This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they’re going to change your life. We’ll be taking a break next week and will back March 20th. Opt in for Optimizer here. On the surface, the wellness to […]
Bill Gates-founded nuclear energy startup TerraPower has been granted approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a next-generation reactor in Wyoming. This is the first commercial-scale, advanced nuclear power plant to ever receive the federal permit, according to the press release, and will be the first commercial reactor constructed in the US in almost […]
Leaders from Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, OpenAI, Amazon, and xAI met with President Donald Trump today to sign a “rate payer protection pledge.” It’s one way they’re responding to growing bipartisan concerns about electricity rates rising as tech companies and the Trump administration rush to build out a new generation of AI data centers. “[Tech […]
Fuel prices surged after the Trump administration launched strikes against Iran on Saturday, immediately raising questions about whether the war would increase energy costs for Americans, put more pressure on power grids, and push companies to pump out more oil and gas in the US. If conflict drags on, that could potentially play into Donald […]
Finnish startup Donut Lab is out to prove that its solid-state battery is all that it claims to be. Last week, the test was about fast charging. This week is where things get hot. Like the first test, this one was also conducted by state-owned VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The team set out […]
As a kid, I went door to door collecting cans to earn some pocket change. Today, I still take pride in recycling. I slice cardboard boxes down to size each Sunday, and make sure every viable plastic container winds up in my family’s recycling bins. Sometimes I even pull cellophane windows out of paper envelopes, […]
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s automated alert system is online and already bombarding astronomers with things to look at in the night sky. The system went live publicly on Tuesday, February 24th, and on the first night dropped some 800,000 alerts about asteroids, supernovas, and feasting black holes. And that number is only expected to […]
NASA announced at a press conference on Friday that it’s delaying its plans for a Moon landing until Artemis IV in 2028. The Artemis III mission, scheduled for 2027, was originally going to attempt to land on the Moon but will now be a test flight instead. NASA also says it’s “increasing its cadence of […]
This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they’re going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here. In 2017, I was at rock bottom. My dad’s health was rapidly failing; my relationship with my mom […]
Ultrahuman is expanding its health monitoring ecosystem with the launch of a new flagship smart ring and a “biointelligence AI” platform upgrade. The Ring Pro is Ultrahuman’s third-generation smart ring, and promises up to 15 days of battery life before needing to recharge, alongside 250 days of on-device health history storage. Those are some significant […]