented a monumental $38 billion compute partnership with Amazon Web Services. This unprecedented alliance signals a profound strategic diversification for OpenAI, marking a deliberate move to expand its foundational infrastructure beyond its primary backer, Microsoft, and intensifying the already fierce [โฆ]
The undeniable surge in artificial intelligence has profoundly reshaped market dynamics, with its trajectory now inextricably linked to the fortunes of a singular entity: OpenAI. This pivotal insight emerged from a recent discussion on CNBCโs โThe Exchange,โ where Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, UBS Global Head of Equities, offered sharp analysis on the state of the AI trade, [โฆ]
The gaming industry just saw massive releases with Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6. But the calendar for gaming is still bursting with promise. So weโve compiled a list of five of the most anticipated games that have yet to release: from sprawling fantasy worlds, latest entries in massive franchises, and a game that breathes new life into an iconic spy series.
The Witcher IV
For fans of rich, mature RPGs, The Witcher series is practically mythical. The last entry in the series was a massive success, leading CD Projekt Red to then work on Cyberpunk 2077. After years of speculation of another Witcher game being in the works, the CDPR finally confirmed that it is working on The Witcher IV.
The Witcher IV
This next installment in the series is expected to use the Unreal Engine 5 and promises to expand the witcher universe significantly, focusing on the character Ciri. We will likely get another immersive open world fantasy game with a strong focus on narrative and character expression.
Grand Theft Auto VI
Few franchises spark as much feverish speculation as Grand Theft Auto, and GTA 6 is no different. From the return to a modern Vice City reimagining, to introducing a female protagonist Lucia alongside a male partner, this open-world behemoth is poised to redefine sandbox gaming.
Grand Theft Auto VI
Official listings now put the launch date at 26th May 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with PC to follow later. For gamers looking for immersive scale, deep systems and high ambition, this is the title to watch. Its trailers have already broken the internet before, so this title might be one of the most anticipated video game of all time.
007 First Light
A fresh take on James Bond arrives with IO Interactiveโs origin story for 007. Set for 27th March 2026, across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2, First Light combines stealth, gadgets and high-stakes espionage, just like the iconic spy thriller movie franchise.
007 First Light
Unlike typical Bond games, it promises a younger Bond on the rise, mixing sleek spycraft with grand action set-pieces (like the Uncharted series). For any gamer who craves cinematic narrative and elegant mission design, this one stands out.
Marvelโs Wolverine
After the success of the recent Spider-Man games, Insomniac Games is planning on bringing another popular comicbook superhero to life in a new video game. Marvelโs Wolverince is set to exclusively release on the Sony PS5 sometime in Fall 2026.
Marvelโs Wolverine
The game emphasises brutal melee combat, mature storytelling and locations from across the globe including fictional and real-life regions like Madripoor and Japan. If youโre drawn to superhero action that combines depth with spectacle, this is one of the most intriguing titles on the horizon, which makes sense once you see the gore, fights, and furious gameplay of Logan.
Resident Evil Requiem
Resident Evil Requiem
Horror fans get their moment too. Capcomโs next major instalment in the survival-horror genre is called Resident Evil Requiem that is set for a 27th February 2026 release. Developed in the RE ENGINE, this game promises cinematic visuals, tension-filled exploration and a chilling return to tradition. The Resident Evil franchise is a giant in the horror genre, so the latest installment is already garnering hype and the trailer already getting nearly 4 million views on YouTube.
For more daily updates, please visit our News Section.
AgiBot, a robotics company focused on embodied intelligence, has achieved a major milestone by successfully deploying its Real-World Reinforcement Learning (RW-RL) system on a pilot production line with Longcheer Technology. This marks the first-ever real-world application of reinforcement learning in industrial robotics, bridging years of AI research with practical use in manufacturing.
Transforming the Future of Manufacturing
For decades, precision manufacturing has relied on rigid automation systems that require complex fixtures, extensive tuning, and high setup costs. These systems are difficult to reconfigure when new products are introduced or production layouts change. Even modern robots equipped with vision and force-control systems often suffer from high sensitivity to parameter changes, resulting in long deployment times and expensive maintenance.
AgiBotโs RW-RL solution aims to solve these long-standing challenges by enabling robots to learn directly from real-world interactions. Instead of depending on pre-programmed instructions, the robots can adapt to changing conditions on the factory floor and refine their performance in real time.
How AgiBotโs RW-RL System Works
The Real-World Reinforcement Learning system allows robots to acquire new skills within minutes instead of weeks. Once deployed, they can maintain industrial-grade stability and perform tasks continuously without performance degradation. The system requires minimal hardware adjustments when switching between tasks or products, significantly reducing downtime and costs.
AgiBotโs technology also enables robots to autonomously adjust for part variations and manufacturing tolerances, ensuring consistent precision. This adaptability makes the system ideal for flexible, multi-product production lines, paving the way for smarter and more versatile factories.
From Research to Real-World Deployment
The RW-RL breakthrough is built on years of academic research into the stability and efficiency of reinforcement learning. Led by Dr. Jianlan Luo, Chief Scientist at AgiBot, the team successfully transformed complex AI algorithms into a deployable industrial system. The pilot deployment with Longcheer Technology validated the systemโs performance under near-production conditions, confirming it as the first verified industrial application of reinforcement learning in manufacturing robotics.
Following the successful pilot, AgiBot and Longcheer plan to expand the use of RW-RL to consumer electronics and automotive component production. Their goal is to create modular, easily deployable robotic solutions that can integrate seamlessly into existing factory systems.
With this achievement, AgiBot has not only demonstrated a major advancement in robotic intelligence but also taken a crucial step toward the future of self-learning, adaptable manufacturing systems, bringing the promise of embodied AI closer to industrial reality.
Researchers have created a detailed map of chemical modifications to DNA that occur in the human brain from the earliest stages of fetal development through old age. A new study published in Cell Genomics reveals that the most significant of these changes happen before birth and are located near genes linked to conditions like autism and schizophrenia.
The human brain cortex, the wrinkled outer layer responsible for thought, memory, and behavior, undergoes a period of intense and complex construction before birth. This process relies on genes being switched on and off in a precise, time-sensitive sequence.
Epigenetic changes, which are chemical tags that attach to DNA and direct gene activity without altering the genetic code itself, are fundamental to this orchestration. A team of researchers at the University of Exeter sought to understand the dynamics of one key epigenetic mechanism, DNA methylation, across the entire human lifespan to build a clearer picture of how the cortex develops.
To create this comprehensive timeline, the scientists analyzed DNA methylation in the cortex tissue of nearly 1,000 donated human brains. The samples spanned a remarkable age range, from just six weeks after conception to 108 years of age. Using a technology that can measure methylation levels at hundreds of thousands of specific sites across the genome, they identified which sites changed with age. They first looked at the whole tissue, then developed a method to zoom in on specific cell populations to see if changes were uniform across the brainโs different cell types.
The teamโs initial analysis revealed that the prenatal period is a time of extraordinary epigenetic activity. They identified more than 50,000 specific locations on the DNA where methylation levels changed dramatically during early and mid-gestation. Many of these changes were not linear, meaning they did not happen at a steady rate. Instead, they appeared to accelerate, slow down, or level off at distinct developmental time points, suggesting they mark important biological transitions in the construction of the cortex.
When the researchers compared these early-life changes to those happening after birth, they found a striking difference. The vast majority of the methylation patterns established before birth remained relatively stable throughout the rest of life. Only a very small percentage of these sites continued to change significantly with age postnatally. This finding indicates that the prenatal window is a unique period of extensive epigenetic remodeling that largely sets the stage for future brain function.
The scientists noticed that these dynamically changing DNA sites were not spread randomly. They were depleted in some genomic regions but concentrated in others, particularly in areas known to regulate gene activity. These sites were also enriched in parts of the genome that are accessible and active during the development of specific brain cells, especially excitatory neurons, which are the brainโs primary signaling cells. This suggests that the methylation changes are tied to the activation of genetic programs needed to build a functional cortex.
Recognizing that the brain is composed of many different cell types, the team wanted to know if these epigenetic changes were happening in all cells or were specific to certain ones, like neurons. Analyzing the cortex as a whole tissue can mask cell-type-specific patterns. The standard protein marker used to identify mature neurons, called NeuN, did not work reliably on the very immature neurons found in the early fetal brain. The researchers established a new protocol using a different marker, a protein called SATB2, which is active in developing excitatory neurons.
Using a method that sorts cell nuclei based on fluorescent labels, they separated the brain tissue into two populations: one enriched with developing neurons and another containing other brain cell types. They then analyzed the DNA methylation in each group separately. This approach showed that neurons begin to establish their unique epigenetic signature very early in development. The majority of the developmental changes seen in the whole cortex tissue were, in fact, being driven by shifts occurring within this developing neuron population.
The analysis also revealed distinct developmental trajectories between the cell types. Some methylation sites changed only in the neuron-enriched group, while others were specific to the non-neuronal cells. For example, the sites changing dynamically only in the developing neurons were located in active genomic regions specific to excitatory neurons. Sites changing only in the other cell populations were, by contrast, enriched in active regions associated with astrocytes, a type of supportive brain cell.
Finally, the researchers investigated whether these dynamic epigenetic regions were relevant to neurodevelopmental conditions. They examined lists of genes that have been strongly associated with autism and schizophrenia through genetic studies. They found that these genes were significantly more likely than other genes to be located near the DNA sites that undergo methylation changes during fetal development.
This association was even stronger when they looked specifically at the changes happening within the developing neurons. The findings support the long-standing hypothesis that the origins of these conditions may lie in disruptions to early brain development.
The study does have some limitations. Access to brain tissue from later stages of pregnancy was restricted, though the data suggest that the most dramatic changes had already occurred by mid-gestation. The technology used, while extensive, only covers a fraction of all possible methylation sites in the genome.
Future research using whole-genome sequencing could provide an even more complete view. The method was also unable to distinguish between DNA methylation and a related modification, DNA hydroxymethylation, which is also common in the brain. Despite these constraints, the study provides a foundational resource for understanding the epigenetic processes that shape the human brain.
The study, โCell-type-specific DNA methylation dynamics in the prenatal and postnatal human cortex,โ was authored by Alice Franklin, Jonathan P. Davies, Nicholas E. Clifton, Georgina E.T. Blake, Rosemary Bamford, Emma M. Walker, Barry Chioza, Martyn Frith, APEX Consortium, Youth-GEMs Consortium, Joe Burrage, Nick Owens, Shyam Prabhakar, Emma Dempster, Eilis Hannon, and Jonathan Mill.
It will be years before we are close to even the release date for the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Project Orion, but that hasn't stopped people from asking CD Projekt RED and anyone connected to the series about it. We know the game is in pre-production, and that it'll feature a kind of "Chicago gone wrong" setting, and as of September, we know that Hollywood star Keanu Reeves would "absolutely" love to find a way back to the series to reprise his role as Johnny Silverhand. Well, according to series creator Mike Pondsmith in a recent anniversary live stream that [โฆ]
Bill Roper, a Blizzard veteran who worked on the first games in the Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo franchises in various capacities (producer, design, voice-over, etc.), has announced that his studio has secured funding for Innsmouth Mysteries. The studio, Lunacy Games, was actually supposed to produce Hellgate: Redemption, a sequel to Hellgate: London, a cult classic Diablo-like game that Roper created after departing from Blizzard, and a game called Skinwalkers, which would merge the Weird West and Cthulhu settings, with players acting as cowboys. However, speaking to GamesBeat, Roper said the studio couldn't find anyone who would fund this project, which [โฆ]
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's game director, Naoki Hamaguchi, has been clear about a few things in 2025: that development on Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 is "coming along really well," and that Clair Obsucr: Expedition 33 is an excellent game. It's his pick for Game of the Year, and in an interview with GamesRadar, he's gone a step further to say that he "would love" to make a game at the scope and scale of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The comment came up when Hamaguchi was discussing how with triple-A development, there's so much that goes into a game [โฆ]
Just Cause creator Cristofer Sundberg left Avalanche Studios, which he had co-founded, in late 2020 to create his own company, Liquid Swords. The studio is working on a GTA-like open world game that was first shown to the world last year. Recently, it has shared around ten seconds of new in-game footage to keep players intrigued about the untitled project. However, a few hours ago, Sundberg returned to the topic of Just Cause. In a series of tweets published on X, he stated that it is unlikely we'll see a fifth mainline installment from Avalanche Studios. Me and my team [โฆ]
At the beginning of last month, GamesRadar revealed the nominees for its 2025 Golden Joysticks Awards, though one category, the Ultimate Game of the Year Award, was left out of the list. As of today, the shortlist for the most significant Golden Joysticks Award has been revealed, and it is stacked with games from independent developers making up most of the list, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Blue Prince, and Peak. It's the first major awards event to reveal a Game of the Year list, and while it has 12 games listed in total, which is more than you'd see [โฆ]
Samsung introduced a new professional video format called Advanced Professional Video (APV), which is similar to Appleโs ProRes. APV is designed to produce high-quality videos while using less storage space. Ahead of the launch of the Galaxy S26, DaVinci Resolve, one of the most popular video editing apps, has added support for this new format.
The latest version, DaVinci Resolve 20.2, allows editors to encode and save videos in APV. Samsung says the format offers professional-grade quality but takes about 20% less storage than other professional video formats. APV supports multiple resolutions, including 2K, 4K, and 8K, and works with HDR10 and HDR10+ for brighter and more detailed colors.
APV also comes with advanced features useful for creators. It supports alpha channels, depth data, and preview content. It also allows frame tilting for immersive experiences like VR and XR, and can handle parallel encoding and decoding.
These features make editing faster and smoother. The codec works with different color formats and bit depths without lowering video quality. Android 16 now supports APV, meaning most phones and tablets with this version can use the format unless blocked by the manufacturer.
Samsung plans to let users record APV videos directly on the Galaxy S26. This will allow creators to capture high-quality footage on their phones and edit it on compatible devices like tablets, laptops, or PCs using apps like DaVinci Resolve.
APV is already supported by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, and Samsungโs upcoming Exynos 2600 chip is expected to support it as well. With APV, the Galaxy S26 could become one of the most advanced smartphones for video recording and editing. The Galaxy S26 series is expected to be released early next year. Stay tuned for more information.
Autumnโs vibrant colors and crisp light provide photographers with an ideal backdrop to capture striking images across genres, from landscapes to portraits. With Lumaprintsโ Print-on-Demand services, these seasonal shots can be quickly turned into high-quality prints, helping photographers showcase the beauty of fall while boosting sales both online and in person.
Despite the controversy surrounding its use of generative AI to create a trio of Christmas advertisements last year, Coca-Cola has once again returned to the world's driest well, churning out yet another terrible AI-generated advertisement.
Adobe has updated Lightroom Classic with six new features plus performance improvements, supported camera profiles, and an updated list of lens profiles.
THE MIDLANDS featherweight belt changed hands on Bulkington ABCโs show at The Weston Hall Hotel. Liam Harper defended the title in front of his home crowd, but Tom Jones (Lions) took it off him with a split points win. Jones was rewarded for a strong finish. Harper is a hot-and-cold talent who was good enough [โฆ]
A prominent crypto commentator known as Remi Relief has expanded on theories linking Ripple, SWIFT, and the global banking system to the long-term valuation of XRP.ย
His post on the social media platform X came in response to a discussion initiated by well-known analyst Paul Barron, who questioned whether Rippleโs strategy has always been to bridge the increasingly fragmented world of bank-issued stablecoins. The idea brings attention to XRPโs utility in facilitating liquidity between institutional networks, with Remi Relief noting that this could push the XRP price to $1,000.
The Ripple/SWIFT Dual-System Theories
Remi Relief proposed that the global payment structure could split into two interconnected systems where both ultimately rely on XRP for settlement and support the cryptocurrencyโs price at $1,000. The first theory proposes a revamped version of SWIFT that would retain much of its existing framework but incorporate blockchain-based assets such as XRP, XDC, HBAR, and Chainlink to achieve faster transaction speeds and improved efficiency. Despite these upgrades, it would still face skepticism from some financial institutions due to it being weaponized in the past.
The second theory is the setup of a new Ripple-based network built in collaboration with Thunes, which would function as a more trusted and independent channel for cross-border payments. This system would be much quicker, much cheaper and more trusted by countries.
In Remiโs view, both models would coexist for a time, giving banks and governments the freedom to choose based on transaction scale, cost, and reliability. However, he believes that the Ripple-Thunes system will later gain dominance and overtake SWIFT as more and more banks use that system.ย
Regardless of which of the two theories prevails, Remi Relief pointed out that both have the potential to lead to a $1,000 XRP more quickly than most people think.
Paul Barronโs Perspective On Institutional Stablecoins
Paul Barronโs initial post that prompted Remi Reliefโs response is based on the growing race among major banks to issue their own stablecoins. He pointed out that while SWIFT continues to promote neutral rails, banks like JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo are developing US-based consortium stablecoins. Similarly, European institutions such as ING and Deutsche Bank plan to launch euro-denominated versions by 2026.ย
Barron warned that this trend toward proprietary stablecoin systems would fragment the global financial network even further and create walled gardens where each bankโs stablecoin operates in isolation.
In his view, such fragmentation will bring out the original purpose of XRP, and this might have been the plan of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse all along. The plan has always been to use XRP as a bridge asset capable of allowing interoperability between otherwise disconnected financial ecosystems. This function aligns with Rippleโs long-standing vision for the XRP Ledger as a neutral settlement layer for easy cross-border value transfer between different digital and fiat systems.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $2.41 and is a long way away from trading at $1,000.
OpenAI isn't done securing the AI infrastructure it needs to rapidly scale agentic workloads. The ChatGPT maker on Monday said it has reached a deal with Amazon to buy $38 billion in cloud computing services over the next seven years. ย
IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) and Cipher Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR), Bitcoin miners pivoting to AI infrastructure providers, are making some hefty business moves today, and their stocks have been reflecting it.
IREN signed a five-year, $9.7 billion agreement with Microsoft for GPU cloud computing services. The deal gives Microsoft access to NVIDIA GB300 GPUs managed by IREN at its Childress, Texas campus, with a phased deployment of GPU capacity throughout 2026.ย
The contract includes a 20% prepayment and positions IREN as a key hyperscaler partner for the first time.ย
Four new liquid-cooled data centers, Horizon 1 through Horizon 4, will support 200 megawatts of critical IT load, while a separate $5.8 billion agreement with Dell Technologies covers the purchase of GPUs, servers, and associated infrastructure.ย
CEO Daniel Roberts said the partnership could generate roughly $1.94 billion in annualized revenue once fully deployed. Following the announcement, IREN shares jumped more than 28% in pre-market trading.ย
The stock is now up 8% in intraday trading. IREN, which has seen its Nasdaq stock surge over 500% this year, joins other AI-focused โneocloudโ providers, many of which originated in cryptocurrency mining.
Cipher Miningโs deal with Amazon
Meanwhile, Cipher Mining secured a $5.5 billion, 15-year lease agreement with Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ: AMZN) to provide turnkey space and power for AI workloads.
Cipher will deliver 300 megawatts of capacity in 2026 through air- and liquid-cooled facilities in two phases, with rent starting in August 2026. Additionally, the company announced a joint venture to develop a 1-gigawatt site named โColchisโ in West Texas, in which it will hold roughly 95% equity.ย
Combined with prior deals with Fluidstack and Google, Cipherโs AI hosting contracts now represent approximately $8.5 billion in lease payments.ย
Cipher shares rose 15% in pre-market trading following the news. The stock is now up 14% in intraday trading.ย
Bitcoin mining success with an AI twist
Bitcoin mining and crypto infrastructure stocks have seen a big rally over the past six months, and IREN Limited is a standout example.ย
Investors have rewarded companies that can combine traditional bitcoin mining with scalable, revenue-generating AI or data-center services.ย
In IRENโs case, the stockโs recent surge comes after a major GPU expansion and analyst upgrades, and now this new Microsoft news is helping boost the price.ย
This reflects a wider market appetite for miners that offer optionality: steady bitcoin cash flows to fund new ventures, while also positioning for high-growth technology trends.
In essence, the past half-year has favored bitcoin-mining firms that can monetize excess power, land, and data-center capacity beyond mining.
The rally is less about bitcoin prices alone and more about miners evolving into hybrid tech infrastructure operators with diversified revenue streams.
Adeia has filed a pair of patent infringement lawsuits against AMD in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, accusing the chipmaker of using its hybrid bonding and advanced node technologies without permission.
Zandi delineated two primary channels through which the AI phenomenon is currently fueling economic expansion. Firstly, he underscored the โwealth effects generated by the surge in equity prices,โ explaining that this newfound affluence translates directly into increased consumer spending. The aggregate valuation of publicly traded stock has surged by an impressive $10-11 trillion over the [โฆ]
Sun Outdoors, one of North Americaโs largest operators of RV resorts and campgrounds, has announced a significant collaboration with Hipcamp, the worldโs leading app for booking camping sites. This partnership adds over 100 Sun Outdoors locations, including more than 20 Jellystone Parks, to the Hipcamp app, offering an expanded selection of upscale and family-friendly camping experiences across the United States. This new development provides campers access to a variety of destinations, from glamping sites to RV resorts, all equipped with modern amenities.
The US camping industry has seen dramatic growth over the past decade, with the number of active campers increasing by 68 percent. This surge represents an additional 21.6 million households engaging in camping. This partnership marks an important moment for the US tourism and camping sector, as it enhances the appeal of outdoor vacations by merging traditional camping with luxury experiences.
Expanding the US Tourism Landscape
The growth of camping in the United States has been closely linked to the broader trends in domestic tourism. With the rising demand for outdoor leisure experiences, the US has become a leading destination for both domestic and international tourists looking to reconnect with nature. National parks, state parks, and campgrounds are no longer just for rustic outdoor enthusiasts; they now appeal to a wide range of tourists, from those seeking a traditional campsite to those looking for more luxurious โglampingโ (glamorous camping) options.
This collaboration between Hipcamp and Sun Outdoors is in direct response to the evolving needs of US travellers who seek comfort without sacrificing the beauty and tranquillity of the outdoors. The partnership introduces amenities such as full-service RV sites, vacation rentals, and glamping tents, all designed to cater to a new generation of campers looking for unique outdoor experiences with a high level of comfort.
Upscale Amenities to Attract Modern Campers
One of the main drivers behind this partnership is the increasing demand for upscale camping. According to recent data, US campers are becoming more selective, with many seeking sites offering amenities like wifi, full-hookup services, and family-friendly activities. Hipcamp has seen a 20 percent increase in searches for campsites with modern amenities and a significant 60 percent year-over-year increase in searches for sites that offer wifi, a clear indication of the evolving nature of camping tourism.
Campgrounds like those operated by Sun Outdoors often feature water parks, lakeside RV sites, and extensive recreation options. These parks are well equipped to serve not just traditional campers but also families, groups, and solo travellers looking for a higher standard of service while still enjoying the outdoors. These amenities are designed to bridge the gap between traditional camping and the desire for luxury, catering to a broad spectrum of tourists.
Strengthening the US Camping Sector
The partnershipโs impact goes beyond just the addition of new campsites to the Hipcamp platform. It also highlights the growing role of the US camping sector in the wider tourism industry. As more families and tourists seek outdoor vacations that offer both adventure and comfort, the sectorโs growth is expected to continue, with increasing investments in infrastructure and services.
Earlier this year, Hipcamp made waves in the industry by doubling its US inventory to over 500,000 campsites, solidifying its position as the largest platform for booking campgrounds, RV parks, and unique outdoor experiences. This expansion not only strengthens the companyโs reach within the domestic tourism market but also increases its international appeal, as more travellers seek the US as a destination for a well-rounded outdoor holiday.
In addition, the acquisition of BookOutdoors last year further bolstered Hipcampโs offerings by merging a platform focused on RV parks and glamping resorts into its own service. This merger ensures a more seamless and comprehensive booking experience for users seeking a range of camping options, whether they prefer staying in a tent or a luxury cabin.
The Future of US Outdoor Tourism
The Hipcamp-Sun Outdoors partnership signals a promising future for the US outdoor tourism sector. As more tourists seek diverse and flexible ways to experience nature, the collaboration provides new opportunities for those looking to enjoy the great outdoors with modern comforts. In particular, the popularity of family-friendly destinations is expected to rise, as well as an increase in international visitors interested in US camping as part of their wider travel experience.
This collaboration not only enhances the availability of camping options but also helps position the US as a prime destination for tourists seeking a balance between adventure, comfort, and relaxation. It reflects a broader trend of innovation within the tourism industry, where technology and modern amenities are reshaping how people engage with outdoor environments. As camping continues to grow in popularity, initiatives like the Hipcamp-Sun Outdoors partnership will be crucial in shaping the future of US tourism.
A new study reveals that walking enhances the brainโs response to sound, and this effect changes dynamically depending on the direction of movement. These findings, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that our brains actively adjust auditory processing to optimize navigation through our environment.
The investigation was conducted by an international team of researchers, led by Liyu Cao from Zhejiang University and Barbara Hรคndel from the University of Wรผrzburg. Scientists have long understood that movement and cognition are deeply connected. Prior work has shown that locomotion affects visual processing, but its influence on our sense of hearing has been less clear. The researchers sought to understand if the simple act of walking alters how the brain processes auditory information, particularly in a way that could support safe and efficient navigation.
To explore this relationship, the team designed two experiments. In the first, thirty volunteers wore a mobile electroencephalogram (EEG) system, a device that measures brain activity through sensors on the scalp. The participants walked along a path shaped like a figure eight while listening to a continuous stream of tones through earphones.
A specific, steady frequency was played in the left ear (39 Hz) and a different one in the right ear (41 Hz). This technique is designed to elicit what is known as an auditory steady-state response, a brain signal that reflects how well neural populations are synchronizing with, or โentrainingโ to, the sounds.
The researchers compared brain activity during three conditions: walking the path, standing still, and simply stepping in place. The results showed that the brainโs entrainment to the sounds was significantly stronger while participants were walking along the path compared to when they were standing or stepping on the spot. This suggests that purposeful movement through space, rather than just the motor act of moving oneโs legs, amplifies the brainโs processing of auditory information.
The team also observed a well-known effect: a reduction in alpha brain waves, which are typically associated with neural inhibition, during walking. The data showed a connection between these two phenomena, as individuals with a larger decrease in alpha waves also tended to have a greater increase in their auditory response.
The most notable finding emerged from analyzing the brainโs activity during the turns of the figure-eight path. The team calculated a measure to determine if the brain was processing the sound from the left ear more strongly than the right, or vice versa. They discovered a dynamic pattern linked to the direction of the turn. For example, as a participant began a right turn, the brain enhanced its response to the sound in the right ear.
After passing the midpoint of the turn, the response flipped, and the brain began to more strongly process the sound from the left ear. This systematic shift suggests that the brain does not just passively receive sound but actively modulates its auditory attention in a predictive way to survey the environment during movement.
In a second experiment, the researchers introduced an element of surprise. While participants walked or stood still, the continuous tones were randomly interrupted by short bursts of white noise. These disruptive bursts could occur in the left ear, the right ear, or in both ears simultaneously. The team measured how this โperturbationโ affected the brainโs ongoing entrainment to the background tones.
The analysis revealed that walking specifically heightened the brainโs reaction to noise bursts presented to only one ear. When the sound was perceived as coming from the periphery (the left or right side), the disruption to the steady-state response was greater during walking compared to standing.
When the burst was presented to both ears and perceived as coming from the center, walking did not produce a similar enhancement. This finding indicates that our auditory system may become selectively more sensitive to unexpected sounds originating from our sides when we are in motion, a mechanism that could help us react more quickly to unseen events while navigating.
The study provides a detailed snapshot of how the brain handles sound during movement, but it was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Future research could investigate if these same patterns of neural modulation occur in more complex, real-world environments with a variety of natural sounds.
Additional work could also explore how these auditory adjustments interact with other senses, like vision and touch, to create a complete sensory map for navigation. The findings open new avenues for understanding spatial awareness and could potentially inform the design of improved navigational aids.
The study, โWalking modulates active auditory sensing,โ was authored by Xinyu Chen, Liyu Cao, Roy Eric Wieske, Juan Prada, Klaus Gramann, and Barbara F. Haendel.
