Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are investing in a Bitcoin-mining company called American Bitcoin, created by the merger of two firms.

Apple and SpaceX may be on a satellite communications collision course with Elon Musks firmattempting to block Apple fromexpanding satellite messaging for iPhones unless it does so with Starlink rather than other satellite communications partners. Its a big issue that raises concerns that go far beyond smartphones and extend into the futures of multiple industries.Whats happening is that in order to deliver on Apples need foradditional satellite bandwidthto support future messaging on iPhones, Apple partnerGlobalstar recently applied to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to acquire permission to use more radio frequencies.Musks company wasnt happy about this and asked the FCC to reject the application to stall Apples attempt to expand its own satellite services. The new FCC chair is Musks close ally, Brendan Carr, who has historicallyattacked the FCCfor failing to give SpaceX what it wants. He replaced former Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, whoadvocated competitionin the space, erm, space.Given Musks well-publicizedproximity to the US President and his influential position with the FCC, this presents a challenging situation for Apple, which is also in talks with SpaceX to use its service to support its iPhone via satellite efforts.Outer space iscomplicatedWith support all the way to the top, Apples biggest hope is that the administration sees that ensuring meaningful competition in the new race for space is precisely whats required, given the need to optimize development and deployment of these technologies fornational security. Even within that, the fact remains that there is only so much available spectrum with which to support satellite communications, and competition between the globes satellite and networking operators to seize control of those frequencies is fierce.At the same time, the attempt to stop Apples partner from getting any will not prevent every competitor from getting some, and it seems likely that at least some of Apples billions will go into SpaceX competitors, such as Echostar and Boeing. Apples billion-dollar-plus investments in Globalstar show the extent to which the company is reluctant to leave itself in thrall to one supplier, which is what it would be if it does not support competition in the sector.With good reason. After all, just prior to Apples first introduction of SOS Messages via Satellite, SpaceX announced a deal with T-Mobile that gave similar support to smartphones on that network. This was widely seen as an attempt to throw a spanner in the success of Apples announcement. Since that time, SpaceX and T-Mobile have sought Apples permission to offer support for Starlink on iPhones, and following what The Wall Street Journal describes as tense talks eventually agreed to let the forthcoming SpaceX/T-Mobile satellite cellphone servicework seamlessly on new iPhones.A future at stakeThis isnt just about cellphones. Its also about future networking standards. For example, Apple is on theATIS board, which is a standards body designing thenext generation of networking tech, 6G, which is likely to include satellite-based communicationswithin the standard itself.Apple is also part of theNext G Alliance, an industry group tasked with establishing, North American pre-eminence in the 5G evolutionary path and 6G development.All of this may have a future bearing on the amalgamation of satellite within future telecoms. 6G isnt expected to be ratified until 2030, butApples positionsonrelevant standards-setting boards speak to theimportance of those standards.Connectivity is, after all, the special glue that binds devices and systems, and the future of multiple sectors relies on reaching acceptable deals for the foundational standards to support such connectivity. Making devices that talk to each other is relevant to so much, from space exploration to military and national security to the future of telecommunications, computing, and the consumer electronics industry.With so much at stake, its essential that balanced decisions are reached today as they are likely to have a big impact later and one decision that makes sense, at least according to most free market theory, is to ensure the healthy existence of multiple service providers for strategically important services such as satellite communications. And one way to achieve that is to ensure the available bandwidth is equitably shared.Thats not to say it isnt, nor is it to say that this is the essence of the Globalstar request; its just that if a balanced decision is not reached, the consequences will likely bring long-term challenges across key industry sectors.You can follow me on social media! Join me onBlueSky, LinkedIn, andMastodon.

