Five fast-growing Nordic scaleups have reached the finals of TECH5 — the “Champions League of Technology.” They join a standout quintet from Benelux, unveiled last week, in the race to be crowned Europe’s hottest scaleup. The Nordics — comprising Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden — boast just 27 million people but punch well above their weight in innovation. The region has Europe’s highest density of unicorns — privately held companies valued at over $1bn. Despite accounting for only 4% of Europe’s population, the Nordics hosted 17% of the continent’s unicorns between 2013 and 2023. Sweden leads the pack with the EU’s top startup ecosystem, according to StartupBlink’s 2024 rankings. The Nordics also possess one of Europe’s leading investment landscapes. The region is home to over 14,000 funded startups, which collectively raised $5.6bn in 2024, according to Dealroom data. Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark rank among Europe’s top 15 countries for VC investment, while Iceland sits in the top 50. View the Speakers This thriving ecosystem has produced global giants like Spotify and Klarna. Now, TECH5 aims to uncover the next wave of tech titans. TNW’s judges selected the five finalists based on their growth, impact, and future potential. Let’s meet them (listed in no particular order). 1. Kompasbank The Nordics have a thriving stable of fintechs. Over 1,500 of them currently reside in the region, which has also raised a herd of unicorns in the sector, from buy-now-pay giant Klarna to open banking platform Tink. Kompasbank is a leader of the new breed. The Danish scaleup has developed a new type of bank — exclusively for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These businesses are the backbone of the European economy, representing 99% of all EU firms and over 100 million jobs. Yet they remain underserved by traditional banks, facing slow decision-making, rigid processes, and financial barriers that hinder growth. Kompasbank wants to change that. Founded in 2018 by Michael Hurup Anderson — a Saxo Bank and Deloitte veteran — the company rapidly delivers loans, currency trading, payments, and other banking services to SMEs. “Our ambition is to empower SMEs to achieve their full potential by providing them with the speed, flexibility, and tailored financial solutions they need to invest, grow, and succeed,” kompasbank told TNW.   2. Lassie Sweden’s Lassie is redefining pet care — with insurance at its core. The fast-rising scaleup has a preventative focus that combines veterinary care, coaching for owners, e-commerce, and advice from vets to keep our furry companions healthy. The company’s founders have an ideal blend of skills and experience. CEO Hedda Båverud Olsson grew up with a veterinarian parent. COO Sophie Wilkinson is a former head of pet insurance at a Nordic insurer, while CTO Johan Jönsson has developer expertise honed at Spotify and King. After launching in 2020, Lassie rode a boom in pet ownership during the pandemic. By 2023, almost half of European households owned pets, which generated an estimated €24.6bn in spending on products and services. Investors have taken note, pumping over €36.5mn into Lassie. “Our ambition is to become the European leader in pet insurance and preventive care — then go global,” the company told TNW. “We’re not just covering medical costs; we’re improving pet health, extending lifespans, and giving owners peace of mind.” 3. NORNORM The norm that Denmark’s NORNORM wants to foster is circularity. Its target for the transition is office furniture. The scaleup helps businesses cut their environmental impact by ditching single-use furniture for a circular, subscription-based service. Founded in 2020 by former IKEA manager Anders Jepsen and Skype co-creator Jonas Kjellberg, NORNORM is based in Copenhagen. In 2022, the company secured €110mn in a funding round led by growth equity firm Verdane. Inter IKEA Development also contributed to the round. Today, NORNORM is active in 17 countries and 59 cities. The company plans to bring its service to many more businesses — and not only big brands. “Real impact comes from reaching the many, not the few, which is why we have designed an accessible and highly affordable solution that requires no upfront investment or long-term commitment,” NORNORM told TNW. “By making circular office interiors both attractive and scalable, we are driving systemic change in the industry and proving that sustainability and business success go hand in hand.” 4. Flower Flower is fighting climate change with power – energy grid power, to be precise. The Swedish company combines energy forecasting, optimisation, and trading software to stabilise grids by feeding them stored power when demand is high.   John Diklev founded the company in 2020 while still a university student in Stockholm. Within a few years, Flower had amassed Sweden’s largest portfolio of battery systems for electricity storage. Last April, Flower bought the largest battery facility in Sweden from wind energy developer OX2 AB. A few months later, the company completed a €45mn funding round, which took its total investments to a whopping €100mn. Diklev wants his home country to set a standard in the energy transition. “Sweden can take the lead in the electricity industry, a flourishing future sector, while also protecting Swedish consumers from price increases,” he said. 5. Collective Minds Radiology Collective Minds Radiology believes there is “almost infinite” expertise and data in healthcare. The problem is it’s trapped in siloes at hospitals and medical institutions. The Swedish scaleup has created a cloud-based collaboration platform that connects healthcare professionals, medical educators, and researchers. Its goal? Accelerating patient access to accurate diagnoses and effective treatments. “We are on a mission to build the world’s largest platform and community for professional healthcare collaboration that ultimately makes a difference for each patient in getting to the right diagnosis faster,” the company told TNW. “Long-term, this will increase efficiency in healthcare by saving time and money while improving the patient journey.” Collective Minds has high hopes for Sweden’s digital future. Alongside its talent, culture, and history of scaling big ideas, the scaleup emphasised the country’s focus on sustainability and impact-driven innovation — which makes it “an exciting place to build something meaningful.” What’s next for the TECH5 scaleups? With the Nordic challengers joining the Benelux contenders in the TECH5 regional finals, the competition for the hottest scaleup in Europe is heating up. Next Monday, we unveil the five finalists from another rising region: DACH. TECH5 is part of a packed programme for TNW Conference, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Tickets for 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 newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with

