Macworld A new leak suggests that Apple is gearing up for “trial production” of the iPhone 17e, which is due for release in the spring of 2026. The Chinese leaker, “Fixed Focus Digital,” operates primarily on WeChat and Weibo, and has his ear to the ground of the Chinese supply chain. He says the iPhone 17e is about to enter “trial production” which is common at this point—it’s basically a small-scale test production setup meant to find problems or inefficiencies while producing a small number of test devices. This is to give both Apple time to find and fix problems as well as time to adjust the production line. When Apple dropped the iPhone SE from its lineup and replaced it with the more expensive (but more capable) iPhone 16e as its most affordable iPhone, we speculated that the name change held a lot of significance: Apple would change its most affordable iPhone from a sort of random, ad-hoc, multi-year update cadence to regular yearly updates as part of the standard numbered iPhone lineup. It would appear that’s the case, at least according to this latest rumor. Trial production of “test” units a year before launch is not uncommon; volume production would start a few months before, to give time for millions of iPhones to be manufactured and travel via cargo ship for its global launch. That launch is said to happen next spring, roughly a year after the iPhone 16e went on sale. We don’t know whether Apple will simply replace the 16e with the new model or cut the price of the existing phone to $499. Nor do we know what iPhone 17 features will make their way to the 17e, but with test units beginning to crop up, rumors should start popping up soon.

Even though the saga started after the fiscal quarter ended, Apple's Q2 financial results are going to be profoundly different thanks to the Trump tariffs. Here's what to expect from the results on May 1.Apple CEO Tim CookAs regular as clockwork, Apple will be reporting its Q2 2025 earnings on May 1, with the results released ahead of the standard analyst and investor conference call at 5p.m. Eastern.Apple's CEO Tim Cook will be on the call, along with newly-installed CFO Kevan Parekh, to discuss the results and to take on questions from analysts. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple continues to research and protect the idea of an iPhone that features a curved touch-sensitive screen wrapping around the entire device.Detail from the patent showing one form of wraparound iPhone displayApple files countless patent applications every year, and it is granted something like countless minus one. Just because there's a patent, just because it's been granted, it does not follow that Apple will make whatever the idea is — except sometimes, surely, it must be very keen.Perhaps especially now when Apple has been granted a patent — that it has already been granted. This happens when the company puts through an amended version after the original is granted, and very often it's close to impossible to spot what has changed. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Peri 3D, the German company recently responsible for the EU’s first 3D printed social housing design, is working on a new project for Starbucks in Brownsville, Texas. The almost $1.1 million build that’s set to open there on April 28th will be the first-ever 3D-printed store for the Seattle-based brand. Texas, which is home to ICON, is fast becoming a hotbed for the application of 3D printing and other construction technology, with a new hotel/resort project designed by ICON investor Bjarke Ingels among several others to keep an eye on in the next few years. 

Calling all Los Angeles design angels! The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator is looking to vet wildfire rebuilding solutions in the first stage of a new competition called the LA Resilient Rebuilding Cup that culminates in a one-day fete this July with $100,000 and future pilot funding on the line.LACI organizers say their intent is to have the proposals developed afterward to debut at the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. The solutions are not for a particular design or concept per se, but will present ideas that "reduce vulnerability to future wildfires" overall in the words of the LACI. Additional opportunities to participate in their new Incubator Program will also be an aspect of it. The list of eligible startups invited to participate includes: Fire detection and response (e.g., optical detection, automated alert systems, AI predictive analytics, real-time data and visibility, simulation)Energy and water resiliency (e.g., distributed energy resources, EV charging, water ...

