Tech
We Talk About Whole Children. What About Whole Educators?
In 2010, a young woman walked into my office at the childcare center I directed in Arizona. She was nervous. She didn’t have experience in early childhood education. She just needed a job.
In most centers, that’s where the story would end. Instead, I offered her a working interview — two observational hours in an infant classroom. When she came back into my office, she was beaming. “I love this,” she told me. “Just give me a chance. I’ll learn.”
Her name is Lindsay. Fifteen years later, she’s still teaching.
Seeing the Educator
Lindsay’s story isn’t just about passion or perseverance; it’s about support. We made a deliberate choice — over and over again — to see her as a whole person first and an employee second. We figured out scheduling so she could get her Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. We found coverage when she needed practicum hours elsewhere. I wasn’t there for every step of Lindsay’s journey that followed, but she and I have stayed in touch throughout all these years. She earned her associate’s degree and then her bachelor’s degree; she grew from part-time infant teacher to lead teacher to program coordinator.
Lindsay’s story shows us what happens when an educator is truly seen — something our field has yet to get right. What gets overlooked most in conversations about the quality of early childhood education is that educators are engineers. Every learning opportunity a young child experiences is designed, built and brought to life by a teacher. There is no curriculum three-year-olds activate for themselves. Every moment of discovery, every language-rich exchange and every carefully scaffolded small group experience is built by someone. A teacher looks at a group of children, weighs their individual needs, considers the family’s hopes, aligns these needs and hopes to learning objectives and makes a decision about what to put in front of those kids at that moment. And they do this all day long.
These educators sit at the nexus of everyone’s expectations — the school’s, the family’s, the child’s — and constantly make consequential decisions on behalf of all of them. How well they make those decisions depends on how well we support them. And right now, we are falling short.
When teachers worked within a connected ecosystem of curriculum, assessment and live PD, teacher retention rates increased by 23 percent
New research shows what becomes possible when we get this right. A multiyear randomized controlled trial conducted by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University examined 125 preschool classrooms across public and private settings over three school years. When teachers worked within a connected ecosystem of curriculum, assessment and live professional learning, teacher retention rates increased by 23 percentage points. In turn, children in those classrooms demonstrated gains in social-emotional, language, and math skills, according to the GOLD assessment. Educators reported higher personal accomplishment and lower fatigue, not because the work got easier but because they felt genuinely equipped to do it well.
Teaching young children is weighty work, and anyone who tells you otherwise hasn’t done it. But there is a profound difference between the exhaustion of doing hard work well and the burnout of doing hard work alone, unsupported and without feedback or the necessary tools. The first is sustainable. The second is what’s driving teachers out of the profession.
Our field is philosophically built on the science of the whole child — the idea that social, emotional, cognitive and relational development are all deeply interconnected. And yet the systems we’ve built to support the adults in our classrooms are fragmented, episodic and too often driven by compliance. A one-day training here. An on-demand module there. A checklist where a lifeline should be.
What drove the study’s results wasn’t any single tool; it was coherence. Curriculum, assessment, coaching and both on-demand and live professional learning operated as an integrated system.
I’ve seen up close what the absence of that looks like. During a recent site visit, I walked into a classroom where a beautifully designed curriculum sat on the shelf, spine uncracked. The teacher was running circle time from a bag of worn printables she’d been reusing for years. When I pulled the curriculum down and opened it with her, her face lit up. She had no idea. Nobody had ever shown her, told her she was expected to use it or checked in to see whether she had. That pattern is everywhere. Leaders make good decisions about what to invest in and then underinvest in making sure those tools are actually used and used well.
The Policy Choice
For policymakers expanding access to early childhood care and education right now, the central policy question is not just what to fund, but how to design systems that enable educators to succeed. Funding curriculum adoption without funding the professional learning infrastructure that makes it sustainable leaves impact on the table. We must invest in the connective tissue — the coaching, the feedback loops and the live and sustained support — that moves the needle. And we have proved that live, sustained support can be delivered very effectively in a virtual model. It’s scalable.
