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How a good file helped me break free of Yahoo! Mail

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In 1997, as the term “dotcom” came to describe a wave of internet start-ups, web portal king Yahoo! acquired a free web email service called RocketMail and launched Yahoo! Mail, a service to compete with Microsoft’s recently acquired Hotmail.

Seven years later, Google would launch Gmail with a gigabyte of free storage, a bold move at the time; Not to be outdone, Yahoo! responded by upping the free storage of its service to a terabyte.

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Self-Reloading Magnet Dispenser Never Runs Dry

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Self-Reloading Magnet Dispenser DIY Custom-Built
This self-reloading magnet dispenser is the type of invention you didn’t realize you needed until you see it in action and can’t picture life without it. Maker EmGi has created a handheld tool that places neodymium magnets precisely where you want them, with the correct orientation every time, and loads the next one from a built-in stockpile so you never have to pause to fiddle around for the next one.



EmGi began with a simpler version last year, as the original tool employed a simple plunger with a fixed magnet on the end to pick up and pop discs in without getting your fingers in the way or worrying about the polarity flipping at the last second. It did the trick for casual use, but the tip was a little awkward to get into tight spaces, and reloading required stopping to search for individual magnets in a clump. Anyone who has ever attempted to assemble a grid of magnets or arrange them in small pockets understands the irritation, as magnets appear to snap together out of nowhere, stick to your tools, or spin to the incorrect side just as you are ready to push them into place.


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The new design resolves both of these issues. EmGi has managed to reduce the tip size so that it can fit into confined areas, and added a self-feeding magazine. Simply pack a stack of magnets into the body, and each press of the lever moves the next one to the ready position. The mechanism is based on a rack and pinion system that converts the plunger’s motion into a precise tiny nudge. One press separates the bottom magnet from the rest of the stack while dragging it along a guided path to the tip, where a permanent magnet keeps it in place and the attraction pulls the disc along without allowing it to spin or flip over.

Self-Reloading Magnet Dispenser DIY Custom-Built
Nailing that sequence took a bit of trial and error. Magnets can be stubborn since their fields resist movement. Press too quickly, and the disc will shoot right off. If you press too slowly, it will stick back to the stack. Emgi experimented with various slopes, adding a tiny edge to the tip to give it more control over speed, and modified the design until the magnet simply slides into position. Slow motionfootage shows the disc tipping smoothly onto the tip and remaining in the proper orientation. Then it’s merely a clean press into its slot, a release, and the next one is ready for you when the lever returns.

Self-Reloading Magnet Dispenser DIY Custom-Built
If you have a 3D printer, assembly is a breeze because the body, case, tip, gear, picker, and lever are all printed in PLA. Five screws hold all of the main parts together, a rubber band provides the tension that causes the lever to spring back into place, and a few little neodymium magnets simply slot into pre-drilled holes, one at the tip to keep things secure and a few more in the mechanism to help guide things along. They’ve created variations for the most common sizes, such as 6x2mm, 5.1mm, and 8.2mm discs. If you’re feeling daring, head over to MakerWorld and get the files for free; printing one should be as simple as getting some filament and waiting for it to print.
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How Alison.ai is bringing objectivity to video ads before media budgets are spent

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As video advertising output accelerates across platforms, a new challenge has emerged: volume alone no longer guarantees effectiveness. Brands are producing more content than ever, yet performance remains uneven – often because creative decisions are reviewed subjectively and far too late in the process. A growing class of AI-driven validation tools is attempting to change that by bringing predictive analysis earlier into the creative lifecycle.

Instead of relying solely on post-campaign metrics or human interpretation, these systems use machine learning to assess whether an ad is structurally sound before it goes live. The goal isn’t to replace creativity, but to give teams clearer, earlier signals about what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Why creative validation is becoming a tech priority

For many marketing teams, the bottleneck isn’t a lack of ideas – it’s a lack of confidence. Human review cycles are slow, subjective, and inconsistent. Meanwhile, performance feedback usually arrives only after media budgets have already been spent, meaning weak creative can slip through despite heavy investment.