We recently reported on a video by YouTuber Jon Prosser, who claims to have seen an internal build of iOS 19. In the video, Prosser showed a sneak peek at what to expect for the new design of the next version of iOS. Now the YouTuber is back with more images based on alleged leaked internal builds of iOS 19, this time showing the new icons, floating bars, and more. Latest iOS 19 leaks According to Prosser, the app icons will have a new shape in between the current one and a perfect circle, so they’ll look more rounded, but not like in visionOS or watchOS. As Apple is rumored to make iOS more like visionOS, users can also expect redesigned menus with more shadows and depth. Not only that, but some elements will shimmer as the user moves the device. The system’s Tab View, which is what Apple calls the tabs inside apps, will look a lot like what exists in visionOS and even in the Photos app of iOS 18. The bar in apps like Music and App Store will float on the screen with a new interface for the Search tab. In apps like Messages, the search field now appears at the bottom of the screen. If what Prosser saw is true, the redesign won’t be as drastic as expected – but it will certainly make iOS 19 feel fresh. For example, the iOS 19 Settings app concept shown by Prosser looks similar to the current app, but each list now has shadows and wider spacing between each item. You can watch Prosser’s video below: The YouTuber was the first to suggest that Apple has been working on a new interface for iOS 19. He shared a mockup of what could be a brand new Camera app for the iPhone with buttons floating on the screen. The rumor was corroborated by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who said earlier this month that iOS 19 and macOS 16 will mark the “most significant upgrade” to the interface in years. To back up the rumors, the WWDC 2025 artwork unveiled a few days ago is heavily inspired by visionOS, with glass-like elements, depth and shadows. We’ll find out the truth on June 9, when Apple will hold the WWDC 2025 opening keynote. Gadgets I recommend: Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re 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. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Even after turning himself into a laughing stock in the gaming world for blatantly cheating, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hasn't given up the hobby just yet.During a Saturday livestream of himself playing the free-to-play action RPG Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) — which allegedly served as an "airborne continuity test" of SpaceX's Starlink on board his private jet — Musk was ruthlessly bullied by other players in the game's chat, as spotted by Polygon.After repeatedly dying to the game's first boss, Musk rage quit roughly 30 minutes into the stream.Gamers reportedly accused the billionaire of having "NO FRIENDS" and charge that he "WILL DIE ALONE," while also looking "DUMB AND UGLY." Touché!One player said that his estranged daughter Vivian Wilson "was right" for having recently claimed that Musk was terrible at "Overwatch."Musk's personal path of exile from the gaming community kicked off earlier this year when gamers started to catch on that the richest man in the world was secretly paying talented PoE 2 gamers to build up highly-leveled characters that made it look like he was proficient at the RPG — a bizarre scheme Musk later admitted to.Considering the latest commentary, little love has been lost since then — especially now that anti-Musk sentiment has risen to all-time high levels. Gamers, after all, aren't immune to his abhorrent behavior and indiscriminate dismantling of the US government with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.Musk appeared rattled during Saturday's stream, saying little in response to the barrage of mockery. He did, however, use a disgusting slur against the intellectually disabled to take a stab at his haters, a term he has seemingly grown fond of."There's a lot of r*tards in the chat," he said at one point.Despite several users encouraging the CEO to activate the game's "Do Not Disturb" command or hide the chat, Musk allowed the bullying to continue. It remains unclear whether he knows how to use either of those functions.And his gaming chops on the whole? They left plenty to be desired."Elon Musk just rage quit his Twitter stream after repeatedly dying to a tutorial boss in the new PoE2 patch on hardcore," one X-formerly-Twitter user wrote.The schadenfreude among PoE 2's established player base was very real."Based on his current gameplay, there's no possible way he's getting out of Act One," said New Zealand game streamer who goes by Quin69TV during a response video, referring to the opening section of the game's storyline.Quin69TV had already raked Musk over the coals, calling him out as a fraud earlier this year."He's just going to keep dying over and over again," he added gleefully.Share This Article

