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Brussels shows how to remove friction from collaboration
When the Flemish Government set out to renovate its Brussels headquarters, it had two strategic aims.
The first was to create a workplace that encouraged hybrid workers to come to the office more regularly, by fashioning a space that fostered connection, teamwork, collaboration, and a deeper sense of wellbeing and belonging.
The second goal was sustainability. Another objective was that the government’s head office building played a large part in its 2050 climate goals.
Yannic Laleeuwe is marketing director for workplace collaboration at Barco Clickshare. The visualization, collaboration, and networking technology provider worked with the Flemish Government’s Agency for Facility Operations (AFO) on the revamp. The agency manages real estate, IT, and document management.
As Laleeuwe points out: “Together these goals supported stronger employee experiences, greater operational consistency, and a more resilient workplace strategy.”
Restoration started in 2021 as part of the wider ZIN in No(o)rd redevelopment in Brussels’ Northern Quarter. This transformed the World Trade Center I and II Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire towers into modern, mixed-use spaces that combine offices, housing, hotel rooms, leisure, and retail.
The Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire building, which houses 4,800 Flemish Government employees, opened in 2024. It has since become a flagship example of how to combine circular construction, energy efficiency, green ICT, and future-ready collaboration technology to support modern work patterns.
Technology removes the friction from collaboration
On technology, the agency embedded it into operations from the outset rather than tacking it on later as an add-on. A key aim was to remove “friction from collaboration”, Laleeuwe says, and to make the user experience as simple and intuitive as possible. The collaboration technology in every meeting room had to work the same way, whether in a two-person huddle space or a 20-seater boardroom.
“With a hybrid model, a better user experience makes the office more usable and more attractive,” she explains. “Employees are more likely to use meeting rooms confidently when experiences are smooth and consistent, which supports the wider goal of making the office a place that adds value for collaboration and connection.”
“Inconsistency quickly creates friction”, Laleeuwe notes. Wherever tconferencing echnology was deployed across the building, it had to be simple to start and easy to use without requiring IT support each time.
Meeting room technology works best when it stays in the background rather than becoming the focus, Laleeuwe explains. That requires flexibility enough to support different devices, room types, and videoconferencing platforms, while providing employees and guests with a unified, consistent meeting experience whether they are remote or in the office.
“If employees have to get to know the audio-visual equipment setup every time they move between rooms, buildings or platforms, it slows meetings down and undermines confidence,” Laleeuwe explains. “That is why the Flemish Government focused on a cohesive and intuitive experience.”
To achieve this, the AFO chose long-term partner Barco’s ClickShare wireless video conferencing, presentation, and collaboration platform. It deployed the ClickShare CX-20 and CX-30 wireless conferencing system for small meeting rooms, huddle spaces, and small-to-medium-sized meeting rooms, along with the ClickShare CX-10 for interactive presentations in any size or type of meeting space.
The system is modular, so it can adapt to changing requirements without a rip-and-replace overhaul each time. It also provides a platform-agnostic, always-ready collaboration environment that does not require dedicated end points in every space.
Employees can choose between different videoconferencing platforms without creating headaches for the IT team each time they switch from Zoom to Microsoft Teams.
Ease of use, flexibility, and security
Luc Verdegem, the agency’s ICT director, says it had three main requirements when selecting the technology: Ease of use, flexibility, and security.
“For us, a simple user experience entails connecting seamlessly to the room set up from any device,” he says. “The experience should be the same in any space in any of our office buildings.”
On flexibility, meeting attendees needed to participate easily from their own devices, regardless of device type, videoconferencing platform, or workspace. That includes everything from standard meeting rooms to less conventional spaces such as cafes, thanks to mobile carts.
“In our meeting spaces, we have colleagues and guests starting meetings with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or other videoconferencing software,” says Verdegem. “With ClickShare, we offer them one and the same way to connect to the meeting room.”
Such flexibility matters in a hybrid working world. As Frank Geerts, the agency’s administrator general, points out, employees rarely attend meetings solely in person these days, which makes it vital for all meeting spaces to accommodate them no matter where they are located.
“Enabling hybrid work is not just about making sure a display is present in the room,” Geerts says. “It’s all about offering a good, qualitative experience for users in the office and at home. Users need to be able to hear and see everything and truly participate in the meeting.”
On security, the agency was clear that its chosen technology had to conform to zero trust principles at the network level, and it set a high bar for data protection functionality.
The benefits of simplicity at scale
In practical terms, says Laleeuwe, employees can now walk into any work area in the Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire offices and “know how to get started immediately and securely, regardless of room size or location”. They simply click on the ClickShare App, which has been rolled out across the organization so everyone benefits from its smart meeting flow features.
