• ## The 2025 Anniversary of UGREEN: Fueling Your Journey with Every Percentage!

    It's 2025, and while the world moves at lightning speed, UGREEN has been steadfastly chugging along, shoving mediocre competitors aside and positioning itself as a titan in the tech accessory field. A company that dares to claim, "We charge your journey with every percentage!"—and frankly, it had better deliver on that promise. Let's peel back the layers of this anniversary celebration and see whether UGREEN truly l...
    ## The 2025 Anniversary of UGREEN: Fueling Your Journey with Every Percentage! It's 2025, and while the world moves at lightning speed, UGREEN has been steadfastly chugging along, shoving mediocre competitors aside and positioning itself as a titan in the tech accessory field. A company that dares to claim, "We charge your journey with every percentage!"—and frankly, it had better deliver on that promise. Let's peel back the layers of this anniversary celebration and see whether UGREEN truly l...
    الذكرى السنوية لعلامة UGREEN لعام 2025: نَشحن رحلتك بكل نسبة مئوية!
    ## The 2025 Anniversary of UGREEN: Fueling Your Journey with Every Percentage! It's 2025, and while the world moves at lightning speed, UGREEN has been steadfastly chugging along, shoving mediocre competitors aside and positioning itself as a titan in the tech accessory field. A company that dares to claim, "We charge your journey with every percentage!"—and frankly, it had better deliver on...
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  • In a world flooded with noise, I find myself lost in the silence. Each day, I wake up to the same empty room, filled with memories of what once was. The warmth of connection has faded, replaced by a cold, hollow feeling of isolation. It’s a weight I carry, heavy on my chest, like a shadow that never leaves.

    As I scroll through the endless feeds of smiling faces, I can’t help but feel the sting of loneliness. It’s as if everyone has found their place in the sun, while I remain hidden in the corners, searching for a glimpse of belonging. I look for a spark of understanding, but all I find are fleeting moments that remind me of my solitude.

    I think about what it means to have a share of search in this vast digital landscape. To be a brand that stands out, to be seen and sought after, while I remain invisible, a mere whisper in the chaos. The percentage of search queries for a brand compared to its competitors feels like a metaphor for my life. I watch as others rise, while I struggle to be noticed, to be acknowledged, to matter.

    What does it mean to be relevant when the world feels so distant? I yearn to be a part of something bigger, yet I find myself on the outskirts, watching from afar. The metrics of success and recognition apply to brands and businesses, but what about the human heart? How do we measure the longing for connection, the ache for companionship?

    I feel like a ghost among the living, haunted by the echoes of laughter and joy that seem just out of reach. Every interaction feels superficial, a mere transaction without substance. I crave authenticity, a genuine bond that transcends the digital noise. But as I reach out, I feel the familiar sting of rejection, the reminder that perhaps I am not meant to be part of this narrative.

    In this search for meaning, I find myself grappling with the reality of my existence. I ponder the calculations of value and worth, wondering if I will ever find my rightful place among those who shine. The loneliness envelops me, a heavy cloak that I cannot shed.

    Yet, even in this desolation, I hold onto a flicker of hope. Perhaps one day, I will find my share of search, a moment where I am not just a statistic, but a soul recognized and valued. Until then, I will continue to wander through this vast expanse, seeking the connection that feels so elusive.

    #Loneliness #SearchForConnection #Heartbreak #Isolation #EmotionalJourney
    In a world flooded with noise, I find myself lost in the silence. Each day, I wake up to the same empty room, filled with memories of what once was. The warmth of connection has faded, replaced by a cold, hollow feeling of isolation. It’s a weight I carry, heavy on my chest, like a shadow that never leaves. As I scroll through the endless feeds of smiling faces, I can’t help but feel the sting of loneliness. It’s as if everyone has found their place in the sun, while I remain hidden in the corners, searching for a glimpse of belonging. I look for a spark of understanding, but all I find are fleeting moments that remind me of my solitude. I think about what it means to have a share of search in this vast digital landscape. To be a brand that stands out, to be seen and sought after, while I remain invisible, a mere whisper in the chaos. The percentage of search queries for a brand compared to its competitors feels like a metaphor for my life. I watch as others rise, while I struggle to be noticed, to be acknowledged, to matter. What does it mean to be relevant when the world feels so distant? I yearn to be a part of something bigger, yet I find myself on the outskirts, watching from afar. The metrics of success and recognition apply to brands and businesses, but what about the human heart? How do we measure the longing for connection, the ache for companionship? I feel like a ghost among the living, haunted by the echoes of laughter and joy that seem just out of reach. Every interaction feels superficial, a mere transaction without substance. I crave authenticity, a genuine bond that transcends the digital noise. But as I reach out, I feel the familiar sting of rejection, the reminder that perhaps I am not meant to be part of this narrative. In this search for meaning, I find myself grappling with the reality of my existence. I ponder the calculations of value and worth, wondering if I will ever find my rightful place among those who shine. The loneliness envelops me, a heavy cloak that I cannot shed. Yet, even in this desolation, I hold onto a flicker of hope. Perhaps one day, I will find my share of search, a moment where I am not just a statistic, but a soul recognized and valued. Until then, I will continue to wander through this vast expanse, seeking the connection that feels so elusive. #Loneliness #SearchForConnection #Heartbreak #Isolation #EmotionalJourney
    What Is Share of Search? & How to Calculate It
    Share of search is the percentage of search queries for a brand relative to competitors in the same category.
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  • Microsoft 365 security in the spotlight after Washington Post hack

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    Microsoft 365 security in the spotlight after Washington Post hack

    Paul Hill

    Neowin
    @ziks_99 ·

    Jun 16, 2025 03:36 EDT

    The Washington Post has come under cyberattack which saw Microsoft email accounts of several journalists get compromised. The attack, which was discovered last Thursday, is believed to have been conducted by a foreign government due to the topics the journalists cover, including national security, economic policy, and China. Following the hack, the passwords on the affected accounts were reset to prevent access.
    The fact that a Microsoft work email account was potentially hacked strongly suggests The Washington Post utilizes Microsoft 365, which makes us question the security of Microsoft’s widely used enterprise services. Given that Microsoft 365 is very popular, it is a hot target for attackers.
    Microsoft's enterprise security offerings and challenges

    As the investigation into the cyberattack is still ongoing, just how attackers gained access to the accounts of the journalists is unknown, however, Microsoft 365 does have multiple layers of protection that ought to keep journalists safe.
    One of the security tools is Microsoft Defender for Office 365. If the hackers tried to gain access with malicious links, Defender provides protection against any malicious attachments, links, or email-based phishing attempts with the Advanced Threat Protection feature. Defender also helps to protect against malware that could be used to target journalists at The Washington Post.
    Another security measure in place is Entra ID which helps enterprises defend against identity-based attacks. Some key features of Entra ID include multi-factor authentication which protects accounts even if a password is compromised, and there are granular access policies that help to limit logins from outside certain locations, unknown devices, or limit which apps can be used.
    While Microsoft does offer plenty of security technologies with M365, hacks can still take place due to misconfiguration, user-error, or through the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities. Essentially, it requires efforts from both Microsoft and the customer to maintain security.
    Lessons for organizations using Microsoft 365
    The incident over at The Washington Post serves as a stark reminder that all organizations, not just news organizations, should audit and strengthen their security setups. Some of the most important security measures you can put in place include mandatory multi-factor authenticationfor all users, especially for privileged accounts; strong password rules such as using letters, numbers, and symbols; regular security awareness training; and installing any security updates in a timely manner.
    Many of the cyberattacks that we learn about from companies like Microsoft involve hackers taking advantage of the human in the equation, such as being tricked into sharing passwords or sharing sensitive information due to trickery on behalf of the hackers. This highlights that employee training is crucial in protecting systems and that Microsoft’s technologies, as advanced as they are, can’t mitigate all attacks 100 percent of the time.

