During her clandestine efforts for the Italian Resistance, Anita Malavasi used these forged papers to travel under the identity of Marta de Robertis. European Resistance ArchiveAnita Malavasis first delivery was salt. In the fall of 1943, she brought a packet of it into the mountains outside the city of Reggio Emilia, in northern Italy, to supply a growing group of soldiers lacking food staples. These fighters were the anti-fascist Resistancemen whod deserted the armies of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and were preparing to fight for freedom.Though Mussolini had been voted out of power that July, Italy was still firmly under German control, and Nazis were killing or deporting any dissident they came upon. Once 22-year-old Malavasi was comfortable sneaking salt past German checkpoints on her bicycle, she started ferrying illicit publications to the mountains, as well as clothes and food. She wore low-cut, fitted dresses and flirted to disarm Axis officers. She smuggled guns by strapping them to her body, beneath her clothes. One day, she biked through a checkpoint with two heavy bags hanging from her handlebarseach containing concealed bombs.Malavasis earlier involvement in the Italian Resistancehelping Axis soldiers desert their postshad been motivated only by humanitarian principles, she said: As a woman, you saved another womans son. But as a clandestine courier, Malavasi came to see her efforts as something conscious, part of a loftier goalan Italy free of fascism. Anita Malavasi in the downtown of Reggio Emilia, right after the Nazis began their occupation of the city in the autumn of 1943. European Resistance ArchiveMalavasi, whose story is little known outside Reggio Emilia, is one of four brave heroines featured in historian Suzanne Copes new book, Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis. Cope zooms in on the lives of Malavasi and three other Italian women who contributed significantly to Italys resistance against fascism. Theres Bianca Guidetti Serra, who dodged bullets while delivering newspapers to anti-fascists in the Alps. Carla Capponi, who bombed German vehicles outside Romes opera house and got away with shooting a German colonel on a busy street. And Teresa Mattei, who delivered secret messages for the Resistance and later wrote Italys Constitution.While these women were essential to the Italian Resistance, they also found new frontiers of personal freedom, as their responsibilities exposed them to possibilities of gender equality theyd never known. As Malavasi said after the war, I didnt want to listen to my brothers or father telling me what to do. The Italian people had thrown off fascism, and she had broken free of convention: I did not intend to rebuild it. Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis The gripping, true, and untold history of the Italian anti-fascist resistance during World War II, told through the stories of four spectacularly courageous women fightersSubscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99This article is a selection from the April/May 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazineGet the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.A Note to our Readers Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission.Filed Under: Books, Fascism, Italy, Movement Leaders, Nazis, Protest, World War II

So much of our online and technological lives rely on standards, the sets of rules designed to make sure our favorite gadgets and services work together. At their best, they make everything work seamlessly, and we never need to worry about whats happening behind the scenes. But at their worst, they leave us perplexed about why our new stuff just wont work and wondering how we could make it better.In this special issue from The Verge, we explore the way specs and protocols affect our productivity and passions from the promise of a more efficient streaming video codec, to the power of the watt as a way to understand our gadgets, to our perpetual frustration with Micro USB. These are the ways specs and standards run our digital lives.

