OpenAI will buy Ive’s startup in a $6.5 billion deal, as Ive and CEO Sam Altman work on new generation of devices and other AI products.

shrinking Nemo Incredible shrinking clownfish beats the heat Shrinking down to size boosted clownfish survival rates up to 78 percent during heat waves. Jennifer Ouellette – May 21, 2025 2:00 pm | 7 Credit: Morgan Bennett-Smith Credit: Morgan Bennett-Smith Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Pixar's Finding Nemo immortalized the colorful clownfish, with its distinctive orange body and white stripes, in the popular imagination. Clownfish, like many other species, are feeling the stress of rising temperatures and other environmental stressors. Fortunately, they have a superpower to cope: They can shrink their body size during dangerous heat waves to substantially boost their odds of survival, according to a new paper published in the journal Science Advances. “This is not just about getting skinnier under stressful conditions; these fish are actually getting shorter," said co-author Melissa Versteeg, a graduate student at Newcastle University. "We don’t know yet exactly how they do it, but we do know that a few other animals can do this too." Many vertebrates have shown growth decline in response to environmental stressors, especially higher temperatures. Marine iguanas, for example, reabsorb some of their bone material to shrink when their watery habitat gets warmer, while young salmon have been known to shrink at winter's onset. This can also happen when there is less food available. And social factors can also influence growth. When female meerkats, for example, are dominant, they have growth spurts, while a disruption in their social status can cause stunted growth in male cichlids What has been lacking in prior research is an investigation into how environmental and social factors interact to influence growth rates, according to Versteeg et al. They thought clownfish were the best species to study to fill that gap, since they've been extensively studied and are well understood. The fish live on Indo-Pacific coral reefs where heat stress has been increasing and has become more severe—an environment that is close to the thermal tolerance limits of clownfish. Clownfish also live in social groups: They form breeding pairs with a dominant female and subdominant male, sometimes adding subordinate non-breeding fish. The dominants tend to grow to match the size of the host anemone, while the subordinates only grow to a size that ensures there are sufficient resources—otherwise they risk being evicted and likely dying. Let’s get small The team observed 67 breeding pairs of wild clownfish—briefly caught and photographed for distinctive markings and measured before being returned to the water—living on single anemones in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, between February and August 2023. This happened to coincide with the world's fourth global bleaching event. They measured the body size of the fish once a month and measured the temperature around the individual anemones every four to six days. Then the team analyzed the collected data. "Individual fish can shrink in response to heat stress." Credit: Morgan Bennett-Smith The results: Over the course of those months, 101 of the 134 clownfish shrank at least once in response to heat stress, and doing so boosted their likelihood of survival up to 78 percent compared to the 33 fish that did not shrink. And between breeding pairs, there were distinctive growth ratios between the dominant and subordinate fish; those pairs that shrank together were also more likely to survive the heat waves. “We were so surprised to see shrinking in these fish that, to be sure, we measured each fish individual repeatedly over a period of five months," said Versteeg. "In the end, we discovered it was very common in this population. It was a surprise to see how rapidly clownfish can adapt to a changing environment, and we witnessed how flexibly they regulated their size, as individuals and as breeding pairs, in response to heat stress as a successful technique to help them survive.” Versteeg et al. have not yet identified a possible mechanism for the shrinkage, but suggest the triggering of neuroendocrine pathways via thyroid hormones might play a role, since those hormones regulate growth. The adaptive strategy could also be a means of adjusting to changing metabolic needs. But there are trade-offs: While shrinking in response to heat waves ensures greater survivability, there can also be a corresponding decrease in birth rates. "Our findings show that individual fish can shrink in response to heat stress, which is further impacted by social conflict, and that shrinking can lead to improving their chances of survival," said senior author Theresa Rueger, also of Newcastle University. "If individual shrinking were widespread and happening among different species of fish, it could provide a plausible alternative hypothesis for why the size of many fish species is declining, and further studies are needed in this area.” Science Advances, 2025. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adt7079  (About DOIs). Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 7 Comments

Targeting the vagus nerve has shown potential in treating a range of health conditionsScience Photo Library/Alamy Pairing targeted vagus nerve stimulation with physical therapy seems to help people who are partially paralysed from spinal cord injuries regain the ability to perform some everyday activities, like putting on a necklace or doing up a zipper. The treatment is already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating some motor impairments after stroke. This prompted Michael Kilgard at the University of Texas at Dallas and his colleagues to wonder if it may also benefit people with incomplete…

