Father figure pointing out an approaching helicopter to his child on a mountain ridge.
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Console wars death watch: Microsoft Flight Simulator coming to PS5 in December

For decades now, the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise has been associated with Microsoft’s own DOS/Windows operating systems and, more recently, Xbox consoles (weird exceptions like this 1986 Macintosh port notwithstanding). However, that era seems set to end as Sony announced during this evening’s State of Play livestream that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will come to...

Groupon Promo Codes: 50% Off in September 2025
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Groupon Promo Codes: 50% Off in September 2025

I will be a Groupon stan until I die. I have used their coupons for massages, haircuts, oil changes, and for experiences like a Camel ride in the Sahara while I was in Morocco and a deal on glamping in an Airstream trailer in Joshua Tree. I even found my favorite waxing aesthetician on Groupon....

Honor’s Magic 8 Pro is getting a new AI button
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Honor’s Magic 8 Pro is getting a new AI button

Honor has revealed the design of its upcoming Magic 8 Pro flagship in a selection of images shared exclusively with The Verge, confirming that the phone will include a dedicated AI button. When the Magic 8 series launches in China next month, the phones will be among the first powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite...

Large white "Y" overlaid on an orange-tinted skyline of San Francisco
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Y Combinator launches ‘Early Decision’ for students who want to graduate first, build later

For decades, Silicon Valley has valorized the college dropout. Founders like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg left school early to build companies and they became billionaires.  That ethos was later institutionalized through initiatives like the Thiel Fellowship, which famously pays promising students $100,000 to leave college and start companies. For many years, the...

People at Tehran Grand Bazaar market in May 2017.
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When “no” means “yes”: Why AI chatbots can’t process Persian social etiquette

If an Iranian taxi driver waves away your payment, saying, “Be my guest this time,” accepting their offer would be a cultural disaster. They expect you to insist on paying—probably three times—before they’ll take your money. This dance of refusal and counter-refusal, called taarof, governs countless daily interactions in Persian culture. And AI models are...

Three men and a woman, all in blue flight suits, sit at a desk during a press conference
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The crew of Artemis II will fly on Integrity during mission to the Moon

The Artemis II crew (from the right): Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen pose in front of their Orion spacecraft, which they have named “Integrity.” Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak Whole and undivided Ultimately, Integrity was inspired by something one of their instructors said while on a team-building trip to Iceland. “He coined this...

13 Best MagSafe Power Banks for iPhones (2025), Tested and Reviewed
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13 Best MagSafe Power Banks for iPhones (2025), Tested and Reviewed

Other MagSafe Power Banks to Consider We like a few other MagSafe power banks that didn’t make it into our top picks. Apple MagSafe Battery for iPhone Air. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu Apple’s MagSafe Battery for iPhone Air for $99: The super svelte iPhone Air doesn’t have room for a big battery, so Apple offers this...

A photo of the "Stargate I" site in Abilene, Texas.
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Why does OpenAI need six giant data centers?

Training next-generation AI models compounds the problem. On top of running existing AI models like those that power ChatGPT, OpenAI is constantly working on new technology in the background. It’s a process that requires thousands of specialized chips running continuously for months. The circular investment question The financial structure of these deals between OpenAI, Oracle,...

A “cosmic carpool” is traveling to a distant space weather observation post
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A “cosmic carpool” is traveling to a distant space weather observation post

The mission is named for George Carruthers, an engineer and solar physicist who developed an ultraviolet camera placed on the Moon by the Apollo 16 astronauts in 1972. This camera captured the first view of the geocorona, a term coined by Carruthers himself. The 531-pound (241-kilogram) Carruthers observatory was built by BAE Systems, with instruments...