Every time I see mAh on a consumer product, I cringe. Megahertz are starting to bruise, too. Thats because the most critical components of portable gadgets batteries and processors should really be measured in watts: its the one common spec that gives you a real idea of what your device can do.With watts, you can tell how much literal power is under the hood how much energy is provided by your battery and how much is coursing through your chip. Watts determine whether theres enough cooling to let that processor run free, instead of overheating and throttling prematurely. Watts can even tell you how much battery life you have left, based on the watt-hours (Wh) of battery remaining and the wattage at which your device is draining. You can do it all with elementary school math so why arent watts everywhere? Consumers are regularly exposed to wattage measurements when buying light bulbs or reading their power bills. But many gadget manufacturers insist on measuring their batteries in milliamp-hours and their chip speed in megahertz or gigahertz, neither of which are a good measure of a devices true power. The Steam Deck gaming handheld is my go-to example of how handy watts can be. With a 15-watt maximum processor wattage and up to 9 watts of overhead for other components, a strenuous game drains its 49Wh battery in roughly two hours flat. My eight-year-old can do that math: 15 plus 9 is 24, and 24 times 2 is 48. You can fit two hour-long 24-watt sessions into 48Wh, and because you have 49Wh, youre almost sure to get it. With the least strenuous games, Ill sometimes see my Steam Deck draining the battery at a speed of just 6 watts which means I can get eight hours of gameplay because 6 watts times 8 hours is 48Wh, with 1Wh remaining in the 49Wh battery.The Steam Deck OLED. Photo: Vjeran Pavic / The VergeAt its most basic, the watt is a measure of work. Its the amount of energy it takes to do something at a particular speed, whether its heating up food in your 1,000-watt microwave or providing the 2-3 watts a smartphone needs while youre browsing websites on its screen. Its also specifically a measure of electricity watts are volts times amps and a measure of battery capacity, like my Steam Deck example above. (My colleague Thomas Ricker can also help you calculate watt-hours for off-grid energy storage and home backup.)Perhaps most intriguingly, watts are used as a roundabout measure of heat. If youve ever seen a computer processor with a certain TDP, or thermal design power, measured in watts, thats the amount of cooling required to run that chip at its normal speed. A chip is only as fast as it can be cooled, which is why watts are more important than megahertz.Todays laptops have long broken the 5GHz barrier, meaning their chips can theoretically do work five billion times per second. Phone chips are coming close, too. But in small and constrained battery-powered devices, they can only maintain those speeds briefly before they overheat. Its why a MacBook Pro with a fan has better sustained performance than a MacBook Air without one, even if they both have the exact same chip. Its part of why a 15-watt processor will generally feel slower than a 28-watt one, even if both can hit 5GHz. More power and more cooling means youre not just a sprinter; you can go the distance.Unfortunately, manufacturers arent always fond of sharing watts with us. Theyd prefer to quote bigger, more impressive-sounding numbers instead, advertising a power bank or phone with a 5,000mAh battery rather than a 19.4Wh pack. You can convert mAh to Wh, but only if you know the devices voltage, which is another spec thats often obscured. Some chip makers even hide the wattage of their chips so you wont know youre using a weaker version, such as an 80-watt Nvidia RTX 4080 laptop graphics chip instead of a 150-watt one, though admittedly more power doesnt always make a big difference.James Watt left behind a legacy of pushing confusing specsManufacturers also prefer to share what percentage of your battery is remaining rather than an actually useful number like the watt. They prefer to let you choose vague power modes like performance, balanced, and battery saver, instead of using the smarter watt so you can decide exactly how fast your battery is draining.I feel like the Steam Deck and other PC gaming handhelds should be a wakeup call that watts are the better way. Its wonderful to think crap, my PC needs to last an extra hour before I get to my next outlet and make that a reality just by rebalancing an elementary school equation.But if not, I will blame the inventor James Watt himself, who left behind a legacy of pushing confusing specs. While the watt is a genuinely useful unit of measurement, Watt didnt come up with it. Instead, he coined a different phrase thats been misleading people for more than two centuries now. The watt was indeed named for James Watt, more than 60 years after his death, because of his marketing coup. Watt was the man who first popularized the phrase horsepower as a way to sell his improved steam engine into all sorts of industry.According to Watts own biographer, he didnt even come up with the idea of comparing engines to the horses they could replace; thats widely credited to