Democratic lawmakers demanded answers from billionaire Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency on Thursday as concerns about who has access to Americas most sensitive information continue to dog Trump administration efforts to reshape the federal government.The systems accessed by Musks DOGE staffers include billions of data points about citizens and businesses, as well as potentially sensitive information about government payments and programs that, if assembled correctly, could reveal secrets about national security and intelligence operations to Russia, China, or another adversary.Musk and the White House so far have not convinced their critics and have offered few details about their cybersecurity measures as their tech-centered approach to shrinking government roils Washington.In a letter sent to Musk and the White House, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., demanded to know the details about security precautions and whether lapses in security may have exposed sensitive information. The letter asserts that reckless actions by DOGE present a grave threat to national security by exposing secrets about Americas defense and intelligence agencies.DOGE employees do not appear to fully understand much of the information to which they have been given unfettered access and given the cavalier and incompetent ways that they have handled this data, these individuals represent a clear threat to national security and the nations economy, wrote Warren and Connolly, who were joined on the letter by several other Democratic lawmakers.Musk and President Donald Trump have defended DOGEs work, saying its led to billions of dollars in savings. In response to the concerns raised in Thursdays letter, a spokesman for the administration said its vital that DOGE workers have access to federal databases.It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it, Harrison Fields, principal deputy White House press secretary, said in an email Thursday. DOGE will continue to shine a light on the fraud they uncover as the American people deserve to know what their government has been spending their hard earned tax dollars on.If that information is mishandled, or security precautions fail, the information could be exposed to foreign intelligence services or common hackers, prompting significant worry among some national security and cyber experts.Groups worried about DOGE have challenged its actions in court, with a federal judge in Manhattan temporarily restricting DOGE from accessing some Treasury Department information until its members can be certified in cybersecurity. Another recent ruling blocked DOGEs access to certain records at other agencies, too.Federal laws and regulations were written to tightly control the management of sensitive federal dataeven if it has little value to scammers or foreign spies. Certain officials only have access to certain data, and access to information from the same data set may be split among different people as an additional security measure.Classified data has always been subject to more stringent rulesdesigned to minimize the risk that it could fall into the wrong hands. Access to such information is tightly controlled, said Jeffrey Vagle, a law professor and cybersecurity expert at Georgia State University who has in the past worked on classified federal technology projects.Its unknown what steps DOGE has taken to ensure security, Vagle said, which called worrying by itself. If they store data on flash drives, access it on a personal device or comingle systems, they could be creating huge security vulnerabilities, he said.A foreign agent wouldnt even have to try that hard, Vagle said.Information in federal systems includes Treasury payments that could be used to figure out the details of intelligence programs or health and personnel records that could reveal the identities of agents or the responsibilities of clandestine officers.An adversary like China could use artificial intelligence to analyze these kernels of data to create a picture of covert U.S. activities, said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.In the intelligence business, information is the coin of the realm, Warner said. These bits of information could unravel the very sources and methods our nation relies on to keep Americans safe. And it could literally get people killed.In their letter, lawmakers cited concerns that DOGE staffers used unauthorized servers and unknown AI programs to analyze and store the data. They noted that despite assurances that the DOGE website will not reveal information from intelligence agencies, material from the National Reconnaissance Office was easily found.The Democrats also said they worried DOGE was cutting spending without understanding its purpose, pointing to a recent incident in which the government tried to bring back workers it had fired who worked on nuclear weapon programs.Earlier this week, more than 20 DOGE staffers resigned, saying they would not use their technical expertise to dismantle critical public services. In a joint resignation letter, they warned that many of those brought in by Musk are political ideologues who lack the necessary skills or experience for the job.U.S. intelligence agencies have, so far, escaped the same scrutiny or level of cuts that DOGE has leveled at other agencies. Employees at the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence were told they didnt need to comply with Musks demands for federal employees to list their recent accomplishments or risk termination.Some of the concerns raised about DOGE may be motivated by politics and concerns about its rapid pace, said Zach Edwards, senior threat researcher at Silent Push, a cybersecurity firm that worked on President Barack Obamas 2008 campaign.But Edwards said DOGEs tech-centered approach could lead to mistakes that would have been caught in the old system.Theyre moving fast and breaking things, Edwards said, quoting the popular tech catchphrase. With government, if you break things, it can take a long time to fix it.David Klepper, Associated Press