“Employees should be focused on the conversation, decisions, and people in the room, not on cables or figuring out how to launch a meeting,” Laleeuwe explains. “ClickShare supports this by enabling wireless conferencing from the user’s own device and by creating a consistent way to start meetings across different rooms and locations.”
The agency monitors, manages, updates, and troubleshoots all its ClickShare devices through the easy-to-use Barco XMS Cloud Management platform. It has found that the more intuitive approach has reduced how often employees call IT for support, which makes life easier for IT managers and their teams.
As Laleeuwe points out: “Simplicity at scale reduces IT management because standardization reduces variation. When users encounter the same experience across rooms and buildings, there are fewer errors caused by unfamiliarity, fewer exceptions to support, and less time spent explaining different room behaviors.”
For the Flemish Government, this matters because of the sheer size of its meeting room estate. But there are other considerations too.
Using technology to create a sustainable workplace
Beyond a flexible, productive, and engaging office, sustainability was the second goal. The Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire building is the first in Flanders to conform to circular construction principles, with 68 percent reclaimed, re-used, or recycled materials from the original site used in its renovation.
It is also not far off being a net zero site. That comes partly from its thermal energy storage system, which captures and stores thermal energy for later use, and partly from solar panels on the building’s roof and side walls.
The agency also tracks internal energy use, helped by green ICT deployments. A particularly efficient Wi-Fi network saves the government the equivalent of 550 households worth of electricity each year, and its introduction even resulted in the organization winning the Computable Award in the ‘IT Project of the Year – Government’ category in 2024.
Other power-saving measures include energy-saving network scripts and switching ClickShare base units off at night. More broadly, ClickShare’s product set is also certified to meet the agency’s stringent ecological requirements, which reduces the energy use and carbon footprint of the meeting room infrastructure itself.
Looking ahead, Laleeuwe says the Flemish Government’s focus will be on “scaling and deepening” its existing approach. The Brussels project, she explains, is only one part of a broader family of concept buildings intended to act as a model for how the government wants to shape future workplaces across its estate.
“From a workplace technology perspective, this also includes further standardization, continued support, training improvements, and staying aligned with changing collaboration needs,” she says. “From a sustainability perspective, the direction is clearly toward even stronger performance and continued leadership in circular and energy-efficient public sector workplaces.”
Sponsored by Barco.
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from the yet-another-vindictive-prosecution dept
Donald Trump swore he could turn the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool into something he could use to bask in his own reflected glory. Instead, it turned out to be everything we expect from Trump: braggadocio followed by abject failure.
Trump hired some guys he used to do some stuff to his personal pool(s) back in the day. It was a no-bid contract — one that was immediately extolled by Trump as Great Stuff. According to Trump, his personal cabana boys could get the job done right, on time, and under budget.
None of that happened. His boys took to the pool repair, doing their level best to behave like government contractors. Trump then did a Glory Roll across the unfinished sealant with his motorcade to show off for the boys back at the White House. A week or so later, the pool was refilled. For a brief moment, it showed off the “American flag blue” Trump thought was missing from the original fixture. Then it turned into a blend of algae and peeling sealant.
Instead of pulling out his receipts and asking his pool boys whether this reflecting pool refurb was still under warranty, Trump claimed the floating chunks of blue sealant bobbing around in the green muck was the work of vandals. And, of course, he had political appointees willing to press this point on his behalf. Jeanine Pirro — the US Attorney for the District of Columbia — got right on it, arresting former Olympic canoeist David Hearn on felony vandalism charges.
Pirro alleged Hearn had damaged “two square feet of sealant.” Well, it takes $1,000 to make vandalism charges a federal felony. While this damage estimate is subject to federal no-bid contract markup, taking someone down for doing two square feet of damage is insane, especially when Trump is still out there claiming vandals cut a 150-350 foot gash into the pool sealant.
Trump also promised there was proof of his wild allegations — something that would presumably show up as the DOJ attempted to turn vandalism arrests into federal indictments.
Well, the DOJ managed to secure an indictment against David Hearn. And it managed to do this despite its own witness stating the pool was already fucked before Hearn decided to put his hands on end results of this damage:
A key grand jury witness in a case against a former Olympic canoeist accused of tampering with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool testified that the area was already damaged and would have required repairs regardless, lawyers said in a court filing Monday.
[…]
The witness, who is not identified, was the only person who testified about damages, and said that the property had already been damaged before, authorities say, Hearn stuck his hands in the water, according to Hearn’s team.
Now, for those of you unaware of how grand jury proceedings work (and especially for those MAGA folks who like to show up and be deliberately ignorant), we’ll break this down quickly. A grand jury is not like a regular jury. Its sole purpose is to decide whether or not the government has enough evidence to support an indictment. The accused person is not there, nor are they represented by the lawyers. This is completely non-adversarial. And YET, the government’s witness testified to the grand jury that the pool was already damaged before the accused even arrived on the scene of the alleged crime.
