Apple added the 2013 "Trash Can" Mac Pro to its vintage products list alongside the 2019 13-inch MacBook Air, 2019 iMac, 2018 iPad Pro models, and the 128GB iPhone 8. The cylindrical Mac Pro remained on sale until December 2019, when Apple replaced it with the redesigned "Cheese Grater" model. Products typically reach vintage status five years after their last distribution date. The 2013 Mac Pro's radical cylindrical design prevented internal component upgrades and created thermal limitations that Apple acknowledged in 2017. "I think we designed ourselves into a bit of a thermal corner," Apple hardware chief Craig Federighi said at the time. Apple also moved several AirPort devices to its obsolete list, including the second-generation AirPort Express and AirPort Time Capsules. The 2013 Mac Pro's radical design created thermal limitations that Apple acknowledged in 2017.

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The U.S. government has canceled a proposed $900 million project to study in unprecedented detail the afterglow of the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Science magazine: Known as CMB-S4, the project envisioned new arrays of ultrasensitive microwave telescopes at the South Pole and in Chile's Atacama Desert. Their goal: to detect patterns in the ancient light that would prove the newborn universe expanded in an exponential growth spurt called cosmic inflation. The project, which could have delivered smoking gun evidence for a key theory in cosmology, was supposed to be a joint venture between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE). However, yesterday, the agencies sent an unsigned statement to the leaders of the collaboration saying the project is off. "DOE and NSF have jointly decided that they can no longer support the CMB-S4 Project," it reads.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: This week has seen the shortest days of the year so far. According to data from the U.S. Naval Observatory and the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, Tuesday's rotation was about 1.34 milliseconds less than 24 hours. More quick spins are expected this week, later this month and in early August, according to predictions from the website Time and Date. This isn't completely out of the ordinary: Our world's spins have been faster than usual lately. The average day has mostly shortened over the past decade, and within the past five years or so, the full rotation has clocked in at a hair less than 24 hours more often than not. Factors driving the change include movements at Earth's core, atmospheric changes and the moon's position. But long-term trends do not suggest that the days will shorten in perpetuity. In fact, it is just the opposite. For many millenniums, the days have been growing longer. A Tyrannosaurus rex that lived 70 million years ago would have experienced an average daily rotation of about 23 1/2 hours, studies have found.

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Denmark's Parliament adopted a law in May raising the retirement age to 70 by 2040, up from the current 67, affecting anyone born after December 31, 1970. The country indexed its official retirement age to life expectancy in 2006 and revises it every five years, with the age set to increase to 68 in 2030 and 69 in 2035. Few Danes actually work until the legal retirement age -- in 2022, when the official age was 67, the actual average retirement age was around 64, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. About 20% of Danish retirees leave work because they cannot find employment or are too sick to continue. The universal public pension currently provides 7,198 kroner ($1,130) per month, supplemented by mandatory and optional employer-funded pensions.

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Four years of research following the 2021 western North American heat wave has revealed both the meteorological conditions that fuel extreme temperatures and evidence that heat has physical limits. The 2021 event "shocked everyone, including specialists working on the subject. People were completely stunned," said Robin Noyelle, a postdoctoral researcher in climate science at ETH Zurich. Scientists now focus on temperature departures from local averages rather than absolute readings. The most anomalously warm temperature was recorded in Antarctica, where temperatures rose 39C above average in March 2022. North Pole temperatures surged 20C higher than normal in February, reaching the melting point in winter. Research has identified five key factors that enable extreme heat: cloudless skies, high pressure, dark surfaces, lower altitudes, and lack of water. "Basically all of these conditions are met in Death Valley, but not in many other places in the world," said climate scientist Friederike Otto. Scientists insist that there are heat limits, though these upper bounds will rise with global warming, they caution.

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Warner Bros. releases a $225 million Superman reboot this week that executives consider the studio's final chance to build a successful cinematic universe rivaling Marvel's dominance. The film, written and directed by James Gunn, serves as the foundation for DC Studios' planned expansion into multiple films and television shows. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav appointed Gunn and producer Peter Safran to lead the newly unified DC Studios in 2022, ending decades of corporate infighting that prevented the company's superheroes from matching Marvel's success. The Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe has generated $32 billion across 36 films since 2008. Warner executives want the movie to gross over $500 million globally, according to WSJ. If successful, this would mark the first year since 2008 that DC outperforms Marvel at the box office.

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New submitter RJFerret shares a Belkin support page: After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to end technical support for older Wemo products, effective January 31, 2026. After this date, several Wemo products will no longer be controllable through the Wemo app. Any features that rely on cloud connectivity, including remote access and voice assistant integrations, will no longer work.' List of devices found in the link (four Thread based unaffected).

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A Russian professional basketball player has been arrested in France at the request of the United States, which reportedly accused him of being involved in a ransomware group that allegedly targeted hundreds of American companies and federal institutions. From a report: Daniil Kasatkin, 26, was detained in June at Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport shortly after arriving in the country with his fiancee, according to local media reports. He is currently being held in extradition custody, with a U.S. warrant reportedly issued against him. Kasatkin previously studied and played basketball in the U.S., at Penn State University. The unnamed ransomware network Kasatkin is suspected of being part of is believed to have targeted nearly 900 entities between 2020 and 2022. Local media, citing court proceedings in Paris, reported that Kasatkin allegedly helped negotiate ransom payments, though the extent of the damage caused by the attacks has not been disclosed.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon did not pull his punches when he spoke at Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs. "You're losing," he said of European competitiveness with the U.S. and Asia, in comments reported by the Financial Times. "Europe has gone from 90% U.S. GDP to 65% over 10 or 15 years. That's not good." "We've got this huge, strong market and our companies are big and successful, have huge kinds of scale that are global. You have that, but less and less," Dimon said on Thursday.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: HMD Global, the company best known for licensing the Nokia brand for new phones and tablets over the last decade, has announced that it will "scale back" its US operations, and appears to have stopped selling both HMD and Nokia devices entirely. [...] Based in Finland, HMD was formed in 2016 in order to purchase the Nokia feature phone business from Microsoft, which had in turn bought the ailing brand in 2014. It also secured a license to use the Nokia name on smartphones and tablets, with a focus on affordable and midrange hardware.

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The University of Washington's Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering is overhauling its approach to computer science education as AI reshapes the tech industry. Director Magdalena Balazinska has declared that "coding, or the translation of a precise design into software instructions, is dead" because AI can now handle that work. The Pacific Northwest's premier tech program now allows students to use GPT tools in assignments, requiring them to cite AI as a collaborator just as they would credit input from a fellow student. The school is considering "coordinated changes to our curriculum" after encouraging professors to experiment with AI integration.

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Fertility rates have fallen to historically low levels [PDF] in virtually all high-income countries due to a fundamental reordering of adult priorities rather than economic factors, according to a new National Bureau of Economic Research study. Economists Melissa Schettini Kearney and Phillip B. Levine analyzed cohort data and found rising childlessness at all observed ages alongside falling completed fertility rates. Total fertility rates have dropped below replacement level in nearly all OECD countries, with many sustaining rates below 1.5. Some East Asian countries including South Korea, Singapore, and China now have fertility rates at or below one child per woman. The researchers concluded that period-based explanations focused on short-term income or price changes cannot explain the widespread decline. Instead, evidence points to "shifting priorities" involving changing norms, evolving economic opportunities, and broader social and cultural forces that have diminished parenthood's role in adult lives.

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Russia's State Duma rejected legislation that would have legalized ethical hacking, citing national security concerns. Politicians worried that discovering vulnerabilities in software from hostile countries would require sharing those security flaws with foreign companies, potentially enabling strategic exploitation. The bill also failed to explain how existing laws would accommodate white-hat hacking provisions. Russia's Ministry of Digital Development introduced the proposal in 2022, with a first draft in 2023. Individual security researchers currently face prosecution under Russian Criminal Code for unauthorized computer access, while established cybersecurity companies can conduct limited vulnerability research.

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Google is rolling out photo-to-video generation in its Gemini app today, allowing paid subscribers to upload images and transform them into short AI videos using the company's Veo 3 model. The feature requires a subscription to Google's AI Pro plan at $20 per month for three daily video generations, or the $250 AI Ultra plan for five daily videos. Videos are limited to 720p resolution and eight seconds in length, taking several minutes to generate due to computational requirements.

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Indeed and Glassdoor -- both owned by the Japanese group Recruit Holdings -- are cutting roughly 1,300 jobs as part of a broader move to combine operations and shift more focus toward AI. From a report: The cuts will mostly affect people in the US, especially within teams including research and development and people and sustainability, Recruit Holdings Chief Executive Officer Hisayuki "Deko" Idekoba said in a memo to employees. The company didn't give a specific reason for the cuts, but Idekoba said in his email that "AI is changing the world, and we must adapt by ensuring our product delivers truly great experiences."

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Mazda is redesigning the steering wheel controls in its new CX-5 to address potential safety concerns from its shift to touchscreen-based infotainment systems. The Japanese automaker developed what it calls "an all new steering wheel layout with physical buttons" that allow drivers to control critical vehicle functions without taking their hands off the wheel. Stefan Meisterfeld, Mazda's U.S. VP of operations, said the new steering wheel design goes beyond simple redundant shortcuts. The company is pairing the enhanced steering wheel controls with Google Assistant voice commands and a 15.6-inch central touchscreen that now houses audio and climate controls previously operated by physical dashboard buttons. Mazda had been the sole mainstream holdout against touchscreen infotainment systems, relying instead on a console-mounted dial. The steering wheel redesign represents the company's attempt to maintain its "hands on the wheel, eyes on the road" safety philosophy while adopting touchscreen technology that customer research indicated buyers wanted.

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A federal judge has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit that accused Apple, Visa and Mastercard of conspiring to suppress competition in the payments network market and inflate merchant transaction fees. U.S. District Judge David Dugan in Illinois ruled that merchants failed to provide sufficient evidence supporting claims that Apple illegally declined to launch a competing payment network to rival Visa and Mastercard. The lawsuit, filed by beverage retailer Mirage Wine & Spirits and other businesses representing thousands of merchants, alleged the payment networks paid Apple hundreds of millions of dollars annually to avoid competition. Dugan found the plaintiffs offered only "a slew of circumstantial allegations" but permitted them to amend their complaint.

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Almost three-quarters of all solar and wind power projects being built globally are in China, says a new report that highlights the country's rapid expansion of renewable energy sources. From a report: China is building 510 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and wind projects, according to data from the Global Energy Monitor, a non-governmental organisation based in San Francisco. That compares with about 689GW under construction globally, GEM said. A rough rule of thumb is that a gigawatt can potentially supply electricity for about 1mn homes. "China is [...] leading the world in global renewable energy build-out," the report said. "It continues to add solar and wind power at a record pace." China's expansion of clean energy sources is important for efforts to fight climate change, given the country's dominant role in global manufacturing.

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Swedish security service members who shared details of their running and cycling routes on fitness app Strava have been accused of revealing details of the prime minister's location, including his private address. Politico: According to Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, on at least 35 occasions bodyguards uploaded their workouts to the training app and revealed information linked to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, including where he goes running, details of overnight trips abroad, and the location of his private home, which is supposed to be secret.

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US's emergency-warning infrastructure failed to prevent more than 100 deaths during flash flooding in Kerr County, Texas over the July 4 weekend, despite repeated warnings from the National Weather Service. At least 27 young campers and counselors died at Camp Mystic when the Guadalupe River surged during early morning hours. The alerts never reached residents who lacked cellphone service, had silenced notifications, or didn't carry phones with them. Similar communication failures occurred during recent Los Angeles wildfires and Maui blazes. Maui's outdoor sirens never sounded during 2023 wildfires when cellular networks failed. Nearly 30% of Texas residents opt out of wireless emergency alerts, the highest rate nationally. Rural officials often lack funding or permission to send alerts through broadcasters and cellphones. So what's going on? Federal, state and local authorities share responsibility for alerting citizens through multiple platforms, but the country's patchwork of digital and physical emergency-alert tools often lags behind rapidly developing weather events, WSJ argues. The Atlantic has a story that adds more color: It details how officials lack training in writing effective alerts, how messages like "move to higher ground" are meaningless without context, and how the absence of warning-coordination meteorologists creates communication gaps between weather services and local authorities.

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