SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 18: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote address during the ... More Nvidia GTC Conference at SAP Center on March 18, 2024 in San Jose, California. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesGetty ImagesAt this year's GTC event in San Jose, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang held over 25,000 people in the palm of his hand, captivated by his vision of AI and how it could transform the world we live in. Some folks in the audience couldn't keep up and started fiddling with their phones. (Among many other semiconductor vendors in the AI space, Nvidia is a client of my firm, Cambrian-AI Research).But most were hanging on every word to a) understand the potential of AI going forward, b) get a feel for the sustainability of AI demand, and c) assess whether Nvidia is moving too fast for its customers. Moving to a yearly technology cadence can help one stay ahead of slower competitors. Still, it can also make it difficult for customers to adopt the latest tech after buying a trainload full of the latest ones.Jensen half-jokingly said nobody should buy a Hopper GPU now that Blackwell is in full production, playing the role of what he called the company's "Chief Revenue Destruction Officer." He noted the frustration his sellers would feel upon hearing his advice. Investors did not appreciate his sarcasm either, and the stock is down 2.6% since GTC25 kicked off. However, according to Jensen, AI inference requires 100 times more computing now than a year ago, thanks mainly to the introduction of "reasoning" and agentic AI.Is Nvidia Blackwell So Hot That Nobody Wants Hopper?While Blackwell is amazingly fast, with up to 40 times more tokens/second for inference, it also requires significant data center power and water cooling upgrades for the AI Factories Jensen is pushing. However, Hopper may be just fine for many AI developers for now. Nvidia has already shipped nearly three times the number of Blackwell GPUs compared to all Hopper chips in 2024. There is no doubt now that the $11B of Blackwell-based systems Nvidia shipped in Q4 is the start of a new demand cycle. The following system, to be shipped later this year, the Blackwell Ultra, can plug right into the Oberon Blackwell NVL72 chassis. So, the following revenue transition should be much smoother.Moving to an annual product cycle creates tension, but disclosing the roadmap is essential to prepare the supply chain and ecosystem for the next two years of innovation. No data center can power an 800 Kilowatt rack required for Rubin Ultra today, but they will need to power and cool the beast if they want to remain competitive when Nvidia starts shipping its future racks.Jensen explained that the Blackwell GPU is 40 times faster than Hopper. He then half-jokingly said nobody should buy a Hopper GPU now that Blackwell is in full production, playing the role of the company's "Chief Revenue Destruction Officer." But Jensen told everyone how fast Blackwell would be a year ago, so sellers and buyers should not be surprised. Last year, he said 30X, but the new Dynamo software had a significant impact.With the new Dynamo inference management software, Blackwell is 40 times faster than hopper. NvidiaNvidia Dynamo: Another Defensive Moat?When the rest of the industry is trying to match (unsuccessfully) Nvidia GPU performance, Nvidia is optimizing the entire AI factory. The new Dynamo "AI Factory OS" and Co-packaged optical networking are two examples.Nvidia has wholly rewritten its Triton inference software to manage and optimize the distributed inference processing needed to perform agentic and reasoning AI. Nvidia Dynamo is an open-source modular inference framework for serving generative AI models in distributed environments. Think of it as the OS or the Kubernetes for an AI factory. It enables scaling inference workloads across large (potentially millions) GPU fleets with dynamic resource scheduling, intelligent request routing, optimized memory management, and accelerated data transfer. The memory management concept in Dynamo is Key Value Cache (KV Cache) distribution. It enables the entire AI factory to access previous reasoning results and serve them up instantly, avoiding costly recalculations.When serving the open-source DeepSeek-R1 671B reasoning model on Nvidia GB200 NVL72, Nvidia Dynamo increased the number of requests by up to 30x, helping AI factories lower costs to maximize token revenue generation..Co-Packaged Optical Photonic Scale-outMy colleague Jim McGregor of Tirias Research has already covered this innovation in Forbes, so I wont belabor the point. The bottom line is that these co-packaged optics were not expected to be ready by any vendor for another couple years. Now Nvidia will ship CPO networking for scale-out to millions of GPUs later this year.The new and unexpected Nvidia Photonics portfolio, for both Ethernet and InfiniBand scale-out ... More networking.NvidiaThe Updated Nvidia Hardware RoadmapHeres the new Nvidia GPU lineup through 2028. The annual increase in computing power, memory, and networking should be awe-inspiring, but the audience at GTC seemed to have expected nothing less from the company that practically reinvented computing.While it took Jensen Huang over two hours to get there, here's the new Nvidia Chip RoadmapNvidiaFirst up, Blackwell Ultra due later this year:Blackwell Ultra NvidiaAfter another year, in late 2026, Rubin shows up in the same Oberon Rack. So Nvidia is delivering three generations of GPUs into the same rack infrastructure. At this point, the naming changes to identify the number of GPUs in the NVLink-connected rack (144) instead of the number of dual-CPU packages (72), all in prep for Rubin Ultra. Yeah, its confusing, but it was the right long-term marketing call.Vera Rubin NVL144. Its not twice the GPUs. Nvidia has changed its naming convention for mult-die ... More packages. By this nomenclature, Blackwell is also 144 GPUs in a rack,NvidiaRubin Ultra will be a huge step up in density to 576 GPUs in a single Kyber rack with four