Designing a small apartment is all about making every inch count, and The Emerald Apartment (by Lena Bryantseva) shows exactly how its done. Here, functionality leads the wayclever storage solutions, multipurpose furniture, and clean layouts ensure the space feels open rather than cramped. But practicality doesnt mean plain. Bold emerald green accents add a burst of personality. They turn this compact apartment into a stylish modern home. From the frosted glass partitions that create flexible zones to the sleek dining area that doubles as a workspace, every detail is thoughtfully designed for both living and style.In small apartments, the living and dining space often has to do it alland in The Emerald Apartment, it does so beautifully. The frosted glass partitions are a clever move: they divide the bedroom from the lounge without shutting out light, keeping the whole apartment feeling open and airy. The sofa tucks neatly along the wall, leaving just enough breathing room for the dining area to shine at the center.And lets talk about those emerald green chairs. They anchor the space with a sense of richness, making the dining table feel like a design statement rather than an afterthought. The round glass table adds to the effect: it reflects light, keeps sightlines clear, and makes the room feel bigger than it is.Every piece here earns its keep. From the compact kitchen setup with marble finishes to the way the dining zone doubles as a workspace, this is functional design at its best.The bedroom in The Emerald Apartment proves that a compact space can still feel like a retreat. Separated by frosted glass panels, it has just enough privacy while still borrowing light from the rest of the apartment. The bed itself is low and cozy. It is dressed in soft neutral tones that make the room feel calm and uncluttered.Storage is cleverly integrated. Built-in shelving and drawers run along one wall, creating plenty of space to tuck things away while keeping the design clean. A small desk by the window doubles as a workspace, framed by greenery for a fresh touchshowing that even in a small footprint, you can carve out zones for living, resting, and working.

Artist in residence: take a tour of a versatile home studio designed for all occasions.

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Wondering what youre missing out on? Here are our favorite smartphones not officially sold stateside but are available in markets like the UK and Europe.

He and a partner made their co-working locations feel like private clubs. Among his other ventures, he sought to slash the cost of in vitro fertilization by using robotics and A.I.

MacworldIn just three days, Apple will hold a press event to announce its latest round of new products. Weve seen the artwork, weve read the tagline (Awe Dropping), and we can be pretty sure the iPhone 17 will make an appearance. But everything else is shrouded in mystery.Until now. Yes, thats right. Once again, Macworld sent a team of hard-bitten journalists to rummage through the bins at Apple Park, and once again, they hit pay dirt: the full presentation script, storyboards, rehearsal tapes, props, costumes, one of those old-timey movie clapperboards, and several half-eaten sandwiches. Weve eaten the sandwiches and used the rest to painstakingly construct a minute-by-minute simulation of the iPhone 17 launch event, which you can enjoy below.Just to be 100 percent clear, this isnt real. Our script is based on detailed analysis of credible leaks and rumors, with a few (hopefully obvious) jokes mixed in. Please dont send in any more angry emails.Introductory guff09:58 a.m.: Were live! The pre-stream is up and running. If youre thinking the music sounds familiar, its Platitude Queen by Onion Terror. Which of course was used earlier this year in the opening credits of Apple TV+s gritty remake of Keeping Up Appearances. What a triumphant performance that was from Margot Robbie.10:00: The stream proper begins. Cut to a darkened city street. A young woman is jogging from streetlight to streetlight, glancing periodically at the workout stats on her Apple Watch Ultra. (Is that a bigger watch, or a small actress?) You can do this! the watch says, surprisingly. Just one mile to go. Vitals steady. Plenty of energy left. Youre on track to beat your personal best!10:02: A middle-aged man on a graffitied subway train taps his AirPods. Adjusting audio, it says. Blocking out the annoying guy next to you. Now hes in a restaurant. Translating from Cantonese, the headphones report, and he begins to order.10:04: An elderly woman takes out her iPhonewhich is in a case, so its hard to get a clear view of the designand summons Siri. Has there ever been a boy born who can swim faster than a shark? she asks. Still no, Siri replies wearily.10:06: And now the camera is flying through the clouds above Apple Park. It swoops down, and there, standing in front of the familiar rainbow sculpture, is Apple CEO Tim Cook. Good morning! he says. Weve got a fantastic show for you today.10:07: Apple products make the world