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    #microsoft #security #spotlight #after #washington
    Microsoft 365 security in the spotlight after Washington Post hack
    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Microsoft 365 security in the spotlight after Washington Post hack Paul Hill Neowin @ziks_99 · Jun 16, 2025 03:36 EDT The Washington Post has come under cyberattack which saw Microsoft email accounts of several journalists get compromised. The attack, which was discovered last Thursday, is believed to have been conducted by a foreign government due to the topics the journalists cover, including national security, economic policy, and China. Following the hack, the passwords on the affected accounts were reset to prevent access. The fact that a Microsoft work email account was potentially hacked strongly suggests The Washington Post utilizes Microsoft 365, which makes us question the security of Microsoft’s widely used enterprise services. Given that Microsoft 365 is very popular, it is a hot target for attackers. Microsoft's enterprise security offerings and challenges As the investigation into the cyberattack is still ongoing, just how attackers gained access to the accounts of the journalists is unknown, however, Microsoft 365 does have multiple layers of protection that ought to keep journalists safe. One of the security tools is Microsoft Defender for Office 365. If the hackers tried to gain access with malicious links, Defender provides protection against any malicious attachments, links, or email-based phishing attempts with the Advanced Threat Protection feature. Defender also helps to protect against malware that could be used to target journalists at The Washington Post. Another security measure in place is Entra ID which helps enterprises defend against identity-based attacks. Some key features of Entra ID include multi-factor authentication which protects accounts even if a password is compromised, and there are granular access policies that help to limit logins from outside certain locations, unknown devices, or limit which apps can be used. While Microsoft does offer plenty of security technologies with M365, hacks can still take place due to misconfiguration, user-error, or through the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities. Essentially, it requires efforts from both Microsoft and the customer to maintain security. Lessons for organizations using Microsoft 365 The incident over at The Washington Post serves as a stark reminder that all organizations, not just news organizations, should audit and strengthen their security setups. Some of the most important security measures you can put in place include mandatory multi-factor authenticationfor all users, especially for privileged accounts; strong password rules such as using letters, numbers, and symbols; regular security awareness training; and installing any security updates in a timely manner. Many of the cyberattacks that we learn about from companies like Microsoft involve hackers taking advantage of the human in the equation, such as being tricked into sharing passwords or sharing sensitive information due to trickery on behalf of the hackers. This highlights that employee training is crucial in protecting systems and that Microsoft’s technologies, as advanced as they are, can’t mitigate all attacks 100 percent of the time. Tags Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed #microsoft #security #spotlight #after #washington
    WWW.NEOWIN.NET
    Microsoft 365 security in the spotlight after Washington Post hack
    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Microsoft 365 security in the spotlight after Washington Post hack Paul Hill Neowin @ziks_99 · Jun 16, 2025 03:36 EDT The Washington Post has come under cyberattack which saw Microsoft email accounts of several journalists get compromised. The attack, which was discovered last Thursday, is believed to have been conducted by a foreign government due to the topics the journalists cover, including national security, economic policy, and China. Following the hack, the passwords on the affected accounts were reset to prevent access. The fact that a Microsoft work email account was potentially hacked strongly suggests The Washington Post utilizes Microsoft 365, which makes us question the security of Microsoft’s widely used enterprise services. Given that Microsoft 365 is very popular, it is a hot target for attackers. Microsoft's enterprise security offerings and challenges As the investigation into the cyberattack is still ongoing, just how attackers gained access to the accounts of the journalists is unknown, however, Microsoft 365 does have multiple layers of protection that ought to keep journalists safe. One of the security tools is Microsoft Defender for Office 365. If the hackers tried to gain access with malicious links, Defender provides protection against any malicious attachments, links, or email-based phishing attempts with the Advanced Threat Protection feature. Defender also helps to protect against malware that could be used to target journalists at The Washington Post. Another security measure in place is Entra ID which helps enterprises defend against identity-based attacks. Some key features of Entra ID include multi-factor authentication which protects accounts even if a password is compromised, and there are granular access policies that help to limit logins from outside certain locations, unknown devices, or limit which apps can be used. While Microsoft does offer plenty of security technologies with M365, hacks can still take place due to misconfiguration, user-error, or through the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities. Essentially, it requires efforts from both Microsoft and the customer to maintain security. Lessons for organizations using Microsoft 365 The incident over at The Washington Post serves as a stark reminder that all organizations, not just news organizations, should audit and strengthen their security setups. Some of the most important security measures you can put in place include mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users, especially for privileged accounts; strong password rules such as using letters, numbers, and symbols; regular security awareness training; and installing any security updates in a timely manner. Many of the cyberattacks that we learn about from companies like Microsoft involve hackers taking advantage of the human in the equation, such as being tricked into sharing passwords or sharing sensitive information due to trickery on behalf of the hackers. This highlights that employee training is crucial in protecting systems and that Microsoft’s technologies, as advanced as they are, can’t mitigate all attacks 100 percent of the time. Tags Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed
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  • Apple’s A20 Rumored To Be Exclusive To The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max And The Company’s Foldable Flagship, Will Leverage TSMC’s Advanced 2nm Process Combined With The Newer WMCM Packaging

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    Apple’s A20 Rumored To Be Exclusive To The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max And The Company’s Foldable Flagship, Will Leverage TSMC’s Advanced 2nm Process Combined With The Newer WMCM Packaging

    Omar Sohail •
    Jun 16, 2025 at 02:00am EDT

    TSMC might have started accepting orders for its 2nm wafers, but the first chipsets fabricated on this cutting-edge lithography are not expected to arrive until late next year. As the majority of you are well aware, Apple likely pounced on the opportunity to be the first recipient of this technology, with its A20 rumored to be mass produced on the 2nm process. However, the same rumor claims that the Cupertino firm will employ the foundry giant’s WMCMpackaging, bringing in more benefits, but customers can only experience these if they intend on making the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, or Apple’s upcoming foldable flagship their daily driver.
    The latest rumor also claims that Apple will not be upping the RAM count on any iPhone model that will ship with the A20
    The efforts to bring WMCM packaging to the A20 will be highly beneficial for Apple because it will allow the latter to maintain the chipset’s footprint while having immense flexibility in combining different components. In short, multiple dies such as the CPU, GPU, memory, and other parts can be integrated at a wafer level, before being sliced into individual chips. This approach will help Apple to mass manufacture smaller chipsets that are considerably power-efficient, but also powerful at the same time, leading to an incredible ‘performance per watt’ metric.
    China Times reports that this A20 upgrade will arrive for the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Apple’s foldable flagship, which the rumor refers to as the iPhone 18 Fold. TSMC’s production line specifically for WMCM chipsets will be located in Chiayi AP7, with an estimated monthly production capacity of 50,000 pieces by the end of 2026. Interestingly, the RAM count will not change from this year, with Apple said to retain the 12GB limit. We have reported about the iPhone 18 series shifting to TSMC’s WMCM packaging before, while also talking about a separate rumor claiming that the A20 will be 15 percent faster than the A19 at the same power draw.
    The rumor does not mention whether the less expensive iPhone 18 models will be treated to chipsets featuring WMCM packaging, or if Apple intends to save on design and production costs by sticking with the older Integrated Fan-Outpackaging. All of these answers will be provided in the fourth quarter of 2026, when the iPhone 18 family goes official, so stay tuned.
    News Source: China Times

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    #apples #a20 #rumored #exclusive #iphone
    Apple’s A20 Rumored To Be Exclusive To The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max And The Company’s Foldable Flagship, Will Leverage TSMC’s Advanced 2nm Process Combined With The Newer WMCM Packaging
    Menu Home News Hardware Gaming Mobile Finance Deals Reviews How To Wccftech Apple’s A20 Rumored To Be Exclusive To The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max And The Company’s Foldable Flagship, Will Leverage TSMC’s Advanced 2nm Process Combined With The Newer WMCM Packaging Omar Sohail • Jun 16, 2025 at 02:00am EDT TSMC might have started accepting orders for its 2nm wafers, but the first chipsets fabricated on this cutting-edge lithography are not expected to arrive until late next year. As the majority of you are well aware, Apple likely pounced on the opportunity to be the first recipient of this technology, with its A20 rumored to be mass produced on the 2nm process. However, the same rumor claims that the Cupertino firm will employ the foundry giant’s WMCMpackaging, bringing in more benefits, but customers can only experience these if they intend on making the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, or Apple’s upcoming foldable flagship their daily driver. The latest rumor also claims that Apple will not be upping the RAM count on any iPhone model that will ship with the A20 The efforts to bring WMCM packaging to the A20 will be highly beneficial for Apple because it will allow the latter to maintain the chipset’s footprint while having immense flexibility in combining different components. In short, multiple dies such as the CPU, GPU, memory, and other parts can be integrated at a wafer level, before being sliced into individual chips. This approach will help Apple to mass manufacture smaller chipsets that are considerably power-efficient, but also powerful at the same time, leading to an incredible ‘performance per watt’ metric. China Times reports that this A20 upgrade will arrive for the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Apple’s foldable flagship, which the rumor refers to as the iPhone 18 Fold. TSMC’s production line specifically for WMCM chipsets will be located in Chiayi AP7, with an estimated monthly production capacity of 50,000 pieces by the end of 2026. Interestingly, the RAM count will not change from this year, with Apple said to retain the 12GB limit. We have reported about the iPhone 18 series shifting to TSMC’s WMCM packaging before, while also talking about a separate rumor claiming that the A20 will be 15 percent faster than the A19 at the same power draw. The rumor does not mention whether the less expensive iPhone 18 models will be treated to chipsets featuring WMCM packaging, or if Apple intends to save on design and production costs by sticking with the older Integrated Fan-Outpackaging. All of these answers will be provided in the fourth quarter of 2026, when the iPhone 18 family goes official, so stay tuned. News Source: China Times Subscribe to get an everyday digest of the latest technology news in your inbox Follow us on Topics Sections Company Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada #apples #a20 #rumored #exclusive #iphone
    WCCFTECH.COM
    Apple’s A20 Rumored To Be Exclusive To The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max And The Company’s Foldable Flagship, Will Leverage TSMC’s Advanced 2nm Process Combined With The Newer WMCM Packaging
    Menu Home News Hardware Gaming Mobile Finance Deals Reviews How To Wccftech Apple’s A20 Rumored To Be Exclusive To The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max And The Company’s Foldable Flagship, Will Leverage TSMC’s Advanced 2nm Process Combined With The Newer WMCM Packaging Omar Sohail • Jun 16, 2025 at 02:00am EDT TSMC might have started accepting orders for its 2nm wafers, but the first chipsets fabricated on this cutting-edge lithography are not expected to arrive until late next year. As the majority of you are well aware, Apple likely pounced on the opportunity to be the first recipient of this technology, with its A20 rumored to be mass produced on the 2nm process. However, the same rumor claims that the Cupertino firm will employ the foundry giant’s WMCM (Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module) packaging, bringing in more benefits, but customers can only experience these if they intend on making the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, or Apple’s upcoming foldable flagship their daily driver. The latest rumor also claims that Apple will not be upping the RAM count on any iPhone model that will ship with the A20 The efforts to bring WMCM packaging to the A20 will be highly beneficial for Apple because it will allow the latter to maintain the chipset’s footprint while having immense flexibility in combining different components. In short, multiple dies such as the CPU, GPU, memory, and other parts can be integrated at a wafer level, before being sliced into individual chips. This approach will help Apple to mass manufacture smaller chipsets that are considerably power-efficient, but also powerful at the same time, leading to an incredible ‘performance per watt’ metric. China Times reports that this A20 upgrade will arrive for the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Apple’s foldable flagship, which the rumor refers to as the iPhone 18 Fold. TSMC’s production line specifically for WMCM chipsets will be located in Chiayi AP7, with an estimated monthly production capacity of 50,000 pieces by the end of 2026. Interestingly, the RAM count will not change from this year, with Apple said to retain the 12GB limit. We have reported about the iPhone 18 series shifting to TSMC’s WMCM packaging before, while also talking about a separate rumor claiming that the A20 will be 15 percent faster than the A19 at the same power draw. The rumor does not mention whether the less expensive iPhone 18 models will be treated to chipsets featuring WMCM packaging, or if Apple intends to save on design and production costs by sticking with the older Integrated Fan-Out (InFo) packaging. All of these answers will be provided in the fourth quarter of 2026, when the iPhone 18 family goes official, so stay tuned. News Source: China Times Subscribe to get an everyday digest of the latest technology news in your inbox Follow us on Topics Sections Company Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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  • Asus ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X to Start Pre-Orders in August, Launch in October – Rumour

    Asus ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X to Start Pre-Orders in August, Launch in October – Rumour
    A new report indicates that the ROG Xbox Ally will be priced at around €599, while the more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X will cost €899.