After a weekend of everyone blaming YouTube TV for losing the Disney channels, including ESPN, YouTube TV is finally coming out on the offensive, having an unnamed exec speak with Deadline. Claiming that Disney has been โunnecessarily aggressiveโ in negotiations, and has an โantiquated viewโ of pay-TV economics.
The exec also apparently said that Disney is โnot being reasonable to expect steep carriage fee increases.โ They also expanded to say that there are โaspects of their portfolio that are doing well on our platform. Disney has a very broad portfolio of channels where viewership on many networks is in decline or nonexistent.
Essentially, Disney is forcing YouTube TV to carry its entire catalog of channels. Weโve also seen rumors that Disney wants its partners to carry ESPN Unlimited and Disney+ as part of their carriage deals. That would drastically increase the cost of YouTube TV, something that YouTube TV doesnโt want to do.
Nearly half of the channels on YouTube TV are owned by Disney, and forcing a provider to carry the entire catalog is not out of the ordinary. NBCU, Paramount, and FOX all do this. They have a set of channels that every provider must carry in their base plan, plus a set of channels that can be provided in an add-on.
Disney is also responsible for the majority of the cost of YouTube TV, since they carry the majority of sports on YouTube TV, which is not cheap.
Will Disney and YouTube TV work something out?
Thereโs still hope that a deal will be worked out here between Disney and YouTube TV, but it might take some time. And the longer this takes, the more it benefits Disney. As many are leaving YouTube TV to watch college football elsewhere. And the main competitors are Disney-owned.
Thereโs Hulu + Live TV which Disney obviously owns, thereโs ESPN Unlimited which has all of the ESPN content, and then thereโs Fubo. Disney actually took a 70% stake in Fubo recently, and is merging it with Hulu + Live TV.
So, YouTube TV is forcing people to leave their platform for Disney-owned platforms. So even if Disney caves, theyโve already won. Disney is trying their hardest to have a monopoly in the pay-TV world, which should draw the attention of regulators.
Paying a flat fee for a streaming service is a great alternative to buying TV shows or movies individually. To a certain extent, it solves the issue with piracy because at around $10-$20 a month, itโs pretty affordable. However, the problem with streaming is licensing. If these platforms cannot strike a deal with movie studios or distributors, they will lose those shows. Thatโs exactly what happened here with YouTube TV and Disney, although the good news is that there is some compensation.
YouTube TV subscribers get compensation over Disney channel loss
According to a post on Reddit by u/Happy-Spare4582, it seems that YouTube TV is offering compensation to some users over the Disney channel loss. Itโs not a particularly huge compensation at $10 monthly credit for the next six months, but we suppose itโs better than nothing. Itโs safe to assume that Google doesnโt want users to cancel their YouTube TV subscription.
However, even then, Google isnโt making this particularly easy. Users will have to find the compensation in the account management page. They have to go to Manage membership > Manage Base plan section on the YouTube TV website on their PC to claim it. As if navigating the settings wasnโt enough, the post on Reddit suggests that it might not be available to everyone.
Ultimately, if you are lucky enough to have been chosen to receive this compensation, it brings YouTube TVโs subscription down to $73 a month, with a total savings of $60. If you want, you could always use that $10, top it up a bit more, and subscribe directly to Disney. This means youโll spend a little bit more, but itโs a workaround for the time-being. If not, you will lose access to 20 channels from Disneyโs network. This might be important to some, especially given the ongoing college football, NFL, and NHL seasons.
Failed negotiations
Like we said, licensing deals are an important part of a streaming platform. If it cannot get enough shows on its platform, users will just subscribe to another. Obviously original content matters too, but users want to be able to watch other stuff too.
Both Google and Disney have been trying to negotiate a deal, which expired on October 30. However, the reason the negotiations failed is because Google wanted better rates (obviously). It also wanted its subscribers to access additional Disney content, like Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
Disney told CNBC, โThis is the latest example of Google exploiting its position at the expense of their own customers.โ YouTube, in return, responded by saying, โUnfortunately, Disney is proposing costly economic terms that would raise prices on YouTube TV customers and give our customers fewer choices, while benefiting Disneyโs own live TV products โ like Hulu + Live TV and, soon, Fubo.โ
The Ethereum Foundation has introduced a new grant structure for the Ecosystem Support Program to further innovation and adoption on the Ethereum blockchain.
Wicked: For Good, the highly anticipated part two of the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, is arriving in theatres on November 21, 2025, and there is reportedly a very good Mario-themed reason to go see it. According to X (formerly Twitter) user My Time to Shine, which has a reputation for publishing scoops within the movie world, the first proper trailer for the Super Mario Galaxy Movie will be shown at screenings of Wicked: For Good. "The Mario Galaxy trailer will be attached to Wicked For Good meaning it will release online before November 21st," My Time to [โฆ]
Many fans of the series feel that Battlefield 6's maps are smaller than the rest of the series, and it seems like they were right, judging from a comparison put together by a member of the community. Over on the Battlefield subreddit, user ClaraTheRed shared a couple of comparison images that show all of the series' 87 maps, their total and playable area, their shapes and how they rank in terms of size. The findings are not in the Battlefield 6 maps' favor at all. The game's largest map, Operation Firestorm, a remade version of Battlefield 3's map, ranks 32nd [โฆ]
Four years after the last Hyrule Warriors release, Omega Force, the studio behind Age of Calamity within Koei Tecmo, is set to release Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 later this week on November 6, 2025. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment sets players in the Imprisoning War, the events of which would lead to the story that unfolds in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Princess Zelda fights alongside King Rauru and the legendary Sages, each with unique fighting styles that players can utilize in this musou-style game. The latest trailer showcases a bit [โฆ]
Following the reveal of Halo: Campaign Evolved, which confirmed that the longtime Xbox-exclusive series would be coming to PlayStation, GameStop posted a lengthy statement about it being the end of the console wars. The White House, of all entities, responded with an AI-generated photo of Donald Trump in Spartan armor, as if to depict him as the protagonist in Halo, Master Chief. Shortly after that, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used more Halo imagery to promote its own political agenda, and has even followed it up with a similar post co-opting Lord of the Rings. And the DHS [โฆ]
So far, GTA London 1969 remains the only installment in the franchise to take place outside of the United States. Fans have long wondered if Rockstar would ever return to London or perhaps even bring the series elsewhere in the world. However, based on the statement relayed by Dan Houser (who wrote all the games in the series save for the upcoming sixth), that seems unlikely. Speaking to the Lex Fridman podcast, he explained that the franchise is intrinsically linked to American culture. We made a little thing in London 26 years ago, GTA London, for the top-down for the [โฆ]
Chris DeVore, founding managing partner at Founderโs Co-op, at the GeekWire Summit in 2022. (GeekWire File Photo / Dan DeLong)
Seattle venture firm Foundersโ Co-op unveiled its sixth fund โ $50 million, matching the size of its previous fund โ to back another batch of early-stage tech startups.
Chris DeVore, founding managing partner at Foundersโ Co-op, said about 80โ90% of investments will go to Pacific Northwest founders, typically at the pre-product or pre-revenue stage.
Founded in 2008, Foundersโ Co-op was an early backer of billion-dollar companies such as Remitly, Outreach, and Auth0.
The firm is sticking to its core strategy of backing ambitious technical founding teams in its backyard and helping them build companies that go on to raise capital elsewhere.
โOur strategy has always been to be the best first-check investor in our chosen market, not to grow our AUM and wind up competing with the money-center investors our founders need for the next leg of the journey,โ DeVore wrote in a blog post.
He added, in reference to the fund size: โItโs not bigger, because as they say in venture, โyour fund size is your strategy.'โ
GeekWire previously reported on the fund earlier this year.
The new fund will go to about 30 companies. Average initial checks will range from $1 million to $1.5 million. The firm aims for 10% ownership at the first investment. It does not invest in specific verticals, instead placing more weight on entrepreneurs.
โWeโre lucky to be alive in the greatest era of compounding technological advancement in human history,โ DeVore wrote in the post. โAnd we expect that acceleration to continue. But no moment in the hype cycle โ up to and including the current LLM wave โ matters more than the people we back and the problems they choose to solve.โ
Aviel Ginzburg. (Foundersโ Co-op Photo)
Foundersโ Co-op is now based inside Foundations, the new hub for Seattle-area entrepreneurs founded last year by Aviel Ginzburg, general partner at Foundersโ Co-op. It has quickly become a magnet for the cityโs startup community โ and an advantage for Foundersโ Co-op.
โFoundations is Avielโs love-letter to the local founder community โ so itโs not a fund project โ but by making Seattle a better place to be a founder, and helping the strongest and most committed founders connect and share with each other, it has absolutely put compelling new investment opportunities in our path,โ DeVore told GeekWire.
Asked this morning if the firm is still bullish on Seattle, DeVore said: โlike you wouldnโt believe.โ
Some of the firmโs more recent investments include land use data startup Aarden AI, business automation AI company Logic, and internal help desk startup Ravenna.
DeVore said one team โparticularly worth watching at the momentโ is RowZero, a Seattle startup that sells spreadsheet software and raised $10 million in a seed round earlier this year.
Most limited partners in the new fund are returning investors, with a few new backers from outside the region who โbelieve in small funds and the PNW as a differentiated and underserved market,โ DeVore said.
Foundersโ Co-op raised $50 million for its fifth fund in 2021 and $25 million for its fourth fund in 2018.
DeVore previously led the Techstars Seattle accelerator butย stepped down in 2019ย to focus on Foundersโ Co-op full time. Ginzburg, a Simply Measured co-founder who joined the firm in 2015 and became general partner in 2018, was managing director of Amazonโs Alexa Accelerator from 2017 to 2020.
Ginzburg launched Foundations in the aftermath of the surprising closure of Techstars Seattle last year.
Other Seattle-area firms raising new funds includeย Ascend,ย Flying Fish, andย Graham & Walker. Longtime firm Madrona raised $770 million for its new funds earlier this year.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite looks to be just as quirky as its siblings, including the standard Nothing Phone 3 and Nothing Phone 3a series. However, in its pursuit of a lower price tag, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite may have made too many trade-offs.
The nanocap biotech firm is pivoting into digital assets with a $540 million raise to build a canton coinโbased treasury, backed by DRW and Liberty City Ventures.
Etsy is continuing to position the customizable products shoppers can buy from crafters as a way to give a holiday gift that will make someone feel truly seen in a trio of interconnected TV spots from Orchard Creative.
Coca-Cola is ringing in the holidays with a refreshed take on one of advertisingโs most enduring seasonal traditions. Launching today, โRefresh Your Holidaysโ is the latest campaign from WPP Open [โฆ]
Bitcoin price remains range-bound between $126,000 resistance and $98,000 support, with weak momentum suggesting a deeper corrective move toward liquidity resting near $98,000.
The Bitcoin price has gone up this weekend and surpassed $111,000, which has led to the whole crypto market getting excited about it. The data from the blockchain revealed that several large wallets were transferring thousands of BTC to exchanges and this made traders and analysts from all over the world pay attention to the matter.
These kinds of moves usually mean that the big holders, or whales, might get ready to cash out their investments, or profits. The price rise, combined with whale transaction activity, informed the experts, who subsequently voiced caution and said that market strength could dip soon if whales keep on selling.
Whales on the Move
Early Monday morning the Bitcoin price is around $110,678.55. This is the rate published by live market data. The rate has become the area where buyers and sellers are locked in a battle for control. The trading volume during the weekend was below the weekly average which usually leads to the magnification of price swings and the fueling of rapid corrections.
On-chain analyzers have also indicated that there is a significant increase in BTC being sent to major exchanges that could be interpreted as large investors moving coins for the purpose of selling. Historically, when whales send large amounts of Bitcoin to trading platforms, it often precedes short-term volatility.
Market watchers say that if these inflows persist into the week, the recent rally could lose momentum. However, if the selling pressure eases and liquidity returns, Bitcoin could hold its gains above key support levels.
Key Support and Resistance
Technical analysts consider the $110,000 mark as a decisive level and are watching it very closely, which they say will determine the short-term trend of Bitcoin.
Above the line, the Bitcoin price will be the main reason why analysts predict it will be the time when the gradual rise to $120,000 to $130,000 will be possible in the next few weeks. In case the price drops below $110,000, it might lead to the range of the correction being moved to $90,000-$100,000.
The data also indicates that the resistance in the short term is at $113,000 and the support is at $108,500. The above mentioned levels will probably move along with Bitcoin till mid-November as the traders will be basing their decisions on the on-chain signals as well as the global market situation.
Scenario Breakdown
Outlook
Expected Range
Key Triggers
Bullish
$120,000โ$130,000
Increased institutional buying, low sell volume
Neutral
$105,000โ$110,000
Range-bound consolidation, steady liquidity
Bearish
$90,000โ$100,000
Persistent exchange inflows, broken technical support
In every case, liquidity, mood in the market, and the presence of institutions were the main factors influencing Bitcoinโs future. The traders are looking very closely at the exchange-traded fund (ETF) activities, the money going in and out of exchanges, and the overall economic situation to find out where the major change will be next.
What to Watch Next
Exchange inflows: Bitcoin shifting to exchanges usually before significant sales.
Institutional flows: Contributions from companies or funds, indicating the marketโs long-term trust.
Macroeconomic updates: Central bank decisions or global market stress could influence investor appetite.
Support strength: A strong holding of $110,000 would encourage the bulls, but a drop under that level might bring in new sellers.
Conclusion
The Bitcoin price is at a crucial point where it can go either way, to the side of optimism or to the side of caution. The current price of BTC is almost $110,678, which causes the traders to take a close look at the giant investors whether they would still sell or would come back to the process of accumulating.
Should the support prevail, then the Bitcoin price could take the next leap towards $120,000 and possibly even higher. If it fails, a correction toward $90,000 to $100,000 becomes more likely. For now, discipline, patience, and awareness of market signals remain essential as Bitcoin enters another pivotal week.
Glossary of Key Terms
Whales: Large investors whose trading activity can sway market trends.
Support level: A price range where demand typically stops further declines.
Exchange inflows: Bitcoin moving into exchanges, often before major selloffs.
Institutional flows: Investments from corporations or funds, reflecting long-term confidence in the market.
FAQs About Bitcoin Price
Q: Why is $110,000 a key level for Bitcoin?
It acts as both psychological and technical support, shaping near-term momentum.
Q: What could lift Bitcoin higher this month?
Lower whale activity, stronger ETF inflows, and increased institutional participation.
Q: What risks could pull prices lower?
High selling pressure, weaker liquidity, and negative macroeconomic factors.
Q: Is Bitcoin still expected to rise this year?
Analysts remain divided, though many expect moderate gains if support stays intact.
Joshua Buatsi won a majority decision over Zach Parker in a moment that left many fans enraged, with the former Olympian now well placed to battle the winner of David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde
Compare over 50 licensed and regulated horse racing betting sites and find out which bookmakers get the nod as the best horse racing betting sites for 2025
Swiss startup FireDrone is developing heat-resistant drones with thermal insulation to improve safety in emergency response and industrial inspections.
The current market environment is witnessing the emergence of an โAI flywheelโ that is starting to operate in a meaningful way, propelling significant capital expenditure and driving a broader market โmelt-up.โ This powerful dynamic, characterized by decreasing compute costs fueling new AI applications, which in turn attract more capital and further reduce compute expenses, is [โฆ]
A new study finds that the alignment of brain activity between two people, known as interpersonal neural synchrony, varies based on their relationship and what they are doing together. The research, published in NeuroImage, found that mother-child pairs tend to have lower synchrony than adult friends or romantic partners, and that passively sharing an experience can sometimes generate more neural alignment than active cooperation.
Scientists have long been interested in how our brains coordinate during social interactions, but research findings have often been difficult to compare. Studies have examined different types of relationships, from strangers to romantic partners, and used a wide range of tasks, from simple cooperation games to open-ended conversations. This variability has made it challenging to build a cohesive understanding of the factors that govern brain-to-brain synchrony.
To address this, a team of researchers from the University of Trento in Italy and the University of Vienna in Austria, led by PhD student Alessandro Carollo and Professor Gianluca Esposito, designed a study to systematically investigate two key dimensions: interpersonal closeness and the level of social interactivity.
โMost neuroscience research on social interaction has relied on highly controlled, artificial tasks where people are tested alone and exposed to social stimuli such as faces or voices on a screen. While this work has deepened our understanding of how the brain processes social information, it tells us little about what happens during real interactions between people,โ the researchers told PsyPost.
โIn this study, we wanted to explore how the brain supports active coordination and communication in natural settings โ across different kinds of relationships, from close friends to romantic partners and mothers with their children. Our goal was to identify the neural mechanisms that allow people to connect with one another in everyday life.โ
The researchers recruited 142 pairs of participants, divided into three groups based on their relationship: 70 dyads of close friends, 39 romantic partner dyads, and 33 mother-child dyads. Each pairโs brain activity was recorded simultaneously using a technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy, or fNIRS. This non-invasive method involves wearing a cap with sensors that use light to measure changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain, providing a proxy for neural activity.
During the experiment, each pair engaged in three distinct activities designed to elicit different levels of interaction. In a passive condition, they watched a short animated video together without speaking. In a structured active condition, they played a cooperative game of Jenga. In an unstructured active condition, they engaged in a five-minute free-form conversation.
The researchers focused on activity in two brain areas on both sides of the brain: the inferior frontal gyrus and the temporoparietal junction. These regions are known to be involved in social cognitive processes like understanding othersโ actions and intentions.
First, the team confirmed that the synchrony they observed was meaningful. They compared the brain alignment in the real pairs to that of โsurrogateโ pairs, created by randomly matching data from individuals who had not actually interacted. The real pairs showed significantly higher neural synchrony, indicating that the alignment was a genuine product of the shared social experience. This effect was particularly strong for connections involving the right inferior frontal gyrus, a brain area associated with action observation and imitation.
โWe found that peopleโs brains do tend to โsync upโ when they interact, and that this synchrony is influenced by both who we are interacting with and how,โ Carollo and Esposito explained. โEven simple, everyday moments of connection can lead to similar patterns of brain activity among people.โ
When examining the effect of relationship type, the study produced an unexpected outcome. The researchers had hypothesized that mother-child pairs, representing a foundational attachment bond, would show the highest levels of synchrony.
Instead, they found that both close friends and romantic partners exhibited significantly higher synchrony than mother-child pairs. This could suggest that the brains of close-knit adults, which are fully mature and have a long history of attuning to social equals, may coordinate more readily. The lower synchrony in mother-child pairs might also reflect ongoing developmental processes in the childโs brain, which is still maturing in its ability to engage in complex social coordination.
The results related to social activity were also contrary to the teamโs initial predictions. They had expected that more active and unstructured interactions would require greater neural coordination, leading to higher synchrony. However, the data revealed that across all groups, the passive task of watching a video together produced the highest overall synchrony. The structured cooperative game ranked second, while the unstructured free conversation was associated with the lowest levels of synchrony. This pattern was most clear in the adult-adult pairs.
โWe actually expected the opposite pattern regarding interpersonal closeness and social interactivity,โ Carollo and Esposito told PsyPost. โWe thought that closer relationships and more interactive contexts would show higher levels of brain synchrony. Instead, synchrony was sometimes stronger in less interactive settings, such as when close friends watched a movie together. This suggests that simply sharing an experience, being present together, can promote alignment between brains, even without active communication.โ
The researchers suggest that when two people passively observe the same dynamic stimulus, their brains process the information in a similar way and at a similar pace, leading to a strong, stimulus-driven alignment. In more open-ended interactions like conversation, the social signals are less predictable and more complex, potentially leading to less consistent moment-to-moment alignment across the measured brain regions.
โThe level of synchrony isnโt always higher in closer or more interactive relationships,โ Carollo and Esposito noted. โIn some cases, greater alignment may actually reflect the brainโs effort to coordinate during newer or less familiar interactions.โ
โItโs tempting to think that higher neural synchrony means โbetterโ communication or a stronger emotional bond, but thatโs not always the case. Synchrony reflects coordination at the neural level, not the depth or quality of a relationship. Itโs also shaped by factors like attention, task structure, and developmental stage.โ
โAnd importantly, neural synchrony is not a form of telepathy. It doesnโt mean people are literally sharing thoughts. Instead, it likely reflects how the brain aligns with shared rhythms of communication, things like gaze, speech, gestures, and mutual attention, that help us stay โin tuneโ with and possibly understand each other during social interactions.โ
A more detailed analysis showed that the effect of the task depended on the specific brain regions involved. While many brain connections were most synchronized during the passive video-watching task, synchrony between the left inferior frontal gyrus of both participants, and between one personโs left inferior frontal gyrus and the otherโs right temporoparietal junction, peaked during the cooperative Jenga game.
This suggests that while passive shared experience drives one form of neural alignment, active, goal-directed cooperation relies on the coordination of a different set of neural pathways involved in joint action and strategic thinking.
โOur results suggest that neural synchrony can act as a kind of โneural signatureโ of social coordination, much like the behavioral, physiological, or hormonal synchrony seen in earlier studies,โ Carollo and Esposito said. โOver time, these brain-to-brain measures could help us better understand how social experiences shape development, relationships, and individual differences in social functioning. Ultimately, our findings reinforce the idea that the human brain is profoundly social. It is wired to respond to, adapt to, and resonate with the dynamics of our interpersonal world.โ
The study has some limitations. The data for the adult pairs and mother-child pairs were collected in two different countries using slightly different equipment, though procedures were standardized as much as possible. The study also did not include fine-grained behavioral analysis, which could link specific actions like eye contact or gestures to fluctuations in neural synchrony. The inherent age difference between mother-child pairs and adult pairs also makes it difficult to completely separate the effects of relationship type from developmental factors.
Future research could build on these findings by including other types of relationships, such as non-parental adult-child pairs or child-child friendships, to better isolate the influence of development and interpersonal closeness.
โWe hope to contribute to a more standardized framework for studying neural synchrony across labs,โ the researchers said. โFuture work will look more closely at how synchrony relates to specific relational variables, for instance, co-regulation in motherโchild pairs or the quality of friendship among peers. In the longer term, we aim to understand how brain-to-brain alignment functions in larger groups and whether it might predict collective performance in collaborative or team settings.โ
The Provn team, from left: Taylor Brazelton, Ravi Mohan, Forrest Corbett, Kate Hill, Nikeshย (Niki) Parekh, and David Tarico. (Provn Photo)
Job candidates are gaming applicant-tracking systems, and recruiters are struggling to sift through mounds of AI-generated resumes. Meanwhile, large tech companies are cutting jobs โ yet still scrambling to hire people with AI skills.
The new Seattle startup, led by longtime entrepreneur Nikesh Parekh, wants companies to scrap the traditional resumeย and replace it with portfolios of real work and challenge-based assessments.
Provnโs software facilitates โAI challengesโ โ for example, building an AI agent or solving a business problem. It also records candidate video walkthroughs and uses analytics to measure performance. Companies get data-driven insights and candidates build profiles they can reuse across employers.
Parekh described it as a skills-first marketplace for AI talent, timed to a shift where โevery job is becoming an AI role.โ
Parekh told GeekWire the idea taps into several converging trends: โthe buzz around AI replacing people, changing nature of work, and AI jobs being the only growth area.โ
He said traditional job platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed have massive scale but are less effective at helping companies find high quality candidates, especially with more โAI slopโ to wade through.
Provn also aims to go beyond technical-testing tools such as HackerRank and Codility, which Parekh described as narrow.
The company is targeting two main customer groups:
Large companies that regularly hire early- and mid-career information workers and want a database of candidates assessed on real skills;
Smaller startups without recruiting teams that need access to pre-vetted candidates who can demonstrate AI fluency.
Provn is partnering with startup communities and companies including Read AI, Yoodli, and other Seattle-area employers to launch its minimum viable product. Itโs also working with recruiting firms.
The startup is self-funded so far, plans to raise a seed round, and isnโt generating revenue yet. Its business model will charge employers per hire and offer premium tools for candidates โ such as an โAI agentโ that helps them market themselves and find new opportunities.
Parekh is a familiar name in the Seattle tech startup scene. He co-founded Suplari, an AI-driven spend intelligence firm acquired by Microsoft in 2021, and then spent four years working on Copilot Studio and Power Platform. His career also includes leadership roles at real estate tech firms (Market Leader, Trulia) and early stage ventures.
Parekhโs former colleagues are part of the team at Provn, including:
Kate Hill, former vice president of sales and customer success at ActiveRain, former business development leader at EY
Ravi Mohan, former venture capitalist at Shasta Ventures and former board member at Suplari, Apptio, and Anaplan.
Provn joins other recruiting tech startups in the Seattle area that includes hiring platform Humanly, technical interviewing company Karat, and staffing startup ConverzAI.
Microsoft's big Xbox Cloud Gaming upgrades are rolling out, delivering 1440p resolution at 60 FPS. But, with a 50% price hike in tow โ is this going to be the next big thing, or will it struggle like Stadia did previously?
Within a few months of the August milestone, the board added another half-trillion-plus in value, an unprecedented increase, even when compared to the peak market of 2021 and early 2022.ย The rapid acceleration in unicorn values highlights the remarkable pace at which the AI sector is driving up revenue โ and, in turn, valuations.
Much of the valuation surge on the board โ which lists private companies valued at $1 billion or more โ was driven by frontier model companies adding hundreds of billions in value, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows.
Notably, there was also an uptick in companies that reached decacorn valuations for the first time and notched significant jumps in value over their previous marks.
Reshuffling of the top 20
These valuation hikes were most noticeable in the 20 most highly valued companies on the Unicorn Board, which has undergone a major reshuffling at the top.
OpenAI added $200 billion in the space of six months in early October after adding $143 billion in the prior six months. With a $500 billion valuation, the San Francisco-based startup is now the most highly valued company on the board, after it leapfrogged SpaceX for the No. 1 spot.
SpaceX itself added $50 billion to its value in September, taking the Hawthorne, California-based companyโs valuation to $400 billion.
Anthropic, the fourth most highly valued unicorn after SpaceX and ByteDance, added $121.5 billion in value in the space of six months, valuing the San Francisco-based company at $183 billion as of September.
Meanwhile, Databricks, another San Francisco-based company, added $38 billion in value within nine months, placing the company sixth on the board with a valuation of $100 billion. That ranks it just below Chinaโs Ant Group, which was valued at $150 billion in 2018.
Sydney-based design software maker Canva added $10 billion in value in August in an employee share sale led by Fidelity that valued the company at $42 billion.
New decacorns
Eleven companies have already joined the decacorn club in H2 so far โ outpacing the half-year counts weโve seen since H2 2022.
Of the 11 new decacorns, the company that increased its value by the largest percentage was humanoid robotics company Figure. The San Jose, California-based startup catapulted into the top 20 with a $1 billion funding at a post money valuation of $39 billion. That was up from its March 2024 valuation of $2.7 billion โ marking a more than 1,300% increase in 18 months. The funding was led by New York-based Parkway Venture Capital, which also led Figureโs Series A funding in 2023. The company is building out humanoid robots for home and commercial work, and is investing in manufacturing and training its own AI model.
Another unicorn that posted a big valuation surge is cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, which raised $500 million at a $15 billion valuation in September. The San Francisco-based company was last valued in 2019 at $4 billion.
Many of these newly minted decacornsโ ratcheted up by more than $5 billion in less than a year. Along with Figure and Kraken, the following are other new decacorns that have emerged just since the start of the second half of 2025:
France-based frontier model company Mistral was valued at $13.2 billion in a funding led by Netherlands-based chipmaker ASML.
San Francisco-based livestream shopping platform Whatnotraised $225 million at $11.5 billion value led by CapitalG and DST Global. Whatnot was last valued at $5 billion in January.
Ring health tracker Oura based in Finland raised $900 million at an $11 billion valuation led by Fidelity.
New York-based Bilt Rewards, a commerce network for renters, raised $250 million at a $10.8 billion value led by General Catalyst and GID.
Colorado-based quantum computing company Quantinuum, part of Honeywell, raised $600 million at a $10.6 billion valuation led by NVentures.
Palo Alto AI lab Cognition, focused on reasoning and code, raisedย $400 million at a $10.2 billion value led by Founders Fund. Cognition, last valued at $4 billion in March, acquired Windsurf in July.