full-sized GPU dies in a package, a new Arm Vera CPU, and the new NVlink7 with twelve times the throughput. This rack will deliver some 15 Exaflops of FP4 performance (14 times that of the next Blackwell GB300) and 4.6 Petabytes of HBM4e memory.Rubin Ultra NVL576NvidiaI think the chart below says it all. Rubin will be 900 times faster than last years Hopper, at 3% of the TCO. The industry has never seen anything like this pace of performance increase in two years.Rubin will be 900 times faster than Hopper. Mind blown.NvidiaAdding in the new 1 PFlop DGX Spark, 20 PFlop DGX Station, etc, this is this years Nvidia Enterprise AI Lineup. Note that all of these products are available from Nvidia partners.The Nvidia Lineup now include AI PCs starting at $4,000.NvidiaNvidia: The Foundational AI CompanyWhen asked what Nvidia is becoming at a small-group analyst session, Jensen said the company is already transitioning to its future place in the industry as THE foundational AI company. Jensen showed slides from many large enterprise clients that made this point; each had green icons with up to a dozen Nvidia Inference Micro-Services (NIMS) modules and hardware embedded in their AI stacks; once these green icons are in there, they wont come out easily.Nvidia shared the AI stacks from eight enterprise companies, demonstrating how embedded Nvidia ... More technology has become.NvidiaWhile Nvidia will certainly face increasing competition from its hyper-scale customers and chip vendors, I reiterate my world view: while the rest of the entire industry is just trying to match their GPU performance, and failing to do so, Nvidia is completely revamping the industry landscape. I havent even touched on all the new software Jensen announced at his keynote, nor the new AI PC and workstations that blow every AI PC out of the water by some 1-2 orders of magnitude.

We all know that good things come to those who wait, and that is extra true with tech. The Oura Ring 4 has been out for awhile, so now the wait for the Oura Ring 3 to start having more aggressive pricing is over. Today, you can get the Horizon (larger and thicker) version of the ring for $249 instead of $349 or the slimmer Heritage version of the ring for $199 instead of $249. Those are respective savings of $100 and $50.You should know that the deals are going to be slightly different (or nonexistent) depending on the style and color combo you choose, with the silver color appearing to have all of the best deals. Tap the buttons below to buy from Amazon or directly from Oura, and check out your preferred style and color combo to see if your deal matches this offer.The third generation Oura Ring is an older product with a lot of history behind it. Our Oura Ring 3 review comes from a person that has worn one for three years. Thats not necessarily wild for a typical consumer, but for a tech reviewer to keep something around that long is noteworthy. And the review highlights many things to love about the ring, including an expansive battery life that puts many of the best smartwatches to shame.RelatedNot that the Oura Ring tries to be a smartwatch that tracks workouts and running goals, rather the Oura Ring strives to provide a low maintenance window into the stats and metrics that make our body tick. This includes things such as heart rate, blood oxygen, temperature, movement, sleep quality, and even has period prediction abilities. But, without a screen, you wont be constantly bothered about it or feel the need to constantly check in on your stats. You wont be plagued by the observer effect and, instead, you can just be.The Oura Ring 3 is still a worthwhile smart device to get today. To quote our Oura Ring 4 vs Oura Ring 3 comparison directly, when discussing if an upgrade is worth it: Unless you have a few specific issues that the Oura Ring 4 solves, theres little benefit. So, go ahead and save on the Oura Ring 3 today. Remember, you can get the thicker Horizon style for as low as $249 (down $100 from $349) or the thinner Heritage style for $199 (down $50 from $249) while this offer lasts. Its easiest to get the best deal in the silver coloration, but you can play around with other color/style combos and still get good deals. Tap the appropriate button below to buy from Amazon or directly from Oura while this deal still lasts.Editors Recommendations

Sonos is offering significant discounts on most of its wireless audio products this week, including phenomenal speakers like the Sonos Move 2. Usually this Wi-Fi Bluetooth combo goes for $450, but today you can purchase it for just $360. Its not too often that Sonos gear drops in price, so this is definitely a $90 discount you dont want to miss.We got the chance to test the Move 2 back in October 2023, and resident AV expert Simon Cohen had the following to say: Whether indoors or outside, the Sonos Move 2 is a highly versatile smart speaker.Whether youre looking for a portable speaker to take on vacation or to place by your swimming pool, the Sonos Move 2 is designed to deliver powerful, room-filling sound for hours on end. Thanks to its IP56 rating for dust and water resistance, you wont have to worry about a bit of rain or an accidental blast from a garden hose spoiling your tunes. Sonos also claims youll get up to 24 hours of playback on a full charge, so you wont have to worry about the speaker dying when youre not near an AC outlet.RelatedThe Move 2 brings great sound quality to the table, with mids and highs being its biggest strengths. Theres even a good amount of low-end to work with and the ability to adjust bass and treble via the Sonos S2 app manually.iOS users can activate Trueplay to calibrate to best match the acoustics of your listening space. Of course, youll also be able to use the app to stream music, group and un-group Sonos components, download updates, and more.Save $90 when you purchase the Sonos Move 2 today. We also recommend looking through our lists of the best Sonos deals, best soundbar deals, and best Bluetooth speaker deals for additional discounts on top Sonos gear.Editors Recommendations

