Ah shit, here we go again. Two owners of Nvidias new RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPUs have reported melted power connectors and damage to their PSUs. The images look identical to reports of RTX 4090 power cables burning or melting from two years ago. Nvidia blamed the issue on people not properly plugging the 12VHPWR power connection in fully and the PCI standards body blamed Nvidia.A Reddit poster upgraded from an RTX 4090 to an RTX 5090 and noticed a burning smell playing Battlefield 5, before turning off their PC and finding the damage. The images show burnt plastic at both the PSU end of the power connector and the part that connects directly to the GPU. The cable is one from MODDIY, a popular manufacturer of custom cables, and the poster claims it was securely fastened and clicked on both sides (GPU and PSU).The melted power connector and damaged RTX 5090 Founders Edition. Image: ivan6953 (Reddit)While its tempting to blame the MODDIY cable, Spanish YouTuber Toro Tocho has experienced the same burnt cable (both at the GPU and PSU ends) with an RTX 5090 Founders Edition while using a cable supplied by PSU manufacturer FSP. Plastic has also melted into the PCIe 5.0 power connector on the power supply.Nvidia originally introduced the 12VHPWR power connector on its RTX 40-series GPUs, and power supplies also debuted to support the new standard. The RTX 4090 Founders Edition was able to draw 450 watts over the 12VHPWR connector, while the new RTX 5090 draws up to 575 watts over a cable thats rated up to 600 watts. After early issues with RTX 4090 connectors melting, PCI-SIG, the standards organization responsible for the 12VHPWR connector, has now updated it to a new 12V-2x6 connector on the GPU side and in some cases the PSU side, too.The 12V-2x6 connector has shorter sensing pins and longer conductor terminals, to improve reliability. This might not sound like a huge difference, but it matters in ensuring that the power cable has been properly connected to whatever device is going to be pulling power from your systems power supply, explains Corsair.Nvidia uses the 12V-2x6 connector on its RTX 50-series GPUs, but you can still use existing 12VHPWR cables. To be clear, this is not a new cable, it is an updated change to the pins in the socket, which is referred to as 12V-2x6, says Corsair. PSU manufacturers like Corsair and MSI have adopted colored pins on their 12VHPWR cables so that if you can still see the yellow or grey pins it means the connector isnt seated properly.Damage to a PSU and the 12VHPWR power connector. Image: El Chapuzas InfomaticoWhile Intel and AMD are both members of the PCI-SIG group that helped develop the 12VHPWR power connector, only Nvidia has adopted the standard so far. Even AMDs upcoming Radeon RX 9070-series are using existing 8-pin PCIe connections instead. AMD even suggested the 12VHPWR connector was a fire hazard in late 2022, when the companys gaming marketing director Sasa Marinkovic tweeted Stay safe this holiday season alongside a picture of 8-pin connectors.12VHPWR has been branded a dumpster fire, thanks to design oversights that make it relatively easy for end users to not properly connect the cable securely. Cablemod was also forced to recall its 12VHPWR GPU power adapters last year after reports of melted adapters.Weve reached out to Nvidia to comment on these latest reports of RTX 5090 power connector issues, but the company did not respond in time for publication.See More:

Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to launch fall 2025 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S only, leaving one platform in particular out in the cold: PC.Its an omission in keeping with developer Rockstars playbook for its previous games, but in 2025 feels outdated. And, given the increasing importance of the PC for a multiplatform games success, is GTA 6s no-show on PC a missed opportunity or even a mistake?IGN put that question to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick ahead of the companys recent financial results, and in his response he teased GTA 6s eventual release on PC.So with Civ 7 it's available on console and PC and Switch right away, Zelnick said of Firaxis' recently launched Civilization 7. With regard to others in our lineup, we don't always go across all platforms simultaneously. Historically, Rockstar has started with some platforms and then historically moved to other platforms.Rockstar fans have noted the studio's historical reluctance to release other past games on PC day-and-date with console, as well as its fraught relationship with the modding community over the years. Still, some had hoped that a game as big as GTA 6 could be a turning point for the studio's PC gaming attitude.Big Rockstar titles tend to get to PC eventually, but the question of how long PC gamers will have to wait for what could end up being one of the biggest games ever remains. Given GTA 6s fall 2025 release window, which Take-Two is still confident in, it seems likely PC players wont get to play the game until 2026 at the earliest.In December 2023, a former developer at Rockstar attempted to explain why GTA 6 is coming to PC after it hits PS5 and Xbox Series X and S, and called on PC gamers to give the studio the benefit of the doubt over its controversial launch plans.But how big of a missed opportunity could skipping PC for GTA 6s launch be? Zelnick told IGN that the PC version of a multiplatform game can generate 40% of overall sales, or even more with certain games.That stat came as part of a discussion about the current console generation, which has seen sales of the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S the two consoles GTA 6 launches on later this year plummet. While Nintendo has the Switch 2 waiting in the wings, neither Sony nor Microsoft have announced their next-gen consoles. How long before the industry needs the PlayStation 6 and whatever Xbox is next?Zelnick pointed to the PC platform as growing in importance, even as console sales fall, while publishers wait for Sony and Microsofts next moves.We have seen PC become a much more and more important part of what used to be a console business, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that trend continue, he said. Of course, there will be a new console generation.In any case, according to Zelnick, the release of GTA 6, which is expected to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, will drive console sales as fans jump into the current generation for the first time in order to play the game.When you have a big title in the market and we have many of them coming, historically that has sold consoles, Zelnick said.And I think that will happen this year. I don't think tariffs are going to be our friend, but I think there will be a meaningful uptick in console sales in calendar 25 because of the release schedule, not just coming from us, but coming from others. So I'm not concerned about that [console sales falling]. I think the trend that you'd want to focus on is this increasing share of the market that is reflected in PC.Indeed, many see the PlayStation 5 Pro as a future 'GTA 6 machine,' in the hopes it will be the best platform to play the game when it comes out. However, tech experts believe the PS5 Pro probably won't run GTA 6 at 4K60.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Dragon Quest 12 is still in development and information will be released little by little, series creator Yuji Horii has said.As reported by Automaton, Horii said the development team at Square Enix is working hard on Dragon Quest 12, while on a livestream with his radio show group KosoKoso Hs Kyoku.Its the first update on the game since May 2024, when Horii noted the deaths of Dragon Quest character designer Akira Toriyama and composer Koichi Sugiyama. The series lead producer Yu Miyake had by that point already stepped down from his position to lead Square Enixs mobile game division.Fans had expressed concern that Dragon Quest 12 might have been canceled amid restructuring at Square Enix and a lack up updates, but Horiis latest comments appear to confirm the game is still in the works.All we have of Dragon Quest 12 is this logo, released in 2021.Dragon Quest 12 was announced as part of the series' 35th anniversary celebration and will be the first mainline entry since 2017's Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age. Since then, Square Enix has said Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake exceeded sales expectations after selling 2 million copies. Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