San Francisco-based Mercor connects human expertise for AI lab training. Mercor raised $350 million at a $10 billion valuation led by Felicis1. Felicis also led its prior funding in February at a $2 billion valuation.
While the frontier AI labs are seeing the largest valuation increases, there are a greater number of companies this year joining the decacorn club, second only to counts seen in 2021. We find 82 private companies in the decacorn club as of October 2025 with more than a third that raised funding in 2025 to date. This pick-up in higher counts of new decacorns could be an indicator that the IPO markets warm up in 2026.
Although The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski has an excellent deal with CD Projekt Red, The Witcher IV won't feature any new contribution from him. At a recent book event to promote the new Crossroads of Ravens book, GamesRadar+ asked the Polish author if he helped CDPR with the development of the new entry in the series in any way. The author confirmed that the game won't feature any new contributions from him, adding that it is rare for CDPR to ask him for details nowadays. For earlier games in the series, Andrzej Sapkowski was occasionally asked for advice or additional [โฆ]
GTA creator Dan Houser, a co-founder of Rockstar Games, famously left the company in early 2020 after a twenty-two-year career. The following year, he founded a new company called Absurd Ventures, which has so far released a podcast series, a graphic novel, and a novel, with games also in development. Houser, who wrote all Rockstar videogames from GTA London: 1969 to Red Dead Redemption 2, was recently featured in a massive, nearly three-hour-long video interview on the Lex Fridman podcast. As you'd imagine with such a lengthy conversation, it spanned a myriad of topics, from games to films to the [โฆ]
The deal is indicative of how minersโ once-volatile hardware fleets are increasingly viewed as strategic compute assets, bridging the gap between blockchain and AI.
The company is converting parts of its mining footprint into AI-ready data centers, including a site in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, that could support 25,000 GPUs.
HIVE Digital Technologies has expanded its Bitcoin mining operations to 23 exahashes per second (EH/s) and is simultaneously advancing its global HPC and AI data center strategy, including new Tier III+ facilities in Canada and retrofits in Sweden. Nasdaq-traded HIVEโฆ
GitLaw raised $3 million to launch its AI agent, a platform designed to help businesses automate the drafting, review, and management of legal contracts.
In India, the United Kingdom, and Australia, the future of travel is becoming increasingly digital. The rise of AI-driven itineraries and hyperโpersonalised trips is changing how we plan, experience, and interact with tourism in these key destinations. Governments and tourism bodies are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) to craft custom travel experiences, optimise visitor flows, and enhance the overall travel experience. In India, Australia, and the UK, digital transformation is being led by AI, creating a seamless, tailored travel ecosystem that appeals to modern travellers.
Whatโs happening?
In recent years, the tourism sectors of India, the United Kingdom, and Australia have begun integrating AI and hyperโpersonalisation into their travel planning systems. AI-powered itineraries and real-time travel suggestions based on personal preferences are gaining traction.Indiaโs Ministry of Tourism, through its National Digital Tourism Mission, is leveraging AI to enhance regional tourism, offering more tailored experiences for visitors. In the United Kingdom, AI is playing a significant role in creating more efficient travel experiences and dynamic itineraries that reflect current traveller behaviours and trends. Australia is also at the forefront of integrating AI into tourism, with Tourism Australia aiming to use AI to better understand visitor preferences and encourage visits to regions beyond major tourist hubs.
Who is driving the change?
Governments and tourism authorities in India, Australia, and the UK are leading the push for AI in the tourism sector. In India, the Ministry of Tourism is partnering with tech firms to digitise and streamline travel services, from booking to inโdestination services. The UK government has already invested in digital infrastructure to support AIโdriven visitor management systems, which enhance efficiency across airports, stations, and attractions. Similarly, Tourism Australiaโs Thrive 2030 initiative seeks to integrate AI in all aspects of the tourism industry.
Where is this impacting travel?
The AI and hyperโpersonalisation trend is evident in all three countries. In India, the governmentโs National Digital Tourism Mission will introduce AIโbased platforms to personalise itineraries for tourists visiting diverse regions like Rajasthan, Kerala, and Himachal Pradesh. In the United Kingdom, London, Edinburgh, and the Cotswolds are already using AI to offer tailored travel recommendations to visitors. The shift is especially felt in London, where AI tools are integrated with the VisitLondon app to suggest attractions, restaurants, and events based on user data. In Australia, regions like Tasmania, Queensland, and The Outback are becoming key focus areas for Tourism Australiaโs AI initiatives. The use of data and AI tools will allow tourists to receive suggestions based on individual interestsโbe it ecoโtourism, adventure tourism, or Indigenous heritage experiences.
When is this happening?
The AI-driven travel trend has already begun taking shape in India, Australia, and the United Kingdom in 2024. Initiatives like the National Digital Tourism Mission in India and Thrive 2030 in Australia are well underway, with AIโbased apps and travel tools being tested and developed for wider use in 2025. The UK has also rolled out several pilot projects, with more widespread AI integration expected by late 2025.
Why is this important?
Personalised travel powered by AI is the future of tourism in India, Australia, and the UK. AI can help governments and companies optimise visitor experience by making recommendations based on individual preferences, travel patterns, and past behaviours. This personalisation not only improves the travel experience for visitors but also supports destination management, helps avoid overโtourism in popular areas, and spreads the benefits of tourism more evenly across regions. AI is also crucial for sustainability, helping balance the number of visitors at highโtraffic destinations by directing them to lesserโknown, but equally valuable, attractions.
How will AI change the way we travel?
In the next few years, AI will take personalisation to new heights. AI algorithms will use real-time data to offer tailored recommendations and itineraries. Whether a traveller is visiting Kerala, exploring Tasmania, or touring London, they will receive curated suggestions based on their interests, travel history, and current weather conditions. This level of detail will create a more connected, efficient, and fulfilling travel experience. In India, the National Digital Tourism Mission will play a critical role in this transition, aiming to build a truly AI-powered tourism ecosystem.
Conclusion
As AI-driven itineraries and hyperโpersonalised travel experiences become the norm, travellers in India, the United Kingdom, and Australia are about to enter a new age of customised tourism. With AI shaping every part of their journeys, from booking flights to personalised tours, the future of travel is tailored to the individual. For governments, the focus on AI will help better distribute tourism, reduce congestion, and enhance sustainability while offering visitors more fulfilling experiences. As these changes take root over the next few years, AI will undoubtedly become an integral part of the global tourism landscape.
UAE residents can now mine Bitcoin without owning hardware, as telecom operator du launches its first-ever Bitcoin cloud mining platform, โCloud Miner.โ du launches UAEโs first cloud Bitcoin mining platform UAEโs second largest telecom operator du has launched a Bitcoinโฆ
The Skywind team has released a new teaser for Halloween 2025. In the footage, which runs for nearly four minutes, we get a glimpse at the spooky side of Vvardenfell, such as skeletons, ghosts, and demons, or more accurately, Daedra and followers of the Daedric princes. The teaser is narrated by the following voice actors: Dom โHentusโ Tromans, Harry Frost, Anna Pluta, Kit Cambridge, James Cattle, Sara Dunham, CommanderXander, MoonWorks, Ryan Cooper, Argyle, and LacunaFish. However, do note that the voiced lines were created specifically for this teaser and will not be found in the game. Skywind, a fan-made remake [โฆ]
Camper's iconic PELOTAS ARIEL shoe is inspired by the passion and imagination of sporting pioneers and vintage soccer balls made of hand-stitched leather. Over the years, the brand has continued to evolve its exceptional quality. More than just a shoe, the PELOTAS ARIEL is an internationally recognized iconic sneaker with its own unique personality. Made in Europe, it features high-quality materials and a durable construction with a 360ยฐ stitched sole. New colors are now available for this season.
Crafted from premium leather with a two-tone hand-brushed finish, it offers a unique and refreshed look that further reinforces our values โโof quality and craftsmanship.
Featuring a timeless design, the Pelotas Ariel combines soft, luxurious vegetable-tanned European leather with an 87-ball rubber outsole for exceptional cushioning and comfort, while maintaining a unique and distinctive look. The iconic low-top shoe is hand-brushed for a sleek look.
Leather sneakers ยฅ41,800
Camper was founded in 1975 on the Spanish island of Mallorca, with a shoemaking tradition spanning more than 130 years. The brand name, which means "farmer" in Mallorcan, is a brand that cherishes the shoemaking traditions it has inherited, while also adding a playful and fun touch by drawing inspiration from the rustic environment, history and culture of the area surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea.
CAMPER, 3F, 3-37-1 Shinjuku , Shinjuku Ward , Tokyo 160-0022
0 minutes walk from the southeast exit of Shinjuku Station on the JR Higashi, 3 minutes walk from the south exit of the Odakyu line
Business hours: 11:00-21:00 Phone number: 03-3225-6084
AI company octonomy raises $20 million to scale its agentic AI platform, which provides "digital coworkers" to automate complex technical support workflows.
Artificial intelligence, for all its dazzling computational power and algorithmic sophistication, harbors a โdirty secretโ: it remains profoundly reliant on human intelligence. This pivotal, yet often unacknowledged, dependency forms the bedrock of AIโs capabilities, driving its training, refinement, and validation. Phelim Bradley, CEO and Co-founder of Prolific, recently unpacked this reality in a conversation with [โฆ]
The Silicon Power US75 SSD offers fast storage for creators and gamers at a price that undercuts rivals, and with a 5-year warranty and up to 4TB capacity itโs a solid upgrade for your desktop, laptop or PS5.
The travel interruption starting on 2nd and continuing on 3rd November, 2025, experienced by Lucky Air across China presents a significant challenge for domestic air operations. This report thoroughly examines the operational failures that passengers faced, providing a detailed look at the scope of the disruption. Data confirms that the airline recorded over a dozen flight cancellations and several significant delays during the measured period. According to FlightAwareโs data, thereโs a total of 13 cancellations and 17 delays reported. Consequently, travelers flying to and from major hubs like Tengchong, Kunming, Chengdu, Harbin, Dali, Wuhan and Tianjin were severely impacted by these schedule changes. We analyze how this event will affect future operational reliability and assess the immediate steps that affected individuals and the airline must take to manage the fallout. Ultimately, this report details the disruption and clarifies the overall operational picture.
A Breakdown of the Affected Flights
The disruption to Lucky Air flight schedules was clearly demonstrated across the two-day period assessed. A list of 13 specific flights was documented, representing a key portion of the affected network. These scheduled services, which utilized various Boeing 737 aircraft, including the B732, B736 and 737 models, were all subject to either cancellation or delay as noted in the overall statistics.
Flight
Aircraft
Departure Airport
Arrival Airport
Scheduled Time
LKE9950
B732
Tengchong Tuofeng (TCZ / ZPTC)
Kunming Changshui Intโl (KMG / ZPPP)
Sun 03:00PM CST
LKE9647
B736
Chengdu Tianfu Intโl (TFU / ZUTF)
Harbin Taiping Intโl (HRB / ZYHB)
Sun 04:00PM CST
LKE9953
B732
Kunming Changshui Intโl (KMG / ZPPP)
Tengchong Tuofeng (TCZ / ZPTC)
Sun 06:10PM CST
LKE9954
B732
Tengchong Tuofeng (TCZ / ZPTC)
Kunming Changshui Intโl (KMG / ZPPP)
Sun 08:00PM CST
LKE9648
B736
Harbin Taiping Intโl (HRB / ZYHB)
Chengdu Tianfu Intโl (TFU / ZUTF)
Sun 09:25PM CST
LKE9949
B732
Kunming Changshui Intโl (KMG / ZPPP)
Tengchong Tuofeng (TCZ / ZPTC)
Mon 06:50AM CST
LKE9780
B732
Dali (DLU / ZPDL)
Wuhan Tianhe (WUH / ZHHH)
Mon 07:10AM CST
LKE9645
737
Chengdu Tianfu Intโl (TFU / ZUTF)
Tianjin Binhai Intโl (TSN / ZBTJ)
Mon 08:00AM CST
LKE9952
B732
Tengchong Tuofeng (TCZ / ZPTC)
Kunming Changshui Intโl (KMG / ZPPP)
Mon 09:10AM CST
LKE9779
B732
Wuhan Tianhe (WUH / ZHHH)
Dali (DLU / ZPDL)
Mon 10:20AM CST
LKE9646
737
Tianjin Binhai Intโl (TSN / ZBTJ)
Chengdu Tianfu Intโl (TFU / ZUTF)
Mon 11:45AM CST
LKE9647
B736
Chengdu Tianfu Intโl (TFU / ZUTF)
Harbin Taiping Intโl (HRB / ZYHB)
Mon 04:00PM CST
LKE9648
B736
Harbin Taiping Intโl (HRB / ZYHB)
Chengdu Tianfu Intโl (TFU / ZUTF)
Mon 09:25PM CST
The flight data specifically outlines 13 scheduled services of Lucky Air that were potentially impacted by the operational failures across China. The consistency of travel between certain city pairs indicates a focus on key domestic travel hubs. The specific routes affected include:
Kunming Changshui Intโl (KMG)-Tengchong Tuofeng (TCZ) (A total of four scheduled round-trip flights were observed on this route).
Chengdu Tianfu Intโl (TFU)-Harbin Taiping Intโl (HRB) (Scheduled services were noted on both Sunday and Monday).
The recurring nature of the Kunming-Tengchong route in the flight schedule suggests that this corridor was a significant focus of the weekendโs operational schedule and subsequently, a major area of passenger impact.
Delays
Beyond the 13 cancellations by Lucky Air, a significant number of operational delays were also recorded. It was established that a total of 17 delays occurred. This number is slightly higher than the total number of cancellations, indicating that more services faced a postponed departure than a complete grounding. The reported figure of a 7% percentage of delays provides a proportional measure of the overall disruption, highlighting the frequency with which scheduled departures were affected.
Affected Airports
The interruption spanned multiple regional and international airports across China. The operational data identifies seven major airports that were involved in the delayed and cancelled flight activity. These facilities served as either the origin or destination for the affected flights:
These airports represent travel nodes in multiple provinces, indicating that the impact was felt widely across the nationโs domestic aviation network.
Probable Impact on Local Tourism
Given that the affected routes connect significant domestic locations across China, including tourist destinations like Tengchong and Dali, as well as major urban hubs such as Kunming and Chengduโthe recorded disruptions are understood to have a consequential impact on local travel and tourism. The cancellation of 13 flights meant that numerous passengers were unable to complete their intended journeys, potentially leading to missed reservations, tour bookings and business meetings. Furthermore, the 17 delays would have created cascading scheduling problems for onward travel or planned local activities upon arrival. It is recognized that a substantial operational failure of this magnitude typically affects the predictability of tourist inflow and domestic economic activity in the cities involved.
What Affected Passengers Can Do Now
Passengers within China, whose travel plans were interrupted by the 13 cancellations or 17 delays are being advised on their immediate steps. The priority for affected travelers must be the direct liaison with Lucky Air. Communication channels should be utilized to ascertain the specific status of the scheduled flight, whether it was cancelled, delayed, or re-scheduled. Furthermore, passengers should seek confirmation regarding their rebooking options or eligibility for refunds, as these procedures are governed by airline policy and regulatory requirements. All documentation pertaining to the original booking, including the flight number and scheduled time, should be kept readily available when initiating contact.
-The information provided is sourced from FlightAware.
The agreement allows Perplexity to display Getty Imagesโ creative, editorial photos, using Gettyโs API to integrate visuals into its search results.
A nasty memory leak has been causing "low memory" errors for Meta Quest users for months, but the V83 firmware appears to have finally fixed the issue.
The ADATA SD820 is a rugged-styled portable SSD with full IP68 and MIL-STD certification. This toughness is matched by ultra-fast transfer speeds and huge capacity, making it an ideal option for anyone working outdoors, especially in the creative sector.
Matthew Berman, in his recent video, delved into Anthropicโs groundbreaking paper, โEmergent Introspective Awareness in Large Language Models,โ authored by Jack Lindsey. The research presents a compelling argument that large language models (LLMs) might be evolving beyond mere sophisticated pattern-matching engines, exhibiting behaviors that challenge conventional understandings of AI capabilities and raising profound questions about [โฆ]
After a prolonged construction period spanning nearly two decades, theย Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)ย officially opened its doors near theย Pyramids of Giza, presenting one of the worldโs richest and most comprehensive collections of Egyptian antiquities. The inauguration, attended by global dignitaries including prime ministers, presidents, and royalty, marks a pivotal moment for Egyptโs cultural heritage sector and its global tourism ambitions.
The opening ceremony featured dazzling displays, including traditional dance performances and a sophisticated multimedia show, symbolizing a new chapter in Egyptโs storied history and its commitment to preserving and sharing seven thousand years of civilization with the world.
A Monumental Cultural and Tourism Milestone
The GEM project represents the culmination of over twenty years of efforts, delayed at various points by regional instability during theย Arab Spring, the globalย COVID-19 pandemic, and conflicts in neighbouring countries. Funded significantly by Japanese development loans, the museum spans approximatelyย one hundred twenty acres, making it comparable in size to the Vatican City.
Designed by the renownedย Irish architectural firm Heneghan Peng Architects, the buildingโs sleek, pyramid-inspired design offers a striking contrast to Egyptโs century-old neoclassical museum in central Cairo, which overlooks Tahrir Square.
World-Class Collection and Highlight Exhibits
The museumโs star attraction is theย largest collection of artifacts from Tutankhamunโs tomb, including the iconicย golden burial mask, ornate throne, sarcophagus, and thousands of other priceless objects. These treasures had long been displayed at the crowded and aging Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo but are now housed in a setting befitting their global significance.
Additionally, the monumentalย colossal statue of Ramses II, previously located in Cairoโs public square, now welcomes visitors in the GEMโs grand entry hall, linking Egyptโs ancient grandeur with modern museology.
Restoration of Global Confidence in Heritage Stewardship
The new museum aims to erase the tarnished image associated with the older Egyptian Museum, which suffered from thefts during the 2011 uprising and maintenance mishaps including a damaged piece from Tutankhamunโs collection. By offering state-of-the-art security, climate control, and exhibit curation, the GEM aspires to position Egypt as a global leader in cultural preservation.
It also strengthens Egyptโs diplomatic efforts to reclaim antiquities held in foreign museums by showcasing a commitment to safeguarding and proudly presenting national heritage at home.
Boost to Egyptโs Tourism Sector and Economy
Cairoโs new museum inauguration dovetails with Egyptโs broader tourism revival efforts, vital for an economy recovering from years of regional upheaval and global tourism downturns. The GEM is expected to:
Drawย millions of international visitorsย eager to experience Egyptโs ancient culture in an immersive, modern environment
Extend visitor stay durations in the Cairo area, benefiting hotels, restaurants, and local businesses
Cement Cairoโs status as a keyย cultural tourism destinationย alongside its archaeological wonders
The museum enhances accessibility to heritage, inspiring tourism diversification with educational, experiential, and cultural programs attracting a wide range of travelers.
International Presence Underlining Egyptโs Heritage Leadership
The opening ceremony drew multiple world leaders, includingย German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and senior dignitaries from Oman, Bahrain, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, reflecting the museumโs international stature.
The global attention underscores Egyptโs success in forging strategic partnerships and asserting itself as a center of cultural diplomacy and soft power.
The GEM Experience: Modern Facilities and Sustainable Design
The museumโs exhibition spaces integrate cutting-edge technology and sustainable architectural design. The grand galleries and interactive exhibits embody aย philosophy of authenticity rather than imitation, presenting Egyptian history with modern museological standards combined with cultural sensitivity.
Visitors will traverse sprawling exhibits illustrating various eras of Egyptian civilization, from prehistoric times through the Pharaonic dynasties to Greco-Roman and modern periods, facilitated by immersive multimedia displays and innovative storytelling.
Egyptโs Cultural Future
With the full opening of all galleries expected in coming months, the GEM is set to become a central pillar of Egyptโs cultural tourism infrastructure. It complements ongoing projects to improve visitor facilities near the Pyramids and across the country, aligning with Egyptโs vision to sustainably grow tourism through cultural heritage leverage.
The chasm between cutting-edge AI tools and the practical needs of data professionals has long been a frustrating reality, particularly for those grappling with complex, unstructured data. Rohan Kodialam, Co-founder of Sphinx, illuminated this divide in a recent interview, explaining how current AI solutions, while adept at tasks like copywriting or software engineering, often fall [โฆ]
At World Travel Market (WTM) 2025, Trip.com Group is showcasing its latest innovations with a focus on AI technology and expanding its European presence. The company highlights the UK launch of Trip.Planner, its new AI-powered travel planning tool. This platform offers personalized itineraries and real-time recommendations for flights, hotels, attractions, and more. In addition to the product reveal, Trip.com Group will share insights from the global โWhy Travel?โ report, developed in partnership with Google, offering fresh perspectives on travel trends and consumer behaviour.
Trip.Planner AI Booking Tool Rolls Out in the UK
Trip.com Group introduces its new AI-powered Trip.Planner, a travel hub that redefines the way travellers plan their journeys. The platformโs intelligent design allows users to receive hyper-personalised itineraries, integrating flights, trains, hotels, and attractions into a single interface. With access to more than 20 million geo-tagged global points of interest, the platform uses verified data to offer seasonal and real-time recommendations, helping travellers create seamless, tailored experiences. This UK rollout marks a major step in Trip.com Groupโs AI-driven transformation, offering users live updates, booking integration, and an in-app AI assistant for continuous support.
Insights from the โWhy Travel?โ Report
Trip.com Group will also provide insights from its โWhy Travel?โ global report, developed with Google, to explore how emotional and cultural factors are influencing modern travel decisions. The report highlights key travel trends, including the rise of wellness travel, social mediaโs growing influence on booking choices, and the demand for culturally immersive experiences. These insights will guide discussions at WTM 2025 and provide valuable takeaways for those in the travel industry. The report offers a comprehensive view of the future of travel and how consumer preferences are evolving in response to emotional and cultural shifts.
Building Stronger Partnerships in Europe
Trip.com Group continues to prioritise strategic partnerships as it strengthens its European presence. With a focus on local relevance, the company is deepening its connections with airlines, hotel groups, and destination organisations. By integrating AI-powered tools like Trip.Planner, Trip.com Group is enhancing its service offerings and providing more seamless travel solutions for European travellers. This growth is not only driven by technology but also by the companyโs commitment to working closely with local partners to deliver impactful marketing campaigns, co-created content, and data-driven insights that cater to the unique needs of each market.
Future of Travel and AI Innovation
As AI technology reshapes the travel industry, Trip.com Groupโs leadership is playing an active role in shaping future travel experiences. The companyโs presence at WTM 2025 will include senior leaders like Andy Washington, General Manager for Europe, and Boon Sian Chai, MD & VP of International Markets, sharing insights on the evolving role of AI in travel. The panel discussions will cover topics such as AI-driven innovation, evolving consumer behaviour, and the future of travel experiences. Through these dialogues, Trip.com Group aims to showcase how it is driving forward technological innovation to better serve its customers.
Collaborating for Growth at WTM 2025
At WTM 2025, Trip.com Group is also focused on exploring new growth opportunities with current and potential partners. The company continues to invest in tailored marketing programmes and collaborative efforts with airlines, hotel groups, and attractions to achieve mutual growth. At booth S3-520, Trip.com Group invites partners to discover fresh campaigns, explore new opportunities, and discuss actionable steps for the future. With a strong emphasis on measurable results, the company is committed to expanding its European network through partnerships that offer long-term value for both parties.
Conclusion: Trip.com Groupโs Vision for the Future
Trip.com Group is firmly positioned to lead the travel industry into a new era with the introduction of AI-powered tools like Trip.Planner and a renewed focus on localised growth across Europe. By fostering partnerships, embracing cutting-edge technology, and providing insightful consumer trends, the company is enhancing its offerings and meeting the evolving needs of travellers. As it continues to grow and innovate, Trip.com Group remains a key player in shaping the future of travel, offering smarter journeys and more personalised experiences for customers worldwide.
A neuroimaging study of young, healthy adults showed that consuming a milkshake did not, on average, result in a significant release of dopamine in the striatum region of the brain. While dopamine levels did increase in some individuals, this variability was not associated with whether a person had a normal weight, was overweight, or had obesity. The research was published in Cell Metabolism.
Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured products made mostly from refined ingredients and additives, with little or no whole foods. They are often engineered to be highly palatable, so that consuming them engages the brainโs reward circuits more intensely than natural foods do.
This is usually achieved by ensuring that ultra-processed foods contain large quantities of easily digestible sugars and fats. Because humans have separate neural pathways connecting the gut to the brainโs reward areas that are triggered by fats and sugars, eating foods rich in both is often more rewarding than eating foods rich in fats or in sugars alone. This is particularly true if these sugars and fats are easier to digest than those found in natural foods, as is the case with many industrially added sugars and fats.
This intense reward potential has led to a popular theory that ultra-processed foods may be addictive. The core of this theory is the idea that their consumption elicits an outsized dopamine response in the brainโs reward regions, a surge similar in nature to that caused by drugs of abuse.
According to this model, this powerful initial reward reinforces consumption. Over time, repeated exposure is thought to cause the brain to adapt, leading to a down-regulation of dopamine receptors and a blunted response. This state, known as tolerance, could then compel an individual to consume even more of the food to achieve the same initial level of pleasure, creating a cycle of compulsive eating.
It was this hypothesis that study author Valerie L. Darcey and her colleagues set out to test. They investigated whether humans exhibited an exaggerated dopamine release after drinking a milkshake, a food frequently used in studies as a proxy for an ultra-processed product because it is rich in both easily digestible fat and sugars and often contains flavor-enhancing additives. Dopamine is a key neurotransmitter in this process; it is a chemical messenger that helps signal reward and motivation in the brain, reinforcing behaviors that lead to pleasurable or satisfying experiences.
Study participants were 50 young, healthy adults, 38 of whom were women. They were recruited to cover a full range of body mass index values, with roughly even numbers of participants with normal weight, overweight, and obesity.
After joining the study, participants were supplied with meals designed to provide the exact number of calories needed to maintain their current body weight for a period of 3-5 days. All meals were prepared in the NIH Clinical Center Nutrition Department Metabolic Kitchen with all foods and beverages weighed on a gram scale. Participants were instructed to consume all the foods and beverages they were given. Any food and beverages not consumed were returned and weighed. This procedure aimed to stabilize their diets.
After this period, participants were admitted to the center that carried out the study for several days, where they continued taking similar meals under observation. On the day of the experiment, participants first completed positron emission tomography (PET) scans of their brains in the morning, after having fasted overnight. After that, they rested for 75 minutes, at the end of which they received a glass of vanilla milkshake to consume.
Thirty minutes after drinking the milkshake, participants had their second PET scan. They also provided ratings of how pleasant the milkshake was, whether they wanted more, and how it compared to their expectations. Participants also completed several assessments of food-related behaviors, experiences, and depression.
Results showed no significant average increase in dopamine after drinking a milkshake in the striatum region of the brain. The studyโs authors focused on the striatum because it is a brain region central to the reward system that processes dopamine signals. They found pronounced differences between individuals in how their striatum reacted to the milkshake, but these differences were not associated with participantsโ adiposity.
In other words, while the brains of some individuals reacted to the milkshake by releasing dopamine, the brains of others did not, and the presence or intensity of this reaction was not related to a participantโs body weight.
Data indicated that dopamine responses might be related to how hungry participants felt and how enjoyable they found the milkshake to be. The dopamine response was also found to be weakly associated with the ad libitum (free) intake of ultra-processed cookies. This means that individuals whose brains reacted to the milkshake with a greater dopamine release tended to eat more cookies later when given the opportunity to eat as much as they wanted.
Discussing the findings in the context of whether ultra-processed foods can be considered addictive, the studyโs authors concluded that โpost-ingestive striatal dopamine responses to an ultra-processed milkshake were likely substantially smaller than for many addictive drugs and below the limits of detection using standard PET methods.โ
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of neural processes related to food intake. However, the authors note that the study did not include a control group. The design compared dopamine levels before and after drinking the milkshake. Therefore, the possibility remains that other factors could have influenced the changes in dopamine observed in some individuals.
