New York — In a singular moment in U.S. history, President-elect Donald Trump faces sentencing Friday for his New York hush money conviction after the nation’s highest court refused to intervene. Like so much else in the criminal case and the current American political landscape, the scenario set to unfold in an austere Manhattan courtroom…
Welcome to the Friday, Jan. 10, Brew. By: Briana Ryan Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Following the 2024 elections, more Americans now live in a state with a Republican trifecta Election for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court remains uncalled amid ongoing legal challenges Did you know…
Automatic Weapons Market Expansion: Key Trends, Emerging Technologies, and Forecasted CAGR of 7.21% from 2024 to 2031 – Technology Today – EIN Presswire
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Man pleads guilty in failed ransom plot that may have been linked to $240M crypto heistHARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Florida man has pleaded guilty in connection with the carjacking and kidnapping of a Connecticut couple, in what authorities call a failed ransom plot that may have been linked to a $240 million cryptocurrency heist. Michael Rivas was one of six men arrested after the series of events in Danbury on Aug. 25. He has plead guilty Thursday to kidnapping and conspiracy in federal court in Hartford and is set to be sentenced in May. The couple were assaulted but survived the ordeal. Danbury police say the FBI was investigating whether the couple’s son was involved in a Bitcoin theft a week before the kidnapping.One Tech Tip: Start the new year with a clean inboxLONDON (AP) — For Jan. 9Farming tech is on display at CES as companies showcase their green innovations and initiativesLAS VEGAS (AP) — Sustainability is a key theme this year at the annual CES tech trade show in Las Vegas. Agriculture tech is on full display on the show floor while companies big and small also showcase their green innovations and initiatives. That includes Volvo CEO Martin Lundstedt’s vow to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 and Wisconsin-based OshKosh Corporation’s electric fire engines and garbage trucks. John Deere also unveiled a fleet of fully autonomous equipment like tractors that are already in use on some farms and orchards. Some experts say AI is key to the industry’s future as climate change makes farming more unpredictable.The ‘Worst in Show’ CES products put your data at risk and cause waste, privacy advocates sayLAS VEGAS (AP) — So much of the technology showcased at CES includes gadgets made to improve consumers’ lives — whether by leveraging AI to make devices that help people become more efficient, by creating companions to cure loneliness or by providing tools that help people with mental and physical health. But not all innovation is good, according to a panel of self-described dystopia experts that has judged some products as “Worst in Show.” The award that no company wants to win calls out the “least repairable, least private, and least sustainable products on display.”TikTok’s fate arrives at Supreme Court in collision of free speech and national securityWASHINGTON (AP) — In a collision between free speech and national security, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over the fate of TikTok, a digital age cultural phenomenon that roughly half the U.S. population uses for entertainment and information. The case is being heard Friday. TikTok says it plans to shut down the social media platform in the U.S. by Jan. 19 unless the Supreme Court strikes down or otherwise delays the effective date of a law aimed at forcing TikTok’s sale by its Chinese parent company. Enforcement of the law would be left to the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump has dropped his support for a TikTok ban. The court’s decision could come within days.The Supreme Court is considering a possible TikTok ban. Here’s what to know about the caseWASHINGTON (AP) — The law that could ban TikTok is coming before the Supreme Court. The justices largely hold the app’s fate in their hands as they hear the case Friday. The popular social media platform says the law violates the First Amendment and should be struck down. The U.S. government argues that the app having a China-based parent company means it’s a potential national security threat. Three appeals court judges have sided with the government and upheld the law, which bans TikTok unless it’s sold. The law is set to take effect Jan. 19, right before a new term begins for President-elect Donald Trump. The Republican has asked for the law to be paused to “save TikTok.”Musk uses X livestream to amplify German far-right leader’s views ahead of an electionWARSAW, Poland (AP) — Elon Musk livestreamed his chat with a leader of Germany’s far-right party, using the power of his social media platform, X, to amplify the party’s message ahead of an upcoming national election. More