Affordable broadband California bill would force ISPs to offer 100Mbps plans for $15 a month Like New York law, Calif. bill demands cheap plans for people with low incomes. Jon Brodkin Mar 21, 2025 4:46 pm | 16 Credit: Adrienne Bresnahan | Getty Images Credit: Adrienne Bresnahan | Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreA proposed state law in California would force Internet service providers to offer $15 monthly plans to people with low incomes. The bill is similar to a New York law that took effect in January but has a higher minimum speed requirement: The proposed $15 plans for low-income California residents would have to come with download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps.Broadband lobby groups fear that many states will enact such requirements after New York won a multiyear court battle to enforce its law. The Supreme Court has rejected telecom industry challenges to the New York law twice.The California bill was proposed in January by Democratic Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, but the original version simply declared an intent to require affordable home Internet service and contained no specifics on required speeds or prices. The requirement for specific speeds and a $15 price is being added to the bill with an amendment that was provided to Ars today by Boerner's office. The amendment should be in the official record by early next week, a Boerner spokesperson said."Every California Internet service provider shall offer for purchase to eligible households within their California service territory affordable home Internet service that meets minimum speed requirements," the amended bill says. Each ISP would also be required to "make commercially reasonable efforts to promote and advertise" these plans, including via a "prominent display" on its website and promotional materials sent to consumers in eligible households.The amendment defines affordable home Internet service as a plan costing no more than $15 a month, including all recurring taxes and fees. The speed requirements are at least 100Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream, with "sufficient speed and latency to support distance learning and telehealth services." The plans would have to be offered to households in which at least one resident participates in a qualified public assistance program.Several states consider price requirementsWhile the California proposal will face opposition from ISPs and is not guaranteed to become law, the amended bill has higher speed requirements for the $15 plan than the existing New York law that inspired it. The New York law lets ISPs comply either by offering $15 broadband plans with download speeds of at least 25Mbps, or $20-per-month service with 200Mbps speeds. The New York law doesn't specify minimum upload speeds.AT&T stopped offering its 5G home Internet service in New York entirely instead of complying with the law. But AT&T wouldn't be able to pull home Internet service out of California so easily because it offers DSL and fiber Internet in the state, and it is still classified as a carrier of last resort for landline phone service.The California bill says ISPs must file annual reports starting January 1, 2027, to describe their affordable plans and specify the number of households that purchased the service and the number of households that were rejected based on eligibility verification. The bill seems to assume that ISPs will offer the plans before 2027 but doesn't specify an earlier date. Boerner's office told us the rule would take effect on January 1, 2026. Boerner's office is also working on an exemption for small ISPs, but hasn't settled on final details.Meanwhile, a Massachusetts bill proposes requiring that ISPs provide at least 100Mbps speeds for $15 a month or 200Mbps for $20 a month. A Vermont bill would require 25Mbps speeds for $15 a month or 200Mbps for $20 a month.Telco groups told the Supreme Court last year that the New York law "will likely lead to more rate regulation absent the Court's intervention" as other states will copy New York. They subsequently claimed that AT&T's New York exit proves the law is having a negative effect. But the Supreme Court twice declined to hear the industry challenge, allowing New York to enforce the law.Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 16 Comments

DEEP RESEARCH JR. Anthropics new AI search feature digs through the web for answers Anthropic Claude just caught up with a ChatGPT feature from 2023but will it be accurate? Benj Edwards Mar 21, 2025 3:08 pm | 9 Credit: Anthropic Credit: Anthropic Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOn Thursday, Anthropic introduced web search capabilities for its AI assistant Claude, enabling the assistant to access current information online. Previously, the latest AI model that powers Claude could only rely on data absorbed during its neural network training process, having a "knowledge cutoff" of October 2024.Claude's web search is currently available in feature preview for paid users in the United States, with plans to expand to free users and additional countries in the future. After users enable the feature in their profile settings, Claude will automatically determine when to use web search to answer a query or find more recent information.The new feature works with Claude 3.7 Sonnet and requires a paid subscription. The addition brings Claude in line with competitors like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT, which already offer similar functionality. ChatGPT first added the ability to grab web search results as a plugin in March 2023, so this new feature is a long time coming. A Claude AI web search demonstration video from Anthropic. "This was sorely needed," wrote independent AI researcher Simon Willison on his blog. "ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok all had this ability already, and despite Anthropic's excellent model quality it was one of the big remaining reasons to keep other models in daily rotation."Interestingly, the web search feature seems somewhat "agentic" in the sense that it can