Power bank feature creep is out of control 
Power bank feature creep is out of control 

There was a time not too long ago when buying a power bank was as easy as choosing the cheapest portable battery that could charge your phone and quickly slip into your pocket, purse, or backpack. The hardest part was deciding whether it was time to ditch USB-A ports. Recently, however, brands have been slathering […]

No, Microsoft didn’t rebrand Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot
No, Microsoft didn’t rebrand Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft has got the internet confused, again. Over the past couple of days posts on Reddit, Hacker News, and X have claimed Microsoft has rebranded Microsoft Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot. As much as Microsoft loves to shove its Copilot branding everywhere, Office hasn’t been renamed to “Microsoft 365 Copilot app.” The confusion comes from […]

Meet the new tech laws of 2026
Meet the new tech laws of 2026

As usual, 2025 was a year of deep congressional dysfunction in the US. But state legislatures were passing laws that govern everything from AI to social media to the right to repair. Many of these laws, alongside rules passed in past years, take effect in 2026 – either right now or in the coming months. […]

Killing in the name of… nothing
Killing in the name of… nothing

In a good and just society, it would have been possible to bury Charlie Kirk without either threatening mass violence toward his enemies or making light of his death with a furry sex meme. But America in 2025 did not remotely resemble a working society, let alone a civil one, and Kirk’s killing came prepackaged […]

12 investors dish on what 2026 will bring for climate tech

After a tumultuous year, venture investors are still optimistic about climate tech’s long term prospects, especially as data centers continue to drive demand for electricity, manufacturing, and materials.

Free speech’s great leap backwards
Free speech’s great leap backwards

In early December, Joshua Aaron, the developer behind the ICEBlock app – designed to let people alert others about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents – filed a federal lawsuit alleging his First Amendment rights were violated. The Department of Justice had urged Apple to remove Aaron’s app from its App Store, […]

Why the electrical grid needs more software

The electrical grid is facing unprecedented stress from the addition of new data centers. Software could offer a cost-effective way to boost reliability and capacity.

Hollywood cozied up to AI in 2025 and had nothing good to show for it
Hollywood cozied up to AI in 2025 and had nothing good to show for it

AI isn’t new to Hollywood – but this was the year when it really made its presence felt. For years now, the entertainment industry has used different kinds of generative AI products for a variety of post-production processes ranging from de-aging actors to removing green screen backgrounds. In many instances, the technology has been a […]

The year the government broke
The year the government broke

The first crack showed right before Inauguration Day. The year before, Congress had overwhelmingly passed a bill banning TikTok unless it broke ties with its Chinese parent company. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld it, and it was clear what needed to happen next: either the president could give TikTok another 90 days to complete a […]

‘Friend slop’ made co-op gaming goofier than ever in 2025
‘Friend slop’ made co-op gaming goofier than ever in 2025

When a friend invited me to play a new game called REPO earlier this year, I thought I was wasting my money – not because the game looked bad, but because it looked like Lethal Company. The surprise-hit 2024 co-op survival horror game has players wander through unnerving ruined structures collecting trash while evading monsters. […]