AI-driven validation offers a different path. By analyzing large libraries of historical ads, these tools identify patterns linked to engagement, brand recall, and call-to-action clarity. The promise is consistency at scale – evaluating creative quality using the same criteria, every time, across formats and channels.

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Merging production insight with media planning

A key trend is the integration of creative assessment directly into media planning workflows. Rather than treating production and distribution as separate stages, some platforms now evaluate creative readiness during planning itself, helping teams decide which assets are worth amplifying.

Alison.ai’s Preflight Plus tool exemplifies this approach. It runs automated checks based on Google’s ABCD framework – Attract, Brand, Connect, Direct – to determine whether a video ad meets foundational best practices. While not the only platform in this space, it reflects a broader shift toward validating creative structure before budget commitments are made.

How computer vision is transforming creative analysis

At a technical level, these systems rely heavily on computer vision, scanning video content frame by frame to identify elements such as logo visibility, pacing, facial presence, text overlays, and visual hierarchy. These signals are then quantified, enabling creatives to be scored and compared more precisely.

Alison.ai describes this as its “Creative Genome” – a model that breaks ads into discrete visual and conceptual components. Similar techniques are emerging across ad-tech, signaling a move toward more granular, data-driven creative decision-making.

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Reducing bias and increasing alignment

The practical benefit for marketing teams is alignment. Objective scoring helps bridge the long-standing divide between creative teams prioritizing storytelling and performance teams focused on measurable outcomes. Instead of debating subjective opinions, teams can work from shared data points that highlight where an ad may need refinement.

This shift also reduces dependence on multiple fragmented tools. When validation, feedback, and planning live inside a single workflow, teams spend less time navigating systems and more time improving the work itself.

Toward accountable AI in creative workflows

More broadly, this marks a push toward accountability in AI-assisted and AI-generated content. As generative tools speed up production, validation layers are becoming essential to ensure that increased output doesn’t come at the cost of effectiveness.

Preflight Plus – and tools like Alison.ai’s Agentic Video Ideation Flow – reflect an emerging creative model: AI that not only generates concepts but also evaluates whether those ideas are structurally prepared to perform. While implementation varies across platforms, the direction is clear – creative technology is moving upstream, closer to the moment decisions are made.

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In a landscape where attention is expensive and mistakes are costly, early-stage creative intelligence may soon shift from competitive advantage to industry standard.

Digital Trends partners with external contributors. All contributor content is reviewed by the Digital Trends editorial staff.

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Samsung’s cracking down on Galaxy leaks ahead of foldable launch later this year

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Samsung appears to be tightening internal security as it heads toward its next major product cycle.

According to reports from The Korea Herald, the company has introduced a new secure chat mode within its internal communications system. This was done in an effort to curb leaks surrounding upcoming Galaxy devices, including the expected Z Fold 8 and Galaxy S27 lineup.

If you follow Samsung launches closely, you’ll know how early details tend to surface. By mid-2025, much of the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s camera upgrades had already leaked, and most of it turned out to be accurate.

Additionally, well-known tipsters often reveal specs and design changes months ahead of launch. As a result, there is little surprise when Samsung takes the stage.

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That’s what the company now seems keen to address.

The reported secure chat mode prevents employees from copying, forwarding, saving or screenshotting internal messages. It also extends to affiliated companies. This suggests Samsung is trying to close gaps not just within headquarters but across its broader supply and partner network.

In summary, the goal is to stop internal memos and product details from finding their way onto anonymous forums, where they’re quickly picked up by leakers and media outlets.

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Ironically, details of this new anti-leak system surfaced through — you guessed it — a leak. Samsung has not issued an official statement confirming the changes.

Whether the new safeguards will actually slow the rumour mill remains to be seen. The Z Fold 8 has already appeared in several leaks, and the Galaxy S27 chatter has already begun circulating, including early claims about potential camera upgrades to the Ultra model.

Historically, much of the most accurate information hasn’t always come directly from internal staff. Instead, it often comes from suppliers, retailers, and accessory makers further down the chain.

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Even with screenshot blocking enabled, it’s difficult to completely lock down information in a global hardware operation. Internal chats can still be photographed using another device, and product details inevitably spread as development ramps up.

With Samsung’s next foldable launch expected later this year and the Galaxy S27 season not far behind, the real test will be whether upcoming leaks slow to a trickle or continue business as usual.