Regina Ventura, Dawn Richard, Sharay Hayes, and David James took the stand at Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial. Here's what we know.Read the original article on Business Insider

Editor’s note, May 21, 2025, at 9:50 am ET: The Senate has unanimously passed the “no tax on tips” bill. The bill will now head to the House. This article was originally published on August 13, 2024.First, some good news: In an otherwise polarizing and divisive election, there’s at least one policy proposal that’s emerging as a unifying issue. The bad news is that most experts think it’s a terrible idea. The proposal in question is to abolish federal taxes on tips. Donald Trump originally floated the idea at a campaign rally in June, and it gained enough traction that “No tax on tips” signs started making regular appearances at Trump campaign events and the Republican National Convention. Now, even his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris has endorsed the idea. “It is my promise to everyone here: When I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” she told a crowd over the weekend.In a series of social media posts, Trump accused Harris of stealing his idea, saying that “she sounds more like Trump than Trump, copying almost everything.”On the surface, exempting tips from being taxed might sound like a pro-worker proposal with populist appeal, potentially boosting take-home pay for service sector workers who rely on tips to make a living. But the policy doesn’t really hold up under any scrutiny. And that’s because at best, “no tax on tips” looks a lot less like a tax cut for low- and middle-income families, and a lot more like a subsidy for big businesses. “I’m not at all saying that workers won’t get anything,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “But I think that a meaningful share of the [federal] expenditures on a tax exemption like this will go to the employers of tipped workers.” That might be why industry lobbyists have backed the proposal. “It’s not a surprise that the National Restaurant Association loves this,” Shierholz said, referring to the lobbying group that represents many of the country’s major restaurant chains.At worst, the tax policy might even put a downward pressure on service sector wages by allowing employers to keep their workers’ baseline pay low because the tax cut could instead raise the workers’ take-home pay.“I think there is no question that it would” weigh wages down, Shierholz said. The only question, she says, is just how much.So while “no tax on tips” might make for a good sound bite or campaign slogan, it doesn’t necessarily translate to wise policymaking.Tipped workers don’t need a tax cut. They need a raise.The problem with tipped wages is not that they are taxed too heavily; it’s how little they tend to pay, and how much tipped workers have to rely on the kindness of strangers to make ends meet. In 2023, for example, the median annual wage for waiters was just below $32,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.In fact, as the Tax Policy Center put it, eliminating income taxes on tips would do little, if anything, for many tipped workers whose earnings are so low that they are already exempt from paying federal income taxes.“It’s very hard to dispute that the vast majority of moderate and low-wage workers are left out,” said Brendan Duke, senior director of economic policy at the Center for American Progress. “We know that 95 percent of low- and moderate-wage workers don’t get tips, and only about a third of those tipped workers pay income taxes and would benefit from this.” (Duke was specifically talking about Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s proposed legislation on this issue.)Part of the reason that tipped workers are paid so poorly is that the federal government only guarantees them a subminimum wage of $2.13 per hour. If along with tips, a worker’s earnings are still below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, then employers have to make up the difference. (Many states and municipalities have wage requirements above the federal minimum, but those also often include carve-outs with lower hourly minimums for tipped workers.)That’s why a handful of states have abolished the subminimum wage for tipped workers altogether. Because by allowing employers to pay tipped workers less, businesses essentially pass their payroll burden directly onto their customers. And while most Americans are used to paying tips, those who don’t — or those who at least threaten to not tip — create a hostile environment for workers and make it harder for employees to make a fair wage. Some studies have also shown that tipped wages encourage workers to discriminate against people of color, providing them with worse service because of racist stereotypes about who is more likely to leave a generous tip.Eliminating taxes on tips is a handout for businesses, not workersOne of the biggest concerns about doing away with federal taxes on tips is that it would discourage businesses from offering more competitive wages. That’s because if workers’ take-home pay increases because of a tax cut, employers wouldn’t need to provide tipped workers a higher base-line wage. In effect, it’s a tax cut that might mostly subsidize businesses’ payroll costs, not workers’ cost of living. “It will reduce employers’ needs to raise wages,” Shierholz, of the Economic Policy Institute, said. There’s also the fact that creating a tax carveout for tipped employees could create a major loophole for employers looking to pay people less. Some sectors, for example, can simply become part of the tipped economy, making more of their workers rely on tips rather than a minimum wage.The policy would “incentivize employers to have more workers be in tipped occupations,” Shierholz said. “[Employers] could reduce the base wages they pay their workers under the guise of doing something for the workers. They could say, ‘We’re making you tipped because you won’t have to pay taxes’ and then in the fine print, it’s like, ‘Oh also, you’re going to be making $2.13 an hour in base wages.’”That’s why pursuing other policies, like abolishing the subminimum wage, would do much more to increase workers’ pay than eliminating taxes on tips would. The poverty rate for tipped workers in states without a subminimum wage, for example, is lower than that in states with a subminimum wage. “If you really want to help tipped workers, there are other ways that are far, far better,” Shierholz said, adding that federal dollars would be better directed toward programs like the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit, which would be much better at targeting workers who need it. So if politicians are looking to tout a pro-worker agenda, they should point to policies that can actually raise people’s wages, as Harris did by also endorsing raising the minimum wage. Otherwise, they might just be pushing for yet another tax cut for the rich. After all, that might be why major business lobbying groups have endorsed “no tax on tips” — to avoid actually raising workers’ wages.See More:

