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:

• 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?

• If so, when is this a good thing?

• In what types of situations might we want to avoid making things easier?

• 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.?

• 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?

• How are we going to teach students to critically analyze information and “answers” provided by AI tools?

• 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)?

• What skills do they – and we – need to strengthen in order to ensure that we are the drivers of AI innovation?

• Are there other schools or people we trust, admire, and respect who have implemented AI policies? What can we learn from them?

• 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:

• What is valuable about the work we do together in school? How might AI tools increase this value? How might AI undermine it?

• 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?

• What do you know about AI? What do you want to know about it?

• 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.

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. 

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.

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. ®

Data from Morgan McKinley suggests that job applicants may have tough times ahead, in a landscape that is swaying slightly in favour of the employer.

Irish professionals services company Morgan Mckinley has today (14 July) published the latest Morgan McKinley Ireland Employment Monitor, which explores Ireland’s professional jobs market. 

The report found that the current employment landscape comes with some challenges for job applicants, particularly as wage pressures for employers ease and hiring continues to slow. 

Job openings in Ireland fell by 7.2pc in Q2 of 2026 and were shown to be down almost 10pc year-on-year. While the number of jobseekers fell by 6.8pc quarter-on-quarter, the figure was still 18.4pc higher than the previous year. 

According to Morgan McKinley, the data is indicative of a more disciplined, employer-led market, in which employers are still recruiting but permanent headcount may struggle as organisations prioritise cost, productivity and workforce planning.

The report said, “Q2 was not a broad downturn, but it did mark a reset in hiring discipline. Demand remained active in roles linked to regulation, risk, infrastructure, transformation, AI, data and specialist project delivery. Broader expansion and non-essential replacement hiring became harder to justify.”

Trayc Keevans, the global FDI director for Morgan McKinley Ireland, said, “The professional employment market is entering a more disciplined phase. Employers remain active but are placing greater emphasis on hiring with precision. Companies still have work to deliver, but they are being far more cautious about adding permanent headcount. 

“That is why hiring processes are slower and vacancies are lower, as organisations balance growth ambitions with cost management, while contract talent continues to provide the flexibility many businesses need.

“The result is a clear shift in bargaining power. Employers have more choice, wage pressure has eased and candidates are having to work harder to show why they should be hired. A strong CV is no longer enough on its own. Employers want evidence of impact, whether that is improving performance, adding value, reducing risk, managing change, or helping a business become more productive.”

Flexibility

Not wanting to stay static, Morgan McKinley found that employers are eager to keep projects moving onwards, without the financial responsibility of adding permanent headcount. As a result the report noted that contract and temporary hiring are gaining ground, particularly across technology, life sciences, multilingual roles, marketing, supply chain, projects, transformation and change.

Return-to-office expectations also tightened. While companies continue to facilitate hybrid working, data shows that three days in the office is becoming the default and many employers are gradually inching closer towards the original four or five days on site. Morgan McKinley suggested that this is causing friction among candidates who still place a high value on flexibility.

Keevans explained that AI is giving employers cause to reconsider the structure of current roles.

She said, “If parts of a job can be automated, simplified or absorbed by existing teams, employers will question whether that role needs to be replaced in the same way. 

“That does not mean AI is about to wipe out professional jobs. The more immediate impact is fewer automatic replacements, more pressure on routine administrative and operational work and greater value placed on judgement, commercial thinking, regulation, client management and technical expertise.

“The risk for employers is mistaking caution for strategy. If they hold back too much, they may find themselves short of the skills they need when momentum returns.”

Sector by sector

Taking a closer look at how different industries performed, technology hiring remained active but was more selective in Q2, with the strongest demand being for Dublin-based contract roles in AI engineering, full-stack development, data, cloud, DevOps and governance. 

The financial services space was also found to be relatively steady, albeit cautious, with hiring efforts focused primarily on replacement roles, internal progression and specialist skills linked to regulation and client demand. 

