KKAAs extension to Lisbons Centro de Arte Moderna is a gesture that bears no relation to theexisting building or the older museum across the gardensI am not sure if there is a better museum than the Gulbenkian in Lisbon. It does something a little unexpected from a brutalist building, creating an intense sense of intimacy, comfort and luxury. It is a building as much about the landscape as it is about the exhibits, wrapped in lush gardens which are always made visible and often accessible. The busy, cheap public canteen with its green terrace is a wonder of contemporary culture, crammed with local office workers and museum visitors alike. Its interiors still feel much as they must have in the mid1970s, with their original furniture; bespoke leather chairs, tubular tables and the often extraordinary applied art of ceramic and metal and wood all survive entirely intact. In the years since its opening in 1969 it has matured and settled in a way brutalist buildings, for so long labelled as arrogant and disregarding of context, are not really supposed to.Designed by Portuguese architects Ruy Jervis dAthouguia, Pedro Cid and Alberto Pessoa, the building is low rise, complex and elegant, embracing the landscaped gardens rather than imposing itself on them. A rough contemporary of the Hayward Gallery in London, the Hirshhorn in Washington DC and the Whitney Museum in New York, it is nothing like any of them. The architects were clearly very aware of the international scene (despite the relative isolation of the authoritarian Salazar era) yet this building is more delicate, considered and less selfconsciously monumental than any of its peers.The British architect Leslie Martin had been intimately involved with its genesis (alongside the brilliant Italian architect and designer Franco Albini), retained as a consultant during the competition process and beyond. When it came to building the Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM) on the site, it was Martin himself that the client the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation returned to. Dedicated to modern and contemporary art, this discrete institution built across the pond in the same garden was envisioned as an extension of the foundations cultural complex. Reviewing the building in the AR in September 1985, Patrick Hodgkinson wrote that the presence of each building is subservient to the concept of the whole in the Gulbenkian Garden.The CAM was completed in 1983, mixing brutalist influences with hints of the then burgeoning British hightech. It consists of a massive concrete frame with a stepped steel structure slotted into it, introducing a series of clerestory windows that are expressed in a series of terraces. With a pool and draped, slightly ineffectively, with greenery, it resembled a provincial UK university campus. It could look like a late echo of the Terragniinflected housing popular in London in the 1960s, such as Neave Browns Alexandra Road and Hodgkinsons Brunswick Centre, but while those buildings aimed to create epic public spaces at their centres, Martins onesided effort somehow lacked a sense of purpose or urbanity. Unlike its neighbour, it was never a masterpiece.Nevertheless, as a gallery for contemporary art, it provided the lofty, welllit spaces that the Gulbenkian did not, so it fulfilled its brief, and a decade or so after its opening it had become clear the CAM was a rare and genuinely popular piece of public architecture in an era when modernism was being questioned and often reviled. Four decades later, the foundation purchased the additional land on the southern tip of the garden, between the CAM and Rua Marqus de Fronteira, and in 2019 it launched a competition to remodel the building, add gallery spaces and propose a cohesive new whole with the landscape and surroundings.The main move of Kengo Kuma and Associates (KKAA) is, they say, the introduction of an engawa, the interstitial space in a Japanese house that separates interior and exterior while belonging to both. Since it lies beyond the homes paper walls and is not covered by tatami mats, a traditional engawa is deemed outside space, yet it is always contained within the structure, beneath the eaves and inside the outer perimeter delineated by timber posts similarly to a loggia, porch or verandah, it is a place where you might sit and watch the rain, or chat to guests on a warm evening.Kengo Kuma, seen here atthe CAMs opening in September 2024 (above), won the competition with the concept of the engawa atraditional space in Japanese architecture that belongs to both the inside and outside of a buildingCredit:Chronicle / AlamyThe Japanese architects claim that the engawa defines the spirit of his extension is a oneliner that exposes the superficial and globalised nonsense which constitutes the essence of a great number of competitionwinning schemes. Architects, understanding that they will have limited time and means to catch the attention of judges, have become adept at appropriating an architectural element, motif or concept which is easy to explain and illustrate, and which establishes a clear identity for the project. If, as in this case, it can also point to a cultural connection, so much the better the small seafaring nation has form when it comes to Japan, as the Portuguese were the first Europeans to open up trading relations with the then still very much closed society of Japan in the 16th century. It is a kind of trick, a diversion tactic, a way to place in the mind of the jury a spurious connection, an architectural mnemonic and exploit it. KKAAs engawa is clad in white tiles tiles are the defining element of the Portuguese facade, but also intimately tied to Japanese craft and ceramics, which the Portuguese imported back to Europe. The connections are established and embedded, the institutional members of the jury flattered and slightly seduced.The trick