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Apple has its problems, but still the only real choice for privacy

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Apple didn’t start out as the privacy company, but in the more than 12 years since iPhone 5s, it is the only company trying to offer privacy by default. Today, that’s more necessary than ever.

The blue iPhone 17 Pro Max held aloft with trees out of focus in the background
Apple’s promise of privacy and security can’t be ignored in today’s political climate

You would think that after years of success with “Privacy, that’s iPhone,” other smartphone and computer manufacturers would catch on. Nope.
No matter how much consumers vote with their wallets, everyone that isn’t Apple aims for the idea of revenue through data collection.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Gartner $110M sale of Digital Markets division in latest SEC filing

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When Gartner first disclosed that it had agreed to part with its Digital Markets ( business unit that included its major software review, specifically Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice) business in early 2026, the announcement was forward-looking and economical with detail: it named the buyer and the assets involved, but it left out any financial terms. 

That lack of financial detail naturally made people wonder exactly how much the transaction was worth.

It was only later, in the company’s audited annual report on Form 10-K, filed on February 12, 2026, that a clearer picture of how the transaction was treated in the company’s regulatory filings became visible. That document, which is public, notes that the sale was completed on February 5, 2026, placing the divestiture within the broader contours of Gartner’s financial disclosures. 

This most recent filing, accession number 0000749251-26-000112, stands in stark contrast with Gartner’s prior 10-K, covering the year ended December 31, 2024, and filed on February 13, 2025, under accession 0000749251-25-000008

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In that earlier report, there is no reference to this transaction or to any figure associated with it, consistent with the fact that the deal was not agreed or closed until 2026. 

The January 29, 2026 announcement publicly identified G2 as the buyer, and specified the assets involved: Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp, but it did not disclose any financial terms, a detail that was equally absent from contemporaneous coverage. 

In Gartner’s 10-K, the recorded consideration is described as being “before customary purchase price adjustments,” a phrase that signals the number reported in the filing is an initial headline value that may change once post-closing reconciliations tied to balance sheet items are completed.

These adjustments are common in sales agreements and are meant to align the agreed price with the business’s actual financial situation at closing. 

A related 8-K filed on February 3, 2026, which included an earnings release, did not include any price details about the sale.

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When we looked for the earliest relevant documents, we found that an earlier annual report,  Form 10-K filed on February 13, 2025 (accession 0000749251-25-000008), covers Gartner’s results through the end of 2024 and makes no reference to Digital Markets or the brands that were later sold. 

That absence simply reflects the timing: the deal was agreed and completed in 2026, so it could not have been reported in a document covering the prior year.

Thus, the first SEC filing in which the transaction clearly appears is Gartner’s 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed on February 12, 2026, under accession 0000749251-26-000112.

It is in this later annual report that Gartner formally records the sale of the business and constitutes the first document in the public record to show how the company accounted for the transaction in its audited disclosures. 

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Reading the February 12, 2026, 10-K, the Digital Markets sale shows up in several sections. Early in the document, in the business overview, Gartner notes that the sale was completed on February 5, 2026, alongside the headline figure that appears in the record. 

Later in the same report, in a section discussing recent developments, the company lays out the context around the divestiture, reporting that Digital Markets was classified as “held for sale” as of December 31, 2025, and listing the related assets and liabilities on the balance sheet.

The same description of the sale is repeated once more in a note on subsequent events, which walks through the timeline from signing to closing. 

Notably, none of these references in the annual report names the buyer. Within the text of the 10-K, a search reveals that “G2” and the individual brands that were part of the business being sold do not appear, underscoring that Gartner’s disclosure is focused on the transaction as a financial event rather than on the identity of the counterparty. 

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When a company states that a sale price is described as being “before customary purchase price adjustments,” it means the number reported is only a starting point.

In most deals, the buyer and seller agree on an initial figure but include mechanisms in the contract that can revise that figure after closing to reflect the business’s actual financial position at transfer of control. 

These post-closing adjustments are designed to ensure a fair final amount based on what the business truly delivered at closing, rather than on estimates made when the agreement was signed. 