a better place, Cook trills. They play a vital role at work and in our free time. They help us to improve our health and stay in touch with loved ones. They put the worlds knowledge at our fingertips. And they deliver sustainable shareholder value by hitting high-margin KPIs going forward.10:09: Todays event is going to focus on three areas, Cook says: iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods. To talk us through the exciting changes coming to iPhone, its over to Kaiann.FoundryiPhone 1710.10: Kaiann Drance, Apples VP of iPhone product marketing, has got the big gig once again, after presenting the iPhone 16 last year. Shes standing next to a colossal iPhone box and looks alarmingly enthusiastic.10:11: Thanks Tim, great to be here, she says. Im super-excited to talk about iPhone! After last years thrilling iPhone 16 launch we sat down and asked ourselves one question: whats the absolute minimum we could change and still have people upgrade their phones, thereby maintaining a sustainable long-term revenue stream?10:12: And today Im proud to reveal the answer to that question! Please welcome iPhone 17: Another Year Has Passed.10:13: Time for a marketing video! And were seeing the new iPhone in all its glory. Which largely fits with the leaked images weve been bombarded with for the past three months: theres a handsome new purple finish (here we go again; Apple tried purple on the iPhone 12 and 14, then gave up on the color for a while), the blue model is much paler, and pink has vanished altogether (boo!). But the essence of the design appears the same: the two rear camera lenses, for example, remain in the same vertical alignment as on the iPhone 16.10:14: iPhone 17 is our best ever iPhone, Drance says smugly. We took everything you loved about iPhone 16 and made it fractionally better. Our brand-new A19 processor delivers market-leading performance on even the most demanding apps, while an upgraded 24MP front-facing camera ensures the sharpest selfies youve ever seen.10:16: And as for the screen goodness me, what a transformation! For the first time ever on a non-Pro iPhone, were offering an always-on display, but thats not all. All of this months new iPhones have LTPO screens with a stunning 120Hz rate and our popular ProMotion feature, so you can look forward to buttery-smooth animation while maintaining our usual exceptional battery life.10:18: Pre-orders for the iPhone 17 are open now, and it will ship on September 19. Prices start at $799 for the 128GB model, which is the same as the entry-level iPhone 16 last year. Evidently Apple managed to shrug off the effects of the tariffs, at least for now. Thats good news.10:19: Thats iPhone 17. We think youre going to love it.iPhone 17 Pro (and 17 Pro Max)10.20: Drance is sticking around, and were heading straight into the iPhone 17 Pro. No mention so far of the rumored iPhone 17 Air, but its a bit of a giveaway that the iPhone 17 was only shown in a single screen size. Presumably the Air will be announced later?10:21: Apples Pro series of iPhones are the industry standard for premium smartphone design, Drance says. In fact, they make even our standard iPhones look like disgusting trash. Needless to say, talking about the pathetic iPhone 17 just now was a real ordeal for me. So Im excited to announce iPhone 17 Pro.10:23: Were seeing the new handsets now. Most obviously, the rear camera module has been heavily redesigned: its now a broad bar that covers almost the full width of the phones back surface. (The camera lenses themselves, conversely, look the same.) And here too were seeing new color options, with the Pro models available in a startling new orange and a far more somber dark blue as well as the usual black, white, and gray. And is that a smaller Dynamic Island?10:25: Were talking performance. Is the 17 Pro getting a bump from 8GB to 12GB of RAM, as rumoured? Apple tends to be cagey about such things. iPhone 17 Pro is so powerful youll literally faint when you see it, says Drance, unhelpfully. The A19 Pro chip is faster than a peregrine falcon, which is the fastest animal on earth.10:26: Many people think its the cheetah, she adds. But its not.10:27: Camera performance should see a significant improvement. Aside from getting the same 24MP selfie camera as the iPhone 17, the 17 Pros telephoto lens has been bumped to a whopping 48MP, up from the 12MP lens on the 16 Pro. That means superior zoom performance, Drance says the Pro models now have a 7x optical zoom before the digital version kicks in.10:29: Heres an interesting change: the iPhone 17 Pro gets a mechanical aperture, which means you can customize the amount of light allowed through. This means an unprecedented level of control over the depth of field, Drance boasts. We dont know how this will work in practice, but on the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, you can choose from 10 steps between f/1.4 and f/4.0 or, as most of us will inevitably do, just leave the camera in auto mode.10:31: The iPhone 17 Pro has an industry-leading battery and will last