By TREVOR HOGG Images courtesy of Pixar. The character design of Glordon is based on a tardigrade, which is a microscopic water bear. Rather than look at the unknown as something to be feared, Pixar has decided to do some wish fulfillment with Elio, where a lonely adolescent astrophile gets abducted by aliens and is mistaken as the leader of Earth. Originally conceived and directed by Adrian Molina, the coming-of-age science fiction adventure was shepherded by Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian, who had previously worked together on Turning Red. “Space is often seen as dark, mysterious and scary, but there is also so much hope, wonder and curiosity,” notes Shi, director of Elio. “It’s like anything is ‘out there.’ Elio captures how a lot of us feel at different points of our lives, when we were kids like him, or even now wanting to be off of this current planet because it’s just too much. For Elio, it’s a rescue. I feel that there’s something so universal about that feeling of wanting to be taken away and taken care of. To know that you’re not alone and somebody chose you and picked you up.” The character design of Glordon is based on a tardigrade, which is a microscopic water bear. There is a stark contrast between how Earth and the alien world, known as the Communiverse, are portrayed. “The more we worked with the animators on Glordon and Helix, they began to realize that Domee and I respond positively when those [alien] characters are exaggerated, made cute, round and chubby,” states Sharafian, director of Elio. “That automatically started to differentiate the way the Earth and space feel.” A certain question had to be answered when designing the United Nations-inspired Communiverse. “It was coming from a place of this lonely kid who feels like no one wants him on Earth,” Shi explains. “What would be heaven and paradise for him? The Communiverse was built around that idea.” A sense of belonging is an important theme. “It’s also inspired by Adrian Molina’s backstory, and our backstories too, of going to animation college,” Sharafian remarks. “For the first time, we said, ‘This is where everybody like me is!’” Green is the thematic color for Elio. Visual effects are an important storytelling tool. “Especially, for our movie, which is about this boy going to this crazy incredible world of the Communiverse,” Shi observes. “It has to be dazzling and look spectacular on the big screen and feel like paradise. Elio is such a visual feast, and you do feel like, ‘I want to stay here no matter what. I can’t believe that this place even exists.’ Visual effects are a powerful tool to help you feel what the characters are feeling.” A wishlist became a reality for the directors. “Claudia Chung Sanii [Visual Effects Supervisor] gave Domee and me carte blanche for wish fulfillment for ourselves,” Sharafian remarks. “What do you want Elio’s outfit in space to look like? It was a difficult costume, but now when we watch the movie, we’re all so proud of it. Elio looks fabulous, and he’s so happy to be wearing that outfit. Who would want to take that off?” The Communiverse was meant to feel like a place that a child would love to visit and explore. Methodology rather than technology went through the biggest change for the production. “The Communiverse is super complex and has lots of moving pieces. But there’s not much CG can’t do anymore,” notes Claudia Chung Sanii. “Elemental did effects characters. We did long curly hair, dresses, capes, water and fire. What we hadn’t done before was be a part of that design process. How do we get lighting into layout? How do we see the shaders in animation in layout? The tools department was working on a software called Luna which does that. I went to the tools department and asked, ‘Can I play around with it?’ They were like, ‘Okay. But it’s not ready yet.’ Tools will basically be bringing RenderMan and an interactive lighting workflow to the pipeline across all of these DCCs. Because we light in Katana, you can’t get back upstream. The conceit that we were dipping our toe in on Elio was, ‘Whatever you do in lighting, anyone on the pipeline can see it.’” The influence of microscopic forms and macro photography grounded the Communiverse in natural phenomena. The variety in the Communiverse is a contrast to the regimented world on the military base. There were no departmental borders, in particular with cinematography. “We had our layout and lighting DPs start on the same day. Derek Williams wouldn’t shoot anything without Jordan Rempel, our lighting DP, seeing it,” Sanii states. “Jordan would drop in lighting and start doing key lighting as Derek’s team was laying out. It wasn’t like you had to hit the render button, wait for the render to come up and go, ‘Oh, my god, it’s dark! I didn’t know that it was nighttime.’” A new term was adopted. “Meredith Hom [Production Manager] and I pulled the entire crew and leadership into this mental concept that we called the ‘college project.’ For some of us, college was a time when we didn’t have titles and crafts. You begged, borrowed and stole to hit that deadline. So much of our world has become linear in our process that I wanted to break that down to, ‘No. We’re all working together. The scope of this film is too large for us to wait for each other to finish our piece. If this person is slammed, fine. Figure out a different idea to do it with what tools you have.’” Directors Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian are drawn to chubby, exaggerated and cute characters. Forgoing the word ‘no’ led to the technology breaking down. “I remember times when crowds [department] is dressing all of the aliens and because of forgetting to constrain it to the Communiverse, they all show up at the origin, and you’re going, ‘Why is there a whole party going on over there?’” Sanii laughs. “On Elio, it was always forward. There were no rules about locking things down or not installing over the weekend. It was always like, ‘Put it all in, and we’ll deal with it on Monday.’ There would be some funny stuff. We never QC’d something before walking it into the room. Everyone saw how the sausage was made. It was fun and not fun for Harley Jessup [Production Designer] because sometimes there would be a big thing in the middle screen, and he would say, ‘Is that finished?’ There was no way we could get through this film if we kept trying to fix the thing that broke.” An aerial image of Elio as he attempts to get abducted by aliens. Part of the design of the Coummuniverse was inspired by Chinese puzzle balls. A former visual effects art director at ILM, Harley Jessup found his previous experiences on projects like Innerspace to be helpful on Elio. “I liked that the directors wanted to build on the effects films from the 1980s and early 1990s,” reflects Jessup. “I was there and part of that. It was fun to look back. At the time, the techniques were all practical, matte paintings and miniatures, which are fun to work with, but without the safety net of CG. One thing Dennis Muren [VES] was keen on, was how people see things like the natural phenomenon you might see in a microscopic or macro photography form. We were using that. I was looking at the mothership of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which Dennis shot when he was a young artist. It was nice to be able to bring all of that history to this film.” Earth was impacted by a comment made by Pete Docter (CCO, Pixar). “He said, ‘The military base should feel like a parking lot,” Jessup reveals. “You should know why Elio wants to be anywhere else. And the Communiverse needs to be inviting. We built a lot of contrast into those two worlds. The brutalist architecture on the military base, with its hard edges and heavy horizontal forms close to the earth, needed to be harsh but beautiful in its own way, so we tried for that. The Communiverse would be in contrast and be all curves, translucent surfaces and stained-glass backlit effects. Things were wide open about what it could be because each of the aliens are from a different climate and gravity. There are some buildings that are actually upside down on it, and the whole thing is rotating inside like clockwork. It is hopefully an appealing, fun world. It’s not a dystopian outer space.” Exploring various facial expressions for Elio. A tough character to get right was Aunt Olga, who struggles to be the guardian of her nephew. Character designs of Elio and Glordon. which shows them interacting with each other. Architecture was devised to reflect the desired tone for scenes. “In the Grand Assembly Hall where each alien has a desk and booth, the booth is shaped like an eyelid that can close or open,” Jessup explains. “It increases the feeling that they’re evaluating and observing Elio and each of the candidates that have come to join the Communiverse.” A couple of iconic cinematic franchises were avoided for aesthetic reasons. “As much as I love Star Wars and Star Trek, we wanted to be different from those kinds of aliens that are often more humanoid.” Ooooo was the first alien to be designed. “We did Ooooo in collaboration with the effects team, which was small at that time. She was described as a liquid supercomputer. We actually used the wireframe that was turning up and asked, what if it ended up being this network of little lights that are moving around and can express how much she was thinking? Ooooo is Elio’s guide to the Communiverse; her body would deform, so she could become a big screen or reach out and pluck things. Ooooo has an ability like an amoeba to stretch.” Flexibility is important when figuring out shot design. “On Elio, we provided the layout department with a rudimentary version of our environments,” states David Luoh, Sets Supervisor. “It might be simple geometry. We’re not worried necessarily about shading, color and material yet. Things are roughly in place but also built in a way that is flexible. As they’re sorting out the camera and testing out staging, they can move elements of the set around. Maybe this architectural piece needs to be shifted or larger or smaller. There was a variation on what was typically expected of set deliveries of environments to our layout department. That bar was lowered to give the layout department something to work with sooner and also with more flexibility. From their work we get context as to how we partner with our art and design department to build and finalize those environments.” Regional biomes known as disks are part of the Communiverse. “There are aquatic, lush forest, snow and ice, and hot lava disks,” Luoh remarks. “The hot disk is grounded in the desert, volcanic rock and lava, while for the lush disk we looked at interesting plant life found in the world around us.” The Communiverse is a complex geometric form. “We wanted these natural arrangements of alien districts, and that was all happening on this twisting and curving terrain in a way that made traditional dressing approaches clunky. Oftentimes, you’re putting something on the ground or mounted, and the ground is always facing upward. But if you have to dress the wall or ceiling, it becomes a lot more difficult to manipulate and place on something with that dynamic and shape. You have stuff that casts light, is see-through and shifting over time. Ooooo is a living character that looks like electronic circuitry that is constantly moving, and we also have that element in the walls, floors and bubble transport that carry the characters around.” Sets were adjusted throughout the production. “We try to anticipate situations that might come up,” Luoh states. “What if we have a series of shots where you’re getting closer and closer to the Communiverse and you have to bridge the distance between your hero and set extension background? There is a partnership with story, but certainly with our layout camera staging department. As we see shots come out of their work, we know where we need to spend the time to figure out, are we going to see the distant hills in this way? We’re not going to build it until we know because it can be labor-intensive. There is a responsiveness to what we are starting to see as shots get made.” Combining the familiar into something unfamiliar was a process. “There was this curation of being inspired by existing alien sci-fi depictions, but also reaching back into biological phenomena or interesting material because we wanted to ground a lot of those visual elements and ideas in something that people could intuitively grasp on to, even if they were combined or arranged in a way that is surprising, strange and delightful.”

