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• Antares closes $470 million Series C, $370 million in equity and $100 million in debt, co-led by Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital
• The move follows the Mark-0 reaching criticality at Idaho National Laboratory and helps fund an electricity-producing Mark-1 in 2027 and military deployments in 2028
• Antares' military-first strategy targets a price-insensitive customer bound by an executive order requiring a reactor on a US base September 30 2028

Nuclear fission startup Antares has announced it has raised a total of $470 million in funding as it looks to supply a single client with a looming deadline: the US Military.

The Torrance, California company closed a Series C co-led by Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital, with Point72 Ventures, Shine Capital and Industrious Ventures among the participants, according to TechCrunch's look at its PitchBook data.

Antares' raise comes seven weeks after its Mark-0 microreactor reached criticality at Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy's authorization in a demonstration run with the DOE, the lab, and BWX Technologies, with the US Army observing.

A direct beneficiary of the White House

Antares calls it the "first privately developed non-light-water reactor to achieve criticality in the United States in more than four decades," underscoring how important the test was for both Antares and the US military.

The US military's presence is not by chance; It is mandated by an executive order ("Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security") signed by US President Donald Trump to ensure that it has an operating army-regulated nuclear reactor on a domestic military site by September 30, 2028.

Antares happens to be one of three finalists in the Pentagon’s Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program that aims to test-deploy a small module reactor (SMR) on two different air force bases.

With Antares being the first private company to go through that gate under the DOE's Reactor Pilot Program, it plans to build an electricity-producing Mark-1 reactor in 2027, followed by initial deployments to defense customers by 2028.

The Mark-1 uses the same full-scale core, facility, and TRISO fuel as the Mark-0, which is the company's argument for why the 2027 date is credible rather than aspirational.

Antares CEO Jordan Bramble says the reactor is being engineered to run reliably for six-plus years deployed without refueling, at an output the company, while noting that firm contracts to build reactors and the capital raised would allow the company to build "the first microreactor producing useful electricity in a truly commercially viable design."

The claim might hold for the US military, but insights from financial advisory firm Lazard suggest the approach is more expensive for now than all but the most expensive gas turbines in operation, with renewables clocking in considerably cheaper.

More importantly, the US supply chain for advanced reactors remains immature; no company has yet to manufacture microreactors at a production scale, and a first-of-a-kind electricity-producing reactor may reveal problems that a zero-power core does not currently exhibit.

Half a billion dollars in capital buys Antares a serious attempt at the deadline. Whether it manages to buy a reactor running on a US base in time to meet the executive order remains to be seen for now, even as it remains committed to trying.

• Washington wants Ukraine's drone tech without signing a formal partnership deal
• Ukrainian drones now hit targets even after losing operator control entirely
• Six agreements signed already, ten more contracts reportedly still in the works

Ukraine's drone program has become one of the most closely watched defense innovations of the current war, drawing global attention.

Analysts now argue that Washington is seeking direct access to that technology's intellectual property rather than a formal partnership agreement.

Some experts compare the approach to how China previously extracted proprietary aerospace knowledge from Boeing through joint manufacturing deals years ago.

Ukraine's drone leverage

Ukraine's drone ecosystem stands out not merely for its hardware, but for its software integration and battlefield resilience against jamming.

American systems have often struggled in contested electronic environments, while Ukrainian drones evolved rapidly against Russian electronic warfare tactics.

The Pentagon reportedly wants Ukraine's AI-assisted terminal guidance, which lets drones strike objectives autonomously even after losing operator control.

Washington is also said to be interested in navigation systems capable of functioning reliably within GPS-denied combat environments overseas and abroad.

Kyiv has meanwhile launched a multi-year cooperative program involving nearly 20 countries, aimed at expanding defense capabilities through drone technology.

As of June 9, six agreements had already been signed, with additional contracts still in preparation.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, claims the framework will include at least 10 contracts covering weapons exports, co-production, and new technology development.

In March, Ukraine sent interceptor drones and a team of specialists to help defend American military bases located in Jordan.

The Pentagon later announced in May that U.S. personnel would travel to Ukraine to study combat drone operations firsthand on site.

Ukrainian drone strikes have been reportedly effective against Russian oil infrastructure, affecting 40% of its export capacity.

Unverified reports claim that these strikes pushed oil prices towards a near $100 per barrel spike back in March.

