7 global buzzwords for 2025: From 'techquity' to 'climate displacement' to 'belonging'
What words will be buzzing about in the global health and development hive in the year ahead? Our experts have nominations for your consideration.
Exit interview: DOT Sec. Buttigieg on infrastructure act and the road ahead
In an exit interview with All Things Considered, DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg reflects on the Biden administration's infrastructure act and why it didn't resonate with some voters.
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
viticci@macstories.net ("Federico Viticci :ticciseal:") wrote:
At MacStories, we won't stand for Meta's dehumanizing, harmful moderation practices.
Fuck them and everyone who builds their business upon a semblance of "free speech" to ostracize minorities and all kinds of humans.
For this reason, we're leaving Threads and Instagram behind.
You can read about our decision here, and find some links to support different organizations today: https://www.macstories.net/stories/macstories-wont-stand-for-metas-dehumanizing-and-harmful-moderation-policies/
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
gutenberg_org ("Project Gutenberg") wrote:
English author Agatha Christie died #OTD in 1976.
She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap.
Watch our podcast about The Big Four:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoKUX5a7T0Y&t=74sBooks by Agatha Chrissie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451
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Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
kcarruthers@infosec.exchange wrote:
LA fire misinformation campaign goes into hyperdrive via @camwalker.bsky.social
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
bert_hubert@fosstodon.org ("bert hubert 🇺🇦🇪🇺") wrote:
Someone just reported a crash in my Dutch post code database tooling. Turns out this was very likely hardware related, which made me think of my ~16 year old blog post "The 14 stages of any real software project":
https://blog.netherlabs.nl/articles/2008/11/16/the-fourteen-stages-of-any-real-software-project
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- The fourteen stages of any real software project Posted by bert hubert on 11/16/2008 Idea - estimates for time to completion range from 3 days to 3 weeks Pretty convincing first stab ‘look how cool this would be’ The Hard Slog to get something that actually works. Estimates now range from 3 months to 3 years. First real users pop up, discovery is made that all assumptions were off Starts to look good to the first real user Elation! Someone actually uses the code it for real, the bugs come out in droves A zillion bugs get addressed, harsh words are spoken Elation! The guy you had previously told that 100 million users would not ‘in principle’ be a problem actually took your word for it, and deployed it on said user base. Harsh words are spoken. Fundamentals are reviewed, large fractions of the code base reworked Product now actually does what everybody hoped it would do. Even very unlikely bugs have cropped up by now, and have been addressed. Even rare use cases are now taken into account. If a user complains of a crash at this stage, you can voice doubts about the quality of his hardware or operating system. (remote)
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
joeinwynnewood@mstdn.social ("Grassroots Joe") wrote:
"That's an aspect of this that I haven't heard many people mention: moving your company to Texas in 2024 and 2025 is a pretty brazenly misogynistic move, in that you're demanding the women of your company move to a state in which their lives will be put at greater risk in comparison to the company's men."
Zuckerberg's plan to move Meta employees to Texas isn't just toadying—he's also a vapid, misogynistic creep
https://www.unchartedblue.com/zuckerbergs-plan-to-move-meta-employees-to-texas-isnt-just-toadying-hes-also-a-vapid-misogynistic-creep/
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
We are seeing unprecedented levels of traffic to pixelfed.social, and we are working to keep the service up and provision additional resources!
We appreciate your patience.
dave@toot.community ("Dave") wrote:
Just finished the 10-day trial of 2025 and I’ve decided not to subscribe.
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
they are organized, but the fires are huge
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I just want you to know that the drunk-posts that I typed tonight but didn't send were all bangers.
asnev@bark.lgbt ("asnev 🇵🇸") wrote:
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If it only were that easy ...
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This Near-Extinct Bird Has Returned to the Rice Fields of Japan’s Sado Island
This story was originally published by Atlas Obscura and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Sado Island perches like a butterfly with its wings outstretched just off the curved west coast of Japan. Yet this land mass is better known as the home of another winged creature: the crested ibis, called toki in Japanese. Hop on a shinkansen (a high-speed train) from Tokyo […]
How one U.S. conservationist's work is helping to preserve Chile's wilderness
Chile is set to gain its 47th national park early this year — largely due to the efforts of U.S. conservationist Kristine Tompkins and her organization.
Robotwig@pixelfed.social ("Steve Berry - Visual Artist") wrote:
"We could be pets, we could be food, but all we really are is livestock."
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All shot using real lighting, figures and miniature sets.
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Well that's the end of my Horror themed miniatures month, hope you enjoyed the selection this year.
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#theylive #johncarpenter #creativephotography #scifi #actionfigurephotography #toyphotography #photography #miniaturephotography #miniatures #photography
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dansinker@omfg.town ("Dan Sinker") wrote:
Sometimes I lie awake and think about these headlines and sometimes I just lie awake.
