Gamers again spent little time playing new titles.

In a year of continued A.I. progress, founder mode drama and a Trump election win, a few tech projects stood out for their clear benefits to humanity.

MacworldThe gift-giving season may be over but that doesnt mean were not still looking for deals. And we have three today that are perfect for those gift cards you got, with some of the best prices weve ever seen.First up is the Apple Watch Series 10, Apples latest smartwatch with a slew of excellent health features and sensors to get your new year off on the right foot. It has a bigger display than the Series 9, a thinner design, and faster charging, as well as incredible health and life-saving features, including an ECG sensor, all-day heart-rate monitoring, a-fib warnings, sleep tracking, and fall and crash detection. And today Amazon has the Apple Watch on sale for just $329, a savings of $70 and the lowest price weve ever seen.Next, theres the 10th-gen iPad. While it hasnt been updated since 2022, this iPad still represents the best value in Apples lineup by far, with a screen as large as the $599 iPad Air. Youll also get a 12MP FaceTime camera with Center Stage, a USB-C charging port, and a modern design with bold colors. Its a great bargain at its $349 MSRP but Amazons price of $279 is a downright steal.Finally, theres the humble AirTag, which has one jobto keep track of your non-Apple gear and help you find it when lost. It uses Apples robust Find My network to pinpoint lost items and alerts you when youve left something behind so you wont get too far away. Amazon is selling a four-pack today for $73, good for $26 off, not quite an all-time low but just a few dollars away from the best price weve ever seen.

OpenAI thinks it has found a way to make its transformation from non-profit to for-profit a little more palatable: make the for-profit part a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, while quietly limiting the ability of the non-profit board to oversee commercial operations.It outlined its plans in a blog post on Friday, saying that giving the for-profit arm more freedom, albeit as a public benefit corporation, would result in one of the best resourced non-profits in history.The blog post unsigned, and attributed only to OpenAI said that under the current structure, the boards main function is to control the for-profit arm, while under the new structure it will pursue charitable initiatives in sectors such as health care, education, and science while leaving management of the commercial operations to the public benefit corporation.As we enter 2025, we will have to become more than a lab and a startup we have to become an enduring company, the blog post said.OpenAIs goal, when it was founded as a non-profit company (the lab) in 2015, was to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return. It began life with promises of $1 billion in donations in cash or kind from individual and corporate donors including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Amazon Web Services, Infosys, and YC Research although it has received less than $140 million of that in cash, and upwards of $100 million in compute credits and discounts from hyperscalers, according to its website.In 2019, realizing that the computing capacity necessary to build an artificial generation intelligence would cost closer to $10 billion, OpenAI created a for-profit business (the startup) under its control, capping investors share of profits and keeping the rest to fund its research.As it became clear that OpenAIs generative AI technology could be immensely profitable, the pressure from shareholders and would-be shareholders has grown to lift that profit cap and open the company up to more investment. It has been trying to allay concerns about what this means for its revised mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity while at the same time pushing OpenAI investors to stifle AI innovation elsewhere.Over the last year, this has led to tensions within the management team, prompting a number of key staff to leave and create their own generative AI companies, many of them citing a desire to place more emphasis on the safety of their designs than on profit.Structuring OpenAIs for-profit activities as a public benefit corporation under Delaware state law is what the board hopes will make it an enduring company, it Fridays blog post said.In Delaware, public benefit corporations must be managed in a way that balances the interests of stockholders and stakeholders with the realization of specific public benefits defined in its certificate of incorporation. Those benefits can be artistic, charitable, cultural, economic, educational, environmental, literary, medical, religious, scientific, or technological, and favor one or more categories of persons, communities, or interests.How exactly OpenAI defines the public benefit or benefits to be pursued by its for-profit arm, could help determine the ideas reception.Some, though, are against the changes at any price. Musk who OpenAI said donated less than one-third of its initial funding and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have both sought to block OpenAIs move to become a for-profit.