autonomously loop through several attempts at searching the web to drill down for an answeryou might call it a very simplified version of the "Deep Research" agent trend that recently came to Google Gemini and ChatGPT. A screenshot example of what Anthropic Claude's web search process looks like, captured March 21, 2025. Credit: Benj Edwards Anthropic positions the web search feature as potentially good for various use cases, including for "sales teams" doing account planning, "financial analysts" assessing market data, "researchers" building grant proposals, and "shoppers" comparing prices and features of products.Anthropic's blog mentions, "Sales teams can transform account planning and drive higher win rates through informed conversations with prospects by analyzing industry trends to learn key initiatives and pain points," which sounds like Claude may have had a hand in writing about itself.Caution over citations and sourcesClaude users should be warned that large language models (LLMs) like those that power Claude are notorious for sneaking in plausible-sounding confabulated sources. A recent survey of citation accuracy by LLM-based web search assistants showed a 60 percent error rate. That particular study did not include Anthropic's new search feature because it took place before this current release.When using web search, Claude provides citations for information it includes from online sources, ostensibly helping users verify facts. From our informal and unscientific testing, Claude's search results appeared fairly accurate and detailed at a glance, but that is no guarantee of overall accuracy. Anthropic did not release any search accuracy benchmarks, so independent researchers will likely examine that over time. A screenshot example of what Anthropic Claude's web search citations look like, captured March 21, 2025. Credit: Benj Edwards Even if Claude search were, say, 99 percent accurate (a number we are making up as an illustration), the 1 percent chance it is wrong may come back to haunt you later if you trust it blindly. Before accepting any source of information delivered by Claude (or any AI assistant) for any meaningful purpose, vet it very carefully using multiple independent non-AI sources.A partnership with Brave under the hoodBehind the scenes, it looks like Anthropic partnered with Brave Search to power the search feature, from a company, Brave Software, perhaps best known for its web browser app. Brave Search markets itself as a "private search engine," which feels in line with how Anthropic likes to market itself as an ethical alternative to Big Tech products.Simon Willison discovered the connection between Anthropic and Brave through Anthropic's subprocessor list (a list of third-party services that Anthropic uses for data processing), which added Brave Search on March 19.He further demonstrated the connection on his blog by asking Claude to search for pelican facts. He wrote, "It ran a search for 'Interesting pelican facts' and the ten results it showed as citations were an exact match for that search on Brave." He also found evidence in Claude's own outputs, which referenced "BraveSearchParams" properties.The Brave engine under the hood has implications for individuals, organizations, or companies that might want to block Claude from accessing their sites, since presumably Brave's web crawler is doing the web indexing. Anthropic did not mention how sites or companies could opt out of the feature. We have reached out to Anthropic for clarification.Benj EdwardsSenior AI ReporterBenj EdwardsSenior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 9 Comments

2025-03-21T23:55:08Z Read in app Tesla CEO Elon Musk says there is "massive" fraud in the Social Security payment system and that it is a "Ponzi scheme." Nathan Howard/REUTERS This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said complaints about missing benefits checks indicate fraud.A federal judge blocked DOGE's access to personal Social Security records amid fraud claims.More than 7 million Americans receive 90% of their income from Social Security, based on SSA data.As the staff cuts at theSocial Security Administrationleave monthly benefit payments to tens of millions of Americans up in the air alarming formerSSA leaderson both sides of the aisle Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, doesn't think you should be complaining if your check doesn't show up."Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month my mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't," Lutnick told All-In Podcast hosts David Friedberg and Chamath Palihapitiya on Thursday. "She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month."Lutnick was responding to a question from Palihapitiya on whether acts of "domestic terrorism" presumably referring to recent cases of vandalism on Tesla cars and showrooms are an attempt to scare people who are trying to find "waste and fraud" in the government."A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining," he added. "Anybody who's been in the payment system and the processes, who knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen because whoever screams is the one stealing."Lutnick's comments come as DOGE leads a push to reduce government spending by cutting federal workers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the face of DOGE, says there is "massive" fraud in the Social Security payment system and that it is a "Ponzi scheme."The SSA saidAccording to court documents filed at the District Court of Maryland, the Trump administration had placed a 10-person DOGE team at the SSA to hunt for the alleged fraud. Seven members weregranted read-only access to agency databases containing sensitive personal information. On Thursday, a federal judge blocked DOGE"The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion," wrote US District Judge Ellen Hollander.According to a fact sheet published by SSA, an average of almost 69 million Americans per month would receive a Social Security benefit in 2025, totaling about $1.6 trillion in benefits paid during the year. More than 7 million Americans 65 and older receive at least 90 percent of their income from Social Security, based on SSA data.Lee Dudek, the acting commissioner of the SSA, said on Tuesday during a press conference that around $100 million is lost each year in direct deposit fraud, which would make up about 0.00625% of the total sum paid out each year.The Department of Commerce, the SSA, and Chamath Palihapitiya did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