The popular video game Fortnite has returned to the iPhone app store in the US, ending a prolonged exile that was triggered by a legal showdown over the fees that Apple had been collecting for years through a payment system that the tech giant has been forced to change.Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular games, hailed its app’s long-awaited restoration to the iPhone and iPad in a Tuesday post, marking the first time it will be available on those devices since it was ousted in 2020 for trying to avoid the 15% to 30% commissions that Apple collects on in-app transactions.“Fortnite is BACK on the App Store in the U.S. on iPhones and iPads … and on the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the E.U! It’ll show up in Search soon!” read a tweet from the game’s official account. As an upshot of its legal war with Apple, Epic established its own digital store.The video game, which features virtual gunfighting on a digital island, is coming back to the iPhone just a few days after its parent company, Epic Games, filed a motion asking a federal judge to order its return as part of a civil contempt of court finding issued against Apple late last month. Last week, the game went dark on Apple devices the world over, and it remains unavailable on them in many countries.In a brief statement filed in court late on Tuesday, Apple said the dispute that had been keeping Fortnite off its iOS software for the iPhone had been resolved. The Cupertino, California, company did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.The legal wrangling is all part of a bitter feud that is still boiling. Epic filed a lawsuit alleging Apple had turned its app store into an illegal monopoly – a claim that it lost under a 2021 ruling made by a federal judge after a month-long trial.Although she decided Apple was not breaking antitrust laws, US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the company to loosen control over in-app payments and allow links to other options that might offer lower prices.After exhausting an appeal that went all the way to the US supreme court, Apple last year introduced a new system that opened the door for links to alternative payment options while still imposing a 27% commission on in-app transactions executed outside its own system.Epic fired back by alleging Apple was thumbing its nose at the legal system, reviving another round of court hearings that lasted nearly a year before Gonzalez Rogers delivered her stinging rebuke that included a ban on collecting any kind of commission on alternative payment options.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to TechScapeFree weekly newsletterA weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our livesPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThat appeared to clear the way for Fortnite’s return to the iPhone and iPad, but Epic last week said the video game was still being blocked by Apple. After Apple contended that keeping Fortnite was still permissible while it pursues an appeal of Gonzalez Rogers’s contempt ruling, Epic forced the issue by asking the judge for another order that would make clear the video game should be allowed back on the iPhone and iPad.Gonzalez Rogers on Monday asked why Apple was still blocking Fortnite without an order from the appeals court authorizing that action. She scheduled a 27 May hearing in Oakland, California, to hear Epic’s latest motion while noting “Apple is fully capable of resolving this issue without further briefing or a hearing.”