What’s absolutely wild is that the DOJ still got its indictment despite this damning testimony from its own witness. Welcome to Trump Town, I guess. But we’ll see how long this indictment lasts. Hearn’s legal reps have filed a motion demanding copies of grand jury documents because it’s pretty fucking clear some bullshit must have been pulled to get Hearn indicted even though a government witness testified that the pool was already in shambles.
Lawyers for David Hearn, a 67-year-old who represented the United States at three Olympic Games, submitted a court filing seeking access to transcripts of the grand jury testimony as well as the instructions given to the panel that ultimately indicted Hearn, claiming that there were “irregularities” in the proceedings that led to the indictment.
[…]
In the filing, Hearn’s legal team suggests that the jury was not “properly instructed” on the crime Hearn stands accused of, noting specifically that felony destruction of property requires the perpetrator to have caused $1,000 or more of damage. The attorneys pointed to the testimony of the federal government’s own witness, an official from the National Park Service, who suggested that the pool was damaged long before Hearn interacted with the pool and that repairs were already being sought.
The full filing [PDF] by Hearn’s legal team is embedded below. It’s worth a read. And I certainly hope the judge grants this motion because if it contains the sort of stuff these accusations suggest it the documents might contain, this won’t be the first time the Trump administration has been caught cheating even though the process already allows the government to put its prosecutorial thumb on the scales.
Filed Under: asshats, david hearn, dc, department of interior, donald trump, jeanine pirro, reflecting pool, trump administration
Morning routines often fall apart around a single stubborn task. Eggs demand attention right when attention feels scarcest. Crack one wrong and shell fragments appear. Leave the pan a second too long and yolks firm up past preference. Busy households skip the whole thing more often than they admit.
Cheffy, a small company based in San Francisco, created E.G.O.R. to make your life easier in the kitchen. The name stands for Efficient Gastronomic Operational Robot, however some early accounts simply referred to it as Egg Go On Robot, which is acceptable. The gadget just sits on your counter and solves the egg problem, allowing you to continue with your day.
Sale
Hamilton Beach Dual Breakfast Sandwich Maker with Egg Cooker Rings & Timer
- THE PERFECT GIFT: Whether it’s a birthday, a White Elephant party, or Father’s Day, the Breakfast Sandwich Maker makes a fantastic gift for all…
- MAKE 1 OR 2 SANDWICHES. Cook one or two sandwiches at once with this dual breakfast sandwich maker. It’s great for couples, kids and extra guests.
- QUICK, EASY AND READY TO EAT IN 5 MINUTES: This sandwich maker lets you easily create a breakfast, lunch or dinner sandwich in 5 minutes or less…
Simply add whole chicken eggs into the chamber. Choose one of the seven egg styles from the little display, which includes three small buttons. Sunny side up keeps the yolks fluid and the whites perfectly set. Over easy, medium, and hard all have a finishing lid that allows the top to steam cook without any flipping. Soft, medium, and hard boiled varieties are placed in different trays for you. There’s also a crack only setting, in case you need to break eggs into a bowl or batter. It can hold two eggs in the frying pan and six in the boiling tray, from peewee to giant.
The patent-pending technology cracks each egg with ease. The contents fall into the pan or pot, while the shells go into a little compartment inside that you can discard later. You do not need to be concerned about seeming foolish. You can also simply put all of the elements that come into contact with food in the dishwasher, and there’s even a keep-warm function that keeps the eggs at serving temperature even if you’re running late.
T.O.A.S.T.R., an optional toaster, syncs with the egg cooker, allowing you to cook both items at the same time. You can put in thick slices of bread, bagels, or waffles, and it’s automatic, so you won’t have to jump when it raises or lowers the toast. Consistent browning and a crumb tray complete the toaster operations. Both machines have the same eggshell-white finish. The E.G.O.R. unit measures about 7.5 inches broad, 16 inches long, and 12 inches tall, weighing around 8 pounds. It uses between 500 and 1000 watts, depending on the setting.
The founder, Arjun Mehta, described the whole thing as a response to how difficult it can be for people to get by on a daily basis, particularly when it comes to simply running a family. Early supporters were parents attempting to get their kids out the door on time and people who struggle with fine motor activities. On Kickstarter, you could get the egg unit alone for anywhere from $199 (early bird discount) to $299, with the toaster costing between $349 and $499. Those backers hope to receive the egg unit in late 2026. After the campaign, they want to sell the egg unit for approximately $400.
