OpenAI launched Advanced Account Security for ChatGPT and Codex, an opt-in feature that replaces passwords with passkeys or hardware security keys, disables email and SMS recovery, and automatically opts users out of model training. The company partnered with Yubico to sell co-branded YubiKeys for $68 (two-pack), less than half retail price. The feature targets journalists, dissidents, and officials, and will be mandatory for Trusted Access for Cyber members by June 1.
TL;DR
OpenAI has released a security feature for ChatGPT accounts that treats them the way banks treat online banking: hardware keys, no passwords, no email recovery, and no help from customer support if you lose access. The feature, called Advanced Account Security, is an opt-in setting that requires users to authenticate with two passkeys, two hardware security keys, or one of each before they can log in to ChatGPT or Codex. Once enabled, password-based login is permanently disabled, and recovering an account through email or text message is no longer possible. OpenAI has partnered with Yubico, the Swedish-American hardware authentication company, to sell co-branded YubiKeys bundled for $68, less than half the $126 retail price. The feature is available to everyone, including users on the free tier. The company says it is designed for journalists, political dissidents, researchers, and elected officials. But the fact that OpenAI built it at all is an acknowledgment that a ChatGPT account, for a growing number of people, now holds more sensitive information than their email.
Advanced Account Security replaces every conventional login and recovery mechanism with cryptographic authentication. Users who enable it must register two separate credentials, choosing from passkeys stored on their device, YubiKeys or other FIDO2-compliant hardware tokens, or a combination. Each credential generates a unique cryptographic key pair that never leaves the device, which means there is no password to steal, no one-time code to intercept, and no recovery email that an attacker can compromise through social engineering. OpenAI has made the design trade-off explicit: its own support team cannot restore access to an account protected by Advanced Account Security if the user loses both credentials. The company issues a recovery key during setup, and if that key is also lost, the account is unrecoverable. The architecture is borrowed from the same zero-trust principles that protect classified government systems and cryptocurrency wallets, applied to a consumer chatbot.
The feature includes several secondary protections. Sign-in sessions are shortened, reducing the window during which a stolen session token could be exploited. Users receive alerts for every new login and can view and terminate active sessions from their account settings. And enabling Advanced Account Security automatically opts the user out of model training, meaning their conversations will not be used to improve future versions of ChatGPT. That last detail is significant: it links the highest level of account protection to the highest level of data privacy, creating a tier of user whose interactions with the system are both cryptographically secured and contractually excluded from OpenAI’s training pipeline. For users handling sensitive material, the combination addresses two concerns simultaneously.
The security upgrade arrives in a context that makes its purpose clear. In 2024, Group-IB, the Singapore-based cybersecurity firm, identified more than 100,000 stolen ChatGPT credentials circulating on dark web marketplaces, harvested from devices compromised by information-stealing malware. Those credentials gave anyone who purchased them full access to the victim’s chat history, which for many users included confidential work conversations, personal queries, and information that would be damaging if exposed. A separate breach involving Mixpanel, a third-party analytics provider, exposed ChatGPT user names, email addresses, and technical metadata that could be used for targeted phishing campaigns. The industry’s broader push toward passwordless authentication has been driven by the recognition that passwords are the single largest attack surface in consumer technology: an estimated 46 per cent of all successful cyberattacks on small and medium businesses in 2026 will originate from credential reuse, according to industry research.
ChatGPT’s vulnerability is distinctive because of what the accounts contain. An email account holds messages. A banking account holds transaction records. A ChatGPT account holds the unfiltered questions a person asks when they believe no one is watching: medical symptoms, legal exposure, relationship problems, business strategies, code with proprietary logic, and conversations with an AI system that remembers context across sessions. OpenAI’s Codex Chronicle feature, which periodically captures screenshots of a user’s desktop and sends them to OpenAI’s servers for processing, has made the data stakes even higher for users who opt in. The company is simultaneously expanding the volume of sensitive information its products collect and building the security infrastructure to protect it. Advanced Account Security is the protection side of that equation.
The partnership with Yubico is commercial and strategic. The two co-branded products, the YubiKey C NFC and the YubiKey C Nano, are physically identical to Yubico’s existing product line but carry OpenAI branding and are sold through OpenAI’s channels at a subsidised price. The C NFC model supports both USB-C and near-field communication, allowing it to work with laptops, phones, and tablets. The C Nano model is small enough to remain permanently inserted in a USB-C port. Both support FIDO2, the authentication standard developed by the FIDO Alliance that underpins passkeys and is backed by Apple, Google, and Microsoft. The $68 bundle for two keys represents a meaningful discount: a single YubiKey C NFC retails for approximately $55, making the bundle effectively a buy-one-get-one offer.