clearly worked, but the superficiality of the oneliner becomes clear in the built result which is not an engawa, but a huge covered walkway with no real place to sit or stop. Instead of being connected to the existing building, it is an independent structure with chunky Vshaped columns (this is an area of seismic activity), meaning it loses any sense of ambiguity characteristic of the Japanese original. Perhaps most importantly, the engawa suggests a domestic scale while this intervention adheres to the epic proportions needed for contemporary logo architecture once abstracted, it indeed becomes a very elegant new museum logo, designed by Londonbased A Practice for Everyday Life, that is plastered all over the programmes, posters and totes.If the engawa functions as a porous boundary between inside and outside, this broad walkway with its swooping roof butts up against a blank wall. It cannot mediate between building and garden because it is an almostleanto against Martins huge white wall, and becomes a barrier of sorts. Instead of extending exhibition spaces, new galleries were excavated; digging a huge hole beneath the building might preserve the clarity of the competition diagram, but it creates a frankly generic and banal new subterranean gallery space. It is, at best, a black box with a mean trickle of grey light admitted through a grille where a smudge of daylight is allowed through the gap between canopy and wall. KKAA were the only team among entrants who did not propose an extension of the museum into the garden, instead creating a landscape, designed using native trees and flora by Vladimir Djurovic. Considering the Gulbenkians extensive gardens, this was not particularly essential, but a building which refuses to swallow up more of the site is generally appreciated by juries, as gardens have become the puppy dogs of contemporary architectural discourse.With its lofty scale and autonomous expression, KKAAs intervention is not an engawa but an attempt to develop a lighter and well-engineered (if also massively overscaled) architecture as a differentiating device from Martins stolid concrete block. More of a gesture than a response, the slightly awkward confluence of roofs covering the path creates a kind of double drape to announce the entrance. There is a nod here, perhaps, to Sizas draped concrete at the Portuguese Pavilion for Expo 98 but the similarity ends at the conceptual.If the public architecture of modernism has consistently been ridiculed for one thing, it has been the perverse obscurantism embedded in the frequent difficulty in finding an entrance (just think of the Barbican). An era apparently dedicated to public access and a more egalitarian view of architecture has often fallen down in this most basic of metrics; eager to avoid the symmetry, bombast and hierarchy of a monumental main entrance, so many modern buildings went too far the other way. Ironically, it was Martin who overcame the issue most elegantly with his designs for Londons Festival Hall in 1951, by effectively opening up almost the entire ground floor as a glazed public entrance and obviating, even in a symmetrical building, any need for a Beaux Arts hierarchy.KKAAs CAM extension is all about creating a new entrance canopy. For all my reservations, the entrance is far better than it was: generous and light, albeit also glassily generic. The galleries, which had been tucked into the rear of Martins original building, have been much improved in the redesign, with highlevel windows that provide a connection to the landscape. And the gardens, which the burying of the main gallery space enables, are undoubtedly pleasant and will, I am sure, in time, become as well used as those around the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in which a rather curious English picturesque combines with a sort of fauxEastern artifice (all rock gardens and bridges) to create a truly engaging public place.Over the last half century or so, the museum extension has become an architectural typology in its own right. The existing cultural infrastructure of mainly neoclassical and occasionally gothic institutions was seen as a prime target by the modernists. If those big, porticoed beasts represented hierarchy and class, modernism would subvert them through intervention. Tom Wolfe archly skewered Louis Kahns 1953 extension to the gothic of Yale University Art Gallery, an almost unrelieved brick wall in which a few simple string courses were the only expression Kahns justification was that they expressed the floor levels in the building. They were honest, in the way that Egerton Swartwouts Oxbridge 1928 building was not. From IM Peis unlikely success with his Louvre Pyramid to Daniel Libeskinds spiky extensions to Dresdens Museum of Military History and the Royal Ontario Museum, institutions were subjected to all kinds of indignities, some inventive and brilliant, some simply idiotic. In all these buildings, the historical architecture provided something to kick against: grandeur, hierarchical entrances, symmetry, stone, and so on. More modern buildings, which might seem to be easier to extend in a contemporary idiom, actually often prove harder because architecture is still largely operating in that centuryold language. It becomes a kind of selfcannibalisation. All that is left is the sleightofhand, the concept.Credit: Kengo Kuma and AssociatesUltimately, the CAMs refurbishment and extension is a curious lesson in a kind of remote reductivism: the realisation of a concept sketch designed to seduce with its simplicity and its subsequent inevitable collision with the reality of construction. When designed to be globally seductive and transmitted via Zoom, architecture carries all the impersonality and alienation that implies.With its new extension, the CAM has reasserted its presence in the garden, and completes the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundations cultural complex in Lisbon.Credit:LPP / Lisboa Para Pessoas