For district and program leaders: Start with an honest audit. Are curriculum, assessment, coaching and professional development working in concert? Are teachers receiving consistent, specific feedback on their practice? Those are the gaps where good teachers lose their footing — and where people like Lindsay either take root or walk away.
Lindsay didn’t stay because the system worked; she stayed because someone made it work for her. But we cannot build a workforce on heroic individual efforts alone. We need systems designed to see educators fully — their potential, their development and the weight of what they carry every day.
We’re a field that talks about whole children. It’s time we design systems that support the whole educator. The evidence is there. Now we need to act on it.
HTC has finally confirmed when its Vive Eagle AI smart glasses will arrive in the US. Pre-orders are now live ahead of a September 1 release.
Priced at $499, the Vive Eagle enters a growing smart glasses market dominated by the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses – which themselves have been causing controversy recently. This doesn’t seem like the smartest time to launch a pair of smart specs, we must say.
HTC’s latest wearable arrives with a noticeably higher price tag. In return, it’s packing a 12MP camera, built-in AI features, and support for both Google Gemini and ChatGPT.
The Vive Eagle is designed for hands-free photography and AI assistance. Users can capture photos and videos using voice commands or the physical shutter button. Meanwhile, HTC’s VIVE AI assistant can handle tasks such as note-taking, live translation and answering questions. The glasses can also translate captured images into spoken audio across 13 languages in real time.
HTC has equipped the Vive Eagle with a 12MP ultra-wide camera capable of shooting photos at up to 3,024 x 4,032 resolution. It also records video at up to 1,512 x 2,016 at 30fps. Audio is handled by four microphones and stereo speakers. Therefore, the glasses are suitable for voice calls and media playback without the need for headphones.
Underneath, the wearable runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 platform. It is paired with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. In addition, the glasses also carry an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance.
Battery life is rated at up to 4.5 hours of continuous playback or up to 36 hours on standby. Depending on the frame size, the Vive Eagle weighs between 48.8g and 51.5g.
HTC is offering six versions of the Vive Eagle. Buyers are able to choose between round or square frames, clear or tinted lenses, and several different finishes.
At $499, the Vive Eagle costs around $200 more than the entry-level Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. HTC is clearly betting that its broader AI toolkit and premium hardware will justify the higher asking price. This will be tested when the glasses begin shipping in the US on September 1.
New York has become the first U.S. state to impose a moratorium on large new data centers, pausing construction for one year over concerns that AI-driven data center growth is raising utility bills, straining water supplies, and burdening communities. “As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul. She will also pursue legislation to repeal sales tax exemptions for large data centers, Hochul added. Reuters reports: The construction ban will apply to data centers that use 50 megawatts or more of power, officials in the governor’s office said. During the moratorium, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will not issue any discretionary permits not already deemed complete, the governor’s office said. Instead, Hochul directed state officials to develop a Generic Environmental Impact Statement to ensure that new data centers coming online are held to “consistent standards,” as well as examine the potential environmental impacts of the construction and operation of data centers in the state. The ban will be lifted once the state finalizes those standards, according to Hochul’s office.
The Porsche 911 has transcended simple sports car status. It’s a standard bearer for its class and an icon that represents the Porsche brand. On top of that, it’s a yardstick by which all other competing vehicles are measured. I don’t normally wake up before dawn, but this car is worth it. I voluntarily set my alarm clock at an ungodly hour to get out on the road in the 2026 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S without any traffic.
