Posts

Showing posts from February, 2026

Blizzard triggers New York City travel ban as airlines cancel thousands of flights

Image
Canceled flight at LaGuardia Airport ahead of massive i=winter storm. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP A significant winter storm will pummel much of the Northeast from Sunday to Monday. Airlines are delaying and canceling thousands of flights as a result. Adding to the travel chaos, Homeland Security said it would shut down TSA PreCheck and Global Entry. The Monday morning commute won't be messy in New York City. It will be nonexistent. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a state of emergency and a travel ban during a press conference on Sunday as a giant winter storm bore down on much of the Northeast. The National Weather Service said to expect blizzard conditions and up to 20 inches of snow over the next 24 hours. Parts of New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts could get up to 25 inches. "The state of emergency closes the streets, highways, and bridges of New York City for all traffic," Mamdami said. The travel ban begins at 9 p.m. Sunday and lasts un...

A profile of Neil Shen of HSG, formerly Sequoia China, which raised $9B from US investors before US restrictions and has funded Manus and other Chinese startups (Wall Street Journal)

Image
Wall Street Journal : A profile of Neil Shen of HSG, formerly Sequoia China, which raised $9B from US investors before US restrictions and has funded Manus and other Chinese startups   —  Neil Shen has long bridged both countries, from working at Sequoia after Yale to his own firm from Techmeme https://ift.tt/vRmobhn

Sam Altman says discussions about AI's energy usage are "unfair", as it takes "20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time" to train a human (Anthony Ha/TechCrunch)

Image
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch : Sam Altman says discussions about AI's energy usage are “unfair”, as it takes “20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time” to train a human   —  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed concerns about AI's environmental impact this week while speaking at an event hosted by The Indian Express. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/JStUkEc

I have the best talks with my preteen son when I drive him to school in the morning. I hope he knows I'm always here for him.

Image
The author tries to make sure her son's birthday feels separate from holiday celebrations. Courtesy of Ashley Archambault My son became quieter as he entered his tween years. Car rides turned into our most meaningful time together. Showing up consistently matters more than forcing conversations. When my son was still under 5, I worked at the local library . In my free time, my son was basically my best buddy. My supervisor at the time had teenagers, so she was in a different parenting stage than I was. I remember her saying that the secret to keeping her kids close was to drive them around as much as possible. This kept her kids talking to her and enabled her to maintain close relationships with them. She was so right with her advice. My son is now a tween My son just turned 12, and the shift from boy to teenager seems to have happened overnight. He is becoming more independent and less talkative — with me, but not his social circle. I know it's the natural orde...

English-language Wikipedia bans Archive.today after editors discover it was used to direct a DDoS attack and tampered with snapshots; 695K+ links to be removed (Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica)

Image
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica : English-language Wikipedia bans Archive.today after editors discover it was used to direct a DDoS attack and tampered with snapshots; 695K+ links to be removed   —  The English-language edition of Wikipedia is blacklisting Archive.today after the controversial archive site was used to direct … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/DXOqgVu

Interviews with Cluely's Roy Lee, Donald Boat, and other highly "agentic" young men, as agency becomes more valuable than technical skills in Silicon Valley (Sam Kriss/Harper's)

Image
Sam Kriss / Harper's : Interviews with Cluely's Roy Lee, Donald Boat, and other highly “agentic” young men, as agency becomes more valuable than technical skills in Silicon Valley   —  Tech's new generation and the end of thinking … Cluely and its co-founder Chungin “Roy” Lee were intensely, and intentionally, controversial. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/yUP6iuW

Kavanaugh in dissent: Bad policy or not, Trump's tariffs were 'clearly lawful'

Image
Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Jr., Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images On Friday, a 6-3 SCOTUS majority struck down the bulk of President Trump's tariffs. Three conservative justices, Kavanaugh, Thomas, and Alito, issued a pair of dissenting opinions. See why they said Trump's tariffs are perfectly legal. Three conservative justices of the US Supreme Court — Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito — broke with the majority Friday, arguing that President Donald Trump had clear authority to impose his sweeping tariff policy. The three dissenting justices said the president's tariffs were perfectly legal under the 1970-era law Trump used that says presidents can "regulate" importation in the case of emergencies. "The tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy," Kavanaugh wrote. "But as a matter of text, history, and precedent, they are clearly lawful." The three justices also not...