    Posted By Joelle Daniels | On 16th, Jun. 2025

    While Microsoft and Asus have unveiled the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X handheld gaming systems, the companies have yet to confirm the prices or release dates for the two systems. While the announcement  mentioned that they will be launched later this year, a new report, courtesy of leaker Extas1s, indicates that pre-orders for both devices will be kicked off in August, with the launch then happening in October. As noted by Extas1s, the lower-powered ROG Xbox Ally is expected to be priced around €599. The leaker claims to have corroborated the pricing details for the handheld with two different Europe-based retailers. The more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X, on the other hand, is expected to be priced at €899. This would put its pricing in line with Asus’s own ROG Ally X. Previously, Asus senior manager of marketing content for gaming, Whitson Gordon, had revealed that pricing and power use were the two biggest reasons why both the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X didn’t feature OLED displays. Rather, both systems will come equipped with 7-inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD displays with variable refresh rate capabilities. “We did some R&D and prototyping with OLED, but it’s still not where we want it to be when you factor VRR into the mix and we aren’t willing to give up VRR,” said Gordon. “I’ll draw that line in the sand right now. I am of the opinion that if a display doesn’t have variable refresh rate, it’s not a gaming display in the year 2025 as far as I’m concerned, right? That’s a must-have feature, and OLED with VRR right now draws significantly more power than the LCD that we’re currently using on the Ally and it costs more.” Explaining further that the decision ultimately also came down to keeping the pricing for both systems at reasonable levels, since buyers often tend to get handheld gaming systems as their secondary machiens, Gordon noted that both handhelds would have much higher price tags if OLED displays were used. “That’s all I’ll say about price,” said Gordon. “You have to align your expectations with the market and what we’re doing here. Adding 32GB, OLED, Z2 Extreme, and all of those extra bells and whistles would cost a lot more than the price bracket you guys are used to on the Ally, and the vast majority of users are not willing to pay that kind of price.” Shortly after its announcement, Microsoft and Asus had released a video where the two companies spoke about the various features of the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. In the video, we also get to see an early hardware prototype of the handheld gaming system built inside a cardboard box. The ROG Xbox Ally runs on an AMD Ryzen Z2A chip, and has 16 GB of LPDDR5X-6400 RAM and 512 GB of storage. The ROG Xbox Ally X, on the other hand, runs on an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, and has 24 GB of LPDDR5X-8000 RAM and 1 TB of storage. Both systems run on Windows. Tagged With:

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    #asus #rog #xbox #ally #start
    Asus ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X to Start Pre-Orders in August, Launch in October – Rumour
    Asus ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X to Start Pre-Orders in August, Launch in October – Rumour A new report indicates that the ROG Xbox Ally will be priced at around €599, while the more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X will cost €899. Posted By Joelle Daniels | On 16th, Jun. 2025 While Microsoft and Asus have unveiled the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X handheld gaming systems, the companies have yet to confirm the prices or release dates for the two systems. While the announcement  mentioned that they will be launched later this year, a new report, courtesy of leaker Extas1s, indicates that pre-orders for both devices will be kicked off in August, with the launch then happening in October. As noted by Extas1s, the lower-powered ROG Xbox Ally is expected to be priced around €599. The leaker claims to have corroborated the pricing details for the handheld with two different Europe-based retailers. The more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X, on the other hand, is expected to be priced at €899. This would put its pricing in line with Asus’s own ROG Ally X. Previously, Asus senior manager of marketing content for gaming, Whitson Gordon, had revealed that pricing and power use were the two biggest reasons why both the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X didn’t feature OLED displays. Rather, both systems will come equipped with 7-inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD displays with variable refresh rate capabilities. “We did some R&D and prototyping with OLED, but it’s still not where we want it to be when you factor VRR into the mix and we aren’t willing to give up VRR,” said Gordon. “I’ll draw that line in the sand right now. I am of the opinion that if a display doesn’t have variable refresh rate, it’s not a gaming display in the year 2025 as far as I’m concerned, right? That’s a must-have feature, and OLED with VRR right now draws significantly more power than the LCD that we’re currently using on the Ally and it costs more.” Explaining further that the decision ultimately also came down to keeping the pricing for both systems at reasonable levels, since buyers often tend to get handheld gaming systems as their secondary machiens, Gordon noted that both handhelds would have much higher price tags if OLED displays were used. “That’s all I’ll say about price,” said Gordon. “You have to align your expectations with the market and what we’re doing here. Adding 32GB, OLED, Z2 Extreme, and all of those extra bells and whistles would cost a lot more than the price bracket you guys are used to on the Ally, and the vast majority of users are not willing to pay that kind of price.” Shortly after its announcement, Microsoft and Asus had released a video where the two companies spoke about the various features of the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. In the video, we also get to see an early hardware prototype of the handheld gaming system built inside a cardboard box. The ROG Xbox Ally runs on an AMD Ryzen Z2A chip, and has 16 GB of LPDDR5X-6400 RAM and 512 GB of storage. The ROG Xbox Ally X, on the other hand, runs on an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, and has 24 GB of LPDDR5X-8000 RAM and 1 TB of storage. Both systems run on Windows. Tagged With: Elden Ring: Nightreign Publisher:Bandai Namco Developer:FromSoftware Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PCView More FBC: Firebreak Publisher:Remedy Entertainment Developer:Remedy Entertainment Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PCView More Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Publisher:Sony Developer:Kojima Productions Platforms:PS5View More Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out! Summer Game Fest 2025 Saw 89 Percent Growth in Live Concurrent Viewership Since Last Year This year's Summer Game Fest has been the most successful one so far, with around 1.5 million live viewers on ... Asus ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X to Start Pre-Orders in August, Launch in October – Rumour A new report indicates that the ROG Xbox Ally will be priced at around €599, while the more powerful ROG Xbo... Borderlands 4 Gets New Video Explaining the Process of Creating Vault Hunters According to the development team behind Borderlands 4, the creation of Vault Hunters is a studio-wide collabo... The Witcher 4 Team is Tapping Into the “Good Creative Chaos” From The Witcher 3’s Development Narrative director Philipp Weber says there are "new questions we want to answer because this is supposed to f... The Witcher 4 is Opting for “Console-First Development” to Ensure 60 FPS, Says VP of Tech However, CD Projekt RED's Charles Tremblay says 60 frames per second will be "extremely challenging" on the Xb... Red Dead Redemption Voice Actor Teases “Exciting News” for This Week Actor Rob Wiethoff teases an announcement, potentially the rumored release of Red Dead Redemption 2 on Xbox Se... View More #asus #rog #xbox #ally #start
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    Asus ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X to Start Pre-Orders in August, Launch in October – Rumour
    Asus ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X to Start Pre-Orders in August, Launch in October – Rumour A new report indicates that the ROG Xbox Ally will be priced at around €599, while the more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X will cost €899. Posted By Joelle Daniels | On 16th, Jun. 2025 While Microsoft and Asus have unveiled the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X handheld gaming systems, the companies have yet to confirm the prices or release dates for the two systems. While the announcement  mentioned that they will be launched later this year, a new report, courtesy of leaker Extas1s, indicates that pre-orders for both devices will be kicked off in August, with the launch then happening in October. As noted by Extas1s, the lower-powered ROG Xbox Ally is expected to be priced around €599. The leaker claims to have corroborated the pricing details for the handheld with two different Europe-based retailers. The more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X, on the other hand, is expected to be priced at €899. This would put its pricing in line with Asus’s own ROG Ally X. Previously, Asus senior manager of marketing content for gaming, Whitson Gordon, had revealed that pricing and power use were the two biggest reasons why both the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X didn’t feature OLED displays. Rather, both systems will come equipped with 7-inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD displays with variable refresh rate capabilities. “We did some R&D and prototyping with OLED, but it’s still not where we want it to be when you factor VRR into the mix and we aren’t willing to give up VRR,” said Gordon. “I’ll draw that line in the sand right now. I am of the opinion that if a display doesn’t have variable refresh rate, it’s not a gaming display in the year 2025 as far as I’m concerned, right? That’s a must-have feature, and OLED with VRR right now draws significantly more power than the LCD that we’re currently using on the Ally and it costs more.” Explaining further that the decision ultimately also came down to keeping the pricing for both systems at reasonable levels, since buyers often tend to get handheld gaming systems as their secondary machiens, Gordon noted that both handhelds would have much higher price tags if OLED displays were used. “That’s all I’ll say about price,” said Gordon. “You have to align your expectations with the market and what we’re doing here. Adding 32GB, OLED, Z2 Extreme, and all of those extra bells and whistles would cost a lot more than the price bracket you guys are used to on the Ally, and the vast majority of users are not willing to pay that kind of price.” Shortly after its announcement, Microsoft and Asus had released a video where the two companies spoke about the various features of the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. In the video, we also get to see an early hardware prototype of the handheld gaming system built inside a cardboard box. The ROG Xbox Ally runs on an AMD Ryzen Z2A chip, and has 16 GB of LPDDR5X-6400 RAM and 512 GB of storage. The ROG Xbox Ally X, on the other hand, runs on an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, and has 24 GB of LPDDR5X-8000 RAM and 1 TB of storage. Both systems run on Windows. Tagged With: Elden Ring: Nightreign Publisher:Bandai Namco Developer:FromSoftware Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PCView More FBC: Firebreak Publisher:Remedy Entertainment Developer:Remedy Entertainment Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PCView More Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Publisher:Sony Developer:Kojima Productions Platforms:PS5View More Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out! Summer Game Fest 2025 Saw 89 Percent Growth in Live Concurrent Viewership Since Last Year This year's Summer Game Fest has been the most successful one so far, with around 1.5 million live viewers on ... Asus ROG Xbox Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X to Start Pre-Orders in August, Launch in October – Rumour A new report indicates that the ROG Xbox Ally will be priced at around €599, while the more powerful ROG Xbo... Borderlands 4 Gets New Video Explaining the Process of Creating Vault Hunters According to the development team behind Borderlands 4, the creation of Vault Hunters is a studio-wide collabo... The Witcher 4 Team is Tapping Into the “Good Creative Chaos” From The Witcher 3’s Development Narrative director Philipp Weber says there are "new questions we want to answer because this is supposed to f... The Witcher 4 is Opting for “Console-First Development” to Ensure 60 FPS, Says VP of Tech However, CD Projekt RED's Charles Tremblay says 60 frames per second will be "extremely challenging" on the Xb... Red Dead Redemption Voice Actor Teases “Exciting News” for This Week Actor Rob Wiethoff teases an announcement, potentially the rumored release of Red Dead Redemption 2 on Xbox Se... View More
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  • The stunning reversal of humanity’s oldest bias