I’m on a winding mountain road that’s normally lined with hundreds of motorists, but at this hour, things are quiet. The sun has just started to creep over the distant mountains, and I’ve seen maybe a dozen other humans since I left my home. This is the sort of driving the 911 was made for, and I’ve already enjoyed every moment, but there’s a caveat — I know just how expensive this car is.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
In the process of becoming the go-to sports car, performing at the top of its class, the 911 has also become way more of a financial reach than it once was. The 911 used to be a car that many automotive enthusiasts could stretch their budgets for. Not too long ago, you could get a base version of the 911 for less than $100,000, but prices for even the most basic 911s now go deep into the six figures. Inflation and tariffs are certainly part of the hockey-stick curve in car prices these days, but that doesn’t change the high cost of a new 911. After upping my caffeine intake and stitching together a few dozen corners with the 4S that Porsche loaned me for a week, I had to wonder if it was worth the price.
The price that got me thinking
After my enthusiastic early-morning cruise up the mountain, while the 911’s brakes and engine cooled down a little, I took a look at the pricing sheet (also known as a Monroney). The standard 2026 911 Carrera has a starting price of $137,850 (including a $2,350 destination fee). For that, you get the base 388-horsepower flat-six engine, an excellent driving experience, and a few luxury features, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
The car Porsche lent me to test for a week had an MSRP of $196,050. The 4S — back in the lineup for 2026 — has a more powerful engine than the standard 911, along with all-wheel drive and some hardware from the spicy 911 GTS. The 4S starts at $164,500, though, so there are some key options that brought up the total.
The excellent Oak Green metallic paint job, for example, is an extra $3,160. The front-axle lift to avoid scraping when you enter and exit steep driveways — that’s another $3,160. The Truffle brown leather that makes the inside feel utterly refined is $5,190 on top of the standard price. And the Premium package that adds a Bose stereo, ventilated front seats, adaptive cruise control, and a surround-view camera adds $5,590.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
Testing various Porsches over the years, I’ve learned this lesson: No matter what the base price of your desired model is, it’s probably best to mentally add about 20% more to the price tag to accommodate the options you end up choosing. Or at least that’s how I seem to spec out my imaginary Porsches.
More than enough power
After spending a few moments thinking about how unlikely it is that I’ll ever be able to afford this sort of car myself, I decided to go back out and enjoy it some more: no point in dwelling on the malaise of a hypothetical non-future while I’ve got the keys to the real-life car in my hands that’ll bring me joy in the present. I key up, select sport mode, mash the throttle, and head back down the mountain. From a dig, the 4S moves forward in an astonishing but non-violent hurry. It’s properly fast, but it doesn’t feel particularly aggressive in its acceleration — instead, it’s purposeful.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
Behind the driver and the rear axle, hidden from view underneath some fans and bodywork, is the 4S’ twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-six engine. It’s paired with Porsche’s 8-speed PDK transmission and all-wheel drive, a combo I think is broadly appealing. Though there’s certainly a case for the manual Carrera T being the best spec, the upgraded engine in the 4S makes noticeably more power and a bit more growl.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
The 4S version of the Porsche engine makes 473 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque, and it’s the sort of powertrain that makes the bigger-power Porsches feel a bit unnecessary. With a long enough straightaway, it’ll hit 191 mph. Press the right buttons and prepare a clear enough straightaway, and the 911 4S will blast from zero to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds – quicker than you’ll ever need to scoot away from a stop light, even if you are late for work.
Much more than just a powertrain
More than just balanced and adept at navigating every curve on the most challenging of mountain roads, the 911 can be driven in a calm and relaxed way, or it can be driven hard. I brake late into corners, transition immediately to near-full acceleration on the way out, and it doesn’t flinch. The Pirelli P Zeros provide all the grip you’ll need. The 911 won’t find its limits until you’re well beyond the responsible (and legal) limits of driving on public roads.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
I also took my time, enjoying the scenery, soaking in the warm rays of the rising sun, dropping the windows and feeling the wind on my face as I dialed up the volume on the stereo. Road imperfections that jostle lesser sports cars are shed off by the 911 as well. Along some of the most broken and beaten sections of Los Angeles’ overcrowded freeway system, the 4S is easy to live with. You might be spending a lot on the 911, but it can truly be your everyday car, no matter what your day looks like. Paying for the performance makes sense, but getting this level of refinement is included right alongside the thrills.
