Google may have quietly pulled the plug on the Pixel Tablet. The three-year-old tablet has disappeared from the Google Store, while the company has also removed the “Tablet” category from the navigation menu on its homepage.

The Pixel Tablet’s removal was first spotted by Jetstream, which had already reported that the device was marked as out of stock just days earlier. Google has yet to confirm whether the tablet has officially been discontinued, but taking the product down entirely is a pretty strong hint that its time may be up.

DEVOPS

Acquisition gives open source CSS framework ‘a stable long-term home’

Tailwind CSS may still be open source, but it’s not independent anymore: It’s now a Shopify product.

Tailwind Labs CEO Adam Wathan shared news of Shopify’s acquisition of his company in a blog post Thursday. Wathan said that he chose to sell to Shopify because the ecommerce platform was an early adopter of Tailwind CSS, and will serve as an ideal place for his open-source web development platform to “be developed in service of a real product.” 

“I believe deeply in Shopify’s mission to help more people start, run, and grow their own business,” Wathan added. “Tailwind is a very important part of the stack at Shopify, and they’re invested in making sure it’s actively maintained and continues to improve and adapt for how the ways we build are changing.” 

For those unfamiliar with Tailwind CSS, it’s an open source framework that simplifies web development by providing utility classes that can be applied directly to elements in HTML documents. Traditional CSS, on the other hand, often involves maintaining separate stylesheets containing rules that are applied to HTML elements.

It’s a useful tool, and one that’s installed over 110 million times a week, per Wathan, if you can believe that. But as we’ve seen several times, the rise of AI is making it hard for the platform’s overlords to make ends meet. 

Wathan said in January that AI coding tools had started eating into Tailwind Labs’ bottom line to the degree that he was forced to lay off three employees. He blamed the fact that vibe coding tools have begun to come between his product and potential customers, causing traffic to plummet and income to dry up. 

So Shopify has come to the rescue to save Tailwind CSS from languishing in maintenance hell like other open source projects.

“We’re joining Shopify to give Tailwind a stable long-term home where it will be actively maintained for the millions of people who depend on it,” Wathan explained in his blog post.

The precise details depend on what type of Tailwind CSS user you are. 

“Nothing changes with Tailwind CSS or any of our other open-source projects,” Wathan said. “Everything will always be MIT-licensed, and our team will continue to lead and maintain these projects for the community with the support of Shopify.”

But users of Tailwind’s premium services might find things changing, as Wathan said his team will no longer be trying to grow the business. That means Tailwind Plus, the company’s paid, UI-based package of templates and other tools, and ui.sh, Tailwind’s package of AI skills designed to help non-coders build user interfaces, are going the way of the dodo. 

“We’re closing sign ups for new customers to focus on Tailwind CSS at Shopify,” Wathan explained. Existing customers who’ve paid for access to those tools and other paid Tailwind Labs offerings will still have access, Wathan stressed.

We reached out to get more details on future support for those paid products, and will update this post if we hear back. ®

Establishing life on another planet is a multifaceted process with many problems. Housing is one major challenge, but a new study suggests researchers have found a way to build living quarters on Mars using materials already present on the planet, along with a couple of other clever ingredients. 

The study, published on Sept. 10 in the journal Chem Circularity, reports that researchers found a way to turn the sand on Mars into what is functionally low-grade concrete using little more than gelatin, yeast, and the natural Martian environment. Combine the three ingredients, and the dry, cold, low-pressure environment of Mars freeze-dries the mixture, turning it into a porous, foam-like material strong enough to build houses on the red planet. 

“My inspiration came from freeze-dried fruits that become harder,” senior author Jishen Qiu of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said in a statement. “So, I asked myself if we can take advantage of that and make some materials.”

According to Qiu, the concrete produced by this method measures 10 to 12 megapascals (a metric unit of pressure), putting it on par with low-grade concrete here on Earth. This concrete is strong enough to build a one- or two-story house on Earth, and since Earth has three times the gravity of Mars, it’s more than strong enough to build structures on Mars too. 

The gelatin is run-of-the-mill porcine gelatin, which means it’s made from pigs, and it’s quite literally the same stuff that Jell-O uses to make its jiggly dessert. For the yeast, Qiu created a specially engineered version covered in the same proteins mussels use to attach themselves to rocks. These two ingredients, along with pounded-up Martian rocks and water, create the material. 

Mars’ frigid cold, low-pressure environment effectively freeze-dries the material, causing water to sublimate, which means it turns directly from a solid to a vapor, leaving the Martian concrete behind. Because this process is so fast, items must be 3D-printed in real time to work properly.

The team tested it by 3D printing two small beehive-shaped structures about the size of a wine cork in a simulated Martian environment, but the team believes the process can scale up. Once the structures have reached the end of their usefulness, people on Mars can break them down, mix them in a bioreactor, and brew a new building with the same materials, as long as there’s still yeast alive to reproduce. 

An elegant solution to a long-standing problem

Delivering humans to Mars is already a tall order. Elon Musk tried to get it done by 2025 and missed the mark by at least a decade. However, getting people there is only half the battle. Once there, they need a place to live that can withstand the Martian environment, which includes temperature swings of nearly 100 degrees Celsius and virtually no radiation protection from the sun due to the thin Mars atmosphere. 

There are many ideas about the subject, ranging from inflatable domiciles to the idea of letting self-propagating fungi grow whole buildings. Some enterprising scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation even made space bricks from Martian soil, guar gum, urea, nickel chloride and a bacterium called Sporosarcina pasteurii, which converts urea and calcium into calcite. This lets the soil harden into something resembling concrete.

NASA held a habitat challenge from 2015 to 2019 that tasked companies and researchers to 3D-print homes using unique methods and materials. The winners took home over $2 million in prizes. In short, no stone has been left unturned, and people are using all sorts of exotic materials to try to find the best solution for habitats on Mars, including Qiu.

“I always ask myself: Is there any physical law or fundamental mechanism that prevents us from doing this?” Qiu said. “I can’t see any at this point in time. We are confident in scaling it up. It would surprise me if materials for future Martian engineering will not be as diverse as those used in Earth engineering, and biology will certainly contribute.”

Joe is a freelance journalist. It all started with a long-running affection for building his own PCs, which he did for the first time as a teenager. It evolved into a lifelong enjoyment of putting words on the internet about the subject. He’s written for CNET, PCMag, Mashable and SlashGear as a freelance writer, and worked as a Senior Editor at Android Authority for 10 years. When he’s not writing about tech and science, he’s learning the ins and outs of DIY home repair, gaming, playing his bass guitars and posting help on PC building and gaming subreddits. He is a staunch believer that orange juice should have pulp.

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A new report found that Irish employees’ workplace expectations and experiences are being transformed by artificial intelligence.

Microsoft Ireland has today (10 September) released the findings of its 2026 Work Trend Index. The report explores how Ireland’s employees are responding to a working environment under constant evolution in response to AI.  

This year’s Work Trend Index, in collaboration with 3Gem, surveyed 1,000 nationally representative adults based in Ireland, in casual and part-time work, including frontline employees and knowledge workers. 

The survey builds on the year-on-year comparisons of the changing trends, experiences and workplace expectations between 2022 and 2026.

What was discovered is that nearly half (48pc) of workers who participated in the research have changed employers in the last 12 months, a figure which has risen from 38pc in 2025.

47pc of professionals explained that AI is making them seriously reconsider their career path. This has risen from 34pc just last year. 

The AI influence

The report found that there is significant optimism around the potential of AI, as 76pc of participants believe it offers Ireland a major economic opportunity. Almost two-thirds believe skills in this area are critical when competing in the wider jobs market and 61pc are of the opinion that developing AI skills will support career progression.

There are some concerns also, as almost 60pc of people fear falling behind if they are too slow to adapt, and 13pc are considering changing their employer if there is insufficient access to advanced AI tools. This is perhaps not unexpected, as Microsoft’s report suggests that AI use at work has risen to 63pc. 

Many employers, however, are failing to meet the expectations of a workforce that is becoming increasingly used to embedded AI.

While 57pc of participant workers can identify where AI agents could help in their role and 48pc are already using AI agents regularly, organisations are in catch-up mode, with employers yet to provide the right levels of upkilling, investment and leadership, according to the index. 

Only 40pc of contributors feel that they have had enough AI training or guidance, less than half agreed that their employer provides the tools and resources they need, and only 48pc find that leadership expectations around AI use are clear. 

The report said: “The findings suggest Ireland’s AI opportunity is not constrained by employee appetite, but by how quickly organisations can translate that enthusiasm into practical capability, trusted adoption and business value.”

The Work Trend Index identified the ways in which organisations can accelerate their AI adoption to match employee needs and that is largely by viewing the workforce as an asset that requires consistent upgrading.  

65pc of employees are open to new ideas and ways of working with AI, 89pc said AI has improved the quality of their work, 61pc are curious about what AI could unlock for them or their team, and 65pc said they treat AI output as a starting point while remaining responsible for the final work. 

“Leadership will be critical to converting employee interest into confident adoption. However, more than half of workers (51pc) say leadership is out of touch with employees, while fewer than half say their manager actively uses AI, encourages AI adoption or supports experimentation,” the report said. 