Last Energy, a nuclear upstart backed by an Elon Musk-linked venture capital fund, says it plans to construct 30 microreactors on a site in Texas to supply electricity to data centers across the state. The initiative, which it says could provide about 600 megawatts of electricity, would be the companys largest project to date and help it develop a commercial pipeline in the U.S. Set on a 200-acre site Last Energy has obtained in Haskell County, in northwest Texas, the project still faces likely years of regulatory and public scrutiny. The Washington, D.C.-based company hasnt yet disclosed customers or the details of its financing, or announced a timeline for the effort. But once construction starts, the firm says it could deliver the plants within 24 months, using its modular, factory-built design.Texas is Americas undisputed energy leader, but skyrocketing population growth and data center development is forcing policymakers, customers, and energy providers to embrace new technologies, said Bret Kugelmass, founder and CEO of Last Energy.Nuclear energy is the most effective way to meet Texas demand, but our solutionplug-and-play microreactors, designed for scalability and siting flexibilityis the best way to meet it quickly.The plans are a response to overwhelming demand from data center developers in the state and elsewhere. U.S. tech giants are increasingly turning to nuclear to meet the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence and the data center boom, investing billions in traditional nuclear projects and an array of new ones, including fusion. Of Last Energys existing commercial agreements, which entail deploying over 80 microreactors across Europe, half are set to serve data centers.By powering data centers on-site, behind the meter, in addition to linking to the electrical utility, the plants could help sidestep the restraints and price volatility of a grid thats already stretched thin. They could also be a proving ground for an unprecedented legal gambit: in December, the company joined Texas and Utah in filing suit against the U.S. government over its nuclear regulations. The outcome of that case could speed up this and future projects in the US.Until now, Last Energys focus has been on signing up customers in Europe, where lighter regulations and an aversion to Russian natural gas have helped accelerate a push toward nuclear power. The company says it has development agreements for more than 50 nuclear reactor facilities in Europe, including a $400 million project at a former coal power plant in Wales that could come online in 2027. In December, the firm received a tentative offer of $103.7 million in debt financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) to build the first of those four SMRs. The Texas project would be the companys first in the U.S.In Texas, surging energy demand has prompted officials to step up efforts to court the nuclear industry. Already the nations leader in fossil fuel production, as well as renewables and battery storage, the Lone Star State currently gets only 10% of its electricity form nuclear power. But a November study by the public utility commission, done at the behest of Gov. Greg Abbott, urged the state to deploy a coordinated nuclear power strategy to enhance energy security and grid reliability, and identified 61 sites suitable for small modular reactors.Texas is the energy capital of America, and we are working to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power, said Abbott in a statement. Last Energys microreactor project in Haskell County will help fulfill the states growing data center demand. Texas must become a national leader in advanced nuclear energy. By working together with industry leaders like Last Energy, we will usher in a nuclear power renaissance in the United States.With 30 of the companys shipping-container-sized microreactors each producing 20 megawatts, the site would generate about 600 megawatts, enough electricity for about 150,000 homes on the hottest summer days. A Last Energy spokesperson said the company had initiated the process of grid connection with the state utility, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and begun pre-application engagement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to obtain an Early Site Permit for the site.The first reactor is estimated to cost approximately $100 million, the company says, with costs expected to drop as it iterates.Last has already built two full-scale prototypes in Texas with local manufacturing partners, and says it has secured its first full core load of low-enriched uranium fuel, scheduled to arrive in September 2026. In January it became a founding member of the Texas Nuclear Alliance, which aims to make Texas the nuclear capital of the world. the company says its also exploring projects in Utah.With the deal, the microreactor firm joins a number of companies that have announced plans to fuel their data centers voracious electricity demands with nuclear power. Earlier last year, Amazon said it would build a hyperscale data center next to a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. In September, Microsoft said it would pay Constellation Energy to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island