    Perhaps the oldest, most pernicious form of human bias is that of men toward women. It often started at the moment of birth. In ancient Athens, at a public ceremony called the amphidromia, fathers would inspect a newborn and decide whether it would be part of the family, or be cast away. One often socially acceptable reason for abandoning the baby: It was a girl. Female infanticide has been distressingly common in many societies — and its practice is not just ancient history. In 1990, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen looked at birth ratios in Asia, North Africa, and China and calculated that more than 100 million women were essentially “missing” — meaning that, based on the normal ratio of boys to girls at birth and the longevity of both genders, there was a huge missing number of girls who should have been born, but weren’t. Sen’s estimate came before the truly widespread adoption of ultrasound tests that could determine the sex of a fetus in utero — which actually made the problem worse, leading to a wave of sex-selective abortions. These were especially common in countries like India and China; the latter’s one-child policy and old biases made families desperate for their one child to be a boy. The Economist has estimated that since 1980 alone, there have been approximately 50 million fewer girls born worldwide than would naturally be expected, which almost certainly means that roughly that nearly all of those girls were aborted for no other reason than their sex. The preference for boys was a bias that killed in mass numbers.But in one of the most important social shifts of our time, that bias is changing. In a great cover story earlier this month, The Economist reported that the number of annual excess male births has fallen from a peak of 1.7 million in 2000 to around 200,000, which puts it back within the biologically standard birth ratio of 105 boys for every 100 girls. Countries that once had highly skewed sex ratios — like South Korea, which saw almost 116 boys born for every 100 girls in 1990 — now have normal or near-normal ratios. Altogether, The Economist estimated that the decline in sex preference at birth in the past 25 years has saved the equivalent of 7 million girls. That’s comparable to the number of lives saved by anti-smoking efforts in the US. So how, exactly, have we overcome a prejudice that seemed so embedded in human society?Success in school and the workplaceFor one, we have relaxed discrimination against girls and women in other ways — in school and in the workplace. With fewer limits, girls are outperforming boys in the classroom. In the most recent international PISA tests, considered the gold standard for evaluating student performance around the world, 15-year-old girls beat their male counterparts in reading in 79 out of 81 participating countries or economies, while the historic male advantage in math scores has fallen to single digits. Girls are also dominating in higher education, with 113 female students at that level for every 100 male students. While women continue to earn less than men, the gender pay gap has been shrinking, and in a number of urban areas in the US, young women have actually been outearning young men. Government policies have helped accelerate that shift, in part because they have come to recognize the serious social problems that eventually result from decades of anti-girl discrimination. In countries like South Korea and China, which have long had some of the most skewed gender ratios at birth, governments have cracked down on technologies that enable sex-selective abortion. In India, where female infanticide and neglect have been particularly horrific, slogans like “the Daughter, Educate the Daughter” have helped change opinions. A changing preferenceThe shift is being seen not just in birth sex ratios, but in opinion polls — and in the actions of would-be parents.Between 1983 and 2003, The Economist reported, the proportion of South Korean women who said it was “necessary” to have a son fell from 48 percent to 6 percent, while nearly half of women now say they want daughters. In Japan, the shift has gone even further — as far back as 2002, 75 percent of couples who wanted only one child said they hoped for a daughter.In the US, which allows sex selection for couples doing in-vitro fertilization, there is growing evidence that would-be parents prefer girls, as do potential adoptive parents. While in the past, parents who had a girl first were more likely to keep trying to have children in an effort to have a boy, the opposite is now true — couples who have a girl first are less likely to keep trying. A more equal futureThere’s still more progress to be made. In northwest of India, for instance, birth ratios that overly skew toward boys are still the norm. In regions of sub-Saharan Africa, birth sex ratios may be relatively normal, but post-birth discrimination in the form of poorer nutrition and worse medical care still lingers. And course, women around the world are still subject to unacceptable levels of violence and discrimination from men.And some of the reasons for this shift may not be as high-minded as we’d like to think. Boys around the world are struggling in the modern era. They increasingly underperform in education, are more likely to be involved in violent crime, and in general, are failing to launch into adulthood. In the US, 20 percent of American men between 25 and 34 still live with their parents, compared to 15 percent of similarly aged women. It also seems to be the case that at least some of the increasing preference for girls is rooted in sexist stereotypes. Parents around the world may now prefer girls partly because they see them as more likely to take care of them in their old age — meaning a different kind of bias against women, that they are more natural caretakers, may be paradoxically driving the decline in prejudice against girls at birth.But make no mistake — the decline of boy preference is a clear mark of social progress, one measured in millions of girls’ lives saved. And maybe one Father’s Day, not too long from now, we’ll reach the point where daughters and sons are simply children: equally loved and equally welcomed.A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!See More:
    #stunning #reversal #humanitys #oldest #bias
    The stunning reversal of humanity’s oldest bias
    Perhaps the oldest, most pernicious form of human bias is that of men toward women. It often started at the moment of birth. In ancient Athens, at a public ceremony called the amphidromia, fathers would inspect a newborn and decide whether it would be part of the family, or be cast away. One often socially acceptable reason for abandoning the baby: It was a girl. Female infanticide has been distressingly common in many societies — and its practice is not just ancient history. In 1990, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen looked at birth ratios in Asia, North Africa, and China and calculated that more than 100 million women were essentially “missing” — meaning that, based on the normal ratio of boys to girls at birth and the longevity of both genders, there was a huge missing number of girls who should have been born, but weren’t. Sen’s estimate came before the truly widespread adoption of ultrasound tests that could determine the sex of a fetus in utero — which actually made the problem worse, leading to a wave of sex-selective abortions. These were especially common in countries like India and China; the latter’s one-child policy and old biases made families desperate for their one child to be a boy. The Economist has estimated that since 1980 alone, there have been approximately 50 million fewer girls born worldwide than would naturally be expected, which almost certainly means that roughly that nearly all of those girls were aborted for no other reason than their sex. The preference for boys was a bias that killed in mass numbers.But in one of the most important social shifts of our time, that bias is changing. In a great cover story earlier this month, The Economist reported that the number of annual excess male births has fallen from a peak of 1.7 million in 2000 to around 200,000, which puts it back within the biologically standard birth ratio of 105 boys for every 100 girls. Countries that once had highly skewed sex ratios — like South Korea, which saw almost 116 boys born for every 100 girls in 1990 — now have normal or near-normal ratios. Altogether, The Economist estimated that the decline in sex preference at birth in the past 25 years has saved the equivalent of 7 million girls. That’s comparable to the number of lives saved by anti-smoking efforts in the US. So how, exactly, have we overcome a prejudice that seemed so embedded in human society?Success in school and the workplaceFor one, we have relaxed discrimination against girls and women in other ways — in school and in the workplace. With fewer limits, girls are outperforming boys in the classroom. In the most recent international PISA tests, considered the gold standard for evaluating student performance around the world, 15-year-old girls beat their male counterparts in reading in 79 out of 81 participating countries or economies, while the historic male advantage in math scores has fallen to single digits. Girls are also dominating in higher education, with 113 female students at that level for every 100 male students. While women continue to earn less than men, the gender pay gap has been shrinking, and in a number of urban areas in the US, young women have actually been outearning young men. Government policies have helped accelerate that shift, in part because they have come to recognize the serious social problems that eventually result from decades of anti-girl discrimination. In countries like South Korea and China, which have long had some of the most skewed gender ratios at birth, governments have cracked down on technologies that enable sex-selective abortion. In India, where female infanticide and neglect have been particularly horrific, slogans like “the Daughter, Educate the Daughter” have helped change opinions. A changing preferenceThe shift is being seen not just in birth sex ratios, but in opinion polls — and in the actions of would-be parents.Between 1983 and 2003, The Economist reported, the proportion of South Korean women who said it was “necessary” to have a son fell from 48 percent to 6 percent, while nearly half of women now say they want daughters. In Japan, the shift has gone even further — as far back as 2002, 75 percent of couples who wanted only one child said they hoped for a daughter.In the US, which allows sex selection for couples doing in-vitro fertilization, there is growing evidence that would-be parents prefer girls, as do potential adoptive parents. While in the past, parents who had a girl first were more likely to keep trying to have children in an effort to have a boy, the opposite is now true — couples who have a girl first are less likely to keep trying. A more equal futureThere’s still more progress to be made. In northwest of India, for instance, birth ratios that overly skew toward boys are still the norm. In regions of sub-Saharan Africa, birth sex ratios may be relatively normal, but post-birth discrimination in the form of poorer nutrition and worse medical care still lingers. And course, women around the world are still subject to unacceptable levels of violence and discrimination from men.And some of the reasons for this shift may not be as high-minded as we’d like to think. Boys around the world are struggling in the modern era. They increasingly underperform in education, are more likely to be involved in violent crime, and in general, are failing to launch into adulthood. In the US, 20 percent of American men between 25 and 34 still live with their parents, compared to 15 percent of similarly aged women. It also seems to be the case that at least some of the increasing preference for girls is rooted in sexist stereotypes. Parents around the world may now prefer girls partly because they see them as more likely to take care of them in their old age — meaning a different kind of bias against women, that they are more natural caretakers, may be paradoxically driving the decline in prejudice against girls at birth.But make no mistake — the decline of boy preference is a clear mark of social progress, one measured in millions of girls’ lives saved. And maybe one Father’s Day, not too long from now, we’ll reach the point where daughters and sons are simply children: equally loved and equally welcomed.A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!See More: #stunning #reversal #humanitys #oldest #bias
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    The stunning reversal of humanity’s oldest bias
    Perhaps the oldest, most pernicious form of human bias is that of men toward women. It often started at the moment of birth. In ancient Athens, at a public ceremony called the amphidromia, fathers would inspect a newborn and decide whether it would be part of the family, or be cast away. One often socially acceptable reason for abandoning the baby: It was a girl. Female infanticide has been distressingly common in many societies — and its practice is not just ancient history. In 1990, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen looked at birth ratios in Asia, North Africa, and China and calculated that more than 100 million women were essentially “missing” — meaning that, based on the normal ratio of boys to girls at birth and the longevity of both genders, there was a huge missing number of girls who should have been born, but weren’t. Sen’s estimate came before the truly widespread adoption of ultrasound tests that could determine the sex of a fetus in utero — which actually made the problem worse, leading to a wave of sex-selective abortions. These were especially common in countries like India and China; the latter’s one-child policy and old biases made families desperate for their one child to be a boy. The Economist has estimated that since 1980 alone, there have been approximately 50 million fewer girls born worldwide than would naturally be expected, which almost certainly means that roughly that nearly all of those girls were aborted for no other reason than their sex. The preference for boys was a bias that killed in mass numbers.But in one of the most important social shifts of our time, that bias is changing. In a great cover story earlier this month, The Economist reported that the number of annual excess male births has fallen from a peak of 1.7 million in 2000 to around 200,000, which puts it back within the biologically standard birth ratio of 105 boys for every 100 girls. Countries that once had highly skewed sex ratios — like South Korea, which saw almost 116 boys born for every 100 girls in 1990 — now have normal or near-normal ratios. Altogether, The Economist estimated that the decline in sex preference at birth in the past 25 years has saved the equivalent of 7 million girls. That’s comparable to the number of lives saved by anti-smoking efforts in the US. So how, exactly, have we overcome a prejudice that seemed so embedded in human society?Success in school and the workplaceFor one, we have relaxed discrimination against girls and women in other ways — in school and in the workplace. With fewer limits, girls are outperforming boys in the classroom. In the most recent international PISA tests, considered the gold standard for evaluating student performance around the world, 15-year-old girls beat their male counterparts in reading in 79 out of 81 participating countries or economies, while the historic male advantage in math scores has fallen to single digits. Girls are also dominating in higher education, with 113 female students at that level for every 100 male students. While women continue to earn less than men, the gender pay gap has been shrinking, and in a number of urban areas in the US, young women have actually been outearning young men. Government policies have helped accelerate that shift, in part because they have come to recognize the serious social problems that eventually result from decades of anti-girl discrimination. In countries like South Korea and China, which have long had some of the most skewed gender ratios at birth, governments have cracked down on technologies that enable sex-selective abortion. In India, where female infanticide and neglect have been particularly horrific, slogans like “Save the Daughter, Educate the Daughter” have helped change opinions. A changing preferenceThe shift is being seen not just in birth sex ratios, but in opinion polls — and in the actions of would-be parents.Between 1983 and 2003, The Economist reported, the proportion of South Korean women who said it was “necessary” to have a son fell from 48 percent to 6 percent, while nearly half of women now say they want daughters. In Japan, the shift has gone even further — as far back as 2002, 75 percent of couples who wanted only one child said they hoped for a daughter.In the US, which allows sex selection for couples doing in-vitro fertilization, there is growing evidence that would-be parents prefer girls, as do potential adoptive parents. While in the past, parents who had a girl first were more likely to keep trying to have children in an effort to have a boy, the opposite is now true — couples who have a girl first are less likely to keep trying. A more equal futureThere’s still more progress to be made. In northwest of India, for instance, birth ratios that overly skew toward boys are still the norm. In regions of sub-Saharan Africa, birth sex ratios may be relatively normal, but post-birth discrimination in the form of poorer nutrition and worse medical care still lingers. And course, women around the world are still subject to unacceptable levels of violence and discrimination from men.And some of the reasons for this shift may not be as high-minded as we’d like to think. Boys around the world are struggling in the modern era. They increasingly underperform in education, are more likely to be involved in violent crime, and in general, are failing to launch into adulthood. In the US, 20 percent of American men between 25 and 34 still live with their parents, compared to 15 percent of similarly aged women. It also seems to be the case that at least some of the increasing preference for girls is rooted in sexist stereotypes. Parents around the world may now prefer girls partly because they see them as more likely to take care of them in their old age — meaning a different kind of bias against women, that they are more natural caretakers, may be paradoxically driving the decline in prejudice against girls at birth.But make no mistake — the decline of boy preference is a clear mark of social progress, one measured in millions of girls’ lives saved. And maybe one Father’s Day, not too long from now, we’ll reach the point where daughters and sons are simply children: equally loved and equally welcomed.A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!See More:
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  • Stanford Doctors Invent Device That Appears to Be Able to Save Tons of Stroke Patients Before They Die