According to Zelenskyy, Washington is not comfortable with rising oil prices, and this is why it has been in quiet talks with Moscow.

Manufacturing strategy fuels debate over intellectual property

American and Ukrainian defence industries currently follow contrasting manufacturing approaches despite pursuing similar objectives around autonomous military capability and battlefield effectiveness.

The United States typically produces a relatively limited number of expensive defence platforms built for precision rather than volume.

Ukraine, by contrast, has expanded decentralised manufacturing capable of producing hundreds of thousands of affordable FPV and long-range strike drones annually.

The recent conflict involving Iran appears to have taught Washington that sheer volume can matter as much as precision on today's battlefield.

It simply does not make financial sense for 50 $10,000 drones to bring down a single $50 million fighter jet; therefore, the Ukraine route now seems as important for the U.S.

The U.S. is now demanding access to intellectual property rights covering Ukrainian drone technologies.

This would allow the United States to secure valuable Ukrainian technological advances without expanding formal commitments connected to Ukraine's wartime operations.

The US will be able to manufacture comparable systems domestically while retaining greater control over supply chains and industrial capacity.

Analysts argue that legal ownership of those IP rights would permit future modification, replication, and scaling without continuous Ukrainian involvement or approval.

Even so…American manufacturers could still require Ukrainian production facilities, since wartime experience has produced a manufacturing speed that existing U.S. procurement systems may struggle to match.

"The question hanging over Washington is no longer whether Ukrainian drone technology is vital to U.S. national security, but how much control over that technology the U.S. can successfully extract," an analyst said

Via DSM

In his last earnings call as Apple’s CEO, Cook signals potential pricing headwinds due to the ongoing RAM shortage.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, July 28 (game #1646).

• Quordle #1647, Wednesday, 29 July: GAWKY, ALLOY, AUDIT, LATCH
• Quordle #1646, Tuesday, 28 July: SMITE, ROACH, RUDDY, GLOBE

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Thursday, July 30 (game #1648).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1649) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1649) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #1649) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1649) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1649) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• M

• S

• S

• L

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1649) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1649, are…

• MANIA
• SINGE
• STOOL
• LOFTY

Another challenging game today, although I managed to not take this one right to the edge.

The tricky part was having so many possibilities for each word.

Curiously, LOFTY featured in yesterday’s Daily Sequence and that’s how I got there despite my temptation to guess “jolty”. I’m glad I resisted.

Daily Sequence today (game #1649) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1649, are…

• LEERY
• DINGY
• CHIME
• LUMPY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1648, Thursday, 30 July: MODAL, IDLER, CHUMP, LUMPY
• Quordle #1647, Wednesday, 29 July: GAWKY, ALLOY, AUDIT, LATCH
• Quordle #1646, Tuesday, 28 July: SMITE, ROACH, RUDDY, GLOBE
• Quordle #1645, Monday, 27 July: TAFFY, FIGHT, GUILD, WAGER
• Quordle #1644, Sunday, 26 July: STOMP, LIMIT, FUNKY, STEAD
• Quordle #1643, Saturday, 25 July: SALON, SHEEN, BURST, GOURD
• Quordle #1642, Friday, 24 July: DOLLY, EDIFY, LAGER, PRANK
• Quordle #1641, Thursday, 23 July: LADEN, EVICT, WOVEN, SHIRE
• Quordle #1640, Wednesday, 22 July: COYLY, SINGE, AWASH, AWOKE
• Quordle #1639, Tuesday, 21 July: TRUSS, AXIAL, SWINE, THING
• Quordle #1638, Monday, 20 July: ICING, SLICK, GAILY, RISEN
• Quordle #1637, Sunday, 19 July: SPURT, ACRID, THRUM, BLEEP
• Quordle #1636, Saturday, 18 July: KNAVE, TIGHT, BLEAT, CHAOS
• Quordle #1635, Friday, 17 July: CUMIN, PALER, GRASS, INBOX
• Quordle #1634, Thursday, 16 July: IGLOO, PLAIT, YEAST, AROMA
• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, July 30 (game #1145).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1146) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• MOLD
• SPEAR
• DAPPLE
• PRINCESS
• MUSHROOM
• JOYSTICK
• SLIME
• FUNGUS
• CHEERIOS
• DINOSAUR
• FASHION
• MODEL
• GLEEK
• SHAPE
• PLUMBER
• JDATE