While Bungie has revealed quite a few details about its upcoming PvPvE extraction shooter Marathon, the company has continued to remain silence about the game’s price. In an interview with streamer Dr.Lupo, assistant director Del Chaf has continued the company’s elusiveness on questions about price. When originally asked about the price, Chafe pointed to the studio’s previous statements about how Marathon will not be priced like a full-priced game. DrLupo responded to this by saying, “Yeah, I saw that on Twitter.” Check out the whole interview below. “I can’t go into details, but what I’ll say is – we’re not ready to talk about it right now,” continued Chafe, “but […] we’ll have conversations about this. When we’re ready, we’ll share some of the stuff we’re talking about. Like, you and a bunch of other people are going to have really good feedback about it.” Chafe continues on, saying that when Bungie does finally unveil the price for Marathon, it is “definitely going to be a conversation.” According to Chafe, there are “big goals here – especially kicking this off with alpha – is to build this game and build a community around it. And so, we want to do that collaboratively. We want that perspective that helps us do what the players most care about.” Previously, Marathon director Joe Ziegler also spoke about the game’s price without revealing any details. In an interview, Ziegler said that Bungie is committed to making Marathon “really awesome,” and that players might have their own ideas about what good value means when it comes to the price of a game. “What we’re hoping everyone understands is that we’re focused on committing to making this a game that’s really awesome, and we think that starting point is really strong at this current time,” said Ziegler. “Everyone’s got their own definition of what is the right price.” Rumours, meanwhile, have indicated that Bungie is looking at charging $40 for Marathon when it comes out on September 23. While not confirmed by Bungie or Sony, the price would be logical, putting it in line with other online shooters like Helldivers 2. The same rumours also indicate that Bungie is planning to have an open beta for Marathon where more players will get to try the game in August before its September launch. This month, however, will see closed alpha tests of Marathon. Bungie recently revealed the system requirements needed for the closed alpha test, with the minimum specs indicating that Marathon will likely be highly scalable. At the lower end, the game needs players to have at least an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB), an Intel Arc A580 (8 GB), or an AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (4 GB) graphics card. Earlier this week, Bungie has also released a new trailer for Marathon. Dubbed the Alpha Intro Cinematic, the trailer gives us a look at the background story of the game, and reveals a few key details about the various Runners of the game. The trailer also revealed the existence of support AI ONI, which ties the upcoming extraction shooter in a small way back to the original Marathon trilogy. Marathon is under development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Kuro Games’ open-world action RPG Wuthering Waves has been on the upswing post-Version 2.0, and it’s prepping for Version 2.3’s launch on April 29th. However, the developer also announced a collaboration with CD Projekt RED and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners for 2026, its first since launching in 2024. It would mark the second collab for Studio Trigger’s popular anime, as Lucy will join the roster of Guilty Gear Strive this Summer as part of Season Pass 4. The content is unknown, but if it’s anything like Honkai: Star Rail’s upcoming Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works collab, we could see Edgerunners characters as new Resonators. Whether they play a part in the story remains to be seen, so stay tuned. Wuthering Waves is available for PS5, PC, iOS, and Android. Check out our review of the console version here. Version 2.3, “Fiery Arpeggio of Summer Reunion,” will add two new playable five-star Resonators – Zani and Ciaccona – alongside their weapons, a new story quest centred on the Black Alley, and new events. We're excited to share that we're teaming up with @edgerunners!The Wuthering Waves × Cyberpunk: Edgerunners collaboration is on track to launch in 2026. Keep an eye out for more updates!#WutheringWaves pic.twitter.com/bjxiGuVbST— Wuthering Waves (@Wuthering_Waves) April 19, 2025

Cool Finds Archaeologists Unearth Rare Traces of the First Ancient Factory Dedicated to Purple Dye Production Located at Tel Shiqmona in coastal Israel, the facility turned sea snails into purple dye at an industrial scale Aerial view of Tel Shiqmona, an ancient coastal site near modern-day Haifa, Israel, where dye-making reached an industrial scale Michael Eisenberg In the Book of Exodus, God commands Moses to “speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering.” Besides gold, silver, incense and onyx stones, he asks the Israelites for blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen. Biblical scholars and archaeologists have long labored to understand how ancient people created those kinds of colorful garments and textiles, as well as the role that color—especially purple, a rare pigment associated with royalty—played in ancient society. Now, a study published in the journal PLOS One reveals how one site in