Key Takeaways AMD’s RX 9060 XT is set to launch on June 5th, 2025 in both 8GB and 16GB versions under the same name, creating confusion and backlash. Reviewers and gamers say 8GB of VRAM isn’t enough for modern gaming, especially at 1440p. AMD’s decision to showcase only the 16GB model in benchmarks raised concerns about transparency. This move mirrors Nvidia’s controversial RTX 4060 Ti rollout, suggesting an industry trend of misleading GPU marketing. It all started with a new GPU announcement. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is set to launch, and on paper, it looks like a solid move. A $349 graphics card with 16GB of VRAM? Not bad. That’s more memory than some RTX 4070 cards. Sounds like AMD might finally be delivering some value again, right?  Well, yes and no.  Because right alongside that 16GB version, AMD is also releasing an 8GB version for $299. Same name, same chip, half the memory. And that’s where the internet lost it.  Déjà Vu: We’ve Seen This Trick Before If this sounds familiar, it’s because Nvidia pulled the same move with the RTX 4060 Ti.  They sold both 8GB and 16GB versions with the same branding, but a $100 price difference. The RTX 4060 Ti 8GB launched in May 2023, and the 16GB variant followed in July.  Source: Nvidia Gamers hated the confusion. Reviewers criticized the 8GB version’s lack of performance, especially in memory-heavy games, and the way Nvidia tried to sweep the difference under the rug.  Performance dipped significantly at 1440p, and stuttering was a problem even in some 1080p titles. The backlash was swift. Tech media slammed Nvidia for deceptive marketing, and buyers were left second-guessing which version they were getting.  We’ve seen this pattern before in Nvidia’s review restrictions around the RTX 5060, where early coverage was shaped by what reviewers were allowed to test – and what they weren’t.  It led to a mess of misinformation, bad value perceptions, and a very clear message: don’t confuse your customers. So naturally, AMD did it too.  It’s like watching two billion-dollar companies playing a game of ‘Who Can Confuse the Customer More.’ It’s not just about the money. It’s about trust, and AMD just dumped a bunch of it off a cliff.  Frank Azor Lights the Fuse on X The backlash started when AMD’s Director of Gaming Marketing, Frank Azor, took to X to defend the 8GB card.  He said that most gamers don’t need more than 8GB of VRAM and that the cheaper card still serves the mainstream crowd just fine.  It’s the same reasoning Nvidia used last year with the RTX 4060 Ti. That didn’t work then, and it isn’t working now.  Because when Steve from Hardware Unboxed sees a bad take like that, you know a flamethrower video is coming. And oh boy, did it come.  Hardware Unboxed Fires Back The backlash against AMD’s 8GB RX 9060 XT took off after a post from Hardware Unboxed on X called out the company’s defense of limited VRAM.  In response to AMD’s claim that most gamers don’t need more than 8GB of memory, Hardware Unboxed accused them of misleading buyers and building weaker products just to hit certain price points. The criticism gained traction fast. Tech YouTuber Vex picked up the story and added fuel to the fire by showing side-by-side gameplay comparisons.  In multiple games, the 8GB RX 9060 XT showed serious performance issues – stuttering, frame drops, and VRAM bottlenecks – while the 16GB version handled the same titles smoothly.  And yet, during the GPU’s official reveal, AMD only showed performance data for the 16GB card. There were no benchmarks for the 8GB version – not a single chart. That omission wasn’t lost on anyone. If AMD truly believed the 8GB model held up under modern gaming loads, they would have shown it. The silence speaks volumes.  Why This Actually Matters You might be thinking: ‘So what? Some games still run fine on 8GB. I only play Valorant.’ Sure. But the problem is bigger than that. Source: AMD Games are getting heavier. Even titles like Cyberpunk 2077, released in 2020, can eat up more than 8GB of VRAM. And with GTA 6 (still) on the horizon, do you really think game developers are going to keep optimizing for 8GB cards in 2025? That’s not how game development works. Developers target the most common setups, yes. But hardware also shapes software.  If everyone’s stuck with 8GB, games will be designed around that limit. That holds back progress for everyone.  It’s like trying to make a movie with a flip phone because some people still own one. Same Name, Different Game Another big issue is how these cards are named and sold.  The RX 9060 XT 16GB and RX 9060 XT 8GB are not clearly labeled as different products. They’re just two versions of the same GPU.  But that extra memory makes a huge difference.  In some games, the 8GB card performs dramatically worse. And yet, unless you know what to look for, you might walk into a store and buy the 8GB version thinking you’re getting the same performance.  You’re not. You’re getting a watered-down version with the same name and a silent asterisk. This isn’t just AMD’s Problem Nvidia started this mess with the 4060 Ti naming confusion. AMD just saw the outrage and decided to walk straight into the same buzzsaw.  It’s hard not to feel like both companies are treating consumers like they’re too dumb to notice. Spoiler: they noticed. And this whole ‘VRAM doesn’t matter’ argument? It’s already been debunked by dozens of reviewers.  If you’re spending over $300 on a graphics card in 2025, it needs to last more than a year or two. 8GB cards are already struggling. Buying one now is like buying a smartphone in 2025 with 64GB of storage. Sure, it works. Until it doesn’t. Steam Data Doesn’t Help AMD’s Case AMD and Nvidia both love to point at the Steam Hardware Survey. They say, ‘See? Most people still play at 1080p.’ And that’s true – for now. Source: Nvidia But what they leave out is that 1440p gaming is growing fast. More gamers are upgrading their setups because 1440p monitors are getting a lot more affordable.  Take the Pixio PXC277 Advanced, for instance – a 27-inch curved 1440p monitor with a 165Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time, all for $219.99. A few years ago, a screen like that would’ve cost you double. Now it’s entry-level. Gamers are ready to step up their experience. The only thing holding them back is GPU hardware that’s still stuck in 2020.  Planned Obsolescence in Disguise Here’s the worst part. Companies know full well that 8GB won’t cut it in 2026.  But they still sell it, knowing many gamers will only find out when it’s too late – when the stutters kick in, the textures disappear, or the next big title becomes unplayable. It’s planned obsolescence disguised as ‘choice.’ And while it’s great to have options at different price points, it should be clear which option is built to last – and which one is built to frustrate.  So, Is AMD Actually Screwed?  Not right now. In fact, they’re playing the game better than they used to.  They’ve learned from past pricing disasters and figured out how to get better launch-day headlines – even if it means faking the MSRP and letting street prices run wild.  But this kind of marketing comes at a cost. If AMD keeps making decisions that prioritize short-term wins over long-term trust, they’ll lose the very crowd that once rooted for them.  We don’t need two Nvidias. We need AMD to be different – to be better.  One Name, Two Very Different Cards The RX 9060 XT 16GB might be a good deal. But it’s being overshadowed by the 8GB version’s drama. And the longer AMD keeps playing games with memory and naming, the more it chips away at its hard-earned goodwill.  