Recommended Published February 17, 2025 6:00am EST close 'CyberGuy': Stealth tracksuit shields you from infrared cameras and electromagnetic signals Kurt Knutsson talks about Vollebaks Shielding Suit, which blocks EM radiation, infrared and tracking for privacy. British clothing brand Vollebak has created a revolutionary solution for individuals concerned about digital privacy and electromagnetic exposure. The Shielding Suit, a futuristic tracksuit made of pure silver, provides comprehensive protection against various forms of tracking and surveillance. The Shielding Suit (Vollebak) (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)How does it actually work?This high-tech garment completely blocks electromagnetic radiation, infrared detection and bacteria, effectively shielding the entire body from unwanted digital intrusions. TheShielding Suit's most impressive feature allows smartphones to become completely undetectable, even when powered on, through specially designed pockets that function like Faraday cages. The Shielding Suit (Vollebak) (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Technical detailsThe suit features pure silver-embedded fabric designed to block electromagnetic radiation across multiple frequencies. Its Faraday cage pockets provide complete device isolation, while the lightweight design ensures maximum comfort. The Shielding Suit (Vollebak) (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)More than just a protective layerThe suit's capabilities extend far beyond basic electromagnetic shielding. It deflects mid and long-wave infrared radiation, rendering the wearer invisible to infrared cameras in low-light conditions. The silver-infused fabric also provides antimicrobial protection, potentially reducing the risk of bacterial transmission. The Shielding Suit (Vollebak) (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Style meets functionalityVollebak ensures the Shielding Suit doesn't sacrifice comfort for protection. The jacket feels as comfortable as a regular lightweight jacket, with the added benefit of looking like something from a futuristic space mission. The Shielding Suit (Vollebak) (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)NASA-inspired technology for everyday protectionVollebak developed the suit using the same shielding material NASA employed for its Mars exploration rover, Curiosity. The outer shell contains pure silver, blocking radio waves and microwaves across a frequency range of 0.2GHz to 10GHz. This technological spectrum covers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, satellite communications and radar systems. The Shielding Suit (Vollebak) (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Scientific backgroundElectromagnetic radiation travels through the universe, facilitating information and energy transfer. However, as we enter an era of increased cybersecurity threats and technological complexity, personal protection becomes increasingly important. The Shielding Suit (Vollebak) (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)The price of privacyAdvanced technology comes with a significant investment. The complete Shielding Suit, including jacket and pants, costs $5,290. Thejacket alone is priced at $3,295, while thepants are available for $1,995. You can pre-order the suit, with shipping expected in April.Kurt's key takeawaysThe Vollebak Shielding Suit is a technological shield that transforms personal protection from a theoretical concept into a wearable reality. While the price may seem steep, for those genuinely concerned about digital tracking and radiation exposure, this suit offers an unprecedented level of personal security that transcends traditional clothing limitations.If you owned this high-tech Shielding Suit, in what situations would you wear it and why? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading toCyberguy.com/Newsletter.Follow Kurt on his social channels:Answers to the most asked CyberGuy questions:New from Kurt:Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com.All rights reserved. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on "FOX & Friends." Got a tech question? Get Kurts free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Last year, European healthtech companies raised $11.6bn, making it the most backed sector of 2024. And for good reason. As breakthroughs in AI, chemistry and biotech unfold at a rapid pace, the speed of healthcare innovation is ratcheting up alongside. That means theres a huge number of incredible concepts, products and tech coming down the track. Combined with the current market conditions and intensifying societal needs, todays healthtech founders have a chance to truly transform global health outcomes.As VCs, we are constantly looking for the hidden gems or untapped ideas that will go on to unlock this level of societal, global impact. When it comes to healthcare, that means seeking out founders pursuing breakthroughs that can transform patient care, tackle long-standing inequalities, spot or prevent illnesses, and empower individuals to take control of their healthcare journey. Ultimately, were looking for the innovators and innovations that will help billions of us live better, fuller lives.As the market continues its trajectory of success and impact, heres where Im currently looking for the next hidden gems of healthtech:The power of proteinsWere only just beginning to grasp the full potential of protein interactions and their impact on drug discovery, treatment efficacy, and new therapeutic possibilities. DeepMind's AlphaFold has already been a game-changer, predicting the structures of 250 million proteins and unlocking unprecedented insights into the foundation of our biology. With its work cited over 28,000 times, the ripple effects on disease