Apr 08, 2025Ravie LakshmananMobile Security / Vulnerability Google has shipped patches for 62 vulnerabilities, two of which it said have been exploited in the wild. The two high-severity vulnerabilities are listed below - CVE-2024-53150 (CVSS score: 7.8) - An out-of-bounds flaw in the USB sub-component of Kernel that could result in information disclosure CVE-2024-53197 (CVSS score: 7.8) - A privilege escalation flaw in the USB sub-component of Kernel "The most severe of these issues is a critical security vulnerability in the System component that could lead to remote escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed," Google said in its monthly security bulletin for April 2025. "User interaction is not needed for exploitation." The tech giant also acknowledged that both the shortcomings may have come under "limited, targeted exploitation." It's worth noting that CVE-2024-53197 is rooted in the Linux kernel and was patched last year, alongside CVE-2024-53104 and CVE-2024-50302. All three vulnerabilities, per Amnesty International, are said to have been chained together to break into a Serbian youth activist's Android phone in December 2024. While CVE-2024-53104 was addressed by Google in February 2025, CVE-2024-50302 was remediated last month. With the latest update, all three vulnerabilities have been fixed, effectively plugging the exploit path. There are currently details on how CVE-2024-53150 has been exploited in real-world attacks, by whom, and who may have been targeted in those attacks. Users of Android devices are advised to apply the updates as and when Android original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) release them. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE    

In the world today, it seems that politics are always at the top of mind. But some people are more political and more politically passionate than others — partially thanks to the brain itself. According to a paper published in the journal Brain, there are circuits in our minds that contribute to our levels of political intensity, and researchers recently revealed these circuits, identifying which brain regions are involved. “We didn’t find brain networks tied to liberal or conservative ideology, but we identified circuits that influence the intensity of political engagement across the political spectrum,” said Jordan Grafman, a paper author and a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Northwestern University, according to a press release.Ultimately, the results reveal that the regions of our brain that control our cognition and emotion influence our levels of political passion — a result with clear cultural and clinical implications. Political Passion in the BrainOf course, there are all sorts of factors that are tied to our interest in politics, and the brain itself is one of them. But the brain regions that are involved in increasing or decreasing our political passion aren’t well-recognized.Setting out to identify which parts of the brain influence a person’s political intensity, researchers turned to veterans. Studying the brains and the political behaviors of veterans with brain injuries and without, the researchers determined which parts of the brain are behind the strength of our political beliefs. In particular, while brain injuries in the prefrontal cortex were tied to increased political passion, brain injuries in the amygdala were tied to decreased political passion. These results suggest that the brain regions associated with cognitive control and emotion are deeply involved in mediating our political intensity, with injuries that dull our cognitive control increasing our intensity and injuries that dull our emotions doing the opposite. “While most people have not sustained brain injuries akin to those experienced by the veterans in the study, our findings tell us what neural circuits are at play for the population at large,” Grafman said in the release. Indeed, the implications of this research are wide ranging, as a recognition of the brain’s involvement in our political passion could improve our ability to communicate and collaborate on politics overall. It could also inform brain injury assessments in clinical settings, Grafman said in the release, as increases or decreases in political intensity could be indicative issues in the prefrontal cortex or the amygdala.“Like other aspects of social behavior, assessments should consider asking whether a patient has experienced changes in their political attitudes since their brain injury,” he added in the release.Brain Injury Insights To determine the association between brain injuries and political behavior, the researchers turned to the results of the Vietnam Head Injury study, which Grafman has led for decades, since his own service in the U.S. Air Force. In one portion of the study, the brain injuries and the political behaviors of almost 160 veterans were assessed, the former through neuroimaging and the latter through surveys. Conducted between 2008 and 2012, the surveys assessed the veterans’ political behaviors before and after their injuries, which were sustained around 40 to 45 years prior.Analyzing the results of this study, the researchers determined whether injuries in specific parts of the brain were associated with specific political behaviors. According to the researchers, the associations that they found — between injuries in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala and political passion — were not attributable to outside factors, such as age, personality, or party affiliation. The result “allows us to better assess meaningful aspects of life,” said Grafman in the press release. “We expect this research will point to ways we can assist patients in recovering from brain injuries.”Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Sam Walters is a journalist covering archaeology, paleontology, ecology, and evolution for Discover, along with an assortment of other topics. Before joining the Discover team as an assistant editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

