A spate of abductions has sent crypto executives and wealthy investors in search of ways to protect themselves.

An alleged job scam, led by Aiden from OpenAI, recruited workers in Bangladesh for months before disappearing overnight, according to FTC complaints obtained by WIRED.

MacworldSusan Kare is a legend in the Mac community (and in technology in general), having created the icons for the original Macintosh. Shes still an active artist and her latest collection is perfect for anyone looking for something that speaks to your inner whimsy in these modern times.With the Esc Keys, Kare designed 32 icons in her recognizable bitmap style. The icons exclude anything Mac-associated, so you wont find a Happy Mac or Clarus the Dogcow here. But you will find a smiling lightbulb and not one, but two dogs. Asprey Studios Alistair Walker, who commissioned the collection, told Fast Company that the icons represent things to do away from the computer. Its a reminder not to be a keyboard warrior, he said.AspreyThe icons are available as keycaps that can be inserted into mechanical keyboards (which means you cant use them on Apples Magic Keyboard). The keycaps dont come cheap, with silver costing $644 and gold vermeil costing $1,031. A few icons, including Flower 1 and Alien, are available as necklace pendants for $1,417 (silver) or $2,061 (gold). All purchases include a digital version of the icon inscribed on the blockchain.The collection is having a limited run, so if you really want a gold vermeil Panic button for your keyboard, you should act fast. If you dont want to spend so much but still want some of Kares Mac work, check out kareprints.com, where she sells prints of her work. Youll find Happy Mac, Dogcow, the Mac Bomb icon, and even a hand-painted canvas pirate flag like the one touted by the original Mac development team.

MacworldFor months leading up to the launch of the iPhone 16e, rumors all but confirmed that Apple would hike the price of the iPhone SE 3s successor. But given how competitive the midrange smartphone market is, analysts were confident the company would charge no more than $499, a significant price jump but still in the realm of a budget handset. Instead, Apple announced the $599 iPhone 16e and completely disregarded budget-conscious customers.It didnt have to be this way. You can argue that the iPhone 16e is worth the upcharge, but the new direction still cuts out a significant portion of buyers. Heres how Apple could have upgraded the iPhone SE with Apple Intelligence and still kept the price under $500.Off-brandingBefore delving into its tech specs, theres an issue with the name itself. By design, Apple associated its new entry-level smartphone with its high-end iPhone 16 lineup. This makes it easier to get away with the $170 price increase because it implies youre buying one of the latest iPhone 16 models. The new phone no longer carries the SE branding famous for offering the bare minimum at a low cost.Basically, Apple couldnt price the new iPhone 16e any lower than $599. Theres already a $200 gap between the standard and Pro models, so to make it any lower would change the established structure and imply that either the iPhone 16 is too expensive or the iPhone 16e is too cheap. By keeping the iPhone SE name, however, Apple wouldve had enough room to shed a few of the flagship specs, as it would no longer be associated with the premium iPhone 16 family.The body of the iPhone 13 mini would make a perfect budget phone in 2025.FoundryMini reduxThe iPhone 13 mini was the last of its kind, and many small phone enthusiasts continue to mourn it to this day. These 5.4-inch iPhones were priced $100 lower than their 6.1-inch counterparts ($699 at launch). So, if Apple can make a 6.1-inch iPhone 16e for $599, it could presumably make a mini version of that same phone for $499, which would cater not only to customers on a tight budget but also to those seeking a compact, pocketable device.To cut costs further, Apple could have opted for a Liquid Retina LCD. While Super Retina XDR OLED panels provide a superior viewing experience, most, if not all, budget customers would accept the trade-off for a lower price. After all, the whole point of entry-level phones is sacrificing premium tech to make them more affordable.About FaceApple has long reserved Face ID for the iPad Pro models, with even the high-priced iPad Air still relying on a Touch ID sensor embedded into the side button. Yet, for some reason, Apple decided that its cheapest smartphone should now adopt Face ID.Given how advanced the TrueDepth camera system is, Apple couldve excluded it from the iPhone SE 4 to cut costs. The notch could remain, but only to house the front camera and receiver. Instead, the iPhones side power button could double as a Touch ID sensor for biometric authentication, which some users would prefer to facial recognition.Classic callWhile the tweaks above can already produce a logical $499 iPhone SE 4, there are other measures that could have reduced the price even more. For example, Apple couldve easily skipped the Action button and continued to offer the classic mute switch to further distinguish between its affordable and flagship iPhones. Another cost-cutting move could be excluding the USB-C charging cable and shrinking the box. Most users already have at least one lying around, as its already the universal connector powering nearly all recently released gadgets.Apple could have even given plastic another shot by learning from its last lowercase-letter iPhone, the 5c. A large font screen and an aluminum frame would give the iPhone SE a unique look with lower cost, and since it dumped MagSafe anyway, Apple wouldnt have needed to change much else.A