Risk, compliance, regulatory reporting, credit risk, AML, KYC, pensions and financial crime remained active areas, while climate, green energy and infrastructure projects supported demand for corporate finance, financial modelling and lending expertise.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, due to the nature of the work and the steady rise of contract employment, Morgan McKinley’s report indicated that employers are relying on temporary and contract talent to balance project delivery in the life science and engineering sectors. Demand was strongest across QC, quality assurance, clinical trials, automation, validation and process engineering. 

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I am, by every reasonable measure, a serial plant killer. I’ve lost count of the pothos, the peace lilies, the one very expensive fiddle-leaf fig that judged me silently for a month before giving up entirely. My problem was never a lack of love. It was that I’d either drown them out of guilt or forget they existed for a fortnight, with no middle ground. So when I started leaning on Gemini for the odd everyday question, letting it babysit my plants wasn’t some grand plan. It happened almost by accident, and now my flat looks like something a person with their life together would own.

It started the way most of my plant emergencies do, with a leaf going a color it definitely shouldn’t. Instead of doom-scrolling through contradictory Google searches like I usually would, I snapped a photo, handed it to Gemini, and asked what was wrong. What I got back was a proper answer, and it was the first of many.

Apparently, I was loving my plants a little too much

The feature that really won me over was Gemini Live. Instead of trying to describe what I was seeing, I could simply point my phone at a struggling plant, snap a photo, and ask what was wrong. It would identify the plant, explain what it was noticing, and tell me what was most likely causing the problem.

One time, I noticed a few leaves turning yellow and immediately assumed I wasn’t watering the plant enough. I was already reaching for the watering can when Gemini pointed out the opposite: I’d actually been overwatering it. The soil was staying too wet, and my help was actually making things worse. That completely changed how I look after my plants. I no longer have to guess whether I’m dealing with root rot, a nutrient deficiency, or something else entirely. I just take a photo, get an easy-to-understand explanation, and know what to try next. For someone who isn’t exactly a gardening expert, that’s been surprisingly reassuring.

I finally stopped killing things with kindness

The biggest lesson Gemini taught me had nothing to do with fertilizers or fancy plant care tricks. It was knowing when not to do anything. Before this, I thought being a good plant parent meant watering my plants whenever they looked a little sad. Gemini helped me understand that every plant is different. The pothos sitting in my bright window, for example, dries out much faster than the one tucked away in a darker corner. Instead of following a rigid watering schedule, it encouraged me to check the soil first and only water when the plant actually needed it.

Looking back, I realized most of the plants I’d lost weren’t neglected — they were over-loved. Having something explain that in simple terms completely changed my approach. These days, I’m much more comfortable leaving my plants alone, and ironically, they’re healthier because of it.

The best plant care tip? Stop relying on your memory

My problem was never knowledge alone; it was consistency. I’d learn the right thing to do, only to completely forget to do it. So I started asking Gemini to help me build an actual schedule, plant by plant, and to remind me when things were due.

I can ask it to set reminders, and because it ties into the rest of Google’s world, those nudges actually reach me instead of dying in a notes app I never open. Every few days I get a prompt telling me which plants need checking, and instead of a chaotic once-a-month panic, watering has become a five-minute habit. For someone who could never stick to a routine on their own, having one gently handed to me made all the difference. I even started using it for the bigger decisions. When I wanted to move a plant to a brighter spot, I asked whether the new window got too much harsh afternoon sun. When one outgrew its pot, I asked when and how to repot it without shocking the roots. It’s like having a patient friend who happens to know a great deal about plants and never gets tired of my basic questions.

My plants finally found someone who understood them

I never planned on becoming someone who cared this much about plants. I just got tired of buying them, watching them slowly struggle, and eventually having to throw them away. Somewhere along the way, between asking Gemini why a leaf looked unhappy and letting it remind me when to water, I went from constantly replacing plants to actually keeping them alive. Now my home is filled with greenery that is genuinely growing. And the best part is that I didn’t suddenly develop a magical green thumb. I just stopped guessing and started understanding what my plants actually needed.

If you’re someone who loves the idea of having plants around but somehow turns every new one into a rescue mission, this is probably the easiest place to start. Take a photo, ask a question, and let Gemini help you figure out what your plant is trying to tell you.