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dragon@lesbian.solutions ("teh dragon of online") wrote:
For sale
Two vast trunkless legs of stone
Never worn
People are rushing to install solar panels before Trump becomes President
Potential rooftop solar customers and installers worry the incoming Trump administration might try to eliminate a 30% federal tax credit. Some customers plan to install sooner because of that and solar companies are changing their business plans.
isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:
Alright, I may be fairly slow realizing it, but the headline starting with "Why everyone's obsessed with …" is just an ad for the thing. It's okay that you haven't heard about it before, they're just trying to FOMO you.
Pillars of Local Journalism.
https://jwz.org/b/ykgI
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dangillmor ("Dan Gillmor") wrote:
Biden gets an early start on Trump's deport-them-all madness. Crops go unharvested.
If you like food inflation, this is the way to make it surge.
https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/01/kern-county-immigration-sweep/
Jack Smith has resigned from the justice department, after submitting his Trump report
Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department after submitting his report on President-elect Donald Trump, amid legal wrangling over how much of the document can be made public.
claytoncubitt.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy ("Clayton Cubitt") wrote:
The Social Network, 2010, dir David Fincher
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Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:
Last summer. Ambleside.
📷 Pentax KX
🎞️ Fuji Superia X-tra 400
🔭 Pentax M 50mm/1.7
⚗️ Come Through Lab#BelieveInFilm #FilmPhotography #AnalogPhotography #35mm #Cumbria #LakeDistrict #TheLakes
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cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
I dug out an old music archive last year from about 15 years ago, and I have been dipping into it every now and then, "rediscovering" the stuff I have. Anyway, I've been enjoying William Orbit's "Strange Cargo III" this evening while I do some chores:
https://www.williamorbit.com/albums/strange-cargo-iii
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ng3xJsg174seUYgCpCPKj6Q9gsMtZF0fo
isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:
"Gen Z needs office etiquette skills, hiring managers say" [1]
Let me rephrase that for you: hiring managers who don't understand what their job is need to quit.
Your job as a hiring manager is to hire from the available people willing to work. Not to complain about them, not to try to "educate" them to be more to your liking.
[1]: https://www.salon.com/2025/01/06/gen-z-needs-office-etiquette-skills-hiring-managers-say/
TomWellborn@universeodon.com ("TomWellborn3") wrote:
States with a smaller population than Los Angeles County.
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Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
heyceeb@mastodon.art ("CB") wrote:
Hey all! New account, same CB, I’ve been away from being online for a while and am finally getting around to setting things back up again with the hope to be a little more informal to just engage in social media through the lens of loving to make shit, and a clean slate felt necessary. Here’s to a happy new year to you all, and some recent ink sketches from my sketchbook.
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Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
jamey@toot.cat ("Jamey Sharp") wrote:
This is a delightful example of the creativity and beauty that blog posts can have when we leave our social media silos (I say, while posting on a platform where I can't do anything like this): https://ribo.zone/blog/2024-in-review/
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
Things that catch my eye while we're driving through rural land.
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- Photo of an old volkswagen van and bug made into a single vehicle. The van is the front of the new vehicle and the bug is the back. The finish appears to be sanded down to metal and primer. White walls on tires and the front window is open---tilted out from the bottom of the pane. Parked along the curb in (possibly) Banks, OR 2024. (remote)
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
juanof9@fosstodon.org ("Juan Ortiz Freuler") wrote:
Lenses
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pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Can Ray Comfort get any more despicable? He's evangelizing off the California wildfires now.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/01/11/the-ghouls-are-rising-in-california/
Apocalyptic webcam time-lapses.
ALERTCalifornia:
https://jwz.org/b/ykgG
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Biden awards Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction
The White House commended Pope Francis for his commitment to serving the poor, as well as advocating for peace and protecting the planet.
USDA report finds Boar's Head listeria outbreak was due to poor sanitation practices
A report released by the Department of Agriculture found that poor sanitation practices at a Boar's Head facility in Virginia contributed to the largest listeria outbreak since 2011.
LillyHerself ("LillyLyle/Count Melancholia") wrote:
I hear Zuck doesn't think fact-checking is necessary.
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loshmi@social.coop ("Miloš Jovanović") wrote:
All kinds of Malthusian nonsense on the internet about how California is incompatible with this level of human settlement etc. This is fascist ideology masking itself in environmentalist terms.
We can build buildings out of less flammable material. We can build in higher density, rewilding suburban areas. We can severely restrict fossil fuel use in LA County.
We have the resources, they are just not distributed fairly.
Reblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
enron@tilde.zone ("Enron Hubbard") wrote:
Folks remembering #AaronSwartz today - remember that he was moving publicly-funded research out from behind a paywall.
Then remember the only reason the case went forward is because federal prosecutors, specifically Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann, wanted to make an example of him.
“Theft is theft, and it doesn’t matter if you use a crowbar or a computer” were Heymann’s words at the time.