Researchers at NYU and the University of Queensland have demonstrated superconductivity in gallium-doped epitaxial germanium, fabricated using industry-standard semiconductor tools.
The precision and reliability essential for artificial intelligence and data engineering demand an operational framework that minimizes error and maximizes efficiency. Adrian Lee, a Product Manager at IBM, presented a compelling analogy, likening the data engineering workflow to a Michelin-starred restaurant kitchen, to illustrate how DevOps principles, particularly Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD), [โฆ]
A new large-scale brain imaging study suggests that the normal process of aging does not affect female brains more severely than male brains. In fact, the findings indicate that men tend to experience slightly greater age-related decline in brain structure, a result that challenges the idea that brain aging patterns explain the higher prevalence of Alzheimerโs disease in women. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Alzheimerโs disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that impairs memory and other essential cognitive functions. It is the most common cause of dementia, and women account for a significant majority of cases worldwide. Because advancing age is the single greatest risk factor for developing Alzheimerโs, researchers have long wondered if sex-based differences in how the brain ages might contribute to this disparity.
Previous studies on this topic have produced mixed results, with some suggesting menโs brains decline faster and others indicating the opposite. To provide a clearer picture, an international team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Oslo set out to investigate this question using an exceptionally large and diverse dataset. They aimed to determine if structural changes in the brain during healthy aging differ between men and women, and if any such differences become more pronounced with age.
โWomen are diagnosed with Alzheimerโs disease more often than men, and since aging is the main risk factor, we wanted to test whether menโs and womenโs brains change differently with age. If womenโs brains declined more, that could have helped explain their higher Alzheimerโs prevalence,โ said study author Anne Ravndal, a PhD candidate at the University of Oslo.
To conduct their investigation, the researchers combined data from 14 separate long-term studies, creating a massive dataset of 12,638 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 4,726 cognitively healthy participants. The individuals ranged in age from 17 to 95 years old. The longitudinal nature of the data, with each person being scanned at least twice over an average interval of about three years, allowed the team to track brain changes within individuals over time.
Using this information, they measured changes in several key brain structures, including the thickness and surface area of the cortex, which is the brainโs outer layer responsible for higher-level thought.
The analysis began by examining the raw changes in brain structure without any adjustments. In this initial step, the team found that men experienced a steeper decline than women in 17 different brain measures. These included reductions in total brain volume, gray matter, white matter, and the volume of all major brain lobes. Men also showed a faster thinning of the cortex in visual and memory-related areas and a quicker reduction in surface area in other regions.
Recognizing that men typically have larger heads and brains than women, the researchers performed a second, more nuanced analysis that corrected for differences in head size. After this adjustment, the general pattern held, though some specifics changed. Men still showed a greater rate of decline in the occipital lobe volume and in the surface area of the fusiform and postcentral regions of the cortex. In contrast, women only exhibited a faster decline in the surface area of a small region within the temporal lobe.
The findings were in line with the researchers expectations: โAlthough earlier studies have shown mixed findings, especially for cortical regions, our results align with the overall pattern that men show slightly steeper age-related brain decline,โ Ravndal told PsyPost. โStill, it was important to demonstrate this clearly in a large longitudinal multi-cohort sample covering the full adult lifespan.โ
The study also revealed age-dependent effects, especially in older adults over 60. In this age group, men showed a more rapid decline in several deep brain structures, including the caudate, nucleus accumbens, putamen, and pallidum, which are involved in motor control and reward. Women in this age group, on the other hand, showed a greater rate of ventricular expansion, meaning the fluid-filled cavities within the brain enlarged more quickly.
Notably, after correcting for head size, there were no significant sex differences in the rate of decline of the hippocampus, a brain structure central to memory formation that is heavily affected by Alzheimerโs disease.
The researchers also conducted additional analyses to test the robustness of their findings. When they accounted for the participantsโ years of education, some of the regions showing faster decline in men were no longer statistically significant.
Another analysis adjusted for life expectancy. Since women tend to live longer than men, a man of any given age is, on average, closer to the end of his life. After accounting for this โproximity to death,โ several of the cortical regions showing faster decline in men became non-significant, while some areas in women, including the hippocampus in older adults, began to show a faster rate of decline. This suggests that differences in longevity and overall biological aging may influence the observed patterns.
โOur findings add support to the idea that normal brain aging doesnโt explain why women are more often diagnosed with Alzheimerโs,โ Ravndal said. โThe results instead point toward other possible explanations, such as differences in longevity and survival bias, detection and diagnosis patterns, or biological factors like APOE-related vulnerability and differential susceptibility to pathological processes, though these remain speculative.โ
The study, like all research, has some caveats to consider. The data were collected from many different sites, which can introduce variability. The follow-up intervals for the brain scans were also relatively short in the context of a human lifespan. A key consideration is that the participants were all cognitively healthy, so these findings on normal brain aging may not apply to the changes that occur in the pre-clinical or early stages of Alzheimerโs disease.
It is also important to that although the study identified several statistically significant differences in brain aging between the sexes, the researchers characterized the magnitude of these effects as modest. For example, in the pericalcarine cortex, men showed an annual rate of decline of 0.24% compared to 0.14% for women, a difference of just one-tenth of a percentage point per year.
โThe sex differences we found were few and small,โ Ravndal told PsyPost. โImportantly, we found no evidence of greater decline in women that could help explain their higher Alzheimerโs disease prevalence. Hence, if corroborated in other studies, the practical significance is that women donโt need to think that their brain declines faster, but that other reasons underlie this difference in prevalence.โ
Future research could explore factors such as differences in longevity, potential biases in how the disease is detected and diagnosed, or biological variables like the APOE gene, a known genetic risk factor that may affect men and women differently.
โWe are now examining whether similar structural brain changes relate differently to memory function in men and women,โ Ravndal said. โThis could help reveal whether the same degree of brain change has different cognitive implications across sexes.โ
The study, โSex differences in healthy brain aging are unlikely to explain higher Alzheimerโs disease prevalence in women,โ was authored by Anne Ravndal, Anders M. Fjell, Didac Vidal-Piรฑeiro, รystein Sรธrensen, Emilie S. Falch, Julia Kropiunig, Pablo F. Garrido, James M. Roe, Josรฉ-Luis Alatorre-Warren, Markus H. Sneve, David Bartrรฉs-Faz, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Andreas M. Brandmaier, Sandra Dรผzel, Simone Kรผhn, Ulman Lindenberger, Lars Nyberg, Leiv Otto Watne, Richard N. Henson, for the Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle flagship study of ageing (AIBL), the Alzheimerโs Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), Kristine B. Walhovd, and Hรฅkon Grydeland.
Embark Studios recently launched its extraction shooter, ARC Raiders, and has been busy since then, moderating the game's servers to catch cheaters and refunding the loot they've stolen from players, even when victims don't report them.
The Beelink Mate SE is a desktop dock that has been designed to sit neatly on top of the SER8, SER9 or SER9 Pro. It's a neat solution with a few additional ports for accessories, but what really stands out is the dual M.2 slots inside, enabling you to boost your Mini PC's storage with ultra-fast transfer rates.
The emergence of Pluely, a free and private open-source tool, fundamentally challenges the venture-backed, cloud-first model popularized by AI assistants like Cluely.
โWhatโs interesting is *how* is the model doing this? Like what signals has it found in the data that enable this capability? Like what does it know that we donโt?โ This fundamental question, posed by Dr. Jessica Rumbelow, CEO of Leap Labs, encapsulates the profound shift occurring in the application of artificial intelligence, moving beyond [โฆ]
Little Greenbrier, a tranquil and historically significant location ideal for fall vacations, is tucked away within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This hidden cove, well-known for its serene beauty and lengthy history, is perfect for people who like a mix of beautiful hikes, rich history, and a dash of local legend. This place ought to be on your list of places to visit, regardless of whether you have already winterised your RV or are just making travel plans.
Rich History and Scenic Trails
Located near the Metcalf Bottoms picnic area, Little Greenbrier offers an enriching hike into the past. The trailhead at Metcalf Bottoms serves as the starting point for a 3.4-mile round-trip journey to the Walker Sistersโ home site. The hike allows you to witness the old log schoolhouse and the nearby cemetery, each telling the tale of a bygone mountain community.
The schoolhouse, with its original log construction, provides an authentic look into the past. Inside, the simplicity of the structure offers a glimpse into early mountain life. Just across from the school, weathered graves serve as a sombre reminder that this area was once a bustling homestead. Continuing along the Little Brier Gap Trail leads visitors to the Walker Sistersโ cabin, which stands as a testament to the pioneering spirit of the family who lived there for generations.
The Walker Sisters: A Legacy of Independence
The Walker family made their home in Little Greenbrier Cove long before the creation of the national park. John N. Walker, a Union veteran, married Margaret Jane King in 1866 and built a homestead that included a log house, barn, springhouse, smokehouse, blacksmith shop, and orchards. The property allowed the Walkers to live largely self-sufficiently, with a focus on farming and livestock. In fact, John Walker was known for his ingenuity, crafting everything from ladderback chairs to looms and a small cotton gin.
In 1881, John and his son constructed the log schoolhouse at the center of their community, which served not only as a school but also as a place of worship for the local Primitive Baptist congregation. This schoolhouse would later become a central feature of the Little Greenbrier area, linking the Walker family to the history of this corner of the Smokies.
After Johnโs death in 1921, his children inherited the land. However, the six unmarried Walker sisters continued to run the farm themselves, maintaining the homestead and preserving the family legacy. When the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established in 1934, the sisters were allowed to remain on their land thanks to a lifetime lease. They became well-known for their hospitality, offering visitors handcrafted goods, food, and a glimpse into a simpler time.
A Haunting Atmosphere
Little Greenbrierโs history, combined with the age-old cemetery and the isolated Walker cabin, provides the perfect backdrop for ghost stories and local legends. Over the years, visitors have shared tales of odd sounds and eerie sensations around the old schoolhouse and cemetery. These reports, though not officially documented, have contributed to the mystique of the area, making it a prime spot for those interested in the supernatural.
Autumn, with its crisp air and shorter days, adds an extra layer of atmosphere to these stories. The sounds of the forest, combined with the hauntingly quiet graveyard, make this a perfect time for those curious about the spooky side of Little Greenbrier. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, the setting is undeniably eerie.
The Best Time to Visit: Fall in the Smokies
The Smoky Mountains come alive in the fall, making it an ideal time to visit Little Greenbrier. From mid-October to early November, the parkโs fall foliage peaks at middle and lower elevations, offering an unforgettable display of colour. The cooler daytime temperatures and crisp nights make hiking and outdoor activities more enjoyable. Additionally, the thinning crowds mean visitors can enjoy the area with less congestion, making it easier to park at trailheads and experience quieter evenings at nearby campgrounds.
Nearby Campgrounds and RV Parks
For those who prefer to camp, several nearby campgrounds cater to RVers and those seeking a connection with nature:
Townsend/Great Smokies KOA Holiday This popular campground, located just a short drive from Metcalf Bottoms, offers full hookups, spacious pull-through sites, and riverfront back-in options. Visitors can also enjoy amenities like a camp store, laundry, and planned activities, including dog-friendly events. KOA is perfect for families and those who want to experience the Smoky Mountains with modern comforts.
Little River Campground & RV Resort Situated along the Little River, this independent campground provides a peaceful setting with full-hookup sites and family-friendly amenities such as a seasonal pool, tubing access, and Wi-Fi. Itโs an excellent base for exploring the Little Greenbrier area and other nearby attractions like Cades Cove.
Cades Cove Campground For a more rustic experience, the Cades Cove Campground inside the park offers wooded sites in a serene setting. Though it lacks full hookups, it provides a more primitive camping experience with access to some of the parkโs best wildlife viewing and scenic drives. This campground is ideal for those who want to immerse themselves fully in the parkโs natural beauty.
Practical Tips for RVers
Pack Water and Dress in Layers: Smoky Mountain mornings and evenings can be chilly, even after a warm day, so itโs important to be prepared with extra layers.
Cell Service is Limited: Many areas of the park, including Little Greenbrier, have spotty cell service. Make sure to download maps beforehand or grab a paper map at a visitor centre.
Park at Metcalf Bottoms: For easy access to the trailheads, park at the Metcalf Bottoms picnic area and embark on a relaxing day hike.
Bring a Flashlight: If planning to explore around dusk or in the evening, bring a flashlight to safely navigate the trails and surrounding areas.
Conclusion
Little Greenbrier, Tennessee, is the ideal destination for fall vacationers because it provides a distinctive fusion of natural beauty, history, and a hint of mystery. An unforgettable experience awaits you at this hidden gem in the Smoky Mountains, whether you choose to hike the picturesque trails, explore the historic Walker Sistersโ homestead, or take in the fall foliage. For nature lovers, history buffs, and those seeking a more sedate fall retreat, the areaโs serene surroundings, rich history, and eerie atmosphere make it the perfect destination. So make travel plans, gather your belongings, and go to Little Greenbrier, one of the Smoky Mountainsโ best-kept secrets, where nature and history meet.
A Flood Warning remains in effect for the St. Johns River near Astor, affecting both Volusia and Lake Counties in Florida. Issued by the National Weather Service (NWS), the warning, which was updated on November 1 at 9:04 PM EDT, highlights ongoing minor flooding in the region. As of the latest reports, the river is holding steady at a stage of 2.9 feet, slightly above the minor flood stage of 2.3 feet.
Local authorities have indicated that minor flooding is expected to continue for the coming days, with levels forecast to remain near 2.8 feet through the middle of the week. This situation is being closely monitored, and the public is advised to stay updated on the latest developments.
Areas Impacted by Flooding
Flooding from the St. Johns River has affected various local areas, particularly near Astor. The riverโs high levels have resulted in water encroaching on nearby properties and infrastructure, notably in locations closest to the riverbanks.
Tourist attractions and recreational areas along the river are also seeing the effects of the rising waters. Some of the most significantly impacted areas include:
South Moon Fish Camp: Docks and boat ramps are submerged under water, making access difficult for boaters and visitors.
Blairโs Jungle Den: The water is approaching the sea wall, threatening access to the facilities.
Fish Tales RV Resort and Astor Landing Campground: Sites closest to the river are flooded, affecting the local camping experience.
Astor Bridge Marina and Riveredge Drive: Docks are underwater, with water flooding roads near the marina.
Fox Road: Portions of the road near the river are submerged.
Acorn, Hazelnut, and Redbud Roads: Water has inundated yards and properties in these areas, with residents and tourists facing disruptions.
Safety Protocols for Tourists and Locals
The NWS has emphasised the importance of safety measures for both tourists and residents in the affected areas. The following protocols are in place to ensure the wellbeing of everyone in the region:
Avoid Flooded Areas: Tourists are advised to stay away from flood-prone zones. Roads, campsites, and marinas are inaccessible due to high water levels.
Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest updates from the NWS and local news sources. Flood stages can change quickly, and knowing when conditions worsen is crucial.
Stay Safe on the Water: With docks and boat ramps submerged, it is vital that tourists do not attempt to use vessels in the affected areas. Floodwaters can be unpredictable, with dangerous currents.
Secure Property: For those staying in areas near the river, securing property from flood damage and taking necessary precautions like moving belongings to higher ground is essential.
Report Emergencies: If trapped or if conditions worsen, tourists should immediately contact local emergency services and follow the guidance provided.
River Conditions and Forecast
The latest measurements from November 1 at 8:30 PM EDT indicate that the St. Johns River was at 2.9 feet, with the bankfull stage at 2.0 feet. As mentioned earlier, flood stage is officially defined as 2.3 feet, and the river is currently above this level, signifying ongoing minor flooding. The NWS Melbourne predicts that the river will remain at these levels until at least midweek, with forecasts indicating that the water will hover around 2.8 feet.
As for future river conditions, the NWS plans to release another statement on Sunday morning at 11:00 AM EST, which will provide updates on the situation and any further developments.
Local Businesses and Tourism Affected
Tourism in Astor and surrounding communities could face challenges in the coming days, with some of the regionโs popular recreational sites and businesses being affected. For instance, the Astor Bridge Marina and nearby areas along the riverbank are seeing flooding on docks and access points. As the situation unfolds, many water-based activities such as boat rentals, fishing trips, and RV park stays are disrupted.
However, the local community remains resilient, and tourism authorities are working to ensure that visitors remain informed and safe throughout the crisis. Affected businesses are collaborating with Florida Emergency Management to implement response protocols to mitigate the damage and ensure smooth recovery.
Moving Forward
In the wake of minor flooding along the St. Johns River, Astor and its neighbouring areas continue to monitor water levels closely. Authorities are working diligently to provide updates, with a strong focus on ensuring public safety and minimizing disruption for both locals and tourists. Although the current conditions pose challenges for outdoor activities, the region remains committed to welcoming visitors once conditions improve.
As the situation develops, it is essential for both tourists and local residents to stay aware of flood forecasts and heed safety warnings. The communityโs quick response and emergency preparedness will play a pivotal role in ensuring the tourism sector recovers swiftly once floodwaters recede.
Bottom Line
As for the St. Johns River in Astor, Florida, it still remains at minor flood stage, which affects the people living greatly as the tourists as well. It is critical for the local population to follow the standard protocols. Flood levels are constantly changing, which means that people in that region are required to be in contact with authorities, like the National Weather Service. Parts of the region devoted to tourism and leisure have suffered some losses, but the town is engaged in a determined response, focused on positive term for the region that the visitors are first tourists to the region in the upcoming days.
While the holiday-makers took a break at Corpus Christi and rested at the coastline, they had lost track of time and suddenly realized the awe of natureโs power the moment they heard the Special Marine Warning the weather station recently issued. Those on the pleasure cruise were suddenly in jeopary and the weather alert warned them to take the necessry actions.
At 8:18โฏPM CDT, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned that a severe thunderstorm capable of generating waterspouts was located southeast of PackeryโฏChannel, moving at about 30โฏknots. The storm also carried the risk of wind gusts over 50โฏknots and large hail. The warning spanned the coastal zone from BaffinโฏBay to PortโฏAransas out to 20โฏnauticalโฏmiles, and the waters 20 to 60โฏNM from the same stretch.
Warning details and immediate impact
By radar tracking, the storm was positioned roughly 44โฏNM southeast of PortโฏAransas and moving southeast at 30โฏknots. It posed a threeโfold hazard:
Waterspouts: the warning noted these could develop rapidly, capsize boats, damage vessels and oil rigs, and generate unexpectedly high waves.
Wind gusts: gusts of nearly 50โฏknots (โโฏ58โฏmph) were possible.
Large hail and lightning: structural hail and frequent lightning were also flagged as threats.
Boaters and tourists aboard vessels in the alert zone were advised to seek safe harbour immediately, wear life jackets, remain belowโdeck if possible, and avoid ungrounded metal objects. The storm was expected to remain over open water, yet its rapid development posed real risk to leisure craft and commercial platforms alike.
Tourist destinations affected
Visitors exploring the Gulfโcoast region of southern Texas should note that the following destinations fell within the warning zone or were nearby enough to feel the effects:
Port Aransas โ a popular fishing and holiday town on MustangโฏIsland.
Corpus Christi Bay and the city of CorpusโฏChristi โ major tourism hub and fishing gateway.
Baffin Bay โ a quieter coastal bay popular for windโsports and natureโbased trips.
Malaquite Beach โ part of the PadreโฏIsland NationalโฏSeashore, used by beachโgoers and boaters alike.
Laguna Madre โ the broad bay system just inland, often traversed by excursion boats and ecoโtourism.
Travellers heading to any of these locations for kayaking, boat tours, fishing charters or beach leisure should remain alert to changing weather conditions.
Key safety steps for tourists and recreational boaters
When a marine warning of this nature is issued, tourists and operators should take the following precautions:
Immediately return to safe harbour or dock, especially if a vessel is in the warning zone.
Ensure all passengers wear lifeโjackets, even if the sea appears calm.
Stay informed through official channels (marine weather radio, onโboard VHF, NWS alerts).
Avoid venturing into open water while the storm passes; those caught should stay below deck if possible, steer away from ungrounded metal objects, and anticipate higher waves.
Do not assume the danger is only offshore: waves and wind gusts can reach nearโshore waters unexpectedly.
Keep offshore vessels tied and secured; check local forecasts for residual roughโsea conditions even after the main cell has passed.
What this means for regional tourism operations
For the tourism industry in CorpusโฏChristi and surrounding bays, the warning underlines how quickly maritime conditions can shift. Operators offering boat tours, dolphinโviewing cruises, fishing expeditions or waterโsports must remain ready to suspend services at short notice for guest safety. Guests themselves, often on relaxed holiday schedules, may not expect sudden hazards, so communication and preparedness become vital.
Local stakeholders may view the incident as a timely reminder of the need to integrate realโtime weather monitoring and guestโbriefing protocols into their operations. By doing so they not only protect lives but safeguard their reputation in a competitive regional tourism market.
Future Plans
Though the storm is expected to focus on open water, it is possible the wind, high waves, and marine hazards that result from it may still linger. Any planned on-water activities should be postponed until more information is received from the NWS Corpus Christi office, especially in the next 24 hours.
Itโs Friday, October 31, 2025, and weโre back with the top startup and tech funding news stories spanning the U.S. and around the globe. From billion-dollar AI infrastructure deals to fintech, legal-tech, and sustainability breakthroughs, investors continued to deploy capital [โฆ]
Theย Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA)ย has issued a high-levelย orange weather alert, the second most severe warning, forย nine districts in northern and central mainland Portugal, urging both residents and travelers to take extra precaution due toย forecast heavy and persistent rainfall. The affected districts under this orange alert as of today includeย Braganรงa, Viseu, Porto, Guarda, Vila Real, Viana do Castelo, Aveiro, Coimbra, and Braga, with the IPMA warning that these regions could experienceย localized flooding, travel disruption, and rapidly changing conditionsย through the day.
The orange alert was issued by the IPMA following an initial yellow alert, reflecting anย escalation in risk levelย due to the latest meteorological data. According to the IPMA, the rainfall in these areas is expected to beย intense and sustained, potentially impacting outdoor activities, road safety, and local tourism operations across northern and central Portugal.
Orange Alert: What It Means for Travelers and the Public
An orange weather alert is theย second-most serious levelย on the Portuguese warning system, indicating a meteorological situation with moderate to high risk for the population. The IPMA uses this alert when there are real possibilities ofย impacts to urban mobility, river levels, and overall public safety. Severe weather conditions such asย heavy rainfall, strong winds, and the potential for flash floodsย are common triggers for this warning status.
Travelers in or heading to affected districts, especially those in Porto, Braga, and Coimbra, should monitorย official weather updates, limit non-essential travel, and follow instructions from local civil protection authorities. Flood-prone areas, riverside paths, and low-lying roads should be avoided, as rapid water level increases are possible.
Impact on Tourism and Local Activities
The extreme weather warnings come as Portugal continues to experience increased visitation, with the northern and central regions, including cities likeย Porto, Braga, Coimbra, and Aveiro, remaining popular among domestic and international tourists. However, under orange alert conditions,ย outdoor activities such as sightseeing, hiking, wine region tours, and coastal excursions may need to be postponed or canceled.
Portoโs historic riverside attractions, Bragaโs famed sanctuaries, and Coimbraโs university districtย could see lower visitor turnout as tourism operators and hospitality businesses adjust schedules in response to adverse weather forecasts. Travelers should consult hotel and tour operators in advance for rebooking options or to confirm any changes to plans.
Those renting vehicles or navigating rural roads are advised toย exercise extra caution, as wet conditions and potential flooding may cause sudden road closures or hazardous driving conditions.
Regional Authorities Mobilize for Safety
Local civil protection agencies in each affected district have heightened their alert level, placing emergency services on standby forย rapid response to any incidents. The IPMA is working closely with municipal governments and emergency responders to provideย real-time updates and early warning notificationsย as conditions evolve.
Residents and visitors should also be aware of the potential forย brief power outages, public transportation delays, and possible interruptions to regional train and bus services.
Recent Weather Patterns and Climate Context
Portugal has experiencedย more frequent severe weather episodesย in recent years, often linked to broader climate variability and shifts in Atlantic storm patterns. The current heavy rainfall is part of aย wider meteorological trend affecting the Iberian Peninsula, with a series of Atlantic low-pressure systems expected to bring additional precipitation over the coming days.
The presence of persistent, sometimes torrential rain can heighten the risk of landslides in mountainous areas such as those surroundingย Viseu, Vila Real, and Guarda. The IPMA has also reiterated that theย saturation of soils in these regions increases the likelihood of flash flooding and rapid runoff, especially in valleys and urban centers close to rivers.
Guidance for Travelers and Tourism Businesses
Travelers planning to visit or transit through the affected districts during the orange alert period are strongly encouraged to:
Confirm reservations and activitiesย with local hotels, guides, and tour companies
Avoid riverbanks, coastal cliffs, and hiking trailsย during active rainfall or storms
Stay informed about road closures and public transportation changes
Heed all local civil protection advisoriesย and act promptly if instructed to relocate or seek shelter
Tourism service providers and event organizers in Porto, Braga, Aveiro, and other highlighted districts are urged to maintain open communication with guests, staff, and authorities, helping to ensure traveler safety while minimizing disruption to itineraries where possible.
Outlook and Recovery
According to the IPMA, the rainfall is expected to gradually ease as the latest Atlantic weather system moves out of the region, but further showers and unsettled weather remain in the near-term forecast. Travelers and residents should remain alert for additional updates and be prepared for quick adjustments as needed.
A new study has found that a personโs political affiliation is a powerful factor in online dating choices, carrying about as much weight as physical attractiveness. At the same time, the research suggests that a willingness to date someone from an opposing party, a signal of political tolerance, is an even more desirable trait. The findings, published in Political Science Research and Methods, provide a nuanced look at how political divisions are shaping our most personal relationships.
The research was conducted by a team from Queen Mary University of London and the London School of Economics and Political Science. They were motivated by the observation that political polarization has begun to influence decisions far outside the voting booth, from hiring to personal friendships.
The researchers questioned whether this bias is purely about party labels, or if those labels act as a shorthand for other assumed characteristics, such as values or lifestyle. By focusing on the complex world of online dating, they sought to disentangle the raw effect of partisanship from the many other factors that guide the search for a partner.
To investigate these questions, the scientists designed a realistic online dating simulation for 3,000 participants in the United Kingdom. Each participant was shown a series of paired dating profiles and asked to choose which person they would prefer to date. The profiles were generated with a mix of randomly assigned traits, creating a wide variety of potential partners. This method, known as a conjoint experiment, allows researchers to precisely measure the independent influence of each characteristic on a personโs choice.
The profiles included key political attributes, such as party affiliation (Labour or Conservative) and political tolerance. The tolerance attribute was presented as a statement in the profileโs bio, either expressing openness (โOpen to match with anyoneโ) or intolerance (โNo Tories/Labour!โ). Profiles also featured nonpolitical traits common on dating apps, including physical appearance, race, education level, height, and even dietary habits, such as being vegetarian. The use of actual photographs, pre-rated for attractiveness, was intended to make the experience more similar to using a real dating app.
The results showed that political identity has a substantial effect on dating decisions. On average, a person was 18.2 percentage points more likely to be chosen if they shared the same party affiliation as the participant. This effect was similar in magnitude to the preference for a physically attractive person and was twice as strong as the preference for a potential date with a university degree. This suggests that in the modern dating market, political alignment can be just as important as conventional standards of attraction.
However, the single most influential trait was not party affiliation, but political tolerance. A profile that signaled an openness to dating people from any political background was nearly 20 percentage points more likely to be chosen than a profile expressing intolerance. This preference for open-mindedness was slightly stronger than the preference for a shared party. Participants appeared to value tolerance even when evaluating someone from their own party, indicating a genuine appreciation for the trait rather than just an aversion to being rejected themselves.
The study also uncovered a notable asymmetry in partisan behavior. While supporters of both major parties preferred to date within their own political group, this tendency was much stronger on the left. Labour supporters were approximately twice as likely to choose a fellow Labour supporter compared to the rate at which Conservatives chose other Conservatives. This finding points to different social dynamics within the two partisan groups in the UK.
Another surprising asymmetry emerged when participants encountered profiles that defied political stereotypes. Conservative participants were more likely to select a Labour supporter who broke from the typical mold, for example, by being White or holding โtraditionalโ values.