You already know Superman. Hes the first comic book superhero, the guy who set the stage for everyone who followed, from Batman to Wolverine to Mighty Mouse.However, you might have a very limited view of Superman. You might think of him as a big blue boy scout, an eternal do-gooder whose unimpeachable morals and invulnerable strength make him a bit dull.But hes so much more, a complex character who captures the entire moral appeal of power fantasies. You only need to look at the many great comics that have come to define the superhero over the years. After reading these comics, youll not only understand why people like Supermanyoull understand why an entire genre manifested in his blue and red wake.Action Comics #1 (1938)It is shocking to see how fully formed Superman arrived in his 1938 debut. No, he still lacked many of the qualities that would later be added by the first radio and television showsKryptonite, Lex Luthor, even the ability to fly. But the core of Superman was there from the beginning, on display in Action Comics #1.Written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Joe Shuster, the first story in Action #1 begins with an origin tale that became the stuff of American myth, a hastily-devised space ship heading to Earth from a destroyed planet. The baby, of course, grows up to be Superman, with the ability to leap 1/8th of a mile in a single hurdle and run faster than an express train.However, the stories in Action arent really about the cool things that Superman can do. Rather, theyre about his ability to save an innocent man condemned to death and spooking a wife beater. Even better are the scenes in which Superman takes his mild-mannered Clark Kent persona, quietly cheering on Lois Lane for stepping up to a pushy cad.Action #1 set the groundwork for Superman and the entire superhero genre by establishing the hero as the Champion of the Oppressed.Superman #96 (1955)Superman became impossibly strong in the Silver Age, when writers began telling high sci-fi and even fantasy stories with Superman at the center. As much as modern readers sometimes dismiss the stories as goofy or tone deaf, they also presented unique ways of challenging the all-powerful hero.Superman #96 is a perfect example of this tendency, and not just because the issue features the reality-bending imp Mister Mxyzptlk. The issue begins with the story The Girl Who Didnt Believe in Superman by Batman scribe Bill Finger and penciler Wayne Boring. The tale has almost laughably low stakes, as Superman meets a little blind girl who refuses to believe that Superman is anything other than a fairy tale told by her mother.Many Silver Age comic book stories amounted to little more than superheroes playing pranks on people, especially Superman stories. The Girl Who Didnt Believe in Superman has the same structure as those prank plots, but theres an inherent sweetness to it. Superman seeks less to prove his existence and more to show the young girl the beauty of the world, something that she believes was robbed from her when a car accident stole her sight.While theres more than a little ableism to the resolution in which Superman cures the girls blindness, the resolution also captures the entire point of superheroes: to fantasize about power making the world a better place.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Superman #162 (1963)Having survived the superhero implosion that followed World War II, Superman and DC Comics enjoyed a renaissance in the Silver Age with the science fiction takes on heroes such as Green Lantern and the Flash. And yet, no sooner did Superman restore his place atop the superhero mountain than a new challenger arrived in the form of Marvel Comics and its conflicted characters.Although the Marvel Age of Comics had just begun when The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue appeared in Superman #162 in 1963, its clear that writer Leo Dorfman, working with pencilers Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenberger, was responding to the marvelous competition. The story begins on a note more familiar to Peter Parker or Ben Grimm than to Clark Kent, with the mild-mannered reporter being passed up for a raise and Superman castigated by inhabitants of the Bottle City of Kandor for all the promises hes failed to keep.As a solution, Superman splits himself into two distinct clones, dubbed Superman-Red and Superman-Blue. Superman-Red and Superman-Blue (with some help from Supergirl) solve all the worlds problems, while also returning the people of the bottle city of Kandor to normal size and, uh, hypnotizing all the worlds criminals (including Fidel Castro, because 60s!) into becoming moral. They even find a way to restore Lex Luthors hair, thus erasing his evil (again, 60s!). By the end of the story, Supergirl has found her place with the Legion of Super-Heroes, Lana Lang gets to marry Superman-Blue, and Lois Lane gets her man with Superman-Red.And they all live happily ever after. No, seriously, thats the end. Yet, before any Marvel Zombie dismisses The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue as just another example of DCs saccharine storytelling, were reminded that this is an imaginary story, not something that Superman actually does in canon. In other words, this issue gets at something much bigger at the core of the character: for all of his power, Superman cannot have the happy life he most wants, a sacrifice hes willing to make in order to do the most possible good.The Man of Steel (1986)On one hand, The Man of Steel reboot by John Byrne was devised as an explicit rejoinder to Silver Age excess. Like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Batman: Year One, The Man of Steel sought to redefine Superman and his mythos for a modern ethos, which included some unequivocally great decisions, such as reimagining Lex Luthor as a respected businessman instead of a glowering supervillain, but also stripped away Supermans abilities. Gone were super-ventriloquism and super-kissing. Unlike the live-action Man of Steel who flew backwards around the planet to turn back time and save Lois Lane in Superman (1978) less than a decade earlier, this Superman was bound by greater rules of reality.Yet, unlike almost every other creator who would try to make Superman gritty and relatable, Byrne understood the fundamental sense of wonder inherent to the