OpenAI’s decision to subsidise hardware authentication for its users reflects a calculation about the cost of account compromises. A high-profile breach of a ChatGPT account belonging to a journalist, government official, or corporate executive would generate reputational damage that far exceeds the cost of discounted security keys. By making hardware authentication cheap and accessible, OpenAI is shifting the security burden from a password that can be phished to a physical object that must be stolen. The strategy mirrors what Google implemented internally in 2017, when the company distributed YubiKeys to all 85,000 employees and subsequently reported zero successful phishing attacks against employee accounts. OpenAI is applying the same logic to its user base, though on an opt-in rather than mandatory basis, with one exception: members of the Trusted Access for Cyber programme, which grants verified security researchers and defenders access to OpenAI’s most capable cybersecurity models, will be required to enable Advanced Account Security by 1 June 2026.
The deeper significance of Advanced Account Security is not the feature itself but what it implies about the category. When a company builds bank-grade security for a chatbot, it is telling you that the chatbot is no longer a toy. OpenAI now operates a six-tier subscription structure that ranges from a free ad-supported account to custom enterprise contracts, with 50 million paying subscribers and 900 million weekly active users. A meaningful fraction of those users treat ChatGPT as a primary work tool, a confidential advisor, or both. The conversations stored in those accounts are, in aggregate, one of the most valuable datasets of human intent ever assembled: what people want to know, what they are worried about, what they are building, and what they are hiding. Protecting that dataset is not a feature. It is a business requirement.
The opt-in model is both a strength and a limitation. Users who need Advanced Account Security the most, dissidents in authoritarian countries, journalists investigating powerful institutions, executives discussing unreleased products, are also the users most likely to enable it. But the vast majority of ChatGPT’s 900 million weekly users will never toggle the setting, which means their accounts will remain protected by whatever password they chose when they signed up, reused from another service, and have not changed since. AI-powered phishing campaigns can now generate hundreds of targeted messages per minute, each tailored to a specific victim, and the most common entry point remains a stolen or guessed password. OpenAI has built the infrastructure to protect accounts that matter. Whether the accounts that do not opt in will become the easier targets is a question the feature does not answer. What it does answer, clearly, is that OpenAI considers a ChatGPT account to be a high-value asset worth defending with the same tools used to protect state secrets and financial systems. The company that made it easy for anyone to talk to an AI has now made it possible for anyone to lock that conversation behind hardware that cannot be phished. The gap between those two populations will determine how the next wave of AI-related breaches unfolds.
8 am PDT / 11 am EDT / 5 pm CET
Laboratory or in-field measurements are often considered the gold standard for certain aspects of power system design; however, measurement approaches always have limitations. Simulation can help overcome some of these limitations, including speeding up the design process, reducing design costs, and assessing situations that are often not feasible to measure directly. In this presentation, we will discuss two examples from the power system industry.
The first case we will discuss involves corona performance testing of high-voltage transmission line hardware. Corona-free insulator hardware performance is critical for operation of transmission lines, particularly at 500 kV, 765 kV, or higher voltages. Laboratory mockups are commonly used to prove corona performance, but physical space constraints usually restrict testing to a partial single-phase setup. This requires establishing equivalence between the laboratory setup and real-world three-phase conditions. In practice, this can be difficult to do, but modern simulation capabilities can help. The second case involves submarine HVDC cables, which are commonly used for offshore wind interconnects. HVDC cables are often considered to be environmentally inert from an external electric field perspective (i.e., electric fields are contained in the cable, and the cable’s static magnetic fields induce no voltages externally). However, simulation demonstrates that ocean currents moving through the static magnetic field satisfy the relative motion requirement of Faraday’s law. Thus, externally induced electric fields can exist around the cable and are within a range detectable by various aquatic species.
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Gamers in the 1990s sat through plenty of marathon sessions on consoles like the Super Nintendo as well as SEGA Genesis, and their thumbs suffered as a result of continual pressure on rigid directional pads. Triax had a solution for the problem in the Turbo Touch 360. They abandoned the traditional movable plastic directional pad in favor of a flat octagonal plate with capacitive sensors underneath. So all you had to do was lightly lay your thumb on the surface, and it would register the direction you were attempting to go in.