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Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Apple typically pushes out major iOS upgrades every September, alongside new iPhones—you may recall the launch of iOS 18. Those big software upgrades are followed by ‘point’ releases that squash outstanding bugs, improve security and stability, and occasionally introduce new features. That’s the case with iOS 18.4, which brings more with it than most minor iOS updates. It’s rolling out to compatible iPhones now. From extra tools in Image Playground, to ambient music to relax you or send you off to sleep, here’s what’s new in the iOS 18 update. Priority notifications iOS 18.4 will prioritize notifications for you. Screenshot: Apple Apple Intelligence can now prioritize iPhone notifications, selecting which you need to see first and create AI-written summaries. Apple says the AI will identify “important and time-sensitive” alerts, and move them to the top of the stack on the lock screen and in the Notification Center (you can still swipe up to see all notifications). While most of this runs automatically, you do get some control over which apps are included in the notification priority calculations (so you can exclude less important apps). From Settings on iOS, tap Notifications then Prioritize Notifications: From here you can turn the feature on and off, and choose which apps are included. Ambient music Check out the new ambient music options. Screenshot: Apple Your iPhone can now help you chill out or concentrate better, with a selection of free ambient music playlists. These background sounds have previously been available in iOS, but with iOS 18.4 they get a more prominent spot on the interface, and you can access them from the Control Center (swipe down from the top right corner of the screen). Tap the + (plus) button in the top left corner to add a new widget, then find the Ambient Music heading: You can pick from Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Tap any widget to start playback, which is kept separate from Apple Music and happens through the built-in iOS player you can get to through the Control Center. Sketches in Image Playground iOS 18.4 adds a new sketch option to Image Playground. Screenshot: Apple As long as you’ve got Apple Intelligence enabled on your iPhone (via Apple Intelligence & Siri in Settings), you’ll find the Image Playground app installed on your iPhone. Launch the app, which is actually just labeled Playground in iOS itself, and you can tap the + (plus) button to start making AI art. Use the text box at the bottom of the screen to enter your prompt, or choose one of the suggestion shortcuts. None of this is new in iOS, but if you tap the + (plus) button down in the bottom right corner, you get a choice of three image styles: Animation, Illustration, and Sketch. That last option, which is quite a useful one, is new in iOS 18.4. Other new features in iOS 18.4 Visual Intelligence is now available via the Action button. Screenshot: Apple There are other new features dotted around iOS 18.4 too, including new emojis, and the ability to pause downloads from the update page in the App Store. If you’ve got any of the iPhone 16 phones or an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, meanwhile, you can now launch Visual Intelligence via the Action button (tap Action Button in Settings). You’ll also find a new food hub in Apple News, while CarPlay gets a tweak too—with iOS 18.4 installed, you might see three rows of app shortcuts instead of two (if your car dashboard is big enough). Look out for a few minor tweaks in Photos as well, giving you more control over how images are sorted and displayed.

Nature, Published online: 07 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00995-3Success gives hope to scientists and advocates who managed to get millions of dollars in grants restored.

The AstroMaster 102AZ is one of Amazon's best selling beginner telescopes and rated for its ease of use and versatile performance.

This was super fun to make! submitted by /u/Punkinut [link] [comments]