steam engine pioneer Thomas Savery. Plus, documents from Watt suggest that his definition of horsepower was based on some back-of-the-napkin math! Effectively, a guy told Watt that he wanted a steam engine that could do the work of 12 horses to turn a 24-foot-tall wheel two and a half turns each minute, Watt guessed each horse would pull 180 pounds of weight, and so one horsepower became 32,400 foot-pounds per minute and was later rounded up to 33,000.But even though a real horse has significantly more than one horsepower, at least over short periods, the unit of horsepower stuck around. It has become one of the most enduring examples of inventing a spec to help sell products, and it might be the reason we have to endure bullshit specs like mAh now. Free the watt, or else Ill start measuring gadgets in horsepower out of spite. The official conversion rate is 746 watts to 1 horsepower. Did you know AMD recommends a 1-horsepower power supply for its latest graphics card? Heck, Nvidias 5090 needs three-quarters of a horses power all by itself. Theres no better unit than the watt. I just wish companies would let us know it.See More: Tech

The new Pokmon TCG: Surging Sparks bundle is out, its in stock, and its actually under $50. That alone would be enough to carry todays lineup, but the rest of the deals arent slacking either. TVs from LG and Insignia are seeing big discounts, and Samsungs Galaxy Watch Ultra Titanium is finally priced like it wants to be on someones wrist instead of a museum pedestal.Extra 15% Off Dell Precision Fixed & Mobile Workstations with Nvidia Graphics Cards OnlySee it at Dell Small BusinessSurging Sparks Booster Bundle Is In Stock NowPokmon TCG: Scarlet & Violet - Surging Sparks Booster Bundle$45.02 at AmazonInsignia - 55" Class F30 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TVOutright Games Game On! BundleInsignia - 65" Class F50 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TVDeath Stranding 2 - DHV Magellan - Model Kit$69.99 at IGN StoreLG - 65 Class UT70 Series LED 4K UHD Smart webOS TV (2024)Samsung - Galaxy Watch Ultra Titanium Smartwatch 47mm LTEPokmon TCG: Scarlet & VioletJourney Together Elite Trainer BoxPokmon TCG: Scarlet & VioletPaldean Fates Booster Bundle$69.77 at AmazonBest of Boomer Shooters 4: Badda Bing Badda BoomPokmon TCG: Scarlet and Violet Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box$54.96 at AmazonStreet Fighter Alpha Warriors Dreams - Series OneSee it at IGN StorePokmonTCG: Paradox Clash tin: Iron Leaves ex or Walking Wake ex$39.96 at AmazonPokmon TCG: 3 Booster Packs & 1 Random FoilTheres also a stacked Humble Bundle full of family-friendly games (yes, Bluey made the cut), and the IGN Store has a highly detailed Death Stranding 2 model kit up for pre-order if your shelf is looking a little too normal. If youve got the itch to treat yourself, todays not a bad day to scratch it.Pokmon TCG: Scarlet & Violet - Surging Sparks Booster BundlePokmon TCG: Scarlet & Violet - Surging Sparks Booster Bundle$45.02 at AmazonI dont need six booster packs, but these are usually in and out of stock. This Surging Sparks Booster Bundle has some fantastic chase cards, we're talking $400+ chase cards that could be in this Booster Bundle. Its under $50, which in Pokmon terms is basically a clearance sticker. I'm not saying it'll change your life, but it might improve your afternoon.Insignia - 55" Class F30 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TVInsignia - 55" Class F30 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TVThis is the TV Id buy if I wanted something that works without having to pretend I care about specs. It turns on, the pictures 4K, it has Alexa so I dont have to get off the couch, and it costs less than my last grocery run. Honestly, thats more than enough.Outright Games Game On! BundleOutright Games Game On! BundlePay less to get fewer items, or pay extra to give more to publishers, Humble, and charity Naomi House & Jacksplace.I dont usually gravitate toward games based on cartoons, but this bundle is stacked if youve got kids or just want a break from games that scream at you. Bluey, PAW Patrol, My Little Pony the whole crews here, and honestly, theyre better made than half the AAA titles Ive rage-quit. Pay $20 or more, get a pile of games, and support charity. Seems like a win for everyone except your free time.Insignia - 65" Class F50 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TVInsignia - 65" Class F50 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TVI like this one because it feels unnecessarily large in the best way. You get Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and it still costs less than a concert ticket and a hoodie. If you want to make movie night feel intentional without spending your life savings, this does the job.Death Stranding 2 - DHV Magellan - Model KitDeath Stranding 2 - DHV Magellan - Model KitAvailable to preorder$69.99 at IGN StoreI want this on my shelf mostly so people ask what it is and I can pretend I understand Death Stranding 2. Its a 1/350 scale model of a massive mobile base from a game that hasnt even released yet, and I respect the level of commitment required to care this much. Its $69.99, which is fair for something