prevention and drug discovery is set to be profound.Companies like A-Alpha Bio are already exploring the predictive strength of protein-to-protein binding, and I expect to see many more innovators try to leverage these insights to tackle persistent health challenges and drive the next wave of therapeutic breakthroughs. Just last week, Latent Labs, founded by former DeepMind scientist Simon Kohl, raised $40m to use AI to create new therapeutic molecules to deliver more personalised treatments just the latest sign of how much momentum is building in this space.Breaking open the biobankBanks may store wealth, but the UK Biobank stores health; its quite literally a treasure trove for potential public health breakthroughs. With its vast collection of patient information, its an incredible resource that could help tackle some of the biggest public health challenges we face today. This kind of data can be the key to developing targeted, evidence-led interventions that address the most pressing health disparities and conditions whether its tackling diseases that disproportionately affect specific groups or finding more personalised treatment options.MORE FOR YOUNightingale Health, for example, analysed blood samples from 500,000 Biobank participants, and used it to build the worlds largest blood biomarker database, enabling earlier detection and personalised treatments, and showing how the right data can drive solutions to long-standing health challenges. VCs like me are on the lookout for more founders tapping into this goldmine of data and using it to make a real difference at scale.Opportunities also lie outside of existing data sets. Well be paying close attention to companies which are able to generate or collect new unique patient data to drive insight into underserved areas of health. This data combined with public datasets can be used to develop drugs, run smaller, more targeted clinical trials, and develop decision-support tools for clinicians.Going further with GLP1s Originally introduced as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, we are now seeing evidence that GLP1s - or so-called weight loss drugs - can help address a range of health issues, from anxiety and addictive behaviors to inflammation and even slowing the progression of Parkinsons.And it feels like this is just the start. As GLP1 applications expand, Im keeping a keen eye on how they can help close the health gap for communities that have long been overlooked when it comes to breakthrough therapies and believe some exciting startups will soon start operating in this space.With the continued rise of GLP1s there are also enormous opportunities to address the side effects they cause and to improve the delivery mechanism, as well as provide the right diet and nutrition coaching to help people sustain their weight loss. After all, the challenge isnt just about losing weight, its about staying healthy in the long run.AI as an accessibility tool AI stands to be a real accessibility game-changer in healthtech. Ive seen it first-hand. Just last month I got a Doctors letter for my son that was so filled with acronyms and jargon, I felt like I needed a PhD to understand it. But I uploaded a photo of it to ChatGPT and it was able to translate that dense language into something I could actually digest. I was instantly more informed about my sons health.If I can struggle with deciphering a Doctors letter in an affluent part of the world, imagine the challenges elsewhere. Health literacy is an enormous issue across the world. Marginalised communities often face extra hurdles in making sense of medical information, and thats where AI can really level the playing field. If we get the right tools into the hands of patients, no matter their background, we could see a dramatic improvement in outcomes. This is particularly true for elder care where its even more important to involve family members in care decisions.Everyone deserves to be a proactive participant in the management of their own good health, so Im excited to see what founders can achieve in this space.Meeting mental health needsMental health, particularly among young people, is in need of some fresh thinking right now. With anxiety and depression on the rise due, in part, to the pressures of a social media-driven world, healthtech has a lot to offer. Theres often no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to mental health, which means theres room for a lot of innovation from different companies.Mental health issues in young Asian, Black, and minority ethnic communities have risen more steeply in recent years, while these challenges have long been more pronounced among women and those in deprived areas. This makes the need for inclusive, accessible solutions even more pressing. Many underserved communities face unique mental health challenges, and tech can help fill those gaps, offering support where its lacking.Another key challenge in this sector is ensuring that we have enough mental health professionals to meet demand. As Emma Silverman, Partner at TMV, points out, over half of masters level graduates in mental health fields never obtain their practice license. This is opening the door for innovative solutions that expand the professional pipeline. One such company, Silverman notes, is Motivo Health. By facilitating the supervision hours required for licensure, Motivo helps to break down the traditional barriers that can prevent qualified graduates converting into practicing professionals.Mental health is a complex space, and were excited to see more startups making strides with sustainable solutions that will shape the years to come.Healthtech isnt about chasing the fountain of youth; its about empowering us to live healthier, longer lives. These hidden gems arent just ideas theyre breakthroughs set to reshape healthcare and drive meaningful societal change. VCs are watching closely.