When I started at Spectrum 25 years ago, a senior editor suggested that I find a “rabbi,” by which he meant someone who could mentor me in how EEs approach problems and evaluate potential solutions.
I didn’t find one right away. Then in 2005 we decided to do a special report, focusing on the challenges of enterprise software development. I suggested we invite IEEE Life Senior Member Robert N. Charette, a self-described risk ecologist, prolific book author, and leading authority on risk management and software engineering, to explore in our pages the myriad reasons software projects fail. His seminal article “Why Software Fails” is still read in university engineering classes today.
IEEE Life Senior Member Robert N. Charette is one of IEEE Spectrum’s most prolific authors.Robert N. Charette
It was, as they say, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I had found my rabbi, one who shared my love of writing. We settled into a rhythm that would last more than 20 years, talking on Friday mornings about a range of topics including the growing ubiquity of software in our lives.
So when I became Spectrum’s website editor in 2007, he was the first contributor I tapped to start a regular blog (remember those?). The Risk Factor was born and over the course of more than 10 years and 1,750 posts, Bob chronicled hundreds of software debacles, culminating in “Lessons From a Decade of IT Failures,” which won a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Infographics in 2016. Ironically, yet predictably, those infographics were created in a software package that is no longer supported and thus are lost to the bits of time.
“I like the expression on the fish just before it’s going to be swallowed by the heron.”Robert N. Charette
Bob, however, was not a one-trick pony. In between his full-time job running his two management consultancies and raising a future biochemist and a future civil engineer, his daughters Maura and Megan, he also wrote many deeply reported and insightful articles. These include last year’s “The Doctor Will See Your Electronic Health Record Now,” the eye-opening 12-part series and e-book The EV Transition Explained, and my personal favorite “Automated to Death,” about the deadly consequences of the automation paradox as manifested by the cyberphysical systems that pilot planes, trains, and automobiles.
“The young bald eagle I photographed in September 2024 had bands that I could read which identified it as a female born in May 2024, near Lexington Park, St. Mary’s County, Maryland, about 65 miles away from where I live.”Robert N. Charette
His main goal all along has been to make software visible, as he told me one Friday in July. “Software is all around us, but we don’t recognize it at all,” he said. “I really wanted my stories to help people better understand complex software systems. You can’t see software, you can’t touch it, you can’t taste it. You may feel the consequences of software failure, but you never see the reason itself.”
When he told me that he was hanging up his hat as a contributing editor to focus on nature photography and to write a handful of fictional trilogies, including one entitled “The STEM Murders” featuring an engineer-turned-detective and his rabbi, I asked him which of his Spectrum articles had the biggest impact.
“The hummingbird I caught with the yellow of a road curb behind it.”Robert N. Charette
He singled out the 2013 feature “The STEM Crisis Is a Myth.” “Spectrum gave me a platform to question the assumption that we needed more STEM graduates. Until then, people didn’t really realize how much of the STEM crisis was a mythology that was perpetuated by employers and the academic community and was foisted on the IEEE community,” he said.
Charette made a career of questioning assumptions. The best way to mitigate risk, he told me as our Friday chat drew to a close, is to be careful making assumptions in the first place. “My main risk maxim is assumptions made are risks accepted.”
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A critical vulnerability in the Active Storage framework can allow an unauthenticated attacker to read arbitrary files from a Rails application, and potentially escalate to remote code execution (RCE).
Rails is a popular open-source web application framework written in Ruby for building websites and web apps. It uses the built-in Rails component Active Storage for handling file uploads and attachments.
Rails maintainers published an advisory about the CVE-2026-66066 flaw, which received a critical severity rating.
Active Storage may also generate image thumbnails from uploaded media using image processing libraries such as libvips or ImageMagick.
According to the security bulletin, CVE-2026-66066 is exploitable when libvips is used, allowing an attacker to upload a specially crafted image to a vulnerable application and read arbitrary files on the server.
Another prerequisite for the attack is that the server needs to allow image uploads from untrusted users.
If these requirements are met, an attacker may access app files, including the process environment, which typically contains ‘secret_key_base’ and credentials for databases, cloud storage, and other services.
CVE-2026-66066 impacts Active Storage before 7.2.3.2, 8.0.x before 8.0.5.1, and 8.1.x before 8.1.3.1.
Rails 6.x is only affected if Active Storage has been configured outside its defaults.
The Rails team recommends upgrading to libvips 8.13 or later and rotating the ‘secret_key_base’ (the Rails master key), database credentials, Active Storage service credentials, and any other secrets accessible to the application process.
For systems running libvips 8.13 or later, administrators can temporarily disable the vulnerable functionality by setting the VIPS_BLOCK_UNTRUSTED environment variable or calling Vips.block_untrusted(true) when using ruby-vips 2.2.1 or newer.