this weirdly specific and detailed and yes, the railgun is included.LG - 65 Class UT70 Series LED 4K UHD Smart webOS TV (2024)LG - 65 Class UT70 Series LED 4K UHD Smart webOS TV (2024)This is the kind of TV Id get if I wanted it to last longer than my attention span. Its a 2024 model, has LGs updated processor, and handles all the streaming stuff without having to download three extra apps just to log in. Feels like someone at LG actually thought it through.Samsung - Galaxy Watch Ultra Titanium Smartwatch 47mm LTESamsung - Galaxy Watch Ultra Titanium Smartwatch 47mm LTEI think this is what happens when Samsung realizes not everyone wants to spend $650 to track their steps. The titanium build is overkill in a good way, and the battery life means I dont have to charge it every time I blink. It finally dropped to a price where it makes sense to buy one without feeling like Im auditioning for a tech influencer role.Pokmon TCG: Scarlet & VioletJourney Together Elite Trainer BoxPokmon TCG: Scarlet & VioletJourney Together Elite Trainer Boxive been watching the Journey Together Elite Trainer Box like a hawk, and somehow its actually in stock at Amazon for $70.31. Thats 30% off apparantly, but it's not at all. It includes nine booster packs, a full-art Ns Zorua promo, sleeves, and the usual accessories, Most people just want the packs and the promo. If its gone when you check, keep trying. Ive seen stock randomly reappear in the mornings and lunch time, just like Target's Journey Together stock.Pokmon TCG: Scarlet & VioletPaldean Fates Booster BundlePokmon TCG: Scarlet & VioletPaldean Fates Booster Bundle$69.77 at AmazonThen theres the Paldean Fates Booster Bundle at $69.77. Six packs inside, and the draw here is the return of shiny Pokmon. I like that it cuts straight to the good stuff no sleeves, no dice, no cardboard fluff, just a clean bundle of packs ready to be cracked open. If youre chasing shinies, this is where the hunt begins.Best of Boomer Shooters 4: Badda Bing Badda BoomBest of Boomer Shooters 4: Badda Bing Badda BoomPay extra to give more to publishers, Humble, and charities The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) + Cool EffectHumble Bundles Best of Boomer Shooters 4 is live right now, and I love how chaotic it is. For $16, you get $174 worth of retro-inspired FPS games like Turbo Overkill and Forgive Me Father 2. I think of it as therapy, just with more blood and less talking about my feelings. You also support some good causes, so now your nostalgia trip is technically altruism. You're welcome.Pokmon TCG: Scarlet and Violet Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer BoxPokmon TCG: Scarlet and Violet Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box$54.96 at AmazonShrouded Fable ETB is holding steady at $54.96, and I think its slept on. It has nine packs, a Pecharunt foil, some sharp sleeves, and a players guide that youll absolutely ignore until you pull something weird and have to look it up. This set's all about the Legendary trioOkidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipitiand if youre into building themed decks or hoarding off-meta cards, this one hits.Street Fighter TCG Alpha Warriors Dreams PreorderStreet Fighter Alpha Warriors Dreams - Series OneCollectors box, Inner Case and Master Case available for pre orderSee it at IGN StoreFinally, if your card obsession extends beyond Pikachu, the Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors Dreams trading cards are now up for pre-order on the IGN Store, starting at $20. I already pre-ordered a box because the idea of serial-numbered Chun-Li cards is somehow more exciting to me than it should be. Rare pulls, killer art, and a chance to relive the 90s one Hadouken at a time Im in.Pokmon TCG: Paradox Clash tin: Iron Leaves ex or Walking Wake exPokmonTCG: Paradox Clash tin: Iron Leaves ex or Walking Wake ex$39.96 at AmazonI picked up one of the Paradox Clash tins just for fun and honestly, no regrets. For $39.96, you get five booster packs and either a Walking Wake EX or Iron Leaves EX promo, chosen completely at random. Its a bit of a gamble, but opening tins is half the fun anyway. The promos are clean, the packaging is slick, and I think it makes a solid gift for anyone getting into the gamePokmon TCG: 3 Booster Packs & 1 Random FoilPokmon TCG: 3 Booster Packs & 1 Random FoilFor a cheaper fix, Id go for the $12.25 blister pack with three random boosters and a foil promo. Its 39% off, which is honestly kind of wild, and its one of those no-risk purchases you can talk yourself into without too much guilt. The listing shows Silver Tempest Boosters, so there's a good chance of pulling some Sword and Shield chase cards here.This ones for the people who want it all: QLED, anti-reflection, studio-calibrated modes, and picture quality so good I paused a show just to stare at a lamp. I think my eyes are spoiled now.Why Should You Trust IGN's Deals Team?IGN's deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don't try to trick our readers into buying things they don't need at prices that aren't worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest deals we find on IGN's Deals account on Twitter.Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.