hero. As demonstrated in the series first issue, which begins in the scientific wonderland of Krypton and then cuts to a Smallville High football game in Kansas, Superman isnt Superman without the fantastic.By placing Superman in a more realistic world, Byrne makes familiar moments all the more magical. Theres genuine awe in the panel of Clark flying for the first time in issue #1, the sight of bullets bouncing off of Superman for the first time in issue #2 feels amazing once again. Byrne doesnt do away with these fantastic feats. He just grounds them in a world in which Lois Lane doesnt fall so quickly for Clark Kent and in which Lex Luthor dismisses the idea that Clark and Superman are the same guy because he cant believe anyone so powerful would pretend to be weak.The Man of Steel didnt make Superman relatable by taking away his powers. It made him relatable by heightening the emotions related to those powers.Kingdom Come (1996)Kingdom Come released in 1996, right in between the Image revolution that saw Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and other Marvel standouts launch their own flashy creator-owned ongoing series and the dawn of the Authority and the Ultimates. Outliers such as Wolverine and the Punisher had become the norm, as edgy anti-heroes took the stage, bringing with them a moral flexibility even the Golden Age Superman and Batman would find objectionable.As such, Kingdom Come functions just as much as a statement on the comics industry as it does a standalone story. Painted by Alex Ross and written by Mark Waid, Kingdom Come takes place in the DC Universes future, where edgy 90s super-people spend all their time in meaningless brawls among one another, paying no attention to the regular people they harm along the way. Worse, all of the classic heroes have ceded ground to the next generation, including Superman, who has retired to a Kansas farm after Lois Lanes death.Although Kingdom Come isnt strictly a Superman story, it does put Supes back in the center of the DCU, where he belongs. When his patience with the next generation reaches its end, Clark dons his corny old trunks and cape and teaches the kids a lesson in the most Superman way possible: by inspiring them to be better. Waid wraps the inspirational tale around a delightful superhero mash, complete with fun cliffhangers and reveals, all brought to life by Rosss hyper-realist art.Superman For All Seasons (1998)Superman For All Seasons comes from the legendary team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, creators of Batman: The Long Halloween and Spider-Man: Blue. But where those properties told moody stories about the inner turmoil of big-name heroes, For All Seasons offers a hefty dose of Americana.As they do in those aforementioned series, Loeb and Sale take Superman back to fundamentals. That means exploring the central contradiction of Superman, an all-powerful alien raised as a wholesome midwesterner. For All Seasons follows Supermans last months in Smallville and first months in Metropolis, where he carries the lessons he learned into the rest of the world.Sale heightens his exaggerated, cartoony style to make both Clark and Superman big lunks, retaining that central charm even when hes flying through the Metropolis sky. Sales fluid line work keeps the compositions loose, helping us see all the people in his depictions of overcrowded Metropolis and lush Smallville. Even better, Bjarne Hansen adds warm watercolors to the images, giving the book the feel of a Norman Rockwell painting with superheroes in it.As always, Loeb knows how to distill a classic characters essence into a single scene and line. For All Seasons offers many contenders, including a wonderful sequence of Clark saving people during a tornado storm in Smallville. But the best might be the first splash page with him as Superman, responding to a little boy who compliments his suit. Thanks, smiles the godlike galloot. My Mom made it for me. That one page is enough to explain everything great about Superman. And then Loeb, Sale, and Hansen give us 100 more.In another world, Whats So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way, the lead story in Action Comics #775, would read as a solid, but somewhat redundant story about why Superman matters. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo, the issue pits Superman against the Elite, a crass team of anti-heroes moddled directly on the Authority. Led by the English telepath Manchester Black, the Elite considers Superman too out of date, too stodgy for the modern world. By the end of the story, Superman has proven them wrong.Again, its a good story, but it covers a lot of the same ground as Kingdom Come, then only five years old. But Action #775 hit shelves a few months before 9/11. America was about to need a Superman more than ever, less for the power fantasy he offered than for the moral guidance he provided.For Black and the Elite, Superman doesnt use his powers correctly. Hes incredibly strong and fast, but he doesnt use those to beat up bad guys or stop evildoers preemptively. To prove their point, they put Superman through a type of gauntlet, one that leaves Supes battered and exhausted, but ultimately victorious.At the climax of the story, we see a blood-soaked and haggard Superman towering over Black, looking furious. And it seems like Whats So Funny is going to give us exactly what we thought we wanted, a show of power in pure and righteous vengeance.But Superman doesnt beat Black to a pulp. Instead, he gives a speech that confirms that Superman is out of step with the times and thats a good thing, because the times are very, very bad, and we need inspiration now more than ever, even more than five years prior.Superman: Red Son (2003)Anyone who sees writer Mark Millars name on the cover and then reads the synopsis to Superman: Red Son thinks they know what theyre getting. An Elseworlds tale set in an alternate reality, Red Son imagines what would happen if Kal-Els rocket landed not in Kansas, but on a state farm in Lenins Russia at the height of the Cold War.But dont get fooled by Millars usual M.O. or the image of Superman with a hammer and sickle in place of his familiar S shield, drawn by artist David Johnson. Superman: Red Son understands the fundamentals of the character, and only reinforces them by taking him far from his element.Nothing demonstrates this fact better than a scene early in the book, when Lois Luthor (ne Lane) gets her first in-person look at the hero. Having retired after marrying (non-criminal) genius Lex Luthor, Lois gets pulled back into the journalism game by Perry White when Lenin introduces his Superman to the world. While the rest of the country prepares to counter what they consider a new threat, including the creation of a new air force corps under the leadership of former Soviet POW Hal Jordan, Lois sees the Man of Steel himself fly into Metropolis. Everyone else recoils in fear, but Lois recognizes Supermans true goal in invading American space. The globe atop the Daily Planet has come loose, barreling down onto the people below. A mother cradles her child as the globe nears them, and the boy lets go of his balloon.In a wonderful, iconic splash page, we see this Superman, who doesnt speak English and represents the Wests greatest enemy, holding the globe aloft in one hand and daintily handing back the childs balloon in the other, smiling at the people he just saved.For all of its charged political content and alternate