Notice how federal prosecutors aren’t bullying Sam Altman for the wholesale theft of content network-wide, to build a machine that spews bullshit and further destroys our ability to determine the truth?
It’s because he’s doing it for private profit, while Aaron worked for the public good.
Never let yourself be tricked into believing the legal system is a justice system.
Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:
#NoRollsBarred playing Captain Sonar against the @yogscast
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
fanf@mendeddrum.org ("Tony Finch") wrote:
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3687997.3695639 - The design of a self-compiling C transpiler targeting POSIX shell.
confirmation that FB had some offices remove sanitary pads from men's restrooms: https://archive.ph/zSajm
more than anything, this cruelty reads as performative - making a big show of "turning anti-woke" to please his new master. and his pathetic whining on rogan completes the picture: this is a man who has some idea just how widely hated he is, knows his empire is crumbling, believes in nothing but his own self-preservation, and is kissing the old-new oligarch's ring to save himself.
TicklishHoneyBee@twoot.site ("Lisa") wrote:
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dnalounge@sfba.social ("DNA Lounge") wrote:
♬️ SECRET PSYCHEDELICA: CAPRICORN at DNA Lounge tonight: Sat Jan 11, 9pm!
https://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2025/01-11d.html?utm_source=sp_ma
#dnalounge #secretpsychedelica #piscesmusic #psytrance #house #techno #trance #sanfrancisco
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dnalounge@sfba.social ("DNA Lounge") wrote:
21 years ago today at DNA Lounge: INCREDIBLY STRANGE WRESTLING: The Snackmaster's Booty Call (poster by the legendary Chuck Sperry)
https://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2004/01-11.html?utm_source=sp_ma
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How Watch Duty’s wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
‘We view what we are doing as a public service,’ says the cofounder of the nonprofit that millions of people are relying on to stay safe.
If you live in Los Angeles, you are probably already intimately familiar with Watch Duty, the free app that shows active fires, mandatory evacuation zones, air quality indexes, wind direction, and a wealth of other information that everyone, from firefighters to regular people, have come to rely on during this week’s historic and devastating wildfires.
Watch Duty is unique in the tech world in that it doesn’t care about user engagement, time spent, or ad sales. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit behind it only cares about the accuracy of the information it provides and the speed with which the service can deliver that information. The app itself has taken off, rocketing to the top of Apple’s and Google’s app stores. Over 1 million people have downloaded it over the last few days alone.
The elegance of the app lies in its simplicity. It doesn’t scrape user data, show ads, require any kind of login, or track your information. Its simple tech stack and UI — most of which is maintained by volunteer engineers and reporters — has likely helped save countless lives. While Watch Duty is free to use, the app accepts tax-deductible donations and offers two tiers of membership that unlock additional features, like a firefighting flight tracker and the ability to set alerts for more than four counties.
With plans to expand the service across the United States, as well as overseas and into other emergency services, Watch Duty may eventually replace some of the slower and less reliable local government alert systems for millions of people.
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Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu via Getty Images
An app born from fire
The idea for Watch Duty came to cofounder John Mills while he was trying to protect his off-grid Sonoma County home from the Walbridge fire in 2020. He realized there wasn’t a single source for all the information people needed to protect themselves from the blaze, which ultimately killed 33 people and destroyed 156 homes. John and his friend David Merritt, who is Watch Duty’s cofounder and CTO, decided to build an app to help.
“This came out of an idea that John had, and he talked to me about it four years ago,” Merritt tells The Verge. “We built the app in 60 days, and it was run completely by volunteers, no full-time staff. It was a side project for a lot of engineers, so the aim was to keep it as simple as possible.”
Fire reporting is piecemeal at best in fire-prone areas and frequently scattered across platforms like Facebook and X, where fire departments and counties have verified pages sharing relevant updates. But increasingly, social media platforms are putting automated access for alert services behind paywalls. Governments also use a wide variety of alert systems, causing delays that can cost lives, especially in fast-moving fires like the Palisades and Eaton fires that have forced evacuations for more than 180,000 people. And sometimes, these government-run alerts are sent out mistakenly, causing mass confusion.
Watch Duty simplifies all that for millions of people.
“We view what we are doing as a public service,” says Merritt. “It is a utility that everyone should have, which is timely, relevant information for their safety during emergencies. Right now, it’s very scattered. Even the agencies themselves, which have the best intentions, their hands are tied by bureaucracy or contracts. We partner with government sources with a focus on firefighting.”
“We view what we are doing as a public service.”
One of the biggest issues around fires, in particular, is that they can move quickly and consume large swaths of land and structures in minutes. For example, the winds that drove the Palisades fire to spread to more than 10,000 acres reached 90 miles per hour on Tuesday. When minutes matter, the piecemeal alert system that Watch Duty replaces can cause delays that cost lives.