The most common of these adjustments is tied to working capital, the cash and short-term assets a business needs to operate. Parties negotiate a target level; if the actual working capital at closing is higher than expected, the seller may receive more. If it’s lower, the buyer may pay less. 

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Other adjustments can relate to net cash or debt, where the purchase price is recalculated based on the actual cash and debt assumed by the buyer, and to mechanisms such as escrows or deferred payments that hold portions of the sale price until certain conditions are resolved. 

Because Gartner’s public filing does not include the underlying sale agreement or a detailed reconciliation of these adjustment mechanisms, the exact formulas or thresholds that could change the final amount are not visible in the public record. 

What the 10-K does make clear is that the figure reported is a headline number, subject to later review and revision once the closing accounts are finalized. 

In many deals, the headline price is agreed on a “cash-free, debt-free” basis, meaning that after closing, the buyer and seller adjust the purchase price to reflect the target business’s actual cash and debt position. 

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If the business ends up with more debt or less cash than expected, the effective price the seller receives can be reduced. Conversely, if it has more cash or less debt than anticipated, it can increase the amount paid. 

In Gartner’s public disclosures, there is no way to tell from the 10-K whether the Digital Markets sale was structured this way or how any such adjustment would be calculated because the underlying agreement and detailed terms are not part of the filings. 

What the 10-K does show is the initial figure; whether and how it changes through these common adjustment mechanisms remains outside the public record. 

Gartner’s most recent Form 10-K, filed on February 12, 2026, shows that the company completed the sale of its Digital Markets business on February 5, 2026, using language that describes the consideration as “approximately $110.0 million, before customary purchase price adjustments.” This is the only financial figure tied to the deal that appears in the public filings. 

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The earlier public announcement from January 29, in which G2 said it had agreed to buy Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner, did not include any financial terms, and subsequent media coverage similarly reported that price details were not disclosed at the time.

In filings, the phrase “purchase price adjustments” refers to standard mechanisms in sale agreements, often tied to working capital and other balance-sheet items, that can increase or decrease the final amount paid after closing. 

Gartner’s 10-K does not name the buyer in the sale disclosure, but it confirms the closing date and the approximate consideration while noting that the figure could change through those adjustments. 

Taken together, Gartner’s own regulatory filings tell a more complete story of the Digital Markets sale than the initial announcement did. The only financial detail available in the public record comes from the company’s 10-K, which notes the closing date and describes the consideration in broad terms, but it leaves several questions unanswered. 

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We also reached out to both sides for further comment and clarification ahead of publication, seeking confirmation of the figures, insight into the structure of the deal, and any context that might illuminate how the transaction was negotiated and reported. 

By the time of publication, neither party had responded.

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Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints, Answers for Feb. 21 #516

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Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.


Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. I actually thought the purple category, usually the most difficult, was the easiest of the four. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

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Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Old Line State.

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Green group hint: Hoops legend.

Blue group hint: Robert Redford movie.

Purple group hint: Vroom-vroom.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Maryland teams.

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Green group: Shaquille O’Neal nicknames.

Blue group: Associated with “The Natural.”

Purple group: Sports that have a driver.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

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What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 21, 2026

The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 21, 2026.

NYT/Screenshot by CNET

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is Maryland teams. The four answers are Midshipmen, Orioles, Ravens and Terrapins.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is Shaquille O’Neal nicknames. The four answers are Big Aristotle, Diesel, Shaq and Superman.

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The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with “The Natural.” The four answers are baseball, Hobbs, Knights and Wonderboy.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports that have a driver. The four answers are bobsled, F1, golf and water polo.

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Electric Jeep With Modified Prius Hardware

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On the list of cars widely regarded as the most reliable vehicles ever built, up there with the Toyota Land Cruiser, the Honda Civic, and the Mercedes W123 diesels, is the unassuming Toyota Prius. Although it adds a bit of complexity with its hybrid drivetrain, its design eliminates a number of common wear items and also tunes it for extreme efficiency, lengthening its life and causing minimal mechanical stress. The Prius has a number of other tricks up its sleeve as well, which is why parts of its hybrid systems are often used in EV conversions like [Jeremy]’s electric CJ-5 Jeep.