This whole mess could’ve been avoided with one simple move: name the 8GB card something else. Call it the RX 9055. Call it Lite or whatever. Just don’t make it look like the same card when it isn’t.  Until then, buyers beware. There’s more going on behind the box art than meets the eye.  Anya Zhukova is an in-house tech and crypto writer at Techreport with 10 years of hands-on experience covering cybersecurity, consumer tech, digital privacy, and blockchain. She’s known for turning complex topics into clear, useful advice that regular people can actually understand and use.  Her work has been featured in top-tier digital publications including MakeUseOf, Online Tech Tips, Help Desk Geek, Switching to Mac, and Make Tech Easier. Whether she’s writing about the latest privacy tools or reviewing a new laptop, her goal is always the same: help readers feel confident and in control of the tech they use every day.  Anya holds a BA in English Philology and Translation from Tula State Pedagogical University and also studied Mass Media and Journalism at Minnesota State University, Mankato. That mix of language, media, and tech has given her a unique lens to look at how technology shapes our daily lives.  Over the years, she’s also taken courses and done research in data privacy, digital security, and ethical writing – skills she uses when tackling sensitive topics like PC hardware, system vulnerabilities, and crypto security.  Anya worked directly with brands like Framework, Insta360, Redmagic, Inmotion, Secretlab, Kodak, and Anker, reviewing their products in real-life scenarios. Her testing process involves real-world use cases – whether it's stress-testing laptops for creative workloads, reviewing the battery performance of mobile gaming phones, or evaluating the long-term ergonomics of furniture designed for hybrid workspaces.  In the world of crypto, Anya covers everything from beginner guides to deep dives into hardware wallets, DeFi protocols, and Web3 tools. She helps readers understand how to use multisig wallets, keep their assets safe, and choose the right platforms for their needs.  Her writing often touches on financial freedom and privacy – two things she strongly believes should be in everyone’s hands. Outside of writing, Anya contributes to editorial style guides focused on privacy and inclusivity, and she mentors newer tech writers on how to build subject matter expertise and write responsibly.  She sticks to high editorial standards, only recommends products she’s personally tested, and always aims to give readers the full picture.  You can find her on LinkedIn, where she shares more about her work and projects.  Key Areas of Expertise: Consumer Tech (laptops, phones, wearables, etc.) Cybersecurity and Digital Privacy PC/PC Hardware Blockchain, Crypto Wallets, and DeFi In-Depth Product Reviews and Buying Guides Whether she’s reviewing a new wallet or benchmarking a PC build, Anya brings curiosity, care, and a strong sense of responsibility to everything she writes. Her mission? To make the digital world a little easier – and safer – for everyone.  View all articles by Anya Zhukova Our editorial process The Tech Report editorial policy is centered on providing helpful, accurate content that offers real value to our readers. We only work with experienced writers who have specific knowledge in the topics they cover, including latest developments in technology, online privacy, cryptocurrencies, software, and more. Our editorial policy ensures that each topic is researched and curated by our in-house editors. We maintain rigorous journalistic standards, and every article is 100% written by real authors.

A person using ChatGPT on their phone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson) Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER:- Scammers can exploit your data from just one ChatGPT search- Business Insider embraces AI while laying off 21% of workforce- Nvidia, Dell partner with Trump admin to make next-gen supercomputerGUARD YOUR DATA: ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) have become amazing helpers for everyday tasks. Whether it's summarizing complex ideas, designing a birthday card or even planning your apartment's layout, you can get impressive results with just a simple prompt.NEWS BREAK: Business Insider announced Thursday that the company will be shrinking the size of its newsroom and making layoffs, impacting over a fifth of its staff. Business Insider CEO Barbara Peng said in an internal memo obtained by Fox News Digital that the company is "fully embracing AI," as 70% of the company’s staff currently uses Enterprise ChatGPT, with a goal of 100%.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren and progressives are taking issue with what they see as Nvidia's outsized influence in the AI chip market. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)HIGH TECH: Nvidia and Dell on Thursday announced a breakthrough supercomputer powered by artificial intelligence (AI) will launch next year to help drive research at the Department of Energy (DOE).SETTING THE PACE: Pace University uses AI and scannable QR codes to read graduates' names. Passengers arrive to Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey on May 7, 2025. (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)A-'EYE' IN THE SKY: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently announced that artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to detect and address air traffic risks, following a slew of near-misses and fatal plane crashes across the country.'PROFOUND TRANSFORMATION': Nvidia, a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, saw shares rise 3% in after-hours trading following the announcement. The earnings report showed that first-quarter net income was up 26% from a year ago at nearly $19 billion, with revenue rising to $44 billion, up 69% from last year. Apple logo (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)'AGRI-FICIAL' INTELLIGENCE: John Deere is turning to artificial intelligence to help farmers address labor shortages and enable them to handle other tasks associated with their business.APPLE’S AI RECKONING': OpenAI has just made a move that's turning heads across the tech world. The company is acquiring io, the AI device startup founded by Jony Ive, for nearly $6.5 billion. This isn't your typical business deal. It's a collaboration between Sam Altman, who leads OpenAI, and the designer responsible for some of Apple's most iconic products, including the iPhone and Apple Watch.STANDING TALL AGAIN: For Caroline Laubach, being a Wandercraft test pilot is about more than just trying out new technology. It's about reclaiming a sense of freedom and connection that many wheelchair users miss. Laubach, a spinal stroke survivor and full-time wheelchair user, has played a key role in demonstrating the personal AI-powered prototype exoskeleton's development, and her experience highlights just how life-changing this device can be. A man using an exoskeleton to walk. (Wandercraft)BOT BLUNDER: Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot is being slammed for "anti-American" claims about the supposed White supremacist origins of Memorial Day.FOLLOW FOX NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIASIGN UP FOR OUR OTHER NEWSLETTERSDOWNLOAD OUR APPSWATCH FOX NEWS ONLINEFox News GoSTREAM FOX NATIONFox NationStay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here. This article was written by Fox News staff.

