Meta is considering major layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company’s workforce, according to Reuters.

These layoffs could help the Facebook parent company offset its aggressive spending on AI infrastructure, as well as AI-related acquisitions and hiring. Meta employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, according to a recent filing.

“This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

The report comes as many tech companies — most recently Block — have announced sweeping layoffs that they say are necessary as AI automates more work. But some pundits, and even executives like OpenAI’s Sam Altman, have suggested that many of these cuts are “AI-washing,” where executives use AI as cover for other issues, such as over-hiring during the pandemic.

The last time Meta announced layoffs of this scale was in November 2022, when it cut 11,000 jobs, followed by another 10,000 in March 2023.

Colin Furze, a self-taught engineer, has a flair for coming up with new ways to use magnets. One comment from a viewer spurred an idea, and he set to work transforming a regular skateboard into something that appears to be just hovering above the ground. He’d already built a bike with magnetic suspension, but he wanted to apply the concept to four wheels, giving the ride a gentle, floating feel without needing standard springs or shocks.

Furze began the project with a standard skateboard, removing the trucks and creating a custom base plate out of aluminum using his trusty plasma cutter. He then used a 3D printer to create customized holders for the magnets at the bottom end. Large disc magnets, roughly 100mm across and 30mm deep, were placed in pairs to push against each other.

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The upper deck received identical holders, and when the two were combined, the repelling forces lifted the riders platform away from the foundation. The problem was getting everything to stay in one piece while still allowing steering. Furze tried several ways. At first, he just used pins to connect the two halves of the board, but this was not very smooth. Then he tried utilizing square guide tubes with bearings inside to reduce friction. Even attempted attaching a hinge on one end and running tensioned cables between the layers.

It took a lot of trial and error; the boards first flexed under weight, so he had to double the base material. He also had to tweak the guides to get them to work properly, as turning requires precise alignment. After a couple complete rebuilds, he was able to resolve the issue, as the connections allowed the top to bounce vertically while passing the twist forces through to appropriately guide the trucks.

Riding it seems very different, as if you’re gliding around on an invisible cushion. Road bumps rarely reach your feet. Furze went so far as to glue a glass of water to both the magnetic and conventional boards before rolling them over some rough concrete. The magnetic version kept the water quiet, but the standard board sloshed all over the place.

Steering still works by shifting your body around, so it’s not too different from a typical ride on flat ground. The one drawback is that the entire contraption feels lighter than it is, which makes climbing hills difficult, and stopping requires some preparation because there are no brakes.

Meta is pulling the plug on one of Instagram’s most secure messaging feature, and the company has a good reason for you to accept it. End-to-end encryption (E2EE) in DMs is going away from the popular photos and videos sharing platform after May 8, 2026, i.e., in less than two months. 

For those catching up, E2EE is a feature that encrypts messages so that only the sender and the receiver can see them. No platform, no advertiser, and no government agency gets to peek inside; just the two people messaging each other.

The feature everybody needed, but nobody used?

The feature is widely considered as the most secure form of digital communication that is available to the general public. However, here’s the catch. Critics have long argued that E2EE creates a digital blind spot which isn’t accessible by the tech firms or the police, even when they’re the front for crimes.

A Meta spokesperson said that “very few people were opting in,” for the feature in the first place, which is why the platform has decided to remove it. Further, anyone who wants encrypted chats can switch to WhatsApp. 

To be real, Meta never made E2EE the default standard on Instagram. It was available as an optional feature in some regions. To activate it, users had to tap on the recipient’s name at the top, select Privacy & safety, and tap on Use end-to-end encryption. Clearly, not a lot of users would appreciate going through a three-step process to enable the feature.

Privacy vs. safety: The E2EE pros and cons debate

The debate has been playing out loudly in a New Mexico child safety trial, where internal Meta documents have revealed executives debating the trade-offs between privacy (encryption) and safety. Even Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that safety concerns were among the primary reasons encryption took so long to reach Messenger.

While Instagram is removing the feature it already had, TikTok has refused to add E2EE entirely, specifically citing the risk it poses to safety teams and the law enforcement bodies, who wouldn’t be able to access the messages. 

I remember the backlash that WhatsApp had to face back in 2021 when it decided to share users’ conversations with business accounts to advertisers, but what’s happening with TikTok now is a rare event. Critics are actually appreciating the company for not introducing E2EE conversations. 

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Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot AI Assistant is coming to the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles by the end of this year. It will improve your console experience  by adding an AI-powered helper or assistant.

The announcement comes from Xbox’s gaming AI partner group product manager, Sonali Yadav, at the Game Developers Conference panel. While the feature is already available (in beta) on computers, mobile, and the ROG Xbox Ally, it will, for the first time, expand to consoles (via GamesRadar). 

What does Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot AI Assistant do?

For those catching up, the Gaming Copilot AI assistant is like a friend who has already watched all the walkthrough and the mission videos, never gets tired of your silly questions, and doesn’t judge you for being stuck on the same level or mission for hours. 