Comfortable, even at a standstill
After a few dozen miles enjoying the 911 at speed, I slowed down to appreciate some of the finer details – of which there are many. As a part of the optional Premium package, my test car came with 14-way power Sport seats. They aren’t quite at the top of the heap when it comes to available 911 seats, but they’re pretty close.
They’re supportive, well-padded, and bolstered strongly enough that I never slid from side to side. Opting to get the 14-way seats, with the ventilation added to the mix, is a wise choice — especially for anyone who lives in a hot climate.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
Like just about every other Porsche, the 911 has one of the best steering wheels fitted to any car on the road today. The size of the steering wheel itself, the heft of the rim, and the limited number of buttons to get in the way makes it a favorite of mine. Along with the steering wheel, every surface in the 911’s cabin is crafted with care, with near-perfect cross-stitching spanning the dashboard. Even the piano black plastics that typically drag down the vibe of an interior somehow feel more elegant in their placement and material quality with the 911.
Immediately part of the club, but at a higher tier
A few days after my test in the mountains, I took the 4S to a local Cars and Coffee. Even though it felt relatively understated at the Sunday-morning caffeine-fueled car event, flanked by big-wing GT3s and ultra-modified 911s, the 4S got me into the Porsche club immediately. This is not any official Porsche club, mind you (of which I’m sure there are many), but I was immediately counted amongst the chosen few. While this was a similar experience to when I drove the electric Macan, the 911 certainly brought a different gravitas.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
As I pulled into a local lot, planning on spectating, I was directed to the most VIP of parking spots, asked questions about the car from bystanders, and given compliments immediately — many of which were about the 4S’ excellent paint color. If you want instant street cred, buying just about any version of the 911 will give it to you. This wasn’t the only experience I had with the 911 like this, either. It might not be listed as an official standard feature with the $200k price tag, but being admitted to the top tier of the Porsche clubs is part of the package.
No car is without its flaws
Just like everything else on four wheels, the 911 has drawbacks, but these are the most insignificant of gripes, really. Cargo space, for instance, is at a premium. With the engine out back, the 911 has to make do with a tiny front trunk; there’s just 4.7 cubic feet of space up there. The back seat, however, has more room for luggage if you treat the 911 like a two-seater (as many owners I know do).
Travis Langness/SlashGear
In the 4S’ Sport Plus setting the ride is a bit stiffer than I’d like, but that can be solved by simply leaving it in the basic Sport mode. The cupholders could be a bit bigger, or I could just get a smaller cup, I suppose, and I’d prefer a different one of Porsche’s wheel designs (wide spokes just aren’t my thing), but that’s more of a customization than it is a complaint. Like I said, the problems here aren’t really problems.
2026 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S verdict
There aren’t too many cars that I’d describe as perfect, but in the sports car world this is about as close as it gets. The 911 is lauded as one of the best sports cars of all time, partly because of its commitment to refinement over the years, but also because of its ability to balance performance with comfort. Simply owning one will push you to wake up early, get extra coffee, and experience all the sensations it offers as often as you can, but it is also the sort of car you can drive on a daily basis for decades.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
With only a week behind the wheel, I wanted to feel the near-perfect steering, the excellent weight distribution, and the sonorous flat-six engine as much as possible. I got up early on multiple days, not just my test day in the mountains, to drive the 911 anywhere I could. It’s worth the loss of sleep if you’ve got limited time with it. Unfortunately, the cost is more than just the loss of a little bit of sleep.