May 30, 20252 min readLawmakers Form First Extreme Heat Caucus, Citing ‘Deadly Risk’The House of Representatives’ first caucus to address extreme heat is being launched by a Democrat from the Southwest and a Republican from the NortheastBy Ariel Wittenberg & E&E News A construction worker in Folsom, Calif., during a July 2024 heatwave that brought daytime highs of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | An Arizona Democrat and a New York Republican are teaming up to form the Congressional Extreme Heat Caucus in an attempt to find bipartisan solutions for deadly temperatures.“We hope this caucus can make sure the United States is better prepared for the inevitable increase in temperatures, not just in Arizona and the Southwest but all across the country,” Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton (D) said in an interview.He's creating the caucus with New York Rep. Mike Lawler, a moderate Republican who bucked his party last year by expressing support for the nation's first proposed regulation to protect workers from heat by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.“Extreme heat kills more Americans each year than any other weather event — over 1,300 lives lost, including 570 in New York alone — and it’s a growing threat to the Hudson Valley,” Lawler said in a statement. “That’s why I’m co-chairing the Heat Caucus to drive real solutions, raise awareness, and protect our communities from this deadly risk.”Stanton said he was excited to team up with Lawler, who understands that heat jeopardizes health even in northern climates.“He is from New York and I’m proud he recognizes how heat is important for workers,” he said.The caucus will be open to House lawmakers who have bipartisan ideas for addressing extreme heat. Noting that many Republicans have slammed OSHA's proposed heat rule, Stanton said the caucus doesn't have to find consensus on every policy, but members should be willing to search for common ground."It is important to have that conversation on what we can come together and agree on because that's how we get legislation passed in this town, even if we don't agree on how far to go," he said.Lawler and Stanton teamed up earlier this spring to protest workforce reductions at the Department of Health and Human Services that could degrade heat-related programs.In April, the pair wrote a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., protesting layoffs that purged the entire staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice as well as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps families pay for heating and cooling.“As we head into another summer — with projections suggesting 2025 will rank again among the warmest years on record, we cannot afford to limit our ability to counter the impacts of extreme heat,” they wrote in April with nine other lawmakers.Among the caucus' priorities is making LIHEAP funding more evenly distributed to southern states to help pay for cooling assistance. The program was initially created to help low-income families pay their heating bills during winter, and the majority of its funding still goes toward cold-weather states.“We have had too many deaths of people in their homes because they are unable to access programs that would help them access air conditioning,” Stanton said.Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

Enders Analysis Amazon Fire Sticks enable “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy Research firm blames outdated DRM tech, Facebook ads, Amazon hardware, and more. Scharon Harding – May 30, 2025 5:18 pm | 114 An Amazon Fire Stick and remote. Credit: Amazon An Amazon Fire Stick and remote. Credit: Amazon Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Amazon Fire Sticks are enabling “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy, according to a report today from Enders Analysis, a media, entertainment, and telecommunications research firm. Technologies from other media conglomerates, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, are also enabling what the report’s authors deem an “industrial scale of theft." The report, "Video piracy: Big tech is clearly unwilling to address the problem," focuses on the European market but highlights the global growth of piracy of streaming services as they increasingly acquire rights to live programs, like sporting events. Per the BBC, the report points to the availability of multiple, simultaneous illegal streams for big events that draw tens of thousands of pirate viewers. Enders' report places some blame on Facebook for showing advertisements for access to illegal streams, as well as Google and Microsoft for the alleged “continued depreciation” of their digital rights management (DRM) systems, Widevine and PlayReady, respectively. Ars Technica reached out to Facebook, Google, and Microsoft for comment but didn’t receive a response before publication. The report echoes complaints shared throughout the industry, including by the world’s largest European soccer streamer, DAZN. Streaming piracy is “almost a crisis for the sports rights industry,” DAZN’s head of global rights, Tom Burrows, said at The Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit in February. At the same event, Nick Herm, COO of Comcast-owned European telecommunication firm Sky Group, estimated that piracy was costing his company “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue. At the time, Enders co-founder Claire Enders said that the pirating of sporting events accounts for “about 50 percent of most markets.” Jailbroken Fire Sticks Friday's Enders report named Fire Sticks as a significant contributor to streaming piracy, calling the hardware a “piracy enabler.” Enders’ report pointed to security risks that pirate viewers face, including providing credit card information and email addresses to unknown entities, which can make people vulnerable to phishing and malware. However, reports of phishing and malware stemming from streaming piracy, which occurs through various methods besides a Fire TV Stick, seem to be rather limited. Still, at the February Financial Times event, Herm said that Fire Sticks account “for about half of the piracy in the UK.” “People think that because it’s a legitimate brand, it must be OK. So they