In contrast, Labour supporters were less likely to choose a Conservative profile that broke stereotypes, such as a Black or vegetarian Conservative. The researchers suggest this could be related to a negative reaction against individuals who violate strong group expectations, making them seem unfamiliar.
The researchers acknowledge certain limitations. The study focused only on Labour and Conservative supporters, which may not capture the full complexity of the UKโs multiparty political system. While the experiment identifies these differing preferences between partisan groups and genders, it does not fully explain the underlying psychological reasons for them. Future research could explore these motivations in greater depth.
Additional work might also examine the role of geography, as dating pool size and composition in urban versus rural areas could alter how people weigh political and nonpolitical traits. The influence of other major political identities, such as a personโs stance on Brexit, could also be a productive area for investigation.
The studyโs findings suggest that while partisan divides are real and affect relationship formation, they are not absolute. An expressed sense of tolerance may be one of the most effective ways to bridge these political gaps in the personal sphere.
Ayaneo has built a reputation on crafting high-end, powerful retro gaming handhelds. Now, the company is looking to conquer a new, highly competitive space: the gaming smartphone market. The company recently dropped a vague teaser video for its upcoming device. The company promotes the first Ayaneo Phone as a handset that meets โthe soul of gaming handheld.โ If the early leaks are correct, this device might deliver a key feature that modern mobile gaming desperately needs.
Most gaming phones from competitors like RedMagic and ASUS ROG focus primarily on powerful chipsets and advanced cooling. Plus, they often require expensive accessories for controls. However, the Ayaneo Phone seems to be taking a different path. Itโs prioritizing core tactile hardware.
The most crucial detail spotted in the teaser is the clear presence of physical shoulder buttons (L and R triggers) when the phone is held horizontally. For serious mobile gamers, this is a massive plus. Physical buttons offer precision and immediate tactile feedback that screen overlays simply cannot match. This will be especially useful in fast-paced competitive titles.
This design focus aligns perfectly with Ayaneoโs history and branding. The device will be released under the companyโs โRemakeโ banner, which previously featured retro-styled modern handhelds. This has led to heavy speculation that the Ayaneo Phone might adopt a sliding form factor. The form factor is reminiscent of the beloved (and long-discontinued) Sony Xperia Play. While the video doesnโt confirm a slider, the emphasis on integrated physical controls suggests Ayaneo is looking to recapture that classic, all-in-one gaming experience.
A challenge to the giants
Visually, the phone appears to carry a standard dual-camera setup on the back, with sensors sitting flush with the chassis. But make no mistake: this phone isnโt about photography; itโs about pushing buttons.
Ayaneo will seek to establish itself as a good alternative in the current market. Competitors are readily available, but few integrate physical controls as standard. The challenge for the brand will be navigating the difficulty of penetrating the US market. Ayaneo will also have to manage the final price tagโits products are not usually cheap.
The company is betting that a dedicated gamer will pay a premium for a device truly โmade for gamers.โ If the Ayaneo Phone pushes all the right buttons, it could take over a really interesting niche.
The Fortnite X The Simpsons crossover is now live, bringing the game to Chapter 6, Season 5. Battle Royale players will find themselves dropping into Springfield Island, which according to the developers will provide a fast-paced experience that returns the game to basics. As usual with a new season, each week will introduce new Simpsons-themed gameplay additions and, of course, cosmetics to purchase in the shop. Each week, the map updates will be previewed through original animated shorts The Simpsons shorts, which have been co-produced by Gracie Films and Epic Games. The first one is already live; you can find [โฆ]
An international team of scientists has developed specialized nanoparticles that can reverse the cognitive symptoms of Alzheimerโs disease in mice. The treatment works by repairing the brainโs natural filtration and waste-removal system, leading to the rapid clearance of toxic proteins and long-lasting cognitive recovery. This research, published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, suggests that targeting the brainโs protective barrier could be a powerful new strategy for combating neurodegenerative diseases.
Alzheimerโs disease is a progressive brain disorder that gradually erodes memory and thinking skills. At its core, the disease is associated with the abnormal buildup of a protein called amyloid-beta. In a healthy brain, amyloid-beta is regularly cleared away, but in Alzheimerโs patients, it clumps together to form sticky plaques that disrupt communication between brain cells and trigger inflammation. For decades, researchers have searched for ways to remove these plaques or prevent their formation.
A key player in this process is the blood-brain barrier, a dense network of cells that acts as a highly selective gatekeeper for the brain. It allows essential nutrients to enter while blocking out harmful substances. This barrier also plays an active role in pushing waste products, including amyloid-beta, out of the brain and into the bloodstream for disposal. In Alzheimerโs disease, this barrier becomes dysfunctional, trapping amyloid-beta inside the brain and contributing to its accumulation. The scientists behind this new study focused on repairing this fundamental breakdown in the brainโs maintenance system.
The researchers engineered tiny, hollow spheres made of polymers, known as polymersomes. These are not simply vehicles to carry a drug; they are designed to be the therapeutic agent itself. The surface of each nanoparticle was decorated with a specific number of molecules that act like keys, designed to interact with a particular protein on the blood-brain barrier called LRP1. This protein, LRP1, is a primary transporter responsible for moving amyloid-beta out of the brain.
The teamโs design was based on a sophisticated understanding of how LRP1 works. When LRP1 binds to large, sticky clumps of amyloid-beta, the binding is very strong. This strong interaction signals the cell to destroy the LRP1 protein, reducing the brainโs ability to clear amyloid. The researchers engineered their nanoparticles to have a โmedium-strengthโ attraction to LRP1. This moderate binding doesnโt trigger the proteinโs destruction. Instead, it encourages the LRP1 protein to efficiently shuttle its cargo out of the brain and then return to the barrier to repeat the process.
To test their design, the team used a well-established mouse model of Alzheimerโs disease. These mice are genetically programmed to develop amyloid plaques and cognitive decline similar to that seen in humans. The researchers administered just three intravenous injections of the nanoparticles to 12-month-old mice, an age when significant pathology is already present. The results were immediate and striking.
Within just two hours of a single injection, the amount of amyloid-beta in the brains of the treated mice dropped by nearly 45 percent. Concurrently, levels of amyloid-beta in their bloodstream increased by eight times. This provided clear evidence that the nanoparticles were successfully helping the blood-brain barrier transport the toxic protein out of the brain and into general circulation, where it could be disposed of by the body.
To visualize these effects in living animals, the team used positron emission tomography, a type of brain imaging that can detect amyloid plaques. Scans taken before the treatment showed significant amyloid buildup in the Alzheimerโs model mice. Just 12 hours after receiving the nanoparticles, new scans revealed a sharp decrease in the amyloid signal. Further analysis using advanced 3D imaging of the entire brain confirmed an overall reduction in amyloid volume of approximately 41 percent.
The treatment did more than just remove amyloid; it appeared to restore the health of the blood-brain barrier itself. The researchers found that after treatment, the levels of the LRP1 transport protein on the barrier cells returned to normal. They also observed changes in other cellular proteins, indicating that the nanoparticles had successfully shifted the barrierโs transport mechanism from a destructive pathway to a protective and efficient one.
The most significant finding was the effect on cognition and behavior. To measure this, the scientists used the Morris water maze, a standard test of spatial learning and memory in rodents. In this test, mice must learn the location of a hidden platform in a small pool of water. Before treatment, the Alzheimerโs mice struggled with this task. After receiving the nanoparticles, their performance improved dramatically, becoming nearly indistinguishable from that of healthy, non-diseased mice.
Remarkably, this cognitive recovery was long-lasting. The researchers tested the same mice again six months after the initial three-dose treatment. Even after this extended period, the treated mice retained their improved cognitive abilities, performing just as well as healthy mice of the same age. Additional behavioral tests, such as those measuring nest-building ability and preference for sweet tastes, further supported the conclusion that the treatment had restored not only memory but also the animalsโ overall quality of life.
While these results offer a promising new avenue for Alzheimerโs research, the study has limitations. The experiments were conducted in mice, and animal models, though valuable, do not perfectly replicate the complexity of human Alzheimerโs disease. The path from a successful mouse study to a safe and effective human therapy is a long one that will require extensive further investigation.
Future research will likely focus on confirming these mechanisms in more complex models and eventually testing the safety and efficacy of such a strategy in humans. The study also opens the door to applying this concept of โbarrier repairโ to other neurological disorders where blood-brain barrier dysfunction is a known factor, such as Parkinsonโs disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. By shifting the focus from simply targeting a diseaseโs symptoms to repairing the underlying biological systems, this work establishes a new and potentially powerful approach in the fight against neurodegeneration.
Hyperstrange and New Blood Interactive have combined forces to bring Blood West to Xbox Series X|S consoles and Xbox PC-compatible devices. The indie game combines nostalgic, low-resolution art, eldritch horrors, and immersive stealth FPS/RPG hybrid gameplay in one cohesive experience.
The Outer Worlds 2 is great, but it's hardly perfect. Obsidian Entertainment is rolling out a new patch right now, and it actually fixed an annoying bug.
Loaded has a limited-time Halloween 87% discount for the PC version of DOOM: Eternal, one of the greatest first-person shooters in modern gaming, and my all-time favorite DOOM game.
We have recently discovered that the Entertainment Software Rating Board has given the critically acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake an Xbox Series X|S rating, implying it may soon be heading for Microsoft's home consoles.
The original Xbox prototype shown off in the year 2000 was just brought back to life in an epic project. Machined out of a single block of metal, featuring real Xbox hardware, and upgrades like a screen in the middle in place of the orb light, this Xbox prototype redux is a testament to the world of retro gaming.
Kimi Linear's hybrid architecture claims to outperform full attention, but its real-world impact hinges on the open-source community's ability to adopt its complex design.
A recent study suggests that some of exerciseโs brain-enhancing benefits can be transferred through tiny particles found in the blood. Researchers discovered that injecting these particles, called extracellular vesicles, from exercising mice into sedentary mice promoted the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region important for learning and memory. The findings were published in the journal Brain Research.
Aerobic exercise can enhance cognitive functions, in part by stimulating the birth of new neurons in the hippocampus. This process, known as adult neurogenesis, is linked to improved learning, memory, and mood regulation. Understanding the specific mechanisms connecting physical activity to brain health could lead to new therapies for age-related cognitive decline and other neurological conditions.
However, the exact biological conversation between active muscles and the distant brain has remained largely a mystery. A leading hypothesis suggests that exercise releases specific factors into the bloodstream that travel to the brain and initiate these changes. Previous work has shown that blood plasma from exercising animals can be transferred to sedentary ones, resulting in cognitive benefits. This observation has narrowed the search for the responsible agents.
Among these potential messengers are extracellular vesicles, which are minuscule sacs released by cells that carry a diverse cargo of proteins, lipids, and genetic material. During exercise, tissues like muscle and liver release these vesicles into circulation at an increased rate. Because these particles are capable of crossing the protective blood-brain barrier, researchers proposed they might be a key vehicle for delivering exerciseโs benefits directly to the brain.
โThe hippocampus is critical for learning and memory and atrophy of the hippocampus is associated with common mental health problems like depression, anxiety,, PTST, epilepsy, Alzheimerโs disease and normal aging. So figuring out ways of increasing the integrity of the hippocampus is an avenue to pursue for addressing these problems,โ explained study author Justin Rhodes, a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
โIt is known that exercise increases the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus, and is a natural way to combat all the aforementioned mental health problems. It is further known that there are factors released into the blood that contribute to adult hippocampal neurogenesis. But most likely a mixture of factors rather than one magic chemical. The idea that extracellular vesicles containing lots of different kinds of molecules could communicate with complex chemical signatures from the blood to the brain and contribute to neurogenesis was not known until our study.โ
To examine this, the researchers used two groups of mice. One group had unlimited access to running wheels for four weeks, while the other group was housed in cages with locked wheels, serving as a sedentary control. As expected, the running mice showed a significant increase in new brain cells in their own hippocampi, confirming the effectiveness of the exercise regimen.
After four weeks, the team collected blood from both the exercising and sedentary donor mice. From this blood, they isolated the extracellular vesicles using a filtration method that separates particles by size. This process yielded two distinct batches of vesicles: one from the exercising mice and one from the sedentary mice.
The team then administered these vesicles to a new set of sedentary recipient mice over a four-week period. These recipients were divided into three groups. One group received injections of vesicles from the exercising donors, a second group received vesicles from the sedentary donors, and a third group received a simple phosphate-buffered saline solution as a placebo.
To track the creation of new cells in the recipientsโ brains, the mice were given injections of a labeling compound known as BrdU. This substance is incorporated into the DNA of dividing cells, effectively tagging them so they can be identified and counted later under a microscope. To ensure the reliability of their results, the entire experiment was conducted twice with two independent groups of mice.
The researchers found that mice that received vesicles from the exercising donors exhibited an approximately 50 percent increase in the number of new, BrdU-labeled cells in the hippocampus compared to mice that received vesicles from sedentary donors or the placebo solution. The findings were consistent across both independent cohorts, strengthening the conclusion that something within the exercise-derived vesicles was promoting cell proliferation.
โI was surprised that the vesicles were sufficient to increase neurogenesis,โ Rhodes told PsyPost. โThat is because when you exercise, there is not only the contribution of blood factors, but things going on in the brain like large amounts of neuronal activity in the hippocampus that I thought would be necessary for neurogenesis to occur. The results suggest apparently not, the vesicles alone without the other physiological components of actual exercise, are sufficient to increase neurogenesis to a degree, not the full degree, but to a degree.โ
The researchers also examined the identity of these new cells to determine what they were becoming. Using fluorescent markers, they identified that, across all groups, about 89 percent of the new cells developed into neurons. A smaller fraction, about 6 percent, became a type of support cell called an astrocyte. This indicates that the vesicles from exercising mice increased the quantity of new neurons being formed, rather than changing what type of cells they became.
Finally, the team assessed whether the treatment affected the density of blood vessels in the hippocampus, as exercise is also known to promote changes in brain vasculature. By staining for a protein found in blood vessel walls, they measured the total vascular area. They found no significant differences in vascular coverage among the three groups, suggesting that the neurogenesis-promoting effect of the vesicles may be independent of vascular remodeling.
โOne of the reasons exercise improves mental health is that it stimulates new neurons to form in an area of your brain that is important for learning and memory and for inhibiting stress, and now we know a big piece of the puzzle as to how exercise does this,โ Rhodes said. โExercise causes tissues like muscle and liver to secrete vesicles (sacs that contain lots of different kinds of chemicals) that reach the brain and stimulate neurogenesis.โ
โThose vesicles can be taken from an animal that exercises and placed into an animal that is not exercising, and it can increase neurogenesis, not to the full level of that exercise does, but significantly increase it. That strongly suggests the vesicles themselves are carrying critical information. One can imagine a therapy in the future where either vesicles are harvested from exercising humans from their blood and introduced into individuals or synthetic vesicles are made that carry the unique mixture of chemicals that are identified in the exercise vesicles.โ
While the findings point to extracellular vesicles as key players in exercise-induced brain plasticity, the study also highlights several areas for future inquiry. A primary question is whether the vesicles directly act on the brain or if their effects are mediated by peripheral organs. It is not yet known what fraction of the injected vesicles crossed the blood-brain barrier. The vesicles could potentially trigger signals in other parts of the body that then influence the brain.
The specific molecular cargo within the vesicles responsible for the neurogenic effect also needs to be identified. A companion study by the same research group found that vesicles from exercising mice were enriched with proteins related to brain plasticity, antioxidant defense, and cellular signaling. Future work will be needed to pinpoint which of these molecules, or combination of molecules, is responsible for the observed increase in new neurons.
โI think there are a lot of ways this could go,โ Rhodes told PsyPost. โFirst, it is a pretty big black box between injecting the animals with vesicles and neurogenesis happening in the hippocampus. How many of the extracellular vesicles make it to the brain? Are they acting in the brain or in the periphery, i.e., maybe via peripheral nerves, mesenteric nervous system, immune activation or other ways we didnโt think of yet.โ
โIf they are reaching the brain, how do they merge with brain cells, do they reach astrocytes first? How do the vesicles get taken up by the brain cells is it through phagocytosis? What do the chemical signals do to the brain cells that causes increased neurogenesis? Do they act directly on neural progenitor cells, or astrocytes or mature neurons? What are the signaling mechanisms involved in the communication from the extracellular vesicles to the neurons/astrocytes/progenitor cells that causes neurogenesis to occur?โ
Grand Theft Auto (GTA) developer Rockstar Games has been mostly exempt from the rounds of layoffs that have rocked the industry throughout the last three years or so. This week, they have fired between 30 and 40 employees across offices in the United Kingdom and Canada, but not due to financial problems (which they do not have). According to the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), this has been an act of 'union busting', as all the developers fired were attempting to unionize. Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB, said in a statement: Rockstar has just carried out the [โฆ]
โWall Street is starting to pick its AI winners,โ declared MacKenzie Sigalos of CNBC Business News, setting the stage for a stark commentary on the latest earnings reports from the tech giants. In a segment on CNBCโs โClosing Bell Overtime,โ Sigalos, speaking with anchor John, dissected why some hyperscalers are being rewarded for their AI [โฆ]
The current wave of Artificial Intelligence investment, while seemingly boundless, is entering a new phase of scrutiny, according to Gene Munster, Managing Partner at Deepwater Asset Management. His recent analysis, presented on CNBCโs โFast Money,โ underscored that while the AI capital expenditure cycle still has โa few years left,โ investors are increasingly disinclined to โwrite [โฆ]
The insatiable demand for Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the global technological landscape, and Asiaโs data centers find themselves at the epicenter of this transformative shift. At the Bloomberg Business Summit at ASEAN in Kuala Lumpur, Bloombergโs Ram Anand moderated a panel featuring Prashant Murthy, Managing Director, Capital & Strategy, AirTrunk; Rebecca Ng, Deputy Group Chief [โฆ]
Nvidia, the trillion-dollar chipmaker fueling todayโs AI boom, is reportedly preparing one of its biggest startup bets yet. According to Bloomberg, the company plans to invest as much as $1 billion in Poolside, a Paris-based AI startup building software that [โฆ]
Itโs Thursday, October 30, 2025, and weโre back with the top startup and tech funding news stories making waves today. From billion-dollar AI bets to fintech, space tech, and deep-tech innovation, investors showed no signs of slowing down as capital [โฆ]
Amazonโs strategic, multi-billion dollar investment in artificial intelligence, particularly in its underlying compute infrastructure, is demonstrably paying dividends, propelling a significant re-acceleration in AWS revenue growth and fostering innovation across its vast retail empire. This was the central theme articulated by Ronald Josey, Citiโs Senior Internet Analyst, in a recent interview on CNBCโs โThe Exchangeโ [โฆ]
โIf someone came to you and said, โHey, letโs play a game, you give me a dollar and Iโll give you three dollars back,โ when would you stop playing that game?โ This potent analogy, offered by MNTN CEO Mark Douglas, encapsulates the fundamental shift driving the current digital advertising boom: artificial intelligence is making ad [โฆ]
In the high-stakes arena of artificial intelligence, where colossal capital expenditure is the new norm, Amazon has successfully distinguished its strategic vision, earning a significant vote of confidence from investors. While the broader market grapples with the sheer scale of investment required for AI infrastructure, Amazonโs approach has been met with enthusiasm, validating its long-term [โฆ]
โSignificant AI investments despite unknown revenue mirrors the โ21, โ22 Metaverse spending.โ This stark observation, highlighted by Jason Helfstein, Oppenheimerโs Head of Internet Research, encapsulates the core concern driving his firmโs recent downgrade of Meta Platforms. The market, it seems, is experiencing a sense of dรฉjร vu, wary of another massive capital expenditure cycle with [โฆ]
Effective AI scale testing is crucial for deploying high-quality, secure AI applications, requiring a disciplined approach from hotspot identification to realistic workload modeling and data analysis.
The airstrike and artillery strike in Battlefield 6 REDSEC can be significantly more powerful than you know. Here's the pro strategy to maximize their use and get the win.
Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2025 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Board.
This is a weekly feature that runs down the weekโs top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last weekโs biggest funding rounds here.
The weekโs largest funding rounds confirmed that weโre still very much in the AI era. This included the biggest deal, a $350 million Series C for AI hiring startup Mercor, along with good-sized financings for legal tech unicorn Harvey, shopping platform Whatnot, and email security provider Sublime Security.
1. Mercor, $350M, AI hiring: San Francisco-based Mercor, a provider of AI-enabled tools for hiring, secured $350 million in Series C funding at a $10 billion valuation. Felicis1ย led the financing, which included participation by Robinhood Ventures, General Catalyst and Benchmark.
2. (tied) SavvyMoney, $225M, fintech: SavvyMoney, which offers tools for financial services providers to embed features like credit scores and personalized offers into their consumer offerings, announced a $225 million investment co-led by PSG Equity and Canapi Ventures. Founded in 2009, the Dublin, California, company currently works with more than 1,500 financial institution customers.
2. (tied) Whatnot, $225M, e-commerce: Whatnot, a live shopping platform and marketplace, has closed a $225 million Series F round, more than doubling its valuation to $11.5 billion in less than 10 months. DST Global and CapitalG co-led the financing, which brings the Los Angeles-based companyโs total raised to about $968 million since its 2019 inception.
4. (tied) Sublime Security, $150M, cybersecurity: Sublime Security, a developer of agentic AI tools for email security, raised $150 million in a Series C round led by Georgian. The financing brings total funding to date for the 6-year-old Washington, D.C.-based company to around $240 million, per Crunchbase data.
4. (tied) Harvey, $150M, legal tech: Harvey, developer of an AI-enabled platform for legal professionals, closed on a fresh $150 million, bringing total reported funding to date to $1 billion. Andreessen Horowitz led the latest round, which reportedly set an $8 billion valuation for the 3-year-old, San Francisco-based company.
6. (tied) Human Interest, $100M, finance: Human Interest, a San Francisco-based startup that helps small businesses offer 401(k) plans to their employees, raised more than $100 million at a $3 billion valuation, Axios reports. That valuation is up from the $1.3 billion the company was last valued at in 2024. Previous investors Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Marshall Wace, Morgan Stanley and TPG again backed the company.ย
6. (tied) Substrate, $100M, semiconductors: Substrate, a San Francisco-based startup seeking to build semiconductor factories with new laser-based technology, raised $100 million from Founders Fund, General Catalyst, IQT and others.
8. Zag Bio, $80M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Zag Bio, a developer of thymus-targeted medicines, announced its public launch with $80 million in financing, including a recently closed Series A round. Polaris Partners founded and incubated the startup and co-led the Series A financing with the JDRF T1D Fund.
9. ConductorOne, $79M, identity security: ConductorOne, an identity security startup building an AI platform geared for human, non-human and AI identities, landed $79 million in a Series B financing led by Greycroft. The 4-year-old Portland, Oregon-based company says it saw 400% revenue growth last year.
10. Blueprint, $60M, personal care: Blueprint, a Los Angeles-based brand that markets supplements, skin and hair care products, and foods geared to promote well-being and longevity, raised $60 million from a long list of venture and celebrity investors including Paris Hilton, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Logan Paul.
Methodology
We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Oct. 25-31. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.
Theta Network adds Deutsche Telekom to participate in its core consensus mechanism. As a validator, the telecom giant will play a direct role in verifying transactions on the decentralized L1 network. In a press release dated Oct. 31, Theta Networkโฆ
One of the world's leading photo agencies, Getty, has struck a multi-year agreement with Perplexity to display Getty Images across Perplexity's AI-powered search and discovery tools.
A U.S. startup is developing a compact particle-accelerator-based X-ray lithography system that could surpass ASML's EUV scanners in resolution and cut wafer costs tenfold by the end of the decade, but its plan to build its own fabs rather than sell tools means it must reinvent the entire semiconductor production supply chain from the ground up.
Zcash price hits its highest level in eight years, breaking long-term market structure. But can it sustain above $388, or is a healthy correction now due? Zcash (ZEC) price has reached anย eight-year high, marking a major technical milestone and confirmingโฆ
A new study reveals the human brainโs remarkable ability to maintain communication between its two hemispheres even when the primary connection is almost entirely severed. Researchers discovered that a tiny fraction of remaining nerve fibers is sufficient to sustain near-normal levels of integrated brain function, a finding published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This observation challenges long-held ideas about how the brain is wired and suggests an immense potential for reorganization after injury.
The brainโs left and right hemispheres are linked by the corpus callosum, a massive bundle of about 200 million nerve fibers that acts as a superhighway for information. For decades, scientists have operated under the assumption that this structure has a map-like organization, where specific fibers connect corresponding regions in each hemisphere to perform specialized tasks. Based on this model, damage to a part of the corpus callosum should result in specific, predictable communication breakdowns between the brain halves.
To test this idea, researchers turned to a unique group of individuals known as split-brain patients. These patients have undergone a rare surgical procedure called a callosotomy, where the corpus callosum is intentionally cut to treat severe, otherwise untreatable epilepsy. This procedure provides a distinct opportunity to observe how the brain functions when its main inter-hemispheric pathway is disrupted. Because the surgery is no longer common, data from adult patients using modern neuroimaging techniques has been scarce, leaving a gap in understanding how this profound structural change affects the brainโs functional networks.
The international research team studied six adult patients who had undergone the callosotomy procedure. Four of the patients had a complete transection, meaning the entire corpus callosum was severed. Two other patients had partial transections. One had about 62 percent of the structure intact, while another, patient BT, had approximately 90 percent of his corpus callosum removed, leaving only a small segment of fibers, about one centimeter wide, at the very back of the structure.
To assess the functional consequences, the researchers first performed simple bedside behavioral tests. The four patients with complete cuts exhibited classic โdisconnection syndromes,โ where one hemisphere appeared unable to share information with the other. For example, they could not verbally name an object placed in their left hand without looking at it, because the sensation from the left hand is processed by the right hemisphere, while language is typically managed by the left. The two hemispheres were acting independently.
In contrast, both patients with partial cuts showed no signs of disconnection. Patient BT, despite having only a tiny bridge of fibers remaining, could perform these tasks successfully, indicating robust communication was occurring between his hemispheres.
To look directly at brain activity, the team used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. This technique measures changes in blood flow throughout the brain, allowing scientists to identify which regions are active and working together. When two regions show synchronized activity over time, they are considered to be functionally connected. The researchers compared the brain activity of the six patients to a benchmark dataset from 100 healthy adults.
In the four patients with a completely severed corpus callosum, the researchers saw a dramatic reduction in functional connectivity between the two hemispheres. The brainโs large-scale networks, which normally span both sides of the brain, appeared highly โlateralized,โ meaning their activity was largely confined to either the left or the right hemisphere. It was as if each side of the brain was operating in its own bubble, with very little coordination between them.
The findings from the two partially separated patients were strikingly different. Their patterns of interhemispheric functional connectivity looked nearly identical to those of the healthy control group. Even in patient BT, the small remnant of posterior fibers was enough to support widespread, brain-wide functional integration. His brain networks for attention, sensory processing, and higher-order thought all showed normal levels of bilateral coordination. This result directly contradicts the classical model, which would have predicted that only the brain regions directly connected by those few remaining fibers, likely related to vision, would show preserved communication.
The researchers also analyzed the brainโs dynamic activity, looking at how moment-to-moment fluctuations are synchronized across the brain. In healthy individuals, the overall rhythm of activity in the left hemisphere is tightly coupled with the rhythm in the right hemisphere. In the patients with complete cuts, these rhythms were desynchronized, as if each hemisphere was marching to the beat of its own drum.
Yet again, the two patients with partial cuts showed a strong, healthy synchronization between their hemispheres, suggesting the small bundle of fibers was sufficient to coordinate the brainโs global dynamics. Patient BTโs brain had apparently reorganized its functional networks over the six years since his surgery to make optimal use of this minimal structural connection.
The study is limited by its small number of participants, a common challenge in research involving rare medical conditions. Because the callosotomy procedure is seldom performed today, finding adult patients for study is difficult. While the differences observed between the groups were pronounced, larger studies would be needed to fully characterize the range of outcomes and the ways in which brains reorganize over different timescales following surgery.