There is no workaround available for apps that use libvips before 8.13.
ImageMagick users are not affected by this vector. However, libvips is the default processor in the official Rails Docker images, and also Debian and Ubuntu setups.
The Rails team said it has intentionally withheld technical details for the vulnerability to reduce the risk of exploitation before users have time to apply the updates.
Full technical details were initially scheduled to be disclosed on August 28 on the Rails forums.
However, because public proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits became available very quickly, the maintainers decided to publish the full details as well as forensic investigation tooling.
The vulnerability was discovered and responsibly reported to the Rails team by researchers from Ethiack and GMO Flatt Security Inc.
Security firm Akamai has also published a warning about CVE-2026-66066, naming the attack chain “KindaRails2Shell,” and warning about its RCE potential.
“With the secret_key_base compromised, the attacker holds the master cryptographic key to the application,” explains Akamai.
“They can forge session cookies, sign global IDs, and manipulate serialized data, which directly translates into full RCE on the underlying server.”
Akamai says it coordinated with Ethiack before public disclosure to prepare protections for customers, and has now released web application firewall (WAF) protections.
Ethiack noted that a WAF might buy admins some time, but attackers using AI tooling should be able to reconstruct the attack chain based on the patch diffs.
The last year or two has seen relatively affordable multi-material printers hit the market, and the question that [Tom Nardi] and I were kicking around when he was writing up the 2025 year-in-review article was what it was going to mean for our folks. I don’t think he got it wrong per se, but his heading for that section “Grandma is 3D-Printing in Color” only tells half the story.
He did get that part right, though. We’ve certainly seen a flourishing of multi-material designs out there that take advantage of the availability of (usually) four colors. The ability to print in color has given life to the purely decorative models, of course. Think full-color Pokemon desktop toys, for instance. But even functional prints have benefited from contrasting color labels printed right into the box, not to even mention the multi-material supports that pull off easier and cleaner than ever before.
Since most of these multi-filament machines are pretty much locked down as far as hardware tinkering goes, our sights were firmly locked on what the end-user would do with the new capability. But we overlooked the third axis of 3D printering: the software hackers. And it’s precisely in this area of slicer and path-planning that we’ve seen some of the coolest developments this year. Why? Because people have the hardware in their hands that they need to test out the algorithms.
FullSpectrum and the more recent ImageMap are two techniques to get the missing in-between colors out of a four-filament printer, and in particular ImageMap tries to get the job done faster, and with fewer purges. We are amazed to see two different approaches to color blending popping up in just a few months of each other, and we have no doubt that work on this is going to continue.
At the end of the day, this really is just “put new tools in the hands of creative hackers, and they’ll find new ways to use them”, so we shouldn’t have been surprised at all. But if this is what comes out of the commercialization of the multi-material printer, what’s going to come when some of the more esoteric machine designs go mainstream? We can’t wait to find out!
Some Android users have been perfectly fine coasting on Android 6.0 Marshmallow for over a decade now. But all that came to an end in July 2026 when Google dropped an important layer of support for these aging Android smartphones. The official minimum operating system required for Google Play services is now Android 7.0 Nougat. The most immediate and noticeable side-effect of that is that the YouTube app isn’t going to work for those of you running Android 6.0 anymore.
To be clear, affected phones aren’t going to suddenly stop turning on or lose all of their data. Instead, 6.0 users will slowly start seeing compatibility issues. Expect more and more apps to go the way of YouTube and hit you with similar alerts, as well. You’ll see it when you open the YouTube app. Instead of working normally as it should, the app will display a prompt telling you to “Switch to YouTube” and directing you to its mobile site through your phone’s browser.
Because Google Play services power many of the key features Android apps depend on behind the scenes (like account authentication, notifications, location services, security protections, and communication between apps), it’s not unreasonable to call it the beginning of the end for these 6.0 smartphones losing support in 2026.
What to do if your phone is impacted
It’s worth reiterating that Google won’t be remotely disabling these devices. You can still watch YouTube on your phone, too, even if the app won’t work. You just have to watch through the web version, like what the prompt says. You can also use this same browser-based approach for other Google services if app compatibility gets worse in the weeks or months ahead. For example, if the Gmail app stops working, you can try the mobile version of the site.
All that running around and jumping through hoops can get old fast, of course. If you don’t feel like dealing with it anymore, you can always upgrade to a newer phone. Before you do that, it’s worth checking to make absolutely certain you don’t have a software update waiting for you. If that’s the case, you might be in the clear after all. Just go to Settings, then System, followed by Software Updates, and see if there’s an official upgrade to Android 7.0 or later there. If you’re out of luck there, Google says current Android smartphones from Google and Samsung will receive up to seven years of software updates. Upgrading from a device stuck on 6.0 would definitely be a smart move to future-proof your YouTube (and other Google Play services) access.