The plate had eight sensors grouped around it to cover the majority of the straight shoots and diagonals, but because you don’t get a smooth, continuous circle of movement, it wasn’t fully analog, despite being dubbed the Turbo Touch 360, which implies complete freedom in all directions. Players could lean on the pad to achieve greater movement without having to hammer down as hard. Triax even went so far as to have an orthopedic specialist praise the design, claiming that it reduced scorching and numbness during those all-day gaming sessions to death.
Magazine ads showed the controller in action, and one of the examples they used was how you could land special moves in Mortal Kombat without having to struggle, and to top it all off, there was a turbo fire switch for shooting fans, giving you an advantage in older games that rewarded you with points for tapping buttons quickly.
The controller made its debut at a large electronics expo toward the end of 1993. Then there were versions for the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, with the Genesis version also working on certain earlier platforms such the Atari and Commodore. People who took one up immediately noticed how unusual it felt; more specifically, it was far too simple to accidentally trigger an input by resting your thumb on the plate. So precision deteriorated in tight platform games or when you had to make sudden changes of direction.
Most reviewers stated it was overly sensitive and awkward to use for an extended period of time. One modern test, in which they went back in and tinkered with the loose contacts inside a Super Nintendo, demonstrated that it was possible to make it somewhat usable again, but it was still not as accurate as a standard pad, especially in side-by-side runs through Mario or fighting games.
However, Triax did not give up immediately. Next thing you know, news spreads that they’re working on a new controller called the Multi-Function, which, based on certain designs and accounts, resembled a joystick rather than a flat plate. And, to top it all off, there were two more buttons on the sides that indicated they would allow you to manipulate three dimensions in games. Capcom was looking at it, and Electronic Arts had begun development on six titles that would make use of the new inputs. It was set to release for the price of a conventional game at the time, and it looked very good, but then it simply… vanished.
Across the United Kingdom, thousands of organisations continue operating computer systems with security holes that were first identified over ten years ago.
Cybercriminals are taking full advantage of this negligence, launching relentless waves of attacks against these unprotected entry points.
SonicWall’s 2025 UK cyber threat data claims a single vulnerability in widely deployed Hikvision IP cameras accounted for 67 million attack attempts nationwide, about 20% of all major intrusions detected across British networks during the entire year.
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“Meanwhile, Zombie Tech continues to haunt UK networks,” said Spencer Starkey, Executive Vice President for EMEA at SonicWall.
“We’re seeing millions of attacks tied to a single long-known vulnerability, alongside continued exploitation of issues first disclosed more than a decade ago.”
Attackers do not need sophisticated zero-day exploits when organisations leave decade-old doors wide open.
The Hikvision camera vulnerability is not new, but it remains effective because too many networks have not been patched.
Interestingly, about 80% of IT leaders claim that they can spot a breach within eight hours of it occurring – however, evidence shows that intrusions typically go unnoticed for 181 days on average.
This gap is critical because intrusions often go unnoticed when teams assume systems are secure.
Generally, ransomware volume in the UK fell by 87% during 2025, but that seemingly positive statistic hides a darker trend.
The number of organisations successfully compromised actually rose by 20%, meaning attackers are hitting fewer targets but causing more damage per successful breach.
“On the surface, the 87% drop might look like progress, but the reality is more alarming,” Starkey said. “More organisations are being successfully hit, and attackers are doing it with far greater precision.”
Smaller organisations are disproportionately affected, with ransomware present in 88% of SMB breaches compared to just 39% at large enterprises.
The geographic concentration of these attacks is stark, with England experiencing nearly all of the UK’s ransomware incidents.
London and the South East account for the vast majority of successful hits, reflecting where the most valuable targets are located.
The growing number of AI tools is a problem, as bots are now generating 36,000 scans per second across UK networks, causing AI-enabled attacks to increase by 89% in 2025.
Cybercriminals now combine automation with precision targeting, making it easier for them to find and exploit outdated systems at scale.
To tackle this issue, organisations should start by conducting an immediate inventory of all connected devices that may have been installed years ago and then forgotten.
Every device in that inventory must be checked against known vulnerability databases, with priority given to patching any issue that has public exploit code available.
Any device that cannot be patched should be replaced with modern alternatives that receive regular security updates.
Network segmentation should also be implemented to isolate legacy devices so they cannot be used as entry points to more critical systems.