It's been a big few weeks for Xbox, and Microsoft's gaming division just dropped a huge number of classic games onto Xbox Game Pass in what might be its biggest update everTech16:39, 21 May 2025Xbox Game Pass just added a whole host of games in one fell swoopIf you thought Microsoft was done for the day with its announcement that Xbox exclusive Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 would be coming to PlayStation, you'd be wrong.The company has gone muiltiplatform in a big way, but Xbox and Windows remain the only places to enjoy Xbox Game Pass, and as Microsoft keeps picking up studios and publishers, its content offering on the service is growing rapidly (just look at last week's excellent DOOM: The Dark Ages).‌Today, in a new May Update blog post, Dean Shimabukuro, Product Marketing Manager, Xbox Services Marketing confirmed that Game Pass players are able to play a huge host of older titles dubbed Retro Classics, while also confirming more features for Xbox and PC gamers.‌Content cannot be displayed without consentEarlier today, Xbox's Game Pass account posted on X (formerly Twitter) to confirm huge games like Game of the Year contender Metaphor: ReFantazio would be coming to the service, as well as titles like STALKER 2 and more coming to the standard tier.It's a solid lineup, but another surprise fell shortly after when the blog post revealed more than 50 classic Activision games would be added under the Retro Classics banner.Article continues below"We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Retro Classics, a collaboration between Xbox and Antstream Arcade, available to play for Game Pass members globally," the aforementioned blog post explains.Game Bar is getting some changes"Starting today, Game Pass members can dive into a collection of 50+ classic Activision games from the ’80s and ’90s, including beloved titles like Commando, Grand Prix, Kaboom!, Mech Warrior 2: 31st Century Combat, and Pitfall! This initiative is a step in our commitment to game preservation and backwards compatibility, allowing players to experience many timeless games on modern devices."‌Microsoft says the games offer a "seamless gaming experience across console, PC, and on supported devices with cloud gaming".Elsewhere, Microsoft is making changes to its Game Bar on PC, which offers a series of quick settings for Windows gamers, while a browser which is "built specifically for players" will help players navigate their favourite guides while they play.NVIDIA's GeForce Now will also now be found in the Xbox app, players will be able to stream games like Skull and Bones and Watch Dog Legion in the future.Article continues belowFinally, more games are getting the "Play Anywhere" treatment that means you can buy a game on your Xbox, PC or "supported handheld" and find it on the others. Is that another hint at the Xbox handheld we heard about recently? Who knows, but for now, big games like Blue Prince and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are part of Play Anywhere.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.‌‌‌

It didn’t shine for very long (Sony) Sony is shutting down the PlayStation Stars loyalty scheme for PS4 and PS5 and it’s already stopped taking new members. After significantly downgrading the service in 2024, Sony has done the inevitable and announced that the PlayStation Stars loyalty programme is to be closed, after just three years. The service allowed you to earn points by buying and playing games, which could be used as discounts for various PlayStation products, including games. However, you needed to earn thousands in order to get a full-priced game and that became even harder when Sony tightened the rules last year. Although fine in theory, PlayStation Stars was never very well promoted and Sony seemed to quickly lose interest in it. But while it’s now in the process of being shuttered they have promised to replace it with something better. ‘Since launching the programme, we’ve learned a lot from evaluating the types of activities our players respond best to, and as a company, we are always evolving with player and industry trends,’ reads the annoucement on the PlayStation Blog. ‘Through this evaluation, we have decided to refocus our efforts and will be winding down the current version of PlayStation Stars. We will continue to evaluate our key findings from this programme and are looking into ways to build upon these learnings.’ Starting immediately, PlayStation Stars will not accept any new members and if you cancel your membership now you’ll lose all your points, no matter how many you have. Members will still be able to spend their credits and level up their status, but only until July 23 at 3.59pm BST. After that there will be no new rewards or status benefits, with the whole service shutting down completely on November 2, 2026. More Trending Whether the PlayStation Stars name will be kept in the future is unknown. It’s also unclear whether the replacement will be up and running before the current one closes down, as it’s a long wait until next November. The programme’s brief lifespan may have been the result of the collapse of the NFT market, which it initially seemed like PlayStation Stars had been designed for. The digital collectibles are not NFTs though and cannot be traded or sold, but some suspect that was the initial idea, before Sony thought better of it. ‘We want to thank all of our players for supporting PlayStation Stars since the launch in 2022. As we explore new ways to evolve our loyalty program efforts for the future, we’ll continue to celebrate all of our players through the various community activities we have planned,’ is the only other thing Sony has to say on the matter. How many will morn the end of PlayStation Stars? (Sony) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