Arcade gamer Billy "King of Kong" Mitchell has won almost a quarter of a million dollars in damages after a court ruled Australian YouTuber Karl Jobst had defamed him.As spotted by PC Gamer, Jobst who specializes in content around competitive and speedrunning gaming included Mitchell in a video entitled "The Biggest Conmen in Video Game History Strike Again!" With 500,000 views, a court agreed that Jobst's video defamed Mitchell and included inaccurate and unsubstantiated claims.The King of Kong was initially stripped of his title in 2018 after his scores were scrubbed from Twin Galaxies' leaderboards following claims the high score record holder had used a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) and not arcade cabinets to secure his records in games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong Jr., which is strictly against the rules.After six years of defending his records, Mitchell was later able to have his accolades reinstated as part of a "historical database" on Twin Galaxies' website, a site that tracks competitive gaming records. His high scores were also reinstated by the Guinness World of Records in 2020.Billy "King of Kong" Mitchell has won a defamation lawsuit against Australian YouTuber Karl Jobst. Photo by David Greedy/Getty Images.But Mitchell's defamation lawsuit against Jobst was unrelated to the legitimacy of his Donkey Kong scores. Rather, Mitchell sued because, as he alleged, Jobst's 2021 video implied that Mitchell's prior lawsuit against another YouTuber, Benjamin "Apollo Legend" Smith, resulted in the latter having to pay out $1m in damages and contributed to Smith taking his own life in 2020. It also reportedly suggested Mitchell had "expressed joy at the thought" of Smith's suicide.Jobst later edited his video after Mitchell threatened legal action, and Smith's brother confirmed no money had been paid."I lost. The judge found Billy to be a credible witness and believed his entire testimony," Jobst confirmed on X/Twitter, stressing he did not accuse Mitchell of cheating, and his claims about Smith were formed by "incorrect information from multiple sources.""From that point on unfortunately there was really nothing that could have saved me. I will now obviously consider my options."I know many of you will be upset with this and I am sorry for that. Thank you again for all the support I have received and I will endeavor to work as hard as I can to repay all that you are owed."I am proud that I never backed down and never allowed a bully to control my free expression," he added in a subsequent update.The judge ordered Jobst to pay $187,800 (AU$300,000) for damages for non-economic loss, $31,300 (AU$50,000) for aggravated damages, as well as $22,000 (AU$34,668.50) in interest, totalling around $241,000, saying: "[Mitchell] may well have been justified in being ordered to pay more than AU$50,000 in aggravated damages, but that is the amount being sought by Mr Mitchell and that is the amount I shall award." Mitchell famously achieved a perfect score in Pac-Man in the '80s, before rising to fame in the 2007 documentary, King of Kong, which focused on the rivalry between Mitchell and Steve Wiebe. Photo by David Greedy/Getty Images.Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

I Will Find You is an eight-part adaptation of Cobens 2023 novel thats coming to Netflix via Quantum Leap and Alcatraz showrunner Robert Hull. Its cast has just been announced and includes Sam Worthington (Avatar), Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us, Heroes), Britt Lower (Severance), Logan Browning (Dear White People), and Erin Richards (Gotham).Set in New Jersey, the traditional home of Cobens thrillers, I Will Find You is the story of David Burroughs, a man serving a life sentence for the murder of his young son Matthew a crime he says he didnt commit. When a photograph arrives appearing to show Matthew alive several years after his supposed death, David sets about solving the mystery.I Will Find You wont be the very first Harlan Coben adaptation set in its home country of the US, but the first one to stream on Netflix. In 2023, Prime Video aired Shelter, an American-set series revolving around teenager Mickey Bolitar, the nephew of Cobens hit creation Myron Bolitar the rights to whom are owned by Netflix, hence Myron not appearing in Shelter. Netflix is currently developing a Myron Bolitar series, rumoured to be in collaboration with TV producer David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, Big Little Lies, The Lincoln Lawyer).The next UK-set Coben thriller Run Away began filming earlier this year in and around Manchester, England, and stars James Nesbitt (Cold Feet), Minnie Driver (Speechless), Jon Pointing (Big Boys), Lucian Msamati (Gangs of London), Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey), Tracy-Ann Oberman (EastEnders) and more. Its the story of a father who discovers his troubled runaway daughter strung out on drugs and tries to bring her home, but who uncovers a web of lies that change his family forever along the way. If Run Away keeps with tradition, then we can expect it to arrive on Netflix on January 1, 2026 for the now-traditional New Years Day binge. In short: our Coben cup runneth over!