    Image by Andrew BrodheadResearchers have developed a novel device that literally spins away the clots that block blood flow to the brain and cause strokes.As Stanford explains in a blurb, the novel milli-spinner device may be able to save the lives of patients who experience "ischemic stroke" from brain stem clotting.Traditional clot removal, a process known as thrombectomy, generally uses a catheter that either vacuums up the blood blockage or uses a wire mesh to ensnare it — a procedure that's as rough and imprecise as it sounds. Conventional thrombectomy has a very low efficacy rate because of this imprecision, and the procedure can result in pieces of the clot breaking off and moving to more difficult-to-reach regions.Thrombectomy via milli-spinner also enters the brain with a catheter, but instead of using a normal vacuum device, it employs a spinning tube outfitted with fins and slits that can suck up the clot much more meticulously.Stanford neuroimaging expert Jeremy Heit, who also coauthored a new paper about the device in the journal Nature, explained in the school's press release that the efficacy of the milli-spinner is "unbelievable.""For most cases, we’re more than doubling the efficacy of current technology, and for the toughest clots — which we’re only removing about 11 percent of the time with current devices — we’re getting the artery open on the first try 90 percent of the time," Heit said. "This is a sea-change technology that will drastically improve our ability to help people."Renee Zhao, the senior author of the Nature paper who teaches mechanical engineering at Stanford and creates what she calls "millirobots," said that conventional thrombectomies just aren't cutting it."With existing technology, there’s no way to reduce the size of the clot," Zhao said. "They rely on deforming and rupturing the clot to remove it.""What’s unique about the milli-spinner is that it applies compression and shear forces to shrink the entire clot," she continued, "dramatically reducing the volume without causing rupture."Indeed, as the team discovered, the device can cut and vacuum up to five percent of its original size."It works so well, for a wide range of clot compositions and sizes," Zhao said. "Even for tough... clots, which are impossible to treat with current technologies, our milli-spinner can treat them using this simple yet powerful mechanics concept to densify the fibrin network and shrink the clot."Though its main experimental use case is brain clot removal, Zhao is excited about its other uses, too."We’re exploring other biomedical applications for the milli-spinner design, and even possibilities beyond medicine," the engineer said. "There are some very exciting opportunities ahead."More on brains: The Microplastics in Your Brain May Be Causing Mental Health IssuesShare This Article
    #stanford #doctors #invent #device #that
    Stanford Doctors Invent Device That Appears to Be Able to Save Tons of Stroke Patients Before They Die
    Image by Andrew BrodheadResearchers have developed a novel device that literally spins away the clots that block blood flow to the brain and cause strokes.As Stanford explains in a blurb, the novel milli-spinner device may be able to save the lives of patients who experience "ischemic stroke" from brain stem clotting.Traditional clot removal, a process known as thrombectomy, generally uses a catheter that either vacuums up the blood blockage or uses a wire mesh to ensnare it — a procedure that's as rough and imprecise as it sounds. Conventional thrombectomy has a very low efficacy rate because of this imprecision, and the procedure can result in pieces of the clot breaking off and moving to more difficult-to-reach regions.Thrombectomy via milli-spinner also enters the brain with a catheter, but instead of using a normal vacuum device, it employs a spinning tube outfitted with fins and slits that can suck up the clot much more meticulously.Stanford neuroimaging expert Jeremy Heit, who also coauthored a new paper about the device in the journal Nature, explained in the school's press release that the efficacy of the milli-spinner is "unbelievable.""For most cases, we’re more than doubling the efficacy of current technology, and for the toughest clots — which we’re only removing about 11 percent of the time with current devices — we’re getting the artery open on the first try 90 percent of the time," Heit said. "This is a sea-change technology that will drastically improve our ability to help people."Renee Zhao, the senior author of the Nature paper who teaches mechanical engineering at Stanford and creates what she calls "millirobots," said that conventional thrombectomies just aren't cutting it."With existing technology, there’s no way to reduce the size of the clot," Zhao said. "They rely on deforming and rupturing the clot to remove it.""What’s unique about the milli-spinner is that it applies compression and shear forces to shrink the entire clot," she continued, "dramatically reducing the volume without causing rupture."Indeed, as the team discovered, the device can cut and vacuum up to five percent of its original size."It works so well, for a wide range of clot compositions and sizes," Zhao said. "Even for tough... clots, which are impossible to treat with current technologies, our milli-spinner can treat them using this simple yet powerful mechanics concept to densify the fibrin network and shrink the clot."Though its main experimental use case is brain clot removal, Zhao is excited about its other uses, too."We’re exploring other biomedical applications for the milli-spinner design, and even possibilities beyond medicine," the engineer said. "There are some very exciting opportunities ahead."More on brains: The Microplastics in Your Brain May Be Causing Mental Health IssuesShare This Article #stanford #doctors #invent #device #that
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    Stanford Doctors Invent Device That Appears to Be Able to Save Tons of Stroke Patients Before They Die
    Image by Andrew BrodheadResearchers have developed a novel device that literally spins away the clots that block blood flow to the brain and cause strokes.As Stanford explains in a blurb, the novel milli-spinner device may be able to save the lives of patients who experience "ischemic stroke" from brain stem clotting.Traditional clot removal, a process known as thrombectomy, generally uses a catheter that either vacuums up the blood blockage or uses a wire mesh to ensnare it — a procedure that's as rough and imprecise as it sounds. Conventional thrombectomy has a very low efficacy rate because of this imprecision, and the procedure can result in pieces of the clot breaking off and moving to more difficult-to-reach regions.Thrombectomy via milli-spinner also enters the brain with a catheter, but instead of using a normal vacuum device, it employs a spinning tube outfitted with fins and slits that can suck up the clot much more meticulously.Stanford neuroimaging expert Jeremy Heit, who also coauthored a new paper about the device in the journal Nature, explained in the school's press release that the efficacy of the milli-spinner is "unbelievable.""For most cases, we’re more than doubling the efficacy of current technology, and for the toughest clots — which we’re only removing about 11 percent of the time with current devices — we’re getting the artery open on the first try 90 percent of the time," Heit said. "This is a sea-change technology that will drastically improve our ability to help people."Renee Zhao, the senior author of the Nature paper who teaches mechanical engineering at Stanford and creates what she calls "millirobots," said that conventional thrombectomies just aren't cutting it."With existing technology, there’s no way to reduce the size of the clot," Zhao said. "They rely on deforming and rupturing the clot to remove it.""What’s unique about the milli-spinner is that it applies compression and shear forces to shrink the entire clot," she continued, "dramatically reducing the volume without causing rupture."Indeed, as the team discovered, the device can cut and vacuum up to five percent of its original size."It works so well, for a wide range of clot compositions and sizes," Zhao said. "Even for tough... clots, which are impossible to treat with current technologies, our milli-spinner can treat them using this simple yet powerful mechanics concept to densify the fibrin network and shrink the clot."Though its main experimental use case is brain clot removal, Zhao is excited about its other uses, too."We’re exploring other biomedical applications for the milli-spinner design, and even possibilities beyond medicine," the engineer said. "There are some very exciting opportunities ahead."More on brains: The Microplastics in Your Brain May Be Causing Mental Health IssuesShare This Article
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  • Anker’s Soundcore Sleep earbuds finally feature active noise canceling