Microsoft is adding new data agents to Fabric, its cloud-based offering combining data warehousing, data science, data engineering, and data analytics services.Its goal is to help business users find insights in enterprise data without the help of a business analyst.Most enterprises either dont have business analysts or their analysts are too busy to deal with all the demands for their services, said Arun Ulag, corporate vice president of Azure Data at Microsoft.Thats why self-service analytics tools like those Microsoft is adding to Fabric are necessary, he said.The new data agents will be available across all Fabric services, including Synapse and PowerBI. They can be created from within any service and configured by providing them with access to the data the user wants to analyze.The agents can access data held in Fabrics OneLake storage, or data elsewhere using over 200 connectors, Ulag said.Natural-language interactionTriggered by natural-language queries, the agents can complete tasks such as retrieving data, reasoning, and creating data visualizations. Ulag said the agents should be able to deal with prompts such as, Can you analyze all my customer survey questions, comments, focus on all the negative comments, categorize them into the top five buckets and give me examples?That kind of natural-language interaction is key, said Arnal Dayaratna, research vice president at IDC.The innovation here is that these data agents can provide conversational assistance to any enterprise knowledge worker that is interested in performing data-driven analytics, he said. This enables a radical democratization of the capability not only of data analysis, but also the skill of explaining the significance of data-centric insights.While such agents could be relevant for any enterprises, Forrester principal analyst Noel Yuhana sees them delivering the most significant value to large enterprises grappling with complex, multi-platform data environments.Nucleus Researchs Duncan Van Kouteren further narrowed down the list of likely adopters to enterprises with existing Microsoft ecosystem investments, noting that the company is following an industry trend of targeting such agents at business analysts and decision-makers with less technical expertise.Other comparable offerings include Salesforces Einstein Copilot, Google Clouds agents built via Vertex AI Agent Builder, IBMs Watsonx Assistant, agents inside Snowflake Cortex, and a combination of OpenAI GPTs, custom tools and RAG pipelines.Data agents can be customized via Copilot StudioThe data agents built inside Fabric automatically show up inside Microsofts Copilot Studio and can be used as base templates to build more customizable agents that can complete more tasks without manual intervention, Ulag said.The agents interactive nature means They can correspond with your business users; They can update systems as well among other things, Ulag said.Van Kouteren foresees that the Copilot Studio integration could enable domain-specific agent customization.Dion Hinchcliffe, lead of the CIO practice at The Futurum Group, sees applications for agents customized in Copilot Studio across supply chain, finance, and HR operations.In supply chain operations, a custom Copilot could proactively monitor logistics data in OneLake and trigger alerts if shipping delays are likely. In Finance operations, enterprises could automate forecasting conversations with an agent grounded in real-time data and ask questions of it like, What will Q3 expenses look like if hiring increases by 10%?Data agents are currently in public preview. Part of the Fabric subscription, they will use up Fabric credits when interacted with.Risk of lock-inHinchcliffe said the data agents follow the classic land and expand strategy for Microsoft.In the short-term, these agents will drive higher Fabric and Azure AI consumption (and value delivery), bundling value into existing E5 or Fabric SKUs to accelerate usage, Hinchcliffe said.In the mid-term, Microsoft will look to monetize high-value, vertical-specific copilots via Copilot Studio customizations and the Azure AI Agent Service, he added.In the longer run, he sees Microsoft trying to position Fabric as the control plane for enterprise data agents, making it indispensable to enterprise AI orchestration.This will support higher Azure usage, seat-based Copilot licensing, and enterprise lock-in, he said.

It's not enough to just let your iPhone back up to iCloud, not when you need to be sure you won't lose anything important. Here are your options for backing up iOS devices.Steve Jobs once made a point of telling an audience that he hadn't backed up in all the years he had been at NeXT. However, that wasn't because backing up is unimportant. It was because it was so important that every NeXT employee's data was automatically backed up for them.Maybe Jobs brought that ethos to Apple, because the company has worked to progressively make backups easier - and unthinkingly so. You see this whenever you change iPhones and all of your apps, and their data, appear on the new one.But as convenient as that is, it also makes you unthinkingly assume that your data is safe. It isn't, not unless you take positive steps - and regularly. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple's Time Capsule was discontinued long ago, but you can still get them to do your Time Machine backups on a modern network. Here's how.Apple Time CapsulesIn 2008 Apple introduced a product called Time Capsule, which combined a wireless AirPort Base Station and an internal hard drive along with the macOS Time Machine backup software.Time Capsule acted as a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device and allowed users to both manually back up their data by using a Time Capsule as a NAS volume, as well as by using the Time Machine app to automate backups. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The number ofconstruction startsincreased by a modest 0.5% in February to a new seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.1 trillion, according to the latest Dodge Construction Network (DCN) survey.Nonresidential building starts grew by 2%, while residential starts decreased by 1%, and nonbuilding starts were unchanged since January. On a year-over-year basis, the total number of construction starts was down 2% from February 2024. Nonresidential starts were down 14%, residential starts were down 3%, and nonbuilding starts were up by 16% over the same period.Related on Archinect: February's architecture billings continue declining trend, fueled by tariff and immigration uncertainty.Graph by Archinect using data provided by the American Institute of ArchitectsFor the 12 months ending February 2025, total construction starts were up 3% from the 12 months ending January 2024. Residential starts were up 3%, nonresidential starts were flat, and nonbuilding starts rose 7% over the same p...

