Author: Awais

The Trump administration has agreed to inject up to $150 million into xLight, a semiconductor startup developing advanced chip-making technology, marking the third time the U.S. government has taken an equity position in a private startup and further expanding a controversial strategy that has put Washington on the cap tables of American companies. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Commerce Department will provide the funding to xLight in exchange for an equity stake that will likely make the government the startup’s largest shareholder. The deal uses funding from the 2022 Chips and Science Act and represents the first…

American hyperscalers adhere to the US Cloud Act, which goes against Swiss beliefsPrivatim is advocating for true E2EE and more transparency across the chainAmerican hyperscalers are acceptable if customers can encrypt their own dataSwiss data protection officers have warned public bodies not to use cloud services from industry hyperscalers Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, due to a lack of true end-to-end encryption.This comes as many SaaS vendors, especially those falling under the US Cloud Act, could be required to hand over data to US authorities, even if it’s stored in Switzerland.Cloud providers were also criticized for not offering sufficient transparency to…

It seems like Aldi’s aisles transitioned from pumpkins and fall goodies to gingerbread-inspired mugs and holiday sweaters in the blink of an eye. The retailer has been moving full speed ahead into the Christmas season, and as fans of its charcuterie section, panettone, and chocolate truffle gift boxes, we’re definitely not complaining. Recently, a beloved treat returned to stores, and shoppers are already making extra room in their pantries. Benton’s Fudge Covered Peppermint Cremes Benton’s Fudge Covered Peppermint Cremes are back on shelves at Aldi. The treat features sweet peppermint creme sandwiched between two chocolate cookies. Each is then covered…

The social landscape is shifting faster than at any point in the past decade. 2026 is poised to redefine how brands show up online. Emerging platforms are gaining traction, algorithms are reshaping reach and consumers are demanding more human connection from the companies they follow. Against this backdrop, marketers are recalibrating their strategies for a world where traditional brand accounts can’t do all the heavy lifting. Social teams are diversifying their organic ecosystems, investing in intelligence and analytics, and meeting audiences in the private spaces where real conversations already happen. To help you prepare for what’s ahead, we asked industry…

Disney+ has released the trailer for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show, a full recording of the last concert in the singer’s record-smashing global tour.Filmed in Vancouver, B.C. last December, the recorded concert will include all the songs on Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department. These weren’t included in earlier shows on the Eras Tour, but were added after the album’s release in 2024. As such, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show will no doubt be a boon to any Swifties who could only attend the tour’s earlier dates.In addition to the…

Why Make This You only need four simple ingredients to make these festive peanut butter balls.This recipe is no-bake, saving you time and keeping your oven free for other treats.You can customize these with different chocolates, sprinkles, or crunchy add-ins. When the holiday season arrived at my house growing up, I always knew two things were on the menu. Every year, we’d make cut-out sugar cookies decorated with plenty of colorful frosting, and peanut butter balls, which became more and more impressive to me every year. I grew up watching my mom roll and dip countless peanut butter balls to…

Gemini 3 launched in AI Mode just a couple of weeks ago, but now Google is expanding it to about 120 countries and territories for English queries. Google’s Robby Stein said, “Gemini 3 is now available in AI Mode, across nearly 120 countries & territories in English.” What is AI Mode with Gemini 3. Google shared how AI Mode in Search is now using Gemini 3 to enable new generative UI experiences like immersive visual layouts and interactive tools and simulations, all generated completely on the fly based on your query. Gemini 3 is used in AI Mode in Search with…

[Submitted on 6 Nov 2025 (v1), last revised 30 Nov 2025 (this version, v4)] View a PDF of the paper titled Addressing divergent representations from causal interventions on neural networks, by Satchel Grant and 3 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:A common approach to mechanistic interpretability is to causally manipulate model representations via targeted interventions in order to understand what those representations encode. Here we ask whether such interventions create out-of-distribution (divergent) representations, and whether this raises concerns about how faithful their resulting explanations are to the target model in its natural state. First, we demonstrate theoretically and empirically…

Cyber Monday is nearing its end – at least on the East Coast of the United States – but this deal is what the shopping holiday is all about. Right now, you can get an M1 MacBook Air at Walmart for what is the lowest price we’ve ever tracked.The 13-inch MacBook Air with the M1 chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage in silver or space gray has dropped to just $499.99. That’s $150 off the $599.99 MSRP Walmart shows, but remember this used to be $999 when Apple officially sold it, so it’s really a nearly $500 discount…

I’ve long been a fan of the roll cake: its tubular shape, hypnotically coiled cross-section, and puffy round slice. Yet, decoration rarely ventures beyond a smattering of berries and cream, or in the Yule log’s case, a fork-carved grain. The bûche de Noël first originated in 19th-century Parisian pâtisseries, inspired by a timeworn European tradition in which a village or household member scoured the wintry woods for a log massive enough to burn for 12 consecutive days. The festive dessert evokes Christmas hearths of yore with an unmistakable chocolate “bark” exterior and marzipan-and-meringue-sculpted fairytale forest embellishments.Though the Yule log had…