Current Climate brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability every Monday. Sign up to get it in your inbox.Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesAggressive federal budget cuts by Elon Musks DOGE team, empowered by President Donald Trump, have devastated agencies including USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with the Department of Education in the crosshairs. But it also appears to be impacting vital services including wildfire preparedness, a troubling development in the wake of Los Angeless devastating, wind- and drought-fueled blazes and ahead of whats likely to be another bad fire season.The confusion spurred by Musks chainsaw approach to budgets and staffing, including a freeze on money already appropriated by Congress, has created disarray at agencies responsible for battling fires, according to an investigation by ProPublica. Federally supported fire crews in California are unsure how long theyll be able to continue their work; others sent to aid proscribed burns in Florida were sent back; and hiring of seasonal workers has also been halted for now, the report said, citing interviews with a dozen firefighters and people who assist with those efforts.Uncertainty is at an all-time high. Morale is at an all-time low, said one federal wildland firefighter who, in addition to numerous federal employees, asked not to be named because of fear of retribution by the Trump Administration.In response, a bipartisan Senate bill introduced by Montana Republican Tim Sheehy and California Democrat Alex seeks to create a new National Wildfire Service, to address current and past shortcomings.We can all agree that the federal government must do a better job protecting our people, property, public lands, and communities from wildfires, and this bill will go a long way in streamlining our wildland firefighting efforts and best leveraging all available resources, said Sheehy, who ran the countrys largest operator of Super Scooper aircraft before becoming a Senator.The Big ReadMediaNews Group via Getty ImagesTesla Faces Protests, Vandalism And Boycott Threats Over Musks MAGA-DOGE RampageTrump voters loved the idea of Elon Musk taking a meat cleaver to the federal government. But now that the Tesla CEO is rampaging through the halls of DC swinging a chainsaw, public sentiment is shifting. And it's starting to ding the Tesla brand.The companys Loveland, Colorado, store was vandalized on Feb. 7, the third time in a month, with offensive and hateful graffiti, while about 50 people gathered in San Luis Obispo, California, outside a Tesla shop to protest federal budget cuts by Musks Department of Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE. A similar protest also occurred in San Diego over the weekend. The billionaire CEOs bizarre, Nazi-style salute at a Trump victory celebration last month spurred protestors in the Netherlands to paint swastikas and anti-Musk sentiments on a company store in The Hague. Musk derided comparisons to the Sieg Heil salute as dirty tricks, saying the everyone is Hitler attack is sooo tired.In Germany, police are looking into whether groups that projected an image of Musk giving the straight-armed gesture onto the side of Teslas Berlin Gigafactory, along with the phrase Heil Tesla, broke laws against displaying Nazi symbols. Theres also been a call for a Tesla boycott in Poland. Trumps tariff threats on Canada have also led to calls for boycotts of its electric vehicles, as well as Musks X social media platform and Starlink, in that country.Investors are spooked too. Since Tesla stock peaked at an all-time high of $479.86 on Dec. 17, the stock plummeted 25% through Feb. 14.Read more hereHot TopicGetty ImagesChuck Templeton, managing partner at S2G Investments, on climate-conscious investment opportunitiesGiven that the environment for cleantech investing has changed under the new administration what areas look like promising bets?What we may see is that there's interest in better-for-you food brands, given some of the perspectives from the current administration. How do we get toxins, harmful chemicals and microplastics out of our food? That's a big discussion that's happening and we're very excited about that. And then from the ag standpoint, can we figure out how to make either conventional products much more efficient and effective or help biologics be successful? Maybe using AI to solve some of these problems that Mother Nature has taken tens of thousands, if not millions, of years to figure out - while also acknowledging we need to address the associated energy requirements there.The application of technology into ag, I think is, only accelerating. We're going to need to find more efficient ways than what we've been doing for the last 150 years. With new tools and technologies now at our disposal, we have the potential to unlock solutions that were previously beyond our reach in taste, nutrition, and affordability. At the same time, farmers can be more profitable.Do investments related to electric vehicles and clean energy remain compelling right now?With EVs, we think that most people believe, on average, they are a better driving experience. So we do think that EVs will continue to grow and find new niches in lots of applications like trucking, logistics, and robotics.Same with wind and solar, particularly with storage. We've done all the 1.0 stuff in this respect. Now as we take it to the next level, the focus shifts to optimizing storage, peak shaving, efficient transmission, and refining how the energy grid functions. How do we make sure that we don't have these peak periods that we can't handle? Now we're getting to the scale where we see those problems acutely and there are opportunities for entrepreneurs to go to solve.Additionally, we think there's a huge opportunity in decarbonizing shipping. Shipping is international and the world wants more energy-efficient and cleaner options. Ocean intelligence is another area that were excited about. There's tremendous potential in accurately capturing and understanding whats happening in the ocean and knowing how to use that data to turn the ocean from a victim of climate change to a mitigator and solution. The ocean is an under-explored and untapped opportunity.And then theres adaptation. We are going to need to think about the solutions we have for a warming planet. So while mitigation continues to be a priority, we see opportunity in shifting investment resources toward adaptation. We've spent a lot of time thinking about that