Tech
Amazon spent $1.8 million on a failed AI project, and didn’t notice the overrun for five months
In a nutshell: Amazon’s growing use of AI across its operations is starting to expose a practical problem: the technology can become expensive quickly, and in some cases, no one notices until the bill is already high. Internal discussions reviewed by the Financial Times show that several AI-driven projects at the company have run over budget, sometimes by a wide margin.
In one case, Amazon spent $1.8 million on a project that used Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet model to match author information with product listings. The system ultimately failed, and spending exceeded the original budget by 860%. The issue went undetected for five months.
Engineers say the problem isn’t limited to one project. As more teams shift from traditional software to AI models, routine mistakes are becoming far more costly. Tasks that once required minimal computing resources now depend on systems that charge based on usage, often measured in tokens. When those systems are misconfigured or left unchecked, costs can climb quickly.
During a recent internal meeting, senior engineers described these errors as “catastrophically expensive,” noting that similar mistakes in conventional systems were “trivially cheap.” The difference comes down to how AI workloads are priced and executed. Instead of predictable infrastructure costs, teams are now dealing with variable expenses that depend on how often models are called and how they are used.
Other projects have run into similar issues. One effort to build a financial auditing tool generated about $541,000 in unexpected costs. Another project aimed at improving delivery speeds in Amazon’s logistics network incurred $134,000 in additional spending, and it took more than two weeks to catch the problem.
According to people familiar with the situation, engineers are now working on safeguards to prevent similar incidents from happening again. These include automated controls to limit how AI systems are used and improved real-time spending tracking.
Part of the challenge is visibility. “It’s difficult to figure out how much anything [AI related] costs,” one senior Amazon employee told the Financial Times. Unlike traditional software systems, where costs are easier to estimate, AI introduces more moving parts. Model calls, prompt chains, and autonomous agents can all drive usage in ways that are difficult to track until after the fact.
Amazon, for its part, says the company is still in a learning phase. “As with any new technology, we’re experimenting, learning and improving how we use it, including how we drive cost efficiencies,” the company said in an internal presentation.
It also pushed back on the idea that these incidents reflect broader problems, adding that “Cherry-picking small, isolated examples where teams are learning from one another and portraying them as business as usual doesn’t reflect how teams across Amazon are using AI.”
Still, the examples point to a broader shift happening across the tech industry. As companies move away from fixed pricing models and toward usage-based billing, AI costs are becoming harder to predict. Systems that rely on autonomous agents can generate large volumes of activity, sometimes far beyond what teams initially expect.
Amazon has already encountered related issues elsewhere. Earlier this year, AWS experienced outages tied to errors from AI coding tools. In response, the company limited what those tools were allowed to do rather than giving them full access. It has also stepped back from internal efforts to encourage heavy AI usage after costs began to rise.
For a company of Amazon’s size, the financial impact of these overruns is relatively small. The business generates more than $180 billion in revenue each quarter and is expected to spend heavily on AI infrastructure this year. But the incidents highlight a more fundamental issue: managing AI costs requires a different approach than managing traditional software.
WhatsApp is the main messaging application for billions across the globe. In fact, many people prefer WhatsApp messaging over calls, and the one thing that has kept people sticking to it is that it’s free to use. However, after coming under Meta’s umbrella, things changed for WhatsApp. Meta has increasingly introduced paid subscriptions alongside free features, and WhatsApp is the latest app to get that treatment. After pushing Meta Verified for Facebook and Instagram, a WhatsApp Plus subscription is now available for a monthly fee of $2.99.
For that price, subscribers will get custom stickers, extra chat themes, app icon customization, new ringtones, etc. On paper, that may sound like a decent upgrade for a messaging app used by over 3 billion people every day. The catch is that WhatsApp already offers most of this for free. And for some other perks, you either need to install an extra app, or they’re just a few taps away in Settings. This means you don’t need to pay for those extra perks on WhatsApp, since there are workarounds to get them for free.
So, before you jump the gun and pull out your credit card to make the payment for a WhatsApp Plus subscription, here are five WhatsApp Plus perks that are either already free or free with a five-minute workaround. Check them out and then decide for yourself whether the subscription is actually worth paying for.
Custom stickers
Stickers are one of the ways you express yourself on WhatsApp. Stickers have been an integral part of WhatsApp even before the subscription came into effect. But since Meta has put some stickers behind a paywall, it could be the most tempting thing for someone who uses stickers on the messaging platform. The WhatsApp Plus subscription gives subscribers access to exclusive stickers with special effects. But anyone who has used stickers on WhatsApp knows that the platform already lets you import third-party sticker packs.