return to the plastic iPhone 5c would have been perfect for the iPhone SE 4.FoundryiPhone SE 4 for the winSome have blamed the A18 processor and Apple Intelligence for the $170 price hike, but I dont believe theyre the reason for the price hike. After all, the iPhone SE 3 cost $429 and offered the same A15 Bionic chip inside that years flagship phone, the iPhone 13 Pro. And even if it does cost more, Apple couldve cut back in other areas to keep an A18-powered iPhone SE 4 under $500.Apples SE brand has become synonymous with affordability, offering solid specs for far less than the cost of a new high-end iPhone. It was a balance of an old design with newer specs and didnt try to pretend to be something it wasnt. With the 2025 update, Apple had a chance to build a phone with a modern design that still offered consumers an inexpensive way into the iPhone ecosystem.Instead, the company built a strange hybrid that sits awkwardly in its iPhone lineup. It neither fills the budget void left by the SE nor has enough of the newer specs of the flagship iPhones, such as dual cameras, MagSafe, or ultra-wideband. As such the cheapest iPhone now starts at $599 in the U.S., and thats a valid barrier that will steer undecided customers to Android, when Apple could have had a real budget winner on its hands.

Whether youre a professional writer or someone who dreads having to compose documents or emails for your job, the potential of AI assistance for your writing tasks is appealing. Powered by Gemini, Googles generative AI platform, the Help Me Write tool in Google Docs and Gmail can write long passages of text that are reasonably readable.It generates written text based on prompts (instructions) that you give it, which can give you a significant head start on any writing tasks. But its results come with caveats that may include factual errors, redundancy, and too-generic prose. And its never a good idea to use private or proprietary data when working with any generative AI tool.This guide covers how to use Help Me Write in both Google Docs and Gmail to generate and rewrite text, and how to overcome some of the tools shortcomings.Who can use Help Me Write?If you have a Google Workspace account, the Gemini AI tools that include Help Me Write are available as part of your subscription. If you have a Google personal account, you can subscribe to Google One AI Premium to have access to these tools. Or, for no cost, you can sign up for access to Google Workspace Labs with your Google account to be permitted to try out Help Me Write and other experimental tools.Use Help Me Write to generate text in Docs and GmailWorking with Help Me Write is very similar in Google Docs and Gmail.In Docs: To start using Help Me Write in Google Docs, either start a new document or load a document that already has text on it. Along the right of the document page is a vertical toolbar with a pencil icon on it.If you start a new, blank document, youll also see a Help me write button with the same pencil icon at the top of the new document.The Help me write buttons (at right side and top of the document) in Google Docs.Howard Wen / FoundryClick either version of this pencil icon. The Help me write panel will open over your document. Inside the panel, youll see several examples of prompts that scroll through, such as Create a brand marketing manager resume or A thank you letter for my job interview. These are meant to give you ideas as to how to write your own prompts.Help Me Write provides suggestions for prompts you can ask it.Howard Wen / FoundryIn Gmail: To launch Help Me Write in Gmail, start a new email and click the Help me write button (the same pencil icon as in Docs) on the toolbar along the bottom of the compose window. A text entry bar will appear at the bottom of the compose window. This is the Help Me Write tool. Just as in Docs, youll see examples of prompts scroll through, such as A thank you letter for my job interview.In either app: Type in a prompt. In Google Docs, we entered, A step-by-step plan for starting a small catering and events coordinator business as a side gig to prompt a planning document.Typing in a prompt for Help Me Write in Docs.Howard Wen / FoundryAnd in Gmail, we entered, Follow-up to the client recipient asking how satisfied they are with our service, and invite the recipient to respond to me with more questions.Typing a Help Me Write prompt in Gmail.Howard Wen / FoundryIn either app: After you type in your prompt, click Create. Help Me Write will show a generating animation as it processes your prompt. This may take several seconds; it depends on how complex the wording of your prompt request is. Then another panel will open displaying the text it generated, which might be sentences or whole paragraphs.Next youll be able to refine the results in various ways, depending on whether youre in Docs or Gmail.In Docs: Below the results, you can click Refine. This action opens a dropdown menu that lets you select from the following options to alter the generated text:Tone: Clicking this opens two more options: Formal and Casual. Help Me Write will rewrite the generated text with wording at a higher academic reading level, or with a looser, more informal style, respectively.Summarize: Help Me Write will generate a summary of the text based on key points in it.Bulletize: If you write a prompt asking Help Me Write to generate step-by-step instructions, as we did in our example, its likely to create text formatted in a bulleted list. Otherwise, you can select this option to have Help Me Write reformat the text into bullet points.Elaborate: Help Me Write will generate additional text. But be aware that this may produce redundant wording if your prompt is short