NYT Connections today (game #1146) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Well built
• GREEN: Featured in Luigi’s world
• BLUE: Produce
• PURPLE: Happy start

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1146) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: CONSTRUCT
• GREEN: SUPER MARIO FIGURES
• BLUE: FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1146) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1146, are…

• YELLOW: CONSTRUCT: FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, SHAPE
• GREEN: SUPER MARIO FIGURES: DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, PRINCESS
• BLUE: FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER: DAPPLE, JDATE, SLIME, SPEAR
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS: CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, JOYSTICK

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

All four SUPER MARIO FIGURES are permanently imprinted on my retinas thanks to the hours I dedicated to my Nintendo DS, so that’s where I began, but after this easy connection I floundered.

My mistake came by collecting SLIME, FUNGUS, and MOLD and then fudging a fourth tile into the mix — I went for GLEEK, as I had no idea what it meant.

Finally, my ignorance over what JDATE was (I have subsequently learned) helped me see the four FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, July 30, 2026, game #1145)

• YELLOW: VIRTUOUS: FAIR, GOOD, JUST, RIGHT
• GREEN: ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS: BEER PONG, BINGO, JUGGLING, POOL
• BLUE: CRUISE LINES: CARNIVAL, CELEBRITY, PRINCESS, VIKING
• PURPLE: ON THE __, TO MEAN "PRECISE": DOT, MARK, MONEY, NOSE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, July 30 (game #879).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #880) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Summer sign

NYT Strands today (game #880) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• SLOTH
• HOTEL
• CHILLY
• BOTHER
• COLD
• THEY
• LION

NYT Strands today (game #880) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #880) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 1st row

• Last side: right, 5th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #880) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #880, are…

• CHARMING
• BOLD
• BOSSY
• LOYAL
• GENEROUS
• DRAMATIC
• SPANGRAM: LEOTHELION

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

It took me far too long to understand that today’s words were about astrology.

My first word of CHARMING seemed to have nothing to do with the summer and so it continued until I realized that BOSSY, LOYAL and GENEROUS had nothing to do with the season and a lot to do with personality — and in particular the (supposed) personality of a LEO.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, July 30, game #879)

• SMITH
• MASON
• JOINER
• TANNER
• COOPER
• WEAVER
• SPANGRAM: ARTISANS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

• US Army commits $447 million to surveillance balloons despite drone vulnerabilities
• Cheap drones continue challenging expensive military surveillance systems across modern battlefields
• Hezbollah attacks exposed growing risks facing large airborne surveillance platforms during conflicts

The US Army has awarded TCOM LP a contract worth as much as $447 million to continue producing, deploying, and supporting its Persistent Surveillance Systems-Tethered aerostat fleet.

The award signals continued confidence in large surveillance balloons despite increasing reliance across modern militaries on budget drones, satellites, and autonomous platforms.

Analysts have questioned whether these highly visible systems can remain effective against increasingly sophisticated adversaries capable of detecting and destroying fixed aerial assets.

A costly bet against a cheap threat

The Persistent Surveillance Systems-Tethered program traces back to 2016, when the Army merged two earlier aerostat efforts into one unified initiative.

Those tethered balloons proved valuable in identifying roadside bombs and tracking insurgent movement across Iraq and Afghanistan for over a decade.

TCOM has remained the Army's core partner throughout, having previously won a nearly $979 million contract back in September 2019.

That earlier deal covered engineering, logistics and operations support across facilities in Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Each aerostat can reportedly fly at altitudes up to 16,000 ft (4,880 m) and watch an area continuously for over 30 days straight.

Yet recent battlefield lessons from Lebanon suggest that the same altitude offers little protection against a determined, low-cost adversary.

Hezbollah fighters used a swarm of cheap drones to kill four Israeli soldiers and wound 61 others near Binyamina in October 2024.

Israeli officials later said Hezbollah was launching more than 10 drones daily against troops, alongside rockets and anti-tank fire.

One Israeli commander described the wider campaign bluntly, saying "this is full-scale war," after drones struck an Iron Dome battery on camera.

Al Jazeera reported that Israel's costly defense systems were rendered ineffective by drones costing only a fraction of what they threatened.

Betting on persistence over cheaper alternatives

American defense planners have pushed hard toward cheaper, expendable drone and satellite platforms as a modernization priority in recent years.