reality shenanigans, thats what Red Son is about, reminding us that Superman is always Superman, no matter where his rocket stops.All-Star Superman (2005-2008)As if in direct defiance to anyone who takes the wrong lessons from The Man of Steel, All-Star Superman begins with Superman getting even more powers. When Lex Luthor detonates a massive bomb in space, he manages to imbue his enemy with greater abilities. But those abilities soon begin to deteriorate Supermans body, forcing him to face his own death.Writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely borrow from the structure of the trials of Hercules for All-Star Superman, the 12-part series that finds the hero completing his final tasks before his death. But the series operates more like a new gospel for the super-heroic age, an ambition suggested by the Renaissance-style images of Superman ascending after leaving a message for his followers.Pretentious as that might sound, All-Star Superman features Morrisons Silver Age love at its best. They embrace outrageous elements of the Superman mythos, including a trip to the Bizarro world and a face off against mythic figures Hercules and Samson. Yet, within those tall tales, Morrison and Quitely find moments of real pathos. Its not just the oft-shared scene in which Superman pauses to comfort a suicidal girl. Its the tender kiss that he and Lois share after she gets superpowers, its the realization that he cannot prevent his fathers death, its Lex Luthors realization that all we have is one another.All-Star Superman best represents the potential of Superman stories as a moral good, fantasies that help us make sense of a world that feels like evil always wins.Superman Smashes the Klan (2019-2020)Written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by the Japanese duo known as Gurihiru, Superman Smashes the Klan has its roots in an incredible real-world story. In 1946, authorities used the story arc Clan of the Fiery Cross from the Adventures of Superman radio show to reveal secret information about the Ku Klux Klan, leading to a decrease in the terrorist groups membership.Superman Smashes the Klan revisits the storyline from a personal perspective, emphasizing Supermans role as an immigrant in America. As the Man of Steel comes to the aid of the Lees, a Chinese-American family who becomes the target of hate when they move to Metropolis, Clark wrestles with his own feelings of isolation from the world that has adopted him.Yang fills the story with real pathos, showing a side of Superman rarely explored in comics and reminding readers about the pervasive nature of xenophobia. He does so by building on established Superman lore, including the increase in Supermans powers in the 1940s, and by introducing an appropriately named new side character in kid reporter Lan-Shin Lee.When combined with Gurihirus dynamic images of Superman standing up to racists in white hoods, Superman Smashes the Klan reminds us that the Man of Steels values might be old, but theyre needed all the more today.Superman: Rebirth (2016)The Rebirth initiative sought to undo the status quo set by the New 52, DC Comics controversial company-wide reboot. Rebirth wasnt another reboot, not exactly (it was explained away in-universe with a bunch of nonsense that involved Doctor Manhattan of Watchmen), but it did try to bring some characters back to their best versions, which posed quite a challenge for Superman. After all, he was dead.Okay, the Superman of the New 52, a slightly underpowered and angrier version, had died after getting immense solar powers and using them to save the world. Around the same time cropped up a guy who looked a lot like him, a little bit older and with a beard, but otherwise very similar. And this guy had a wife named Lois and a kid named Jon. This was the pre-New 52 Superman, who somehow survived the Flashpoint reboot and had been lying low with his family ever since.Is your head hurting? Well, dont worry, because you dont need to know too much of that nonsense to enjoy Superman: Rebirth. Instead, the series by writer Peter J. Tomasi and artists Jaime Mendoza and Doug Mahnke just plays like a straightforward Superman story, with a twist. This Superman has a super-son.The excellent TV show Superman & Lois has taken some of the novelty off, but its impossible to understate how Rebirth revitalized Superman by taking away discussions about the Man of Steel being unrelatable because hes so powerful. Instead, Superman becomes relatable because hes a dad who makes the usual dad mistakes and has to balance love for his family with his responsibilities to the world.Superman: Rebirth does what most reboots and relaunches often tried and failed, making Superman feel real and fantastic all at once.

The two biggest criticisms of Vision Pro have been price and the weight. We know Apple is working on a lower-priced model, and a new patent application describes a way to make the headset very much lighter.Early reviewers commented on the fact that it starts to feel very heavy when you wear it for more than brief sessions, something I was able to confirm from my own experience of the device John Grubers comments on the weight were fairly typical.Vision Pro isheavy. Ive used it for hours at a time without any discomfort, but fatigue does set in, from the weight alone. You never forget that youre wearing it. Related to Vision Pros weight is the fact that its quite large. Its a big-ass pair of heavy goggles on your face.I definitely found weight and comfort to be issues during a one-hour session.Comfort is one of the biggest challenges with this tech right now. It was a relatively warm afternoon by UK standards, and I was definitely feeling the heat with my upper face enclosed by the unit. This mirrors my experience with the Meta Quest 2, which also feels warm.Vision Pros weight is also something I felt after about the first 30 mins. I use my Quest with the optional rear battery-pack, and although that increases the total weight, that mass is evenly split between the front and rear. Vision Pro, in contrast, is very front-heavy, and I was definitely starting to feel that, especially when looking down and then back up.But a newly-published Apple patent application (spotted by Patently Apple) describes a potential solution: offloading the processor and related components in the same way the company did the battery.It begins by acknowledging the problem.Head-mountable displays (HMDs) are developed to be comfortably worn for extended periods of time. The ever increasing desire to improve performance, functionality, and battery life of HMDs results in a device that includes several electrical components, each of which add weight to the system. There is a constant balance between maximizing user comfort while maintaining or excelling the performance and functionality of the device.Unbalanced weight distribution experienced by a user while wearing the headmountable display, particularly weight distributed in front of the users face, can negatively impact the users experience. Thus, there is a need for a light-weight HMD assembly that does not sacrifice performance or functionality.Apple also admits the heat issue, stating that there needs to be a way to more efficiently dissipate heat.The company already keeps the weight down somewhat by using a tethered battery, and the patent document says it could also incorporate the processing power into this puck, which Apple refers to as a cartridge.A cartridge can include a housing, a processor positioned within the housing to provide video output to a display unit of a head-mounted display (HMD), and an attachment interface to removably attach the cartridge to the display unit.One option Apple describes is to have the processing unit in a removable unit that could be inserted into the headset or into the tethered casing.A head-mountable assembly can include a processor and a display unit defining a slot to receive the processor. In a first mode, the processor can be positioned within the slot to provide image data to the display unit. In a second mode, the processor can be removed from the slot and provide image data to the display unit.Photo byMylo KayeonUnsplashAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Apple Silicon chips have transformed attitudes toward ARM architecture, from being suitable mostly for power-efficient mobile devices to also capable of powering desktop processors which Intel behind.ARM CEO Rene Haas has now weighed-in on the DeepSeek controversy in a new interview, expressing his skepticism about one of of the key claims and voicing his expectation that Chinas AI chatbot will be banned in the US Why DeepSeek caused US tech stocks to fallDeepSeek caused shockwaves in AI circles when the company posted benchmarks indicating that its performance was comparable to the worlds best existing models. Experts quickly verified the claims, with concerns raised that China was seemingly able to achieve this at a fraction of the development cost of US models.That created the possibility that US AI companies could be significantly over-valued, and soon face a lot more competition. It was this fear which saw the stock prices of tech giants fall with Apple a notable exception.Key to concerns was Chinas claim to have developed its model with a fraction of the computing power of US models like ChatGPT, claiming that software optimisation compensated for much cheaper hardware.But Hass told the Financial Times that he doubts this claim.He says he does not believe the rumours that they did this on a shoestring budget...I think thats where people just over-indexed on maybe the worlds coming to an end.He argued that if it were true, wed have seen US AI companies announce that they were cutting their capital expenditure plans to take advantage of this more efficient approach. So far at least, that hasnt happened.Expects DeepSeek to be banned in the USHaas also thinks DeepSeek will be banned in the US, while emphasizing that he doesnt have any inside knowledge on this, but is simply drawing what he believes to be a logical conclusion.He does not predict a rosy future for DeepSeek, saying he thinks it will get shut down. Washington is scrambling on what to do with this thing. Think about it...if youre not going to allow a TikTok, why would you allow this?Weve already seen privacy and national security concerns raised, with multiple security flaws found in the iOS app.AI-powered research could cure cancerHaas went on to say that the company plans in future to sell its own chips, rather than just selling licenses to use the architecture, and that he believes AI holds the potential to revolutionize medical research. He mentions using AI on DNA and RNA research [] There is, he says, an opportunity to cure cancer in our lifetime. Its pretty real.Image: ARMAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

In cybersecurity, the smallest crack can lead to the biggest breaches. A leaked encryption key, an unpatched software bug, or an abandoned cloud storage bucketeach one seems minor until it becomes the entry point for an attack.This week, we've seen cybercriminals turn overlooked weaknesses into major security threats, proving once again that no system is too small to be targeted. The question isn't whether attackers will find a way init's whether you'll be prepared when they do.Let's break down what you need to know. Threat of the WeekMicrosoft Warns of Attacks Exploiting ASP.NET Machine Keys Threat actors are exploiting publicly disclosed ASP.NET machine keys to inject and execute malicious code responsible for launching the Godzilla post-exploitation framework. Microsoft said it has identified over 3,000 publicly disclosed keys that could be used for these types of attacks dubbed ViewState code injection. The company also said it removed key-related artifacts from "limited instances" where they were included in its documentation.Get the Report Top NewsMultiple Security Flaws Come Under Exploitation Malicious actors are exploiting recently disclosed security flaws in SimpleHelp remote desktop software (CVE-2024-57726, CVE-2024-57727, and CVE-2024-57728) as part of a suspected ransomware attack. Separately, Russian cybercrime groups have been found to exploit a flaw affecting the 7-Zip archiver tool (CVE-2025-0411) to evade mark-of-the-web (MotW) protections on Windows systems and deliver the SmokeLoader malware as part of attacks aimed at Ukrainian entities. Lastly, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned that a security flaw impacting Trimble Cityworks GIS-centric asset management software (CVE-2025-0994) has come under active exploitation in the wild.Ransomware Payments Drop to $813.5M in 2024 Ransomware attacks earned cybercrime groups $813.5 million in 2024, marking a significant drop from $1.25 billion in 2023. That said, 2024 also witnessed the highest volume of annual ransomware cases since 2021, reaching a staggering 5,263 attacks, an increase of 15% year-over-year. The decline is attributed to the growing law enforcement success in dismantling ransomware gangs, heightened global awareness about the threat, and a fragmented ecosystem where lone wolf actors are known to seek smaller ransom payments.Lazarus's Job-Themed Campaign Delivers JavaScript Malware The Lazarus Group of North Korea has been linked to an active campaign that leverages fake LinkedIn job offers in the cryptocurrency and travel sectors to deliver malware capable of infecting Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Bitdefender, which identified the activity, said it likely falls under the Contagious Interview cluster, although the JavaScript malware used in the attacks is different from BeaverTail samples used in the latter.SparkCat Uses Android and iOS Apps to Steal Data A new malware campaign dubbed SparkCat has leveraged a suit of bogus apps on both Apple's and Google's respective app stores to steal victims' mnemonic phrases associated with cryptocurrency wallets. The development marks one of the first instances where a stealer with optical character recognition (OCR) capabilities has been discovered in the Apple App Store. The offending apps have since been removed from both the app storefronts.Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan Orgs Targeted by Silent Lynx A never-before-seen hacking group tracked as Silent Lynx has targeted embassies, lawyers, government-backed banks, and think tanks located in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan to deploy a PowerShell script that uses Telegram for command-and-control. The activity, attributed to a Kazakhstan-origin threat actor with a medium level of confidence, shares tactical overlaps with another hacking group name YoroTrooper (aka SturgeonPhisher), which has been linked to attacks targeting the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries using PowerShell and Golang tools. Trending CVEsYour go-to software could be hiding dangerous security flawsdont wait until its too late! Update now and stay ahead of the threats before they catch you off guard.This weeks list includes CVE-2025-25064, CVE-2025-25065 (Zimbra Collaboration), CVE-2024-57968, CVE-2025-25181 (Advantive VeraCore), CVE-2025-20124, CVE-2025-20125 (Cisco Identity Services Engine), CVE-2025-23114 (Veeam Backup), CVE-2024-56161 (AMD), CVE-2025-21415 (Azure AI Face Service), CVE-2024-53104 (Linux Kernel/Android), CVE-2022-22706 (Arm), CVE-2025-23369 (GitHub Enterprise Server), PSV-2023-0039, PSV-2024-0117 (NETGEAR), CVE-2025-24118 (Apple), CVE-2025-24648, CVE-2024-43333 (Admin and Site Enhancements plugin), and CVE-2025-24734 (Better Find and Replace plugin). Around the Cyber WorldBrute-Force Attack Campaign Targets Networking Devices Threat hunters are warning of a large-scale brute force password attack using nearly 2.8 million IP addresses to guess the credentials for a wide range of networking devices, including those from Ivanti, Palo Alto Networks, and SonicWall, per the Shadowserver Foundation. The IP addresses are mainly located in Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Argentina, Iraq, and Morocco, among others. These IP addresses belong to IoT devices from various vendors like MikroTik, Huawei, Cisco, Boa, and ZTE, which are commonly infected by botnet malware.Rare Wolf Goes After Russia The threat actor known as Rare Wolf (aka Rezet) has been linked to a new set of cyber attacks targeting Russian industrial enterprises in January 2025. The attacks involve the use of phishing lures that employ themes related to seminar invitations in order to deliver malware. Russian organizations across various industries have also been targeted by a large-scale campaign designed to propagate NOVA stealer, a new commercial fork of Snake Keylogger.AI Agents Can Become a Vector for Bot-Driven Card Testing Attacks Threat actors are known to use automated bot programs to test these cards on multiple e-commerce websites. Such card testing attacks typically exploit stolen credit card details through small, unnoticed purchases to verify active cards for larger fraud. "This entire operation is highly automated, making it challenging for fraud detection systems to catch these fraudulent transactions in real time," Group-IB said. "By the time the actual cardholder notices unusual activity, fraudsters may have already validated multiple cards, and used them for larger unauthorized transactions." With the advent of AI agents to perform web-based tasks on behalf of users, the company said the tools present new risks for the banking industry, allowing for automation of card testing and fraud operations at scale.Abandoned AWS S3 Buckets Can Be Repurposed for Supply Chain Attacks New research has found that it's possible to register abandoned Amazon S3 buckets in order to stage supply chain attacks at scale. watchTowr Labs said it discovered about 150 Amazon S3 buckets that had previously been used across commercial and open-source software products, governments, and infrastructure deployment/update pipelines. It then re-registered them for a mere $420.85 with the same names. Over a period of two months, the cybersecurity company said the buckets in question received more than 8 million HTTP requests for software updates, JavaScript files, virtual machine images, pre-compiled binaries for Windows, Linux, and macOS, and SSL-VPN configurations, among others. This also meant that a threat actor in possession of these buckets could have responded to the requests with a nefarious software update, CloudFormation templates that grant unauthorized access to an AWS environment, and malicious executables. These networks, watchTowr said, originated from the government networks of the U.S., the U.K., Poland, Australia, South Korea, Turkey, Taiwan, and Chile; military networks, Fortune 500 companies, instant messaging platforms, and universities. The findings once again highlight the security risk associated with abandoned or expired infrastructure, and how source code references to non-existent cloud assets can have serious supply chain ramifications. "We believe that in the wrong hands, the research we have performed could have led to supply chain attacks that out-scaled and out-impacted anything we as an industry have seen so far or put more clearly, we would've embarrassed Cozy Bear and made their SolarWinds adventures look amateurish and insignificant," the company said.Five Eyes Nations Release Guidance for Edge Devices Five Eyes cybersecurity agencies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S., along with Czechia and Japan, have released joint guidance for network edge devices, urging device manufacturers to improve forensic visibility by integrating secure-by-default logging to help defenders detect attacks and investigate incidents. Organizations are also recommended to follow vendor hardening guides, subscribe to vendor notifications and advisories, keep devices always updated, enable centralized logging, enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA), disable unused functionality, maintain detailed device inventories, track configuration changes, detect hardware changes, review security policies, implement role-based access control, and include edge device compromise in their incident response plans. The development comes as edge appliances are increasingly becoming a lucrative target for gaining access to target environments.U.K. Reportedly Asks for Backdoor Access to Apple iCloud Data Security officials in the U.K. are said to have ordered Apple to create a backdoor to access any Apple user's iCloud content. The demand, first reported by The Washington Post, "requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies." The order is said to have been issued by the U.K. Home Office under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), also nicknamed the Snoopers' Charter. In response, Apple is expected to stop offering encrypted storage, specifically Advanced Data Protection, in the U.K. Neither the company nor U.K. government officials have formally commented on the matter. In a statement shared with BBC, Privacy International called the move an "unprecedented attack" on the private data of individuals, and that it "sets a hugely damaging precedent." While Apple offers two levels of encryption for the cloud Standard data protection and Advanced Data Protection the former encrypts iCloud data and stores the encryption keys in its own data centers. Furthermore, only certain categories of data, such as health data and passwords, are end-to-end encrypted. Advanced Data Protection, in contrast, is an opt-in feature that provides end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for iCloud backups. Security services and lawmakers have consistently pushed back against the growing use of end-to-end encryption services, arguing that they could deter efforts to combat serious crime such as terrorism and child sexual abuse, as well as help criminals conceal illicit activity."Dangerous Hacker" Arrested in Spain Spanish law enforcement authorities have announced the arrest of an individual suspected of conducting cyber attacks against dozens of organizations. The unnamed man was arrested in the town of Calpe in Spain's Alicante province for allegedly carrying out attacks on more than 40 organizations and leaking stolen data under the alias "natohub." This included NATO, the United Nations, the U.S. Army, and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). He is also accused of targeting organizations in Spain, including the country's mint, universities, government entities, and law enforcement agencies. "The suspect, who had extensive knowledge of computers, had managed to set up a complex technological network through the use of anonymous messaging and browsing applications, through which he had managed to hide his tracks and thus make his identification difficult," the National Police said. Expert WebinarFrom Code to Runtime: See How ASPM Transforms Application Protection Join our next webinar with Amir Kaushansky of Palo Alto Networks and discover how ASPM transforms app security. Learn to unify code insights with runtime data, close security gaps, and shift from reactive fixes to proactive defense. Empower your team with smarter, holistic protection against modern threats.From Debt to Defense: How to Spot and Fix Identity Gaps Join this free webinar and learn how to close identity gaps and fortify your defenses. Experts Karl Henrik Smith and Adam Boucher will reveal how Okta's Secure Identity Assessment streamlines processes, prioritizes critical fixes, and future-proofs your identity strategy to reduce risks and optimize resources.P.S. Know someone who could use these? Share it. Cybersecurity ToolsBaitRoute (Honeypot) It is a tool that creates fake vulnerable web endpoints to catch hackers in the act. When an attacker tries to exploit these decoy sites, you'll get an instant alert with details like their IP address and request info. It's easy to integrate with your existing projects using Go, Python, or JavaScript, and it comes with ready-to-use rules so you can start protecting your site right away.Volatility Workbench It is a free, open-source GUI for memory forensics that speeds up analysis and cuts out command-line hassles. It auto-detects systems, saves settings, and supports Windows, Mac, and Linux, making digital investigations simpler and faster. Tip of the WeekKeep Your AI Interactions Private & Secure AI tools like chatbots and voice assistants collect and store your data, which can be hacked, misused, or even influence your decisions. Avoid sharing personal details (passwords, finances, or sensitive info) in AI chats. Turn off unnecessary permissions (like mic or camera access) when not needed. Use AI services that allow data deletion and opt out of tracking when possible. Always fact-check AI responses before trusting them. Your data is valuabledon't give away more than necessary.ConclusionThis week's developments prove once again that cybersecurity is not a one-time fix but an ongoing battle. Whether it's closing loopholes, staying ahead of emerging threats, or adapting to new attack strategies, the key to resilience is vigilance.Keep patching, keep questioning, and keep learning. See you next week with more insights from the front lines of cybersecurity.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

Are trade wars, the hunger for chipmaking materials from overseas, and the emergence of DeepSeek shaking up AI availability?

Joao-Pierre S. Ruth, Senior EditorFebruary 10, 20257 Min ReadTithi Luadthong via Alamy Stock PhotoRemember when plans to use geothermal energy from volcanoes to power bitcoin mining turned heads as examples of skyrocketing, tech-driven power consumption?If it possessed feelings, AI would probably say that was cute as it gazes hungrily at the power grid.InformationWeeks The Cost of AI series previously explored how energy bills might rise with demand from artificial intelligence, but what happens if the grid cannot meet escalating needs?Would regions be forced to ration power with rolling blackouts? Will companies have to wait their turn for access to AI and the power needed to drive it? Will more sources of power go online fast enough to absorb demand?Answers to those questions might not be as simple as adding windmills, solar panels, and more nuclear reactors to the grid. Experts from KX, GlobalFoundries, and Infosys shared some of their perspectives on AIs energy demands and the power grids struggle to accommodate this escalation.I think the most interesting benchmark to talk about is the Stargate [project] that was just announced, says Thomas Barber, vice president, communications infrastructure and data center at GlobalFoundries. The multiyear Stargate effort, announced late January, is a $500 billion plan to build AI infrastructure for OpenAI with data centers in the United States. Youre talking about building upwards of 50 to 100 gigawatts of new IT capacity every year for the next seven to eight years, and thats really just one company.Related:That is in addition to Microsoft and Google developing their own data center buildouts, he says. The scale of that, if you think about it, is the Hoover Dam generates two gigawatts per year. You need 50 new Hoover Dams per year to do it.The Stargate site planned for Abilene, Texas would include power from green energy sources, Barber says. Its wind and solar power in West Texas thats being used to supply power for that.Business Insider reported that developers also filed permits to operate natural gas turbines at Stargate's site in Abilene.Barbers says as power gets allocated to data centers, in a broad sense, some efforts to go green are being applied. It depends on whether or not you consider nuclear green, he says. Nuclear is one option, which is not carbon centric. Theres a lot of work going into collocated data centers in areas where solar is available, where wind is available.Barber says very few exponentials, such as Moores Law on microchips, last but AI is now on the upslope of the performance curve of these models. Even as AI gets tested against more difficult problems, these are still the early training days in the technologys development.Related:When AI moves from training and more into inference -- where AI draws conclusions -- Barber says demand could be significantly greater, maybe even 10 times so, than with training data. Right now, the slope is driven by training, he says. As these models roll out, as people start adopting them, the demand for inference is going to pick up and the capacity is going to go into serving inference.A Nuclear Scale MatterThe world already sees very hungry AI models, says Neil Kanungo, vice president of product led growth for KX, and that demand is expected to rise. There is a component of power generation thats growing exponentially and that is data center usage, he says. I believe its currently around 2% to 3% of all power produced in the US. The US has more data centers than anywhere in the world, but its projected to double every couple of years for the next 10 years.While AI training drives high power consumption, Kanungo says the ubiquity of AI inference makes its draw on power is significant as well. One way to improve efficiency, he says, would be to remove the transmission side of power from the equation by placing data centers closer to power plants. You get huge efficiency gains by cutting inefficiency out, where youre having over 30% losses traditionally in power generation, Kanungo says. He is also a proponent of the use of nuclear power, considering its energy load and land usage impact. The ability to put these data centers near nuclear power plants and what youre transmitting out is not power, he says. Youre transmitting data out. Youre not having losses on data transmission.Related:Nuclear power development in the United States, he says, has seen some stalling due to negative perspectives on safety