    Anker has announced a new version of its wireless sleep buds that could be even more effective at delivering a peaceful slumber by blocking out disturbing noises using active noise cancellation. Previous versions of the Soundcore Sleep earbuds blocked external sounds passively using just a snug fit inside the ear, but the new Sleep A30 finally add ANC while still offering enough battery life to last the night.As with previous versions, Anker is making its new Soundcore Sleep A30 available for preorder through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that’s launching today, while full availability of the earbuds is expected sometime in August 2025 through Amazon and Soundcore’s online store. At the Sleep A30 are quite a bit more expensive than last year’s Sleep A20, but the earliest Kickstarter backers can get the A30 discounted to The Sleep A30 are slimmer and smaller than previous versions, potentially making them more comfortable to wear overnight. Image: AnkerThe Sleep A30 earbuds are now 7 percent slimmer and feature a smaller design that ensures they don’t protrude from your ears so there’s reduced pressure while wearing them and laying on a pillow if you’re a side sleeper. To help you find a snug fit, Anker includes four sizes of silicone ear tips, three sizes of memory foam tips, and three sizes of ear wings.Anker claims the new Sleep A30 block up to 30dB of external noise, but the added ANC, which uses two mics positioned inside and outside your ears, does result in reduced battery life. The A20 could run for up to 14 hours on a single charge, but the A30 max out at up to nine hours on their own, or up to 45 hours with their charging case. However, that’s only when listening to white noise or other sounds designed to help you fall asleep that are stored on the buds themselves. When streaming music or podcasts from a phone, battery life is further reduced to up to 6.5 hours or 35 hours with the case.The Sleep A30’s charging case has been upgraded to detect snoring sounds and generate audio to mask them. Image: AnkerThe Sleep A30’s charging case has been upgraded with what Anker is calling “Adaptive Snore Masking technology.” If it detects the sounds of snoring from another person nearby, it analyzes the volume and frequency of the sounds and generates “noise masking audio” that’s sent to the buds to help block it out.The new earbuds also feature sleep monitoring and sleep position tracking, allowing you to see how restful or eventful your night was through the Soundcore mobile app; a private repeatable alarm with snooze functionality; and a Find My Earbud feature should they fall out in the night and get lost in the sheets.See More:
    #ankers #soundcore #sleep #earbuds #finally
    Anker’s Soundcore Sleep earbuds finally feature active noise canceling
    Anker has announced a new version of its wireless sleep buds that could be even more effective at delivering a peaceful slumber by blocking out disturbing noises using active noise cancellation. Previous versions of the Soundcore Sleep earbuds blocked external sounds passively using just a snug fit inside the ear, but the new Sleep A30 finally add ANC while still offering enough battery life to last the night.As with previous versions, Anker is making its new Soundcore Sleep A30 available for preorder through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that’s launching today, while full availability of the earbuds is expected sometime in August 2025 through Amazon and Soundcore’s online store. At the Sleep A30 are quite a bit more expensive than last year’s Sleep A20, but the earliest Kickstarter backers can get the A30 discounted to The Sleep A30 are slimmer and smaller than previous versions, potentially making them more comfortable to wear overnight. Image: AnkerThe Sleep A30 earbuds are now 7 percent slimmer and feature a smaller design that ensures they don’t protrude from your ears so there’s reduced pressure while wearing them and laying on a pillow if you’re a side sleeper. To help you find a snug fit, Anker includes four sizes of silicone ear tips, three sizes of memory foam tips, and three sizes of ear wings.Anker claims the new Sleep A30 block up to 30dB of external noise, but the added ANC, which uses two mics positioned inside and outside your ears, does result in reduced battery life. The A20 could run for up to 14 hours on a single charge, but the A30 max out at up to nine hours on their own, or up to 45 hours with their charging case. However, that’s only when listening to white noise or other sounds designed to help you fall asleep that are stored on the buds themselves. When streaming music or podcasts from a phone, battery life is further reduced to up to 6.5 hours or 35 hours with the case.The Sleep A30’s charging case has been upgraded to detect snoring sounds and generate audio to mask them. Image: AnkerThe Sleep A30’s charging case has been upgraded with what Anker is calling “Adaptive Snore Masking technology.” If it detects the sounds of snoring from another person nearby, it analyzes the volume and frequency of the sounds and generates “noise masking audio” that’s sent to the buds to help block it out.The new earbuds also feature sleep monitoring and sleep position tracking, allowing you to see how restful or eventful your night was through the Soundcore mobile app; a private repeatable alarm with snooze functionality; and a Find My Earbud feature should they fall out in the night and get lost in the sheets.See More: #ankers #soundcore #sleep #earbuds #finally
    WWW.THEVERGE.COM
    Anker’s Soundcore Sleep earbuds finally feature active noise canceling
    Anker has announced a new version of its wireless sleep buds that could be even more effective at delivering a peaceful slumber by blocking out disturbing noises using active noise cancellation. Previous versions of the Soundcore Sleep earbuds blocked external sounds passively using just a snug fit inside the ear, but the new Sleep A30 finally add ANC while still offering enough battery life to last the night.As with previous versions, Anker is making its new Soundcore Sleep A30 available for preorder through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that’s launching today, while full availability of the earbuds is expected sometime in August 2025 through Amazon and Soundcore’s online store. At $229.99, the Sleep A30 are quite a bit more expensive than last year’s $149.99 Sleep A20, but the earliest Kickstarter backers can get the A30 discounted to $139.The Sleep A30 are slimmer and smaller than previous versions, potentially making them more comfortable to wear overnight. Image: AnkerThe Sleep A30 earbuds are now 7 percent slimmer and feature a smaller design that ensures they don’t protrude from your ears so there’s reduced pressure while wearing them and laying on a pillow if you’re a side sleeper. To help you find a snug fit, Anker includes four sizes of silicone ear tips, three sizes of memory foam tips, and three sizes of ear wings.Anker claims the new Sleep A30 block up to 30dB of external noise, but the added ANC, which uses two mics positioned inside and outside your ears, does result in reduced battery life. The A20 could run for up to 14 hours on a single charge, but the A30 max out at up to nine hours on their own, or up to 45 hours with their charging case. However, that’s only when listening to white noise or other sounds designed to help you fall asleep that are stored on the buds themselves. When streaming music or podcasts from a phone, battery life is further reduced to up to 6.5 hours or 35 hours with the case.The Sleep A30’s charging case has been upgraded to detect snoring sounds and generate audio to mask them. Image: AnkerThe Sleep A30’s charging case has been upgraded with what Anker is calling “Adaptive Snore Masking technology.” If it detects the sounds of snoring from another person nearby, it analyzes the volume and frequency of the sounds and generates “noise masking audio” that’s sent to the buds to help block it out.The new earbuds also feature sleep monitoring and sleep position tracking, allowing you to see how restful or eventful your night was through the Soundcore mobile app; a private repeatable alarm with snooze functionality; and a Find My Earbud feature should they fall out in the night and get lost in the sheets.See More:
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  • Summer Game Fest 2025 Saw 89 Percent Growth in Live Concurrent Viewership Since Last Year