Inside the Prius inverter is a buck/boost converter used for stepping up the battery voltage to power the inverter and supply power to the electric motor. [Jeremy]’s battery is much higher voltage than the stock Prius battery pack, though, which means he can bypass the converter and supply energy from his battery directly to the inverter. Since the buck/boost converter isn’t being used, he can put it to work doing other things. In this case, he’s using it as a charger. Sending the AC from a standard EV charging cord through a rectifier and then to this converter allows the Prius hardware to charge the Jeep’s battery, without adding much in the way of extra expensive electronics.

There are some other modifications to the Prius equipment in this Jeep, though, namely that [Jeremy] is using an open-source controller as the brain of this conversion. Although this video only goes into detail on some of the quirks of the Prius hardware, he has a number of other videos documenting his journey to convert this antique Jeep over to a useful electric farm vehicle which are worth checking out as well. There are plenty of other useful things that equipment from hybrid and electric vehicles can do beyond EV conversions as well, like being used for DIY powerwalls.

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Mississippi medical center closes all clinics after ransomware attack

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The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) closed all its clinic locations statewide on Thursday following a ransomware attack.

UMMC has over 10,000 employees and, as one of the largest employers in Mississippi, operates seven hospitals, 35 clinics, and more than 200 telehealth sites statewide. The medical center includes the state’s only children’s hospital, only Level I trauma center, only organ and bone marrow transplant program, and the only Telehealth Center of Excellence, one of two across the United States.

As revealed on Thursday afternoon, the cyberattack took down many of its IT systems and blocked access to the Epic electronic medical records. While UMMC cancelled outpatient and ambulatory surgeries/procedures and imaging appointments, officials said hospital services continue via downtime procedures.

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UMMC is now investigating the incident with assistance from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI.

“We have activated our Emergency Operations Plan and are working with authorities including the FBI and Homeland Security, who are helping us to evaluate this situation and determine next steps,” the UMMC said.

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When this article was published, the UMCC’s website was still down, and officials said that the hospital had shut down all IT systems while they assessed the attack’s impact.

“We are still evaluating the extent of systems impacted. As a precaution, we have shut down all our network systems and will conduct risk assessments before bringing anything back online. In-person class schedules remain normal,” they said.

Officials confirm ransomware attack 

Hospital officials have also revealed during a press conference on Thursday afternoon that they are communicating with the ransomware operation behind the attack and working with authorities on the next steps, according to The Daily Mississippian.

“The attackers have communicated to us and we are working with the authorities and specialists on next steps. We do not know how long this situation may last,” said LouAnn Woodward, the dean of the school of medicine at UMMC.

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“Patients in our hospital and our emergency department are being cared for. Clinical equipment and operations remain functional. We are using our downtime procedures. For our students, in-person classes will continue as scheduled.”

“All of our equipment works. All of our patients are being taken care of safely. There will be no patient impact as a result of this downtime,” Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for health affairs at UMMC, told reporters.

No ransomware group has claimed responsibility for this attack, as they’re likely still negotiating with the UMMC and want to pressure it into paying an extortion demand.

However, with ransomware involved, data may have also been stolen and will be used as additional leverage to convince the hospital to pay.

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Modern IT infrastructure moves faster than manual workflows can handle.

In this new Tines guide, learn how your team can reduce hidden manual delays, improve reliability through automated response, and build and scale intelligent workflows on top of tools you already use.

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IEEE Plays a Pivotal Role In Climate Mitigation Talks

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IEEE has enhanced its standing as a trusted, neutral authority on the role of technology in climate change mitigation and adaption. Last year it became the first technical association to be invited to a U.N. Conference of the Parties on Climate Change.

IEEE representatives participated in several sessions at COP30, held from 11 to 20 November in Belém, Brazil. More than 56,000 delegates attended, including policymakers, technologists, and representatives from industry, finance, and development agencies.

Following the conference, IEEE helped host the selective International Symposium on Achieving a Sustainable Climate. The International Telecommunication Union and IEEE hosted ISASC on 16 and 17 December at ITU’s headquarters in Geneva. Among the more than 100 people who attended were U.N. agency representatives, diplomats, senior leaders from academia, and experts from government, industry, nongovernment organizations, and standards development bodies.