you for a scarcely conceivable single day of usage before needing a charge. And charging is now faster than ever, thanks to a huge upgrade to MagSafe. Its been bumped from a maximum 25W to 50W, although this will depend on having a compatible charging puck (and power adapter) as well as the iPhone 17 Pro. You may just find a bottleneck in a different part of your charging setup.10:33: Were rattling through the iPhone 17 Pros other upgrades now. The screen has a new anti-glare finish (ahead of the event, we heard this was also going to be scratch-resistant, but perhaps Apple wants to avoid any references to its phones getting damaged). And theres a new Apple-designed Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip, which Drance says will improve power efficiency.10:35: Thats iPhone 17 Pro: Anything Else Is Repulsive. We think youre going to love it. It comes out on September 19 and starts at oh wow, its $1,199 for the cheapest 17 Pro, a crazy $200 bump on last years model! Granted, you get twice as much storage (the 128GB model has been phased out), but still. The 17 Pro Max starts at $1,299, which is $100 more than the equivalent 16 Pro Max last year. This is a lot to take in.New Apple Watches10:36: Tim Cook is back. Thanks Kaiann! Were excited for you all to try out the new iPhone 17 range, which we expect to deliver profitable synergy in key market verticals and boost our customer retention analytics. Now on to Apple Watch, and for the last time, its over to Jeff.10:37: Wow, its Jeff Williams! Williams stepped down as Apple COO at the end of July, but he remains with the company until his retirement later this year. Clearly Cook persuaded him to do one last keynote before heading out the door. The man seems emotional: hes taken off his shoes and one of his socks.10:38: Thanks Tim, he says, visibly moved. You know, customers come up to me, big customers, tall customers, tears running down their customer faces, and they say, Jeff, the Apple Watch Series 10 is the greatest smartwatch in the world! How can you possibly top that?! And I say, were looking into that very strongly.10:39: So today, were proud to announce Apple Watch Series 11.10:40: Video time! And the new watch looks exactly the same as the Series 10 from last year. No new colors: it looks to again be available in black, silver, and rose gold, plus the dark and light titanium finishes. Still, you know. It looks nice. Its fine.10:42: Apple Watch is the most popular health device in the world, says Williams. It saves lives every day, and helps our customers to improve their fitness. And from today, those health benefits will become even more essential.10:44: The Series 11 has a new sensor that enables blood-pressure tracking, which could be pretty crucial in unlocking a range of new health featuresnot least the ability to detect hypertension and thereby predict strokes and heart attacks more accurately.10:46: The new Apple Watch also gets a new S11 processor, inevitably, although the actual benefits of that are unclear. (Ever found your Apple Watch slow? Didnt think so. Plus, pre-launch reports indicated that the S11 is essentially just a rebadged S10.) Whereas its upgrade to 5G connectivity is a nice surprise.10:48: Oh, were done. Thats Apple Watch Series 11. We think youre going to love it. It starts at $399 and will appear in stores starting September 19.10:50: Weve suddenly cut to yet another marketing video. Based on the colorsblue, yellow, pinkand general vibe, its surely a new SE model.10:52: Were proud to announce Apple Watch SE 3, says Cook. You know, for kids.10:53: The SE has been completely redesigned. Its made of plastic, and comes in a variety of bright colors. The display is bigger (up from 40/44mm to 41/45mm) to match the old Series 7 rather than the Series 5 which the last SE was based on. It also gets the S11 chip.10:55: The new Apple Watch SE starts at $249. Thats the same price as the previous model, with the extra cost of the larger screen and the economies of using plastic presumably cancelling each other out.Old news: The Apple Watch Ultra 2.Jim Martin / Foundry10:57: Were on to the Ultra now. And theres a slight redesign here: namely, a larger screen. Customers told us they loved the big, bright display on Apple Watch Ultra, but wondered if it could be even bigger? So were proud to announce that this years Ultra has 5 percent more screen real estate!10:59: The official line is that the screen size has increased from 49mm to 50mm. We understand that the resolution has gone up from 410502 to 422514, which is indeed 5.39 percent more pixels. And Williams insists the watch itself is no larger, thanks presumably to slimmer bezels around the screen.11:00: The Ultra 3, unsurprisingly, also gets the same upgrades as the Series 11: the S11 chip, 5G, and the new blood-pressure monitor.11:01: And were wrapping up for this section. Thats Apple Watch Ultra 3, says Williams. We think youre going to love it. It starts at $799 and will appear in stores on September 19. Its nice that the watches have escaped the price bump