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A close-up of artwork by Canadian artist, activist, and photographer Benjamin Von Wong, created for plastic pollution treaty negotiations, is seen in front of the United Nations offices in Geneva on August 12th. | Photo: Getty Images Thousands of delegates have descended upon Geneva this week for what's supposed to be the culmination of years of negotiations that, if successful, are supposed to end in a groundbreaking global plastics treaty. They might be breathing in the very thing they're trying to clean up as they negotiate. Greenpeace tested the air around the city just before the talks began this month…

There’s a sore loser in this popularity contest. Elon Musk says that his artificial intelligence company xAI “will take immediate legal action” against Apple for allegedly manipulating its App Store rankings to the advantage of rival AI apps. In a series of X posts on Monday night, Musk suggested that Apple was “playing politics” by not placing either X or xAI’s Grok chatbot in the App Store’s list of recommended iOS apps, and that he had no choice but to file a lawsuit. “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to…

Just a few days after administrators announced that the “federal Judiciary is taking additional steps to strengthen protections for sensitive case documents in response to recent escalated cyberattacks,” the New York Times reports investigators have found evidence Russia is “at least partially responsible” for a recent hack. Politico reported on the breach last week, saying it was “believed to have exposed sensitive court data across multiple U.S. states” and that while the system’s managers had been aware of its impact since around July 4th, they are still trying to figure out its full extent. Searches by the attackers reportedly included…

Google’s next Pixel launch event doesn’t happen until next week, but the company has already announced the Pixel 10 Pro Fold with a brief video teaser published on Tuesday. Based on the video, the new Fold will closely resemble the Pixel 9 Pro Fold — though that’s not a huge surprise, based on what’s already leaked about the device. The 30-second teaser includes a few shadowy glimpses of the new device, a peek at the unfolded inner display, and a solid look at the back of the foldable and its camera system. The teaser also shows that the phone will…

Did Tesla remotely deactivate a Cybertruck in the middle of a highway because the owner featured it in an unauthorized music video? The story already seemed highly unlikely, and on Monday afternoon, Tesla tweeted about the video, saying, “This is fake – that’s not our screen. Tesla does NOT disable vehicles remotely.” On Sunday, Instagram user @bighuey313 posted a video of his supposed deactivated Cybertruck, complete with a flashing red warning message on the truck’s main touchscreen. “Dog wtf my cybertruck just shut off on the freeway! 😡” he wrote in the caption. “Almost just crashed wtf @teslamotors.” The owner also…

On Monday, Anthropic released a hotly anticipated memory function for its Claude chatbot. In a YouTube video, the company demonstrated a user asking what they had been chatting about with Claude before their vacation. Claude searches past chats to read and summarize them for the user, then asks if they’d like to move on and keep working on the same project. “Never lose track of your work again,” the company wrote. “Claude now remembers your past conversations, so you can seamlessly continue projects, reference previous discussions, and build on your ideas without starting from scratch every time.” The feature works…

You can added canister vacs to the growing list of connected appliances. | Image: Miele Despite the convenience of cordless stick vacs, canister vacuums are still very much a thing for those with battery anxiety or those who want a lighter cleaner. Miele still offers over 20 different models of canister vacs in the US, but its latest is the company’s first to introduce smart functionality making it yet another appliance that wants access to your home’s Wi-Fi network. The Miele Guard L1 Electro is available now for $1,499 making it the most expensive model in the company’s L1 lineup…

Have you heard of Natalie the Nerd? She’s a pillar of the Nintendo Game Boy modding scene who taught herself to reverse engineer and design Game Boy circuit boards. Now, she’s put her skills to work in probably the most beautiful build I’ve ever seen: a working see-through Game Boy Color where even the circuit board is made of clear plastic. Because she designed and created that board herself from scratch, you see. I’ve been floored by console mods before, but I’d typically limit praise to saying they’re “damn clean.” But this thing, to paraphrase Indiana Jones, belongs in a…

A Revel charging station in Brooklyn in 2022. Revel is shutting down its ridehail business, citing heightened competition from rideshare leaders like Uber and Lyft. The company, which began as an electric moped business before shifting to rideshare, plans to pivot to electric vehicle charging. “At the end of the day, rideshare is a very competitive market and asset-heavy,” Revel CEO Frank Reig said in a statement to Bloomberg. “It’s low margin. We have made the difficult decision that the best way we can keep the EV transition moving forward is by ending our rideshare service and focusing on building…