“Some of the delivery systems for push notifications and text messages that government agencies use had a 15-minute delay, which is not good for fire,” says Merritt. “We shoot to have push notifications out in under a minute. Right now, 1.5 million people in LA are getting push notifications through the app. That’s a lot of messages to send out in 60 seconds. In general, people are getting it pretty much all at the same time.”
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Image: Watch Duty
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Image: Watch Duty
A simple tech stack
For Watch Duty, this kind of mass communication requires reliable technology as well as a group of dedicated staff and skilled volunteers. Merritt says that Watch Duty relies on a number of corporate partners with whom it has relationships and contracts to provide its service.
“We shoot to have push notifications out in under a minute.”
The app is built on a mix of technology, including Google’s cloud platform, Amazon Web Services, Firebase, Fastly, and Heroku. Merritt says the app uses some AI, but only for internal routing of alerts and emails. Reporters at Watch Duty — those who listen to scanners and update the app with push notifications about everything from air drops to evacuation updates — are mostly volunteers who coordinate coverage via Slack.
“All information is vetted for quality over quantity,” he says. “We have a code of conduct for reporters. For example, we never report on injuries or give specific addresses. It’s all tailored with a specific set of criteria. We don’t editorialize. We report on what we have heard on the scanners.”
According to Merritt, the app has 100 percent uptime. Even though it started with volunteer engineers, the nonprofit has slowly added more full-time people. “We still have volunteers helping us, but it’s becoming more on the internal paid staff as we grow, as things get more complex, and as we have more rigorous processes,” he says.
“All information is vetted for quality over quantity.”
He says there are no plans to ever charge for the app or scrape user data. The approach is kind of the Field of Dreams method to building a free app that saves people’s lives: if you build it well, the funding will come.
“It’s the antithesis of what a lot of tech does,” Merritt says. “We don’t want you to spend time in the app. You get information and get out. We have the option of adding more photos, but we limit those to the ones that provide different views of a fire we have been tracking. We don’t want people doom scrolling.”
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Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images
Collecting information in the era of Trump
Watch Duty relies heavily on publicly available information from places like the National Weather Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. Should the incoming Trump administration decide to execute on threats to dismantle and disband the EPA (which monitors air quality) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency to the National Weather Service, such moves would impact Watch Duty’s ability to operate.
Even still, Merritt is optimistic. “We will be pretty well insulated from any change to policy,” he says. “We are either buying that information ourselves already or we are happy to buy it, and we will take that cost on. The fact that we’re soon going to be covering the entire US will defray the cost of anything that shifts from a policy perspective. Our operation costs are mostly salaries. We are trying to hire really good engineers and have a really solid platform. If we need to raise a grant to buy data from the National Weather Service, then we will.”
Regardless of what the next administration does, it’s clear that Watch Duty has become a critical and necessary app for those in Southern California right now. The app currently covers 22 states and plans to roll out nationwide soon.
“We got 1.4 million app downloads in the last few days,” according to Merritt. “I think we have only received 60 support tickets, so that shows that something is working there. We are really just focused on the delivery of this information.”
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
I admit, due to circumstance beyond my control, my listening was frequently interrupted, but despite that, I enjoyed this set from Nilüfer Yanya this morning:
Firefighters make progress on LA blazes, and alert system is changed
Firefighters made progress overnight on almost all of the active fires, including the massive Palisades and Eaton blazes, officials said.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
m2m@sonomu.club ("Simone S") wrote:
As mentioned a few days ago, I wrote a post that might read like yet another manifesto, when in fact it's a series of choices that I have either already gone through, or am about to.
In general, it's a mid-long term plan that I want to follow to regain sanity.
A winter storm wraps up in the South, with travel delays and power outages persisting
The significant winter storm had passed in the South by Saturday morning, but travel issues and power outages were still ongoing.
Amazon Prime will shut down its clothing try-on program
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon will be winding down its Prime Try Before You Buy program, which let Prime members try on clothes before paying for them, reports The Information. It will shutter on January 31st, according to a banner at the top of the service’s landing page.
Amazon spokesperson Maxine Tagay said in a statement emailed to The Verge that the company is discontinuing the service because it only worked for a “limited number of items” and customers have been “increasingly using our new AI-powered features” to decide what to buy.
Tagay gave examples like Virtual Try-On AR feature that puts 3D renders of shoes from certain brands on your feet using your smartphone’s camera. She also mentioned the company’s LLM-powered “personalized size recommendations” that tweak size recommendations based on customer reviews.
Prime Try Before You Buy launched in 2018 for all Prime subscribers as Amazon Wardrobe before the company later changed its name. Through it, Prime members can order up to six items, try them for seven days, then pay for what works and send back the rest — like a very basic version of Stitch Fix’s curated clothing service. But a big part of that is returns, which is something the...