Firewalls must be tested regularly to ensure they are actually blocking the traffic patterns associated with known vulnerabilities, rather than merely logging them.
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Apple has reported its financials for the second quarter of 2026, posting a second-quarter record of $111.2 billion with gains almost across the board that exceed the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
The second quarter of Apple’s financial calendar has ended, and is usually a fairly quiet affair following the blockbuster first-quarter figures. For 2026, Q2 has a fair bit of expected spice, due to the John Ternus announcement.
In the quarter, Apple’s revenue hit $111.2 billion, up from the $95.4 billion reported in the year-ago quarter.
The Wall Street consensus as of April 29 was an average of $109.69 forecast.
Apple quarterly revenue and net profit as of Q2 2026
When it comes to product categories, iPhone revenue of $56.99 billion is up from $46.84 billion in Q2 2025. Mac revenue of $8.4 billion is up from $7.95 billion.
The iPad revenue of $6.9 billion is a positive move from last year’s dip to $5.56 billion. Wearables, Home, and Accessories shifted from $7.5 billion in the year-ago period to $7.9 billion now.
Services, the ever-dependable product category, continued its ever-ongoing growth path, from $26.6 billion in Q2 2025 to $30.9 billion now.
During Q1, Apple enjoyed some post-holiday product launches, including the M4 iPad Air, the iPhone 17e, the M5 upgrade to the MacBook Air, and the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro. It also launched the Apple Studio Display update, the Pro Display XDR was replaced by the Studio Display XDR, and the MacBook Neo shocked the notebook industry.
This took place to a backdrop of continually rising prices for memory and other components, which Apple has so far insulated itself from. Analysts will be keen to find out Apple’s plans to take on this problem, as well as its AI strategy.
Apple also announced that it is launching an additional $100 billion share repurchase program. The quarterly dividend has also been increased, rising 4% to $0.27 per share.
Apple quarterly revenue by unit as of Q2 2026
Current-CEO Tim Cook commented that there was double-digit growth across every geographic segment, with iPhone also achieving a March quarter revenue record, thanks to iPhone 17 demand.
Kevan Parekh, CFO, added that there were new March quarter records for operating cash flow and EPS. “Continued strong customer demand for our products and services once again helped us achieve a new all-time high for our installed base.”
However, the biggest talking point for the results will be the announcement of a CEO transition later in 2026. On September 1, Tim Cook will become executive chairman, with hardware chief John Ternus taking the reins.
While Ternus won’t be involved in the usual conference call with analysts that follows the results release, he will be a hot topic of conversation as analysts try to determine how the future governance of the company will go.
As always, AppleInsider will be listening in to the call, no matter where the conversation flows.
Florida-based pet food and product online retailer Chewy has been around for less than 15 years but has quickly become a popular source for everything pet-related. Chewy even has supplies for farm animals, reptiles, fish, and more, carrying over 3,500 brands, including everything from food to medicine to toys. My cat is constantly throwing up (same) and requires Hill’s Sensitive Skin and Stomach, which costs roughly as much as my car insurance every month. I use WIRED’s Chewy promo codes to save money so I can spring for the 50-cent instant ramen while she can remain vomit-free. Browse our roundup of verified coupons to score 50% off pet food and toys, $20 off your first purchase, free shipping deals, and more spring 2026 promotions.
If you’ve been wondering whether Chewy is right for you, now’s the time to try. First-time users can get a $20 eGift card when they purchase over $49 on their first order at Chewy and use code WELCOME. And if you’ve never placed an order with their pharmacy, use Chewy coupon code RX20 at checkout to save 20% on prescription essentials like Simparica Trio, NexGard Plus, Heartgard, and more pet medications.
If you’re a returning customer, don’t fret. Chewy has rotating deals on a myriad of pet essentials and supplies, like flea guard, treats, litter, toys, and more. With this Chewy promo code, you can get almost half off, with $20 off orders of $49 or more with Chewy coupon code GIFT20OFF. This is a rare coupon that is only for existing customers who are signed in with their account. Plus, you can get an extra $5 off on the first order made through the Chewy app with promo code. You’ll just need to download the app, and input the above code in the box on the checkout screen for $5 off.
New customers can also get free 1-3 day delivery (with real-time tracking technology) on first-time orders over $35, which seriously helps in cutting down the convenience cost of being able to get your 40-lb litter box to your third-floor apartment without having to lug it on the L train yourself (speaking from experience, don’t endure what I’ve had to). Get the convenience without having to pay for it with Chewy coupons for free delivery on all items.