Future research could focus on tracking patients over many years to map the process of neural reorganization in greater detail. Such work may help uncover the principles that govern the brainโs plasticity and its ability to adapt to profound structural changes. The findings open new avenues for rehabilitation research, suggesting that therapies could aim to leverage even minimal remaining pathways to help restore function after brain injury. The results indicate that the relationship between the brainโs physical structure and its functional capacity is far more flexible and complex than previously understood.
The study, โFull interhemispheric integration sustained by a fraction of posterior callosal fibers,โ was authored by Tyler Santander, Selin Bekir, Theresa Paul, Jessica M. Simonson, Valerie M. Wiemer, Henri Etel Skinner, Johanna L. Hopf, Anna Rada, Friedrich G. Woermann, Thilo Kalbhenn, Barry Giesbrecht, Christian G. Bien, Olaf Sporns, Michael S. Gazzaniga, Lukas J. Volz, and Michael B. Miller.
YouTube TV has been routinely angering its customers, though itโs not all its fault. Between raising prices to almost double what it initially launched at โ now $82.99 per month โ and losing channels, many customers are not happy. But luckily, you can cancel your YouTube TV subscription. Thatโs the beauty of cord-cutting. The ability to ditch a service for a competitor in just minutes. Meanwhile, with cable, that is not possible. Most areas only have one or two cable operators available. So thatโs another reason that itโs a good idea to switch to a streaming service. Makes it easier to vote with your wallet.
YouTube TV has recently lost the Bally Sports regional sports networks (though thatโs more Sinclairโs fault than YouTube TVโs, since they are removing the networks from all the streaming services). Then they almost lost the NBC networks, which is roughly a fifth of YouTube TVโs channel offerings. However, NBC decided to step up and not force YouTube TV to include Peacock with its membership. And surprisingly, the price did not go up, which is a good thing.
If you just want to stop using YouTube TV for a few weeks, maybe cut some costs, weโd recommend pausing YouTube TV instead. That will keep all of your recordings and continue recording, but without charging you. You can pause YouTube TV for up to six months. Weโll also show you how to pause your YouTube TV membership in this tutorial.
How to cancel YouTube TV
To cancel YouTube TV, youโll need to either open the app, or go to tv.youtube.com. The process is virtually the same, aside from tapping versus clicking.
Tap on your Profile icon in the right-hand corner.
Next, tap on Settings.
Then tap on โManageโ.
From here, youโll have an option to pause or cancel. Hit Cancel.
Youโll be asked if youโre sure you want to cancel. Just hit yes, and continue.
Youโll still have access until the end of your billing cycle, but you wonโt be charged again.
Cancel your YouTube TV membership
Click on that. Now you can see options for pausing or cancelling your membership.
After you click cancel, itโll ask to make sure you want to cancel, and just go through that process until it has successfully cancelled.
And thatโs it. Itโs pretty simple to cancel, and thatโs one thing that YouTube TV still has over cable. The ability to easily cancel TV service, without needing to call them and explain to them you donโt want it any longer.
How to Pause YouTube TV
Pausing YouTube TV has a pretty similar process to cancelling it. Start out by opening the YouTube TV app.
Then tap on your Profile Picture
Next, tap on Settings.
From there, youโll want to tap on Membership.
Next, tap on โManageโ next to the โBase Planโ option.
Now, youโll see an option to pause your account. It defaults to eight weeks, but you can adjust the slider all the way up to 24 weeks (or about six months). It will also show you below when your account will resume. YouTube TV also mentions that your recordings will be kept, which is a big deal.
Now, just tap on Pause.
Youโll now get a confirmation that your account is put on pause (youโll also get an email with details). And youโre all set.
Thatโs just how easy it is to pause your YouTube TV account. You can also choose to unpause it at any time. So if you paused it by mistake, or paused it for too long, you can unpause it and be back in business. Keep in mind that if you share this membership with others, their accounts will also be paused.
Whatโs the difference between cancelling and pausing YouTube TV?
Cancelling means that youโre not planning to return anytime soon. While pausing means that you plan to return in a month or two, or even longer.
If you do want to get rid of YouTube TV for a couple of months, pausing is the right way to go. This is because it will keep all of your shows in your library. While cancelling will get rid of it all.
However, with this price hike, YouTube TV is likely going to be seeing a whole lot of people cancelling their membership, unfortunately. Even though YouTube TV is a really good service โ Iโd still say, one of the best out there. At $65 per month, itโs a pretty tough ask. Especially since YouTube TV only has one plan, so youโre stuck paying for all of those channels at $65/month. Instead of having a smaller plan option that costs, say $50 per month for fewer channels.
Pausing is a good idea if you are looking to cut some costs for a few months, or if your favorite shows are off season now, so you donโt need YouTube TV. And that will save you $65 per month, which is no small cost, to be quite honest. Most other streaming Live TV services donโt really offer this ability. So this is a big deal.
YouTube TV has continued to improve its service, and is looking to add some more flexible packages. So we may not see any more price increases on the base plan. But we may lose some channels from that base plan. With them moving into the add-ons. This is simply because the costs to carry these channels are getting pretty pricey.
Yes, Xbox competes with TikTok and other forms of social media. But the reason TikTok is winning is because Microsoft refuses to be more social and culturally open โ It's no surprise Roblox and Steam are eating Xbox's lunch. Microsoft is VERY uncool.
Sonic token price shows weakness after rejection from $0.17 resistance. Price trades near the value area low, with risks of a deeper correction toward untapped yearly lows. Sonic (S) token price continues to exhibit sustained weakness as price action strugglesโฆ
Flipster is redefining crypto trading by combining speed, deep liquidity, and AI-driven tools to give traders smarter, faster, and more capital-efficient ways to act.
Retroid has officially announced its two latest handhelds with the Pocket G2 and the Pocket 6. One of these is already available to order, while the other has seen a bit of controversy.
Vivek Ladsariya plating bread pudding with cardamom ice cream at a pop-up restaurant he ran with a friend when he lived in San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Vivek Ladsariya)
Out of Office isย a new GeekWire seriesย spotlighting the passions and hobbies that members of the Seattle-area tech community pursue outside of work.
Day job:ย General partner and managing director at Seattleโs Pioneer Square Labs, where he helps create and invest in startups as a venture capital investor.
Out-of-office passion:ย Cooking.
Growing up in India, food was a big part of the culture and something that Vivek Ladsariya was immersed in at home.
His family had a flour mill and would buy wheat grain to grind it into flour. He watched his mother and grandmother cook, and he ate and enjoyed their food.
โWhen I moved to the U.S., I missed it tremendously, and there was no real way to get some of that home food except to learn how to cook it,โ Ladsariya said. โThatโs when I started to really learn how to cook all of those things, because I needed that food to consume. So, it was very much born out of necessity.โ
His taste and skill goes beyond making the dishes he loved as a boy. He makes pastas and Taiwanese food. He likes to slow cook meat or use his fancy pizza oven. During a recent potluck lunch he made scallion pancakes.
Ladsariya and his wife cook every meal at home, and with a 7-week-old daughter, he finds himself โwearingโ her around the kitchen while heโs cooking, encouraging her to taste what heโs making.
During the pandemic while living in San Francisco, Ladsariya got the chance to work in two restaurants โ Merchant Roots and Sushi Hakko โ to stay busy while his wife was working her healthcare job.
โI think thatโs when my cooking game really elevated,โ he said. โUp until then I enjoyed cooking, but Iโd create a mess. Then I got really organized in the kitchen. I became really efficient.โ
With a friend, Ladsariya also put together a pop-up restaurant in which they spent two months researching and prepping a menu and cooking for guests over three days. The proceeds went to charity, and Ladsariya called it one of the favorite times of his life. Itโs a process he plans to repeat in Seattle.
But Ladsariya, who enjoys hosting smaller dinners for startup founders, has no plans to leave his day job for a life in the kitchen.
โYouโre standing on your feet the entire day and you are unbelievably exhausted,โ he said. โI think itโd get old really quickly, and Iโd lose the love for this.โ
Vivek Ladsariya over a pan of seafood paella. โThe joy of cooking is feeding other people,โ he says. (Photo courtesy of Vivek Ladsariya)
Most rewarding aspect of this pursuit: Ladsariya said that his day job is so high level and โin the brainโ that it can sometimes can be abstract and lacking in the real-time feedback that he gets from working with his hands.
โI just fell in love with that aspect of cooking,โ he said. โEverything you do is right there, you get the evidence of whether you did it well or not right away. The effort, the reward โ that loop is just so instant and real and gratifying to work with your hands.โ
And itโs not about feeding himself. For Ladsariya, the joy of cooking comes from feeding others.
โItโs the bringing people together, the community and all of that that food enables,โ he said. โIโm able to provide a great meal and bring together people with something that scratches my creative desires.โ
The lessons he brings back to work: Ladsariya finds a connection between how he thinks about cooking and how he thinks about startups.
โCooking is really about high quality ingredients and not messing it up,โ he said. โMore often than not, bad food comes from bad ingredients. And I think the same is true for startups. As long as you have a good group of people, they can do something good. People are the ingredients of startup building.โ
Furthermore, whether itโs a dish heโs never made or a startup idea thatโs especially daunting, itโs best not to overthink things and just do it.
โItโs easy to be intimidated and say, โOh, I have no idea how to do that or where to even start,'โ Ladsariya said. โBut with a little bit of research and work and just committing to it, you can do pretty incredible things.โ
Do you have an out-of-office hobby or interesting side hustleย that youโre passionate about that would make for a fun profile on GeekWire? Drop us a line:ย tips@geekwire.com.
[Editorโs Note: This guest post is by Marcelo Calbucci, a longtime Seattle tech and startup community leader.]
This month, I ran a survey with early-stage founders from Seattle-based Foundations about their use of AI tools and agents. There were some surprises in the data โ and not in the direction youโd expect โ and trends that are worth talking about.
The sample size represents 22 startups with one-to-five software engineers each, for a total of 42 people. What makes this cohort valuable to understand is that they are AI-native startups, started during a time that AI can code. This gives us a glimpse into the future of tech companies.
The first question I asked on the survey was about the percentage of production code being written by AI. I wrote this question explicitly to exclude unit tests, scripts, documents, and other artifacts that are not related to the core value proposition of a business. If you know one thing about AI coding, it is that it generates large volumes of unit tests, readme files, and scripts. None of that relates to the code that delivers the value to the customer.
Hereโs the surprising fact: out of the 22, four startups (18%) said AI is writing 100% of their code. Thatโs mind-blowing! It doesnโt mean these folks are not reviewing and re-prompting the AI to refine the code. However, it means they arenโt typing code in an IDE. There are 11 startups (50%) where AI is writing 80-99% of the code. Adding the four where AI writes everything, 68% of startups have AI write over 80% of the production code. On the other side of the spectrum, three startups (13.6%) said that AI is writing less than 50% of their code.
Choose your weapons
From the news that Cursor gets in the press, youโd think usage for this cohort is close to 100%. In our sample, out of 42 programmers from 22 unique startups, โonlyโ 23 of them (54.7%) use Cursor. On average, Cursor programmers spent $113.63/person in September. The most popular tool, though, is Claude Code, with 64.3% of programmers using it and spending $167.41/person in September. Claude is the preferred tool for startups, with 16 of the 22 (72.7%) using it.
After Claude and Cursor, there is a big cliff, with OpenAI Codex coming in a distant third place with seven of the startups using it, representing 12 of the 42 programmers. On average, expenses with OpenAI Codex came in at $48.49/person in September. The fourth and fifth places were GitHub Copilot and Gemini CLI by Google. They had 9.52% and 4.76% of programmers using it, respectively.
On average, each software engineer spent $182.55 in the top five AI tools mentioned above, with some startups spending over $400/person.
Founders also mentioned they use a variety of tools to create production code, including Lovable, Devplan, Mentat, Factory.ai, Jetbrains Junie, Warp, and Figma.
Roadblocks
When asked about whatโs preventing more use of AI for coding, the number one complaint was the quality of the code. Another hindrance to faster adoption is the learning curve to get the agent to do what you want.
In terms of frustration, this group raises three key issues. First, the quality of the output, requiring considerable rework. Second, a mismatch between expectation and reality based on what everyone is hearing. Lastly, the most common frustration โ and I definitely empathize with this one โ is managing the context and dealing with large code bases.
Whatโs next?
In the survey, I asked about their intention to continue using AI tools and agents to assist with product development. The survey asked the founders if they intended to add, remove, increase, or decrease usage of each tool. The biggest winner, by far, was Codex, with nine startups (40.9%) saying they arenโt using it yet, but plan to use it in Q4. Once I normalize the data to account for what the expectations are for Q4, Claude will maintain its leadership, but Codex will match in the number of startups. Cursor and GitHub Copilot will trend slightly lower, each with one startup saying they will stop using it. Finally, the Gemini CLI might see a small increase in adoption, with three startups claiming to give it a try in Q4.
Contrary to the many other aspects of software engineering like choosing a cloud provider, a language, or database, AI tools and agents are not a zero-sum market. On this survey, 68.2% of startups used more than one AI tool to assist in production code development. Based on their stated intention, that number will grow to 86.4% in Q4.
Pi Network price consolidates within a bullish triangle pattern near $0.30. A breakout could trigger continuation higher, but only if supported by strong volume momentum. Pi Network (PI) price is showing increasing volatility as price action coils within a developingย bullishโฆ
Overnight, YouTube TV emailed all of its subscribers to let them know that ESPN and ABC channels are no longer available on the platform, as of October 30, 2025. Why is that? Well, Disney and YouTube TV are in the middle of a carriage dispute, likely about fees.
You see, every time one of these contracts come up, the content provider (Disney, NBCU, Paramount, etc) all try to squeeze as much money as they can out of the carrier (YouTube TV, Comcast, Spectrum, etc). And YouTube TV is looking to get fair rates, versus paying what bigger companies like Comcast would have to pay.
YouTube TV and Disney will likely come to an agreement pretty soon. This happened the last time the contract was up, though it was later in the year, in late December, so a bit surprising that the contract is up for renewal now. But that outage only lasted about 2 days. So weโd expect a similar time-frame here. Keep in mind that thereโs more for Disney to lose here versus YouTube TV.
YouTube TV, for its part, is going to offer customers a $20 credit if the channels are off of its platform for an extended period of time.
Why do these disputes keep happening?
Letโs clear up some myths here. While it seems like these carriage disputes only happen to YouTube TV, that is far from the truth. This happens with every single cable company and live TV streamer. YouTube TV has a louder audience, however.
Google has noted that they are not going to โagree to terms that disadvantage our members while benefitting Disneyโs own live TV products.โ Which is a problem in the industry now. NBCU and Disney both make the content and also deliver it with Hulu + Live TV and Comcast Cable. YouTube TV doesnโt make the content, they simply deliver it.
Content providers like Disney continue to overpay for content, and try to pass those costs down to the carrier like YouTube TV, and Google wonโt have it. Good for Google for sticking up for the consumer here.
Here are the channels that will be removed until a deal is reached:
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection's latest trailer reveals more of its story, the game's deluxe edition and pre-order bonus, and the return of one of the most frightening monsters in the entire franchise.
Despite our acclimatization to the forward march of technology, many of us remain vaguely creeped out by the concept of humanoid robots.
Sure, itโd be wonderful to have autonomous machines adept at cleaning the house, harvesting and preparing food, running warehouses and performing a host of generally thankless and burdensome jobs. But must they look like us too?
For many startups, the answer to this question is โno.โ
While humanoid robots startups like Figure and Apptronik have drawn headlines in recent months for big funding deals and flashy prototypes, an array of companies working on less-anthropomorphic designs have also secured considerable investment. These include four-legged models, AI-enabled appendages and skilled swimmers.
The non-humanoid bot startups getting funded
To illustrate, we used Crunchbase data to assemble a sample list of 26 companies in the non-humanoid robot startup sector that have raised rounds in the past few quarters. Itโs a varied lot, with focus areas ranging from farming to pool cleaning to massaging.
Bots around town
The list also features a mix of consumer-facing and industrial use cases, and we figured weโd start by highlighting the first category. Itโs not that these bots are necessarily more useful, but rather that being out in public does make it a bit more fun to contemplate.
If recently funded startups have their way, some of the bots we see in action could be taking on more of the everyday drudgery currently shouldered by humans.
Cleaning is one of the big areas. China-based Narwal Robotics, which closed a $100 million Series E in April, makes robot vacuums and mops and touts its โAI adaptive hot water mop washing,โ LiDAR navigation and embedded dirt sensor. San Francisco-based The Bot Co., meanwhile, has raised $300 million since last year to iterate its vision of robots for household chores but has not yet released a prototype.
Pool-cleaning, an area already long-dominated by autonomous machines, is also set for an AI era upgrade, with two China-based companies pulling in rounds of $140 million each this year. Xingmai Innovation, which closed its round in September, markets its $3,000 Beatbot model as the โworldโs first AI-powered 5-in-1 robotic pool cleaner.โ Rival Aiper charges $1,700 for its Scuba Max Pro, which features smart pool mapping and a dedicated app.
And for those who need some pampering after a long day of not cleaning the pool, massage bot startup Aescape offers another spending option. The New York-based company secured $83 million in March to expand its customizable, โfully autonomous, AI-driven massageโ offering.
Bots behind the scenes
While we may enjoy gawking at the still-unusual sight of a bot in public making a latte or delivering a restaurant meal, the bulk of funded companies in the non-humanoid bot space are working on models that will do their work behind the scenes.
Surgical robots have long been one of the more heavily funded areas, and this holds true for recent investment as well. The largest fundraiser on our list, U.K.-based CMR Surgical, developer of a soft tissue surgical robot, has secured $1.1 billion in known funding to date, including a $200 million April financing. Israel-based ForSight Robotics, developer of a robotic platform for ophthalmic surgery, is also scaling up, closing a $125 million Series B in June.
On the industrial front, Swiss startup Anybotics has raised more than $150 million to develop a four-legged bot optimized for inspections, capable of climbing stairs and avoiding obstacles.
And Flexiv, which closed a $100 million Series C this summer, is working on appendage-like, AI-enabled robots that can be adapted for multiple industries.
Agtech also emerged as a favored area for investment. Ecorobotix, based in Switzerland, has raised a couple hundred million for precision crop spraying, while Seattle-based Carbon Robotix is working on technology to kill weeds with lasers.
Wonโt mistake it for a human
Of all the above-mentioned startups, none appear to be working on anything that could be remotely confused for a human, even from a distance. This seems logical, considering that so many jobs people have historically done donโt seem ideally suited to our particular form.
If all goes well with these non-humanoid robot startups, perhaps it would leave us humans free to spend more time doing the activities that do seem optimally suited to our form. Sitting on the couch would be high on this authorโs list, though Iโm sure others could find many more productive pursuits.
It would also require vessels to have automatic identification systems and make the undersea infrastructure easier to find with published mapping data.
Already under intense scrutiny for alleged ties to China, TP-Link, a now-U.S.-based and operated company is on the verge of being banned. In a new proposal concocted by the Department of Commerce, and backed by the Department of Justice, Defense and Homeland Security, TP-Link routers might no longer be allowed to be sold in America.
Bitcoin rewards platform Lolli, now a part of the Bitcoin-focused venture studio Thesis*, has acquired Slice, a browser extension that allows users to earn Bitcoin through passive browsing.ย
The acquisition merges two complementary approaches to earning Bitcoin โ shopping and passive browsing โ into a single platform, simplifying the user experience and broadening opportunities to โstack satsโ across everyday online activity.
Founded in 2018, Lolli empowers users to earn free Bitcoin on purchases at over 50,000 top retailers and through 1,000+ mobile games. The platform has helped more than 600,000 users accumulate Bitcoin through intuitive, everyday experiences, according to a company release.ย
With the addition of Slice, Lolli now extends rewards to usersโ web browsing, streaming, and online scrolling habits, creating a unified ecosystem where earning Bitcoin is seamless.
Slice, a browser extension designed to reward users for passive online activity, brings Lightning Network support for withdrawals built into its platform.ย
Quicker withdrawals via Layer 2sย
This integration accelerates Lolliโs adoption of the Layer 2 network, allowing faster, cheaper, and smaller Bitcoin withdrawalsโan improvement that directly addresses user concerns about withdrawal friction and high minimums.ย
โLightning makes small withdrawals economically viable in a way Layer-1 transactions never could,โ the Lolli team said.
The merger also signals Thesis*โs continued focus on consolidating the Bitcoin rewards space. Thesis*, founded in 2014, is a pioneering venture studio dedicated to building Bitcoin-first solutions that empower individuals and communities.ย
Its portfolio includes Fold, Mezo, tBTC, Acre, and Taho. The acquisition of Slice marks Thesis*โs second major move in the Bitcoin rewards sector, following Lolliโs earlier integration, and reflects the companyโs strategy to unify a previously fragmented market.
Matt Luongo, Founder and CEO of Thesis*, noted the strategic importance of the acquisition: โTogether, Slice and Lolli will make it easier than ever for newly minted Bitcoiners to stack sats. Users already earning on Lolli will now be able to double down on their rewards potential simply by browsing online.โย
Luongo also noted that Thesis* is systematically rebuilding Lolliโs app and infrastructure, starting with Layer 2 and sidechain integrations, and plans to expand onchain withdrawal options in the future.
From a user perspective, the acquisition ensures continuity: current Lolli users maintain their existing accounts and rewards, while Slice users continue earning Bitcoin through passive browsing.ย
Over time, the combined platform will integrate withdrawals through Mezo, Thesis*โs Bitcoin sidechain, and expand merchant partnerships to create a truly global Bitcoin rewards ecosystem.
As the Bitcoin rewards sector continues to grow, this acquisition underscores the broader trend of consolidation and product integration.ย
Amazon just opened Project Rainier, one of the worldโs largest AI compute clusters, in partnership with Anthropic.
Amazonโs third-quarter profits rose 38% to $21.2 billion, but a big part of the jump had nothing to do with its core businesses of selling goods or cloud services.
The company reported a $9.5 billion pre-tax gain from its investment in the AI startup Anthropic, which was included in Amazonโs non-operating income for the quarter.
The windfall wasnโt the result of a sale or cash transaction, but rather accounting rules. After Anthropic raised new funding in September at a $183 billion valuation, Amazon was required to revalue its equity stake to reflect the higher market price, a process known as a โmark-to-marketโ adjustment.
To put the $9.5 billion paper gain in perspective, the Amazon Web Services cloud business โ historically Amazonโs primary profit engine โ generated $11.4 billion in quarterly operating profits.
At the same time, Amazon is spending big on its AI infrastructure buildout for Anthropic and others. The company just opened an $11 billion AI data center complex, dubbed Project Rainier, where Anthropicโs Claude models run on hundreds of thousands of Amazonโs Trainium 2 chips.
Amazon spent $35.1 billion on property and equipment in the third quarter, up 55% from a year earlier.
Andy Jassy, the Amazon CEO, sought to reassure Wall Street that the big outlay will be worth it.
โYouโre going to see us continue to be very aggressive investing in capacity, because we see the demand,โ Jassy said on the companyโs conference call. โAs fast as weโre adding capacity right now, weโre monetizing it. Itโs still quite early, and represents an unusual opportunity for customers and AWS.โ
The cash for new data centers doesnโt hit the bottom line immediately, but it comes into play as depreciation and amortization costs are recorded on the income statement over time.
And in that way, the spending is starting to impact on AWS results: sales rose 20% to $33 billion in the quarter, yet operating income increased only 9.6% to $11.4 billion. The gap indicates that Amazonโs heavy AI investments are compressing profit margins in the near term, even as the company bets on the infrastructure build-out to expand its business significantly over time.
Those investments are also weighing on cash generation: Amazonโs free cash flow dropped 69% over the past year to $14.8 billion, reflecting the massive outlays for data centers and infrastructure.
ARC Raiders has officially come out across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5, and is off to a strong start with well over 250K concurrent Steam players and positive reviews from fans.
In The Outer Worlds 2, there's a powerful unique weapon hidden on The Incognito. Even better, there's a secret to accessing it right away, and we know the trick.
Running a dental office isnโt just about fixing teethโitโs a daily grind of scheduling, insurance calls, billing errors, and retraining new staff on outdated systems that can barely talk to each other. Thatโs the headache Archy wants to end. The [โฆ]
Shares ofย Navanย closed at $20, down 20%, in first-day trading on Thursday, indicating lackluster investor demand for the long-awaited debut.
Navan, which operates an expense management platform with an emphasis on travel, had priced shares for its offering at $25 each late Wednesday. It was formerly called TripActions, with the company pivoting to a broader platform when revenue reached zero right after the COVID pandemic hit.
The offering raised $923.1 million for the company, whose shares are trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker NAVN. It set an initial valuation of around $6.2 billion.
The move to the public markets has been a long time coming for Palo Alto, California-based Navan, which reportedly first submitted confidential paperwork for a planned offering more than three years ago.
The company had raised $1.2 billion in debt financing and $1 billion in equity funding from venture investors and credit providers, per Crunchbase data. Major venture stakeholders include Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Zeev Ventures.
Growing revenue
Navan had revenue of $329 million in the first half of 2025, up 30% year over year. Growth comes as the company has been investing in developing its agentic AI offering, Navan Cognition, to automate more cumbersome tasks around travel planning and reporting.
Still, the company remains far from profitable. Navanโs net loss for the first half of this year came in just shy of $100 million โ up about 7% from the year-earlier period. The loss comes amid higher spending on both R&D and sales and marketing โ common for companies on the IPO track โ looking to appeal to growth-hungry investors.
Per its IPO filing, Navan has incurred net losses in each year since its inception in 2015 and โmay not achieve or, if achieved, sustain profitability in the future.โ
A team of nine apprentices at Porsche Leipzig GmbH turned a high-performance Porsche 718 Boxster S sports car into one of the world's wildest camera cars.
Magdalena Balazinska, director of the UW Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, opens the schoolโs annual research showcase Wednesday in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)
The University of Washingtonโs Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering is reframing what it means for its research to change the world.
In unveiling six โGrand Challengesโ at its annual Research Showcase and Open House in Seattle on Wednesday, the Allen Schoolโs leaders described a blueprint for technology that protects privacy, supports mental health, broadens accessibility, earns public trust, and sustains people and the planet.
The idea is to โorganize ourselves into some more specific grand challenges that we can tackle together to have an even greater impact,โ said Magdalena Balazinska, director of the Allen School and a UW computer science professor, opening the schoolโs annual Research Showcase and Open House.
Here are the six grand challenges:
Anticipate and address security, privacy, and safety issues as tech permeates society.
Make high-quality cognitive and mental health support available to all.
Design technology to be accessible at its inception โ not as an add-on.
Design AI in a way that is transparent and equally beneficial to all.
Build systems that can be trusted to do exactly what we want them to do, every time.
Create technologies that sustain people and the planet.
Balazinska explained that the list draws on the strengths and interests of its faculty, who now number more than 90, including 74 on the tenure track.
With total enrollment of about 2,900 students, last year the Allen School graduated more than 600 undergrads, 150 masterโs students, and 50 Ph.D. students.
The Allen School has grown so large that subfields like systems and NLP (natural language processing) risk becoming isolated โmini departments,โ said Shwetak Patel, a University of Washington computer science professor. The Grand Challenges initiative emerged as a bottom-up effort to reconnect these groups around shared, human-centered problems.ย
Patel said the initiative also encourages collaborations on campus beyond the computer science school, citing examples like fetal heart rate monitoring with UW Medicine.
A serial entrepreneur and 2011 MacArthur Fellow, Patel recalled that when he joined UW 18 years ago, his applied and entrepreneurial focus was seen as unconventional. Now itโs central to the schoolโs direction. The grand challenges initiative is โmusic to my ears,โ Patel said.
In tackling these challenges, the Allen School has a unique advantage against many other computer science schools. Eighteen faculty members currently hold whatโs known as โconcurrent engagementsโ โ formally splitting time between the Allen School and companies and organizations such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, and the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2).
University of Washington computer science professor Shwetak Patel at the Paul G. Allen Schoolโs annual research showcase and open house. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper)
This is a โsuperpowerโ for the Allen School, said Patel, who has a concurrent engagement at Google. These arrangements, he explained, give faculty and students access to data, computing resources, and real-world challenges by working directly with companies developing the most advanced AI systems.