    The recent Summer Game Fest 2025 has been quite successful. According to Variety, the live stream saw a massive growth year-over-year in terms of live viewership, coming in at an increase of 89 percent since the 2024 edition.
    The event saw a number of new games announced, as well as trailers for previously-announced games that will be coming soon. Among the headliners for the event were titles like Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem, as well as gameplay for IO Interactive’s 007: First Light.
    “In total, the peak concurrent audience for SGF reached more than 3 million live simultaneous viewers across Twitch and YouTube, with significant year over year growth on both platforms in terms of average viewership, watch time and co-streams,” announced Summer Game Fest in a press release over the weekend.
    At the time of publishing Summer Game Fest 2025 had managed to get 8.5 million views on just one of the places where it was hosted – the official The Game Awards channel. While it is worth noting that this number takes both the live stream audience as well as those who watched the event afterwards into account, the number would quite likely be higher when taking other hosts, and even platforms like Twitch into account.
    Reports, have indicated that of the 8.5 million viewers, 1.5 million could be attributed to those watching during the live stream globally. Twitch, on the other hand, saw a growth of 38 percent in terms of live viewership among the over 8,900 channels that were co-streaming the event. This came in to around 1.4 million concurrent live viewers worldwide.
    Summer Games Fest 2025 was accompanied by a host of other events happening over the same weekend. This included events focused on PC Gaming, as well as Microsoft’s own Xbox Games Showcase, and even the indie game-focused Future Games Show 2025.
    Coinciding with the events was Valve kicking of its latest edition of Steam Next Fest, which featured a host of different game demos that players could try out. A lot of these games were unveiled or otherwise got new trailers during the live events last weekend. However, it is worth noting that today is the final day of this iteration of Steam Next Fest, which means that a lot of the demos will be going away.
    #summer #game #fest #saw #percent
    Summer Game Fest 2025 Saw 89 Percent Growth in Live Concurrent Viewership Since Last Year
    The recent Summer Game Fest 2025 has been quite successful. According to Variety, the live stream saw a massive growth year-over-year in terms of live viewership, coming in at an increase of 89 percent since the 2024 edition. The event saw a number of new games announced, as well as trailers for previously-announced games that will be coming soon. Among the headliners for the event were titles like Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem, as well as gameplay for IO Interactive’s 007: First Light. “In total, the peak concurrent audience for SGF reached more than 3 million live simultaneous viewers across Twitch and YouTube, with significant year over year growth on both platforms in terms of average viewership, watch time and co-streams,” announced Summer Game Fest in a press release over the weekend. At the time of publishing Summer Game Fest 2025 had managed to get 8.5 million views on just one of the places where it was hosted – the official The Game Awards channel. While it is worth noting that this number takes both the live stream audience as well as those who watched the event afterwards into account, the number would quite likely be higher when taking other hosts, and even platforms like Twitch into account. Reports, have indicated that of the 8.5 million viewers, 1.5 million could be attributed to those watching during the live stream globally. Twitch, on the other hand, saw a growth of 38 percent in terms of live viewership among the over 8,900 channels that were co-streaming the event. This came in to around 1.4 million concurrent live viewers worldwide. Summer Games Fest 2025 was accompanied by a host of other events happening over the same weekend. This included events focused on PC Gaming, as well as Microsoft’s own Xbox Games Showcase, and even the indie game-focused Future Games Show 2025. Coinciding with the events was Valve kicking of its latest edition of Steam Next Fest, which featured a host of different game demos that players could try out. A lot of these games were unveiled or otherwise got new trailers during the live events last weekend. However, it is worth noting that today is the final day of this iteration of Steam Next Fest, which means that a lot of the demos will be going away. #summer #game #fest #saw #percent
    GAMINGBOLT.COM
    Summer Game Fest 2025 Saw 89 Percent Growth in Live Concurrent Viewership Since Last Year
    The recent Summer Game Fest 2025 has been quite successful. According to Variety, the live stream saw a massive growth year-over-year in terms of live viewership, coming in at an increase of 89 percent since the 2024 edition. The event saw a number of new games announced, as well as trailers for previously-announced games that will be coming soon. Among the headliners for the event were titles like Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem, as well as gameplay for IO Interactive’s 007: First Light. “In total, the peak concurrent audience for SGF reached more than 3 million live simultaneous viewers across Twitch and YouTube, with significant year over year growth on both platforms in terms of average viewership, watch time and co-streams,” announced Summer Game Fest in a press release over the weekend. At the time of publishing Summer Game Fest 2025 had managed to get 8.5 million views on just one of the places where it was hosted – the official The Game Awards channel. While it is worth noting that this number takes both the live stream audience as well as those who watched the event afterwards into account, the number would quite likely be higher when taking other hosts, and even platforms like Twitch into account. Reports, have indicated that of the 8.5 million viewers, 1.5 million could be attributed to those watching during the live stream globally. Twitch, on the other hand, saw a growth of 38 percent in terms of live viewership among the over 8,900 channels that were co-streaming the event. This came in to around 1.4 million concurrent live viewers worldwide. Summer Games Fest 2025 was accompanied by a host of other events happening over the same weekend. This included events focused on PC Gaming, as well as Microsoft’s own Xbox Games Showcase, and even the indie game-focused Future Games Show 2025. Coinciding with the events was Valve kicking of its latest edition of Steam Next Fest, which featured a host of different game demos that players could try out. A lot of these games were unveiled or otherwise got new trailers during the live events last weekend. However, it is worth noting that today is the final day of this iteration of Steam Next Fest, which means that a lot of the demos will be going away.
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  • Block’s CFO explains Gen Z’s surprising approach to money management

    One stock recently impacted by a whirlwind of volatility is Block—the fintech powerhouse behind Square, Cash App, Tidal Music, and more. The company’s COO and CFO, Amrita Ahuja, shares how her team is using new AI tools to find opportunity amid disruption and reach customers left behind by traditional financial systems. Ahuja also shares lessons from the video game industry and discusses Gen Z’s surprising approach to money management.  

    This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.

    As a leader, when you’re looking at all of this volatility—the tariffs, consumer sentiment’s been unclear, the stock market’s been all over the place. You guys had a huge one-day drop in early May, and it quickly bounced back. How do you make sense of all these external factors?

    Yeah, our focus is on what we can control. And ultimately, the thing that we are laser-focused on for our business is product velocity. How quickly can we start small with something, launch something for our customers, and then test and iterate and learn so that ultimately, that something that we’ve launched scales into an important product?

    I’ll give you an example. Cash App Borrow, which is a product where our customers can get access to a line of credit, often that bridges them from paycheck to paycheck. We know so many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That’s a product that we launched about three years ago and have now scaled to serve 9 million actives with billion in credit supply to our customers in a span of a couple short years.

    The more we can be out testing and launching product at a pace, the more we know we are ultimately delivering value to our customers, and the right things will happen from a stock perspective.

    Block is a financial services provider. You have Square, the point-of-sale system; the digital wallet Cash App, which you mentioned, which competes with Venmo and Robinhood; and a bunch of others. Then you’ve got the buy-now, pay-later leader Afterpay. You chair Square Financial Services, which is Block’s chartered bank. But you’ve said that in the fintech world, Block is only a little bit fin—that comparatively, it’s more tech. Can you explain what you mean by that?

    What we think is unique about us is our ability as a technology company to completely change innovation in the space, such that we can help solve systemic issues across credit, payments, commerce, and banking. What that means ultimately is we use technologies like AI and machine learning and data science, and we use these technologies in a unique way, in a way that’s different from a traditional bank. We are able to underwrite those who are often frankly forgotten by the traditional financial ecosystems.

    Our Square Loans product has almost triple the rate of women-owned businesses that we underwrite. Fifty-eight percent of our loans go to women-owned businesses versus 20% for the industry average. For that Cash App Borrow product I was talking about, 70% of those actives, the 9 million actives that we underwrote, fell below 580 as a FICO score. That’s considered a poor FICO score, and yet 97% of repayments are made on time. And this is because we have unique access to data and these technology and tools which can help us uniquely underwrite this often forgotten customer base.

    Yeah. I mean, credit—sometimes it’s been blamed for financial excesses. But access to credit is also, as you say, an advantage that’s not available to everyone. Do you have a philosophy between those poles—between risk and opportunity? Or is what you’re saying is that the tech you have allows you to avoid that risk?

    That’s right. Let’s start with how do the current systems work? It works using inferior data, frankly. It’s more limited data. It’s outdated. Sometimes it’s inaccurate. And it ignores things like someone’s cash flows, the stability of your income, your savings rate, how money moves through your accounts, or how you use alternative forms of credit—like buy now, pay later, which we have in our ecosystem through Afterpay.

    We have a lot of these signals for our 57 million monthly actives on the Cash App side and for the 4 million small businesses on the Square side, and those, frankly, billions of transaction data points that we have on any given day paired with new technologies. And we intend to continue to be on the forefront of AI, machine learning, and data science to be able to empower more people into the economy. The combination of the superior data and the technologies is what we believe ultimately helps expand access.

    You have a financial background, but not in the financial services industry. Before Block, you were a video game developer at Activision. Are financial businesses and video games similar? Are there things that are similar about them?

    There are. There actually are some things that are similar, I will say. There are many things that are unique to each industry. Each industry is incredibly complex. You find that when big technology companies try to do gaming. They’ve taken over the world in many different ways, but they can’t always crack the nut on putting out a great game. Similarly, some of the largest technology companies have dabbled in fintech but haven’t been able to go as deep, so they’re both very nuanced and complex industries.

    I would say another similarity is that design really matters. Industrial design, the design of products, the interface of products, is absolutely mission-critical to a great game, and it’s absolutely mission-critical to the simplicity and accessibility of our products, be it on Square or Cash App.

    And then maybe the third thing that I would say is that when I was in gaming, at least the business models were rapidly changing from an intermediary distribution mechanism, like releasing a game once and then selling it through a retailer, to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. And similarly with banking, people don’t want to bank from 9 to 5, six days a week. They want 24/7 access to their money and the ability to, again, grow their financial livelihood, move their money around seamlessly. So, some similarities are there in that shift to an intermediary model or a slower model to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection.

    Part of your target audience or your target customer base at Block are Gen Z folks. Did you learn things at Activision about Gen Z that has been useful? Are there things that businesses misunderstand about younger generations still?