Apart from answering your questions about the game or the quest you’re currently on, the gaming assistant can pull up personalised player history and Game Pass subscription details (whenever you need them). 

If you’ve been following our news feed, you already know that Google has already begun rolling out a similar feature.

Xbox isn’t the only one doing this

It’s called the Play Games Sidekick — a Gemini-backed in-game assistant for Android games. It can also provide tips, tricks, and real-time guidance about the game you’re playing. 

Whether it is the Gaming Copilot AI Assistant or the Play Games Sidekick: both of them place a live AI inside your game that lives and breathes alongside your character. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the AI gaming assistant arms race, as it turns out, is pretty much on. 

While Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot has been running in beta on non-console platforms, reaching the Xbox console audience is a significant step. Even though we don’t have a specific launch date, it’s clear that Microsoft wants you to leverage its AI gaming assistant and do better.

Meta could be preparing for one of the largest layoffs in its history, according to a Reuters report. The tech giant is planning to cut about 20 percent of its workforce, according to the outlet’s sources. According to the report, neither a date nor the exact number of layoffs has been finalized yet.

However, Reuters reported that Meta’s top executives have told “other senior leaders” to start “planning how to pare back.” In its latest financial report, the company’s employee headcount was 78,865 as of December 31, 2025, while revenue reached nearly $60 billion for the fourth quarter and more than $200 billion for the entire year. A Meta spokesperson told Reuters that this was “speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.”

Meta is no stranger to major layoffs. Earlier this year, Meta targeted about 1,000 employees in its layoffs with the Reality Labs division that’s responsible for the company’s virtual reality and metaverse efforts. Early last year, Meta laid off about five percent of its workforce, following a smaller round of firings that same month. Meanwhile, the company has been spending heavily to acquire AI startups, like Moltbook, a social network designed for AI agents, and Manus, a startup focused on AI agents for task automation.

Ferrari has just unveiled its new convertible, the Amalfi Spider, and it begs to be driven with the top down. This open-top version is built on the Amalfi coupe, with engineers keeping the overall form consistent from the beltline down, thus the long hood and smooth contours remained mostly unchanged. Rosso Tramonto, a new paint color in the portfolio, has a gorgeous orange hue to it, like the sun setting over the Italian shore.

The design was all about airflow, as engineers molded the body with extreme care to ensure that air flowed over and around the car perfectly. That rear wing has three settings and can provide up to 243 pounds of extra traction when driving at highway speeds. Front air intakes and rear diffusers work together to keep the vehicle stable without sticking your nose out in the wind. You can choose from six different fabric colors for the roof, including this beautiful dark blue one called Tecnico Ottanio, and you can even add some contrast stitching to make it more personal. The roof folds up into a compact little package behind the seats, measuring eight point seven inches tall, and it does so at speeds of up to 37 mph.

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Dropping the top takes exactly 13.5 seconds, and the five-layer fabric is substantial, so there isn’t much wind noise or heat flowing in when the roof is down. In reality, it performs similarly to a solid roof. You can even deploy a little wind deflector on the back seat with the press of a button, which remains effective up to 106 mph. Trunk capacity is also surprisingly good, nine cubic feet with the roof up and six when it’s stowed, which is still enough to fit some weekend bags or a couple of helmets.

The power comes from a 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 that delivers 631 horsepower and 561 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels via an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. That means you can accelerate from 0 to 62 in 3.3 seconds and reach 124 mph in 9.4 seconds. Maximum speed is 199 miles per hour. The entire vehicle weighs 3,430 pounds dry, which is 190 pounds more than the coupe, but it handles fairly well, with 48% of the weight up front and the rest in the back.

Drivers get the same revised cabin as the coupe, with all of the physical controls and dials on the steering wheel, replacing the touch sensitive pads with something more substantial. You get a 15.6-inch digital cluster straight front, but there’s also a 10.25-inch central screen for navigation and media, as well as an 8.8-inch display in front of the passenger that shows real-time engine data and g-forces. When she’s ready to go, the metal start button glows red, and you can connect Apple CarPlay or Android Auto wirelessly as well. Those tiny rear seats are useful for storing gear or taking the kids on a short journey, but the entire cockpit wraps around the front two occupants, giving them a focused sense, as if the car is all about them.

The electronics are cutting-edge, as the brake-by-wire system provides a very precise pedal feel, and the latest iteration of Side Slip Control modifies grip in real time. You have five distinct driving modes to pick from on the steering wheel, ranging from Wet to Race, and each one adjusts the throttle responsiveness and suspension firmness via those fancy magnetorheological dampers. Then there are the key safety features, such adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assistance, which are all included, but you can also add some extras, like as a 360-degree video system.

Ferrari is manufacturing the Amalfi Spider at its Maranello plant, and it will hit the road later this year as a 2027 model. The coupe started at a quarter of a million dollars, so you can probably expect to pay a little more for the Spider, especially if you start clicking the options box, possibly in the low $300,000s.
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