That door has been open for years and is still open now. You don’t need to pay for the subscription if you want to send stickers on WhatsApp. Apps like Sticker.ly do the heavy lifting here. You can get it from the Google Play Store or the App Store, browse sticker packs by trend or mood, and simply tap a pack to add it to WhatsApp’s sticker tray. The best part is that there’s no cap on how many packs you can bring in. So, the “exclusive” angle Meta is using to sell the Plus subscription doesn’t really hold up.
Additionally, you can also create your own custom WhatsApp stickers using apps like Sticker.ly or even Canva’s built-in sticker maker. If you send a lot of stickers on WhatsApp, this is arguably the easiest way to get one of the paid WhatsApp Plus perks for free.
Chat themes
Chat themes are the second WhatsApp perk that I think is pretty useless to lock behind a paywall when you can already access a lot of themes for free. It’s the smallest advantage so far in the WhatsApp Plus subscription tier, and if you were thinking of paying, we’d stop you right there. WhatsApp already lets you change chat wallpapers, adjust bubble colors, and generate AI wallpapers for individual conversations, all without spending a dime. The Plus plan just adds 18 extra themes to the mix on top of what’s already there.
You simply need to head over to WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Default Chat Theme, and you’ll see color palettes, wallpaper categories, and the option to apply the look to one specific chat or to your entire inbox. It’s the kind of setting most people don’t ever open. But if you were thinking of changing the theme, you don’t need to upgrade to the Plus tier. WhatsApp has built a suite of customization tools over the past couple of years, and themes are one of the features that fly under the radar until someone actually goes looking for them.
Eighteen more themes isn’t something extraordinary, and it’s definitely not a reason to pay monthly for an app that already lets you personalize how every single chat looks. Even if you swap themes weekly, there’s enough to play around with in the free tier, from muted pastels to bold solid colors.
New ringtones
New ringtones are another perk that you get with the WhatsApp Plus subscription. Meta gives you 10 exclusive tones for paying $2.99. It’s a nice touch, but it feels like it has been added to make the list of perks seem long. Many people do not use ringtones and put their phones on vibrate. And even if someone uses a ringtone, you have been able to use custom ringtones on WhatsApp for both calls and individual chats for years. Moreover, you’re not limited to whatever sound pack Meta includes with the app.
Inside Settings > Notifications, you can already pick from your phone’s built-in tones or upload your own favorite audio for message alerts. You can even set a completely different tone for a specific contact for their calls or texts. This way, you can differentiate between your best friend and your landlord when they call you. If you want something more personal than a default tone, you can turn any song into a ringtone, which is straightforward on Android.
Given that you can already import your own audio and set it as a ringtone on WhatsApp, paying for those extra 10 ringtones does not make any sense. It’s probably the weakest justification on the entire list, and it’s one of those perks that you can easily skip without giving it a second thought.
Custom chat icons
Aside from custom chat themes, the WhatsApp Plus subscription also gives you access to change the WhatsApp app icon to something else. If you were interested in the paid tier for changing the app icon, which will be visible only to a limited number of people, then you should drop that idea, because most Android phones let you run a third-party launcher, which ultimately lets you swap the stock app icon for anything of your choice. On my Samsung Galaxy phone, that feature is available in the default launcher itself.
If changing app icons is not supported by your stock launcher, then you can install apps like Nova Launcher or Smart Launcher from the Google Play Store, long-press on any app icon, choose the option to edit, and change the app icon. You can also install a third-party icon pack and get new app icons for every app on your phone. The whole process of setting a custom app icon only takes a couple of minutes and is completely free, making it a better option than paying for a subscription.
iPhone users have a harder time here, since iOS requires you to go through multiple steps and use Apple Shortcuts to change app icons. The iOS ecosystem would be the only one where WhatsApp Plus may find some genuine takers. But for the majority of WhatsApp’s Android-heavy user base, this exclusive perk makes no sense.
Pin 20 chats
Being able to pin 20 chats is the only perk that would probably have real merit with the WhatsApp Plus subscription. For anyone juggling a busy inbox, three pinned conversations disappear fast, and everything else gets buried under group chats and forwarded memes. But even then, paying to pin 20 chats isn’t something that we’d recommend. The free workaround doesn’t require installing any third-party apps and is available in WhatsApp itself.
You can use WhatsApp’s Lists feature, which does more than pinning ever could. You can still keep your three most important chats pinned at the very top and then sort everything else into custom categories like Family, Friends, Work, or the Gym group. Each list can hold hundreds of chats without cluttering your main feed. According to Meta, when the Lists feature rolled out, it was described as an evolution of the chat filters WhatsApp had already introduced.