over the last year and how we can identify and pursue more opportunities in that space. Right now about 5% to 7% of investment in this space is around adaptation. We think that there are opportunities to do more of that.What Else Were ReadingScientists harness AI to protect whales. Researchers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have developed an artificial intelligence tool that will help predict endangered North Atlantic right whale habitats, guiding ships along the Atlantic coast to avoid them. Its designed to prevent deadly accidents and inform conservation strategies and responsible ocean development. (Nature Scientific Reports)Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm has done extremely well for herself in the past yearlargely by selling off most of her shares in the electric car company. She unloaded over 65% of her shares and options in the past 12 months, yielding $168 million before taxesbenefitting from the stocks spike following President Donald Trumps election victory in November. (Forbes)Fords CEO says Trump policies may lead to layoffs. The automaker has invested heavily in factories to produce batteries and electric vehicles in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, Chief Executive Jim Farley said at a conference in New York. If Republicans repeal Biden-era legislation that allocated billions of dollars in subsidies and loans for the projects, many of those jobs will be at risk, he said. (New York Times)Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterates a pledge to more than double the countrys current renewable energy capacity to 500 gigawatts. Modi said at the India Energy Week 2025 that the success of the drive, and indeed his countrys wider ambitions would be rooted in what he described as key five pillars: resource availability, a skilled workforce, economic strength, political stability and strategic geography. (Forbes)The U.S. smashed clean energy records last year. Can it keep up the pace? Developers plan to add even more solar, wind and battery storage capacity in 2025, but the Trump administration isnt making that easy. (Canary Media)The SEC moves to kill climate disclosure rule. Acting chair Mark Uyeda directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to pause its legal defense of a rule requiring companies to make climate disclosures. (New York Times)More From Forbes

A hot potato: Reddit will be introducing something that few users are likely to want later this year: paywalls. CEO Steve Huffman has confirmed that the platform will be introducing the ability for some Redditors to create content that only paid members can see, though it won't apply to any subreddits currently available. Huffman revealed plans for the paid content model in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) following the company's quarterly earnings report. He said it was currently a "work in progress" but would be one of the "new, key features" that Reddit plans to introduce sometime this year.Huffman said in 2024 that the company was looking into exclusive content or private, hidden areas that were locked behind a paywall.The paid-for content would only apply to certain new subreddit types and not any existing ones, so it seems that your favorite subreddits aren't suddenly going to require a bank account to access them.It's certainly a controversial area that could present several problems, especially when it comes to moderators and whether they will be paid and how much for what is currently a voluntary position.AM(A)A Video: Reddit's Q4 2024 Earningsbyu/rddt_IR inRDDTArs Technica notes that Reddit has had paid-for features before, such as r/Lounge, an exclusive subreddit for Reddit Premium subscribers. The company also pays some users for posting via the Reddit Contributor Program. // Related StoriesHuffman also mentioned other potential monetization features for Reddit. One of these is to allow users to conduct financial transactions from within the platform itself, rather than using a third-party payments system like PayPal or Venmo. It could allow users to, among other things, purchase items without leaving Reddit, though Huffman admitted it could be a while before the idea becomes a working feature.The plan sounds like it's been inspired by Chinese social media platform Weibo, which uses its own integrated payment system, Weibo Pay, to facilitate payments within the app. These can be used for tipping content creators, purchasing goods, donating to causes, and paying for premium services.Reddit has been embracing several money-making efforts since it went public early last year. These include more ads, especially in the first-party app, and it has tested placing ads in comments. It has also been sharing user data with other companies, including a $60 million-per-year deal with Google for the tech giant to train its AI models. It also partnered with OpenAI to put users' posts in ChatGPT.Reddit needs to balance its monetization efforts against user blowback. In 2023, over 8,500 subreddits went dark in protest against the platform's decision to update its API, which requires some third-party app developers to pay millions of dollars to continue accessing the site.

The big picture: Google remains tight-lipped about many details surrounding YouTube's inner workings. And that's a problem, according to experts, given the platform's massive global reach and influence. But now, thanks to an innovative research approach, we're getting some of the first concrete figures from the platform. A team of researchers led by Ethan Zuckerman at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has devised an ingenious approach to peek behind YouTube's tightly guarded curtain. They developed a program that essentially "guesses" random video URLs until it stumbles upon legitimate uploads.You see, every YouTube video is assigned a unique 11-character identifier within a standard URL format (for example: youtube.com/watch?v=v5B9_j114iA). The program, which is essentially a scraper, randomly generates these character strings and checks for matches. Essentially, it "drunk dials" the platform to see if a video exists.Zuckerman likened the process to a teenager prank-calling random numbers, as it requires billions of attempts before successfully landing on actual videos.Most YouTube videos receive fewer than 500 views, and 4% have never been watched even once. Graph by University of Massachusetts at Amherst, BBC.BBC reports that for their initial dataset, the researchers attempted more than 18 