One of Europes leading climate tech VC firms has called for a fundamental redesign of traditional computing methods amid surging energy consumption fromAI applications.The Berlin-based World Fund warns that simply transitioning data centres to renewable power will not be enough to fully decarbonise AI compute.We need to rethink the way we go about computing, from the materials and chips we use to software we run, Daria Saharova, founding partner at World Fund, said at the Future of Green Computing event in Munich today.At the event, World Fund joined Dealroom and Intels deeptech accelerator Ignite to unveil a new report that proposes a set of emerging technologies from chips made in space to processors that mimic the brain to curb AIs enormous appetite for energy and usher in a new era of greener computing.Take me thereUsing data from Dealroom, the report maps out the green computing ecosystem. It identifies 65 startups in this space, 54 of which are European, with a combined value of over $900mn. Over half of these companies were founded within the past five years, with 12 emerging in just the last 12 months.A greener vision of AIThe report highlights three key technologies that hold the most potential to decarbonise AI.The first is advanced semiconductor materials such as Gallium Nitride (GaN), Silicon Carbide (SiC), and graphene. These could significantly reduce AIs energy consumption by improving efficiency and thermal performance in computing hardware.One of the leading innovators in this space is Welsh startup Space Forge. The company is leveraging the microgravity, vacuum, and extreme temperatures of space to produce semiconductors that it claims are three to five times purer than those made on Earth.Weve pushed the efficiency of silicon chips to their limit, said Joshua Western, CEO and cofounder at Space Forge.Another promising avenue lies in new computing paradigms, such as quantum, neuromorphic, and optical computing. Quantum computers, for instance, promise to solve complex calculations much faster than classical machines, potentially reducing computational time and overall energy consumption.Classical computers are getting too big, too expensive, and use too much energy and water, said Ins De Vega, VP of innovation at IQM, Europes best-funded quantum computing startup. Quantum computing can both find new solutions to climate change but also drastically reduce the overall energy consumption of computing itself.Another type of computing gaining traction is optical computing, which leverages photons particles of light instead of electrons. It could dramatically increase processing speed, as demonstrated by Germanys Black Semiconductor. The companys photonics processors could transmit signals 100 to 1,000 times faster than traditional electronic chips.Anastasiia Nosova, a former chip engineer at German semiconductor giant Infineon and host of the Anastasi In Tech podcast, argued that photonic chips could be 100 times more energy efficient than regular silicon semiconductors. They are one of the most important developments in computing right now, she said at the Munich event..While hardware fixes will be critical, theres also work to be done in advanced software that makes AIs energy use more efficient. One of the startups working on this is London-based Deep Render. The company uses deep learning to compress files while retaining quality beyond what was previously possible. This reduces the volume of data that needs to be transmitted or stored, and thus the amount of computing power required.While these technologies hold potential, theyre still in the nascent stages of development. Meanwhile, the energy needed to train AI models is doubling every three to four months, according to OpenAI.For these computing solutions to scale in Europe, we need a lot of venture capital but also government backing, said Saharova. She believes that Europe needs to allocate about 1 trillion to bring climate tech, including green computing, to the level it needs to be.The future of AI will be a hot topic at TNW Conference, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Ticketsfor the event are now on sale. Use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the check-out to get 30% off the price tag. Story by Sin Geschwindt Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecos (show all) Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecosystem. He's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. Sin has five years journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with