โA lot of the problems weโre trying to solve, you cannot solve them just at the university,โ Patel said, pointing to examples such as open-source foundation models and AI for mental-health research that depend on large-scale resources unavailable in academia alone.
These roles can also stretch professors thin. โWhen somebodyโs split, thereโs only so much mental energy you can put into the university,โ Patel said. Many of those faculty members teach just one or two courses a year, requiring the school to rely more on lecturers and teaching faculty.
Still, he said, the benefits outweigh the costs. โIโd rather have 50% of somebody than 0% of somebody, and weโll make it work,โ he said. โThatโs been our strategy.โ
The Madrona Prize, an annual award presented at the event by the Seattle-based venture capital firm, went to a project called โEnhancing Personalized Multi-Turn Dialogue with Curiosity Reward.โ The system makes AI chatbots more personal by giving them a โcuriosity reward,โ motivating the AI to actively learn about a userโs traits during a conversation to create more personalized interactions.
On the subject of industry collaborations, the lead researcher on the prize-winning project, UW Ph.D. student Yanming Wan, conducted the research while working as an intern at Google DeepMind. (See full list of winners and runners-up below.)
At the evening poster session, graduate students filled the rooms to showcase their latest projects โ including new advances in artificial intelligence for speech, language, and accessibility.
DopFone: Doppler-based fetal heart rate monitoring using commodity smartphones
Poojita Garg, a second-year PhD student.
DopFone transforms phones into fetal heart rate monitors. It uses the phone speaker to transmit a continuous sine wave and uses the microphone to record the reflections. It then processes the audio recordings to estimate fetal heart rate. It aims to be an alternative to doppler ultrasounds that require trained staff, which arenโt practical for frequent remote use.
โThe major impact would be in the rural, remote and low-resource settings where access to such maternity care is less โ also called maternity care deserts,โ said Poojita Garg, a second-year PhD student.
CourseSLM: A Chatbot Tool for Supporting Instructors and Classroom Learning
Marquiese Garrett, a sophomore at the UW.
This custom-built chatbot is designed to help students stay focused and build real understanding rather than relying on quick shortcuts. The system uses built-in guardrails to keep learners on task and counter the distractions and over-dependence that can come with general large language models.
Running locally on school devices, the chatbot helps protect student data and ensures access even without Wi-Fi.
โWeโre focused on making sure students have access to technology, and know how to use it properly and safely,โ said Marquiese Garrett, a sophomore at the UW.
Efficient serving of SpeechLMs with VoxServe
Keisuke Kamahori, a third-year PhD student at the Allen School.
VoxServe makes speech-language models run more efficiently. It uses a standardized abstraction layer and interface that allows many different models to run through a single system. Its key innovation is a custom scheduling algorithm that optimizes performance depending on the use case.
The approach makes speech-based AI systems faster, cheaper, and easier to deploy, paving the way for real-time voice assistants and other next-gen speech applications.
โI thought it would be beneficial if we can provide this sort of open-source system that people can use,โ saidย Keisuke Kamahori, third-year Ph.D. student at the Allen School.
ConvFill: Model collaboration for responsive conversational voice agents
Zachary Englhardt (left), a fourth-year PhD student, and Vidya Srinivas, a third-year PhD student.
ConvFill is a lightweight conversational model designed to reduce the delay in voice-based large language models. The system responds quickly with short, initial answers, then fills in more detailed information as larger models complete their processing.
By combining small and large models in this way, ConvFill delivers faster responses while conserving tokens and improving efficiency โ an important step toward more natural, low-latency conversational AI.
โThis is an exciting way to think about how we can combine systems together to get the best of both worlds,โ said Zachary Englhardt, a third-year Ph.D. student. โItโs an exciting way to look at problems.โ
ConsumerBench: Benchmarking generative AI on end-user devices
Yile Gu, a third-year PhD student at the Allen School.
Running generative AI locally โ on laptops, phones, or other personal hardware โ introduces new system-level challenges in fairness, efficiency, and scheduling.
ConsumerBench is a benchmarking framework that tests how well generative AI applications perform on consumer hardware when multiple AI models run at the same time. The open-source tool helps researchers identify bottlenecks and improve performance on consumer devices.
There are a number of benefits to running models locally: โThere are privacy purposes โ a user can ask for questions related to email or private content, and they can do it efficiently and accurately,โ said Yile Gu, a third-year Ph.D. student at the Allen School.
Designing Chatbots for Sensitive Health Contexts: Lessons from Contraceptive Care in Kenyan Pharmacies
Lisa Orii, a fifth-year Ph.D. student at the Allen School.
A project aimed at improving contraceptive access and guidance for adolescent girls and young women in Kenya by integrating low-fidelity chatbots into healthcare settings. The goal is to understand how chatbots can support private, informed conversations and work effectively within pharmacies.
โThe fuel behind this whole project is that my team is really interested in improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations,โ said Lisa Orii, a fifth-year Ph.D. student.
See more about the research showcase here. Hereโs the list of winning projects.
Runner up: โVAMOS: A Hierarchical Vision-Language-Action Model for Capability-Modulated and Steerable Navigationโ Mateo Guaman Castro, Sidharth Rajagopal, Daniel Gorbatov, Matt Schmittle, Rohan Baijal, Octi Zhang, Rosario Scalise, Sidharth Talia, Emma Romig, Celso de Melo, Byron Boots, Abhishek Gupta
Runner up:ย โDynamic 6DOF VR reconstruction from monocular videosโ Baback Elmieh, Steve Seitz, Ira-Kemelmacher, Brian Curless
Peopleโs Choice: โMolmoActโ Jason Lee, Jiafei Duan, Haoquan Fang, Yuquan Deng, Shuo Liu, Boyang Li, Bohan Fang, Jieyu Zhang, Yi Ru Wang, Sangho Lee, Winson Han, Wilbert Pumacay, Angelica Wu, Rose Hendrix, Karen Farley, Eli VanderBilt, Ali Farhadi, Dieter Fox, Ranjay Krishna
Editorโs Note: The University of Washington underwrites GeekWireโs coverage of artificial intelligence. Content is under the sole discretion of the GeekWire editorial team. Learn more about underwritten content on GeekWire.
Shenzhen authorities have dismantled a counterfeit chip operation that allegedly sold reclaimed and rebranded integrated circuits as premium imports from Infineon and others.
Randy Pitchford is once again stirring discussion after claiming that gaming has yet to see its โCitizen Kaneโ moment. Speaking in a Shacknews interview about Borderlands 4, the developer reflected on the massive scale of AAA games before suggesting the industry hasnโt yet produced a single defining masterpiece.
Like all battle royales, when you eliminate someone in Battlefield 6 Redsec you have to go back and finish the job. But if you don't laser them from afar you can give yourself an unfair advantage.
Capcom has announced that pre-orders for Resident Evil Requiem are now live. Additionally, Capcom has also shared details on its special editions, special Nintendo Switch 2 peripherals, and a collaboration with Fortnite to mark the series' debut on Epic Games Store.
It was 2021 and Jonathan Rat was tired of seeing his wife, a dentist, struggle to maintain the tech stack at her practice.
Rat, who had served as a product manager at companies including Uber, Meta and SurveyMonkey, dug into the problem and discovered that โmost of the software used in the industryโ was more than 20 years old and still required physical services onsite.
โMost lacked integration with other platforms, were slow and buggy, and impossible to train new employees on,โ he recalls.
Archy Founders Benjamin Kolin and Jonathan Rat
So Rat teamed up with Benjamin Kolin, a former director of engineering at Uber, to start Archy, an AI-powered platform that aims โto put dental practices on autopilot.โ The pair previously led the rebuilding of Uberโs payment platform thatโs still in use today.
โI realized there was a massive need and opportunity for a modern, cloud-based software platform and set out to build that,โ Rat told Crunchbase News. โI also realized bigger tech players have been building software for the larger healthcare market but overlooked the $500 billion dental industry.โ
And now, Archy has just raised $20 million in Series B funding to help it grow even more, it told Crunchbase News exclusively. TCV led the financing, which also included participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, CRV, Entrรฉe Capital and 25 practicing dentists who wrote checks as angel investors. The raise brings Archyโs total funding to date to $47 million, Rat said.
The company raised a $15 million Series A led by Entrรฉe Capital almost exactly one year ago. Rat confirmed the Series B was an up round, but declined to disclose Archyโs valuation.
All-in-one tool
Archy claims to replace more than five existing tools to handle scheduling, charting, billing, imaging, insurance, payments, staffing, messaging and reporting โfrom one login.โ
It is now building AI agents โto handle the busyworkโ such as checking eligibility, filing and following up on claims, writing notes, managing patient communications and scheduling, and โturning raw practice data into clear answers,โ according to Rat.
The startup processes more than $100 million in payments annually across 45 states and has seen roughly 300% year-over-year growth, he said. It currently serves 2.5 million patients and has processed over 35 million X-rays through its platform.
The company claims that mid-sized dental practices report saving around 80 hours a month by using its technology, and are able to avoid โbig hardware costs.โ For example, Rat said that one practice saved about $50,000 in its first year of using Archy.
Dual-revenue model
San Jose, California-based Archy operates on a dual-revenue model that combines subscription-based fees with payment processing services, and offers tiered monthly subscription packages. In addition to its subscription fees, Archy serves as a merchant processor for its clients, generating revenue from a percentage of payment transactions processed through the platform.
โThis hybrid approach allows us to remain aligned with our clientsโ success while providing flexible options that scale with their business needs,โ Rat told Crunchbase News.
The company plans to use its new capital to โhire aggressivelyโ across its engineering, AI and go-to-market teams. Presently, it has 57 employees. It plans to expand internationally starting in 2026.
Austin Levitt, partner at TCV, told Crunchbase News via email that his firm had been looking for a way to invest in the dental space โfor a long timeโ but didnโt find a company that was โappropriately tackling the root of the problem โ the core PMS (practice management systems)โ until it came across Archy.
He added: โWe consistently heard that Archy was supremely easy to use, requiring almost no training in contrast to others, providing a seamless โiPhone-likeโ experience, and reducing what took 10 clicks in other software to one or none in Archy.โ
Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) recently hosted an engaging session on how businesses can grow sales through influencer marketing at its Compass Coworking Centre. The session equipped entrepreneurs and SMEs with strategies to turn their social media presence into measurable business results.
Led by Mohamad Fattal, Founder and CEO of Alfan, the session delved into the evolving role of influencers in driving brand visibility, authenticity, and revenue. With insights drawn from Alfanโs network and partnerships, Fattal shared actionable methods to bridge the gap between creators, brands, and audiences.
Participants learned how to identify the right influencer partnerships based on audience relevance and engagement rates, develop content tailored to each platform, and design cost-effective strategies for SMEs and growing businesses. The session also provided tools to measure real commercial impact beyond surface-level metrics, supported by case studies showing how sustained creator collaborations and well-crafted briefs can drive stronger brand awareness and convert digital engagement into measurable sales.
RAKEZ Group CEO Ramy Jallad said, โAt RAKEZ, we continuously look for ways to help our business community stay ahead in the ever-changing digital landscape. Influencer marketing has evolved into a key growth driver for businesses of all sizes, and this session was designed to give our clients the knowledge and confidence to turn engagement into real sales. By connecting them with industry experts, we aim to empower them to think bigger, act smarter, and maximise every opportunity the digital world offers.โ
The session is part of RAKEZโs ongoing initiative to support the growth of its business community through expert-led workshops and networking opportunities that address real-world challenges and emerging trends across industries.
BRKZ, the leading B2B managed marketplace for building materials in Saudi Arabia, has secured up to $30 million in growth debt from Stride Ventures. The facility will enhance BRKZโs capabilities to offer flexible payment solutions in the construction sector, enabling its network of partner factories and contractors and driving growth in the supply chain for raw materials.
With Saudi Arabia preparing to host global events such as Expo 2030 and the FIFA World Cup in 2034, and giga-projects like King Salman Park, Diriyah Gate, Qiddiya, and The Red Sea Project advancing, the countryโs construction market is shifting gears from boom to blockbuster โ where efficient materials procurement and innovative financing solutions are emerging as the next catalysts for sustainable growth.
This announcement follows BRKZโs earlier equity rounds totaling $22.5 million, with the latest round fully covered by repeat investors including BECO, BNVT Capital, Better Tomorrow Ventures and Aramcoโs Waโed, a strong signal of long-term confidence in the companyโs business model. In 2024, BRKZ grew revenues by 4ร while maintaining healthy unit economics. Since launch, the company has processed SAR 3.14 billion (โ $837M) in RFQs, expanded its catalog to more than 7,500 SKUs sourced from 1,300 suppliers, and onboarded over 850 unique contracting companies and factories across the Kingdom.
As a further mark of recognition, BRKZ was hand-picked into the Saudi Unicorns Program, highlighting its position as one of the Kingdomโs most promising growth companies, strategically aligned with national priorities.
Ibrahim Manna, Founder & CEO of BRKZ, said: โThis growth debt facility from Stride Ventures strengthens our ability to support contractors and factories with more flexible payment and financing enablement options across the Saudi building materials market. It allows us to further expand our tailored embedded financing ecosystem, helping customers manage project cash flows more efficiently. With the recognition of being hand-picked into the Saudi Unicorns Program, we are firmly positioned to scale as the procurement and financial enablement partner of choice for contractors and factories nationwide. Stride has a proven track record of backing companies with similar models, making them the right partner to support us as we scale this vision in Saudi Arabia.โ
Khaled Hamada, General Manager of AlFanar Contracting, added:ย โBRKZโs financing enablement solutions have been a game-changer for our projects. Having access to tailored payment terms through their platform allowed us to execute multiple projects across Saudi Arabia more efficiently, while meeting tight deadlines without the usual financing hurdles. Their approach gives contractors like us the confidence and flexibility to scale with the pace of the Kingdomโs giga-projects.โ
As projects such as Qiddiya, Diriyah Gate, and Expo 2030 continue to shape the construction landscape, the sector is increasingly focused on efficiency, financial flexibility, and innovation. BRKZโs financing enablement led model is designed to give contractors and factories the tools to execute reliably, even in a challenging market environment.
Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, Founder & Managing Partner, Stride Ventures, said:ย โBRKZ is a standout startup, building the financing infrastructure to match the pace and scale of Saudi Arabiaโs construction transformation under Vision 2030. This partnership reflects our commitment to the regionโs entrepreneurial economy, with our GCC expansion set to deploy half a billion dollars across the region by 2026.โ
Fariha Ansari Javed, Partner, Stride Ventures, said:ย โWe are proud to back BRKZ as it pioneers innovative financing solutions for Saudi Arabiaโs building materials sector. Having previously partnered with leaders in similar models in India, we believe BRKZ is well-positioned to replicate and localize that success in the Kingdom. Their strong execution, rapid scale, and alignment with national priorities make them a true standout in the region.โ
Looking ahead, BRKZ will continue investing in AI-driven procurement tools, expanding its flexible payment enablement suite, and growing its supplier network across Saudi Arabia and international markets such as the Far East and India. The company is also doubling down on cloud manufacturing models and supply/off-take arrangements to further support the growth and resilience of factories and raw materials sourcing in the Kingdom.
Mojang Studios has announced that it's removing obfuscation from Minecraft: Java Edition's code, which will make it much easier for developers to mod the game.
In her new role, Haskaraman will focus on investing in โsoon-to-break-outโ AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, and applications companies for Felicis, an early-stage firm with $3.9 billion in assets under management.
During her time at Menlo, Haskaraman sourced investments in startups including Semgrep, Astrix, Abacus, Parade and CloudTrucks โ zeroing in early on how AI is reshaping developer security and enterprise infrastructure.
Feyza Haskaraman, partner at Felicis Ventures
Haskaraman, an MIT graduate who was born in Turkey, brings an engineering background to her role as an investor. She previously worked as an engineer at various companies at different growth stages, including Analog Devices, Fitbit and Nucleus Scientific. She is also a former McKinsey & Co. consultant who advised multibillion-dollar technology companies and early-stage startups on strategy and operations. It was after working with startups at McKinsey that her interest in venture capital was piqued, and she joined Insight Partners.
Her decision to join Menlo Park, California-based Felicis stems from a shared interest alongside firm founder and managing partner Aydin Senkut to build communities even in โunsexyโ industries such as infrastructure and security, she said.
โWhether itโs connecting AI founders or bringing together technical and cybersecurity communities, the mission is the same: Believe in the best founders early and help them go the distance,โ she told Crunchbase News.
Felicis is currently investing out of its 10th fund, a $900 million vehicle, its largest yet. More than 60% of its investments out of Fund 9 and 10 (so far) are seed stage; 94% are seed or Series A. In 83% of its investments, Felicis has led or co-led the round.
In an interview, Haskaraman shared more about her investment plans at Felicis, as well as why she thinks weโre in the โearly inningsโ with AI. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Letโs talk more about community-building and why you think itโs so important.ย
Over the past few years in the venture ecosystem, just providing the capital is not enough. You need to surround yourself with the best talent. Youโre seeing one of the fiercest talent wars in terms of AI talent.
So one of the things that Iโve spent a lot of time on in my VC career is building a community, going back to my MIT roots, surrounding myself with founders, engineers and operators, and also going into specific domains, like cybersecurity โ just building a network of CISOs that I communicate with regularly and really support them however I can, and then obviously get their take on the latest technology.
That type of community-building effort is something that Aydin and I will be debating strategy for Felicis as well.
Yes, Aydin (Felicisโ founder) has said that he thinks the next generation of enterprise investors arenโt just picking companies, theyโre building ecosystems. Would you agree with that?
Yes, weโre fully aligned on that. First of all, itโs a way of sourcing. Being able to source the best founders involves surrounding yourself in a community of people. You get very close to them, and you want to be the first call when they decide to jump ship and start a business.
As early-connection investors, we want to invest in the founders as early as possible. So thatโs why we want to immerse ourselves in these communities that provide prolific grounds for the technical founders that are coming in and building an AI.
You were investing in AI before the big boom took off. Would you say thereโs too much hype around the space?
You are correct that there is a lot of euphoria around AI, but if you look at the overall landscape, we havenโt seen a technology that can have such a large impact.
And weโre already seeing the results in enterprises that buyers of these solutions, and consumers of these solutions, including myself and our team, are seeing immense amounts of productivity gains. I remain immensely optimistic about the future and investing in AI, and thatโs what we are paid to do, and what I also enjoy as a former engineer.
Are there specific aspects of AI that have you particularly excited?
I personally feel weโre still very much at the early innings. Itโs been three years since ChatGPT came out, and the model companies really pushed their products into our lives. But if you take a look at whatโs happening now, we have agents that are coordinating and automating our work.
What are ways in which we should be securing agent architecture? And that is also evolving across the board, and if you think about another layer down, like the infrastructure to support these LLMs and agents, I have to ask โWhat do we need underneath?โ
I think thereโs a lot more that will come, and thereโs a lot of hope for innovation that will happen both across the infrastructure layer, as well as agents. Thereโs also the issue of โcan applications actually be enabled?โ I go back to the importance of securing our interactions with the agents and making sure that theyโre not abused and misused. Itโs a great time to be investing in AI.
What stages are you primarily investing in at Felicis?
We try to go as early as possible. But obviously, given our fundโs size, we have flexibility to invest whenever we see the venture scale returns make sense. But the majority of our investments are seed.
Itโs such a competitive investing environment right now. How do you stand out?
Ultimately, what founders value is how you will work with them, your references. They value how you show up in those tough times, how you surround them with talent, how you help them see around the corners. That matters a lot.
I believe that winning boils down to the prior founder experiences that you left, people who can speak highly of you and how you work. I tend to be a big hustler. So, thereโs a lot more value-add that we want to make sure we bring to the table, even before investments. And then after the investment we can continue to bring that type of value to a company.
Are you investing outside of AI?
Iโm investing in AI infrastructure, cybersecurity and AI-enabled apps. We are also at the verge of a big overhaul in terms of the application layer, companies that weโve seen prior to AI โ that is all getting disrupted.
Weโre seeing AI scribes in healthcare intake solutions, for example. Weโre seeing code-generation solutions in developer stacks. We are looking at every single vertical, as well as horizontal application. Iโm very interested in how all of these verticalsโ application layers will get a different type of automation.
Whatโs your take on the market overall right now?
I feel like I lived three lifetimes in my investing career โ just over the past few years. We as a VC community and tech ecosystem learned a lot, obviously, just in terms of whatโs happening. Weโre seeing new ingredients in the market, and that is AI, that did not exist during COVID.
Think about the fact that this is not a structural change in the market driven by the economy. This is truly a new technology. I would bucket those waves as separate.
Iโm very grateful to be investing at this time. What a time to be investing, because AI is truly game-changing as a technology.
Clarification: The paragraph about Haskaramanโs investments at Menlo Ventures has been updated to more accurately reflect her role.
Tokoname Tokoname City in Aichi Prefecture can be reached in about 30 minutes by train from Meitetsu Nagoya Station , and is just a 10-minute drive from Chubu Centrair International Airport, which serves international flights. It is also known as the birthplace of Tokoname ware , Tokoname of Japan's six oldest kilns , and is the number one producer of beckoning cats in Japan. Despite being a city with an international airport, the cityscape retains a Showa atmosphere, and is dotted with spots perfect for social media, making it a popular tourist destination in recent years.
Uoichiban, a seafood complex that opened on October 24, 2025, is set to become a new tourist spot where you can buy fresh fish, eat, and experience new things! We also have a wide selection of original products supervised by Kimagure Cook! They also sell Kaneko Tool Shop goods, which are familiar from the video, cooking utensils that fishing enthusiasts will love, the popular Dashi Pack Series, and limited edition products that can only be purchased here!
Access to Uo Ichiban is a three-minute walk from Rinku Tokoname Station on the Meitetsu Airport Line , and parking is available , making it a very convenient location for sightseeing or returning to Chubu Centrair International Airport. There are also several hotels nearby, making it a great place to stay !
Basic information about [Uoichiban]
address
3-10-1 Rinkucho , Tokoname City, Aichi Prefecture
telephone number
private
Opening hours
ใ Cafeteria business days: Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10:00-17:00 ใปClosed on Wednesdays
Fresh fish sales area Opening days: Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10:00 to 19:00 ใปClosed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Tokoname City has many other attractions!
In addition to the newly opened Uo Ichiban, Tokoname City is full of other tourist attractions such as Tokoname ware and the Maneki-neko ( beckoning cat )! When you visit Uoichiban, be sure to check out other tourist attractions as well.
Conveniently located just a 3-minute walk from Nagasaki Station and adjacent to AMU Plaza Nagasaki, you can enjoy convenient shopping and gourmet food.
JR Kyushu Hotel Nagasaki is a hotel located just a 3-minute walk from JR Nagasaki Station.
In addition to the "AMU Plaza Nagasaki Main Building" and "AMU Plaza Nagasaki New Building," the facility also houses the "Nagasaki Kaido Kamome Market," which is a collection of Nagasaki souvenir shops, and houses a total of 246 stores! (โป1)
In particular, the "AMU Plaza Nagasaki New Building," which opened in 2023, will house a variety of stores, including clothing and miscellaneous goods, restaurants, and more, including stores opening in the Nagasaki area for the first time, allowing you to enjoy gourmet food and shopping.
In addition, the hotel is directly connected to the AMU Plaza Nagasaki Main Building Parking Lot and New Building Parking Lot, making it easily accessible by car.
AMU PLAZA Nagasaki Main Building (left) and New Building (right)
*1 (The number of stores is based on the JR Kyushu official website "About the stores opening in the new Amu Plaza Nagasaki building" at the time of the opening of the new Amu Plaza Nagasaki building in autumn 2023) https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/news/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2023/06/29/230629_amyunagasaki_shinkan_tenpo.pdf
Simple, modern and comfortable guest rooms with a touch of Eastern and Western culture
A space with a calm atmosphere and accent colors
The guest rooms at JR Kyushu Hotel Nagasaki are based on a simple modern theme, with Chinese "red" and Western "green" theme colors combined with Chinese latticework to create a Nagasaki atmosphere. We also pay particular attention to the beds, lighting, and air conditioning to ensure you have a comfortable stay.
Point 1: A space where you can experience the exotic atmosphere of Nagasaki
The interior cleverly incorporates Chinese "red" and Western "green," creating a space unique to Nagasaki, where foreign cultures intersect, and the Nagasaki lattice design incorporated into the interior is particularly striking.
Point 2: A high-quality, comfortable bed
To ensure a comfortable sleep, all rooms are equipped with highly functional and durable Simmons pocket coil beds.
Point 3: Functional guest rooms
All rooms are equipped with a writing desk, which is extremely convenient for workation or business use.
Various room types to meet your needs
It can accommodate a wide variety of uses, from tourism to business.
The spacious room is equipped with a sofa and a table for you to relax in. It can also accommodate up to three people (three beds). The room is equipped with a safety box and bottled water.
We have aimed to create a room that is friendly and easy to use, with wide aisles and careful consideration given to the placement of switches and furniture. Everyone can relax here, including people with disabilities, the elderly, and families with children.
Number of rooms: 1
Area: 26 mยฒ
Capacity: 2 people
Bed size: 120cm x 195cm
Breakfast consists of a choice of Japanese or Western main dishes and a half-buffet using ingredients from Nagasaki.
The breakfast venue will be renovated on April 1, 2024!
Breakfast at JR Kyushu Hotel Nagasaki can be enjoyed at Umaya Nagasaki on the 5th floor of the AMU PLAZA Nagasaki main building.
Guests can choose between a Japanese or Western main course, and there is also a half-buffet corner where guests can enjoy a salad bar and bread.
Breakfast hours: 7:00-10:30 (last order 10:00)
โฝJapanese breakfast
Menu: Grilled silver finfish in saikyo style (daily special), rolled omelet, mentaiko, two daily side dishes
*The image is for illustrative purposes only. The menu may change depending on the availability of ingredients.
โฝWestern food set
Menu: Grilled chicken (changes daily), sausage, seasonal ratatouille, scrambled eggs or fried eggs, daily Western-style side dish
*The image is for illustrative purposes only. The menu may change depending on the availability of ingredients.
โฝHalf buffet corner
We have a wide variety of menu items, including Nagasaki ago dashi ochazuke, a salad bar, bread, and fruit.
Inside "Umaya Nagasaki Store"
Start your trip to Nagasaki at Umaya Nagasaki and experience the city with a wide variety of delicious Nagasaki cuisine!
Exclusive for hotel guests! Great discounts at AMU PLAZA Nagasaki stores
JR Kyushu Hotel Nagasaki offers discounted rates for guests staying at the hotel to AMU PLAZA Nagasaki and Nagasaki Kaido Kamome Market by presenting your room key at the time of payment.
This discount, which can be used at a variety of stores, including fashion, miscellaneous goods, and local gourmet foods, is perfect for creating memories of your trip. You can enjoy great deals when choosing souvenirs or treating yourself to a little gourmet food.
If you wish to use the service after check-out, please present your hotel billing receipt (only for the same day).
For more information, please visit the JR Kyushu Hotel Nagasaki official website.
Summary | JR Kyushu Hotel Nagasaki is the perfect base for your trip to Nagasaki! It's convenient for shopping and has great access, so we recommend it!
ใปExcellent access, located close to Nagasaki Station. The hotel is adjacent to AMU Plaza Nagasaki! You can access the hotel without needing an umbrella when shopping!
-After enjoying shopping or a meal, you can immediately relax in your room.
ใปA comfortable hotel experience in Nagasaki, a city where Eastern and Western cultures coexist
As a base for your trip, JR Kyushu Hotel Nagasaki is a hotel that will make your trip more comfortable and enjoyable.
Why not spend a special day at JR Kyushu Hotel Nagasaki on your next trip?
Australian startup, Uluu has raised AUD 16 million in Series A funding to build a demonstration plant and scale its technology, transforming seaweed into a natural alternative to plastic for industrial production.
The round was led by German growth investor Burda Principal Investments with support from Main Sequence, Novel Investments (the family office of one of the worldโs largest textile groups), Startmate, and a consortium of leading impact and family investors including Fairground and Trinity Ventures.
Uluuโs next-generation materials perform like conventional plastics and can be processed using existing plastic manufacturing equipment.