Anker’s display-equipped wall charger from CES is already on sale
Anker’s latest GaN offering sports four USB ports on the bottom, which isn’t where they’re typically relocated. | Image: Anker
The inventive gadgets and gizmos at CES can often define the year, but most everything that appears on the showroom floor isn’t going to be available until later in the year, if at all. Fortunately, that’s not the case with Anker’s 140W GaN charger, which is already available in black or silver for $79.99 ($10 off) when you clip the on-page coupon at Amazon or use promo code WSCPV2LBR7KR at Anker’s online storefront.
Out of all the chargers to come out of CES this year, the Anker Charger (140W) easily offers one of the more refreshing designs. The wall charger is unique in that it positions all four USB ports on the underside of the device, thus reorienting its center of gravity and helping prevent it from falling out when loaded with weighty cables. Two of those ports are USB-C ports that supply up to 140W of power — letting you top off everything from a Nintendo Switch to the latest MacBook Pro — while a third USB-C port maxes out at 40W. It also features a single USB-A port limited to 33W, as well as a built-in info display for viewing temperature data and the power output for each port.
More ways to save this weekend
- Amazon is selling its Smart Air Quality Monitor for $49.99 ($20 off), which is only $5 more than its best price to date. The compact device uses phone and voice alerts (via Echo speakers) to let you know when it detects abnormal changes in particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, humidity, and temperature. It can even automatically trigger Alexa-enabled air purifiers, along with humidifiers and other connected devices.
- Samsung’s budget-friendly Galaxy Buds FE are down to $59.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, nearly matching their lowest price to date. They’re a good bet if you could care less about multipoint support and wireless charging, as they offer reliable performance, enjoyable sound, and surprisingly good noise cancellation for the price. They also sport a wing tip design, which can provide a more secure fit if you struggle with traditional in-ears. Read our review.
Note: Quentyn Kennemer also contributed to this post.
As fires in Los Angeles rage, an already-hurting Hollywood presses pause
The fires around Los Angeles arrived just as Hollywood's awards season kicked off. It's an ominous sign at a time when film and TV production is already down.
The Messy Politics of Presidential Pardons
President Joe Biden has issued a flurry of pardons during his final days in office, beginning with his grant of clemency to his son Hunter and continuing with a mid-December announcement that he had pardoned or commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans. This week, Biden told reporters that he was still considering issuing preemptive […]
Wicked Star Cynthia Erivo Really Wants To Play This X-Men Character
“Wicked” actress Cynthia Erivo clearly has a thing for playing characters who fly. In an interview at the National Board of Review Awards Gala, Erivo was asked what “dream role” she’s manifesting for her future. And now, she said she’s ready to tackle one of the most iconic superheroes in history.
Disney And Starbucks Have A $50 Collab That May Not Suck
Starbucks is looking to reignite consumer interest by teaming up with Disney for a limited-edition Minnie Mouse-themed collection.
Everything we know (and think we know) about the Nintendo Switch 2
Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
Leaks and rumors supported by multiple third-party manufactures make up the bulk of info out there about the new Switch.
Nintendo’s announcement of the Switch successor is imminent. Just how imminent is anyone’s guess with the company stating that it would reveal info on the console before the end of its fiscal year in March. Rumors regarding the new Switch have been circulating for more than a year, but with less than two months to go until the promised deadline, and in the absence of any real information from Nintendo itself, speculation about the console, its specs, physical profile, and more have reached a fever pitch. So before the official reveal, here’s everything we think we know about Nintendo’s next console.
The only concrete, Nintendo-confirmed piece of information we know about the new console is that it’ll be backwards compatible with the Switch. Everything else has come by way of leaks and info supplied by third-party manufacturers. Late last year, one such manufacturer, Dbrand, debuted its Killswitch carrying case meant for the Switch 2. According to Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz, the Killswitch is based on the “actual dimensions” of the new console obtained from a “3D scan of the real hardware.” But in an interview with The Verge, he declined to say exactly how or where Dbrand obtained such information.
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Image: Dbrand
Dbrand’s render of its Killswitch 2 case.
If the Killswitch’s design is indeed derived from the real thing, the new console will be larger than the Switch OLED with an 8-inch screen, and feature a kickstand that will span the length of the console similar to the OLED model. That the new Switch will be larger than previous iterations is supported by leaks and info from other accessory manufacturers as well as the idea that the Joy-Con controllers will attach via magnet instead of sliding and snapping into place. The new controller design will also incorporate magnets in the joysticks to combat against the dreaded “Joy-Con drift” that plagues the Switch even now.
CES 2025 provided even more fodder for the rumor mill, with accessory manufacturer Genki showing off a 3D printed mock-up of the console on the show floor. In an interview with The Verge, Genki CEO Eddie Tsai went into detail about what he knows about the new Switch reaffirming rumors regarding its larger size, magnetic Joy-Con, and more.