Already a devoted pet-parent/Chewy member? While often the best Chewy promo codes are reserved for first-time customers, existing customers can score daily deals like buy 3, get 1 free offers on toys. Make sure to stay tuned here, because while our top Chewy promo codes unlock over 20% off, there’s more to look forward to., Expect discount codes still to come like 50% off premium dog and cat food, up to 40% off Flea and Tick medications for fall, and free shipping on $35 easy price to hit when you’re grabbing pet essentials (not to mention I’ll spend any amount to not lug around boxes of concrete clay litter in the pits of hell, aka the subway).
Do we have any equestrians in the house tonight? If so, you’re in luck. You can get 40% off horse joint health supplements with Chewy promo code EQSUP.
Surprisingly, some deals don’t require you to apply a code or lift a finger. When you set up an autoship subscription on products you’ll get 35% off your first order, and up to 50% off featured pet food brands; along with an additional 5% off all future deliveries.
Chewy lets shoppers combine autoship with other brand-specific deals or category discounts (they just need to be listed on the “Today’s Deals” page). Plus, Chewy makes it easy: you can pause, skip, or cancel any scheduled autoship at any time. You won’t have to be locked in to a subscription and you can adjust frequency as needed, from weekly to monthly and more. And there are even extra discounts for autoship orders on pharmacy items like important prescription medication.
I’m sort of the cat tech guru around here, and have tested a myriad of the best pet tech like automatic feeders and automatic litter boxes, and I have some very strong opinions about which are worth the money (or not). I’m currently using—erm, my cats are using—the Litter-Robot 4 automatic litter box, and although it’s pricey, this box has changed my life. Gone are the days of foul smells, scooping, and pouring litter. This little machine does all the dirty work for you so that you can spend more time on cuddles. I also own the LEVOIT Core Pet Care Air Purifier which has been a game changer for me living in a cramped apartment with two giant cats—it really helps to dissipate any smells, pet hair or pesky dander. I feel like my house overall feels more clean because of this small powerhouse machine. When I transition from WFH I’m going to invest in this inexpensive camera, INSTACHEW Purrsight 360 Degree Wi-Fi Security Pet Camera, to keep an eye on the goings on and shenanigans while I’m at work.
If there’s something that stands between foldables and the mainstream smartphone market, it’s their battery life, and Motorola has taken it upon itself to fix that. Almost all smartphone giants have their own book-style foldable available in the U.S., and all of them justify the premium with intricate hinges, flexible displays, and other engineering marvels, but somehow, that doesn’t extend to their batteries.
You can unfold a foldable to double its screen size; that’s its entire pitch. But does the battery life also double? Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Among the two widely available book-style foldables in the U.S. — Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold — the average battery life remains less than that of regular handsets.
But haven’t smartphones already unlocked over 10 hours of screen-on time using silicon-carbon battery technology? This is exactly the gap Motorola is walking into with its first book-style foldable: the Razr Fold. For the first time, a foldable is entering the U.S. market with a 6,000 mAh battery that supports 80W wired charging, no less.
Should it deliver, the Razr Fold could bridge that gap before Samsung or Google even comes close.
Think about what the battery on the Fold 7 or a Pixel 10 Pro Fold is actually running: two displays (the cover screen and the foldable screen), a flagship-tier chipset borrowed straight from the slab phones, and at least two to three rear-facing cameras, along with constant Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
It is because of this compounded power draw that foldables require larger batteries to provide similar endurance to regular phones. A couple of years ago, when the technology wasn’t as mature as today, using a 4,000 or 4,400 mAh battery on a foldable was par for the course.
To me, it feels like OEMs, especially in the U.S., are deliberately holding back on battery capacity in foldables, while Chinese brands like Honor and Oppo continue to push the limits.
This is the core problem that the Motorola Razr Fold could solve.
Phone
Battery
Wired Charging
Wireless Charging
Status
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
4,400 mAh
25W
15W (Qi2 Ready*)
Available
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold
5,015 mAh
39W
15W (Qi2)
Available
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
5,600 mAh
45W
15W (Qi)
Discontinued
Motorola Razr Fold
6,000 mAh
80W
50W
Launching May 21
I’ve used the Fold 7 briefly, and by many measures, it’s an impressive piece of technology. The thinnest book-style foldable in the U.S. is just 4.2 mm when unfolded. However, with a 4,400 mAh battery that offers around six hours of screen-on time on average, that didn’t make the phone last an entire day, at least for me.