and potential environmental concerns. Rising energy demands might be a catalyst to revisit such conversations. This might be the right time to switch those perceptions, Kanungo says, because you have tech giants that are willing to take the risks and handle the waste, and go through the red tape, and make this a profitable endeavor.He believes these are still the very early stages of AI adoption and as more agents are used with LLMs -- with agents completing tasks such as shopping for users, filling out tabular data, or deep research -- more computation is needed. Were just at the tip of the iceberg of agents, Kanungo says. The use cases for these transformer-based LLMs are so great, I think the demand for them is going to continue to go up and therefore we should be investing power to ensure that youre not jeopardizing residential power youre not having blackouts, youre not stealing base load.Energy Hungry GPUsThere is an unprecedented load being put on the grid according, to Ashiss Kumar Dash, executive vice president and global head - services, utilities, resources, energy and sustainability for Infosys. He says the power conundrum as it relates to AI is three-pronged.The increase in demand for electricity, increase in demand energy is unprecedented, Dash says. No other general-purpose technology has put this much demand in the past they say a ChatGPT query consumes 10 times the energy that a Google search would.Dash also cited a CNBC documentary that posited that to train an LLM today would effectively emit as much carbon dioxide as five gas-fueled cars in their entire lifetimes. There is this dimension of unprecedented load, he says. There are energy hungry GPUs, energy hungry data centers, and the cloud infrastructure that it needs.The second part of the problem, Dash says, is data centers tend to be concentrated geographically. If you look at the global data centers, we have about 8,000 data centers in the world, but you can pretty much name where the data centers are, he says. Seventy percent of the worlds internet traffic goes through Virginia. And the Data Center Alley in Virginia consumes almost 30% of the states entire electricity demand.That grid must obviously serve residents and local, commercial businesses, he says. When you concentrate the demand like this, its very difficult for the local grid to manage, Dash says. Same thing in Europe -- Ireland. Seventeen or 18% of Irelands electricity demand is on data centers.The third aspect of the problem, he says, is load growth. Utility companies tend to base their grid resiliency models on 2% to 3% maximum growth on a yearly basis, Dash says. Thats how the funding works. Thats how the rate cases are built. But now were talking, in some parts of the US, 20% growth year-on-year. Portland is going to see massive growth. California is seeing the demand.The grid and utility models are not designed to handle such fast growth, he says. For them to invest in the infrastructure and to build up transmission lines and substations and transformers is going to be a big challenge. That does not include recurring spikes in energy load in parts of the country, Dash says. If you have the data centers running at 20% higher energy demand and summer peak hits, the grid is not going to survive -- it's going to go down.However, there is some hope such outages might be avoided. AI companies, energy companies, and multiple partners are building an ecosystem to think about the problem, he says. There was even a discussion at the International Energy Agency Conference in December, he says, on using AI to work on AIs energy needs. It was good to hear tech companies, regulators, energy companies, oil and gas and utilities equally.Dash says he sees encouragement in redesigning and rethinking the grid, for example with the advent of the power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric, which can help drive more efficiency to data centers. I look at the reports and I find that quite a few organizations are able to optimize their power usage to a level where the power used for IT or tech is almost similar to the power used for the entire operations of the company, he says.Initiatives such as the creation of coolants that are more energy efficient, the creation of renewable microgrids close to data centers, and AI modeling to help utilities envision load growth are also encouraging, Dash says. Its AI solving the problem AI created.Read more about:Cost of AIAbout the AuthorJoao-Pierre S. RuthSenior EditorJoao-Pierre S. Ruth covers tech policy, including ethics, privacy, legislation, and risk; fintech; code strategy; and cloud & edge computing for InformationWeek. He has been a journalist for more than 25 years, reporting on business and technology first in New Jersey, then covering the New York tech startup community, and later as a freelancer for such outlets as TheStreet, Investopedia, and Street Fight.See more from Joao-Pierre S. RuthNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

1 The Trump administration is slashing billions in biomedical research funding The change, effective immediately, is sending shockwaves through academia. Expect lawsuits. (STAT$)+Scientists are also increasingly alarmed about the fact that federal health data is disappearing. (Undark)+A prominent US scientific society is facing a backlash from members after removing references to diversity on its website.(Nature)2 Computing experts are seriously alarmed by DOGEs behaviorThe systems theyre tinkering with are immense, they are complex, and they are critical. (The Atlantic$)+Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Evil Housekeeper Problem.(MIT Technology Review)+A federal judge blocked DOGE from accessing Treasury records. (AP)+Secrecy is becoming one of DOGEs defining traits. (NBC)3 OpenAIs agent can spend your money without your consentAll the reviews of Operator seem to indicate its been launched way before its ready. (WP$)+ Anthropics chief scientist on 4 ways agents will be even better in 2025.(MIT Technology Review)4 Theres a growing measles outbreak in one of Texas least vaccinated countiesThe saddest thing about this is how totally avoidable it is. (Ars Technica)+To tackle vaccine hesitancy, first we should measure it.(MIT Technology Review)5 The US Transportation Department suspended its EV charger program Tesla is one of its biggest beneficiaries, so Musk cant be too thrilled about this. (Insider$)6 DeepMinds AI can tackle math problems on a par with top human solversAlphaGeometry 2 can reportedly surpass the average gold medallist in the International Mathematical Olympiad. (Nature)+Its a major step forward from even just one year ago.(MIT Technology Review)7 What DeepSeeks success tells us about Chinas AI talentIts top researchers are just as educated as in the US. But they operate under huge constraints. (NYT$)+How China stands to benefit from the USs retreat from soft power.(New Yorker$)8 Location-sharing is increasingly a deal-breaker in relationshipsBut is it really reducing peoples anxiety? Or is it fuelling it? (WSJ$)9 Heres an idea for how to make the Vision Pro even less appealing Add crocs! (The Verge)10 Inside the fraught US-Soviet hunt for extraterrestrial lifeNow thats a frontier of the Cold War you dont hear as much about. (New Yorker$)Quote of the day Red states have universities too. An anonymous Trump official worries to theWashington Postabout blowback after the sudden withdrawal of National Institutes of Health research funding.