give their credit card details to criminal gangs. Amazon is not engaging with us as much as we’d like," he said. In the UK, there has been a push to crack down on illegal usage of Fire Sticks. For example, in November 2024, a man received a three-year, four-month sentence for hacking Fire Sticks. In June 2024, another man got a two-year suspended sentence after a police raid found jailbroken Fire Sticks in his home. In the US, however, there aren’t nearly as many publicized efforts to combat illegal streaming on Amazon devices. While Enders’ report accuses Amazon of contributing to the piracy problem, as the owner of its own streaming service, Prime Video, Amazon has an incentive to fight piracy. Amazon’s streaming business includes selling streaming hardware, but the business is more centered on getting people to sign up for Amazon services (like Prime Video), data collection, and ad sales. When reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson told Ars Technica: Pirated content violates our policies regarding intellectual property rights and compromises the security and privacy of our customers. We work with industry partners and relevant authorities to combat piracy and protect customers from the risks associated with pirated content. Our Appstore prohibits apps that infringe upon the rights of third parties, and we warn customers of the risks associated with installing or using apps from unknown sources. Amazon’s representative also told Ars that Amazon works with industry partners to break up piracy networks and has assisted law enforcement efforts, including the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit in London and UK IP Crime Group. DRM limitations Enders’ report also blamed poorly updated DRM systems, especially from Google and Microsoft, for contributing to streaming piracy. Google’s Widevine and Microsoft’s PlayReady "are now compromised across various security levels,” the report said, pointing to a lack of upkeep. Microsoft issued its most recent big update to PlayReady, version 4.6, in December 2022. The report authors wrote: Over twenty years since launch, the DRM solutions provided by Google and Microsoft are in steep decline. A complete overhaul of the technology architecture, licensing, and support model is needed. Lack of engagement with content owners indicates this a low priority. Outside of Enders' report, Google was criticized by the Italian government earlier this year for allegedly failing to block pirate websites identified by Italy’s communication regulator, AGCOM. In March, the Court of Milan ordered Google to poison its public DNS servers with the goal of blocking illegal soccer streams. And beyond the aforementioned tech giants, earlier this month, France ordered five VPN providers (NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, and CyberGhost) to block illegal sports streaming sites. Unsurprisingly, the move has been slammed by VPN providers as setting “a dangerous precedent," per i2Coalition, an Internet infrastructure trade association that manages the international VPN Trust Initiative consortium of VPN providers. A growing problem As the Internet solidifies its position as the primary method for watching shows, movies, and, increasingly, live events, it presents new challenges to content distributors and owners seeking to curb online piracy. In the case of sports, especially, the distribution of sports rights across various linear networks and streaming services often means signing up for multiple services in order to watch a single team’s season. For some fans—including NFL players themselves—that's financially and/or logistically impractical. Simultaneously, anti-piracy advocates argue that piracy could lead to higher subscription fees for streaming services. As legislation and rights holders become more stringent about piracy, we can expect more effort from tech providers and law enforcement to block piracy, while hackers also seek new ways to enable illegal streams. Scharon Harding Senior Technology Reporter Scharon Harding Senior Technology Reporter Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Tom’s Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK. 114 Comments

A potentially devastating new round of tariffs looming over the European Union’s trade relationship with the U.S. will be pushed back for at least a month as negotiations continue.  President Trump on Friday announced plans for a 50% tariff on EU goods, expressing frustration with the 27-country bloc and repeating his talking points about the trade deficit between the U.S. and the EU. After a call over the weekend with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Trump agreed to a new deadline of July 9 to give the U.S. and EU time to hash out a deal.  “I agreed to the extension—July 9, 2025—it was my privilege to do so,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Commission President said that talks will begin rapidly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump’s cooperative comments were a tone shift from his Friday mood toward the bloc, when he described the talks as “going nowhere” and slammed the EU for being difficult to deal with. Von der Leyen reiterated that the EU needs until July to sort out the details of a new trade deal—and to talk its way out of Trump’s threatened 50% tariff, which would devastate existing trade norms between the global powers. “The EU and U.S. share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship,” Von der Leyen said on X. “Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively.” On Friday, Trump also rounded on Apple, threatening to implement a 25% tariff if the Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker doesn’t bring its manufacturing stateside. The passing attack was enough to prompt a dip in Apple’s shares as investors fretted over the high price tag of a hypothetical U.S.-made iPhone and the logistic impossibility of the company relocating its vast production operation, which is largely based in China. The fresh trade threats against the EU are just the latest turn on Trump’s trade roller-coaster ride, which has thrown global alliances into chaos, upended markets, and raised a new round of red flags that U.S. consumers may again be facing higher prices on everyday goods.