While French studio Sandfall Interactive had revealed some of its inspirations behind the gameplay of upcoming turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 earlier this month, it turns out that the inspirations go even deeper. Speaking to Giant Bomb, creative director Guillaume Broche has revealed that, among other things, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was also inspired by the works of Studio Ghibli.When asked about the studio behind inspired by Japanese culture and its media, Broche revealed that the studio had seen Studio Ghiblis movies probably 25 times. Broche also said that that the games composer, Lorien Testard, was also inspired by the music from the movies like Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kikis Delivery Service, which was composed by Joe Hisaishi.When it comes to the art style of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Broche also spoke about how the developers wanted to capture the sense of adventure and wonder that is often present in the works of Studio Ghibli. He brings up movies like Spirited Away and Howls Moving Castle as examples of the sense of wonder that the studio is going for.Our director is not huge on Japanese culture, so every time we discuss this its like he brings his own, more Western influence, said Broche. And I try to bring him more like Eastern influences, and it creates like this kind of weird mix that we have.Sandfall Interactive co-founder and game producer Franois Meurisse previously spoke about some of the gameplay inspirations for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Among many other things, the RPG is seemingly inspired by games like the classic turn-based Final Fantasy, with Meurisse specifically naming Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9 and 10. There are also influences from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, especially when it comes to defensive options since players will be able to parry attacks with properly-timed button presses.Those are big childhood games for Guillaume [Broche], our game director, Meurisse said, talking about Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, and 10. He wanted to have like kind of feeling that he imagined would have remained in modern Final Fantasy-like games, if they had kept doing turn-based stuff. But he mixed also lots of different inspirations. Definitely Final Fantasy and JRPGs are the preeminent gameplay heritage we have. The defense system is more inspired by Sekiro and From Software games. It has this kind of rhythm element and a more real-time component in it. More skill-based.Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is slated for release on April 24. The game will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It is turning out to be a highly-anticipated title, with the studio revealing that it had crossed the one million wishlists milestone earlier today.The release date of the game is also more or less set in stone at this point, since the studio had announced just last week that it had gone gold. For more details about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, check out one of its more recent character trailers that focused on the mage Lune.