A large tethered aerostat is neither cheap nor easily replaced once it comes under serious attack.

It remains fixed in place and clearly visible, making it a plausible objective for any adversary armed with modern strike weapons.

That vulnerability has fueled quiet debate within defense circles about how long aerostat surveillance stays viable against a well-equipped adversary.

Still, the Army solicited bids from ten companies for this contract and received responses from only two, suggesting limited industrial appetite for this niche.

The agreement will run through July 20, 2031, suggesting that the service still values an aerostat's unmatched ability to loiter continuously over one location for weeks.

However, the Army is simultaneously investing in smaller, more distributed drone and satellite alternatives across its wider surveillance architecture.

Via Defence Blog

When it comes to long-standing TV franchises that I'm most terrified to cover, Star Trek is easily at the top of the list. With so many seasons, opinions, and legacies developing in popular culture since the mid-1960s and the original series, I feel like I'm a dunce constantly playing catch-up with something complex that keeps slipping from my grasp.

However, if I were to hedge my bets and choose two seasons to binge, I'd pick Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Picard. Not just because they feel like the two iterations of the franchise that I can't afford to miss out on, but because I'm unashamedly in love with Jeri Ryan.

What Stars Watch

Everyone gets stuck on what to watch next — so let’s make that choice easier with the help of your favorite actors. What Stars Watch pairs the latest TV shows and movies with cinematic classics or underrated gems, based on A-List tastes. Read the full series here.

Trekkies will know her best for playing Seven of Nine in both shows, a former Borg drone who initially joins the crew of the Federation starship Voyager. By the time she tries to leave in Picard, she's promoted to Captain — but as of writing, a story of her time in charge has yet to materialize.

According to Ryan herself [via TrekMovie], she has already turned down a solo spinoff that "wasn't in line with the Star Trek legacy," so we could be waiting a while for the perfect fit... if it ever arrives.

If we can't get Seven of Nine back, let's go with the next best thing: Ryan's own recommendations for what to watch alongside your annual Voyager and Picard binges (it never hurts to freshen things up).

But when I ask her the question, her answer takes me completely by surprise, especially as she's considered the potential long-standing impacts of AI in relation to sci-fi itself.

'People aren't paying enough attention to AI'

"Not that they have anything to do with Star Trek directly, but given the AI situation, I think The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day would be really good things to watch now," Ryan tells me.

"I think they'd be very timely. I feel like a lot of people, or not enough people, have paid attention to AI. I think a few more people could do to listen to how that ended up for humanity."

It's an unexpected and dark suggestion, but I certainly see the link. Like Star Trek, Terminator was ahead of its time, transforming the sci-fi genre into something iconic that would later serve as an archetype for TV shows and movies to come.

In fact, both movies go way beyond Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "Hasta la vista, baby," in dark sunglasses and a leather jacket. His Terminator Borg is the polar opposite of Seven of Nine, working as an assassin from the future intent on killing the woman who will supposedly give birth to a man who will save humankind from extinction.

By the end of Judgment Day, Terminator is a good guy, having been reprogrammed to protect instead of destroy. It's this conclusion, I think, that Ryan would like to reach... or at least remind fans that there is still light at the end of the tunnel.

If you look beyond Star Trek, protection against AI is something Ryan is clearly passionate about. In April 2026, she testified in support of the California Senate Bill 1050, which would "target false advertising by requiring clear and conspicuous consumer disclosures whenever a synthetic digital performer is used in state advertisements."

Would a Seven of Nine spinoff featuring a synthetic lead character flop if Ryan resolutely disagreed to it? Yes. But let's face it... we don't want that kind of spinoff anyway.

At this point, Ryan is leaving us with a lot of food for thought when it comes to what the future looks like, with some iconic sci-fi action sprinkled in for good measure. How can you not love her?

• Watch The Terminator on Prime Video in the US
• Watch The Terminator on Prime Video in the UK
• Watch The Terminator on Prime Video in Australia

With AI, the genie is out of the bottle, and there's no turning back. That's the overriding viewpoint across science and in Silicon Valley, where execs are increasingly building powerful systems. Beyond just building smarter machines, many among them have actually invoked quasi-religious imagery to describe the future.

Science and magic

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously echoed science-fiction author Arthur C Clark when he likened scientific progress to magic.

Quote of the day

This article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.