While there’s a lot of speculation and potential evidence about what the new console will look like, there’s less circulating about what it can actually do. Beyond an alleged photo of the console’s motherboard, there hasn’t been much out there about the console’s hardware specifications. Because Nintendo has never made consoles at the bleeding edge (or, honestly, even the cutting one) of graphics or processing power, it’s hard to guess how well the console will perform or what additional features, like a microphone, it’ll have.
Though the console’s internals remain a mystery, we do know that it’ll be backwards compatible with Switch games. We can also reasonably guess at least one game that’ll be a launch title: Metroid Prime 4. Announced in 2017, and undergoing a change of studio and a development reboot two years later, Nintendo debuted gameplay footage for the first time last year and shared a soft launch window of 2025. When Twilight Princess launched in 2006, it debuted on both the GameCube and served as a launch title for the Wii. Breath of the Wild was also cross-gen, debuting on the Wii U while launching with the Switch in 2017.
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Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
At CES 2025, The Verge saw a 3D printed mockup of the Nintendo Switch 2, here it is next to the Steam Deck.
Knowing that the new Switch and Metroid Prime 4 both launch in 2025 and with Twilight Princess and BotW as examples, it’s speculated that the reason for Metroid 4’s long stint in development hell was, at least in part, because the game was being tooled for both the Switch and its successor. Also, you just can’t have a new Nintendo console without a Mario game. Super Mario Odyssey was a Switch launch title, and though there’s been other new releases like Super Mario Wonder, there hasn’t been a new, standalone (put down your pitchforks Bowser’s Fury fans) 3D Mario game since then. It’s all but assured one will be announced with the new Switch. The recently announced Pokémon Legends: Z-A is also a good launch title candidate as Nintendo curiously worded the game’s debut trailer with “releasing simultaneously worldwide on Nintendo Switch in 2025.”
For all the rumors and reasonable guesses supported by increasingly convincing evidence, it’s helpful to remember that at the end of the day, we’re still talking about Nintendo. The company has always tread a separate and unpredictable path from the other two major console manufacturers and that oddball strategy has mostly worked very well. Though the company is not immune to the same layoffs and delays (the Switch 2 was originally pegged for a 2024 release) plaguing its peers and indeed has its own manifold issues with how it treats and pays its employees and contractors, of the major publishers, it seems to be the one that is best navigating the current crisis ravaging the industry.
It is folly trying to predict what Nintendo will do, and that applies to its new console. All we can count on is that it’s coming soon, and when it arrives, it’ll be big.
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Rudy Giuliani Is Held In Contempt—Again
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Why are so many indigenous Panamanians contracting HIV — and dying of AIDS?
The government provides HIV medicines free of charge. Yet in one indigenous territory, cases and deaths are increasing at an alarming rate.
New renders show the Samsung Galaxy S25 lineup ahead of Unpacked
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
New renders of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series have appeared in a leak from Android Headlinesahead of Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event later this month. The most obvious change here is that Samsung has tweaked the design of the S25 Ultra, rounding off the phone’s corners a bit.
From the renders, it looks like you’ll be able to get the non-Ultra S25s in light blue, dark blue, light green, and silver. The Ultra will come in black, gray, and two silvery colors with either a white or blue tint.
Here’s a gallery of some of the images, but be sure to head over to Android Headlines for the rest:
Apart from the new colors, the non-Ultra phones are almost indistinguishable from the S24 line. But one finer detail that’s changed is the way the camera bumps seem to nod at the look of a traditional camera lens barrel that flares out at the end. Internally, look for a CPU bump from Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips to new Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile processors, but not much else. You can read more about the internals in a separate specs leak that Android Headlines also published yesterday.
Stay tuned for our coverage of the next Galaxy Unpacked event on January 22nd, at which we expect the company will reveal plenty of details about these phones. Naturally, you can bet it will talk about new AI features, too. Maybe by then, I’ll have stopped thinking about connecting “to compatible ships” through Matter with SmartThings.
In a bitter fight for the Minnesota Legislature, Democrats have threatened a walkout
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Photos: Southern California residents return to devastation as two major wildfires rage on
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New Glenn: how to watch Blue Origin’s next big rocket launch
Image: Blue Origin
Blue Origin is preparing for one of its biggest launches yet. On Sunday, the Jeff Bezos-owned commercial space company will attempt to send its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket into space for the first time.
The launch comes after almost a decade of development, and its outcome could threaten the dominance of Elon Musk’s SpaceX — not only in the commercial space industry but also in the satellite internet business. Here’s an overview of what you need to know about the New Glenn flight and how to watch it live.
What is New Glenn, and why is it important?
First announced in 2016, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is meant to shuttle cargo, satellites, and, in the future, people into space. The New Glenn is named after John Glenn, the first NASA astronaut to enter the Earth’s orbit.
Its first stage is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s powerful BE-4 engines, which run on liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen. Blue Origin aims to reuse New Glenn’s first stage for at least 25 missions, as it’s designed to touch down vertically on a sea-based platform following launch, allowing the company to retrieve it.