that hit the Pro iPhones.AirPods Pro 311:03: Were back to Tim Cook, who wipes a tear and does that namaste thing hes so fond of. Thanks Jeff, and enjoy retirement! he says. And now, on to AirPods.11:04: AirPods stand for all that is great about Apple, he says. They are beautifully designed, supremely functional, and capable of sustaining high-margin profitability across key demos in challenging market conditions. For more AirPods news, its over to Kate.11:06: Thanks Tim! says Kate Bergeron, Apples VP of hardware engineering. (She announced new AirPods at the Glowtime event last year.) Lets talk AirPods Pro.Want a slimmer case? Youll want the AirPods Pro 3.Foundry11:07: Its video time, and were watching the new AirPods Pro swooping and floating around an abstract landscape. First things first, Apple hasnt removed the stems to match the Beats Studio Buds, as was rumored for some time. Its not a radical redesign, then. But there are some other noticeable changes: the buds now seem more streamlined, the charging case is a different shape, and theyre available in black!11:10: We know that the convenient, slimline charging case is one of the things you love most about AirPods Pro, Bergeron says, not unreasonably. So we decided to make it even better. Confirmation that the new case is slimmer, much like the AirPods 4 case, and is paired by simply tapping the case rather than having a dedicated pairing button. And theres no lanyard loop! Sad.11.12: On to the earbuds themselves, which are getting a ton of new features. (This is what happens when you dont properly update a product for three years.) It has a new H3 chip. There are heart-rate and temperature sensors. And, as rumored, it supports live translation!11.14: AirPods Pro deliver industry-leading audio quality, Bergeron says, and thats truer than ever with the new third-generation model. Youll feel like youre in the room with your favorite artists thanks to the exceptional immersion of Spatial Audio.11.15: Active Noise Cancellation has been upgraded, too. It will filter out all the background noises you want to avoid, Bergeron says, but with the latest version of Adaptive Audio, you can be as selective as you like.11.16: Thats AirPods Pro 3. We think youre going to love it. Looks like this section (and perhaps the presentation?) is finished. The device starts at $249 and ships on September 19. Oh, but hang on: Bergeron just added that the live translation feature will arrive later in the, or a, year. It must have been delayed.One more thing11:18: Cook is back. Thanks Kate, and thanks to all of our presenters tonight, he says. Were excited for you to experience all these great products and boost our Q1 top-line revenue performance in line with analyst expectations. And in the end, isnt that what technology is all about?11.19: But before we go, theres just One More Thing Id like to discuss11.20: Video time. Ah, this must be the iPhone 17 Air at last. And what a beauty it is. Its just breathtakingly slim. People are going to love this thing (although they may not love the compromises it comes with).Majin Bu/X11:22: The 17 Air is wildly different from the other models in the range. Aside from being just 5.5mm thick, it has only one camera lens on the rear (inside an oddly broad module) and another on the front. Those are decent cameras, mind you: 24MP on the front, and 48MP on the rear.11:24: It also has its own set of colors: the standard black and white, plus a light blue that, for some reason, is lighter than the one on the iPhone 17, and a light gold that doesnt appear anywhere else in the current range.11:26: No word on the battery capacity, but it must be far, far less than on the other models. Cook only says the Air will last for a full day. Thats not very reassuring.11:27: If youre worried about a repeat of Bendgate, its at least clear that Apple has taken that threat seriously. The Air has a titanium-aluminum alloy metal frame for added strength. (Plus, the even more slender iPad Pro which launched last year doesnt seem prone to bending, so theres that.)11:29: iPhone 17 Air delivers industry-leading performance in an unprecedentedly slimline package, Cook boasts. What that means, apparently, is the A19 processor rather than the A19 Pro (and reportedly a slower GPU, although Apple wont confirm that at this point).11:31: This is iPhone 17 Air: Oh God Why?, says Cook. We think youre going to love it. It starts at $1,099. Oof! Thats a lot for a phone that really isnt Pro-specced. Although it does get 256GB of storage as a minimum.11:32: And that really is your lot. Cook thanks the presenters once again, then does a celebratory backflip. Stay classy, Cupertino!Apples Awe Dropping event is set for September 9, 2025. Want to know what to expect? Were anticipating new hardware releases including the iPhone 17 (running iOS 26), Apple Watch Series 11, Ultra 3 and SE 3rd-gen (running watchOS 26), and potentially new AirPods. Find out how, when, and where to watch the Apple September Event, and keep tuned to our Event Guide for all the latest coverage.