Marathon – just one of the problems highlighted this week (Bungie) A reader is disturbed by the amount of bad news in the video game world at the moment, especially as most of it involves issues that have been brewing for many months. We are in a strange situation right now with video games, where almost all the news is terrible and yet great games continue to be released. This has the side effect of masking the serious issues from many gamers, who either don’t know or don’t care about what’s really going on. As long as games as good as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Monster Hunter Wilds are still coming out then everything must be fine, right? Wrong. What disturbed me this week, while reading the Metro, is that apart from job cuts (although they were implied) it had examples of all the biggest problems going on. What I found extra worrying is not only did they happen all at the same time but they’re all long running issues that show absolutely no sign of being fixed. Perhaps the most obvious problem was the growing inevitability of £80 becoming the default price for big name games. At this point it’d be a victory if it only increases to £80, because GTA 6 will almost certainly be more. What was so awful about this week’s news is that we had two big industry figures telling us that actually we shouldn’t complain, we should get a second job to afford the games and just eat the cost. I wouldn’t necessarily expect better from someone like Randy Pitchford, but hearing the ex-Sony guy saying that we shouldn’t complain just shows how out of touch these execs and decision makers are. Increasing costs will lower the number of games people buy and that means a lot of titles and companies are just going to have the door slammed in their faces. People’s money is not going to stretch as far as it used to and that is going to be a big problem for some games. Many are already predicting Marathon will either be a flop or just cancelled before it gets a chance, and it’s not hard to see why. Nothing about it looks appealing and Sony seeming to be looking for any excuse to shut down Bungie completely, at the loss of hundreds of jobs. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Oh, and the reason for Bungie’s downfall? Corporate greed, according to the people that used to work there. That’s not exactly shocking news but there it is in black and white: all these problems could’ve been avoided if Bungie’s bosses had thought of the company first and not themselves. But then we also had the revelation that the boss of Take-Two doesn’t play video games and has no interest in trying out GTA 6, even though he totally could. This is also a massive non-surprise and probably very common in the games industry, where decisions are made on a spreadsheet and not from a place of passion or ambition. Sometimes they just seem to lack basic competence though, such as the lack of any plan for when games become too expensive and time consuming to make – a problem they must have seen coming years ago. This was illustrated perfectly this week by Hideo Kojima saying his Metal Gear spiritual sequel won’t be out for five or six years, even though he announced it over a year ago. The amount of time it takes to make a game is out of control, but nobody is doing anything about it. And then to finish we had the rumour that Sony is only going to have a State of Play this summer, not a full showcase, or possibly have nothing at all in terms of not-E3 events. Thereby setting us up for another 12 months of no major announcements and only one or two releases. More Trending I don’t want to get anyone down, but I do think it’s important to point out that just because good games are still coming out it doesn’t mean that it’s not chaos behind the scenes, which ultimately is only going to lead to even greater disaster if none of the problems are dealt with. By reader Ollie Hideo Kojima will be approaching his 60s by the time Physint comes out (Lorne Thomson/Redferns) (Credits: Redferns) The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Google's new AI Mode for Search, which is rolling out to everyone in the U.S., has sparked outrage among publishers, who call it "the definition of theft" for using content without fair compensation and without offering a true opt-out option. Internal documents revealed by Bloomberg earlier this week suggest that Google considered giving publishers more control over how their content is used in AI-generated results but ultimately decided against it, prioritizing product functionality over publisher protections. News/Media Alliance slammed Google for "further depriving publishers of original content both traffic and revenue." Their full statement reads: "Links were the last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue. Now Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft. The DOJ remedies must address this to prevent continued domination of the internet by one company." 9to5Google's take: It's not hard to see why Google went the route that it did here. Giving publishers the ability to opt out of AI products while still benefiting from Search would ultimately make Google's flashy new tools useless if enough sites made the switch. It was very much a move in the interest of building a better product. Does that change anything regarding how Google's AI products in Search cause potential harm to the publishing industry? Nope. Google's tools continue to serve the company and its users (mostly) well, but as they continue to bleed publishers dry, those publishers are on the verge of vanishing or, arguably worse, turning to cheap and poorly produced content just to get enough views to survive. This is a problem Google needs to address, as it's making the internet as a whole worse for everyone. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It’s not only Instagram users and holiday makers snapping selfies — even robots are getting in on the action. This new image from the NASA Perseverance rover shows a selfie that’s out of this world, captured as the rover collected its latest sample of martian rock. Taken on May 10, the selfie was devised to celebrate the rover’s 1,500th day on Mars. As a day on Mars is just a little bit longer than an Earth day, at around 24 hours and 39 minutes, NASA measures its Mars missions in “sols” or martian days. As well as being a fun image for scientists and the public to enjoy, it gives the engineering team on the ground the chance to check the look and the status of the rover as it has been exploring since it landed in February 2021. Recommended Videos You can see plenty of red dust covering the rover, as the surface of Mars is covered in a dusty material called regolith which gives the planet its famous red color. Dust can be quite the challenge for Mars missions, as it gets everywhere when it is whipped up by huge dust storms and can cause problems by gumming up electronics and covering solar panels. But fortunately for Perseverance, the rover may look a little grubby on the outside but its essential functions are all still working well. “After 1,500 sols, we may be a bit dusty, but our beauty is more than skin deep,” said Art Thompson, Perseverance project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Our multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator is giving us all the power we need. All our systems and subsystems are in the green and clicking along, and our amazing instruments continue to provide data that will feed scientific discoveries for years to come.” Even with all the instruments working correctly, though, getting the rover to take a selfie isn’t a quick job. The image was captured using Perseverance’s WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera, which is located at the end of its robotic arm. As the rover was working on capturing the selfie, it also caught an unexpected photobomber: a wind feature called a dust devil which popped up in the background. “To get that selfie look, each WATSON image has to have its own unique field of view,” explained Megan Wu, a Perseverance imaging scientist from Malin Space Science Systems. “That means we had to make 62 precision movements of the robotic arm. The whole process takes about an hour, but it’s worth it. Having the dust devil in the background makes it a classic. This is a great shot.” With its celebrations well in hand, the rover is now moving on to investigate a new area of Mars: a region called “Krokodillen” after a Norwegian mountain ridge. This area is particularly exciting because it is thought to contain some of the oldest rocks on Mars, which could help to unlock the secrets of how the solar system formed. Here on Earth, our planet has a system of tectonics in which parts of the planet’s crust are gradually pulled down toward the mantle when they meet at a fault line. That means that the rocks on Earth are essentially recycled in an ongoing cycle of melting down toward the planet’s interior then rising up and cooling to become part of the surface. That’s why there are very few extremely old rocks on Earth. On Mars, however, it’s a different story. Mars doesn’t have plate tectonics, so very old rocks can stay on its surface for billions of years. Some of these are up to 4 billion years old, or even older, so studying them can help scientists learn about how the rocky planets formed in our solar system around 4.5 billion years ago. To study these very old rocks, though, Perseverance needs to find them first. There are thought to be extremely old rocks along the edge of the huge crater in which the rover landed, called Jezero. The Jezero Crater is almost 30 miles across, likely created by a huge meteorite impact billions of years ago. When this object slammed into the martian surface, it threw up large amounts of material like huge chunks of rock which landed nearby and are still there to this day. That means that by looking along the rim of the crater, Perseverance can search for these ancient chunks of rocks and use its instruments to study them. That can also help to answer one particularly important question that scientists want to understand, which is how long there was water on Mars. They know that, although Mars is dry and arid today, it once had plentiful liquid water on its surface. It may even have looked a lot like Earth at one point — and we know that water is essential for the formation of life. What scientists don’t agree on is exactly how long there was water on Mars, and whether it would have been around for long enough to give potential life the chance to develop there. So knowing exactly when Mars lost is water is a key part of understanding the planet and whether it could ever have supported life. To that end, Perseverance will be keeping a lookout for clay minerals which form in the presence of water, perhaps even formed before the impact which created the crater. These could contain potential indications of life, called biosignatures, such as organic compounds. “If we find a potential biosignature here, it would most likely be from an entirely different and much earlier epoch of Mars evolution than the one we found last year,” said NASA scientist Ken Farley. “The Krokodillen rocks formed before Jezero Crater was created, during Mars’ earliest geologic period, the Noachian, and are among the oldest rocks on Mars.”

Blue tarps attempt to cover up the damage to North Korea's new destroyer. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies 2025-05-23T18:28:00Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? North Korea's naval gaffe with a 5,000-ton destroyer's launch can be seen from space. A photo shows the warship capsized in the water after a botched launch. State media said a furious Kim slammed the mistake as a "serious accident and criminal act." New satellite images of the Chongjin port in North Korea show the aftermath of a failed ship launch on Wednesday: a capsized new destroyer still partially resting on the pier. The ship's internal compartments are almost certainly flooded, complicating efforts to right it.Calling the event a "serious accident" on Thursday, North Korean state media reported that the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, was watching the ceremony as the ship's stern slid down a ramp ahead of schedule, jamming the entire vessel.Satellite imagery from Airbus and Maxar Technologies show that North Korea likely planned a broadside launch of the 5,000-ton destroyer, a method that splashes the ship sideways into the water.In one image, taken after the failed launch, the ship appears to be lying on its starboard side and still partially stuck on the ramp; the superstructure that is its highest point can be seen lying to the left of the hull, resting in or near the water. Much of the vessel's frame seems obscured by blue fabric. The aerial image below reveals the line of the normally level aft flight deck fully on its side, at far right. Choe Hyon was reportedly North Korea's largest warship to date. Airbus The weight of the bow section on the pier may be pinning the destroyer in an exposed position and would be exacerbated by any internal flooding likely on the stern. These internal spaces would need to be de-watered before a heavy-lift crane has a chance to lift the 5,000-ton vessel.Lee Sung-jun, a spokesperson for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Thursday that Seoul also assessed the ship to be partially submerged. Seawater can corrode and short-circuit electronic systems and rust exposed metal, necessitating expensive and time-consuming repairs once it's removed.State media wrote that the launch mechanism malfunctioned, causing the stern to slide into the water while the bow remained stuck on land.After watching the error, an irate Kim was quoted by state media as criticizing the officials involved in the launch, saying they were censured and that their mistakes would be "dealt with" at a party committee meeting next month. This image, taken on May 18, shows the naval destroyer before it was damaged. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies The North Korean leader further called the bungled launch a "serious accident and criminal act," adding that it had "brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse in a moment."South Korean officials told reporters on Thursday that it's likely the destroyer is in the same class as the Choe Hyon, a 5,000-ton vessel that it launched from a separate shipyard in April.Analysts and top North Korea watchers have assessed that the Choe Hyon is the country's largest warship to date.Satellite images from early last month showed what experts said was likely the "fitting out" process of the ship, during which internal construction is completed and equipment is installed before the warship is handed over to North Korea's navy. Then, in late April, North Korea unveiled the vessel during a ceremony at Nampo port. A ship is launched once it's watertight and all of its major components are installed.The only upside for North Korea is that during a ship launch likely no crewmembers would be aboard.The Choe Hyon has been identified as a guided missile frigate and reportedly one of two in the class that are under construction. Some analysts suggested the warship looked capable of carrying a vertical launch system, an upgrade for North Korea's naval capabilities that allows the warship to carry a larger arsenal South Korean TV shows the new frigate Choe Hyun at a launch ceremony at a North Korean shipyard in April 2025. Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The Choe Hyon is just one example of Pyongyang's naval modernization efforts. It's been a top priority under Kim along with a broader military buildup. Much of that focus has been on the submarine force; North Korea unveiled a new missile submarine two years ago.North Korea's navy is considered "primarily a coastal force" per a 2021 US Defense Intelligence Agency report, consisting of about 60,000 personnel, 400 patrol ships, 70 diesel-electric submarines, and 260 amphibious landing craft. The country faces insufficient resources in its shipbuilding industry, a major challenge towards its naval modernization efforts.While Choe Hyon appeared to be a sophisticated vessel, experts were waiting until its launch to observe potential capabilities and technologies.