Developer Infuse Studio and publisher Silver Lining Interactive have announced that Spirit of the North 2 will be coming to PC (via Steam), PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 8. The release date was announced alongside a new trailer, which you can check out below.Along with the games release date, the Signature Edition of Spirit of the North 2 was also unveiled. Slated for release on PC and PS5, Spirit of the North 2 Signature Edition will be a physical release of the game that also includes a host of physical goodies.Spirit of the North 2 Signature Edition will include the game itself, a signed, full-colour art and lore booklet, two embroidered patches, four metal character pins, two art cards, and two mystical Runescript cards. All of this, along with a copy of the game, will be packed into an oversized collectors box that features exclusive cover art made for the Signature Edition.The Signature Edition will be available exclusively from Silver Lining Direct, and is priced at 64.99 for either the PC or the PS5 version. The standard edition of Spirit of the North 2 is priced at 24.99 on PC and 34.99 on PS5.Spirit of the North 2 was announced all the way back in October 2023. In the game, players take on the role of a fox that is on a journey through a ruined world to try and restore the guardian beasts. Along the way, the fox, accompanied by a raven, will have to deal with the dark shaman Grimnir.The core gameplay in Spirit of the North 2 will feature quite a bit of exploration. Through this, players will also be able to upgrade their abilities by finding magical runes hidden all over the world. There will also be quite a bit of side content in the form of optional challenges and secrets that players can find.The original announcement trailer gave us a look at the kinds of environments that players will get to explore throughout the world, ranging from labyrinthine ruins, snow-capped mountains, and dark and dank crypts. While not too much in the form of more details have been revealed for Spirit of the North 2, the developers at Infuse Studios have said that players will have to deal with enemies through puzzle-based encounters.In Spirit of the North 2, players will be able to explore the untamed Northern Isles where they will be able to uncover ancient mysteries and even get new abilities as they cleanse the land around them of its corruption. The studio has stated that it will take players more than 16 hours to finish the main story of Spirit of the North 2. It is unknown whether that play time also includes optional content that players can discover.As its name might imply, Spirit of the North 2 is a sequel. Its predecessor, aptly dubbed Spirit of the North, was released back in November 2019 on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. For more details, check out our review of the PS4 version of the title.

A technician climbs a tower to locate lightning strikes in the study area on Panama's Barro Colorado Island. Evan Gora / Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesGetting struck by lightning might not sound like a very wise idea to us, but for one tropical tree species, an occasional zap is a good thing. The almendro trees found in Panamas forests can get a boost from this electrical jolt and have perhaps even evolved to act like lightning rods, according to a new study published last week in the journal New Phytologist. Evan Gora, a forest ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, became interested in the impact of lightning on the trees after noticing they seemed to survive being hitand sustained little damage. Seeing that there are trees that get struck by lightning and theyre fine was just mind-blowing, Gora recalls in a statement.So, Gora and his colleagues tracked 93 trees that were struck by lightning at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. They used a system of lightning strike-locating instruments to pinpoint which trees had likely been hit by bolts. Between 2014 and 2019, the researchers would check in on the trees to assess their condition, two to six years after the strike. Nine of the trees were from the almendro species (Dipteryx oleifera)and they all seemed to be doing much better than their lightning-struck peers.How some trees benefit from being struck by lightningWatch on Within two years of being hit, 64 percent of the other trees died. Meanwhile, the almendro trees thrived. They gained space as the electricity traveled through their branches, their leaves or the air into nearby trees, killing them. In fact, the study found that trees living near a large almendro tree are 48 percent more likely to be killed by lightning than those living near another species. Any tree that gets close essentially gets electrocuted, says Gora to Erik Stokstad at Science.Lightning strikes also reduced the number of parasitic vines, called lianas, on the almendros by 78 percent. These vines would ordinarily grow on top of the tree and steal light from its leaves, but they died back after lightning. Without these benefits, Gora says to Gennaro Tomma at Scientific American, the almendro trees would not live as long.All of this, the researchers suggest, points to the trees having adapted to attract lightning. The trees unusual heightthey can grow roughly 165 feet talland wide crown make them up to 68 percent more likely to be struck by lightning relative to other similar trees, according to the paper. The almendro tree's fruits and the almond-flavored seeds within them are a crucial food source for animals. Evan Gora / Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesAlmendro trees are considered a keystone species in Central Americas tropical forests. Their fruit supports more than 100 animal species during the areas dry season. Some of the trees electrical resistance might come from moisture in their wood.The new study challenges our idea of lightning as simply a force of destruction. Its a really creative piece of work that changes our perspective of how we think about lightning as an agent of disturbance, Tommaso Jucker, a forest ecologist at the University of Bristol in England who was not involved with the research, says to Science.The findings of the study are quite novel and make a significant contribution to our knowledge of plant evolution, says Allan Carroll, an ecologist at the University of British Columbia in Canada who was not involved in the research, to Scientific American.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Biology, Central America, Ecology, Evolution, Forests, New Research, Panama, Plants, Rainforest, Smithsonian, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Trees, Weather

Three head-to-head conversations, tackling the AI apocalypse, direct-to-player marketing and sales, and the state of the game industry.Read More