Travis Langness/SlashGear
With the Cayman gone from its lineup, Porsche doesn’t have an entry-level sports car anymore: it’s either the 911 or something with four doors for new-car shoppers who want the Porsche badge. A base price of nearly $140,000, or a mid-level version for nearly $200,000 (with several versions well into the $300k range), means the 911 is now more aspirational than it is attainable. As far as automotive experiences go, though, it’s still just as desirable.
For over 30 years I’ve been teaching teachers to engage in meaningful conversations with their students about real things. Strong teachers know how to pose thoughtful questions, elicit questions from students, and listen and engage respectfully with students.
And yet, 30 years in, there are still a shocking number of schools where adults and children fail to discuss important issues. For instance, according to findings recently released by RAND’s American Youth Panel, only about 1 in 3 students say their school has a school-wide policy on the use of AI. Many students say AI policy in their school varies by teacher, and 67 percent of students endorsed the statement, “The more students use AI for their schoolwork, the more it will harm their critical thinking skills.”
The RAND report recommends “direct conversations” with students about the use of AI. So let’s talk about how to do that.
Talking Directly About AI in Schools
According to the Center for Democracy and Technology, approximately 85 percent of teachers and students report using AI for schoolwork. If your school has a clear policy on AI use, great! Discuss it with your students. Ask them how they feel about it; what’s clear and what needs more explanation; what feels fair and what they might want to advocate to change.
If your school does not have a clear policy on AI, talk with your colleagues, and talk with your students. Here are some questions to get those conversations started.
With colleagues, including teachers and school leaders:
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Is it our goal to make things easier for students? For teachers? AI can simplify, increase efficiency, and in other ways do the work for us. Is this what we want?
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If so, when is this a good thing?
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In what types of situations might we want to avoid making things easier?
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How can we implement AI and LLM tools in a way that benefits our learning community, i.e. increased efficiency, time savings, ability to gather and analyze more data, etc.?
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What guardrails can we put in place to ensure we maintain the learning experiences we value, such as engaging in productive struggle; working through complex problems and devising, testing, and refining solutions?
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How are we going to teach students to critically analyze information and “answers” provided by AI tools?
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How skillful are our students at identifying bias? Will our students ask, “What’s the source for this information?” “What perspective does this source have?” Can they distinguish fact (i.e. the distance between the Earth and the sun) from opinion (i.e. the filibuster as a tool for promoting democracy)?
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What skills do they – and we – need to strengthen in order to ensure that we are the drivers of AI innovation?
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Are there other schools or people we trust, admire, and respect who have implemented AI policies? What can we learn from them?
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What processes do we have in place (or can we put into place) to include student voice in determining when and how to use AI in our school?
With students:
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What is valuable about the work we do together in school? How might AI tools increase this value? How might AI undermine it?
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What does integrity mean to us, as individuals and as a school? How can we implement AI in a way that supports integrity in our school?
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What do you know about AI? What do you want to know about it?
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What are some ways we might use AI in our school? What are the potential benefits and drawbacks?
Aligning AI with School Values
If this seems like a lot of work, and a lot to talk about, that’s because it is. An AI policy isn’t something to overlay on a school, and then continue with business as usual. AI is a powerful tool. It has the power to disrupt. That disruption can be beneficial, such as disrupting inequitable access to information and learning tools. It can also be harmful: AI can fuel complacency and undermine critical thinking and curiosity. So a school’s AI policy needs to be deeply aligned with the school’s values. And that requires thoughtful, school-wide conversations about those values.
During these conversations, make liberal use of the phrase, “I don’t know.” Because we don’t have all the answers. There is so much we don’t yet know about what AI can, or should, do. How it might support, or undermine, critical thinking and curiosity.
When you engage in conversations based on the questions above, you are modeling to your students – and your colleagues – how to puzzle through complex issues. You’re building uncertainty tolerance. You’re teaching problem solving at the highest level.
And isn’t that what we teachers are here to do in the first place?
A price war has erupted between Amazon and B&H, resulting in Apple’s current M5 MacBook Pro 14-inch falling to $1,849. Plus save up to $500 on a multitude of models.