“The findings point to a clear opportunity for leaders to model responsible use, set expectations and give employees the confidence and permission to explore where AI can add value.”

Catherine Doyle, general manager at Microsoft Ireland, said, “Ireland’s workforce is adapting quickly to a changing world of work. People are thinking differently about the skills they need, the career paths they want and the opportunities they expect from their employers. 

“At the same time, there is strong recognition of AI’s potential, both for individual careers and for Ireland’s future competitiveness. What is particularly encouraging is that workers are not waiting on the sidelines. They’re developing new future-ready skills and exploring how AI can help them in their current and future roles. 

“The challenge now is whether organisations can keep pace with this momentum. The next phase is about turning AI adoption into meaningful value by building organisational capability and trust, strengthening governance and security, and redesigning work around better outcomes.

“The organisations that get this right will be better placed to create meaningful value for their people, customers and the wider economy.”

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Different ecosystems, but similar flagship hardware.

Design and displays that aren’t all that different

Wongsakorn 2468/Shutterstock

The biggest difference is in the cameras

Herman Vlad/Getty Images

Battery, biometrics and more

They’re both great, but for different users

Collaborative Fund, the 15-year-old, New York-based generalist venture firm that has roughly $1 billion under management and which made early bets on Lyft, Reddit, Sweetgreen, and Olipop, among others, is taking a stake in the soccer club D.C. United and its stadium, Audi Field.

It’s the latest — and smallest — firm to try something that Thrive Capital opened the door to just months ago: turning venture money into pro sports ownership.

To recap, Joshua Kushner’s Thrive launched a new vehicle, Thrive Eternal, explicitly built to hold “iconic franchises and cultural institutions” for decades, funded by many of the same investors already in Thrive’s venture and growth funds. The firm kicked things off by announcing a stake in the San Francisco Giants. Months later, the same vehicle — with former Disney CEO Bob Iger, a Thrive partner, joining as co-owner — bought the Lakers outright for a record $12.5 billion.

That’s new. Historically, money has poured into pro sports two other ways: individual tech fortunes, and private equity. For example, Vinod Khosla and his family agreed this summer to buy the Seattle Seahawks for a record $9.6 billion soon after the Khosla family also took a stake in the San Francisco 49ers alongside OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor. That was a personal-wealth play, the kind we’ve seen over and over.

Private equity firms have also been at this for years, including Sixth Street, which holds stakes in the Boston Celtics, the New England Patriots, and MLB’s San Francisco Giants; Ares, which owns a piece of the Miami Dolphins outright and separately financed Chelsea’s stadium plans through a $500 million preferred-equity deal; RedBird, which owns AC Milan outright and holds a minority stake in Fenway Sports Group, the holding company behind Liverpool and the Red Sox; and Arctos, with minority positions scattered across MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and European soccer. (Apollo, the newest entrant, has mostly stuck to sports financing deals so far rather than ownership stakes.)

Thrive and Collaborative are doing neither of those things. At the same time, the two firms’ approaches to sports ownership look very different. Thrive built a standalone, permanent-capital vehicle specifically to hold trophy assets. Collaborative is investing out of the same early-stage fund it uses to write seed and Series A checks, and treating the deal less like something to buy and hold and almost more like infrastructure.

In a memo shared with TechCrunch, Collaborative Fund founder and managing partner Craig Shapiro framed the deal as an extension of what the firm already does. “A franchise is the ultimate consumer product,” he wrote, arguing that D.C. United’s status as one of Major League Soccer’s original clubs gives Collaborative access to an institution with a decades-long fan base to build on.

He pointed to the tailwinds around American soccer specifically (a World Cup just behind the sport, the LA Olympics ahead of it, soaring youth participation numbers in the U.S.) as well as D.C.’s ownership of Audi Field in Washington, D.C., plus a talent-development pipeline through Loudoun County, Virginia, and rights to a future Baltimore expansion team.

Indeed, the thesis Shapiro laid out at a TechCrunch StrictlyVC event Thursday night in New York is less about owning a piece of an appreciating asset – the sports team itself – and more about what the team makes possible. Collaborative wants to turn Audi Field into what he describes as a living showcase for its own portfolio.

As a backer of both fitness band maker Whoop and the beverage brand Olipop, for example, Collaborative Fund is imagining a WHOOP wearables activation for fans, or Olipop drinks woven into game-day concessions. He’s thinking about the stadium’s foot traffic — tens of thousands of people showing up on a predictable schedule — as a distribution channel at a time when, because AI is making more of daily life feel synthetic, live experiences are becoming more valuable.