than 200,000 accounts tuned into Thursday’s livestream, which raised concerns across Europe about the world’s richest man trying to influence foreign politics. The Tesla chief executive, who helped reelect Donald Trump in the United States, spoke with Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party and its candidate for chancellor. They agreed that Germany’s taxes are too high and that there is too much immigration. Musk said he was “strongly recommending” that Germans vote for Weidel’s party in next month’s election.Meta rolls back hate speech rules as Zuckerberg cites ‘recent elections’ as a catalystIt wasn’t just fact-checking that Meta scrapped from its platforms as it prepares for the second Trump administration. The social media giant has also loosened its rules around hate speech and abuse, specifically when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity as well as immigration status. The changes are worrying advocates for vulnerable groups, who say Meta’s decision to scale back content moderation could lead to real-word harms. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday that the company will remove restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that he said are out of touch with mainstream discourse. He cited recent elections as a catalyst.Flying taxis are on the horizon as aviation soars into a new frontierSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When he was still a boy making the long, tedious trips between his school and his woodsy home in the mountains during the 1980s, JoeBen Bevirt began fantasizing about flying cars that could whisk him to his destination in a matter of minutes. As CEO of Joby Aviation, Bevirt is getting closer to turning his boyhood flights of fancy into a dream come true as he and latter-day versions of the Wright Brothers building launch a new class of electric-powered aircraft vying to become taxis in the sky. They lift off the ground like a helicopter and then fly like airplanes capable of traveling at speeds of 200 miles per hour.ALS sidelined this Israeli TV journalist. AI is helping him make a comeback.JERUSALEM (AP) — A renowned Israeli TV journalist who lost his ability to speak clearly because of ALS is returning to the air using artificial-intelligence software that recreates his widely recognized gravelly voice. Moshe Nussbaum has been connecting with audiences for more than 40 years. But after being diagnosed two years ago with a progressive disease that attacks nerve cells, he had to greatly scale back his on-air work. Nussbaum will be making a comeback soon using an AI program that has been trained to speak with his voice. He will be filmed as if he were presenting and his lips will be technologically adjusted to match the words. He calls the technology a magic trick that has incredible meaning for everyone with disabilities.COPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreGerard Butler injured himself directly before filming Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, making his on-screen pain all the more convincing.The 55-year-old Scottish actor reportedly filmed much of the high-octane heist sequel with one leg completely out of action.Butler said: “This was a weird time for me at the beginning of this movie because I’d been through a pretty intense surgery, and then I tore my ACL fully about a month later and then started this movie.”With the physical demands of filming, Butler revealed the action scenes were “pretty rough”. The ACL is one of the knee ligaments that connects your thigh bone (femur) to your shin bone (tibia). “I didn’t have a chance to get the surgery on my ACL, so I made this movie with a freshly torn ACL,” he told Entertainment Weekly, quipping: “It was a nightmare and I was a whiny little bitch.”Butler’s co-star, O’Shea Jackson Jr added: “Oh my God, there were so many stairs in that movie too!””There were so many stairs,” Butler concurred. “I’m like, ‘Really, we have to set this whole movie on a hill?’ So it was intense, but it definitely made the action scenes… I had to do less acting.”The highly anticipated Den of Thieves 2: Pantera – in US cinemas now – is hitting screens seven years after the original was released. The sequel follows the action of the first film, with Butler’s character “Big Nick” tracking Donnie (Jackson Jr) across Europe as he plans another heist on the world’s largest diamond exchange.Gerard Butler returns in the sequel to 2018’s action-heist hit ‘Den of Thieves’