The rocket’s upper stage is disposable and carries Blue Origin’s payload. It’s capable of sending 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit and 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit. Blue Origin says New Glenn is also “engineered with the safety and redundance required to fly humans.” Though Blue Origin initially aimed to launch New Glenn in 2020, its inaugural flight kept getting pushed back due to issues with the development of its BE-4 engine and other technical mishaps.
As pointed out by NPR, New Glenn has a similar carrying capacity to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, but it stands out with a larger, 23-foot-wide cargo bay. If New Glenn’s launch is successful, it could heat up its rivalry with SpaceX as both companies vie to secure lucrative government contracts.
New Glenn is also key to Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite internet initiative. Though the company’s first set of satellites is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket this year, Blue Origin will eventually launch Project Kuiper satellites aboard New Glenn, rivaling SpaceX’s Starlink. Amazon plans to send 3,236 Project Kuiper satellites into space, which is still far fewer than Starlink’s growing constellation of more than 6,000 satellites.
What to expect from New Glenn’s first launch
New Glenn is set to take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a three-hour launch window opening on January 12th at 1AM ET (10PM PT). The launch was originally scheduled for January 10th, but it was pushed back due to “a high sea state in the Atlantic.”
During this uncrewed launch, New Glenn will have the Blue Ring Pathfinder on board, a payload consisting of a communications array, a power system, and a flight computer. It will test the company’s Blue Ring spacecraft, which will help support missions with refueling, hosting, data relay, and cloud computing capabilities. The goal is for New Glenn to reach orbit, while “anything beyond that,” like landing its reusable booster is a “bonus,” according to Blue Origin CEO David Limp.
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Image: Blue Origin
The Blue Ring Pathfinder will be aboard the New Glenn during its first launch.
“This is our first flight and we’ve prepared rigorously for it,” Jarrett Jones, the senior vice president of New Glenn, said in a statement. “But no amount of ground testing or mission simulations are a replacement for flying this rocket. It’s time to fly. No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch.”
How to watch New Glenn’s launch live
Blue Origin will likely stream the launch live from its website and YouTube channel. We’ll embed the stream below once it becomes available.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
ghostdancer@mastodon.sdf.org wrote:
"The Egg" by Andy Weir
Same story 3 media 3 versions
Why Honda is merging with Nissan: factories, SUVs, and China
Photo by PHILIP FONG / AFP via Getty Images
Honda’s potential merger with Nissan would represent one of the largest shake-ups to the industry since the creation of Stellantis in 2021. But there are huge risks involved, too.
On Tuesday in Las Vegas, during a roundtable discussion with select media, Honda executives offered some more insight into the merger, including how combining resources and factories could help the companies stay competitive in the increasingly costly fight with China.
Honda is concerned about China’s meteoric rise as a dominant and highly competitive player in the EV and autonomous driving space. In late December, when Honda and Nissan announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to create an automotive company worth around $50 billion, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said that the “rise of Chinese automakers and new players has changed the car industry quite a lot... We have to build up capabilities to fight with them by 2030, otherwise we’ll be beaten.”
Honda executives offered some more insight into the merger
The stakes are high, too. According to a recent report by S&P Global Mobility, the global EV market will grow nearly 30 percent year over year, with 89.6 million new EVs expected to be sold this year. According to Allied Market Research, the global autonomous vehicle market is expected to reach around $60.3 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $448.6 billion by 2035. If the Japanese automakers want to continue to dominate the market as they have since the 1960s, they have to iterate quickly and get products into consumers’ hands.
“Since the beginning of last year, we’ve been in conversation with Nissan,” Noriya Kaihara, director and executive vice president at Honda, said through a translator following the company’s debut of two “production prototypes,” the Honda 0 Saloon and the Honda 0 SUV at CES. “Nothing has been decided but we’ve been discussing how to proceed.”
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Photo: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
The Honda 0 Saloon at CES.
Honda wants Nissan’s large SUVs and underutilized factories
During the roundtable, Kaihara said that Honda is looking at Nissan as a way to reduce costs around future software-defined vehicles (SDV).
“We have significant labor and development costs, and if there are operations we could share, that would be good for us,” he said. Developing brand-new software, he continued, including advanced driving systems that move closer to autonomous vehicles and battery-electric vehicles, is both increasingly important for the longevity of established automakers and increasingly expensive.
Honda also said that Nissan’s large SUVs like the Armada and Pathfinder make it an attractive partner. Toshihiro Akiwa, VP and head of Honda’s BEV development center, said through a translator that Honda’s hybrid technology is solid but only currently exists in its midsize vehicles like the CR-V and the Accord. The company is interested in Nissan’s larger vehicles because Honda’s “motor and battery capacity can be adapted to the larger vehicle.”
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Image: Honda
The Honda Prologue.
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Image: Nissan
The Nissan Armada.