Gone are the days when a bean bag and free kombucha made your office cool. Todays top tech talent wants something far more valuable: their health. Thats the view of Lucien Engelen, a renowned healthcare innovation expert, who believes workplace wellbeing is about to spark a seismic shift. This transition will not only transform employment perks, but also create a new tech market.Engelens vision draws on deep experience.Across three decades in healthcare, his work has spanned acute care, ambulance services, and dispatch centres. As the founding director of the REshape Center of the Radboud University Medical Center, he spent eight years developing and implementing healthcare technologies, grabbing headlines for efforts to integrate patients in their own care and improve service provision with social media.Today, he focuses on running Transform.Health, which assists organisations such as Vodafone, Erasmus University Medical Center, Deloitte, and Sanofi in their healthcare strategies. He also delivers 100 keynotes a year across the globe about the subject. These roles revealed a fundamental flaw in conventional treatment. Weve built a sick care system, not a healthcare system, he says.Check It OutEngelen compares the problem to bad plumbing. We wait until water gushes out of the wall before fixing the leak, instead of turning off the tap. For Engelen, the fix is obvious. We need to shift the focus from treating illnesses to preventing them. And employers have a crucial role to play.At TNW Conference on June 19, Engelen will share his vision in full during a talk titled CODE RED: Why the Future of Work is the Future of Health. Ahead of the event, he shared a glimpse of what to expect.Employers as catalysts for wellbeingThe business case for staff wellbeing is obvious: healthier employees deliver higher performance. Illness, stress, and long waits for medical care drain their productivity and availability.If it takes eight weeks to get a consultation, thats eight weeks of lower productivity, Engelen notes. And if they leave due to poor health, replacing them can cost about 40,000 in rehiring and training someone to reach the same level.To stay ahead, forward-thinking employers are getting proactive. Instead of waiting for health problems to arise, theyre offering services that can prevent them.Technology is rapidly expanding the possibilities. From digital wellbeing apps and fitness trackers to online therapy, these perks are becoming a competitive advantage in attracting elite workers.As Engelen says, Were all fishing in the same bucket of talent.To attract that talent, he urges employers to apply a broader concept of wellbeing. Its not only about your physical health. Theresalso your mental health, and even your social health and financial health. Gradually, this holistic model is shaping modern workplaces.The next generationFor employers, mental health services have become a growing focus and with good reason. Deloitte research found that UK organisations investing in mental health support see an average return of five to one.The benefits could be especially impactful for younger workers. A recent study by PwC found that almost four in 10 Gen Z employees in the UK have seriously considered leaving their jobs in the last year, with mental health a major driver.Digital services offer promising solutions. Yet they also introduce new challenges.The same Gen Z that is willing to step down due to mental health concerns also thinks privacy is very important for the right reasons, Engelen says. The challenge now for companies is offering solutions without sacrificing their privacy.Engelen sees employers addressing this by offering third-party services that staff can use confidentially, away from the prying eyes of bosses or colleagues. For instance, theyre providing anonymised access to online mental health services and fitness apps connected to gyms outside the company with no data flowing back to the business.This growing focus on employee wellbeing also has powerful potential for tech firms. Engelen envisions a new market emerging for them.Well see an increase in Big Tech closing big contracts with big corporates, he says.We will also see Big Tech acquiring more startups in this sector than ever before, because they can not only get this technology scaled, but also access a market that is willing to pay for it. Now that employers see the real financial benefit of this, it is going to create a new revenue stream.For tech companies, this is a lucrative opportunity. The same is true for employers.The future of wellbeing in the workplaceThe benefits of healthy workplaces are well-established. Researchers have found that the ROI on employee wellness programs can be six to one.Employers are realising that investing in prevention is far cheaper than paying for treatment or replacing talent and can also attract talent, Engelen explains.Accessibility to digital wellbeing is also set to increase. Integration layers are connecting more and more healthcare apps, creating new approaches to medical care. The EU, meanwhile, recently ratified the European Health Data Space regulation, which will enforce mandatory access to medical records on users smartphones.As the technology progresses and enters the workplace, the ripple effects could improve lives and productivity, while alleviating pressure on overburdened health systems.By embracing wellbeing tech, Engelen believes employers can accelerate a shift from reactive healthcare to proactive prevention.The technology is already there, he says. Whats changing is how were using it. Employers have realised that investing in health and wellbeing is not just good for their people its good for business.Lucien Engelen will be among the standout speakers at TNW Conference, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Ticketsfor the event are now on sale. Use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the check-out to get 30% off the price tag. Story by Thomas Macaulay Managing editor Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he e (show all) Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse). Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with