In comments he made to students during an interview at the AeroAstro Centennial Symposium at MIT, Musk once again used colorful language to explain how he saw the progress we were making on AI.

In pursuing the goal of building advanced machine intelligence, beginning with AGI, he suggested there would be limited ways of controlling such an entity, and that any attempts to do so would be futile.

The following year after making these comments, alongside Sam Altman and other tech executives, Musk co-founded OpenAI, which spearheaded the release of ChatGPT and thrust modern AI systems into the mainstream.

The machine god

Musk's likening of AI to a demon has inherent connotations of danger or doom – which is appropriate, considering he and others have previously said AI is the biggest existential threat that humanity faces in the years to come.

For example, AI researchers Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, published a book in 2025 called 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies' in which they laid out the case against building a superintelligent AI that could wipe us out.

These comparisons, however, are rejected by many others who see AI as unlikely to instigate science-fiction-type (or even supernatural-esque) doomsday scenarios. Chief among these voices is Jensen Huang, while just 3% of researchers say they were most worried about a scenario in which an out-of-contorl AI poses a threat to humanity.

The devices are joining foldables in the company’s growing lineup.

“It’s not red,” IBM’s design center manager patiently explained. “It’s magenta.”

The safety function officer wasn’t buying it. Between his fingers, he held up a small, rubbery disc that looked like a pencil eraser. “You know it’s red and I know it’s red,” he said.

The design manager didn’t back down. He insisted that what the man held was indeed magenta. The safety officer called his boss. The boss called Tom Hardy, Design Program Director at IBM. Hardy didn't flinch.

“It’s not red. It’s magenta.”

It was one of the boldest lies ever told in tech. And it made the ThinkPad iconic.

Years later, Hardy relayed the incident in an interview with Laptop Retrospective, detailing the design origins of the TrackPoint, the input stick resting in a central position of the ThinkPad keyboard since 1992.

Instantly recognizable today, the little red nub remains core to the ThinkPad’s identity. For anyone working in design, its history serves as a lesson on creative control and innovation.

Every designer knows red on black is a classic combination. So, for Hardy’s team, it was a no-brainer choice when first tasked with adding the TrackPoint to the system.

However, at the time, IBM instituted a strict color-code. For control systems like the TrackPoint, the standard was blue. Playing by the rules, the team toyed with that. According to Hardy, “it just didn’t sing like red did.”

They switched back to red. But there was a major problem with that.

Red was reserved for emergency power shutdowns. It’s the kill-switch color. Hardy knew, even then, the safety team had to approve the color scheme. There was no way they’d let it ship with a red cursor control. That simply wasn’t the way it was done.

Rather than fight and inevitably lose that battle, the designers got creative.

They scrapped every trace of ‘red’ in the documentation. They replaced it with ‘magenta’.

“The safety guys,” Hardy explained, “They may not know what magenta is, but they’ll know it’s not red.”

They may not know what magenta is, but they’ll know it’s not red.

Soon, the parts came in, labeled as magenta. No-one looked twice at them until the safety official snooped on a box of TrackPoints and demanded to know who approved the color for non-power related functions. He didn’t get an answer he liked. He threatened to shut down the whole production line.

Hardy got involved shortly after. Corporate on corporate combat ensued, arguing over the subjective difference between magenta and red. “The next stop in the line,” Hardy reminded them, “It goes to the CEO.”

Fighting his corner, he tells them, will be famed industrial designer Richard Sapper who created the classic ThinkPad design, as well as corporate graphic design consultant Paul Rand, the man behind the IBM logo. Both are color experts.

Even as the back and forth continued, Hardy’s team had linked up with the advertising team. The ad agency had poured millions of dollars into a campaign that was ready to launch. “So hot,” the adverts said with a close-up on the new TrackPoint, “We had to make it red.”

It was enough to make the safety team think twice. Later that day, an email was sent. It said: ‘Make them red.’

They’ve been the same iconic color ever since.

It's no secret I'm a massive ThinkPad fan ever since I got my paws on a T431s, but check out the best business laptops my team and I have tested.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached 6.66% on average Thursday.

(Image credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN)

The accusations against Dr. Anthony Fauci, once the nation's leading infectious disease expert, have some experts worrying that these events may further erode public health staffing in the U.S.

(Image credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg)

A ban on open Chinese AI models under the guise of security might actually put our cybersecurity more at risk.