trillion potential URLs, identifying just over 10,000 real videos. This translates to approximately 1.87 billion failed attempts for every successful find. If a person were to conduct this search manually, spending three seconds per attempt, it would take roughly 178 years to uncover a single video. // Related StoriesThe findings were worth the effort, revealing never-before-seen numbers from one of the most powerful communication platforms ever created.For one, the research estimates a staggering 14.8 billion total videos on YouTube as of mid-2024. Unsurprisingly, most of these videos are barely noticed. The median YouTube upload has just 41 views, with 4% garnering no views at all. Over 74% have no comments and 89% have no likes.The production values are also remarkably modest. Only 14% of videos feature a professional set or background. Just 38% show signs of editing. More than half have shaky camerawork, and audio quality varies widely in 85% of videos. In fact, 40% are simply music tracks with no voice-over.Moreover, the typical YouTube video is just 64 seconds long, and over a third are shorter than 33 seconds.The size of YouTube's library has been a somewhat veiled secret, but new research offers a rare glimpse into its true scale. As of 2024, YouTube is estimated to host nearly 15 billion videos an astonishing growth trajectory that underscores its role as a vast but often unseen digital archive. Graph by University of Massachusetts at Amherst, BBC.These numbers paint a very different picture from how YouTube portrays itself. The platform originally branded itself as a space for ordinary people to "broadcast yourself," but its messaging has since shifted.YouTube CEO Neal Mohan recently described its role in enabling influencers to build careers, stating that "YouTubers are becoming the startups of Hollywood."However, Ryan McGrady, a senior researcher on Zuckerman's team, told the BBC that this narrative overlooks a crucial reality: YouTube is not just an entertainment hub it has become a form of digital infrastructure.Case in point: just 0.21% of the sampled videos included any kind of sponsorship or advertising. Only 4% had common calls to action such as liking, commenting, and subscribing. The vast majority weren't polished content plays but rather personal expressions perhaps not so different from the old camcorder days.Masthead credit: Charles Deluvio

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsHow to watch Duke vs. VirginiaWatch Duke vs. Virginia on Sling TVHow to watch Duke vs. Virginia from abroad with a VPNIts always a big game when Dukecomes to town, and on Monday night, theyll be in Charlottesville to play the Virginia Cavaliers. Duke (22-3) is first in the ACC and making its claim to be one of the nations best teams. Virginia (13-12) is ninth in the ACC and will likely miss the NCAA Tournament. This will be the only regular-season matchup between Duke and Virginia.Dukes Cooper Flagg is one of the frontrunners for National Player of the Year. Flagg leads Duke in points (19.8), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.0), steals (1.6), and blocks (1.2). Duke has a shot to win their first National Championship since 2014-2015. For the Cavaliers, its been a season to forget. The struggles were expected after Tony Bennett abruptly resigned weeks before opening night.Recommended VideosCan Virginia pull off the upset in front of their home crowd? Find out how to watch Duke versus Virginia,including the start time, TV channel, and streaming options. Read our NCAA mens basketball March to the Madness guidefor more coverage.RelatedStanford vs. Duke Condensed Game | 2024-25 ACC Men's BasketballThe game between Duke and Virginia tips off at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, February 17, 2025. The game will be played inside John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. The game will air onESPNand stream on WatchESPN.Watch Duke vs. VirginiaPhil Nickinson / Digital TrendsIf youre looking for an alternative to cable, consider signing up for . Many users love Slings customizable channel lineups and accessibility.Customers can choose between multiple paid Sling TV plans, including Orange for $46 per month, Blue for $51 per month, and Orange and Blue for $66 per month. For tonights game, youll need at least the Orange, which includes ESPN.Derek Malcolm / Digital TrendsIf you travel often, youll want to make sure to have one of the best VPNs on the market, NordVPN. With NordVPN, users can choose a US-based server within the app to trick their connection into thinking theyre streaming from home. This helps work around the regional broadcast restrictions. Try NordVPN today, and if you dont like it, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.Editors Recommendations

Just a few days ago, we found out that Apple is working on a new Studio Display with a mini-LED screen. Now, that idea seems to be confirmed, with highly accurate Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman stating that this monitor should launch by 2026.The Studio Display first saw the light of day in 2022, meaning theres been a lengthy wait for updates. But that delay just highlights the problems with an even older Apple monitor: 2019s Pro Display XDR.Recommended VideosThis is Apples highest-end screen and is designed to be a companion to the Mac Pro. But in the years since its launch, it has been outdone by rivals in a huge number of ways. Just look around and youll find displays with better resolutions, faster refresh rates, and OLED or mini-LED tech that outstrips the clarity and contrast offered by the Pro Display XDRs LCD screen. And when Apple is asking for a minimum of $4,999 for this display, those deficiencies are hard to swallow.Julian Chokkattu / Digital TrendsEven compared to the $1,599 Studio Display, the Pro Display XDR falls short in some respects. It lacks a webcam and an internal chip to handle things like Center Stage and Spatial Audio, while its stand alone costs almost two-thirds of the Studio Displays asking price. The areas where the Pro Display XDR does pull ahead of the Studio Display resolution and brightness in particular still make it hard to justify the $4,999 starting price. Infamously, that outlay doesnt even get you a stand (an addon that costs a frankly obscene $999) or the nano-texture glass option. Combined, those two options push the displays price up to almost $7,000.In other words, the Pro Display is a tough sell today compared to the three-year-old Studio Display, and even more so