By Lucas Ropek Published May 21, 2025 | Comments (0) | © MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News (Getty Images) A Massachusetts teenager has pled guilty to a number of hacking crimes, including his role in the penetration of a cloud company with data on tens of millions of children, the government says. On Wednesday, the Justice Department said that 19-year-old Matthew D. Lane of Sterling, Massachusetts, had entered into a plea agreement with the government for his role in a number of high-profile hacking episodes. The former college student pled guilty to aggravated identity theft, as well as other crimes. Lane’s plea agreement and a criminal complaint against him were posted to the Justice Department’s website, along with additional information about the teen’s criminal antics. Lane is accused of personally hacking a company using leaked employee credentials. While this company hasn’t been named in court documents, NBC has reported that the victim is PowerSchool, a cloud and analytics provider that says it services K-12 schools across North America. NBC describes it as “one of the top tech education companies” in the country. Lane’s compromise of it last year led to the theft of data on tens of millions of children. The information that Lane stole included the “Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and confidential medical information, among other data, of the students and faculty” sourced from the company’s network. Not long after Lane stole the data, the company received an extortion message, the government says. That message threatened to “leak . . . worldwide” the “names, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, medical information, residential addresses, parent and guardian information, and passwords, among other data, of more than 60 million students and 10 million teachers if Victim 2 did not send 30 Bitcoin (approximately $2.85 million at the time) to a specific Bitcoin address,” federal prosecutors wrote. Gizmodo reached out to PowerSchool for comment. According to the Justice Department, Lane was also part of a criminal group that stole data from a telecommunications firm and then sought to extort the company for $200,000. It is unknown who actually hacked the telecom, though Lane is said to have used an anonymous email to contact the telecom directly, telling it to fork over the ransom in Bitcoin or suffer a humiliating data breach. Lane purportedly said: “We are the only ones with a copy of this data now. Stop this nonsense [or] your executives and employees will see the same fate . . . . Make the correct decision and pay the ransom. If you keep stalling, it will be leaked.” “Matthew Lane apparently thought he found a way to get rich quick, but this 19-year-old now stands accused of hiding behind his keyboard to gain unauthorized access to an education software provider to obtain sensitive data which was used in an attempt to extort millions of dollars,” said FBI official Kimberly Milka. Daily Newsletter You May Also Like By AJ Dellinger Published May 18, 2025 By AJ Dellinger Published April 29, 2025 Jake Pearson, ProPublica Published April 29, 2025 By AJ Dellinger Published April 15, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published March 26, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published March 26, 2025

Karper Building Renovation / hé! architectuur + buro kiss + EA+Save this picture!© Tim Van de Velde•Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Belgium Architects: Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024 Photographs Photographs:Tim Van de VeldeMore SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. The renovation involves the conversion of an industrial building into housing with a coworking space and studio on the ground floor. It is an upside-down home with the living spaces all the way upstairs to provide maximum light and privacy.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Urban dense site - The plot is located in a dense urban network of workshops and industrial sites. Expanding in height is a logical step to respond to a current problem: how to densify the city, create enough housing for a growing population, and still maintain as many green areas in the city as possible. Since the eaves were much lower than those of the neighbors, we had the opportunity to use our roof as a low-cost building site and put a new building on an old building. The new facade retakes the detailing of the historical masonry of the existing facade in a more rational way, in white brick.Save this picture!3 key principles within circular building are central to this project: 1. Flexibility - The flexible and open plan allows spaces to be used in multiple ways and change function in the future. The coworking space was designed so that in a later phase it can easily be transformed into a store or showroom for the Tenue de Ville design studio. The small studios are also designed in such a way that they can be transformed into an extension of the family home at a later stage. Save this picture!Save this picture!2. Regenerative - Regenerative materials are used. These are materials with a longer cycle. *Wood, hemp, straw,...(bio-based, biodegradable, and renewable. They absorb CO2 as they grow). *Earth and loam (geo-based, they are abundant and can be reused infinitely). *Reused materials (2nd, 3rd, 4th,... hands materials). The outer shell of the new roof volume will be realized in prefabricated wooden cassettes and filled in with straw bales, taken from a nearby farm. The existing facades are insulated with lime hemp blocks. A mixture of sand and clay, from the Brussels earth-moving industry, is used as plaster. Existing elements such as floors, joinery, stairs, tiles,... are revalued and supplemented with reclaimed materials. With this project, we want to show that building in back-to-basics materials such as straw, loam, and wood is not only for a rural context but can also be applied in an urban environment.Save this picture!3. Dismountable, simple & repetitive - The open and legible inner structure is perfectly demountable due to its specific assembly (composite columns and beams with loose bolted connections). If broken down, they are easily reused. The number of materials are kept to a minimum and low-tech details or principles are repeated. It is an architecture that is understandable to all and therefore easily adaptable.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, BelgiumLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officehé! architectuurOffice••• MaterialsWoodBrickMaterials and TagsPublished on May 21, 2025Cite: "Karper Building Renovation / hé! architectuur + buro kiss + EA+" 21 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030330/karper-building-renovation-he-architectuur-plus-buro-kiss-plus-ea-plus&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream