MacworldApples AirPods are often on sale, but we rarely see them drop down to their all-time-low price. Today they have: Amazon is selling the AirPods 4 for $100 again, a savings of $29 off its usual $129 for the version without noise cancelation. If you want the ANC version, that ones on sale, too, for $149 ($30 off).We reviewed the AirPods with Active Noise Cancelation, and theyre otherwise exactly the same as the model without it. We rated them with a near-perfect 4.5 score and appreciated the overall audio quality, as well as the wireless charging case. Our review also noted that voice recordings, podcasts, and phone calls have impressive clarity and volume. Thats particularly awesome because while listening to music is obviously going to be one of the main things youll use the AirPods for, youll also take on plenty of phone calls.The earbuds also come with hands-free Siri support, which is particularly helpful when you dont want to take out your phone. The battery life is also rather impressive, with up to 30 hours of playback when using the charging case.We love seeing the AirPods 4 for $100 right now, and we doubt well see a better price anytime soon. So go ahead and get your own because this deal wont be around forever.Get the AirPods 4 for their best priceBuy now at Amazon

This is todays edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of whats going on in the world of technology.Everyone in AI is talking about Manus. We put it to the test.Since the general AI agent Manus was launched last week, it has spread online like wildfire. And not just in China, where it was developed by the Wuhan-based startup Butterfly Effect. Its made its way into the global conversation, with some even dubbing it the second DeepSeek.Manus claims to be the worlds first general AI agent, building off multiple AI models and agents to act autonomously on a wide range of tasks. Despite all the hype, very few people have had a chance to use it. MIT Technology Review was able to obtain access to Manus. Heres what we made of it.Caiwei ChenWaabi says its virtual robotrucks are realistic enough to prove the real ones are safeThe news: Canadian robotruck startup Waabi says its super-realistic virtual simulation is now accurate enough to prove the safety of its driverless big rigs without having to run them for miles on real roads.How it did it: The company uses a digital twin of its real-world robotrucks, loaded up with real sensor data, and measures how the twins performance compares to that of real trucks on real roads. Waabi says they now match almost exactly, and claims its approach is a better way to demonstrate safety than just racking up real-world miles, as many of its competitors do. Read the full story.Will Douglas HeavenThis artificial leaf makes hydrocarbons out of carbon dioxideFor many years, researchers have been working to build devices that can mimic photosynthesisthe process by which plants use sunlight and carbon dioxide to make their fuel. These artificial leaves use sunlight to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen, which could then be used to fuel cars or generate electricity. Now a research team from the University of Cambridge has taken aim at creating more energy-dense fuels.The groups device produces ethylene and ethane, proving that artificial leaves can create hydrocarbons. The development could offer a cheaper, cleaner way to make fuels, chemicals, and plasticswith the ultimate goal of creating fuels that dont leave a harmful carbon footprint after theyre burned. Read the full story.Carly KayThis startup just hit a big milestone for green steel productionGreen-steel startup Boston Metal just showed that it has all the ingredients needed to make steel without emitting gobs of greenhouse gases. The company successfully ran its largest reactor yet to make steel, producing over a ton of metal, MIT Technology Review can exclusively report.The latest milestone means that Boston Metal just got one step closer to commercializing its technology. And while there are still a lot of milestones left before reaching the scale needed to make a dent in the steel industry, the latest run shows that the company can scale up its process. Read the full story.Casey CrownhartThis article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Reviews weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.The must-readsIve combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.1 The US has resumed aid deliveries to UkraineLeaders have also agreed to start sharing military intelligence again. (The Guardian)+ Ukraine also endorsed a US proposal for a ceasefire. (Vox)+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraines drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)2 Donald Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on metal importsThe decision is likely to raise costs for American carmakers, and other manufacturers. (NYT $)+ Business leaders feel spooked by his frequent mixed messaging around tariffs. (WSJ $)+ However, US-native metal makers are delighted by the tariffs. (Economist $)+ How Trumps tariffs could drive up the cost of batteries, EVs, and more. (MIT Technology Review)3 Texas measles outbreak appears to be spreadingTwo people in Oklahoma are being treated for measles-like symptoms. (Ars Technica)+ An unvaccinated six-year old girl recently died in Texas. (The Atlantic $)+ The state is scrambling to respond to the outbreak. (Undark)+ The virus is extremely contagious and dangerous to children and adults alike. (Wired $)4 Elon Musk wants the US government to shut downPartly because it would make it easier to fire federal workers. (Wired $)+ A judge has ruled that DOGE must comply with the Freedom of Information Act. (The Verge)+ Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? Its complex. (MIT Technology Review)5 OpenAI says its trained an AI to be really good at creative writing|The question is, can a model trained on existing material ever be truly creative? (TechCrunch)+ AI can make you more creativebut it has limits. (MIT Technology Review)6 Silicon Valleys AI startups are expanding in IndiaTalent is plentiful, particularly in tech hub Bangalore. (Bloomberg $)7 Spotify claims it paid $10 billion in royalties last yearIt called the payout the largest in music industry history. (FT $)+ How to break free of Spotifys algorithm. (MIT Technology Review)8 Saturn has more moons than the rest of the planets combined Researchers have finally spotted new moons that have previously evaded detection. (New Scientist $)9 This coffee shop is New Yorks hottest AI spot Handily, OpenAIs office is just across the street. (Insider $)10 Netflix shouldnt use AI to upscale resolutionThe technology left sitcom A Different World looking freakishly warped. (Vice)Quote of the dayThe uncertainty is just as bad as tariffs themselves.Donald Schneider, deputy head of US policy at investment bank Piper Sandler, explains to the Washington Post why investors are feeling rattled by Donald Trumps volatile approach to imposing tariffs.The big storyCan Afghanistans underground sneakernet survive the Taliban?November 2021When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, Mohammad Yasin had to make some difficult decisions very quickly. He began erasing some of the sensitive data on his computer and moving the rest onto two of his largest hard drives, which he then wrapped in a layer of plastic and buried underground.Yasin is what is locally referred to as a computer kar: someone who sells digital content by hand in a country where a steady internet connection can be hard to come by, selling everything from movies, music, mobile applications, to iOS updates. And despite the dangers of Taliban rule, the countrys extensive sneakernet isnt planning on shutting down. Read the full story.Ruchi KumarWe can still have nice thingsA place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet em at me.)+ Check out these novels inspired by what it means to be middle-aged.+ After a long absence, its looking like the Loch Ness Monster is staging its return.+ Chappell Roan, you are just fantastic.+ An AI stylist telling me what to wear? No thanks.

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Reviews weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.Green-steel startup Boston Metal just showed that it has all the ingredients needed to make steel without emitting gobs of greenhouse gases. The company successfully ran its largest reactor yet to make steel, producing over a ton of metal, MIT Technology Review can exclusively report.The latest milestone means that Boston Metal just got one step closer to commercializing its technology. The companys process uses electricity to make steel, and depending on the source of that electricity, it could mean cleaning up production of one of the most polluting materials on the planet. The world produces about 2 billion metric tons of steel each year, emitting over 3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in the process.While there are still a lot of milestones left before reaching the scale needed to make a dent in the steel industry, the latest run shows that the company can scale up its process.Boston Metal started up its industrial reactor for steelmaking in January, and after it had run for several weeks, the company siphoned out roughly a ton of material on February 17. (You can see a video of the molten metal here. Its really cool.)Work on this reactor has been underway for a while. I got to visit the facility in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 2022, when construction was nearly done. In the years since, the company has been working on testing it out to make other metals before retrofitting it for steel production.Boston Metals approach is very different from that of a conventional steel plant. Steelmaking typically involves a blast furnace, which uses a coal-based fuel called coke to drive the reactions needed to turn iron ore into iron (the key ingredient in steel). The carbon in coke combines with oxygen pulled out of the iron ore, which gets released as carbon dioxide.Instead, Boston Metal uses electricity in a process called molten oxide electrolysis (MOE). Iron ore gets loaded into a reactor, mixed with other ingredients, and then electricity is run through it, heating the mixture to around 1,600 C (2,900 F) and driving the reactions needed to make iron. That iron can then be turned into steel.Crucially for the climate, this process emits oxygen rather than carbon dioxide (that infamous greenhouse gas). If renewables like wind and solar or nuclear power are used as the source of electricity, then this approach can virtually cut out the climate impact from steel production.MOE was developed at MIT, and Boston Metal was founded in 2013 to commercialize the technology. Since then, the company has worked to take it from lab scale, with reactors roughly the size of a coffee cup, to much larger ones that can produce tons of metal at a time. Thats crucial for an industry that operates on the scale of billions of tons per year.The volumes of steel everywhere around usits immense, says Adam Rauwerdink, senior vice president of business development at Boston Metal. The scale is massive.BOSTON METALMaking the huge amounts of steel required to be commercially relevant has been quite the technical challenge.One key component of Boston Metals design is the anode. Its basically a rounded metallic bit that sticks into the reactor, providing a way for electricity to get in and drive the reactions required. In theory, this anode doesnt get used up, but if the conditions arent quite right, it can degrade over time.Over the past few years, the company has made a lot of progress in preventing inert anode degradation, Rauwerdink says. The latest phase of work is more complicated, because now the company is adding multiple anodes in the same reactor.In lab-scale reactors, theres one anode, and its quite small. Larger reactors require bigger anodes, and at a certain point its necessary to add more of them. The latest run continues to prove how Boston Metals approach can scale, Rauwerdink says: making reactors larger, adding more anodes, and then adding multiple reactors together in a single plant to make the volumes of material needed.Now that the company has completed its first run of the multi-anode reactor for steelmaking, the plan is to keep exploring how the reactions happen at this larger scale. These runs will also help the company better understand what it will cost to make its products.The next step is to build an even bigger system, Rauwerdink sayssomething that wont fit in the Boston facility. While a reactor of the current size can make a ton or two of material in about a month, the truly industrial-scale equipment will make that amount of metal in about a day. That demonstration plant should come online in late 2026 and begin operation in 2027, he says. Ultimately, the company hopes to license its technology to steelmakers.In steel and other heavy industries, the scale can be mind-boggling. Boston Metal has been at this for over a decade, and its fascinating to see the company make progress toward becoming a player in this massive industry.Now read the rest of The SparkRelated readingWe named green steel one of our 2025 Breakthrough Technologies. Read more about why here.I visited Boston Metals facility in Massachusetts in 2022read more about the companys technology in this story (Id say it pretty much holds up).Climate tech companies like Boston Metal have seen a second boom period for funding and support following the cleantech crash a decade ago. Read more in this 2023 feature from David Rotman.GETTYAnother thingElectricity demand is rising faster in the US than it has in decades, and meeting it will require building new power plants and expanding grid infrastructure. That could be a problem, because its historically been expensive and slow to get new transmission lines approved.New technologies could help in a major way, according to Brian Deese and Rob Gramlich. Read more in this new op-ed.And one morePlants have really nailed the process of making food from sunlight in photosynthesis. For a very long time, researchers have been trying to mimic this process and make an artificial leaf that can make fuels using the suns energy.Now, researchers are aiming to make energy-dense fuels using a specialized, copper-containing catalyst. Read more about the innovation in my colleague Carly Kays latest story.Keeping up with climateEnergy storage is still growing quickly in the US, with 18 gigawatts set to come online this year. Thats up from 11 GW in 2024. (Canary Media)Oil companies including Shell, BP, and Equinor are rolling back climate commitments and ramping up fossil-fuel production. Oil and gas companies were accounting for only a small fraction of clean energy investment, so experts say thats not a huge loss. But putting money toward new oil and gas could be bad for emissions. (Grist)Butterfly populations are cratering around the US, dropping by 22% in just the last 20 years. Check out this visualization to see how things are changing where you live. (New York Times)New York Citys congestion pricing plan, which charges cars to enter the busiest parts of the city, is gaining popularity: 42% of New York City residents support the toll, up from 32% in December. (Bloomberg)Heres a reality check for you: Ukraine doesnt have minable deposits of rare earth metals, experts say. While tensions between US and Ukraine leaders ran high in a meeting to discuss a minerals deal, IEEE Spectrum reports that the reality doesnt match the political theater here. (IEEE Spectrum)Quaise Energy has a wild drilling technology that it says could unlock the potential for geothermal energy. In a demonstration, the company recently drilled several inches into a piece of rock using its millimeter-wave technology. (Wall Street Journal)Heres another one for the weird climate change effects file: greenhouse-gas emissions could mean less capacity for satellites. Its getting crowded up there. (Grist)The Biden administration funded agriculture projects related to climate change, and now farmers are getting caught up in the Trump administrations efforts to claw back the money. This is a fascinating case of how the same project can be described with entirely different language depending on political priorities. (Washington Post)You and I are helping to pay for the electricity demands of big data centers. While some grid upgrades are needed just to serve big projects like those centers, the cost of building and maintaining the grid is shared by everyone who pays for electricity. (Heatmap)

Apple delivered a new addition to its iPhone lineup with the iPhone 16e. It's a flagship device with the core iPhone experience at a lower price tag, but it won't be for everybody.iPhone 16e review: Apple's new affordable iPhoneMany users were hoping to see a new iPhone SE 4 in the spring of 2025. Instead, Apple dropped the iPhone 16e.It's been divisive in its short time on the market, as users rebel against its perceived high price tag. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Backing up one of the several rumors about the thickness of the expected iPhone 17 Slim, a new report claims that it around a third thinner than some other iPhone models.Render of a possible iPhone 17 Slim designSome previous reports of the thickness of the forthcoming slimmer iPhone in the iPhone 17 range have insisted that battery issues mean it can be no less than 6mm. However, one report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed it will be 5.5mm, and now a leak from "Ice Universe" backs that up.According to a post on Chinese social media site Weibo, the iPhone 17 Slim (in translation), "has a camera bump of 4.0mm and a total of 9.5mm." Rumor Score: Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The under-construction David Geffen Galleries at LACMA, now set to open in April of 2026, will be part of the display taking place this summer as the institution opens one of its new plaza areas to the public for the first time. Photo: Museum Associates/LACMAArtist Mariana Castillo Deballs 75,000-square-footsite-specific piece will inaugurate the plaza. This covers the entire ground plane of the space, connecting the museum site to its geological memory and Indigenous past while referencing the form of the new building. The LA Times said in its preview that the installation "acts as the ground below the building and suggests various routes around the campus." Photo: Museum Associates/LACMAThis is part of a 3.5-acre total mosaic of public spaces in the redevelopment plan and precedes the installation of artworks from the permanent collection in the Peter Zumthor-designed new galleries. The new 110,000-square-foot wing is now 90% constructed. Photo: Museum Associates/LACMAO...

The Death Stranding special panel at SXSW 2025 included a number of new announcements and details. Director Hideo Kojima also spoke quite a bit about the development of the original Death Stranding and its upcoming sequel. One of the things Kojima spoke about is how the central theme of connection in Death Stranding came about.According to Kojima, the theme came about in the wake of his departure from Konami leading up to the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Kojima describes the time as a lonely one for him, believing that he had lost everything at the time.The game was about connection, said Kojima about Death Stranding. I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago.I had something very important, which was [a] connection with people, he concluded.Death Stranding 2: On the Beach also got a new trailer during the special panel at SXSW 2025. The trailer, clocking in at 10 minutes in length, gave us cryptic hints about what the plot of the story could potentially be. We also got to see that the gameplay in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is going to be quite similar to the original Death Stranding, with players taking on the role of protagonist Sam Porter as he makes deliveries across vast spaces of uninhabited land.The trailer also revealed that popular character Higgs would be returning in the sequel. Played by Troy Baker, the character proved to be one of the fan-favourites from the original Death Stranding. Kojima has said that the Higgs we see in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be even more ridiculous than what we saw in the original game. Kojima pre-emptively apologised for players potentially throwing their controllers at the sight of his ridiculousness.Higgs is not like twice or thrice better its 100 times better than Death Stranding 1, said Kojima. So at the end, youre gonna watch Higgs and say, What is this? And youll probably throw the controller, its so ridiculous. Ill apologize beforehand.Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will also feature a new character, named Neil, who Kojima has described as being in a similar role to Mads Mikkelsens character Cliff from Death Stranding. Kojima wrote a lengthy post about how he came to discover actor Luca Marinellis work, and how they came together for Neil in Death Stranding 2.During the pandemic, I was casting for Death Stranding 2. Neil would be an important role that replaces Cliff from Death Stranding 1, wrote Kojima. The fans would not be satisfied unless the casting would surpass Mads.Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is coming to PS5 on June 26. Kojima Productions and Sony have also revealed details about its various editions, including a Digital Deluxe and a Collectors Edition, both of which will grant players 48 hours of early access to the game right before its release.Later in the year, the Death Stranding Strands of Harmony concert tour will be taking place. Kicking things off on November 8 in Sydney, Australia, the tour will go all over the world before wrapping up in Canada in March 2026.

Capcom has recently filed a fresh trademark for another one of its classic franchises Dino Crisis. Caught by Games Radar, Capcoms trademark for Dino Crisis has been renewed after having originally been filed all the way back in 1999.For context, the first Dino Crisis was released back in 1999 on the original PlayStation. Its gameplay was based on Resident Evil, with a similar control scheme and fixed camera angles. Owing to this, Dino Crisis also fell into the survival horror genre thanks to its effective use of dinosaurs to create tension and create jump scares.It is worth noting that, despite the renewal of this trademark, Capcom might not necessarily be working on bringing the Dino Crisis franchise back in a way similar to what we saw with Resident Evil.The first two games in the Dino Crisis franchise became available to purchase to play through GOG back in January. Both of the titles were released as part of GOGs Preservation Program, which hopes to preserve classic games by making them playable on modern systems.As part of these preservation efforts, Dino Crisis and its sequel on GOG got a host of quality-of-life improvements, including technical stability fixes and improved localisation, and even new features like the option to play with a more modern control scheme with current-generation controllers, including the DualSense and Xbox Series controllers.The story of the original Dino Crisis revolved around protagonist Regina, who is investigating a top-secret military project. Things start escalating at a slow and steady pace as Regina discovers more secrets of the project, which was originally meant to research a clean source of energy.The sequel followed things up with a series of escalations. Things kick off with the new energy source, Third Energy, being deemed to unpredictable by the powers that be. Players get embroiled in a rescue mission where, along with surviving personnel, they will also have to get their hands on research materials.Despite featuring a gameplay style similar to that of Resident Evil, the Dino Crisis franchise didnt really go beyond three mainline games, with each one departing further and further from the originals survival horror roots. While the Resident Evil franchise has seen something of a renaissance since the release of 2017s Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, Capcom has so far chosen to let Dino Crisis remain in the past.Capcom is currently celebrating the immensely successful launch of its most recent game, Monster Hunter Wilds, which managed to sell 8 million copies within three days of its release. For more details about Monster Hunter Wilds (available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S), check out our review.The company is also working on several other projects, with two of them being follow-ups to classic franchises.One of these titles is a sequel to the seminal Okami, while the other is a follow-up to demon-slaying game Onimusha, dubbed Onimusha: Way of the Sword. The company is also getting ready for a remastered release of Onimusha 2: Samurais Destiny on May 23.

Applivery, a tech platform for endpoint management and app distribution, has received a strategic investment from Supercell.Read More