The phone also takes around 90 minutes for a complete charge, thanks to support for only 25W wired charging. You can’t just plug it 20 minutes before leaving your home; you’d have to plan around it.
Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold took a meaningful leap with a 5,015 mAh cell and up to 39W charging, offering between seven and eight hours of screen-on time, genuinely lasting an entire day of usage.
But that’s enough, right? Not quite. Now that we’re in the era of over-7,000-mAh battery phones (I’m talking about the OnePlus 15 and the OnePlus 15R) that deliver nearly two days of battery life between charges, plugging in a foldable at around 8 or 9 PM feels like getting shortchanged on a $2,000 purchase
If foldable phones stand a chance against mainstream handsets, manufacturers have to step up to the plate on battery life, and that’s exactly why the Razr Fold has my attention.
The Razr Fold’s 6,000 mAh battery is roughly 36% larger than the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s and about 20% larger than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s. The company has achieved this using the same tech on modern Chinese flagships: silicon-carbon battery chemistry, which packs more energy into less physical space without adding bulk. The result is a book-style foldable that unfolds to just 4.7 mm, slightly thicker than the Fold 7, but not by a margin that should trouble anyone.
Now, this is the part where I’m using years of experience to speculate something without trying to sound too optimistic. The Razr Fold, with its 6,000 mAh battery and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip that’s actually less powerful than the Snapdragon 8 Elite on the Fold 7, should provide a screen-on time of around eight to nine hours under mixed usage.
If Motorola has optimized the software well for a big-screen foldable, and that’s a big if, given that this is the company’s first foldable, the screen-on time might nudge past nine hours as well.
This way, the foldable could actually match the battery life of modern flagships. If that doesn’t happen, however, I’d be disappointed, and seven to eight hours is where the phone would sit, with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, despite featuring a significantly bigger battery.
The charging speed is equally important here. Razr Fold’s 80W wired charging speed is more than three times what Samsung offers on the Fold 7 and double what Google offers on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The caveat, here, is that none of this has been proven yet, and we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to find out the truth.
It’s worth knowing that the company also promises over 12 hours of use from under 10 minutes of being plugged in. For added convenience, and to leave the competition baffled, the Razr Fold also supports 50W wireless charging. While achieving those speeds requires Motorola’s proprietary hardware, I’d definitely pay for that kind of speedy convenience.
Moreover, the Razr Fold’s 6,000 mAh battery, paired with 80W wired and 50W wireless charging, is the spec combination that the U.S. buyers deserve. If it delivers, it will bridge the gap between the battery life we get from regular smartphones and foldables, making the Razr a compelling buy and forcing Samsung and Google to go back to the drawing board.
Researchers in China say they have made new progress on iron-based flow batteries that could reduce the cost of storing renewable energy while extending usable lifespan.
The team from the Institute of Metal Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a redesigned electrolyte that allowed an alkaline all-iron flow battery to run through more than 6,000 cycles without measurable capacity decay, according to results published in Advanced Energy Materials.
Iron flow batteries have been studied for years but have struggled with stability problems that limit long-term use. Active materials inside the battery tend to degrade or leak through membranes, reducing efficiency and shortening lifespan.
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The researchers addressed those limits by redesigning the molecular structure of the negative electrolyte used inside the system.
The team synthesized 11 iron complexes built from 12 organic ligands before identifying a compound known as [Fe(HPF)BHS]⁴⁻ as the most stable candidate.
Its bulky structure creates physical protection around the iron center, while negatively charged groups help prevent unwanted reactions and reduce material crossover across the membrane.
Testing showed the battery running at 80 mA·cm⁻² for more than 6,000 cycles with no capacity decay and an average coulombic efficiency of 99.4%, based on performance data released by the research team.
Under higher current conditions, the system reached a peak power density of 392.1mW·cm⁻² while maintaining energy efficiency of 78.5%, indicating stable performance under heavier electrical demand.
Researchers linked the cycle count to long-term use, estimating the performance equals more than 16 years of daily use without measurable degradation.
Iron is more than 80 times cheaper than lithium as a raw material, which could make large-scale energy storage far less expensive, provided the technology scales successfully.
Iron is also widely available, ranking among the most abundant metals on Earth, which reduces concerns about supply shortages compared with lithium.