or lacks specific descriptions.Shorten: Help Me Write rewrites the generated text with fewer words.Retry: If youre not satisfied with the text that Help Me Write generated, clicking this will instruct it to try again using your prompt.Custom: Type in a few words to prompt Help Me Write to refine the text in a way thats not described above for example, shorten to 200 words or rewrite as paragraphs and click the right arrow.You can refine the generated text before inserting it.Howard Wen / FoundryIn Gmail: Below the resulting text generated by your prompt to Help Me Write, you can click Recreate or Refine.Recreate: If youre not satisfied with the text that Help Me Write generated, clicking this will instruct Help Me Write to generate new results from your prompt.Refine: Clicking this opens a menu offering the same Formalize, Elaborate, and Shorten options described above.Gmail offers some of the same options for refining generated text that Docs does.Howard Wen / FoundryIn either app: If you select one of the refining options above, Help Me Write will generate one or more results. You can scroll through them to consider and compare them with the original passage of text that was generated by Help Me Write.Optionally, you can click the thumbs up or thumbs down icon to rate the quality of the text that Help Me Write generated. Presumably, your rating helps to improve future results.When youre happy with the text that Help Me Write generated for you (the original or a refined version), click Insert to add it to your document or email draft. After you insert the generated text, it becomes regular text in the document or email that you can edit as you see fit.Use Help Me Write to rewrite text in Docs and GmailYou can use Help Me Write to rewrite text in a document or email draft, whether the text was originally written by you or generated by Help Me Write.In Docs: Highlight the text (phrases, sentences, or paragraphs) that you want Help Me Write to rework, then click the Help me write pencil icon that appears floating over the selected text. A menu opens with Rephrase, Shorten, Elaborate, and More formal options, plus an area where you can type in your own modification prompt.In Docs, you can have Help Me Write revise selected text in various ways.Howard Wen / FoundryAfter Help Me Write generates new text based on your selected refinement, you can click Replace to overwrite the passages of text that you highlighted in the document with the refined text, or click Insert to insert it right below your highlighted passages of text.Help Me Write elaborates on the selected text in Docs.Howard Wen / FoundryIn Gmail: You can use Help Me Write to rewrite your entire email draft but unlike in Docs, you cannot have it rewrite individual phrases, sentences, or paragraphs.Open the email draft. Click the Help me write pencil icon on the toolbar. On the menu that opens, you can select Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten. Polish is an additional feature here that is meant for making a very rough draft email that you wrote sound more professional, by improving the grammar and sentence structure of your writing.Help Me Write offers a polish option in Gmail for improving the grammar and sentence structure of an email draft.Howard Wen / FoundryAfter Help Me Write generates a new draft, you can start over, refine it further, or insert it into your email.What about the Gemini sidebar?All the Google Workspace apps now have a Gemini sidebar that pops open on the right when you click the Ask Gemini button the nova star icon thats right next to your user profile icon at the upper-right corner. In either Docs or Gmail, you can use this sidebar to type in a prompt instructing Gemini AI to generate text. But the resulting text is displayed in the sidebar, which is more difficult to see and work with than using Help Me Write in the body of the document or email.While the Gemini sidebar does have several excellent uses (which well cover in an upcoming story), its not the best interface for generating large amounts of text. In general, it works better to use the main Help Me Write interface for writing and rewriting tasks in both Docs and Gmail.Use Help Me Write in the Gmail mobile appHelp Me Write is also available in the Gmail mobile app (for Android and iOS), which is handy for composing and refining messages on the go.When you start a new email, swipe toward the right over the text cursor or tap the pencil icon on the toolbar along the top of the screen. Either action will open the Help me write panel, where you can enter a prompt to generate text for your email draft. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?quality=50&strip=all 720w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=135%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 135w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=461%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 461w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=691%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 691w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=314%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 314w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=76%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 76w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=38%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 38w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=216%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 216w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=162%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 162w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/google-help-me-write-10-gmail-mobile-app.png?resize=113%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 