Power and energy expert Saifur Rahman, the 2023 IEEE president, led IEEE’s delegation at both events. Rahman is the immediate past chair of IEEE’s Technology for a Sustainable Climate Matrix Organization, which coordinates, communicates, and amplifies the organization’s efforts.

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IEEE’s evolving role at COP

IEEE first attended a COP in 2021.

“Over successive COPs, IEEE’s role has evolved from contributing individual technical sessions to being recognized as a trusted partner in climate action,” Rahman noted in a summary of COP30. “There is [a] growing demand for engineering insight, not just to discuss technologies but [also] to help design pathways for deployment, capacity-building, and long-term resilience.”

Joining Rahman at COP30 were IEEE Fellow Claudio Canizares and IEEE Member Filipe Emídio Tôrres.

Canizares is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada, and the executive director of the university’s sustainable energy institute.

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Tôrres chairs the IEEE Centro-Norte Brasil Section (Brazil Chapter). An entrepreneur and a former professor, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at the University of Brasilia. He also represented the IEEE Young Professionals group while attending the conference.

In the Engineering for Climate Resilience: Water Planning, Energy Transition, Biodiversity session, Rahman showed a video from his 2024 visit to Shennongjia, China, where he monitored a clean energy project designed to protect endangered snub-nosed monkeys from human encroachment. The project integrates renewable energy, which helps preserve the forest and its wildlife.

Rahman also chaired a session at the Sustainable Development Goal Pavilion on balancing decarbonization efforts between industrialized and emerging economies.

Additionally, he participated in a joint panel discussion hosted by IEEE and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations on engineering strategies for climate resilience, including energy transition and biodiversity.

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Rahman, Canizares, and Tôrres took part in a session on clean-tech solutions for a sustainable climate, hosted by the International Youth Nuclear Congress. The topics included fossil fuel–free electricity for communications in remote areas and affordable electricity solutions for off-grid areas.

The three also joined several panels organized by the IYNC that addressed climate resilience, career pathways in sustainability, and a mentoring program.

“Over successive COPs, IEEE’s role has evolved from contributing individual technical sessions to being recognized as a trusted partner in climate action.” —Saifur Rahman, 2023 IEEE president

The IYNC hosted the Voices of Transition: Including Pathways to a Clean Energy Future session, for which Tôrres and Rahman were panelists. They discussed the need to include underrepresented and marginalized groups, which often get overlooked in projects that convert communities to renewable energy.

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Rahman, Canizares, and Tôrres visited the COP Village, where they met several of the 5,000 Indigenous leaders participating in the conference and discussed potential partnerships and collaborations. Climate change has made the land where the Indigenous people live more susceptible to severe droughts and wildfires, particularly in the Amazon region.

Rahman and Tôrres took a field trip to the Federal University of Para, where they met several faculty members and students and toured the LASSE engineering lab.

A meaningful experience

Tôrres, who says representing IEEE at COP30 was transformative, wrote a detailed report about the event.

“The experience reaffirmed my belief that engineering and technology, when combined with respect for cultural diversity, can play a critical role in shaping a more sustainable and equitable world,” he wrote. “It highlighted the importance of combining cutting-edge technological solutions with Indigenous wisdom and cultural knowledge to address the climate crisis.”

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Rahman and Canizares give an overview of their COP30 experiences in an IEEE webinar.

“IEEE has a place at the table,” Rahman says in the video. “We want to showcase outside our comfort zone what IEEE can do. We go to all these global events so that our name becomes a familiar term. We are the first technical association organization ever to go to COP and talk about engineering.”

Canizares added that IEEE is now collaborating closely with the United Nations.

“This is an important interaction. And I think, moving forward, IEEE will become more relevant, particularly in the context of technology deployment,” he said. “As governments start technology deployments, they will see IEEE as a provider of solutions.”

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ISASC takeaways

Rahman was the general chair of the ISASC event, which focused on the delivery and deployment of clean energy. Among the presenters were IEEE members including Canizares, Paulina Chan, Surekha Deshmukh, Ashutosh Dutta, Tariq Durrani, Samina Husain, Bruce Kraemer, Bruno Meyer, Carlo Alberto Nucci, and Seizo Onoe.