2025-03-21T21:55:52Z Read in app Michael Polansky and Lady Gaga; Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco. BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP/Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco have unveiled their collaborative album, "I Said I Love You First."The engaged couple spoke at length about their love and connection during their promotional tour.Lady Gaga also highlighted the contributions of her fianc while promoting her new album "Mayhem."If Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco want you to take away one thing from their new album, it's not that they can make a great song it's that they're madly in love.The couple unveiled "I Said I Love You First" on Friday, just over three months after Gomez announced their engagement. The 14-track collaborative album isn't especially profound; it's mostly comprised of nondescript pop arrangements that evoke better songs from Gomez's past, like "Good for You" and "Fetish," or better albums by other artists, like The Maras' "Submarine" and Charli XCX's "Brat."But it seems that for Gomez and Blanco, the fact that they made the album together at all is just as important as how it sounds, if not more so."She'd wake up, I'd have a pen out, and I'd write what was on her mind. Then we'd go into the other room and create it, and it became a song. It was such a cathartic and therapeutic experience," Blanco told Rolling Stone.Indeed, the rollout has been predominantly devoted to celebrating the couple's domestic bliss, their positive experience working as collaborators, and their respect for each other's talents. The album mostly functions as a souvenir of their journey thus far.What Gomez and Blanco are doing isn't exactly new; musicians have collaborated with their romantic partners throughout history, especially when their partners are fellow musicians. However, the public-facing emphasis on their real-life romantic connection, rather than letting their creative synergy speak for itself, does belong to an emerging trend among pop stars a pronounced streak of pride in their thriving love lives.As Business Insider's Julia Pugachevsky reported last year, the rom-com economy is booming and the music industry is not immune. Although Taylor Swift has a reputation for translating heartbreak into irresistible pop songs and fiercely protecting her love life from prying eyes, as she did with Joe Alwyn, fans noticed a change in her tune when she began dating NFL star Travis Kelce.Swift seemed determined to own her new romance in the open air, much to the delight of onlookers. She even edited her Eras Tour set list to include "So High School," a giddy standout from her latest album, "The Tortured Poets Department," whose lyrics unabashedly point to Kelce ("You know how to ball / I know Aristotle"). Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift share a kiss at the Super Bowl. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images More recently, Gomez and Blanco's album was preceded by Lady Gaga's "Mayhem," which she created with the help of her fianc, Michael Polansky.Despite his lack of musical training, Polansky is listed as an executive producer on "Mayhem" alongside Gaga and Andrew Watt. He is also credited as a cowriter on seven out of the album's 14 standard tracks.Although neither "I Said I Love You First" nor "Mayhem" is singularly focused on the singer's current relationship Gomez reminisces about her first date with Blanco on "Sunset Blvd," and Gaga waxes poetic about her engagement to Polansky on "Blade of Grass," but in both cases these lovey-dovey songs are more outliers than tone-setters both women dedicated large portions of their promotional tours to highlighting the contributions of their partners.In Gomez's case, this is baked into the very structure of the album. Blanco is credited as a co-performer on every song, not just as the project's lead producer. Gomez and Blanco also shared promotional duties, conducting interviews as a team, taking on the "wings of death" together on "Hot Ones," and costarring in music videos. They both appear on the album cover. The album has been explicitly marketed as a product of their relationship; in other words, it wouldn't exist if they weren't in love.Though Polansky's contributions are less conspicuous, the same can safely be said for "Mayhem." Gaga proudly credits her fianc with convincing her to return to her musical roots: "He was like, 'Babe. I love you. You need to make pop music,'" she told Vogue last year.Gaga has continued to celebrate Polansky's role in the creative process while promoting the album, telling The New York Times, "Michael was in the studio every day with me. He oversaw the whole process of making the record, completing it, helping me to shape the sound of the record creatively."Both Gomez and Gaga have opened up about their traumatic experiences with men emotional abuse and sexual violence, respectively which makes their in-love eras all the more satisfying. Selenators and Little Monsters alike are thrilled to see their idols in fulfilling, long-term relationships, which the artists surely hope will translate to streams and sales. ("Mayhem" already debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.)However, this trend also has an added bonus: proving that artists don't need to be miserable to be productive."It makes me so happy that my fans see that I'm really happy," Gaga told Entertainment Weekly, "because I know that I'm not a role model for everyone, but I hope that I can maybe be an example that you can be a deeply artistic person and that we don't have to romanticize torture."