113w" width="461" height="1024" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px">Help Me Write is available in the Gmail mobile app.Howard Wen / FoundryYou can also refine the text that Help Me Write generated, or rewrite text that you originally wrote. Tap the pencil icon on the toolbar along the top. This action will open a Refine my draft panel along the bottom; it will present the same refinement choices as the ones in the Gmail web app. Tap Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten to perform these actions on your email draft.Keep these caveats in mind and finesse the resultsWhile Help Me Write can give you a head start on your business writing, its important to review and edit its output. Here are some shortcomings to look out for in its results:Generic content: A lot of the passages that Help Me Write generates provide very basic information. Even if you phrase your prompts very specifically, the results may still sound canned.Help Me Write often delivers generic prose.Howard Wen / FoundryRedundant content: Help Me Write may generate text that basically says the same thing as text it generated before. This can happen when you have it generate several paragraphs and then instruct it to elaborate on a specific sentence or paragraph. The additional text Help Me Write generates may read similarly to other passages that its already generated for you.Factual errors: If you prompt Help Me Write to write about subjects that are based on factual information (such as current business analyses or trends) or of a technical nature, you should scrutinize its results. You should conduct further research, searching the web for reliable resources to confirm what Help Me Write has generated.In addition to fact-checking, you should perform general editing on all the passages that Help Me Write generates. This includes reading through everything, then adding, rearranging, removing, and rewriting text as you feel is necessary. Practicing the craft of editing on the text generated by Help Me Write will help you shape your document or email into a final draft thats informative and appealing for other people to read.A useful collaboration toolAlthough you can have Help Me Write generate documents or emails from scratch, it can serve you better if you approach it as a writing assistant. For example, you can prompt Help Me Write to assemble a rough outline for a business proposal or marketing plan that you then flesh out with your own writing.It can also be useful for collaboration as a brainstorming tool, for instance. Try collaborating with your co-workers on a shared document, where each person prompts Help Me Write to generate ideas for all to build on.In fact, your interaction with Help Me Write is itself a form of collaboration. You prompt Help Me Write to generate text, its results may in turn give you ideas for how to approach a topic, and you keep working with the AI to refine those results in your final draft thus, Help Me Write becomes your collaborator.AI writing is simply the latest tool in the always-evolving working relationship between people and technology. As long as you understand its rules and limitations, Help Me Write can be a valuable aid to kickstart your writing process or refine what youve already written.See more Google Workspace tips and tutorials.This story was originally published in June 2023 and updated in February 2025.

Sources in Indonesia say the government is about to settle its dispute with Apple, and could lift its iPhone 16 sales ban within the week.iPhone 16 & iPhone 16 Plus still banned in IndonesiaThe ban began in October 2024, just weeks after the launch of the iPhone 16 range, and the dispute was over how much Apple invests in Indonesia.Now according to Bloomberg, sources not authorized to speak publicly on the matter have said that Indonesia's Ministry for Industry is set to sign a memorandum of agreement with Apple shortly. The Ministry is said to then intend to issue Apple with a permit allowing the iPhone 16 to be sold as soon as possible. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is set to unveil an installation titled Living Architecture by media artist Refik Anadol. Running from March 7 to October 19, 2025, the piece forms the inaugural exhibition of the museums new in situ series, curated by Lekha Hileman Waitolle.According to the museum, Living Architecture reimagines open-access imagery and archival materials from Frank Gehrys architectural projects using artificial intelligence. Utilizing a Large Architecture Model (LAM) developed by Refik Anadol Studio, the installation transforms Gehrys designs into dynamic visual narratives.

Total U.S. construction starts, encompassing nonresidential building, civil construction, and residential construction, declined by 18.6% year-over-year (YoY) in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to a new analysis released by ConstructConnect. All three construction segments experienced contractions YoY, contributing to a full-year decline of 3.5% compared to 2023.Despite the quarterly downturn, civil construction emerged as a strong performer for 2024, expanding by 12.1%. However, spending on megaprojects also fell in the fourth quarter, continuing a downward trend from the previous quarter and the same period last year.Forecasting 2025, the analysis notes that total U.S. construction starts are expected to grow by 5.2% this year. The positive economic outlook, continued government spending, and falling interest rates should support growth across all sectors, the analysis reads, pointing to a projected 2025 growth in the wider U.S. economy of 2.4%.Image credit: ConstructCo...