modern-day Israel functioned as an industrial-scale purple dye factory—the only known facility of its kind. Researchers unearthed the dye factory at Tel Shiqmona, an archaeological mound on Israel’s northern coast, on the outskirts of Haifa. As the authors write in the study, they found an “unparalleled” diversity of artifacts related to the dyeing process, including more than 135 purple-stained objects. Purple-stained shards from massive vats found at Tel Shiqmona Moshe Caine “Tel Shiqmona stands out because it yielded roughly twice as many artifacts directly connected to the industry as all other known sites combined,” lead author Golan Shalvi, an archaeologist at the University of Chicago, tells the Times of Israel’s Rossella Tercatin. At this scale, Tel Shiqmona represents the only known site in the Mediterranean region where dye production was not just a cottage industry but a veritable business operation. Its products were sold far and wide during the Iron Age, which lasted from roughly 1100 to 600 B.C.E. “In the past, the assumption was that the first large-scale production facilities of purple dye were only established in Roman times, around the first century C.E.,” co-author Ayelet Gilboa, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa, tells the Times of Israel. “Tel Shiqmona offers evidence that already in the ninth century B.C.E., purple dye was produced at an industrial scale,” she adds. “It was not just one individual dyeing a garment for a king.” Hexaplex trunculus shell collected near Tel Shiqmona Ayelet Gilboa The site’s seaside location made it a prime spot to expand from its humble origins as a Phoenician fishing village into a regional dye-making hub. Tyrian purple, as the dye is known, is harvested from sea snails in the murex family. To defend themselves and combat prey, the snails secrete “a slightly greenish fluid, which oxidizes upon exposure to air and gradually turns purple,” Shalvi tells New Scientist’s James Woodford. Transforming the purple fluid into an industrially viable solution that binds with materials like yarn and linen required a complex chemical process. Details on how this process operated in ancient times are still scant. “I imagine it as a very smelly place—especially to a modern nose—since the production process emitted a terrible odor,” Shalvi says to New Scientist. To accommodate this process, Tel Shiqmona became a veritable industrial site during the Iron Age. Archaeologists recovered purple-stained shards of massive vats that stood over three feet tall and held approximately 92 gallons of liquid, large enough to efficiently dye entire garments. At certain points, as many as 15 to 20 of these vats were in use at the same time. Here's how natural Tyrian purple pigment is made. #dye #naturaldye #artisan Watch on “For the first time, we have identified a complete production system in which significant quantities of purple dye were produced using specialized tools designed to streamline the process,” Gilboa tells Ynet’s Yaron Drukman. “The scale of the operation confirms that Shiqmona was an extraordinary production center for its time.” This industrial capacity helps explain how the Kingdom of Israel became a regional powerhouse starting in the ninth century B.C.E., commanding the production of luxury textiles linked to royal power. The archaeologists theorize that after the kingdom fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 B.C.E., the site at Tel Shiqmona was operated at a limited, local capacity for several years before returning to its industrial-scale production once the Assyrians firmly established their rule, per the Times of Israel. Stone tools with pruple dye residue from Tel Shiqmona Maria Bukin Because of the location’s humid climate, the researchers are unsure whether any textiles from the time survive today. But previous excavations in more arid parts of the region have uncovered purple-dyed scraps dating back to around 1000 B.C.E. Whether these scraps were dyed at Tel Shiqmona or at a more local site remains to be seen. But the significance of such a hub with a capacity for mass production is groundbreaking for the study of dye-making. “To find a site that really specialized in this economic branch is highly significant and special,” Aaron Schmitt, an archaeologist at the Heidelberg University in Germany who was not involved in the Tel Shiqmona excavations, told the New York Times’ Franz Lidz in 2024. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Biologists Rejoice as Extremely Rare Guam Kingfishers Lay Their First Wild Eggs in Nearly 40 Years The brightly colored birds are extinct in the wild, having disappeared from their native Guam in 1988 due to the introduction of the invasive brown tree snake. But now, they’re starting to make a comeback on Palmyra Atoll A female Guam kingfisher (left) and a male (right) perch on a branch on Palmyra Atoll. Martin Kastner A colorful bird that’s been extinct in the wild for nearly 40 years has been introduced on a new island in the Pacific Ocean—and the population has even started laying eggs. With help from conservationists, the Guam kingfisher (Todiramphus cinnamominus) seems to be settling in on Palmyra Atoll, a remote circular chain of 26 islets located halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa. Biologists are cautiously optimistic about the species’ future after discovering eggs in a nest roughly 12 feet off the ground on March 31. The birds use their powerful beaks to hunt