Unlike plastic made from fossil fuels, they are reusable, recyclable, home compostable and marine biodegradableโbreaking down naturally without releasing microplastics. Theyโre strong, lightweight, waterproof and non-toxic, while being climate positive at scale.
At commercial scale, Uluuโs production process has scope to sequester and avoid up to ~5kg COโ equivalent for every 1kg of material produced, compared with ~3kg emitted by plastic today. The technology has the potential to reduce global COโ emissions by more than 2 gigatonnes per year.
With the Series A raise, Uluu will scale from its 100kg/year pilot facility to a 10-tonne/year demonstration plant in Western Australia, enabling the company to deliver commercial volumes to customers.
Uluu is already collaborating with a range of global partners in cosmetics, fashion and the automotive industry, including public campaigns with Quiksilver, Papinelle and Audi.
โAfter four yearsโ work developing this technology, including two yearsโ running our pilot plant, weโre excited to take this next step and start delivering meaningful volumes of our materials to customers,โ said Uluu co-founder and co-CEO Michael Kingsbury.
โThe demonstration plant is a critical step in showing Uluu can scale to truly compete with and replace fossil plastics.โ
Uluu co-founder and co-CEO Dr Julia Reisser said seaweed was one of the most sustainable resources on Earth. Seaweed grows quickly and gets everything it needs from the sun and the sea,โ she said. โIt locks away CO 2 and helps clean up pollutants from the ocean.
โBy harnessing seaweed, Uluu is producing materials that have a positive, rather than negative, impact on the environment, while ending plastic pollution.โ
The Series A round also primes Uluu for future growth, with plans underway for a commercial-scale facility capable of producing thousands of tonnes annually to serve major global markets.
Minami Ward is a Southern European-style agricultural park located along the Tamano Prefectural Road in Tamano Ward, Okayama City City. This facility offers seasonal fruit picking experiences throughout the year and hosts a variety of events. The Roadside Market, a farm produce direct sales store that has been a favorite of many people from both inside and outside the area for many years, is also very popular.
In 2025, a number of new restaurants, including popular bakeries, opened in the South Village! Okayama City South Village is evolving to a new stage, not only as a place for harvesting experiences and events, but also as an attractive Okayama City that attracts repeat visitors. We will introduce some of the notable new stores.
Located in the rural landscape of the southern part of Okayama City, Okayama City South Village is an experiential agricultural park marked by a white observation tower that evokes the idyllic rural scenery of Southern Europe.
Fruit picking experiences such as strawberry picking and Grape Picking are popular within the garden. Many events are held throughout the year in the plaza in front of the entrance and on the lawn area within the garden. At the Roadside Market, a farm produce direct sales store facing the parking lot, fresh vegetables and fruits harvested by local farmers are sold directly to customers every day, and there are many repeat customers from outside the area.
The observation tower, which is the symbol of the park, offers a 360-degree panoramic view. The pool is also open in the summer, and is popular with families. There is free parking for 600 standard-sized cars, and the facility has been loved by many people for many years.
1๏ฝ riel donut: Unique store design is appealing!
When you walk through the South Village entrance, the first thing you see isn't a ticket booth, but a donut shop.
riel donut was created by renovating what was once a ticket booth. The unique style of choosing your items as if you were buying a ticket is sure to surprise first-time visitors, who may wonder, "Is this really a donut shop?"
Mr. Ishikawa is the owner and operator of this unique shop. Since opening in Gakuminami-cho , Kita Ward ku , Okayama City , Riel Donuts has become a popular donut shop that is loved by locals, tourists, and people coming back from sports games. The South Village store is also a popular spot loved by people of all ages.
The most important thing is the fabric
The most important thing about Riel Donuts is the dough. They don't use eggs and use a unique method that blends pumpkin from Hokkaido with carefully selected glutinous wheat from Kumamoto Prefecture, resulting in a fluffy, crispy, and chewy texture.
According to Ishikawa,"I want people to enjoy the dough itself, rather than the flashy toppings (decorations)." In fact, Ishikawa is a flour professional! "While baking bread at a bakery for 33 years, I continued to research dough with the hope of opening a donut shop one day," he says. He then finally opened his dream donut shop, and opened his second store in South Village, a neighborhood with which he has a connection.
Their signature donuts are made right before your eyes!
Their signature product is the "Brรปlรฉe Donut." After receiving an order, the donut is filled with custard cream (sweet cream), dusted with powdered sugar, and roasted right in front of you with a burner, creating a lively atmosphere that is very popular. Many customers take videos of the process, and the contrast between the crispy, fragrant exterior and the moist interior is an unforgettable taste once you've tried it.
"The simple sugar donuts are also popular," says Ishikawa. Their unpretentious deliciousness attracts repeat customers.
Another noteworthy menu item is the "Hino Kuni Pizza, enjoyed with all five senses." This exquisite pizza is based on the dough used at a renowned restaurant that was selected as a Michelin Bib Gourmand (a prestigious restaurant selected by France's prestigious restaurant guide) and ranked number one in the country on Tabelog, and has been further improved. It is a special pizza that combines a chewy texture with a fragrant aroma. For more details, please check out Riel Donuts' Instagram.
Aiming to be like a food court
At Riel Donuts, they offer a wide variety of products, including cookies made with Hokkaido wheat, Basque cheesecake, fruit fromage drinks (drinks made with fruit and cheese), Okayama craft beer (locally brewed beer), and soft drinks. We also recommend relaxing and enjoying a drink at the tables in front of the store.
"I'd like to expand the menu and make it into something like a small food court (a dining area with multiple restaurants)," says Ishikawa. "I hope to be able to spread the appeal of Okayama and Kurashiki from here."
Working with dough every day, they offer a "one-of-a-kind experience" at their unique Riel Donuts store.
[riel donut South Village Store]
Address: Okayama Prefecture Okayama City Minami Ward, 2468 Kataoka, Minami-ku , Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture
2๏ฝA popular bakery from Okayama is here! "Okayama Kobo Liaison"
Three stores have opened in the building to the right of the former ticket office after passing through the entrance.
The first to open was Okayama Kobo Liaison , a popular bakery from Okayama . While rooted in the local community, this bakery has also opened branches in Hawaii and California, gaining popularity overseas. With two stores in Okayama, and having supported the opening of over 400 new businesses across the country, this bakery, one of Okayama's leading bakeries, has begun a new operation based in South Village.
We spoke with Masaki-san, who is in charge of public relations and business start-up support. "Since we opened, we've had people of all ages come and we're becoming more well-known in the area, which we're very grateful for," he said.
Freshness is "life" and bread is a fresh food
"Our bread is fresh food," says Masaki. The reason is that "Okayama Kobo Liaison is particular about being 'freshly baked' and 'additive-free.' Rather than baking large quantities of bread, we aim to bake in small batches repeatedly, so that we can provide bread that is 'freshly baked within 30 minutes.'" As such, it is possible to purchase freshly baked bread even an hour before closing time.
Furthermore, they use an original blend of wheat flour from Hokkaido, Ebetsu, and are thorough in not using any additives in the dough. "It's not the most efficient method, but that's what makes it delicious. We want to provide the bread that people take the trouble to buy in the best condition," he says with a refreshing yet passionate attitude.
I want people to become more familiar with bread.
Okayama Kobo Liaison offers a variety of breads, including the popular "Okayama Curry Bread with Beef and Vegetables," as well as breads made with whole wheat flour and rye that are exclusive to the South Village store, so you're bound to have a pleasant dilemma deciding which one to buy.
The spacious store also has an eat-in corner (in-store dining area) where you can enjoy freshly baked bread right away. They also actively hold experience-based events such as parent-child bread-making classes, and are working to make bread more accessible to people. "I want this to be a place where families can cherish time spent together, not just buy bread," says Masaki. Here you can find new ways to enjoy bread.
Making bread a part of everyday life
Okayama Kobo Liaison aims to become a place of gathering that is rooted in the local community, while also becoming a bakery that attracts attention from around the world. "I want to connect with more people through bread," says Masaki with a smile. He adds, "I would like to actively use locally grown vegetables from South Village, and I would also like to try collaborations between stores."
Most of the bread here has a soft, gentle texture. This reflects their desire for people of all ages to enjoy bread every day. Okayama Kobo Liaison prioritizes the "excitement of freshly baked bread" over efficiency, and their challenge will continue to expand.
[Freshly Baked Bread Market Okayama Kobo Liaison South Village Store]
Address: Okayama Prefecture Okayama City Minami Ward, 2468 Kataoka, Minami-ku , Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture
3๏ฝ Marugo Deli Deli: A new style of community-based restaurant
The second store in the building is Marugo Deli, which opened in South Village.
This product is also well known in Okayama Prefecture for its "โค" mark, and is popular in many places, including shopping malls, as "Margo Fruit Juice."
We spoke with the store owner, Mr. Numata. In addition to fresh juices, the sandwiches and Neapolitan (a pasta dish with tomato sauce) are also popular, and the store has now become beloved not only by tourists but also by local regulars. He says he often hears from locals that "we're glad Margo has come to South Village."
The long-awaited opening
Numata, who is from the nearby area, has a special attachment to South Village as it is a local facility. He was originally involved in store design at Marugo Deli, and when he heard about the opening plans, he volunteered to run the store.
Numata values โโ"local production for local consumption" (consuming locally produced goods locally). He actively incorporates vegetables such as lotus root harvested in the Nadasaki area where South Village is located, as well as fruits harvested in South Village, to provide original menu items that can only be enjoyed here. He also said, "I want to make this a place where people can have fun, not just eat." He is considering ways to expand the "food x experience" concept, such as planning projects that take advantage of the store's unique terrace seating (outdoor seating), which is rare among the many Margo stores, and planning workshops such as agricultural experiences for children.
South Village Exclusive Menu
Of course, the recommended item is the collaborative menu that makes use of local ingredients. In particular, the menu that is only available here, which uses seasonal fruits harvested in South Village, is a treat for visitors. When we visited for this interview, Shine Muscat juice was being served.
When the staff handed it to me, they said, "It's fresh, so please eat it quickly." It was clear that they wanted me to enjoy it at its best.
There is a constant stream of customers throughout the day, and they even come on rainy days. Another advantage is the large parking lot, which makes it easy to drop in on the way home from a nearby event. "Most of our repeat customers are locals, and the ratio of tourists is about half and half," which shows how popular the shop is with locals.
Marugo Deli is more than just a place to eat and drink
"I want to aim to be more like a local playground than a restaurant," says Numata. Not only does it have an open terrace, but it also has a kids' space (a play area) inside the restaurant, making it a great place for families. He also says with a smile that by combining food and experiences, he wants to promote the unique charms of Okayama and make it a place that connects tourism and everyday life.
Marugo Deli is unique to South Village, offering a place for locals to use on a daily basis and a one-of-a-kind experience for tourists. With this vision of the future in mind, the restaurant is filled with the desire to invigorate the local area.
[Marugo Deli South Village Store]
Address: Okayama Prefecture Okayama City Minami Ward, 2468 Kataoka, Minami-ku , Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture
4๏ฝEnjoy traditional hand-pulled udon noodles at Menkurando Fujimasa
The third store in the building is Menkurando Fujimasa , which serves hand-pulled noodles from the Kamogata region of Asakuchi City Okayama Prefecture, a tradition that dates back to the Edo period (1603-1868).
This is the first directly managed store in Okayama City by Kamokawa Tenobe Somen Co., Ltd., which is working hard to popularize hand-stretched noodles, a specialty of Bitchu Kamogata.
When asked what prompted them to open the store, owner Fujiwara said, "Because we're located away from the city, we wanted to create more places where people can eat and gather." The reason they chose South Village, which is home to a variety of tenants (stores), rather than a standalone store is because "we wanted to create a place where people can inspire each other and create excitement." He also said, "We want more people to know the appeal of hand-pulled noodles."
I want to spread the deliciousness of hand-pulled noodles
Our opening hours are short as we are mainly open during lunch hours, but we put a lot of care into each and every bowl of udon.
"I don't just want to fill your stomach with food, I want the experience of eating here to be memorable," says Fujiwara, who carefully selects and prepares the ingredients, placing great importance on the dining experience itself.
"Each region has its own unique udon noodles, and I want people to know how delicious the hand-stretched udon noodles of Okayama Prefecture are," she says with a gentle smile.
The texture and smoothness that only hand-pulled noodles can provide
The signature dish is, of course, the hand-stretched udon. Both hot and cold udon are recommended, but Fujiwara-san chose the tempura udon as his "best recommendation."
The long noodles, a feature of hand-stretched udon, are smooth, soft, and chewy, and slide easily down your throat. They have a different texture to the noodles of Sanuki udon (a famous udon from Kagawa Prefecture ), which is also well-known in Okayama . I'm looking forward to trying the warm udon next time.
The store has a calm atmosphere, making it a comfortable space for tourists and families alike. There are counter seats, so even if you're alone, you can feel free to come in.
Let's join hands and liven up the area
Regarding his future plans, Fujiwara said, "I would like to collaborate with other tenants, with wheat as the keyword." He also said that he would like to be a presence that makes people think, "If you go to South Village, there's something interesting to do," through monthly events and other business activities. He also made an impression by smiling as he said, "I would like to collaborate not only within the facility, but also with neighboring stores if possible, to liven up the area."
I felt that Fujimasa aims to be a hub that both tourists and locals can enjoy.
[Menkurando Fujimasa ]
Address: Okayama Prefecture Okayama City Minami Ward, 2468 Kataoka, Minami-ku , Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture
Business hours: 10:30-14:30 (until 15:00 on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays)
Closed: Tuesdays
5๏ฝ OHAYO GROUNDS: OHAYO's first permanent directly managed store
In Okayama, it would be difficult to find someone who doesn't know about Ohayo Dairy Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as "Ohayo"), a long-established dairy product manufacturer.
Ohayo has opened its first permanent directly managed store, a milk cafe called "OHAYO GROUNDS" in South Village. It's a long-established manufacturer that was founded over 70 years ago, so I was surprised to learn that they don't have a permanent directly managed store.
From the entrance and on your way from the building housing three stores to the grassy plaza, the first thing you see is OHAYO GROUNDS.
This is a permanent store that utilizes the know-how gained from stores that have previously operated for limited periods in Okayama and Kobe.
Overflowing passion for "Milk"
We spoke with Sakamoto-san, who was involved in setting up the store. He smiled and said that he created this store with the hope that people would "enjoy the thoughts of the makers" in addition to being able to purchase Ohayo products at supermarkets and convenience stores.
According to Sakamoto, "This is not just a place to sell products." They offer "milk that is easy to drink even for people who don't like milk," made using a unique method, and also explain the current situation of dairy farmers (farmers who produce milk), in order to help customers learn about the appeal of dairy products through experiences. "In addition to the products that our customers have always loved, we offer menus that can only be tasted here, so that visitors can gain a deeper understanding of milk and make new discoveries," he says, his passion for milk clearly evident.
Discover the "Ohayo" you never knew existed
"Milk served in a bucket." Its striking appearance has drawn praise for its cuteness, and it has become a hot topic on social media. In fact, the milk is made with care, which cannot be seen from its appearance. By further removing water from conventional milk, the distinctive taste and smell of milk have been reduced, allowing you to enjoy the natural appeal of milk. Apparently, even people who don't like milk are able to drink it all up, and when I tried it myself, it was so easy to drink that I drank it all in one go.
The "Snowmelt Milk Ice Cream," which is grilled at the table and served, is also popular. You can enjoy the warmth of the caramelized sugar and the coolness of the ice cream all at the same time, and it's sure to become addictive.
It's clear that they value the sense of exclusivity that can only be found here, with limited menus available only at a store directly operated by the manufacturer.
With the community, with milk
Regarding his future prospects, he said, "I want to make this a store that can continue for a long time together with the local community." In fact, Sakamoto-san has such a strong passion for Milk that he spoke directly to upper management in order to set up a directly managed store, even though he is in a department that has nothing to do with sales promotion. Please come and experience his passion at the store.
Aiming to be a comfortable space where the everyday and the extraordinary intersect, it will be a place where local residents and tourists can drop in casually, create memories through milk, and spread new challenges from Okayama to the rest of the country. "OHAYO GROUNDS" is also imbued with this desire for the future.
The store is filled with displays of wooden boxes and bottles that bring back memories for older customers and are refreshing for younger customers. Also, since it's a special occasion, they rent out lanterns and straw mats (traditional mats) so that customers can enjoy their "Milk" on the spacious lawn.
[OHAYO GROUNDS South Village Store]
Address: Okayama Prefecture Okayama City Minami Ward, 2468 Kataoka, Minami-ku , Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture
Business hours: 10:00-17:00
Closed: Mondays and Tuesdays (may be closed temporarily)
We spoke to five stores opening in South Village in 2025, and each store seemed to want more than just food and drink; they also wanted to "provide an experience" and "liven up the area." Each store offers "value for making a special visit," with experiences and products and ways of spending time that cannot be found in stores in the city. Of course, it's great to visit each store, but spending time relaxing in South Village, buying farm-fresh products at the roadside market and enjoying seasonal fruit picking, is also a wonderful way to spend your time.
In addition to the stores introduced here, there is also a "Toy Outlet" that is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. Unfortunately, it was closed on the day of the visit, but it seems that some products are 80% off the regular price, so you might be able to find some great bargains! It may be a "toy kingdom" in a different sense. This writer, who loves toys, is excited too.
South Village is full of charm!
When you think of South Village, many people will think of the long-standing and beloved Roadside Market, which we mentioned in our introduction at the beginning. This popular farm-direct sales outlet is lined with fresh vegetables and fruits brought in directly by farmers, and they sell out quickly before you know it. The photo was taken on a weekday morning, but the market is bustling with customers. In fact, in addition to farm-direct products, they also have a wide selection of fresh flowers. Here too, many customers are at a loss as to what to buy from the colorful flowers.
There are also many local specialties from around the prefecture, including bento boxes, bread, dairy products, noodles, and more. There are also Japanese confectionery shops, fishmongers, and meat dealers. The ever-popular "lotus root croquette" (a deep-fried dish made with lotus root) is a staple, and this writer often buys it.
It's so crowded with people from the morning that you'll wonder if it's really a weekday.
It is located on the Kurashiki Kojima Road, so it is easily accessible. Why not head to Okayama City South Village on a drive or tour?
[Okayama City South Village]
Address: 2468 Kataoka, Minami Ward, Okayama City , Okayama Prefecture Opening hours: 9:00-17:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Opening hours: Roadside market 8:00-17:00 (open all year round) Admission fee: Free
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, an underrated FPS from 2023 that pays loving (and bloody) homage to the Warhammer 40,000 universe and classic boomer shooters, is now on sale to get fans excited for its upcoming sequel.
Nothing unveiled the Phone 3a Lite, that combines sleek design and robust features, promising to redefine budget-friendly phone for the UK and Europe markets.
Advertisers are currently unable to access the Microsoft Advertising console right now. Microsoft confirmed there is an issue and that its engineering team is working to resolve it. This is impacting the web user interface to manage your Microsoft Advertising campaigns.
What Microsoft said. Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison, posted:
โConfirming Microsoft Advertising UI is down. Our engineering team is investigating this issue with priority and we apologize for the inconvenience this may be causing. We will share more as we receive more updates.โ
How to check the status. You can go to status.ads.microsoft.com to check the status of Microsoft Advertising. It currently shows that the Web UI is down:
Why we care. If you are currently trying to make changes to your ad campaigns, and you are trying to use the web interface, maybe try the mobile interface, Microsoft Ads Editor or a third-party tool that leverages the API.
Otherwise, you will have to wait for the web interface to start working again.
It seems ad serving is unaffected by this outage.
Update: At about 8pm ET, Microsoft said the issue was resolved:
Update: you should be able to access the UI now. We can confirm that Search ads were not impacted. There may be some delay in reporting. Thank you for your patience as we worked to solve this issue!
Celebrate the reveal of Halo: Campaign Evolved with our ultimate quiz covering Halo 1, 2, and 3. From iconic missions to obscure lore, see if youโve got what it takes to finish the fight.
The critically acclaimed, multi-million copy-selling remake of Silent Hill 2 by Bloober Team is off by 55% over at Loaded for its limited-time Halloween sale.
We have found a special 79% Halloween discount for Carrion, a classic indie horror game that flips the script by having you play as the monster instead of being hunted by one.
Battlefield 6 and its new battle royale mode, RedSec, both support cross-play across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC โ but not everyone wants mixed-platform lobbies.
Nintendoโs patent fight over Palworld takes a blow as Japanโs patent office rejects one of its โmonster captureโ patents, citing older games like ARK and Pokรฉmon GO, and potentially bolstering Pocketpairโs defense.
Venture funding has most definitely rebounded since the 2022 correction, but thereโs a sharp divide between whoโs getting funding and whoโs not.
That was the overarching theme from our third-quarter market reports, which showed that global startup funding in Q3 totaled $97 billion, marking only the fourth quarter above $90 billion since Q3 2022.
But the funding surge this time is also much, much more concentrated โย namely in outsized rounds for AI companies.
With that, letโs take a look at the charts that illustrate the major private-market and startup funding themes as we head into the final quarter of 2025.
AI funding continues to drive venture growth
Nearly half โ 46% โ of startup funding globally in Q3 went to AI companies, Crunchbase data shows. Almost a third went to a single company: Anthropic, which raised $13 billion last quarter.
Even with an astonishing $45 billion going to artificial intelligence startups in Q3, it was only the third-highest quarter on record for AI funding, with Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 each clocking in higher.
Megarounds gobble up lionโs share
It shouldnโt come as too much of a surprise that AI has also skewed investment heavily toward megarounds, which we define as funding deals of $100 million or more.
The percentage of overall funding going into such deals hit a record high this year, with an astonishing 60% of global and 70% of U.S. venture capital going to $100 million-plus rounds, per Crunchbase data.
Even with several months left in the year, it also seems plausible that the total dollars going into such deals will match or top what we saw in 2021, which marked a peak for startup funding not scaled before or since.
The difference? Back then, startup dollars were widely distributed, going to a whole host of sectors โ from food tech to health tech to robotics โย and to early-stage, late-stage and in-between companies alike.
As megarounds have increased, seed deals have declined.
The number of seed deals has shown a steady downward trend in recent quarters, Crunchbase data shows, even as total dollars invested at the stage has stayed relatively steady. That indicates that while seed deals are growing larger, theyโre also harder to come by.
Early-stage funding has essentially flatlined, despite larger rounds to companies working on robotics, biotech, AI and other technologies.
The AI haves and have-nots
AI has enthralled investors for the past three years.
Still, other sectors that benefit heavily from AI-driven automation are seeing a surge in investment. Perhaps most notable is legal tech, which hit an all-time high last month on the back of large rounds for companies promising to automate much of the drudgery of the profession.
Funding for Asia-based startups rose sequentially in the third quarter, boosted by a handful of hardtech-focused megarounds.
European startups raised $13.1 billion across more than 1,000 deals in Q3, flat quarter over quarter but up 22% year over year. Early-stage investment was particularly strong, and the region benefited from the excitement around Klarnaโs long-awaited IPO.
In Latin America, Brazil pushed Mexico out of the top spot to retake its crown as the regionโs largest funding recipient.
Looking ahead
The increasing concentration of capital into a small cadre of large AI companies โ not to mention the interconnectedness of those deals โย begs some obvious questions. Are we in a bubble? And given that nearly half of venture capital in recent years has been tied up in AI, what happens to the startup ecosystem if or when it pops?
TestSprite founders Yunhao Jiao (left) and Rui Li. (TestSprite Photo)
In the era of AI-generated software, developers still need to make sure their code is clean. Thatโs where TestSprite wants to help.
The Seattle startup announced $6.7 million in seed funding to expand its platform that automatically tests and monitors code written by AI tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Windsurf.
TestSpriteโs autonomous agent integrates directly into development environments, running tests throughout the coding process rather than as a separate step after deployment.
โAs AI writes more code, validation becomes the bottleneck,โ said CEO Yunhao Jiao. โTestSprite solves that by making testing autonomous and continuous, matching AI speed.โ
The platform can generate and run front- and back-end tests during development to ensure AI-written code works as expected, help AI IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) fix software based on TestSpriteโs integration testing reports, and continuously update and rerun test cases to monitor deployed software for ongoing reliability.
Founded last year, TestSprite says its user base grew from 6,000 to 35,000 in three months, and revenue has doubled each month since launching its 2.0 version and new Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration. The company employs about 25 people.
Jiao is a former engineer at Amazon and a natural language processing researcher. He co-founded TestSprite with Rui Li, a former Google engineer.
Jiao said TestSprite doesnโt compete with AI coding copilots, but complements them by focusing on continuous validation and test generation. Developers can trigger tests using simple natural-language commands, such as โTest my payment-related features,โ directly inside their IDEs.
The seed round was led by Bellevue, Wash.-based Trilogy Equity Partners, with participation from Techstars, Jinqiu Capital, MiraclePlus, Hat-trick Capital, Baidu Ventures, and EdgeCase Capital Partners. Total funding to date is about $8.1 million.
Whether youโre taking a quick road trip or traveling across the world, Cabeau neck pillows and lumbar support products are a must for maximum comfort.
Lo & Sons is designed for luxury travel, from the Catalina Deluxe to the Melrose laptop bag. Save $25 with our exclusive discount code, plus up to 70% off for fall travel season.
This is the most powerful handheld gaming PC yet, and while it offers solutions to some key problems, it's not as alluringly simple as a conventionalย Xbox.
Pramac rider Jack Miller admitted he โlet everybody downโ, including his team, with a race-ending shunt at the Australian Grand Prix.
Miller emerged as a surprise frontrunner at Phillip Island last weekend, qualifying on the front row of the grid for the first time since 2023 before finishing a solid fourth in Saturdayโs sprint.
In the main race on Sunday, he dropped from third on the grid to sixth early on as the Yamaha lacked the long-run pace of its rivals, but was still in for a solid points haul on home turf.
However, his race ended prematurely when he lost the front end of his M1 at Siberia on lap 5, marking his second retirement in as many weekends.
The Queenslander revealed that he was struggling with the handling of his bike on a heavier fuel load in the race, but was nevertheless disappointed in himself given the speed he had enjoyed earlier in the weekend.
โIt felt decent coming into the race. I got away to a decent start, I was in the group there," he explained.
โI was struggling a little bit more than I had done all weekend, especially [Turns] 6 and 2. I kind of felt like I had to force it a little bit more to make a turn. Whether it be the Pirelli rubber or the extra fuel, [I donโt know]. We're only two litres more than warm up but still. It just felt like I had to force it a little bit more.ย
โI had a couple of warnings going into [Turn] 6, just with a little bit of vibration going in as I'm trying to force the bike to turn in. And yeah, โsheโ finally said no more on the third time; kind of just vibrated in and then went on me.ย
โ[I am] disappointed to let everybody down, let the team down after what was a strong weekend.ย
โBut we showed this weekend great pace, great speed - doing it on our own. So try and take the positives and learn from the negatives, and try to understand what the difference was today.ย
โI felt like I positioned myself well. Just creeping up to what could have been a nice result. But that's all to say, we need to put it into practice. It's two weekends now where we're going to let ourselves down in the main race.ย
โ[Now we will] try and get out of this little bit of slump, that is the GP race and try to fix it going forwards.โย
Sunday at Phillip Island began with Darwin-born Justin Kelso finishing on the podium in the Moto3 race, before Senna Agius brought more delight to the home crowd with victory in Moto2.
Since Casey Stonerโs retirement at the end of 2022, Miller has been the prolific Australian rider in MotoGP, although more Aussies have entered grand prix racing in recent years.
โI'm stoked for the other two,โ he said. โOf course, I appreciate the home fans and everything. [But] I'm a racer, I'm trying to do the best I can every time I get on the bike.ย
โSenna's down there with all my larrikins at the moment. Three sheets of the wind, having a good time. It's good for him and I was so bloody stoked. Gave him a big old hug and was out there clapping.ย
โI'm a fan of Australian motorsports, whether it be motorcycling, road racing, motocross, Formula 1 with Oscar [Piastri]. I love when Aussies do well.ย
โI enjoy that success and I try to feed off it almost. But unfortunately, today we weren't able to join the club.โ
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