Developer Bossa Games, the studio behind Surgeon Simulator, has announced that it will be making layoffs. Announced through a post on LinkedIn, the layoffs have been attributed to a fundamental transformation of the games industry by studio co-founder and co-CEO Henrique Olifiers.In our view this is not a phase, its a fundamental transformation of the games industry, a reshape of how games are made and by what kinds of teams, wrote Olifiers in a statement. The industry of two years in the future will not look like the industry of two years ago.Olifiers has revealed that the studio is currently focused on the launch of its upcoming game, Lost Skies. While the survival crafting game doesnt yet have a release date, Olifiers has stated that Bossa Games will be reorganised into having smaller teams that work on smaller-scale games after the title goes live. As a result of this reorganisations, an undisclosed number of employees will be laid off.Weve had to make the painful decision to scale back, focusing on the late-stage production of Lost Skies and its upcoming launch, ensuring the game is successfully released and evolved for its players for the foreseeable future, he said. Once Lost Skies is established and enjoying live operations, well reshape into small teams working independently on novel game ideas brought to the players as early as possible.This means saying very difficult goodbyes to extremely talented and treasured colleagues, truly some of the best people in the games industry, who have been part of our journey for a long time. We wish we had found a way of navigating this turmoil without resorting to the decision of scaling back our teams, but unfortunately weve failed in this endeavour.Known for its comedic games like Surgeon Simulator and I Am Fish, Bossa Games is currently working on Lost Skies an open-world survival crafting game that will have players take to the skies as they explore the world with their very own flying craft. Throughout their time with the game, players will get to explore ancient ruins, solve puzzles, and discover technology left behind by precursors.One of the key features of Lost Skies is the skyship, which players will get to create and modify. Along with cosmetic modifications, players will also have to sort out the skyships more functional aspects, including its durability, agility, and even firepower for aerial ship-to-ship combat.Along with their skyships, players will also get to explore the world on their own by making use of a grappling hook and their personal hang glider and wingsuit. Along the way, players will also get to make use of an Island Creator, with which they can make their own islands that can then be shared with other players through the Steam Workshop.The complete spec requirements for Lost Skies have been revealed through the games Steam listing. Interestingly, the title doesnt need particularly powerful hardware to play, with both the minimum and recommended specs listing parts that are more than 3 generations old. A demo for Lost Skies is currently available through Steam.

With recent reports that NetEase might have begun scaling back on its non-Chinese investments, CEO and creative director of Anchor Point Studios Paul Ehreth has revealed that the studio is still full steam ahead when it comes to working on its first game.Taking to social media platform X, Ehreth spoke about the recent reports surrounding NetEase and its international investments, as well as a host of studios being shut down. He revealed that Anchor Point Studios itself hasnt been affected by any of the studio closures, and referred to NetEase as a great partner.Due to recent news of multiple studio closures, weve had many friends and fans reach out to us out of concern, posted Ehreth on X. After responding to each of them, I wanted to make a more formal statement that Anchor Point Studios has not been affected by any studio closures, and we are still full steam ahead building our game.Ehreth goes on to talk about the volatile state of the gaming industry right now in the lengthy X post. Despite this, however, Anchor Point Studios is still growing, and complete with several positions open for work on its debut game.So far, NetEase has been a great partner for us, giving us creative control and development support, and we look forward to the prospect of shipping an exceptional game together in the future, he wrote. While it may be stormy seas at the moment for the industry, we are very much still growing, and we have several positions open for anyone looking for a safe harbor. Come join us Per Aspera, Ad Astra!Anchor Point Studios was founded back in 2023 by industry veteran Ehreth, who has previously worked on major titles in his 20 years in game development. Ehreth has worked on games like Control, Halo 4, and Halo 5: Guardians. He is joined in the studio by Pete Torrents, who has worked on Halo, Ghost of Tsushima, The Division, and Red Dead Redemption 2.Anchor Point Studios has two primary studios based out of Barcelona, Spain, and Seattle, United States. Back when the studio was founded, Ehreth expressed thanks to NetEase Games for giving the studio the creative freedom it needed, along with the resource to build this interconnected world that will expand beyond games and reach into other mediums.The studios debut game doesnt yet have a name, but considering the talent behind the studio and the resources it has been provided by NetEase, it will likely be a major AAA project.Reports about NetEase starting to pull out of some of its international investments came about earlier this month. Along with the closure of an R&D-centric studio that worked on Marvel Rivals, NetEase is also pulling out on other investments, which analysts believe is because of a number of factors, including market volatility and geopolitical tensions.For its part, NetEase has been steadfast about its games, including its massively successful competitive shooter Marvel Rivals. The company is also working with studios on a host of other games, including FragPunk and Ananta. For context, NetEase also has stakes in companies like Devolver Digital, and outright owns studios like Quantic Dreams and Grasshopper Manufacture.Due to recent news of multiple studio closures, weve had many friends and fans reach out to us out of concern. After responding to each of them, I wanted to make a more formal statement that Anchor Point Studios has not been affected by any studio closures, and we are still full Paul Ehreth (@bacon_sanwich) February 24, 2025