When you combine Lists with WhatsApp’s chat lock feature, you can create a private vault-like space and keep your inbox better organized than by pinning 20 chats in a single, ever-scrolling stack. This is one of those WhatsApp Plus perks that you can get for free and even improve on with a bit of setup.
Time to deal with that overflowing drawer of tangled old cables.
It seems like every portable gadget comes with a USB cable. Nowadays, they come with USB-C cables, which means you have less and less need for a traditional USB-A cable. Chances are, somewhere in your house is one of those overstuffed drawers filled with extra cables, batteries and other accessories you don’t use but somehow swear one day you might need. At some point, as with wardrobe items that have been collecting dust in the back of your closet, you’ll decide it’s time to get rid of those old USB cables. That’s especially important if you notice frays, tears and breaks, or if the cables overheat when plugged in, suggesting they’re no longer safe to use.
It’s important to recycle your old cables instead of throwing them in the garbage for the same reason it’s crucial to recycle all electronics: If thrown out, they can be buried in a landfill or burned, and many have plastics or rubber that can release harmful substances, causing pollution. Plus, wires have copper and aluminum, which can be recycled and returned to production and used for everything from medical equipment to jewelry. That reduces the need to mine new copper, which uses lots of energy and water. Plus, if the cables still work and are safe to use but you simply don’t need them, someone else might. It’s a good idea to support the circular economy.
So, before you toss an old USB cable in the garbage, consider the environment and recycle it instead. It’s pretty easy to do no matter where you’re located across the U.S.
Go to a local chain store or other depot
The options are endless when considering where to recycle your old gadgets, including USB cables. Most national chain retailers like Staples and Best Buy have recycling programs that accept old gadgets, including cables, at the service desk or a drop box at the front of the store. These are then sent out for safe recycling. If you want to recycle loads of gadgets, including that drawer full of cables, Best Buy even has a mail-in service. Purchase a box from Best Buy, which comes with tape, a prepaid UPS shipping label and an instruction sheet. Fill it up with tech to be recycled and send it in from a UPS drop-off location.
At Staples locations, you can also take your unwanted cables to the checkout counter to request assistance in safely recycling them. There’s a limit of seven items per day, but if you’re popping in to buy home office or school supplies, bring that old cable or two with you to ensure it doesn’t end up in a landfill. Staples has a similar mail-in program as well, using a purchased recycling box and a drop-off at a UPS location.
Failing that, some manufacturers handle recycling of their old products, though they might not accept the cable only. Look for local recycling depots, which you can find via searchable databases like The Battery Network, or visit your local waste management facility, which may accept old cables for drop-off. Wait until you have a full load of garbage and recycling to take in and make one big trip, cables included.
What cables should you keep?
It’s worth noting that while safely recycling your old cables is the right way to go, you don’t necessarily need to get rid of them. While you don’t want to keep more than you need, having a few backup cables is not a bad idea. Keep a few USB-A cables lying around for legacy devices, power adapters and portable chargers. Instead of tossing one, consider keeping it in your travel backpack or carry-on luggage as a spare. Maybe store it in the glove compartment of the car or add it to your trunk emergency kit.
You might find that even older USB cable types like mini USB and micro USB are worth keeping around. I have unearthed old gadgets I wanted to power up, like cameras and tablets, and keeping a couple of these old cables around allowed me to do that. While you might not need 20 of them, one of each type will suffice.
Some specialty first-party cables are worth more than you think used, and you might be able to sell them. For example, original Apple USB cables or PlayStation cables are well constructed and expensive, so those who want one might be willing to pay a pretty penny for it. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of selling valuable cables, at least find a friend, family member or neighbor who might be able to make use of them. You can also donate cables to a local shelter, church or other organization that might be able to use them or provide them to someone in need. Thrift stores like Goodwill may also accept good-condition, working cables.
For the cables you do decide to keep, use handy cable ties to organize the drawer. You’d be surprised how much neater a drawer full of cables can look when they are nicely arranged and neatly tied. Even so, don’t keep ones you’ll never use or that you have dozens of. Organize a few and safely recycle the ones you don’t want or are unsafe to use.
The U.S. company Meteomatics has created an automated weather-monitoring system that uses drones to collect atmospheric data at multiple altitudes before returning to recharge and upload their findings. The so-called Meteobase, which consists of a base station on the ground with a drone that can be launched and recovered automatically, “is highly weather resistant and keeps the drone at a comfortable temperature,” reports The Guardian. “It can send out one data-gathering mission a day, or multiple flights to monitor fog, icing, an advancing weather front, or other fast-changing conditions.” The report says the reusable drones could offer a cheaper, more controllable alternative to helium weather balloons, especially for tracking rapidly changing conditions.
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