skinks, geckos, spiders, beetles and land crabs. Martin Kastner The Guam kingfisher, known as the “sihek” to the Indigenous CHamoru people (previously spelled “Chamorro” on Guam before 2018), is a brightly colored, medium-sized bird with a long, thick beak. Males have cinnamon-brown feathers covering most of their bodies, but their wings and tails are a vibrant teal hue; females have pale white breast feathers. Sihek are skilled hunters that sit patiently on branches until they spot one of their favorite prey animals, including skinks, geckos, spiders, Once, sihek were abundant in Guam. But the introduction of the invasive brown tree snake, which wreaked havoc on the island’s native animals, decimated the species. The birds were declared extinct in the wild in 1988. Fortunately, before they disappeared forever, conservationists captured 28 sihek to establish a captive breeding population and keep the species alive. Now, some of their hard work is finally paying off. Last September, biologists released nine captive-bred Guam kingfishers—five males and four females—on Palmyra Atoll. Palmyra Atoll is roughly 3,600 miles east of Guam—not exactly near the bird’s native range. But biologists selected the site because it’s completely protected, located within the bounds of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. In addition, Palmyra Atoll has been cleared of invasive species, like rats, that might prey on the birds. The Guam kingfishers on Palmyra Atoll were raised in captivity and released last fall. Martin Kastner The nine kingfishers hatched in various zoos and facilities across the United States, then were transported to the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, to be hand-reared by keepers. Once they were old enough, they made the 4,500-mile flight to a Nature Conservancy research station on Palmyra Atoll. They spent about a month getting acclimatized before researchers outfitted them with radio trackers and set them free. The birds’ long journey—both literally and figuratively—makes the recent discovery of wild eggs all the more impressive to biologists. “These birds were raised in captivity until last year,” says Martin Kastner, a biologist working with the Nature Conservancy and the Zoological Society of London on the Guam kingfisher reintroduction project, to Public Radio Guam’s Mia Perez and Naina Rao. “Now they’re foraging, nesting and even laying eggs on their own. It’s an incredible step forward.” Males have cinnamon-brown feathers covering most of their bodies, but their tails and wings are blue. Martin Kastner Kastner and two other biologists went to check on several known Guam kingfisher nests around the atoll on March 31. The first nest they looked at—inhabited by a pair known as Fuetsa and Sindålu—was empty. But when they reached another nest, created by birds named Tutuhan and Hinanao, they were ecstatic to find an egg. They used an endoscope camera to peer into the nest, where they saw “the perfect shape of a white egg just below the lip of the entrance hole,” Kastner writes on Instagram. It was the species’ first wild egg in at least 37 years. “It’s hard to describe the feeling at that moment, when decades of expectation and effort by zookeepers, biologists, administrators and most importantly the people of Guam, coalesce in an instant of joy and hope,” Kastner adds. “I’ve seen a few special things in my life, but this might always stay at the top of the list.”Five days later, when biologists checked the nest again, they spotted a second egg. They’ve since found eggs in two other nests, and they expect to find some in a fourth nest soon. The eggs weren’t a total surprise to Kastner, who in March had photographed the first siheks mating in the wild since the species went extinct. The team will continue monitoring the eggs to see how they progress. If all goes well, Palmyra Atoll may soon be home to hatchlings. But since the Guam kingfishers are all first-time parents, it may take a few rounds of egg-laying before any chicks hatch successfully, reports the Guam Daily Post’s Walter Ulloa. Biologist Photographs First-Ever Documented Sihek Mating in the Wild in Decades Watch on In captivity, Guam kingfishers typically only lay fertile eggs once they’re at least 11 months old. The birds on Palmyra Atoll are roughly 9 months old. Longer-term, biologists want to establish up to 30 breeding pairs of sihek on Palmyra Atoll. Zoos will continue sending hand-reared chicks until they reach that target. Another nine Guam kingfishers are slated to arrive this summer, for release in the fall. Their ultimate goal is to move beyond Palmyra Atoll and reintroduce the species to Guam—but they need to address the invasive brown tree snake problem first. “The number one mission needs to be, let’s bring them back to Guam,” Kastner tells the Guam Daily Post. “There’s no real other end goal than that in this project.” In the meantime, biologists are celebrating the egg-laying victory and reflecting on the work they’ve done for the species so far. “It’s a sign that really we are able to restore just about any species, just given the right kind of time and effort,” Kastner adds. “This is an extinct-in-the-wild species that a lot of people might have just given up on by the end, but there are some brave people that brought them into captivity.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Open-source data orchestration gets a major rewrite to help support inference and enterprise AIRead More