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Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have recently achieved a significant breakthrough in the development of next-generation carbon-based quantum materials, opening new horizons for advancements in quantum electronics.The innovation involves a novel type of graphene nanoribbon (GNR), named Janus GNR (JGNR). The material has a unique zigzag edge, with a special ferromagnetic edge state located on one of the edges. This unique design enables the realisation of one-dimensional ferromagnetic spin chain, which could have important applications in quantum electronics and quantum computing.The research was led by Associate Professor Lu Jiong and his team from the NUS Department of Chemistry, in collaboration with international partners.Graphene nanoribbons, which are narrow strips of nanoscale honeycomb carbon structures, exhibit remarkable magnetic properties due to the behaviour of unpaired electrons in the atoms’ π-orbitals. Through atomically precise engineering of their edge structures into a zigzag arrangement, a one-dimensional spin-polarised channel can be constructed. This feature offers immense potential for applications in spintronic devices or serving as next-generation multi-qubit systems which are the fundamental building blocks of quantum computing.Janus, the ancient Roman god of beginnings and endings, is often depicted as having two faces pointing in opposite directions representing the past and the future. The term “Janus” has been applied in materials science to describe materials that have different properties on opposite sides. JGNR has a novel structure with only one edge of the ribbon having a zigzag form, making it the world’s first one-dimensional ferromagnetic carbon chain. This design is achieved by employing a Z-shaped precursor design which introduces a periodic array of hexagon carbon rings on one of the zigzag edges, breaking the structural and spin symmetry of the ribbon.Want more breaking news?Subscribe to Technology Networks’ daily newsletter, delivering breaking science news straight to your inbox every day.Subscribe for FREEAssoc Prof Lu said, “Magnetic graphene nanoribbons – narrow strips of graphene formed by fused benzene rings – offers tremendous potential for quantum technologies due to their long spin coherence times and the potential to operate at room temperature. Creating a one-dimensional single zigzag edge in such systems is a daunting yet essential task for realising the bottom-up assembly of multiple spin qubits for quantum technologies.”The significant achievement is a result of close collaboration among synthetic chemists, materials scientists, and theoretical physicists, including Professor Steven G Louie from UC Berkeley in the United States, Professor Hiroshi Sakaguchi from Kyoto University in Japan and other contributing authors.The research breakthrough was published in the scientific journal Nature on 9 January 2025.Creating the Janus graphene nanoribbonsTo produce the JGNR, the researchers initially designed and synthesised a series of special ‘Z-shape’ molecular precursors via conventional in-solution chemistry. These precursors were then used for subsequent on-surface synthesis, which is a new type of solid-phase chemical reaction performed in an ultra-clean environment. This approach allowed the researchers to precisely control the shape and structure of the graphene nanoribbons at the atomic level.The ‘Z-shape’ design allows for the asymmetric fabrication by independently modifying one of the two branches, thereby creating a desired ‘defective’ edge, while maintaining the other zigzag edge unchanged. Moreover, adjusting the length of the modified branch enables the modulation of the width of the JGNRs. Characterisation via state-of-art scanning probe microscopy/spectroscopy and first-principles density functional theory confirms the successful fabrication of JGNRs with ferromagnetic ground state exclusively localised along the single zigzag edge.“The rational design and on-surface synthesis of a novel class of JGNR represent a conceptual and experimental breakthrough for realising one-dimensional ferromagnetic chain. Creating such JGNRs not only expands the possibilities for precise engineering of exotic quantum magnetism and enables the assembly of robust spin arrays as new-generation qubits. Furthermore, it enables the fabrication of one-dimensional spin-polarised transport channels with tunable bandgaps, which could advance carbon-based spintronics at the one-dimensional limit,” added Assoc Prof Lu.Reference: Song S, Teng Y, Tang W, et al. Janus graphene nanoribbons with localized states on a single zigzag edge. Nature. 2025. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08296-xThis article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.
Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 | 2 a.m.
Visitors come to the CES show in Las Vegas for a peek at the newest gadgets, salivating over the latest technological advances to make everything from transportation to health care more efficient.
Officials with Consumer Technology Association — the group hosting the weeklong show in the Resort Corridor — stress most of those advancements also demonstrate solutions to fight climate change and reduce carbon emissions.
Whether it be a device to track water leaks or solar-powered vehicles, technology needed to achieve green goals is everywhere at the popular Las Vegas show.
The association is working to keep pace with the Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change signed by 196 countries including the United States, said Walter Alcorn, vice president of environmental affairs and industry sustainability at the association. The pact was adopted in 2016 at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.
“All the countries who signed that (knew) there are not technologies in production and use currently sufficient to meet those goals,” Alcorn said. “Technology is absolutely going to play a key role in meeting climate goals.”
Some sustainability in technology trends will be visible, like companies reducing product packaging, but most of the trends will take place behind the scenes, like companies incorporating more recycled material into their products, Alcorn said. Sustainability has been an ongoing effort with trends, including water conservation.
“The climate crisis is a real thing,” Alcorn said. “We are working very hard to try to set and track progress toward climate goals.”
The circular economy — where materials are recycled and reused in new products to limit waste — is employed by many tech companies. For instance, kinari, a sustainable plant-based alternative to plastic, is part of circular innovations at Panasonic.
Panasonic in 2022 established the Panasonic Green Impact to set goals for carbon reduction, CEO Yuki Kusumi said in his keynote speech at CES. It aims to reduce carbon emissions by at least 300 million tons, equal to 1% of current global carbon emissions, by 2050.
Panasonic introduced the OASYS system for an energy-efficient approach to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning that can save homeowners up to 53% more than conventional HVAC systems, the company said.
“Technology moves ahead at an amazing pace,” Kusumi said. “It’s important that we be intentional in our work.”
The use of artificial intelligence technology in sustainability is also prevalent at this week’s CES.
Take Hydrific — an innovator in water conservation technology for households — which created Droplet, a device that attaches to the main water line into a single-resident home to track water usage and detect leaks, said Julia Deister, Hydrific co-founder and CEO. Employing ultrasonic sensors and AI to track household water use, Droplet notifies users via an app of what it detects.
One of the most common leaks is caused by a faulty toilet flapper, she said.
Homeowners can save up to 30% of water, which is good for water bills and helps people be more aware of water usage, she said.
“We want to make water conservation easy and enjoyable with this product,” Deister said. “Sustainability has a huge opportunity for AI-enabled products.”
Sustainability is also at the forefront of technological advances in transportation on display at CES, Alcorn said. California-based Aptera Motors, for example, is straying away from fossil fuels by building what it says is the world’s first solar-electric vehicle. With two wheels in the front and one in the back, the vehicle employs solar panels on its hood, trunk and roof to maintain power.
The vehicle, which still uses a lithium battery, can travel up to 40 miles a day using solar energy and without plugging into an electrical outlet, said Steve Fambro, co-CEO at Aptera.
“When you use solar energy, you’re going right to the source,” Fambro said. “It connects the consumer directly to the energy without any carbon change (and) without any other middleman.”
That goes to show how industry is playing an important role in the climate footprint, Alcorn said.
“Technology is both a player … and a facilitator, helping achieve new sustainability solutions,” he said. “That’s one of the fun things.”
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Sacramento State Hornets (8-7, 1-1 Big Sky) at Eastern Washington Eagles (5-10, 1-2 Big Sky)Cheney, Washington; Saturday, 5 p.m. ESTBOTTOM LINE: Eastern Washington hosts Sacramento State in a matchup of Big Sky teams.
The Eagles have gone 5-2 in home games. Eastern Washington is sixth in the Big Sky at limiting opponent scoring, allowing 65.0 points while holding opponents to 40.0% shooting.The Hornets are 1-1 against conference opponents. Sacramento State is ninth in the Big Sky with 31.2 rebounds per game led by Lina Falk averaging 5.1.Eastern Washington averages 64.8 points per game, 4.2 more points than the 60.6 Sacramento State allows. Sacramento State averages 5.8 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.1 fewer made shots on average than the 6.9 per game Eastern Washington allows.The matchup Saturday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.
The swamp is drained. Long live the swamp?
The cavalcade of tech industry executives supplicating themselves before President-elect Donald Trump has many in Washington wringing their hands about Silicon Valley’s MAGA turn. And there’s certainly evidence that Big Tech is working overtime to cozy up to the new president.
Apple’s Tim Cook is just the latest CEO to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee. His generosity follows other big checks from companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta and individuals such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Cook, along with Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, are among the many top business leaders who have met or will meet with Trump since his election in November. And of course, the $277 million Elon Musk spent to help boost Trump’s campaign and his subsequent role as the president-elect’s First Buddy all underscore how the tech industry is hustling to secure the most prominent seats at the table during the new administration.
Needless to say, this is hardly the first time corporations have donated to inaugural committees in order to curry favor with a White House. But the obvious ways in which America’s richest business leaders have been ingratiating themselves with Trump, from big, beautiful checks to visits at Mar-a-Lago, illustrate how the influence game will be transformed for the Republican’s second term: making it personal. Using traditional lobbying tactics to try to shape legislation on Capitol Hill or rule-making in the regulatory agencies may be worth less than the cost of sending your CEO to Mar-a-Lago and an exuberant press release about working with the president. The direct appeal approach by CEOs is in part a reflection of the deteriorated relationship between business advocacy groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the modern Republican Party—a relationship the Chamber, at least, is looking to repair.
In fact, many of today’s tech execs are waking up to the example set by one of their own, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, during the first Trump term. While a handful of Silicon Valley executives, such as Apple’s Cook and Sheryl Sandberg (then of Facebook) met with Trump after his surprise win in 2016, Catz took it a step further, joining the transition’s executive committee. A veteran donor to Republican presidential and congressional candidates, Catz became a close outside adviser to Trump, dining with him multiple times during his presidency and even being considered for positions within the administration.
That personal relationship certainly didn’t hurt when Oracle was competing with other firms, including Amazon, for the Defense Department’s massive, $10 billion cloud-computing contract. A lobbying strategy that combined lawsuits with stoking Trump’s own fears of a deep-pocketed Deep State conspiracy helped sink Amazon’s bid in 2019, eventually leading the Pentagon to cancel the entire contract. But Amazon later alleged in a lawsuit that it traced the effort to scuttle its bid to a dinner in early 2018 in which Catz “advocated against” giving Amazon the contract.
This time around, the goal for lobbying Trump may be as much about avoiding the new president’s resentment than securing his favor. Or, as one GOP lobbyist in Washington put it, the influx of tech money and support to Trump is akin to buying indulgences as atonement for their past sins.
Consider Zuckerberg, who was the target of Trump’s ire following the 2020 election after the Facebook founder and his wife donated nearly half a billion dollars to nonprofits that awarded grants to improve election administration during the pandemic. In his 2024 book Save America, Trump likened this to election interference, suggested the donations swung the election to Joe Biden, and declared that if Zuckerberg “does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
Zuckerberg’s announcement this week that Meta will be jettisoning its fact-checking program, which partners with several news outlets (including The Dispatch) to moderate content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms, has been interpreted as a sop to the incoming president. But the move shouldn’t come as a surprise. The tech exec said in his Tuesday video that “the recent elections … feel like a cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech.” When asked during his press conference at Mar-a-Lago later that day if Meta’s decision was a reaction to Trump’s threats to Zuckerberg in the past, the president-elect responded, “Probably.”
Beyond simply avoiding Trump’s wrath, there are lots of other reasons for tech companies and other corporations to signal they’re willing to play ball. Chief among these will be securing the necessary carveouts and exceptions in the forthcoming tariff regime Trump has been promising. Trump’s transition team has already begun signaling that tariffs will not be “universal” as much as targeting particular industries and products deemed critical for national and economic security. But Silicon Valley executives may be realizing it will take a personal appeal to the president himself to secure the right exceptions. These business leaders may also be recognizing that Trump is serious about enacting a more populist agenda this time.
“You can’t take for granted the crazy stuff won’t happen,” said the GOP lobbyist. “You want to be able to shape that.”