All-iron flow batteries use water-based electrolytes instead of flammable liquids found in lithium-ion systems. That chemistry removes the conditions needed for thermal runaway, which is the chain reaction that can lead to battery fires or explosions.
Large-scale energy storage remains one of the major technical challenges tied to renewable energy expansion, since electricity generation from solar and wind fluctuates depending on weather conditions.
The research improves stability in iron-based electrolytes, but long-term testing outside controlled environments will determine just how well the chemistry performs in real grid installations.
Via SCMP
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Zap Energy announced plans Wednesday to become the first company to simultaneously pursue two tracks for nuclear power: fusion, an unproven but promising technology that smashes light atoms together to produce energy, and fission, the better-known nuclear pathway that already powers reactors around the globe by splitting heavy atoms.
To support these dual objectives, Zap has named Zabrina Johal as CEO, succeeding company co-founder Benj Conway, who is transitioning to president.
Fusion innovators have typically drawn a bright line between their nuclear solution and conventional fission, given public concerns about past reactor meltdowns and radioactive waste.
But Zap’s leaders say that distinction creates a “false wall” the Everett, Wash., company is ready to knock down.
“Fission and fusion are two expressions of the same underlying physics,” Conway said in a statement. “This isn’t a pivot — by integrating them into a single platform, we can move faster, reduce risk, and build a more enduring company.”
The planet is desperate for new energy sources and many customers and governments are eager for solutions that don’t release carbon and further stoke climate change. Demand is spiking as tech companies rush to erect data centers that support AI even as transportation, housing and industrial sectors electrify their operations.
Zap has been developing its commercial fusion technology since launching nine years ago, building fusion machines and the systems needed to deliver that power to the grid. It has raised more than $330 million from investors and was selected to participate in the Department of Energy’s fusion development program.
But mastering fusion’s physics — essentially recreating the reactions that fuel the sun in an earthbound device — is uncertain and costly. While dozens of companies worldwide are chasing commercially viable fusion energy, none have succeeded so far.
Building next-generation fission technology is more predictable and would provide revenue sooner, the startup said, while simultaneously supporting research that advances its fusion work. The company’s goal is to have a fission solution for sale by the early 2030s, according to the New York Times, which first reported the news.
Johal began her career as an officer and engineer in nuclear propulsion in the U.S. Navy and previously spent 18 years with General Atomics leading strategic development for its nuclear and defense portfolios. Most recently, she was with AtkinsRéalis, a Montreal engineering firm with a nuclear power focus.
The company also named Daniel Walter, a former director at TerraPower — the nearby nuclear company backed by Bill Gates — as director of nuclear engineering. Zap vice president Matthew Thompson is now SVP of fission technology and will work on both tech platforms.
Other fusion companies have similarly pursued additional revenue streams. Seattle’s Avalanche Energy, for example, has multiple initiatives, including work on compact nuclear batteries, fusion propulsion in space applications, and advanced materials for extreme environments.
Zap is the first, however, to add the development of fission reactors to the mix. Traditional nuclear has seen a renaissance driven by the spiking power demand. The U.S. government is investing in fission innovation and expedited permitting for the sector, and tech companies are paying to keep existing reactors online while backing startups pursuing smaller, cheaper and faster-to-deploy designs that use factory fabricated parts.
Zap has been developing its nuclear plan over the past year and is looking to develop microreactors that roughly share the physical dimensions of its planned fusion device.
The company’s approach builds on technology from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II), developed and tested over decades at U.S. national laboratories. The strategy was later adopted by Toshiba for its 4S (Super-Safe, Small and Simple) reactor, though that project fizzled in the post-Fukushima climate that turned hostile to nuclear power — despite the fact the 4S design itself was unrelated to the Fukushima reactor technology.
Zap said it is now revitalizing the Toshiba design, which includes a 10 megawatt microreactor cooled by liquid sodium that can run for decades without refueling. The approach is attractive in part because Zap’s fusion device uses liquid lithium, which behaves similarly to sodium.
“Zap’s approach is to build common technical foundations — materials, liquid metal systems, high power density design, and neutron environments — once and apply them across both fission and fusion,” the company said.
The startup is confident that customers are hungry for both varieties of nuclear energy.
“Meeting that demand requires simpler, more adaptable systems and a faster path to deployment,” Johal said. “Fission gives us a path to deploy. Fusion gives us a path to transform. Bringing them together is how we do both.”