that was closed in 2019. And in October, Google and Kairos Power inked a deal for 500 megawatts of nuclear power.Meta is also going nuclear. In December, the Facebook parent said it was asking developers to submit proposals to deliver 1 gigawatt to 4 gigawatts of reactor capacity, starting in the early 2030s, as it looks for a reliable energy source for its data centers. In January, Meta also signed four purchase agreements with Spanish renewable energy developer Zelestra to build four solar projects that can help power Metas data centers in the region, currently located in Temple and Fort Worth. The projects, with a combined capacity of 595 megawatts, will deliver electricity to the ERCOT grid, which will then power the data centers.In Texas, even four years after a deadly, storm-linked blackout, the state utility has continued to struggle to add enough capacity and flexibility to meet a surge in demand. That already includes over 340 data centers which consume nearly 8 GW of power and make up about 9% of all Texas electricity demand; those in the Dallas area alone are expected to need an additional 43 gigawatts of power in the coming years. As with much of the states energy consumption, much of the electricity in those data centers is needed just to keep all those hot chips and servers cool.Smaller, less scary reactorsLast is one of a new class of nuclear firms building small-modular reactors (SMR) in ways intended to lower the cost and speed of constructing new plants while enhancing simplicity and safety features.Traditional nuclear plants are hulking installations, providing 1,000 megawatts or more but often beset by cost overruns and construction delays that can stretch to many years. The U.S.s newest fission reactors, commissioned in 2023 and 2024 in Georgia, were seven years late and more than $17 billion over budget.SMR startups like Last are attempting to use mass production techniques to bring down costs and speed construction, with reactors that are small enough to be transported by truck. Last tries to advance the technology of the conventional pressurized water reactor with a modular design, factory-built parts, and tools and expertise borrowed from the oil-and-gas industry. The company also hopes to overcome nuclear skepticism with a number of passive safety features, an underground containment system, and a futuristic design meant to look less scary.By using the pre-arranged price contracts typical to renewable projects, Last Energy also seeks to reduce financial risk and unlock private financing, avoiding the uncertainties that come with typical utility-scale nuclear plants. Under its model, the company owns and operates the reactors and sells the power to the customer under long-term contracts. Technology from the nuclear industry, the business model from renewables, and the constructability from oil and gasthat was the founding idea behind Last Energy, Kugelmass told Fast Company in 2023.The company has raised a total of $64 million since its 2019 founding, including a $40 million Series B round last year led by the Austin-based VC Gigafund. The heavyweight fund was the first investor in Elon Musks SpaceX and its founder, Luke Nosek, now sits on both companies boards.Venture capital has shown interest in other microreactor designs, too. Last year, Aalo Atomics raised $27 million to scale up a 85-kilowatt design from a Department of Energy program, and Deep Fission, which aims to bury microreactors a mile underground, raised $4 million led by 8VC, a venture firm founded by Joe Lonsdale.Why Last Energy, Texas, and Utah sued the U.S.Before Texas, Last Energy had avoided the NRCs pre-application process, which the agency says can help expedite NRC review. But the pre-application process itself can last years, ahead of a formal application process that can take two years or longer.More than a dozen next-gen nuclear developers have begun pre-application work for NRC review, but since December 2023, the agency has approved only three reactors: two low-power, grid-connected test reactor facilities in Tennessee, built by Kairos, and a 1-megawatt research microreactor built by Natura Resources at Abilene Christian University.The regulator approved its first SMR design in January 2023, from NuScale Power, but determined further review was needed, a process it expects to complete in June.Last Energy is also working on accelerating its regulatory journey. In December. it joined the states of Utah and Texas in suing the NRC over the 69-year-old rule that underpins nuclear reactor licensing in the U.S. The rule, the suit argues, exceeds the agencys statutory authority and creates an unreasonable burden for microreactor developers.The plaintiffs asked the Eastern District of Texas court to exempt Last Energys 20-megawatt reactor design and research reactors located in the plaintiff states from the agencys definition of nuclear utilization facilities. That designation subjects all U.S. commercial and research reactors to strict regulatory scrutiny. The suit asks the court to order NRC to develop a more flexible definition for use in future licensing.Until now, Last Energy has focused on projects abroad, in order to access alternative regulatory frameworks that incorporate a de minimis standard for nuclear power permitting, the company said in its lawsuit.Patrick White, research director at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, told Utility Dive last month that, regardless of its merits, the lawsuit underscores the need for continued discussion around proportional regulatory requirements . . . that align with the hazards of the reactor and correspond to a safety case.