Put the Nobel Peace Prize on hold for just a bit. President Donald Trump came into office promising a swift end to two wars in Gaza and Ukraine. He has taken a radically different approach to both conflicts than Joe Biden, and in some cases produced results. What he has not done is end either war. In fact, this week, resolution to both conflicts seemed farther off than ever. The fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which came into effect shortly before Trump took office, shattered after Israel launched airstrikes that killed more than 400 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and resumed large-scale ground operations. Hamas has also resumed firing rockets into central Israel, and the situation is rapidly sliding back into full-scale war. Also this week, during a phone call with Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin effectively rejected a proposed 30-day ceasefire which Ukraine had earlier, under US pressure, agreed to. Russia and Ukraine did agree to a mutual halt in attacks on each others energy infrastructure, but this has not stopped mass drone attacks from both sides, including a Russian attack on a hospital that took place just hours after the pause was announced. The two sides will hold talks via US intermediaries in Saudi Arabia next week, and the Trump team is reportedly hoping to rapidly move toward a full ceasefire, but stark differences remain between the two sides negotiating positions. So, barring a miracle at the negotiating table, the war in Ukraine doesnt seem any closer to a resolution now than it did in January. The war in Gaza seems farther from one. What does this tell us? First, an obvious but important point: Ending wars is harder than starting them. Hamas and Israel still have essentially incompatible demands for a final ceasefire. Putin has given no indication, either in his public statements or in US intelligence assessments, that he is interested in ending the war with anything other than complete Ukrainian capitulation. It would be unrealistic to expect any American administration to end two intractable foreign wars in its first two months. If Trump is being held to that standard, its only because he himself suggested during his campaign that he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, a promise he said this week may have been a little bit sarcastic. It also shows the limits to Trumps unpredictable style of diplomacy.The state of affairs in Gaza and Ukraine, briefly explainedOn Gaza, Trump started strong in January, when the incoming presidents team worked with the outgoing Biden administration to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Both Biden administration officials and regional governments credited Trumps Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, with applying the kind of pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to compromise that had been missing from the Biden teams approach for months. But that deal was just phase one of a ceasefire, intended to last six weeks, during which Israel and Hamas were supposed to negotiate a permanent end to hostilities. Phase one saw the release of 33 Israeli hostages and nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners, but it expired at the beginning of March with no deal in sight.Fundamentally, Israel is still unwilling to agree to any permanent settlement that leaves Hamas in place, and is also unwilling to countenance the Palestinian Authority taking over governance of the strip, as the Biden administration wanted. Hamas is unwilling to disarm, unlikely to give up the remaining hostages that are its main remaining source of leverage, and probably wont be swayed by the prospect of more Palestinian civilians being killed. Trump, of course, had other ideas of how to resolve the conflict, suggesting that the US should take ownership of Gaza, clean out its civilian population, and redevelop it as a beachfront resort. And so the ceasefire has now been effectively taken off life support. Restarting the war has allowed Netanyahu to reconstitute his right-wing government, avoiding early elections. For the moment at least, he has the full support of the Trump administration. Meanwhile, a brief respite in the suffering of the people of Gaza has ended and hope is dimming for the remaining hostages. A Palestinian family cooks food on the roof of a partially demolished building in Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip, on March 17, 2025. Saeed Jaras/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty ImagesIn Ukraine, its now been about five weeks since Trump upended US policy by opening direct negotiations with Russia without Ukraine present which was followed closely by the televised public dressing down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, and the US halting weapons deliveries and intelligence cooperation with Ukraine. It appeared to many as if the US was not just changing its approach to the conflict, but changing sides.In the end, however, its unclear how much actually changed after a month of drama. The war is raging as fiercely as ever, and after a brief pause, the US has resumed weapons deliveries. Recent events may ultimately have had a bigger effect on US relations with Europe than they did on the course of the war: NATO allies are questioning the alliances long-sacrosanct security guarantees, and heads of state everywhere are forced to question whether they really want to visit the White House if it entails a risk of getting the kind of treatment Trump and Vice President JD Vance dished out to Zelenskyy. Arguably, the Ukrainians gained a rhetorical victory by agreeing to a ceasefire that the Russians then rejected. It could also conceivably bolster the case of the more Ukraine-sympathetic members of the administration. Before presenting the deal to Moscow, Secretary of State Macro Rubio had said that the ball is now in Russias court and that, If they say no, well unfortunately know what the impediment to peace is here.But for now, there are few signs the White House is preparing to exert any pressure on Russia to accept a broader ceasefire, and in fact may be preparing more concessions on Ukraines behalf. In stark contrast to his treatment of Zelenskyy, Trump has said nothing but positive things about his interactions with Putin. Witkoff, the New York real estate developer turned all-purpose diplomat who is now Trumps point man on both the Middle East and Ukraine, is defending Russias drone strikes by saying they came before the pause