• Iconic musician Willie Nelson has launched a fight against data centers
• The singer-songwriter cites noise, light pollution, and water theft among other complaints, and underlines the importance of family farmers
• The 93 year old country music icon’s statement was issued on Instagram

Willie Nelson has issued a strongly-worded statement about the growing impact of data centers on rural locations across the US.

Texas has seen an unprecedented data center boom over the past few years, with 300 installations already in operation and a further 250 planned, and facilities centered around Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio. Only Virginia has more data centers.

The writer of Wake Me When Its Over has had hit records and toured extensively for the past 70 years, and grew up in the Abbott, Texas area.

Data centers are concerning Texans

Nelson has a long history of political activism, notably forming the Farm Aid benefit in 1985 with Neil Young and John Mellencamp, to support and increase awareness of American family farms.

The growth of data centers has unsurprisingly concerned Texans for some time, with matters coming to increasing prominence in recent months.

Nelson’s words of concern over the increasing number of data centers and their impact on rural communities in America’s second-largest state is the highest profile intervention, however.

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Nelson's unsurprisingly passionate and eloquent statement highlights many of the challenges that data centers pose.

With more facilities being built to handle AI processing, it could be argued that some data centers solve problems that don’t really exist, such as generative AI, a technology that Willie Nelson has previously expressed deep concerns about.

Willie Nelson and friends

Nelson is far from the only opponent of data centers, and is joined by others in the music community.

Georgia-born Gavin Adcock, who like Nelson grew up in a rural area, may have a very different persona but has also expressed opposition: “These rich, money-grabbing assholes that wanna slap a data center straight in the country,” and suggesting the facilities are built in cities instead.

Fellow Texan Tanya Tucker, meanwhile, has already issued a video in which she asks Texans to contact Gov. Abbott and request a pause on developments, noting “I’m concerned about the 765 KV of transmission lines coming through all the ranches in Texas, and destroying our property. It hurts. It’s gonna hurt our health, our wildlife, our water table, our water resources. It’s going to scar our land forever.”

While no tech companies have responded to Willie Nelson’s statement, Gov. Greg Abbott has stated that the Texas Legislature will begin hearings regarding data centers this week.

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It starts on the 4 Train, that straight-run subway line from Grand Central to Yankee Stadium, where I start to notice the red shirts. By the time I reach the massive gray stadium, people are circling the Bronx Bomber’s edifice like thousands of red ants, all queuing up for a rare baseball season sight: football (soccer) in Yankee Stadium.

Most of the shirts are for Premier League side Liverpool FC, but there's a smattering of Wrexham kits. Some of them look threadbare, and none feature the club’s newest sponsor: Firefox. The travel and away kits were unveiled just days before — too soon for die-hard fans to show their support for the team and its well-known but, by some measures, marginal web browser.

Walking through Babe Ruth Plaza, I follow behind the red shirts until I’m lined up behind fans who have come from as far as Arkansas and California to witness the pre-season match. None are musing about Firefox’s new Wrexham sponsorship or how Mozilla (Firefox’s parent) took over from United, which itself took over from TikTok.

The Reynolds effect

(Image credit: FX/Disney Plus)

The scrappy Welsh club enjoys outsized notoriety thanks to its owners, actors and entrepreneurs Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, and the popular Hulu docu-series Welcome to Wrexham, which recounts the club’s rise from the ashes and ascent to, as of last season, just short of Premier League status.

While we wait to enter the stadium, the Liverpool team arrives late — following a day of storms and flight cancellations — on a pair of giant red touring buses to hearty cheers from the crowd. Everyone knows Wrexham, but the fans seem to be with Liverpool.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureHow does a browser and a keeper connect?

As we file in, I have time to think about the connection between Wrexham and Firefox. The kits, which I view later in person and on the field, are quite fetching. On top of the bold, red stretchable fabric is the iconic Firefox flame. It makes me think of the heat Mozilla hopes to generate around its best-known product.

The fit, though, between a scrappy football team and a portal you use to navigate the web, seems tenuous and as ill-fitted as the rectangular pitch they’ve somehow jury-rigged onto the baseball diamond. A covered home plate, third base, and right field jut out awkwardly, and much later a fan tells me the pitch looked kind of messy and maybe not a great experience for some of the players.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

It’s not that I don’t understand why Mozilla tied its sails to Wrexham. As I write this, Firefox sits, according to StatCounter, at 3.4% of the global browser market share. By contrast, Chrome has 69% and Safari almost 16%. Put another way, the browser wars are over.