While Honda does have the Prologue, that vehicle was part of a $5 billion joint venture with GM that only lasted through the development of two vehicles. The Prologue has been a surprise EV hit, selling over 33,000 in 2024 and outselling the larger gas-powered Honda Passport.
Since the partnership with GM went south, it’s not likely that the Prologue will be in production long, though Honda has made no announcements about its plans for the vehicle. Honda does not currently offer an all-electric crossover outside of the Prologue, though fans of the brand have been asking for an all-electric CR-V for years.
Nissan, on the other hand, saw its earnings decline by as much as 90 percent last year, forcing it to lay off thousands of employees. The company has been struggling since the arrest of former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in 2018 for financial misconduct. Unsurprisingly, Ghosn isn’t pleased about the news, telling Bloomberg that Nissan was in “panic mode,” calling the deal a “desperate move” and noting that the “synergies between the two companies are difficult to find.”
But as Honda executives at the roundtable noted, Nissan’s struggle could pose an opportunity for Honda, too. That’s because Honda plants that serve the US are currently running at maximum capacity, and they could use the excess capacity at Nissan’s factories to meet customer demand. “I’m not in a position to make comment [on Nissan], but they have capacity,” Kaihara said.
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Photo by PETER POWER / AFP via Getty Images
Honda’s factory in Ontario, Canada.
Trump’s tariff threats and loss of EV incentives
President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on foreign imports and eliminate federal subsidies that have helped save Americans billions in EV costs also came up in the conversation. “If Trump impacts future government strategy we have to be very flexible when the subsidies are cut or stopped,” Kaihara said.
That includes where Honda builds and produces its most popular vehicles like the CR-V and Civic. “Each factory in Canada and Mexico is almost to full production level,” Kaihara said. “It’s not so easy to change that direction, but depending on the tariff situation, we might have to change the production location to Japan or somewhere else.”
A significant move like that would be costly and could translate to increased prices for consumers when they go to buy their next Honda.
In spite of all this, Honda is not wavering on its commitment to electrification. “For the time being, we will have new EVs in the next year for the Zero series,” Kaihara said. “For the long term, I think, considering the environmental issues, EVs will be the solution for the future, and that will not be changed.”
Our Most Anticipated Games Of The Year, Another Assassin's Creed Shadows Delay, And More Of The Week's Top Stories
This week, we took the opportunity to look ahead to what 2025 has in store, and reminded ourselves (and you!) of the many, many exciting games coming our way in the next 12 months. Also, the steady drumbeat of Switch 2 leaks seems to be speeding up, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been hit with another delay, and at CES,…
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
jamey@toot.cat ("Jamey Sharp") wrote:
I periodically think about that quip, "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect," and then have to look up again what context it was said in: https://slate.com/business/2022/06/wilhoits-law-conservatives-frank-wilhoit.html
Bomb threats shadowed international reporters who covered Chinese celebrity dissident
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Bomb threats shadowed international reporters who covered Chinese celebrity dissident
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Coming back to CES after a decade-long break was a trip
Cool screens are still undefeated at CES.
Twelve years ago, I could have told you exactly what happened at my first CES and what happened at my third. Each was a chapter with a beginning, middle, and end; the lines between them drawn clearly. But now, 15 years since I attended my first CES, it’s a lot fuzzier. I know I missed my flight home at that first show. I know I saw a lot of cameras at first, and then progressively fewer cameras over the years. I know there were team dinners and early meetings, but I couldn’t tell you what happened when.
What I do know about my first CESes is that I had — and I cannot stress this enough — no clue what I was doing. The same went for CES two, three, and four, to varying degrees. I think I had a Pentax DSLR loaned to me by a colleague. I had a work-issued BlackBerry and, I’m pretty sure, insisted on wearing nice dresses and impractical shoes to evening events. There was no Uber at the beginning, and you could spend an hour waiting in a cab line at the airport. We stayed at the MGM Grand, which housed live lions at the time.
I broke an 11-year streak of not going to CES this year, which gave me a rare opportunity. It’s not often in life that we get to step back and see something...
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cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
I voted my conscience on the two proposals with the assumption that other people will have the opportunity to do the same. I didn't try to overthink from other people's perspective, which is something I tend to do. I'm voting my own perspective, and I hope others do the same.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
davbucci@mastodon.sdf.org ("Davide Bucci") wrote:
Back in 2013, when the 577 was my main curve tracer, I used it to write an article in English for the #Electroyou website called "Curve tracing: a journey among electronic devices": https://www.electroyou.it/darwinne/wiki/curve-tracing-a-journey-among-devices-characteristics #electronics #CurveTracer
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Reblogged by keul@fosstodon.org ("Luca Fabbri"):
CopernicusECMWF@masto.ai wrote:
📊 🌡️ The January 2025 edition of the #CopernicusClimate multi-system seasonal forecast is now available.
You can find data, plots and highlights of the forecast here: https://climate.copernicus.eu/seasonal-forecasts
Attachments:
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