A shaky rumor claims that Apple is prototyping a new Magic Mouse design for the Mac that's more ergonomic but which users will also be able to talk to.Magic Mouse with Siri image credit: mouse Apple, Siri composite: AppleInsiderIt was back in 1986's "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" where Scotty picked up a Macintosh mouse and tried speaking into it. In 2026, goes the new rumor, that could happen for real.This new claim follows a previous one that said a more ergonomic Magic Mouse 2 would be released in 2026, probably including moving the USB-C charging port from the bottom. Leaker yeux1122 agrees with all of that, but adds (in translation) that the design will fit "modern computing [needs] with a mixture of touch screen, voice command, and hand movement." Rumor Score: Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple's iPhone 16 Pro is a leap forward in video and audio innovation, and the secret lies in its cutting-edge testing labs. Here's how Apple tests new iPhones.The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 ProThe iPhone 16 Pro elevates Apple's standard for smartphone photography and video to new heights. It's equipped with cutting-edge features such as 4K slow-motion recording and advanced audio tools.At the heart of Apple's iPhone 16 Pro advancements is a meticulously designed testing process. The labs include a long-wave anechoic chamber where microphones are tested for audio clarity and a Dolby Atmos theater dedicated to fine-tuning video playback. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple TV+ is going free for one weekend because it lacks viewers but it is far from lacking in absolutely superb shows to watch. Here's what to see first, and just why Apple is doing this.The second season of 'Severance' won't start until late in January 2025, but viewers can catch up on its first season image credit: AppleApple is cutting down on blockbuster movie theater releases and one impact is that the profile of its Apple TV service will be lower. Since the service consistently has only a small fraction of the audience that Netflix and Disney+ get, Apple has been working to get it in front of more people.As recently teased, the latest attempt takes place on the weekend of Saturday 4 January 2025 and Sunday 5 January. For 48 hours, the whole of Apple TV+ will be free to watch without subscription. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The Gooey Goodness of Velveeta Was a Smash Hit From Its Very Cheesy StartHow Emil Frey whipped up a smooth dairy sensation after two years of tinkeringDavid LevineJanuary/February 2025 A 1951 ad. The FDA informed Kraft in 2002 it could no longer market Velveeta as a cheese. The Kraft Heinz CompanyThe year was 1916, and Jacob Weisl, owner of the Monroe Cheese Company of Monroe, New York, had a problem. Some of the wheels of Swiss cheese made in his factory in Pennsylvania inevitably broke or were misshapen, leaving a plethora of bits and blocks of cheese that Weisl was desperate to salvage. He had this waste shipped back to Monroe, where the solution was concocted by one of his cheesemakers, a caseiculture genius named Emil Frey. On his home stove in Monroe, Frey spent two years tinkering. His breakthrough came in 1918, when he devised a new way to mix the cheese pieces with whey, the leftover liquid from milk curds, while adding an ingenious emulsifier to blend the fats and water. (Frey patented a key part of this process.) The result was a cheese that, when melted, became a smooth, velvety sauce. Frey dubbed it Velveetaand it became an instant hit. By 1923, Weisl had incorporated the Velveeta Cheese Company and was selling his new, sensationally satiny cheese to restaurants and hotels across America and Europe.As industrial agriculture rose in the 1920s, Big Cheese soon took over: Kraft Foods bought the Velveeta Company in 1927, and Borden absorbed the Monroe Cheese Company in 1929. Kraft soon changed the Velveeta recipe, though, crucially replacing real cheese, which has only three or four ingredients, with the paragraph of chemical elements that still graces the package today. In the 1930s and 40s, Kraft began marketing Velveeta successfully, if rather dubiously, as a health food and diet aid, and its low price and conveniencebeloved by kids, shelf-stable, melts like a dreamcharmed Americas homemakers throughout the suburban 60s and beyond. The New York Times in 1976 declared Velveeta a worldwide favorite, although no country could vie with the U.S. for sheer consumption: In 1996, domestic sales hit an astonishing peak of 8.75 pounds for every American.Perhaps Velveetas most remarkable moment was the devastating Cheesepocalypse of 2014. Thats when Kraft announced a Velveeta shortage, just ahead of the Super Bowl. If this is true, Im going to die, one queso-loving fan tweetedrevealing a feverish love for a cheese product that, in fact, technically does not contain cheese.Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99This article is a selection from the January/February 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazineGet the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.Filed Under: Food, Food History, Food Science

The bald eagle is finally being recognized as America's national bird. John Tlumacki / The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesThe bald eagle is featured on American military insignia, currency, stamps and even the helmets of anNFL team. However, the government has never officially recognized it as the United States national birduntil now.On Christmas Eve, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law making the designation official.Bald eagles are a historical symbol of the United States representing independence, strength and freedom, says the new legislation, which Minnesotas Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Brad Finstad introduced over the summer, per theNew York Times Sara Ruberg. The Great Seal of the United States has long featured a bald eagle. Bettmann via Getty ImagesFor more than 200 years, the bald eagle has been featured on the countrys Great Seal, which shows the bird carrying an olive branch and arrows in its talons. Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress, proposed the design in 1782, though it received some pushback: Benjamin Franklin once called the creature a bird of bad moral character, according to theFranklin Institute.The U.S.s national tree is the oak, and its national flower is the rose. The national mammal has been the bison since 2016, and all 50 states have a state bird. But until this month, there was no national bird on the books.Preston Cook, an avid collector of bald eagle memorabilia, brought the issue to Congress attention after realizing that the bird didnt have official recognition.Scott Mehus, the education director at MinnesotasNational Eagle Center (which houses Cooks collection), says he was shocked when he learned of the oversight.Preston Cook brought that up to us years ago, and it was like, Oh, come on, youre kidding me, he tellsNBC News Frank Thorp V and Ryan Nobles. Ive been talking in classes all of these years, telling [people] its our nations symbol and our national bird.The Senate passed the bill with bipartisan support in July. When it passed in the House of Representatives earlier this month, Finstad said in a statement: Today, we rightfully recognize the bald eagle as our official national birdbestowing an honor that is long overdue. Bird watchers can see bald eagles in most states. Steven King / Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesBald eagles are native to North America. Bird watchers can spot them in most states, and Alaska is home to the largest eagle population. They were once considered endangered, but their numbers have recovered thanks to government protections.Since 1940, its been illegal to kill, sell, own bald eagles or harm their nests and eggs. In 1972, the government banned the pesticide DDT, which had caused their numbers to dwindle. The eagle population grew in the years that followed, and the birds were removed from the governments endangered species list in 2007.By 2020, theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that 316,700 bald eagles soared across the contiguous United Statesfour times their numbers from a decade earlier.Still, theres always more to be done. The new bills passage comes as bald eagles are contending with mounting risks, including climate change and habitat loss, asThe Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of Americas Bird, writes in Audubon magazine.Ed Hahn, the communications director at the National Eagle Center, hopes the new designation can also serve as a reminder of the conservation efforts that helped the eagle population thrive.When we look at some of the issues that are facing other natural resources today, we can look again at our living national symbol and now our official national bird, he tells MPR News Estelle Timar-Wilcox. It shows what we are able and willing to do when we truly value something, when its important to us.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: American History, Animals, Birds, Congress, Conservation, Environmental Preservation, Founding Fathers, Government, History, Joe Biden, Law, US Government

For many, 2025 will be the year of AI agents, when pilot programs, experiments and use cases converge into something resembling ROI.Read More