went into effect and promising potential US-Russia energy cooperation. Trumps break stuff diplomacyTrumps willingness to break norms and radically shift policy can sometimes produce diplomatic results. His threats to pull US troops out of Syria reportedly gave the US military leverage to negotiate a deal between Kurdish forces in Syria and the countrys new government, forestalling, at least for the time being, a new deadly conflict that many feared after the fall of the Assad regime. Trump has been criticized for speaking directly to Putin over Ukraine and more recently, having his envoy negotiate directly with Hamas over a US citizen held hostage. (There was a time when Republicans attacked presidential candidate Barack Obama for saying hed be willing to talk directly to US adversaries without preconditions.) Still, when it comes to Ukraine, theres a case to be made that Trump and his officials are merely publicly acknowledging what the Biden team privately acknowledged: that Ukraine is unlikely to be able to retake all its territory by military means, even with US support. When Trump began talks with Russia in February, Samuel Charap, a RAND Corporation analyst and former State Department official who has advocated negotiations to end the war, told me that he credited the Trump team with having demonstrated the political will to restore bilateral channels with Russia, but added, my concern is just that theyre diving into this quite hastily without a coordinated plan about what to do about the war.Likewise on Gaza, the Trump administration took office with a ceasefire in place that they could claim some credit for but now appears to have given up on it. There is a certain advantage to being totally untethered from normal conventions like the Trump administration is. You can just go in and try new things and break stuff and maybe some of it is a good idea, Ilan Goldenberg, a Mideast specialist who served in the Biden administration and on the Kamala Harris campaign, wrote recently, discussing the blow-up over direct talks between the US and Hamas. On the other hand, rigor, knowledge, and preparation also matter a great deal if you want to negotiate complex deals.The two attitudes combined in January, he said, to reach the initial Gaza ceasefire. Ultimately, the limit of Trumps approach may be how disconnected from reality it often is. Trumps AI-constructed fever dreams of a Gaza beach resort have distracted from work on developing an actual workable plan for Gazas future and legitimized the most extreme aims of Israels annexationist right. Some Trump officials, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, suggested Trumps nonsensical vision was a pressure tactic to induce regional governments to come up with their own solutions. But when Arab governments did exactly that, presenting their own (admittedly flawed) Gaza reconstruction plan in early March, the White House immediately rejected it, sticking with Trumps vision of a Levantine riviera cleansed of Palestinians. As with Greenland and Canada, it does appear Trump is serious about this.On Ukraine, Trumps views of the conflict appear heavily influenced by Russia itself, or at least its sympathizers in the US, including his inaccurate comments suggesting that it was Ukraine that started the war and that Zelenskyy is a highly unpopular dictator. More recently, he claimed that Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded in Russias Kursk province and at risk of being massacred. This jibes with Putins own claims about the situation in Kursk, but not US intelligence assessments. (Ukrainian forces in Kursk are steadily losing ground but are not encircled.)More fundamentally, he consistently claims that Putin is interested in ending the war and that its only a matter of Ukraine ceding territory, despite little evidence that this is the case. Trumps unpredictable approach and willingness to break the unwritten rules of international diplomacy can sometimes help get adversaries talking. But its hard to get actual results without engaging with the reality of the situation. See More:

More key details of the sprawling expansions coming to Disney Parks were unveiled by CEO Bob Iger himself this week, including a look at the Lion King ride for Disneyland Paris. Disney is also busy over at Imagineering, as Star Wars droid action expands to the real world and the world of cinema in The Mandalorian and Grogu. And of course this week Snow White is getting some love at Disneyland and Walt Disney World with limited-time offeringsas movie theaters, including the Alamo Drafthouse, also join the Disney Princess excitement with parties, special menus, and more merch. Over at Universal Studios Hollywood, you can see a food preview of offerings inspired by One Piece, Nintendo, Star Trek, and Harry Potter thatll be on offer at the upcoming Fan Fest Nights. Plus, the excitement for Epic Universe on the East Coast gets more palpable as its opening inches closer every day. Read on for more theme park updates! Disneyland Paris The Lion King Attraction Disney Experiences In a recent video for shareholders Bob Iger discussed the expansions coming to Disney Experiences, including a Lion King log flume ride at Disneyland Paris. It was described as a new journey that will follow Simba from cub to lion as seen in the animated and CG live-action films. Last year we talked about our plans to turbocharge growth in this segment through strategic investments. Today Im proud to share some of what weve been up to, Iger said. Right now, we have more projects underway around the world than at any time in our history. He also reiterated the companys commitment to the new expansions based on Pixars Cars and Disney Villains at the Magic Kingdom; a Monsters Inc.-themed land at Hollywood Studios; the new Tropical Americas land featuring Encanto and Indiana Jones attractions at Disneys Animal Kingdom; and the Coco boat ride and two new MCU rides at Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure. Disney Imagineering announces BDX Droid partnership with NVIDIA The Star Wars BDX droids that have been seen wandering around Galaxys Edge will be taking their exploration wider outside of the theme park sandbox. First youll be able to see them make their theatrical debut in Jon Favreaus The Mandalorian and Grogu next year. However, shortly after their SXSW appearance, Imagineering announced a partnership with NVIDIA to give the Star Wars BDX droids a role in work being done in collaboration with Disney Research to expand the capabilities of the droids for more immersive participation in tech. The BDX droids are just the beginning. Were committed to bringing more characters to life in ways the world hasnt seen before, and this collaboration with Disney Research, NVIDIA and Google DeepMind is a key part of that vision, shared Kyle Laughlin, senior VP at Walt Disney Imagineering research and development. This collaboration will allow us to create a new generation of robotic characters that are more expressive and engaging than ever beforeand connect with our guests in ways that only Disney can. The tech is poised to propel Imagineerings animatronic work into the new tech space with what theyre calling Newton, which is an open-source physics engine that lets robots learn how to handle complex tasks with greater precision.This is making our Sarah Connor robots bad! senses tingle so we hope theres a sentience kill switch for fear of adorable Star Wars x Marvel Ultrons running amok. Or you know, if Walt Disneys animatronic hacks into the tech, we think things might get a little crazy especially if it discovers what horror creators are doing with public domain bastardizations of his Mouse House IP. Snow White at Disney Parks Candy-dipped poison apples are coming to Disney Parks just in time for the films release! While there will be a small selection of Disney Store parks merchandise available, the selection is limited to sips and treats beyond that. Snow White at the Movies Join the Snow White celebration at cinemas including the Alamo Drafthouse, AMC Theaters, and more. Were particularly excited for the Snow White family parties at the Drafthouse, which curate cuisine for the film, and the awesome merch. The apple picking style lunchbox and character thermos are an excellent combo; theyre available for purchase at Drafthouse locations near you. AMC has collectors popcorn buckets, awesome travel tumblers, and more: Universal Studios Hollywood Fan Fest Nights We got to try a few of the items seen above that will be available at Fan Fest Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and theyre a fantastic combo of tasty and franchise authentic. They really had us at a Gum Gum fruit concha inspired by One Piece. Dont worry, the Star Trek Ceti Eel drink seems perfectly safe! For tickets and dates for this event visit here. Epic Universe Lore Grows Listen to this podcast to take a deep dive into the lore thats being unearthed at Epic Universe as part of its immersive entertainment offerings. We are geeking out at the idea of monster makeovers at Dark Universe and interacting with storytellers from each portal land. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Looking for free channels to live stream the F1 Chinese Grand Prix? Youre not the only one. Fans are going crazy as the Shanghai GP is approaching fast on the 21st of March. After Lando Norris edged out Max Verstappen at the Australian GP, everyones eager to see if he can repeat the result.Luckily, you dont have to spend a cent to watch the F1 Chinese Grand Prix online. You can catch the free stream on ServusTV (from Austria) or SRF (from Switzerland).Both channels are 100% free and dont even require an account to work. While theyre not in English, at least, youll be able to catch up with the event in Full HD. You can learn more about watching all F1 races for free here.Date and schedule of the raceMarch 23 3:00 am EST / 12:00 am PT / 07:00 am GMT / 08:00 am CETFree channelsServusTV (Austria), SRF/RTS (Switzerland)How to Watch F1 Chinese GP on Free Channels?ServusTV and SRF are licensed to broadcast within their respective countries. This means being outside Austria or Switzerland will produce an error message.Heres what happens when you try to watch Servus TV: ServusTVSince its a foreign TV channel in your case, its inaccessible. ServusTV and SRF have an IP-detection system, which enforces the geo-restriction.If the IP address is outside Austria or Switzerland, ServusTV and SRF will be unavailable respectively. The goal is to, therefore, claim an IP address from one of these countries and watch the F1 Chinese GP on a free channel.People online frequently mention NordVPN as their choice.Watch the Chinese GP Online With NordVPNThis VPN has hundreds of servers in Austria and Switzerland. It also comes with unlimited bandwidth for streaming, excellent speeds, and apps for all devices. The latter is especially praised by VPN users.Ths allows for cathing up with the free live stream of the F1 Chinese Grand Prix on phones and tablets, for example. NordVPN is risk-free, thanks to a 30-day money-back guarantee.ServusTV broadcasts F1 Shanghai GP for free ServusTVThus, people just need to subscribe, set up the VPN, and connect to a server. Once they finish watching the F1 Shanghai GP on a free channel, they can get a full refund, thereby not losing a single cent.F1 China GP Race Weekend ScheduleWhether youre looking to stream just the main event or those that come before, you must be acquainted with the schedule. You can watch the F1 China Grand Prix live stream from the 21st to the 23rd of March, 2025.The schedule is as follows:Practice 1 21st of March, 11:30 to 12:30 (GMT+8)Sprint Qualifying 21st of March, 15:30 to 16:15 (GMT+8)Sprint Race 22nd of March, 11:00 to 12:00 (GMT+8)Qualifying 22nd of March, 15:00 to 16:00 (GMT+8)Race 23rd of March, 15:00 (GMT+8)Shanghai International Circuit Information formula1.comWe can see that the main event is on the 23rd of March. All times are GMT+8, so make sure you adapt them to your local time zone. You can also refer to the official F1 website for exact times based on your location.Should I Just Pay for the Livestream?If the free TV channels we mentioned arent your bag of beans, you can always opt for a premium streaming service. In a recent post, we explained how to watch Sky Sports in the US and the way a VPN helps.However, if youre paying for the VPN in the first place, its much better to watch the F1 Chinese Grand Prix on a free channel. Otherwise, youll spend money on the VPN plus the selected streaming service.We must warn you that streaming services usually dont have a money-back guarantee, so theres no refund option. Theyre expensive, as well (up to $85/mo).Such services are also region-locked, which, as stated, begs for the use of a VPN.With the method we explained, you can join thousands of racing fans globally and enjoy bombastic Grand Prix races from all over the world. By the way, the same trick works for streaming MotoGP races anywhere for free.Try NordVPN risk-free today