B&H and Amazon are competing for your business this Tuesday, with a $150 discount on the 10-core M5 14-inch MacBook Pro with 16GB of unified memory and 1TB of storage, bringing the price down to $1,849. Both Space Black and Silver are available for that price, with B&H stating there is limited supply available.
- Buy 1TB M5 MacBook Pro 14-inch for $1,849 at B&H
- Buy 1TB M5 MacBook Pro 14-inch for $1,849 at Amazon
B&H is throwing in free 2-day shipping on orders shipped within the contiguous U.S., with both Amazon and B&H having units in stock at press time.
Today’s top 14-inch MacBook Pro deals
- 14″ MacBook Pro M5 (10C CPU, 10C GPU, 16GB, 1TB, Standard Display): $1,849 ($150 off)
- 14″ MacBook Pro M5 Pro (18C CPU, 20C GPU, 24GB, 2TB, Standard Display): $2,999 ($200 off)
16-inch MacBook Pro sale prices
- 16″ MacBook Pro M5 Pro (18C CPU, 20C GPU, 24GB, 1TB, Standard Display, Space Black): $2,818 ($181 off)
- 16″ MacBook Pro M5 Pro (18C CPU, 20C GPU, 48GB, 1TB, Standard Display, Space Black): $3,299 ($300 off)
- 16″ MacBook Pro M5 Max (18C CPU, 32C GPU, 36GB, 2TB, Standard Display): $3,999 ($400 off)
- 16″ MacBook Pro M5 Max (18C CPU, 40C GPU, 48GB, 2TB, Standard Display): $4,499 ($500 off)
For even more discounts and easy price comparison across retail and CTO models, be sure to check out our MacBook Pro Price Guide.
Salesforce’s Tableau business has renewed its lease for roughly 114,000 square feet at the Data 1 office building in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, extending its long-term home in the city.
The lease renewal takes effect after the current agreement expires in 2029, according to an announcement Monday first reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
The renewal continues Tableau’s long association with Fremont, where the company added offices over the years to accommodate its rapid growth before its $15.7 billion acquisition by Salesforce in 2019. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff once said the Seattle region would become the company’s “HQ2” with the Tableau deal.
However, the years following the acquisition brought significant change. Salesforce conducted multiple rounds of layoffs that affected Tableau employees and trimmed its Seattle office footprint as hybrid work reshaped demand for office space.
Former Tableau CEO Mark Nelson also departed in 2024 after leading the business for two years. Before the acquisition, Tableau had grown to about 4,200 employees worldwide, about half of them in the Seattle region.
Salesforce originally planned to sublease the Data 1 building at 744 N. 34th St., which Tableau opened in 2018. But it then quickly reversed course in 2023, instead choosing to put its nearby Fremont headquarters building on the sublease market.
The Tableau news also comes at a changing time for Fremont.
Last year, Google announced plans to leave its Fremont campus, bringing all of its employees in Seattle together at its South Lake Union campus. At the time, it cited a desire for better collaboration and community. The pending departure has meant a large chunk of prime office space remains available for lease along the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
We’ve reached out to Salesforce about the Tableau lease, and we will update this post as we learn more.
New York became the first state to halt data center construction after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order today that temporarily bars the state from approving new permits for large projects.
Hochul’s order applies to data centers 50 megawatts or larger, potentially affecting more than a dozen projects. The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will not issue any permits that haven’t already been completed.
While resource concerns have fueled some of the backlash, broader concern about AI has been behind much of it as well. A recent Pew Research report found that only 10% of Americans were more excited than concerned about AI use in daily life, and just 23% felt that the technology would have a positive impact on how people do their jobs. Less than a quarter of the general public feels that AI will give the economy a boost, and less than a third were confident that the government would regulate the technology responsibly.