Sources: Google may invest $100M in Fluidstack at a $7.5B valuation and has backstopped crypto miners that are building datacenters, seeking to expand TPU use (Wall Street Journal)

Image
Wall Street Journal : Sources: Google may invest $100M in Fluidstack at a $7.5B valuation and has backstopped crypto miners that are building datacenters, seeking to expand TPU use   —  As more AI companies consider Google's chips, the company wants to use deals with external partners to expand the potential market from Techmeme https://ift.tt/wHUKtPN

Netflix's co-CEO says Trump has one big question about the Warner Bros. sale

Image
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said his conversations with President Donald Trump have been about jobs. Monica Schipper/WireImage; Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Netflix's co-CEO said his talks with President Donald Trump about Warner Bros. have been focused on jobs. Ted Sarandos said the president hasn't asked for political concessions. Instead, Sarandos said Trump wants to bring jobs back to Hollywood after years of lower production. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says President Donald Trump is all business as the Department of Justice weighs the streaming giant's potential acquisition of Warner Bros . "The only thing we talk about is how to keep jobs in America, how to keep the production industry healthy," Sarandos said of his talks with Trump during an appearance on Puck's " The Town " podcast. Trump "wants to know what happened in California," Sarandos said in the podcast episode, referencing the state's film and TV...

Cleveland-based Eagle Wireless, which makes cellular modules used in IoT devices, raised a $30M Series B as the US seeks to reduce its reliance on China (Chris Metinko/Axios)

Image
Chris Metinko / Axios : Cleveland-based Eagle Wireless, which makes cellular modules used in IoT devices, raised a $30M Series B as the US seeks to reduce its reliance on China   —  Eagle Wireless, a cellular module manufacturer, raised a $30 million Series B from Asymmetric Capital Partners and The O.H.I.O. Fund … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3ceD9Vw

Photos show the best looks Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra have worn together, from the Met Gala to the Grammys

Image
Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas at "The Bluff" premiere in Hollywood, California. Brianna Bryson/Getty Images Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas have been sharing standout fashion moments since 2017. They often attend red carpets together in glamorous looks. On occasion, they also wear daring outfits that include sheer fabric, sparkles, and unique shoes. Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas are the definition of a power couple . Since 2017, the 33-year-old musician and 43-year-old actor have consistently reached new heights in their relationship and respective careers. They've also remained one of the most stylish couples in Hollywood. Here are the best red-carpet looks they've worn together, from the Met Gala to the Grammys . Nick Jonas, 33, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, 43, had a strong style debut at the 2017 Met Gala — though they weren't dating at the time. Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas at the Met Gala on May 1, 2017. John Shearer/Ge...

Meta plans to spend $65M in 2025 to boost state politicians friendly to AI; filings: Meta started two super PACs, one backing the GOP and another for Democrats (New York Times)

Image
New York Times : Meta plans to spend $65M in 2025 to boost state politicians friendly to AI; filings: Meta started two super PACs, one backing the GOP and another for Democrats   —  Meta's biggest election investment aims to prevent state legislation that it fears could inhibit artificial intelligence development. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ONhvAUP

Mesh, founded by ex-SpaceX staff to mass produce optical transceivers that convert optical signals to electrical signals, raised a $50M Series A led by Thrive (Edward Ludlow/Bloomberg)

Image
Edward Ludlow / Bloomberg : Mesh, founded by ex-SpaceX staff to mass produce optical transceivers that convert optical signals to electrical signals, raised a $50M Series A led by Thrive   —  Mesh Optical Technologies, a startup working on hardware used to move data at high speeds within data centers … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/JtclHzA

Q&A with Google Chief AI Scientist Jeff Dean about the evolution of Google Search, TPUs, coding agents, balancing model efficiency and performance, and more (Latent.Space)

Image
Latent.Space : Q&A with Google Chief AI Scientist Jeff Dean about the evolution of Google Search, TPUs, coding agents, balancing model efficiency and performance, and more   —  From rewriting Google's search stack in the early 2000s to reviving sparse trillion-parameter models and co-designing TPUs … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/kGi98xV