The European Commission (EC) on Friday hit Google with a 2.95 billion ($3.46 billion) antitrust fine for abusive practices in its adtech business. But observers said that IT leaders should look at the decision as a warning about a potential wave of global regulatory decisions on tech issues.For example, Friday also saw a major genAI player settling a case involving piracy of AI model training data. Anthropic on Friday told federal court officials that it had settled its genAI copyright lawsuit for $1.5 billion, a settlement possible because a federal judge last month dismissed other copyright claims.This is hardly Googles first compliance challenge in Europe, or in other parts of the planet.And the EC statement described the Google fine as limited to one case against the company, keeping the door open to potential future actions.The European Commission has fined Google 2.95 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the advertising technology industry. It did so by favoring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers, the EC statement said. The Commission has ordered Google to bring these self-preferencing practices to an end and to implement measures to cease its inherent conflicts of interest along the adtech supply chain.Other Tech Issues To Come Into PlayObservers saw the enterprise IT impact as potentially substantial, given the large number of technology issues before regulators in Europe in addition to many other geographies.This fine is bigger than Google and ads. Its Europe signaling that technology monopolies, whether in ad-tech, AI, quantum, or open source, will face scrutiny, said Stephen Klein, CEO of Curiouser.AI and a senior lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. For enterprise IT leaders, that means regulation is now part of the roadmap. Just as we architect for security and scalability, well need to architect for compliance and fairness.Klein added, however, that this fine is unlikely to change Googles behavior.Google has no incentive to stop. For Google, EU fines are simply the cost of doing business. Since 2017, Brussels has fined the company over 11 billion [$12.9 billion], yet in that same period Googles ad business has generated more than a trillion dollars in revenue, Klein said. The economics are obvious. The profits from bending the rules vastly outweigh the penalties. Until regulators restructure the business, this cycle of rule-breaking and fines will continue.Others echoed the sentiment that this fine wont likely change Googles behavior.Brian Levine, a former federal prosecutor who today serves as the executive director of a directory of former government and military specialists called FormerGov, said this fine will likely be seen by Google as a rounding error.[It] is an enormous fine to almost any company, except perhaps for the company at issue here, Levine said, adding that the compliance push might cause consolidation, or at least cooperation/alliances, among the major technology vendors.Richard Bird, the chief security officer at Singulr AI, agreed that the fine is unlikely to materially impact Google.Since Google was founded, theyve had to pay nearly $20 billion in fines for lawsuits and regulatory actions globally. Either they have terrible lawyers or their old motto of Do no evil was propaganda, Bird said. This isnt remotely the only time theyve been hammered for their unfair practices. But the numbers of dollars in fines compared to their last 20 years of revenue is laughable, and clearly not near enough to get them to fix or change their practices. Or get better lawyers.Industry Consolidation?This kind of regulatory action may make smaller vendors reach out to the larger ones, with a greater appetite for working together, Levine said.[It] might make the big [vendors] out there more open to partnerships, to sharing the wealth and to less tying, he added, referring to the anti-trust legal concept in which a seller with substantial market share forces customers buying one product to also buy a different one of its products.Erik Avakian, a technical counselor at Info-Tech Research Group and former state CISO for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, also anticipated substantial tech changes from the compliance push.Tech leaders, especially those in highly regulated industries like finance or healthcare, need to treat situations like this as a strategic risk, Avakian said. Its an opportunity to push back against lock-in and demand more transparency around how analytics and cloud services are bundled. Better yet, look to decouple wherever possible.[Enterprise IT executives] need to ask providers tougher questions. The fact that structural remedies are now on the table, and not just fines, means that the tools and platforms your organization relies on could change fast or be broken apart, Avakian said. If your entire digital or marketing stack is tightly integrated with one vendors ecosystem, then its time to reassess the risk.

