More than 97 percent of the new cars Norwegians registered in November 2025 were electric, almost reaching the country’s goal of 100 percent. As a result, the government has begun removing some of the many carrots it used to encourage its successful EV transition. Cecilie Knibe Kroglund, state secretary in the country’s Ministry of Transport, reveals some of the challenges that come with success.
What were the important early steps to promote the EV switch?
Kroglund: Battery-electric vehicles have had exemptions from the 25 percent value-added tax and from the CO2– and weight-based registration tax that apply to combustion-engine vehicles. We used other tax incentives to encourage building charging stations on highways and in rural areas. Cities had the opportunity to exempt zero-emissions cars from toll roads. EV drivers also got reduced ferry fares, free parking, and access to bus lanes in many cities. The technology for the vehicles wasn’t that good at the start of the incentives program, but we had the taxes and incentives to make traditional passenger cars more expensive.
What were the biggest barriers, and how did policymakers overcome them?
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Kroglund: Early on the technology was challenging. In summertime it was easy to fuel the EV, but in wintertime it’s double the use of energy. But the technology has improved a lot in the last five years.
The Norwegian tax exemptions on EVs were introduced before EVs came to market and were decisive in offsetting the early disadvantages of EVs compared to conventional cars, especially regarding comfort, vehicle size, and range. The rapid expansion of charging infrastructure along major corridors has also been important to overcome range anxiety.
Kroglund: I’m personally surprised that it went so well. This was a long-term commitment from the government, and the market has responded to that. Many Norwegian companies use EVs. The market for charging infrastructure is considered commercially viable and no longer needs financial support. However, we don’t see commercial-vehicle adoption going as fast as passenger vehicles, and we had the same goal. So we will have to review the goals, and we’ll have to review the incentives.
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What unexpected new problems is Norway’s success creating?
Kroglund: The success of the passenger-vehicle policies mean EVs are in competition with public transport in the larger cities. Driving an EV remains much cheaper than driving a conventional car even without tax exemptions, and overall car use continues to rise. National, regional, and local governments must find different tools to promote walking, bicycling, and public transport because each city and region is different.
How applicable are these lessons to poorer or less well-administered countries and why?
Kroglund: We are different as countries. The geographies are different, and some countries have even bigger cities than our national population. This is not a policy for L.A., but what we see in Norway is that incentives work. However, tax incentives are only applicable in systems where effective taxation is established, which may not be the case in poorer countries. Other benefits, such as lower local emissions, only apply in places with lots of traffic.
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The Norwegian experience shows that the economic incentives work, but it also shows that EVs work even in a country with cold weather.
This article appears in the February 2026 print issue as “Cecilie Knibe Kroglund.”
A few years ago agricultural equipment giant John Deere found itself on the receiving end of multiple state, federal, and class action lawsuits for its efforts to monopolize tractor repair. The lawsuits noted that the company consistently purchased competing repair centers in order to consolidate the sector and force customers into using the company’s own repair facilities, driving up costs and logistical hurdles dramatically for farmers.
“As we continue to innovate industry leading equipment and technology solutions supported by our world-class dealer network, we are equally committed to providing customers and other service providers with access to repair resources,” said Denver Caldwell, vice president, Aftermarket & Customer Support. “We’re pleased that this resolution allows us to move forward and remain focused on what matters most – serving our customers.”
Except if John Deere had cared about customer service, they wouldn’t be in this predicament.
In addition to intentionally acquiring repair alternatives to monopolize repair and drive up consumer costs, John Deere also routinely makes repair difficult and costly through the act of software locks, obnoxious DRM restrictions, and “parts pairing” — which involves only allowing the installation of company-certified replacement parts — or mandatory collections of company-blessed components.
More recently, the company had been striking meaningless “memorandums of understanding” with key trade groups, pinky swearing to stop their bad behavior if the groups agree to not support state or federal right to repair legislation. Several such groups backed off their criticism, only to have John Deere continue its monopolistic behavior, the FTC’s complaint notes.
The annoyance at John Deere’s behavior has driven a broad, bipartisan movement that’s in very vocal support for state and federal guidelines enshrining “right to repair” protections into law. Unfortunately, while all fifty states have at least flirted with the idea of a state law, only Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Oregon, and Washington have actually passed laws.
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And among those, not one has taken any substantive action to actually enforce the new law, something that needs to change if the movement is to obtain and retain meaningful policy momentum.
As a company, Fluke has been making electronic test equipment longer than the bipolar junction transistor has been around for. In that time they’ve developed a fairly stellar reputation for quality and consistency, but like any company they don’t support their products indefinitely. [ogdento] owns a Fluke meter that isn’t nearly as old as the BJT but still has an age well outside of the support window, and since the main problem was the broken LCD display they set about building a replacement for this retro multimeter.
Initially, [ogdento] had plans to retrofit this classic multimeter with a modern OLED, but could not find enough space for the display or a way to drive it easily. The next attempt to get something working was to build a custom one-off LCD using a drill press as an end mill, which didn’t work either. But after seeing a Charlieplexed display from [bobricius] as well as this video from EEVblog about designing custom LCDs, [ogdento] was able to not only design a custom PCB and LCD display to match the original meter, but was able to get a manufacturer in China to build them.