Sources: SpaceX and xAI are competing in a $100M DoD contest to make voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarms; OpenAI is helping Applied Intuition's submission (Katrina Manson/Bloomberg)

Image
Katrina Manson / Bloomberg : Sources: SpaceX and xAI are competing in a $100M DoD contest to make voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarms; OpenAI is helping Applied Intuition's submission   —  Elon Musk's SpaceX and wholly owned subsidiary xAI are competing in a secretive new Pentagon contest to produce voice-controlled … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/UVo3ZtK

Apple says it will bring "advanced video capabilities" to Apple Podcasts this spring, including allowing users to switch between watching and listening to shows (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Image
Todd Spangler / Variety : Apple says it will bring “advanced video capabilities” to Apple Podcasts this spring, including allowing users to switch between watching and listening to shows   —  Apple Podcasts is finally giving video a full embrace.  —  The tech giant, which pioneered the podcast audio format … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/6az0PZi

Tesla pulls the plug on one-time purchases of FSD

Image
Edie Leong for The Washington Post via Getty Images Tesla eliminated the option to purchase Full Self-Driving with a one-time fee over the weekend. Previously, Tesla offered FSD as an $8,000 one-time purchase option. Musk has said he plans to hike FSD subscription prices as its capabilities improve. Tesla has shifted its Full Self-Driving feature to a subscription model. Over the weekend, the company removed the option to purchase the feature in the US via a one-time flat fee of $8,000. For years, Tesla owners have been able to purchase the service with a one-time payment that would allow them to use it for the full lifespan of their vehicle. Now, the driver-assist feature is available only via a $99-per-month subscription. Tesla CEO Elon Musk first announced in January that the change would take effect the following month. In the past, Musk has said that Teslas would serve as "appreciating assets," suggesting owners could benefit as the software became increas...

Lawsuits or billion-dollar deals: How Disney picks its AI copyright battles

Image
Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance after its new video generation model, Seedance 2.0, produced AI versions of its characters. It took a very different approach, however, when OpenAI's Sora did the same. Handout/Getty Images Disney's IP is under siege by the AI industry's 'ask for forgiveness, not permission' culture. Disney sent a cease-and-desist to ByteDance, saying it 'hijacked' its characters with Seedance 2.0. When OpenAI's Sora was used to create Disney characters, however, the House of Mouse struck a deal. No, Disney did not release footage of a never-before-seen fight sequence between Marvel's Wolverine and Thanos (spoiler: Thanos won). That clip, which amassed over 142,000 views on X over 48 hours, was created using Seedance 2.0 , an AI video generation model that ByteDance debuted last week. The tool created a buzz on social media, where one user made a hyperrealistic AI video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting ...

Former NPR host David Greene sues Google for allegedly replicating his voice in NotebookLM without permission; Google says the voice is based on a paid actor (Will Oremus/Washington Post)

Image
Will Oremus / Washington Post : Former NPR host David Greene sues Google for allegedly replicating his voice in NotebookLM without permission; Google says the voice is based on a paid actor   —  NPR's David Greene says he was “completely freaked out” when he heard an AI voice that sounded just like his own, and he's suing over it. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2E0ofaZ

We've tested nearly 100 work bags, and the Dagne Dover Allyn Tote is our favorite

Image
When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more We love the Allyn tote for the organizational features that make it stand above the rest. Samantha Crozier/Insider A bag has to pass a ton of tests to make our list of the best work bags for women . Between everyone on our team, we've probably tested over 100 work totes — and we've scrutinized each one with scientific rigor by filling them to the brim and schlepping back and forth on NYC subways. After years of testing, Dagne Dover's Allyn Leather Tote has reigned supreme as our favorite. Among its other standout features, it has the best internal organization we've ever seen. But all those pockets and compartments are contained in a bag with a sleek silhouette. As the old saying goes, there's a place for everything, and everything has its place. It comes in three colors (onyx, bone, and graphite) and two sizes (one for a 13" laptop and one for a 16" lapto...