The Alameda Police Department has seized various items of evidence related to an illegal gambling investigation, including slot machines and cash.The Alameda Police Department followed up on reports of a possible illegal gambling den. After a detailed investigation, officers executed a search warrant at a home in the 600 block of Haight Avenue on September 2.The searching officers on the scene found and seized slot machines, table games, firearms, ammunition, cash, and drug paraphernalia. The individuals located at the scene were issued citations by the Alameda Police Department, while all the gambling equipment, alleged to be there illegally, was removed from the property.The Alameda Police Department remains committed to addressing illegal activity that impacts the safety and quality of life of our community, the department said in a statement shared to Facebook. This case remains open and is being followed up by APDs Investigations Unit.A video shared to Facebook as well showed the use of drones as part of the investigation, as well as shots of the machines, gambling paraphernalia, and cash that were seized as part of the operation. At the time of writing, the Alameda Police Department has not how many people were apprehended at the location, what the citations included, or how long the activity was suspected to have taken place.Crackdown on illegal slot machines across the USSimilar seizures of slot machines and illegal gambling equipment have been seized across the US, with nearly 250 slot machines seized in Florida last month. In a drug bust in San Francisco, several illegal gambling machines were seized, thought to be part of making money for a wider criminal enterprise.Those convicted of owning or running an illegal slot machine or gambling operation could face property seizures, steep fines, and up to five years in federal prison.Featured image: Alameda Police DepartmentThe post Alameda Police seize illegal slot machines and cash in ongoing investigation appeared first on ReadWrite.

This is todays edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of whats going on in the world of technology.Putin says organ transplants could grant immortality. Not quite.Jessica HamzelouEarlier this week, my editor forwarded me a video of the leaders of Russia and China talking about immortality. These days at 70 years old you are still a child, Chinas Xi Jinping, 72, was translated as saying.With the developments of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality, Russias Vladimir Putin, also 72, is reported to have replied.In reality, rounds of organ transplantation surgery arent likely to help anyone radically extend their lifespan anytime soon. And its a simplistic way to think about aginga process so complicated that researchers cant agree on what causes it, why it occurs, or even how to define it, let alone treat it. Read the full story.This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Reviews weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.India is using robots to clean sewer pipes so humans no longer have toWhen Jitender was a child in New Delhi, both his parents worked as manual scavengersa job that involved clearing the citys sewers by hand. Now, he is among almost 200 contractors involved in the Delhi governments effort to shift from this manual process to safer mechanical methods.Although it has been outlawed since 1993, manual scavengingthe practice of extracting human excreta from toilets, sewers, or septic tanksis still practiced widely in India. And not only is the job undignified, but it can be extremely dangerous.Now, several companies have emerged to offer alternatives at a wide range of technical complexity. Read the full story.Hamaad HabibullahThis story is from our new print edition, which is all about the future of security. Subscribe here to catch future copies when they land.The must-readsIve combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 RFK Jr buried a major study linking alcohol and cancerClearly, the alcohol industrys intense lobbying of the Trump administration is working. (Vox)+ RFK Jr repeated health untruths during a marathon Senate hearing yesterday. (Mother Jones)+ His anti-vaccine stance alarmed Democrats and Republicans alike. (The Atlantic $)2 US tech giants want to embed AI in educationTheyre backing a vaguely worded initiative to that effect launched by Melania Trump. (Rolling Stone $)+ Tech leaders took it in turns to praise Trump during dinner. (WSJ $)+ Elon Musk was nowhere to be seen. (The Guardian)+ AIs giants want to take over the classroom. (MIT Technology Review)3 The FTC will probe AI companies over their impact on childrenIn a bid to evaluate whether chatbots are harming their mental health. (WSJ $)+ An AI companion site is hosting sexually charged conversations with underage celebrity bots. (MIT Technology Review)4 Podcasting giant Joe Rogan has been spreading climate misinformationHes grossly misinterpreted scientists researchand theyre exasperated. (The Guardian)+ Rogan claims the Earths temperature is plummeting. It isnt. (Forbes)+ Why climate researchers are taking the temperature of mountain snow. (MIT Technology Review)5 DeepSeek is working on its own advanced AI agentWatch out, OpenAI. (Bloomberg $)6 OpenAI will start making its own AI chips next yearIn a bid to lessen its reliance on Nvidia. (FT $)7 Warner Bros is suing MidjourneyThe AI startup used the likenesses of characters including Superman without permission, it alleges. (Bloomberg $)+ What comes next for AI copyright lawsuits? (MIT Technology Review)8 Rivers and lakes are being used to cool down buildingsBut networks in Paris, Toronto, the US are facing a looming problem. (Wired $)+ The future of urban housing is energy-efficient refrigerators. (MIT Technology Review)9 How high school reunions survive in the age of social mediaCuriosity is a powerful driving force, it seems. (The Atlantic $)10 Facebooks poke feature is back If I still used Facebook, Id be thrilled. (TechCrunch)Quote of the dayEven if it doesnt turn you into the alien if you eat this stuff, I guarantee youll grow an extra ear.Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, warns of dire consequences if Americans eat shrimp from countries other than the US, Gizmodo reports.One more thingWhy one developer wont quit fighting to connect the USs gridsMichael Skelly hasnt learned to take no for an answer. For much of the last 15 years, the energy entrepreneur has worked to develop long-haul transmission lines to carry wind power across the Great Plains, Midwest, and Southwest. But so far, he has little to show for the effort.Skelly has long argued that building such lines and linking together the nations grids would accelerate the shift from coal- and natural-gas-fueled power plants to the renewables needed to cut the pollution driving climate change. But his previous business shut down in 2019, after halting two of its projects and selling off interests in three more.Skelly contends he was early, not wrong. And he has a point: market and policymakers are increasingly coming around to his perspective. Read the full story.James TempleWe can still have nice thingsA place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet em at me.)+ The Paper, the new mockumentary from the makers of the American Office, looks interesting.+ Giorgio Armani was a true maestro of menswear.+ The phases of the moon are pretty fascinating + The Damien Hirst-directed video for Blurs classic Country House has been given a 4K makeover.

InsightsReadiness Reimagined: How to Build a Change-Seeking CultureJeff PachecoJuly 21, 2025Richard Drury/Getty ImagesIn brief:In todays artificial intelligence (AI)-driven environment, being change-ready is no longer enough. Organizations must become change-seeking, proactively scanning for opportunities, challenging norms, and moving early to stay ahead of disruption.Change-seeking cultures foster psychological safety, experimentation, feedback loops, and strategic alignmentanchored by robust learning systems that empower all employees to contribute to innovation.A change-seeking culture starts at the top. Senior leaders must go beyond supporting transformationthey need to embody it by embracing experimentation, prioritizing learning, and making innovation a visible strategic priority across the organization.For years, change-readiness has been a strategic imperative. Organizations have worked to cultivate cultures that adapt quickly and execute decisively. But in todays fast-moving, AI-driven world, readiness is no longer enough.Adaptability is still essentialbut at a greater speed. The next evolution is already underway: building a change-seeking culture. Unlike reactive, change-ready organizations, change-seeking organizations proactively scan for opportunity, challenge assumptions, and move earlybefore disruption demands it.Why Ready Isnt Ready AnymoreIn Harvard Business Impacts 2025 Global Leadership Development Study, 40% of senior leaders said their organizations are placing a greater emphasis on building change-ready cultures. But the data also revealed a shift: 71% now say the ability to lead through constant change is critical, up dramatically from just 58% in 2024. Four in 10 said leading transformation is even more crucial now than it was just one year ago.1This reflects a growing acceptance that the need for change is continuous and widespread. And in this environment, the ability to respond quickly is less powerful than the ability to anticipate and act early.What Defines a Change-Seeking Culture?Change-seeking cultures dont wait for changethey initiate it. These organizations:Encourage curiosity and experimentationProactively identify new ideas and unmet needsCreate psychological safety for taking informed risksIntegrate feedback loops that accelerate learningThey position learning and development not as a support function but as the neural network of transformationcirculating insights, capability, and culture across the enterprise.How to Foster a Change-Seeking CultureTo foster a change-seeking culture, organizations must go beyond encouraging agility. They must design for it. That means:Preparing people. AI is reshaping the way we innovate, and employees need a solid understanding of the tools involved to participate. Our research shows that organizations embracing hands-on learning are more effective at building AI fluency across roles.2Democratizing experimentation. Organizations can learn faster by getting more people involved in testing ideas. Vastly increasing the capacity to conduct experiments is becoming more critical for making decisions based on data instead of intuition.3Aligning experimentation with strategy. Innovation should be guided by a clear set of strategic priorities that matter to the business. This helps avoid experiments