Sometimes, a threat lands as a threat. Other times, it comes off like, well, an advertisement for the New Mexico tourist bureau. In court filings (via SourceNM), Meta warned that if a judge sides with the NM Department of Justice in an upcoming bench trial, the company may be forced to shut down its apps for users in the state. NM Attorney General Raúl Torrez described Meta’s threat to pull the plug on its apps as a “PR stunt.”
Last month, a Santa Fe jury held Meta liable for $375 million in damages to NM over the company’s failure to protect child users from online predators. The company’s warning was made ahead of the trial’s second phase, scheduled to begin next week.
In the May 4 bench trial, NM District Judge Bryan Biedscheid will determine whether Meta caused a “public nuisance” and should therefore fund related state programs. NM DOJ lawyers will also argue that Meta needs to make several changes to its platform. These include adding age verification, removing predators, and “protecting minors from encrypted communications that shield bad actors.”
Meta’s response, unsealed on Thursday, reportedly described the state’s demands as “so broad and burdensome that if implemented, it might force Meta to withdraw its apps entirely.” “It does not make economic or engineering sense for Meta to build separate apps just for New Mexico residents,” it continued. The company also claimed that the state lacks the authority to implement its desired changes and that doing so would violate free speech.
In a statement sent to Engadget, NM AG Torrez dismissed Meta’s claims that the proposed remedies weren’t feasible. “We know Meta has the ability to make these changes. For years, the company has rewritten its own rules, redesigned its products, and even bent to the demands of dictators to preserve market access. This is not about technological capability. Meta simply refuses to place the safety of children ahead of engagement, advertising revenue, and profit.”
A Romanian national who led an online swatting ring that targeted more than 75 public officials, multiple journalists, and four religious institutions was sentenced to 4 years in federal prison.
Swatting is a dangerous criminal harassment tactic involving making false reports to emergency responders of an ongoing violent threat at a target’s address to provoke an armed police response.
27-year-old Thomasz Szabo, who was extradited from Romania in November 2024, was also ordered three years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of threats involving explosives in June 2025.
Szabo, who operated online under multiple aliases (including “Jonah,” “Jonah Goldberg,” “Plank,” “Rambler,” “War Lord,” “Shovel,” “Cypher,” “Kollectivist,” “Mortenberg Shekelstorms,” and “NotThuggin2”) founded and led an online community that began a pattern of bomb threats and swatting attacks in late 2020.
According to court documents, Szabo personally made false reports to U.S. law enforcement, including a December 2020 threat to carry out a mass shooting at New York City synagogues and a threat to detonate explosives at the U.S. Capitol and kill President-elect Joe Biden in January 2021.
“Members of Congress, cabinet officials, the heads of federal law enforcement agencies, churches, journalists — Thomasz Szabo and his followers targeted them all with swatting calls and fake bomb threats designed to send armed police to their doors,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro on Wednesday. “Szabo was extradited from Romania to face justice in an American courtroom, and today he has reaped the consequences of his actions.”
Szabo also advertised his activities to followers and encouraged them to carry out similar attacks, which prompted a concentrated spree of swatting attacks targeting at least 25 members of Congress or their family members, and at least six senior executive branch officials, including multiple cabinet-level figures, between December 2023 and early January 2024.
Within the same timeframe, Szabo’s followers also targeted at least 13 senior federal law enforcement officials, members of the federal judiciary, at least 27 state officials, and four religious institutions.
One of the group’s members even boasted to Szabo about conducting more than 25 swatting calls in a single day, claiming to have wasted more than $500,000 in taxpayer funds over two days.
23-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, another one of Szabo’s accomplices, was also charged in August 2024 in connection with the same scheme and faces separate proceedings.
“Mr. Szabo’s and his co-conspirators’ incessant swatting attacks created a tremendous drain on law enforcement resources and taxpayer dollars and put innocent civilians in harm’s way,” added FBI Special Agent Michael Burgwald. “Today’s sentencing is an important step toward ensuring that those who believe swatting is just a prank will be disabused of that notion and making it clear that those who engage in it will face justice.”
AI chained four zero-days into one exploit that bypassed both renderer and OS sandboxes. A wave of new exploits is coming.
At the Autonomous Validation Summit (May 12 & 14), see how autonomous, context-rich validation finds what’s exploitable, proves controls hold, and closes the remediation loop.
Register Renaming | Hackaday
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