    What we’ve learned is that Gen Z, millennial customers, aren’t going to do things the way their parents did. Some of our stats show that 63% of Gen Z customers have moved away from traditional credit cards, and over 80% are skeptical of them. Which means they’re not using a credit card to manage expenses; they’re using a debit card, but then layering on on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Or again, using tools like buy now, pay later, or Cash App Borrow, the means in which they’re managing their consistent cash flows. So that’s an example of how things are changing, and you’ve got to get up to speed with how the next generation of customers expects to manage their money.
    #blocks #cfo #explains #gen #surprising
    Block’s CFO explains Gen Z’s surprising approach to money management
    One stock recently impacted by a whirlwind of volatility is Block—the fintech powerhouse behind Square, Cash App, Tidal Music, and more. The company’s COO and CFO, Amrita Ahuja, shares how her team is using new AI tools to find opportunity amid disruption and reach customers left behind by traditional financial systems. Ahuja also shares lessons from the video game industry and discusses Gen Z’s surprising approach to money management.   This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. As a leader, when you’re looking at all of this volatility—the tariffs, consumer sentiment’s been unclear, the stock market’s been all over the place. You guys had a huge one-day drop in early May, and it quickly bounced back. How do you make sense of all these external factors? Yeah, our focus is on what we can control. And ultimately, the thing that we are laser-focused on for our business is product velocity. How quickly can we start small with something, launch something for our customers, and then test and iterate and learn so that ultimately, that something that we’ve launched scales into an important product? I’ll give you an example. Cash App Borrow, which is a product where our customers can get access to a line of credit, often that bridges them from paycheck to paycheck. We know so many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That’s a product that we launched about three years ago and have now scaled to serve 9 million actives with billion in credit supply to our customers in a span of a couple short years. The more we can be out testing and launching product at a pace, the more we know we are ultimately delivering value to our customers, and the right things will happen from a stock perspective. Block is a financial services provider. You have Square, the point-of-sale system; the digital wallet Cash App, which you mentioned, which competes with Venmo and Robinhood; and a bunch of others. Then you’ve got the buy-now, pay-later leader Afterpay. You chair Square Financial Services, which is Block’s chartered bank. But you’ve said that in the fintech world, Block is only a little bit fin—that comparatively, it’s more tech. Can you explain what you mean by that? What we think is unique about us is our ability as a technology company to completely change innovation in the space, such that we can help solve systemic issues across credit, payments, commerce, and banking. What that means ultimately is we use technologies like AI and machine learning and data science, and we use these technologies in a unique way, in a way that’s different from a traditional bank. We are able to underwrite those who are often frankly forgotten by the traditional financial ecosystems. Our Square Loans product has almost triple the rate of women-owned businesses that we underwrite. Fifty-eight percent of our loans go to women-owned businesses versus 20% for the industry average. For that Cash App Borrow product I was talking about, 70% of those actives, the 9 million actives that we underwrote, fell below 580 as a FICO score. That’s considered a poor FICO score, and yet 97% of repayments are made on time. And this is because we have unique access to data and these technology and tools which can help us uniquely underwrite this often forgotten customer base. Yeah. I mean, credit—sometimes it’s been blamed for financial excesses. But access to credit is also, as you say, an advantage that’s not available to everyone. Do you have a philosophy between those poles—between risk and opportunity? Or is what you’re saying is that the tech you have allows you to avoid that risk? That’s right. Let’s start with how do the current systems work? It works using inferior data, frankly. It’s more limited data. It’s outdated. Sometimes it’s inaccurate. And it ignores things like someone’s cash flows, the stability of your income, your savings rate, how money moves through your accounts, or how you use alternative forms of credit—like buy now, pay later, which we have in our ecosystem through Afterpay. We have a lot of these signals for our 57 million monthly actives on the Cash App side and for the 4 million small businesses on the Square side, and those, frankly, billions of transaction data points that we have on any given day paired with new technologies. And we intend to continue to be on the forefront of AI, machine learning, and data science to be able to empower more people into the economy. The combination of the superior data and the technologies is what we believe ultimately helps expand access. You have a financial background, but not in the financial services industry. Before Block, you were a video game developer at Activision. Are financial businesses and video games similar? Are there things that are similar about them? There are. There actually are some things that are similar, I will say. There are many things that are unique to each industry. Each industry is incredibly complex. You find that when big technology companies try to do gaming. They’ve taken over the world in many different ways, but they can’t always crack the nut on putting out a great game. Similarly, some of the largest technology companies have dabbled in fintech but haven’t been able to go as deep, so they’re both very nuanced and complex industries. I would say another similarity is that design really matters. Industrial design, the design of products, the interface of products, is absolutely mission-critical to a great game, and it’s absolutely mission-critical to the simplicity and accessibility of our products, be it on Square or Cash App. And then maybe the third thing that I would say is that when I was in gaming, at least the business models were rapidly changing from an intermediary distribution mechanism, like releasing a game once and then selling it through a retailer, to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. And similarly with banking, people don’t want to bank from 9 to 5, six days a week. They want 24/7 access to their money and the ability to, again, grow their financial livelihood, move their money around seamlessly. So, some similarities are there in that shift to an intermediary model or a slower model to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. Part of your target audience or your target customer base at Block are Gen Z folks. Did you learn things at Activision about Gen Z that has been useful? Are there things that businesses misunderstand about younger generations still? What we’ve learned is that Gen Z, millennial customers, aren’t going to do things the way their parents did. Some of our stats show that 63% of Gen Z customers have moved away from traditional credit cards, and over 80% are skeptical of them. Which means they’re not using a credit card to manage expenses; they’re using a debit card, but then layering on on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Or again, using tools like buy now, pay later, or Cash App Borrow, the means in which they’re managing their consistent cash flows. So that’s an example of how things are changing, and you’ve got to get up to speed with how the next generation of customers expects to manage their money. #blocks #cfo #explains #gen #surprising
    WWW.FASTCOMPANY.COM
    Block’s CFO explains Gen Z’s surprising approach to money management
    One stock recently impacted by a whirlwind of volatility is Block—the fintech powerhouse behind Square, Cash App, Tidal Music, and more. The company’s COO and CFO, Amrita Ahuja, shares how her team is using new AI tools to find opportunity amid disruption and reach customers left behind by traditional financial systems. Ahuja also shares lessons from the video game industry and discusses Gen Z’s surprising approach to money management.   This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. As a leader, when you’re looking at all of this volatility—the tariffs, consumer sentiment’s been unclear, the stock market’s been all over the place. You guys had a huge one-day drop in early May, and it quickly bounced back. How do you make sense of all these external factors? Yeah, our focus is on what we can control. And ultimately, the thing that we are laser-focused on for our business is product velocity. How quickly can we start small with something, launch something for our customers, and then test and iterate and learn so that ultimately, that something that we’ve launched scales into an important product? I’ll give you an example. Cash App Borrow, which is a product where our customers can get access to a line of credit, often $100, $200, that bridges them from paycheck to paycheck. We know so many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That’s a product that we launched about three years ago and have now scaled to serve 9 million actives with $15 billion in credit supply to our customers in a span of a couple short years. The more we can be out testing and launching product at a pace, the more we know we are ultimately delivering value to our customers, and the right things will happen from a stock perspective. Block is a financial services provider. You have Square, the point-of-sale system; the digital wallet Cash App, which you mentioned, which competes with Venmo and Robinhood; and a bunch of others. Then you’ve got the buy-now, pay-later leader Afterpay. You chair Square Financial Services, which is Block’s chartered bank. But you’ve said that in the fintech world, Block is only a little bit fin—that comparatively, it’s more tech. Can you explain what you mean by that? What we think is unique about us is our ability as a technology company to completely change innovation in the space, such that we can help solve systemic issues across credit, payments, commerce, and banking. What that means ultimately is we use technologies like AI and machine learning and data science, and we use these technologies in a unique way, in a way that’s different from a traditional bank. We are able to underwrite those who are often frankly forgotten by the traditional financial ecosystems. Our Square Loans product has almost triple the rate of women-owned businesses that we underwrite. Fifty-eight percent of our loans go to women-owned businesses versus 20% for the industry average. For that Cash App Borrow product I was talking about, 70% of those actives, the 9 million actives that we underwrote, fell below 580 as a FICO score. That’s considered a poor FICO score, and yet 97% of repayments are made on time. And this is because we have unique access to data and these technology and tools which can help us uniquely underwrite this often forgotten customer base. Yeah. I mean, credit—sometimes it’s been blamed for financial excesses. But access to credit is also, as you say, an advantage that’s not available to everyone. Do you have a philosophy between those poles—between risk and opportunity? Or is what you’re saying is that the tech you have allows you to avoid that risk? That’s right. Let’s start with how do the current systems work? It works using inferior data, frankly. It’s more limited data. It’s outdated. Sometimes it’s inaccurate. And it ignores things like someone’s cash flows, the stability of your income, your savings rate, how money moves through your accounts, or how you use alternative forms of credit—like buy now, pay later, which we have in our ecosystem through Afterpay. We have a lot of these signals for our 57 million monthly actives on the Cash App side and for the 4 million small businesses on the Square side, and those, frankly, billions of transaction data points that we have on any given day paired with new technologies. And we intend to continue to be on the forefront of AI, machine learning, and data science to be able to empower more people into the economy. The combination of the superior data and the technologies is what we believe ultimately helps expand access. You have a financial background, but not in the financial services industry. Before Block, you were a video game developer at Activision. Are financial businesses and video games similar? Are there things that are similar about them? There are. There actually are some things that are similar, I will say. There are many things that are unique to each industry. Each industry is incredibly complex. You find that when big technology companies try to do gaming. They’ve taken over the world in many different ways, but they can’t always crack the nut on putting out a great game. Similarly, some of the largest technology companies have dabbled in fintech but haven’t been able to go as deep, so they’re both very nuanced and complex industries. I would say another similarity is that design really matters. Industrial design, the design of products, the interface of products, is absolutely mission-critical to a great game, and it’s absolutely mission-critical to the simplicity and accessibility of our products, be it on Square or Cash App. And then maybe the third thing that I would say is that when I was in gaming, at least the business models were rapidly changing from an intermediary distribution mechanism, like releasing a game once and then selling it through a retailer, to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. And similarly with banking, people don’t want to bank from 9 to 5, six days a week. They want 24/7 access to their money and the ability to, again, grow their financial livelihood, move their money around seamlessly. So, some similarities are there in that shift to an intermediary model or a slower model to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. Part of your target audience or your target customer base at Block are Gen Z folks. Did you learn things at Activision about Gen Z that has been useful? Are there things that businesses misunderstand about younger generations still? What we’ve learned is that Gen Z, millennial customers, aren’t going to do things the way their parents did. Some of our stats show that 63% of Gen Z customers have moved away from traditional credit cards, and over 80% are skeptical of them. Which means they’re not using a credit card to manage expenses; they’re using a debit card, but then layering on on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Or again, using tools like buy now, pay later, or Cash App Borrow, the means in which they’re managing their consistent cash flows. So that’s an example of how things are changing, and you’ve got to get up to speed with how the next generation of customers expects to manage their money.
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