that generate a lot of creative ideas but may fail to deliver meaningfulefficiency, value, or growth.4Fostering psychological safety. If employees fear retribution for failure, they wont experiment. Leaders must model learning behavior, reward well-intentioned risk-taking, and create space to reflect on and learn from setbacks.Embedding feedback loops. Organizations need mechanisms for collecting, sharing, and acting on learning so that successful experiments scale and less successful ones inform future actions.A Case in Point: Moodys Moves FirstMoodysa legacy financial institutionoffers a compelling example. In a traditionally risk-averse industry, its CEO, Rob Fauber, chose to go all in on generative AI, even as many peers hesitated due to regulatory uncertainty and technical risks.As profiled in Harvard Business Reviews How a Legacy Financial Institution Went All In on Gen AI, Fauber focused not just on technology but also on learning and culture.5 His team launched the initiative with three guiding principles: Make everyone an innovator, build on new ideas, and deliver real business impact.They started with learning. Moodys invested in internal academies, upskilling campaigns, and broad-based AI fluency. The enhanced capability of the organizations workforce created conditions for accelerated innovation.By late 2024, Moodys was deploying an AI agent capable of producing risk reports in just one houra task that previously required a full week of human effort. The result wasnt just improved efficiency. It was a proof point for cultural transformation.The Leadership GapDespite examples like Moodys, many organizations remain stuck in wait and see mode. In our 2025 global leadership development study, 52% of respondents said their company is placing a greater emphasis on building an AI-ready culture. Yet only 36% felt their senior leaders fully embrace AI as a core part of strategy and operations.This mismatch between aspiration and behavior matters. Cultures take shape not just through systems and programs but also through what senior leaders talk about, reward, and demonstrate. If executives want change-seeking behavior, they need to embody itopenly experimenting, learning, and adjusting.Getting Started: Building a Change-Seeking CultureBuilding a change-seeking culture isnt about launching a single transformation program. Its about instilling an ongoing top-down and bottom-up capability for sensing and seizing whats next. Organizations can take these actions to begin:Start with learning and make it visible. Innovation still starts with people, but given AIs central role in innovation today, building AI fluency across the organization is essential.Create systems that reward initiative, not just execution. Recognize teams for surfacing new ideas, identifying inefficiencies, and learning from pilotseven when those pilots fail. Normalize the idea that progress can start with anyones ideas and initiative.Hold leaders accountable for culture. Make effectively leading change, encouraging innovation, and fostering psychological safety core performance expectations, not soft add-ons.The Bottom LineMany organizations still treat change-readiness as a strategic endpoint. But in a world of constant reinvention, its only the beginning. As technology rewires markets, roles, and operating models, the ability to initiate and lead changenot just react to itis the goal.The organizations that will succeed are those where everyone, at every level, is expected to help chart what comes next. Change-seeking is not a capability confined to innovation teams or digital labs. It is a cultural imperative.Standing still is now the greater risk. The advantage belongs to those willing to move first.To find out more about how we can help your organization build a change-seeking culture,contact ustoday.Harvard Business Impact, 2025 Global Leadership Development Study, 2025. https://www.harvardbusiness.org/insight/2025-global-leadership-development-study-fast-fluid-and-future-focused/ Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning, Learning Through Experimentation: Why Hands-On Learning Is Key to Building an AI-Fluent Workforce, Harvard Business Publishing, 2024. https://www.harvardbusiness.org/insight/learning-through-experimentation-why-hands-on-learning-is-key-to-building-an-ai-fluent-workforce. Iavor Bojinov, David Holtz, Ramesh Johari, Sven Schmit, and Martin Tingley, Want Your Company to Get Better at Experimentation?, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2025. https://hbr.org/2025/01/want-your-company-to-get-better-at-experimentation. Rogers, David L., The Missing Link Between Strategy and Innovation, HBR.org, March 18, 2024. https://hbr.org/2024/03/the-missing-link-between-strategy-and-innovation. Stuart, Toby E., How a Legacy Financial Institution Went All In on Gen AI, HBR.org, March 25, 2025. https://hbr.org/2025/03/how-a-legacy-financial-institution-went-all-in-on-gen-ai. Leading ChangeOrganizational CultureTransformationShare this resourceShare on LinkedInShare on FacebookShare on XShare on WhatsAppEmail this PageConnect with usChange isnt easy, but we can help. 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Read more: FPT Partners with Harvard Business Impact, Empowering Global Workforce with AI-Driven Learning SolutionsNewsThe post Readiness Reimagined: How to Build a Change-Seeking Culture appeared first on Harvard Business Impact.