Sessions were organized around six themes: energy transition, information and communication technology, financing, case studies, technical standards, and public-private collaborations. A detailed report includes the discussions, insights, and opportunities identified throughout ISASC.

Here are some key takeaways.

  • Although the technology exists to transition to renewable energy, most power grid systems are not ready. Deployment is increasingly constrained by transmission bottlenecks, interconnection delays, permitting challenges, and system flexibility. There’s also a skills shortage.
  • Energy transition pathways must be region-specific and should consider local resources, social conditions, funding opportunities, and development priorities.
  • Information and communication technologies are central to climate mitigation solutions, despite growing concerns about their environmental impact. Even though the technologies are used in beneficial ways, such as early-warning systems for natural disasters and smart water management, they also are driving the rapid growth of data centers for artificial intelligence applications—which has increased energy prices and driven up water demand.
  • Technical standards are a means of accelerating adoption, interoperability, and trust in green technology. There needs to be greater coordination among standards development organizations, particularly at the convergence of energy systems, information technologies, and AI. Fragmented standards hinder interoperability. The lack of technical standards is a major constraint on project financing, limiting investors’ confidence and slowing technology deployment.
  • Training and outreach efforts are important for successfully implementing standards, especially in developing regions. IEEE’s global membership and regional sections can be critical channels to address the needs.

A technology assessment tool

As part of ISASC, IEEE presented a technology assessment tool prototype. The web-based platform is designed to help policymakers, practitioners, and investors compare technology options against climate goals.

The tool can run a comparative analysis of sustainable climate technologies and integrate publicly available, expert-validated data.

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IEEE can help the world meet its goals

The ISASC report concluded that by connecting engineering expertise with real-world deployment challenges, IEEE is working to translate global climate goals into measurable actions.

The discussions highlighted that the path forward lies less in inventing new technologies and more in aligning systems to deliver ones that already exist.

Summaries of COP30 and ISASC are available on the IEEE Technology for a Sustainable Climate website.

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Apple takes aim at YouTube, Spotify, launches video podcasting

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Podcast listeners seem to prefer YouTube and Spotify over Apple. Apple wants to change that.

Apple is finally introducing videos to podcasts as it takes aim at the market’s reigning leaders YouTube and Spotify.

But instead of using RSS for the videos, Apple said it is bringing in Http Live Streaming (HLS) technology, which lets consumers’ devices adapt to changing network conditions by automatically raising or lowering the quality of the stream.

Plus, users will be able to toggle between watching podcasts with videos turned on or off.

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The company is also introducing dynamic advertising, which will allow podcasters to swap ads in or out. YouTube and Spotify have both said they would launch the tool, but are yet to do so.

Apple does not charge hosting providers or creators to distribute podcasts on Apple Podcasts – though it will begin charging participating ad networks an impression-based fee to deliver dynamic ads in HLS video podcasts later this year, it said.

“20 years ago, Apple helped take podcasting mainstream by adding podcasts to iTunes, and more than a decade ago, we introduced the dedicated Apple Podcasts app,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice-president of services. The new step is a “defining milestone”, he added.

The consumer tech giant was one of the first to popularise the concept of podcasts all the way back in 2005. But in recent years, its leadership in the area has dwindled.

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Recent data showed that 39pc of podcast listeners said they prefer YouTube as their go-to platform, 21pc Spotify, and only 8pc chose Apple. Last year, YouTube said that it had reached 1bn monthly podcast listeners.

There’s a few reasons Apple Podcasts lost its steam. One, for most of its existence, the service didn’t generate revenue from podcasts. Apple only launched podcast subscriptions in 2021, and at that point, hadn’t even considered introducing ads.

Meanwhile, not everyone uses Apple products, with Google’s Android phones remaining the most popular mobile operating system worldwide. Meaning, for a large period of time, only Apple users would have been able to tune into podcasts on its platforms.

However, that changed in 2024 with the introduction of an Apple Podcasts web app, available regardless of whether users are on a Mac or not.

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Updated, 11.43am, 20 February 2026: This article was amended to include correct figures in relation to podcast listener preferences.

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