It's not that Firefox is irrelevant, but it's not as relevant as it once was. There was a time, maybe 15 years ago, when I was firmly in the Firefox camp. I’d adopted it because I was working with so many developers, who were all using the leaner and (some thought) meaner platform. It was built on the premise of openness, running counter to Internet Explorer (RIP) and the fast-growing Google Chrome.

Over time, though, it started to suffer from the same resource-hogging issues as Internet Explorer. I eventually gave it up and migrated to Chrome, then had a dalliance with Microsoft Edge and have now settled on Chrome on the desktop and Safari for mobile. If I’m being honest, I stopped considering Firefox years ago.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)The most obvious answer

As the team took the makeshiift pitch and the stands filled with red shirts, I waited for Mozilla’s relatively new CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo and CMO John Solomon to arrive so I could quiz them about product plans and Mozilla’s dive into AI.

Enzor-DeMeo joined Mozilla in 2024 after stints at Roofstock, Better, and Wayfair. In each, the admitted nerd appears to have held positions relating to products, technology, and engineering. Solomon comes to Mozilla from Apple and Beats.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

When Enzor-DeMeo finally does arrive, he looks younger than I expected and has a sort of nervous energy. It’s been a busy few days with a lot of interviews, and when I try to ask about Mozilla and AI, he tells me he doesn’t want to do any more. Still, he’s open and affable, explaining that he’s a die-hard It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Rob McElhenney is a series star) fan, so much so that when someone else says they love the show, he asks them to name their favorite episode and then, without waiting for an answer, tells us his.

Still, Enzor-DeMeo was not a closet fan of the beautiful game. Instead, Solomon, who comes from the much more culturally connected Beats brand, suggested this partnership. Enzor-DeMeo watched Reynold’s Welcome to Wrexham doc and thought, “Oh, this makes a lot of sense.”

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

I stared at him, wondering what he saw that I didn’t. Sure, a partnership with the Red Dragons, as Wrexham are also known (I even spotted their red dragon mascot wandering the pitch and hugging fans) makes some sense. You know, fire, dragons? And this would be Wrexham’s second tech sponsorship after TikTok, which was widely featured in early seasons of Welcome to Wrexham. Mozilla confirmed that as they film the new season, we will see the Firefox brand on display in some fashion.

I looked at Enzor-DeMeo, who was still enthusiastically talking about It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and asked him, “What’s the throughline from Firefox to Wrexham?” Enzor-DeMeo smiled and quickly answered, “Underdog.”

The only thing that would’ve made the moment more perfect is if an announcer suddenly screamed, “Goooooaaaallll!” But I got it.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)It's never just about money

If you’ve never seen the documentary, Wrexham AFC was the disintegrating center of a hardscrabble town that, despite over 150 years of footballing history, had been largely forgotten and fallen to the fifth tier of the English league system. Achieving Premier League status, a feat they very nearly accomplished last season, seemed impossible. Until Reynolds and McElhenney arrived.

Sure, there are people unhappy with the way celebrity and money have throw off the balance of a well-worn system, but if you watch the doc, you know that it was never enough to throw money and fame at it. It’s a very human story with equal measures of failure and success.

Firefox is surely the underdog in the browser game. Built on its own Gecko browser engine, it stands apart from Google, Apple and Microsoft, which all have a profit motive in having you use their platforms. Mozilla’s parent organization is non-profit, and although the Mozilla Corp, under which Firefox lives, is for-profit, its revenues are used to fund the non-profit effort.

Like its competitors, Firefox has AI features, letting you access the AI chatbot of your choice in a sidebar, and using AI to help you organize tabs. It does, though, seem a bit less interested in force-feeding AI.

Still, underdog status is no guarantee of a Cinderella story, and as the game drags on with countless missed shots and a handful of fouls, I wonder if Wrexham can embarrass Liverpool in front of its US fans. A moment later, Liverpool manages at roughly 60 minutes in to sail one over the outstretched arms of Wrexham substitute goalkeeper Callum Burton.

There’s no victory for the underdog this time, but it’s the pre-season, and Wrexham and its new sponsor Firefox should have many more chances to win on the pitch.

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