Mark Gurmans recent Q&A revealed a little snippet of information about iOS 19 its codename within the Apple teams working on it and it sounds very much like it tells us what to expect That codename is Solarium, and the internet was quick to jump on this as a clear description of the upcoming design language.Merriam-Webster defines the word as a glass enclosed porch or room. Couple that to Apples frosted glass WWDC 2025 graphic, and reports of a UI based on Vision Pro, and it seems like another, uh, clear piece of evidence about what to expect.But as Macworld notes, Apples codenames have never meant anything.Historically, Apples codenames dont have anything to do with the shipping product. For example, last years iOS 18 codename was Crystal, and iOS 17s was Dawn. iOS 12? Peace []The last major change to iOSs interface came with iOS 7. That codename? Innsbruck, a mountainous city in Austria popular for skiing. Back then Apple was fond of naming iOS versions after winter resort cities.The sites Michael Simon says that Solarium, like Innsbruck, almost certainly has no meaning. Id put it far more strongly than this: one of the most secretive companies in the world, with a history of seeing its codenames leak, absolutely isnt going to embed clues into them.WWDC graphics are arguably a little different. By the time those are issued, there have already been a fair number of leaks, so Apple can get a little playful with these. But codenames created right at the start of a project arent going to give anything away.Highlighted accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Apple has gotten a lot of flack for talking up Apple Intelligence while delivering very little of it, and now it seems Amazon is about to do the exact same thing.A new report citing internal company documents suggests that Alexa+, Amazons equivalent of the new Siri, will also launch without many of its headline features Apple Intelligence embarrassmentApple promised a new, conversational Siri and a whole lot more, but what has actually launched is essentially just tinkering around the edges. The gulf between what Apples glossy videos promised, and what the company has so far delivered, is so enormous that the company was forced to pull an iPhone 16 ad focused on a feature which is currently complete fiction. I wont retell every twist and turn along the way some recent headlines alone are enough:Now Alexa+ is doing the sameAmazons Alexa+ presentation was every bit as flash, promising a truly intelligent and useful voice assistant.A demo video showed Alexa booking concert tickets, restaurant reservations and texting a babysitter. Shes useful, Panay repeated, before conducting what he said was a live conversation with the updated software. During the presentation, he demonstrated a flowing ongoing conversation a departure from the stilted, single-question interactions Alexa users are familiar with.But The Washington Post reports that Alexa+ too will be mostly vaporware when it launches next week.Some of the new features Amazon previewed at the February event wont become available for two months after Mondays launch, and some will take even longer, according to internal company documents seen by The Washington Post []The delayed features that documents say dont yet meet Amazons standards for public release include the ability to order takeout on Grubhub based on a conversation with Alexa+ about what youre craving, or for Alexa+ to visually identify family members and remind them to do specific chores like walking the dog.So, uh, the headline features shown off by the company in its announcement, then.The piece also says that while you will be able to upload documents and ask Alexa+ to summarize them, theres a teensy-weensy privacy problem: you wont be able to delete those documents from Amazons server afterwards. The company apparently expects it to take several weeks to fix this.Finally, Alexa+ wont be available on any of the companys standard smart speakers youll need a recent Echo Show device to use it.9to5Macs TakeThis stuff is hard.Chatbots like ChapGPT have essentially created a highly misleading view of how intelligent generative AI really is. Their output sounds intelligent, and well-informed, and trustworthy but its actually none of those things. Its simply a statistical sampling model figuring out which word is most likely to follow the current one when constructing a sentence or paragraph, based on analysis of human-written text in the (hopefully) relevant field.Creating an AI system that simulates intelligence to a useful and reliable degree when working with your own personal data is a whole other ballgame, and its clear that both Apple and Amazon have promised capabilities they cannot yet deliver.Highlighted accessoriesImage: AmazonAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel