– Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation has succeeded in the world’s first experiment to induce and guide lightning using a drone, demonstrating the effectiveness of drone lightning resistance technology and lightning induction technology using electric field fluctuations with actual lightning.In the future, this result is expected to...

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StartUp

After a sluggish couple of years, fintech appears to be making a comeback.

In the first quarter of 2025, fintech startups globally raised a combined $10.3 billion — marking the highest level of funding since the first quarter of 2023, according to CB Insights research. The average deal size of $17.7 million also marked the highest since 2021.

Notably...

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12-year-old Doom 2 challenge map finally beaten after six-hour, 23K-demon grind12-year-old Doom 2 challenge map finally beaten after six-hour, 23K-demon grind

In the descriptions for those videos, though, Coincident acknowledged some of the reasons that Okuplok's level has been "deemed impossible to beat in one segment" on Ultra Violence difficulty. ....

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AeroVironment Gets $47M JUMP 20 VTOL Contract for Italy

– AeroVironment has announced it has been awarded a $46.6M contract by the Italian Ministry of Defence for the delivery of its JUMP 20 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) medium uncrewed aircraft system (MUAS). The five-year contract encompasses the procurement of JUMP 20 air vehicles, engineering services, initial sustainment and onsite technical...

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You’re not the only one thinking about where AI is headed. So why come alone?

From now through May 4, buy your Early Bird ticket to A Technology NewsRoom Sessions: AI and save up to $210 — plus get 50% off a second ticket for your colleague, co-founder, collaborator, friend, or whoever you want to bring. It’s your opportunity to attend with someone...

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Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii is evaluating unique energy innovation to provide electrical power and hydrogen fuel in the sort of separated and austere stations the Air Force will need in the Pacific theater for its brand-new Agile Combat Employment method of warfare.The innovation, established by a majority veteran-founded startup based in Houston, utilizes ...

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StartUp

Trump’s tariffs have upended global trade and created an environment of uncertainty. But this situation wasn’t created in a vacuum. The rules of business have been shifting for years as technology moves quicker than regulation, geopolitics descend into turmoil, and the law erodes and becomes weaponized. 

Businesses might be asking themselves, how...

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Google Messages can now blur unwanted nudes, remind people not to send themGoogle Messages can now blur unwanted nudes, remind people not to send them

that it would deploy safety tools in Google Messages to help users avoid unwanted nudes by automatically blurring the content. ....

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The Falcon Mini is a two-propeller “bicopter” which is claimed to be nimbler, quieter, and more energy-efficient than its four-prop counterparts.

Currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign, the Falcon Mini is made by drone manufacturer ZeroZero Robotics. The firm also makes the popular HOVERAir line of consumer quadcopters, and previously...

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Universities (finally) band together, fight &unprecedented government overreach&Universities (finally) band together, fight “unprecedented government overreach”

We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education... ....

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FTC sues Uber over difficulty of canceling subscriptions, &false& claimsFTC sues Uber over difficulty of canceling subscriptions, “false” claims

Several tech executives attended the president’s inauguration ceremony, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg have held meetings with the president at the White House in recent months.

Efforts to gain favour with the White House have not led to a softer stance on antitrust actions under Ferguson, who Trump named to lead the FTC and who has accused Big Tech of censorship. ....

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Chart a course for mobile robot navigation success at the Robotics Summit

The 2025 Robotics Summit - Expo is next week in Boston. If you&re attending the conference and your passion is mobile systems, then don&t miss the session &Nuts - Bolts of Robotic Navigation.&

The session will be on Wednesday, April 30, at 1:45 p.m. ET and features a panel that will will discuss the latest in...

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Drunk man walks into climate change, burns the bottoms of his feet offDrunk man walks into climate change, burns the bottoms of his feet off

In the burn unit, doctors gave the man a pain reliever, cleaned the burns, treated them with a topical antibiotic, and gave them an antimicrobial foam dressing. ....

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2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV SS first drive: A big ride and handling upgrade2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV SS first drive: A big ride and handling upgrade

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Helm.ai launches AV software for up SAE L4 autonomous driving

With GenSim-2, developers can modify weather and lighting conditions such as rain, fog, snow, glare, and time of day or night in video data. | Source: Helm.ai

Helm.ai last week introduced the Helm.ai Driver, a real-time deep neural network, or DNN, transformer-based path-prediction system for highway and urban Level 4 autonomous driving. The...

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According to Turley, OpenAI would toss its proverbial hat in the ring if Google had to sell. ... According to Turley, OpenAI would toss its proverbial hat in the ring if Google had to sell. When asked if OpenAI would want Chrome, he was unequivocal. Yes, we would, as would many other celebrations, Turley said.OpenAI has actually apparently considered constructing its own Chromium-based web browser to take on Chrome. Several months ago, the business employed previous Google developers Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher, both of whom worked to bring Chrome to market.It's not hard to see why OpenAI may desire a web browser, especially Chrome with its 4 billion users and 67 percent market share. Chrome would instantly give OpenAI a massive install base of users who have been incentivized to use Google services. If OpenAI were running the show, you can bet ChatGPT would be integrated throughout the experienceTurley said as much, anticipating an AI-first experience. The user data flowing to the owner of Chrome might likewise be important in training agentic AI models that can run web browsers on the user's behalf.Interestingly, there's a lot conversation about who needs to buy Chrome, but reasonably little about spinning off Chrome into an independent company. Google has competed that Chrome can't survive by itself. Nevertheless, the existence of Google's multibillion-dollar search placement offers, which the DOJ wants to end, suggests otherwise. Regardless, if Google needs to offer, and OpenAI has the cash, we may get the proposed AI-first browsing experience.

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Starship Technologies surpasses 8M autonomous deliveries

Starship reached the 8M deliveries milestone in early 2025. | Credit: Starship Technologies

Starship Technologies Inc. last week announced that its systems have completed more than 8 million autonomous deliveries and traversed over 10 million miles globally. The San Francisco-based company&s sidewalk robots have become a familiar sight for...

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Google won&t ditch third-party cookies in Chrome after allGoogle won’t ditch third-party cookies in Chrome after all

While Google's sandbox project is looking more directionless today, it is not completely ending the initiative. ....

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A Chinese-born crypto tycoon—of all people—changed the way I think of spaceA Chinese-born crypto tycoon—of all people—changed the way I think of space

"It was not 100 percent available, but when it was, it was really fast," Chun wrote of the Internet connection in an email to Ars. ....

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The remarkable success of OpenAI’s o1 series and DeepSeek-R1 has unequivocally demonstrated the power of large-scale reinforcement learning (RL) in eliciting sophisticated reasoning behaviors and significantly enhancing the capabilities of large language models (LLMs).

Can GRPO be 10x Efficient? Kwai AI&s SRPO Suggests Yes with SRPO

However, the core training methodologies behind these groundbreaking reasoning...

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Taxes and fees not included: T-Mobile&s latest price lock is nearly meaninglessTaxes and fees not included: T-Mobile’s latest price lock is nearly meaningless

Besides the five-year price guarantee, there's at least one more notable pricing detail. ....

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U.S. Air Forces in Europe is utilizing among its premier F-16 squadrons to develop and practice new techniques and weapons to counter drones. The workout originates from the service's experience in the Middle East, battling Iranian and Houthi attacks.The 555th Fighter Squadron, based at Aviano Air Base, Italy, took part in the Weapons System ...

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StartUp

AI coding assistant startup Windsurf cut its prices “across the board” it announced on Monday, touting “massive savings” for its users as competition with its rival Cursor intensifies.

Windsurf said it’s getting rid of its complex system of “flow action credits,” which charged developers for actions its AI did in the background. It’s also cutting pr...

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Harvard sues to block government funding cutsHarvard sues to block government funding cuts

The suit also claims that the funding hold, made in retaliation for Harvard's letter announcing its refusal to accept these conditions, punishes Harvard for exercising free speech. ....

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Fully Autonomous Inaugural Flight for Mayman Aerospace RAZOR VTOL

<?xml encoding="utf-8" ????>Mayman Aerospace

has announced the successful completion of test flights for the RAZOR P100, which will be the first commercial aircraft in the company’s family of autonomous UAS. The achievement marks a major milestone not only for RAZOR but for the company’s strategic vision and market position.

The test program, conducted at the US Marine Corps...

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StartUp

Last year was monumental for the AI industry in the U.S. and beyond.

There were 49 startups that raised funding rounds worth $100 million or more in 2024, per our count at A Technology NewsRoom; three companies raised more than one “megaround,” and seven companies raised rounds $1 billion in size or larger.

How will 2025 compare? It’s still the f...

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Man buys racetrack, ends up launching the Netflix of grassroots motorsportsMan buys racetrack, ends up launching the Netflix of grassroots motorsports

“At the Freedom Factory, we even beam air fiber from a house five miles away to ensure a reliable second Internet. We also have a hidden page on [the Cleetus McFarland website] to launch a backup stream if the primary one fails,” he said.

Today, FRDM+’s biggest challenge isn’t a technical one....

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Now FMV, together with the Swedish Armed Forces and FOI, is taking decisive steps in building the future capability for combat with unmanned systems, commonly known as drones. Project Demo Ucav, a high-tech demonstration project for unmanned systems and protection against them, aims to build knowledge, test new technologies and pave the way for...

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