“Progress shouldn’t arrive with a higher utility bill, deleted water supply, or noise pollution,” Hochul said at a press conference in Brooklyn. “These data centers can only be built, should only be built in places that want them. So they will never be exempt from local zoning, local approvals.”
The moratorium will be lifted once the state finalizes an environmental review process for data centers, which Hochul expects will take about a year. Hochul’s office is also considering requiring data centers to pay into a fund that would support the state’s electrical grid, and she would like to prevent hyperscale data centers from receiving tax benefits.
Hochul’s executive order arrives as more stringent measures are moving through New York’s legislature. Last month, the legislature advanced a bill that would pause construction of data centers larger than 20 megawatts for one year, while another still in committee would institute a three-year moratorium.
The average data center built in the last few years has been smaller than 100 megawatts, but those in development are expected to be much larger as AI drives computing demands higher. Through 2030, nearly a quarter of new data centers will exceed 500 megawatts, according to BloombergNEF, driven by increasing AI investment.
The idea of a data center moratorium has been debated at the state and federal levels, but New York is the first to put one into practice. In December, more than 230 organizations called for a nationwide pause on new data centers. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has also proposed a nationwide moratorium, though it hasn’t received much traction. More recently, Maine’s legislature passed a bill that would have paused construction on new data centers until November 1, 2027, but Gov. Janet Mills vetoed it.
Just years ago, data centers were sought after by states eager to secure new development projects, but recently, public sentiment on data centers has soured as new projects have grown in size. The scale and pace at which they’re being constructed has started to strain the electrical grid in addition to regional resources like water and farmland. Two-thirds of respondents to a recent poll said they were concerned about data centers driving up electricity prices. Another survey found that people would rather have an Amazon warehouse in their backyard than a data center.
Hochul’s order could be setting up for a clash with the Trump administration, which thus far has supported data center development. Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is led by a Trump appointee, told grid operators to develop special fast lanes to speed data centers’ interconnections.
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If you’ve been holding off on buying an iPad mini because you were hoping Apple’s first OLED model would finally get a smoother display, you may want to temper your expectations.
A prettier screen, but not necessarily a faster one
A new rumor from Korean leaker yeux1122 claims the upcoming OLED iPad mini will still use a 60Hz display, despite making the jump from LCD to OLED. That’s a bit surprising, especially since many fans expected Apple to pair the long-awaited OLED upgrade with a higher refresh rate. For everyday tasks like reading, streaming Netflix, or browsing the web, 60Hz is perfectly usable. But once you’ve spent time with a 120Hz display, whether it’s on a flagship Android phone or an iPad Pro, it’s hard to ignore the difference. Scrolling feels noticeably smoother, animations are more fluid, and even simple interactions like swiping through apps feel snappier.
According to the leak, Apple is reportedly using an LTPS OLED panel rather than the more advanced LTPO OLED technology found in the iPad Pro lineup. The distinction matters because LTPO displays can intelligently vary their refresh rate up to 120Hz, helping them deliver smoother visuals while also saving battery life. LTPS panels, on the other hand, generally stick to a fixed refresh rate, and in this case, that would reportedly be 60Hz.
Apple may be betting that gorgeous beats buttery
That doesn’t mean the new iPad mini wouldn’t be an upgrade. Moving from LCD to OLED should still bring deeper blacks, punchier colors, better contrast, and improved power efficiency. Movies would look more vibrant, and dark mode should finally appear truly black instead of dark gray. Still, a 60Hz OLED panel could leave some buyers scratching their heads. Apple has gradually expanded high-refresh-rate displays across more of its product lineup, so many expected the next iPad mini to follow suit. Then again, Apple has shown it’s still comfortable shipping premium-looking devices with 60Hz screens when it wants to keep costs under control, making this rumor believable enough.