Shapiro doesn’t dwell on this, but it surely helped sell Collaborative’s investors that team valuations have been soaring, so the stake could pay off on its own. Soccer valuations in particular have been on a tear. Inter Miami’s franchise value has roughly doubled in the two years since Lionel Messi arrived, MLS’s average club value is up roughly 134% since 2019, and D.C. United’s own valuation has climbed from $35 million in 2008 to $785 million today, factoring in its ownership of Audi Field and the surrounding real estate.

If Shapiro is right that a franchise is also “the ultimate consumer product,” it could be a pretty good place to park money. Time will tell.

The deal is subject to MLS approval.

The company has produced an extensive collection of case studies covering the ways its current AI models have been misused.

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is pretty tough, with a diverse group of categories that might stump players. If you’re struggling with the puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group hint: When a player gets hurt.

Green group hint: Who’s on first?

Blue group hint: Hoopsters in Sin City.

Purple group hint: You might do this with a doughnut.

Read more: We Need to Talk About That One Doggone Connections Puzzle

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: NFL injury report designations.

Green group: Ways to reach first base.

Blue group: Las Vegas Aces.

Purple group: ____ dunk.

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is NFL injury report designations.

The four answers are doubtful, out, probable and questionable.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is ways to reach first base.

The four answers are error, hit by pitch, single and walk.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Las Vegas Aces.

The four answers are Gray, Loyd, Wilson and Young.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ dunk.

The four answers are Nike, reverse, slam and windmill.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

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Leah Feiger: I do like the nostalgic touch. I miss my Motorola Razr. I miss it every single day. Perhaps not the exact same capabilities, but it does the trick.

Brian Barrett: It is funny. It is. Imagine your Motorola Razr, but it opens side to side instead of up and down, and it’s all one big screen, so there’s no buttons to push. You can’t do T9 texting. Then you can watch YouTube on it.

Leah Feiger: I’m waiting, honestly, for the first story to drop from the quiet car of the Acela between DC and New York where someone, some sweet person from the administration, did not realize how big that screen is when you unfold it and how many messages are visible.

Brian Barrett: Oh, it’s going to be great.

Leah Feiger: It’s going to be, this is the new frontier for eavesdropping. Also, congratulations, Apple. But for me, that’s what I’m looking forward to.

Brian Barrett: Leah, what would it take to get you to purchase a foldable phone?

Leah Feiger: It would have to be a lot less than $2,000.

Brian Barrett: Yeah.

Leah Feiger: I can’t wait for Zoë to come back next week and tell us all about her new purchase. To be clear, I don’t think she’s gotten one, but it would be really funny if she did.

Brian Barrett: I bet she will.

Leah Feiger: So our next topic involves the US Census Bureau, which, definitely not as shiny or theoretically life-threatening as our previous topics, but really, really important. Last month, the bureau published a report that claimed to uncover evidence backing up President Donald Trump’s claims that noncitizen voting cost him the 2020 election. He touted the report on True Social saying, “I won the election.” This is, as you know, we’ve talked about this many times, one of Trump’s favorite conspiracy theories. He cannot let it go. And WIRED reporters, Vittoria Elliott and David Gilbert, dug into how this specific report actually got made, who wrote it, and they discovered a lot of holes with this. I kind of want to start by saying, if you’re listening to me and thinking, why do I care about a US Census Bureau report? They just do the census. They tell me how many people live in all of these different areas, how big families are, et cetera, et cetera. You’re not 100 percent wrong, but this is really important data. These are reports about people and their lives, and the average citizen shouldn’t have to know that much about it, but because of the situation we’re in with the current administration, knowing these weird little intricacies of what’s going on in government, I think has been really key to understanding the full picture here.

Brian Barrett: Also, to be clear, I do care.

Leah Feiger: You do care. There we go. All right. Can I run you through some of the quick down and dirty stuff, Brian, with what the report said?

I’ve known John Ternus for almost a dozen years, but not this John Ternus, the newly minted Apple CEO and sudden global tech celebrity. So, color me pleased when he and his Global Marketing SVP Greg Joswiak agreed to sit down with Tom’s Guide Global Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer and me for a podcast discussion that ranged from bringing Pencil to the iPhone and excitement around the foldable iPhone Duo to what AI means for innovation, and the big moment when Ternus realized he was about to become CEO of arguably one of the biggest and most important tech companies in the world.

It’s kind of wild to watch someone who you think of as a brilliant but also normal and approachable guy transform into an industry rockstar almost overnight, and while Ternus, who is a 25-year Apple veteran and came directly from leading Apple’s hardware operations, doesn’t seem outwardly fazed by the transition, he’s also attuned to the moment.

“What an extraordinary privilege, right?” said Ternus with a wide grin. The reality is, I just love this place, right? It’s in my blood. …I love the people I work with. I love to be able to build the products that we all build together. And so, goosebumps…and excitement.”