Brooklyn-based Spitfire Industry is a consultancy founded by industrial designer Isis Shiffer. The firm has worked across every category an ID firm might be called on for: Product, lighting, medical, wellness, toys, packaging, luggage, vehicle interiors, you name it. With plenty of experience across the board, the company has written the following helpful guide for would-be product entrepreneurs.How to Develop a ProductA lot has to happen between conception and production, as no product springs into existence fully formed (and we would be out of a job if they did). While some designs are complex and tech-heavy and others exist only to be beautiful, the design process is essentially the same: building the visual language, ideation, refinement, CAD, prototyping, and factory prep. We use a step-by-step process with clear objectives and deliverables, which allows our clients to follow along and keeps everyone on track.The following case study uses our Bask Lamp, which is both a technical lighting device and a dcor piece. The client had already completed their market research, so we were able to jump right into the design. WHAT'S THE BRIEF?All projects start with a brief, or a document that outlines the core requirements for the product. These can be long and technical or short and pithy, but they need to be clear. Sometimes clients come with a brief fully prepared, sometimes we study the market and create one ourselves. This project only needed a short one:Create eycatching sunlamps that function as statement dcor and are unlike anything else on the market. They must produce 10,000 lumens (standard for therapy lamps), not overheat, throw light at a 45 degree angle, and be manufacturable for ~$10. They should be easily injection molded and compatible with OEM components. The plastic body must be fully recyclable. CREATING A BRAND OUTLINEWhen we create the first product for a new brand, we need to build from the ground up. Establishing a visual language of shapes, colors, lifestyle and overall 'feel' at the very beginning is key. We'll refer back to this throughout the project and it will inform the product, packaging, and graphic design and keep everything consistent.Bask had no prior brand assets in place, so we started by defining an overall mood. Using four cities as aesthetic shorthand, we created four very different visual directions that would all be consistent with the brief. The clients decided to go with MIAMI- a more colorful look than we generally select, and a fun challenge. PRODUCT DETAILSOnce the general aesthetic is locked in, we pull out some key design language elements that will inform the new product. In this case, it was hot colors, clean lines, and illusionistic colorblock visuals. We created some more specific inspiration boards showing these elements in contexts that struck an appropriate tone of sophisticated fun and avoided looking too childish or simple. ROUGH SKETCHESFinally, we can begin to design! Quick ideation sketches help us picture how the product could look and behave, identify strong directions and discard weak ones. We rarely share these rough-and-ready drawings outside the team. The ones below are heavily tidied up. DETAILED SKETCHESOnce we've selected some strong concepts we flesh them out with color and detail. At this stage we also start thinking about how each concept would be manufactured there's no point in designing something that cannot work in the physical world. It can be helpful to divide concepts into a few basic directions to aid selection. We talk these over with the clients and conduct user surveys to identify the most viable direction(s). This is a stage where brutal editing is necessary- if we kept every feature we thought was nifty we'd never complete any projects. Good ideas that aren't used immediately are filed away for future inspiration. 3D SKETCHESAs the project progresses, we move into the 3D realm. The most viable concepts are mocked up in CAD so we can review them from multiple angles. Visuals are refined, space made for electronic components, and OEM parts selected. We begin building out any user experience details and selecting colors and patterns. DESIGN FINALIZATIONWhen we and the clients agree that the design is visually finished, we create fully detailed CAD models. These can be rendered in 2D for review and promotional purposes, as well as 3D printed for a final design check. In this case, the client had an established supply chain and their production partner took care of prototypes. Sometimes we do them in house or work with a local prototyper. Design for productionWhen the design is complete and approved by both us and the client it's time for production. We create a spec pack that includes: an overview 'cheat sheet', a detailed CAD model, a bill of materials, color codes, and anything else necessary to communicate the design to the manufacturing partner. For this lamp, most of the electronic components were available as OEM -original equipment manufacturer- and did not need to be made custom. This is a great option for many products and saves a lot of production cost, but some more cutting-edge items need custom componentry. Production models and testingAfter sending the detailed specifications to a factory, we coordinate with them to sort out any issues. Often some elements can be modified to streamline the production process or lower the per unit cost, and we work with the factory engineers to make sure the product is being made as efficiently as possible. The factory then sends us a production model - a prototype that looks and works exactly like the final product. We review the production model for any discrepancies and send along feedback. It's rare we need more than two rounds to hit approval, but complex products occasionally take more. Final productOnce the production model is approved, a tool is cut and production begins! We make sure the client has all the resources they need to work with the supplier and then our work is done. Of course, we are always available for support. We love watching our client's products enter the market and try to keep track of all of them. You can see Spitfire Industry's work here.

We've seen offset-leg cantilevered side tables before, but Humanscale's Float Micro offers a trick that many don't: Height adjustability. The leg presumably contains a spring or hydraulic piston, as the unit is unpowered. The base is available in a flat Glide version or up on locking casters. The company says the base is powder-coated, but doesn't mention what the underlying metal is. The tabletops are available in three options: "Powder-coated paint," bamboo, and what they're calling "Natural Linoleum: A naturally durable surface made from bio-based materials, offering wear resistance, antistatic properties, and a matte finish that minimizes fingerprints while maintaining a refined aesthetic." The Float Micro starts at $794 for the painted version, with the linoleum options creeping up to $1,032 apiece. Prices for the bamboo option were not listed at press time.

Handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck have truly made the portable gaming dream come true. Gaming laptops are, of course, portable to some extent and significantly more powerful, but you cant really use them unless youre sitting down or at a table. With its own display and built-in controls, the Steam Deck lets you play anywhere and in any position, whether youre standing up waiting in line or lounging in bed.But what gives the Steam Deck its power can also become its liability, especially when that display stops working. Of course, the rest of the handheld computer can still be used, though not in the original design anymore. If thats the case, then you dont really need to stick to that design and embrace a different shell that will let you continue using the Steam Deck but in a very different way.Designer: ColliBoyThe built-in screen is even more important to the essence of a handheld PC than it is to a laptop. A laptop with a broken display can still be used as a desktop replacement, but a Steam Deck would lose its core value that way. Its not the end of the world yet, of course, because you can theoretically still play the Steam Deck on the go, at least with the right enclosure and peripherals.The Steam Deck Motherboard Case concept tries to give such broken Steam Decks another chance by becoming a portable console instead. As the name suggests, it involves gutting the Steam Deck to take out its motherboard and put it in a thin 3D printed shell on its own. No display, no controls, just the computer and perhaps a battery. To actually use the console, though, youll need some AR glasses like Xreal or Rokid, and perhaps a telescopic Bluetooth controller you can clamp around this enclosure.The design of the enclosure itself is pretty interesting in that it was made to not require screws. This would make maintenance of the board inside a bit easier, though it might also raise concerns about its stability. The design has a large ring in one corner to fit a keychain or carabiner, emphasizing its portable nature. The shell also has vertical grooves that make it look like it was made from a suitcase, but these are actually large grilles with a mesh underneath for ventilation.This isnt the first headless Steam Deck mod weve come across, and its purpose is clearly different from the others. While some are just simply trying to reduce the footprint of the Steam Deck, this motherboard shell concept is trying to reduce e-waste in its own little way by reviving still functional handhelds that just happen to have their screens broken.The post Screen-less Steam Deck concept gives e-waste handhelds a second lease on life first appeared on Yanko Design.

Sleek electric bikes are redefining urban transportation with their functional features, making them an ideal choice for eco-conscious commuters and delivery personnel. This concept model, however, is different since its headlight not only serves the purpose of illuminating the road during night rides but also doubles as an emergency flashlight. This functionality has the potential to make a significant difference in critical situations, especially for riders who encounter unforeseen circumstances in low-light environments.The idea for this dual-purpose headlight emerged from the designers personal experience. After witnessing a delivery drivers unfortunate accident on a dark and rainy night, where visibility was minimal, the designer realized how crucial it could be to have a reliable light source readily available in case of emergencies. Drawing inspiration from this incident, this electric bike concept was ideated with a headlamp that could be easily detached and used as an emergency flashlight when needed. This addresses a significant gap in safety features for riders, particularly those operating in urban areas after dark.Designer: KyungJin JuIncorporating a headlight that functions as an emergency flashlight offers enhanced safety, which is a paramount concern for anyone navigating roads in low-light conditions. This feature could prove especially beneficial for delivery drivers who often ride late at night or on poorly lit streets. The ease with which the headlight can be converted into a portable light source ensures that users are prepared for emergencies, whether it involves signaling for help or illuminating an area to assess a situation. On the design front, the bike looks like the slim younger sibling of the PUNCH e-bike. It has a very geometric form and a slender frame that make it well-suited for crowded city street navigation. Another benefit of this design is its simplicity and user-friendly approach. The seamless transition between the headlight and emergency flashlight eliminates the need for carrying one in the backpack.In the flashlight version, the user can toggle the ON/OFF switch or adjust the intensity of light for more flexibility. Other than this highlighting feature, the bike comes in three different designs depending on the use. The first one with a mesh housing on either side for storing groceries or any other household items bought from the supermart. The second one has a more aerodynamic and stylish design with rear suspension for users who love the thrill of rides. The third configuration is more tailored for hybrid users who just want to have some fun driving it around the block. Riders no longer need to worry about having an additional flashlight or struggling to find one in an emergency. By addressing these concerns, the electric bike offers convenience and peace of mind for riders who are always on the move.The post This electric bikes headlight doubles as a emergency flashlight for when in need first appeared on Yanko Design.

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