The good news is that this leak isn’t set in stone. So, even if mass production has begun, it doesn’t necessarily confirm which display technology Apple has ultimately chosen. Recent reports from Korea suggest the OLED iPad mini is on track for a late 2026 launch, though Apple hasn’t officially confirmed anything yet. If the rumors prove accurate, the biggest upgrade may simply be OLED itself rather than the smoother 120Hz experience many fans were hoping for.
Samsung’s next Galaxy smartwatches could last longer than ever, thanks to bigger batteries and more efficient processors.
According to a report from WinFuture, Samsung is set to swap its long-running Exynos smartwatch chips for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite platform. This new chip is built on a 3nm manufacturing process, and as such, should bring a welcome boost to both performance and power efficiency. As a result, everyday tasks might feel snappier while battery life could be extended.
The leak also suggests that memory and storage will vary by model. Samsung is reportedly pairing the new chipset with 2GB of RAM. Alongside that, you get either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage depending on the version you choose.
Battery upgrades appear to be a mixed bag across the range. The smaller 40mm Galaxy Watch 9 is expected to retain the same 325mAh battery as the current model. However, the larger 44mm version could receive a slight increase to 445mAh, up from 435mAh on the Galaxy Watch 8.
The biggest improvement, however, may be reserved for the flagship. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is tipped to jump from the original Ultra’s 590mAh battery to a much larger 800mAh cell. If that figure proves accurate, it could translate into a noticeable improvement in endurance. This would be particularly true for users who rely on GPS tracking, health monitoring and multi-day adventures.
The latest report follows several recent leaks focusing on redesigned straps and refreshed styling. This time, however, the spotlight is firmly on internal hardware.
Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy Watch 9 series alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 during Galaxy Unpacked on 22 July. With less than two weeks to go, it shouldn’t be long before we find out whether these leaked specifications make the final cut.
on-prem
CEO Krishna: Customers blew their Z budgets on servers and storage before prices spike, Q2 financials ‘disappointing’
IBM says customers spooked by soaring demand for AI infrastructure raided their mainframe budgets to stockpile servers, storage, and memory instead, knocking Big Blue’s flagship Z business off course.
Ahead of its full calendar Q2 earnings release next week, IBM took the unusual step of publishing preliminary quarterly results alongside a letter from CEO Arvind Krishna explaining why the numbers fell short of expectations.
The biggest disappointment came in Infrastructure, where revenue fell 7 percent, despite what IBM had previously described as the strongest launch of a mainframe generation in its history.
The culprit wasn’t a sudden loss of affection for mainframes, according to Krishna, but a last-minute scramble to secure hardware increasingly caught up in the AI spending boom.
“In the last few weeks of June, we saw clients shift their quarterly capex spend toward servers, storage, and memory purchases to secure supply-constrained infrastructure ahead of expected price increases,” Krishna wrote. “This dynamic impacted client buying patterns.”
IBM had expected some disruption from supply chain pressures, he said, “but we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization.”
That’s an unusually candid admission from a company whose Z mainframes remain one of its highest-margin businesses. Customers, it seems, preferred to refresh infrastructure they fear might soon become more expensive or harder to obtain.
The spending shift also rippled through IBM’s software business because fewer mainframe deals meant weaker sales of the transaction-processing software that typically accompanies them.
Krishna pointed to another factor as well, saying clients were distracted by “rapidly evolving, industry-wide cybersecurity concerns” during the quarter, though he offered no further details on what those concerns were or how they affected purchasing decisions.
IBM was willing to shoulder some of the blame. “These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered,” Krishna wrote. “We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall.”
Not everything disappointed. Red Hat revenue grew 11 percent, recent acquisitions including HashiCorp and Confluent performed strongly, and IBM’s Distributed Infrastructure business posted record reported growth of 37 percent, driven by Power servers and storage systems.
Still, the quarter offers another sign of how the AI infrastructure race is reshaping enterprise IT budgets. For at least one quarter, customers decided the safest investment wasn’t the newest mainframe – it was buying as much in-demand hardware as possible before someone else did. ®
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