when you put it against some of the best monitors on the market. Yet despite desperately needing some love from Apple, the company appears to be showing it a remarkable lack of attention. What gives?AppleSimply put, Gurman says that the Pro Display XDR is less of a priority for Apple compared to the Studio Display. The Pro Display XDR is out of reach for most consumers, Gurman rightly points out, and while the reporter doesnt say that Apple has outright abandoned its high-end monitor, there dont appear to be any plans to upgrade it any time soon.With a new Mac Pro expected this year, many people will be asking where that leaves professional users. Are they expected to stick with the six-year-old Pro Display XDR? Buy the Studio Display and get an experience that is worse in some ways? Or even buy a product from a rival company? Apple cant be happy with any of those possibilities, but you would think it would do something to prevent the last one at the very least.Apple says its committed to pro users, but how can it do that without offering them an up-to-date, high-spec monitor? I understand the company is reluctant to pour resources into a niche, high-cost product like the Pro Display XDR (especially after the well-documented struggles of the Vision Pro), but this monitor is an essential part of its pro lineup.AppleAfter all, it sends mixed messages if Apple launches a new Mac Pro but not a monitor to go with it. Is Apple simply unable to meet the needs of its most demanding users? Professional consumers have specific requirements (often concerning color accuracy and clarity) that the Pro Display XDR is designed to meet, but releasing a new Mac Pro without a companion display leaves a gaping hole in the roster.Its one that I dont think the Studio Display will be able to fill. While that monitor has plenty going for it and, judging by the list of improvements said to be heading its way, it could get even better but its not the top-level solution that the Pro Display XDR is. If your workload involves high-end photo editing, video rendering or similarly demanding creative pursuits, the Studio Display likely wont cut it.I cant imagine that Apple will give up on the Pro Display XDR entirely after all, if it was losing faith in its high-end efforts, it likely wouldnt be releasing a new Mac Pro this year. But the fact that a monitor released in 2022 is getting more frequent updates than the Pro Display XDR doesnt exactly bode well. Heres hoping we learn more in the coming months.Editors Recommendations

The bands sixth studio album still stands as its most compelling record, a punchy fusion of hard rock and other, softer styles.

This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.Good morning. Hallam Bullock here, writing to you from London. Our US team is observing Presidents' Day, so I'm bringing you a shorter version of the newsletter.In case you missed it, Jamie Dimon's comments on work-from-home last week went viral. In a leaked recording, the JPMorgan CEO explained to staffers why remote work is a detriment to his company using language that was at times colorful and confrontational.However, copies of the audio obtained by BI suggest that remote work was just a sliver of the conversation. Dimon also addressed a wide range of issues, including the impact of AI, reducing corporate bureaucracy, and the bank's fintech failings.In today's big story, many federal workers have expressed outrage and despair at President Donald Trump's workforce mandates but what do the ones who voted for him think? BI spoke with four Trump-supporting federal workers to find out.If this was forwarded to you, The big storyTrump's workforce blitz Andrew Harnik/Getty Images "It shouldn't have come to this."That's what one federal worker who voted for Trump told BI amid the president's ongoing efforts to reduce the federal workforce. And no, they haven't changed their stance on supporting Trump.As of last Thursday, about 75,000 federal employees had accepted the president's buyout offer. That's about 3.75% of the federal workforce, inching closer to the White House's goal of reducing the federal staff count by 5 - 10%.It's a strange position to imagine yourself in: voting for a president who, weeks into his new administration, places your livelihood at risk.But this is the exact scenario some federal workers are now facing.Four of those workers spoke to BI's Ana Altchek and Ayelet Sheffey about how they're feeling."I voted for Trump. I wanted to see some positive change," one federal employee of 17 years said. But they didn't know that change could put their job in jeopardy. Elon Musk said on X that the bill shouldn't pass. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Some of the workers BI spoke with are still standing by the overall mission to reduce government waste."They're uncovering a lot of waste and abuse there," one worker said. "I just can't believe some of the stuff that they're finding which is a total waste of taxpayer money."Elon Musk's DOGE has been targeting federal agencies it deems wasteful to lower government spending. In the weeks since Trump took office for the second time, DOGE has applied Silicon Valley's "slash and burn" mentality to multiple agencies, including USAID.Following a lawsuit from federal employee labor unions, a federal judge partially blocked Musk and Trump's attempted shutdown of USAID which legal experts had told BI is illegal without approval from Congress.Meanwhile, one of the federal workers who voted for Trump said they supported the president's approach. "I think overall, we're going to end up better off with him as president," the worker said.News briefHere are the OpenAI employees who are joining Mira Murati's new startup.Herms will give staffers a $4,700 bonus as sales and revenue jump.A German drone manufacturer backed by Peter Thiel says it will double its production capacity in Ukraine in 2025.Mistral's CEO Arthur Mensch tells BI that DeepSeek is a win for the open-source ecosystem.Trump is escalating the fight over the role parents play in their kids' education.What a weird bug tells you about the relationship between Apple and Netflix.Jack Dorsey says Bluesky's rapid growth is because 'people are running away from X'.Sheryl Crow says goodbye to her Tesla and donates to NPR: 'You have to decide who you are willing to align with'A former Silicon Valley engineer wrote on Substack about why he left behind 'staggering' stock grants to work for DOGE.The Insider Today team: Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.