The new displays have a few improvements over the old; mostly they are more stylistically inspired by later Fluke models and have a few modern improvements to the LCD itself. There were are few issues during prototyping but nothing that was too hard to sort out, such as ordering the wrong size elastomeric strips initially. For anyone who needs to replace a custom LCD and can’t find replacement parts anymore, this project would be a great starting point for figuring out the process from the ground up.
If you have been waiting for Gemini to actually feel like it knows you, your wait is almost over. Google’s Personal Intelligence, which launched earlier this year for paid US subscribers, is now rolling out globally.
What is Gemini Personal Intelligence and what can it do?
Google
Personal Intelligence connects Gemini to your Google apps. Think Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube, Search, Maps, Calendar, Drive, and more. It uses your existing data to give smarter, more tailored responses without requiring you to explain everything each time.
The use cases are genuinely impressive. Ask Gemini for shopping recommendations, and it will factor in your recent purchases and style preferences. Stuck troubleshooting a device you do not remember buying? It can pull the exact model from your purchase receipts in Gmail.
Google
If you are planning a trip with a tight layover, Gemini can use Personal Intelligence to check your gates, walking time, and meal preferences all at once. It can even suggest a new hobby based on patterns it notices across your activity.
Google says this is an opt-in feature, so you choose which apps to connect. Importantly, Gemini does not train directly on your Gmail or Photos data. It references them to answer your questions, but keeps the underlying personal content separate from model training.
Who can use Gemini’s Personal Intelligence feature?
Personal Intelligence works across desktop, Android, and iOS with languages supported by Gemini. The global rollout is now live for Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers everywhere except the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK. Free Gemini users globally will get access within the next few weeks.
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Why does this matter?
Google
Personal Intelligence is probably the most significant thing Google has done with Gemini so far. Gemini is slowly becoming the kind of AI assistant that actually understands your life, not just the internet.
With access to Gmail, Photos, Maps, and more, Gemini will no longer feel like a generic chatbot and behave like a genuine personal assistant. No other AI assistant comes close to having this kind of data advantage baked in from the start.
The partnership will bring together Bull’s supercomputing infrastructure and Equal1’s ‘breakthrough’ silicon-spin quantum computers.
Bull, a Paris-based high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence and quantum technology company, is to partner with Dublin start-up Equal1, a silicon-powered quantum computing technology provider.
Equal1 and Bull stated that their deal will “advance the next generation of hybrid quantum-classical technologies with European solutions”, at a time when quantum computing is beginning to transition from promise to practical reality.
The pair said the partnership will combine Bull’s supercomputing infrastructure and quantum emulation expertise with Equal1’s breakthrough silicon-spin quantum computers, as agreed in a memorandum of understanding.
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The collaboration will focus on three core pillars – technical integration, joint research and development to advance innovation, and a focus on sovereign European projects whereby both companies will collaborate on EU-led quantum initiatives amid the global quantum race.
Commenting on the announcement, Bruno Lecointe, the senior vice-president and global head of HPC, AI and quantum at Bull, said: “The convergence of high-performance computing and quantum technologies is redefining how we address the world’s most complex challenges.
“10 years after launching the first quantum emulator of the market, innovation has always been part of Bull’s DNA and we remain committed to designing hybrid architectures that help translate emerging technologies into operational capability.
“By integrating Equal1’s silicon-spin quantum servers into our Qaptiva ecosystem, we are enabling a seamless bridge between HPC, quantum emulation and quantum execution. This alliance ensures our customers can leverage quantum-centric supercomputing to achieve real-world outcomes with unprecedented efficiency and performance.”
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Jason Lynch, the CEO of Equal1, added: “By building quantum processors on standard silicon, we are turning quantum from bespoke laboratory hardware into deployable infrastructure. This collaboration with Bull is a vital step in bridging the gap between breakthrough hardware innovation and industrial workloads.
“Together, we are positioning our joint solutions as the standard for high-performance computing, enabling seamless integration into existing data centres and driving a more sustainable digital future.”
Earlier this year, Equal1 announced it had raised $60m in a funding round led by Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, with participation from Atlantic Bridge, the European Innovation Council Fund, Matterwave Ventures, Enterprise Ireland, Elkstone and TNO Ventures.
At the time, Equal1 said that the investment would enable deployment to HPC centres – including to the European Space Agency’s Phi-lab in Italy – advance the roadmap towards “millions” of on-chip qubits, scale manufacturing and grow its team.
Apple sometimes closes retail stores. The company always has private and public reasons why, but the communities and workers that are impacted don’t care much about what they are.
Apple Trumbull – Image Credit: Apple
On April 9, it was revealed that Apple was preparing to close three of its stores in the United States in June. The group consists of Apple North County in Escondido, California, Apple Towson Town Center in Towson, Maryland, and Apple Trumbull in Trumbull, Connecticut. After the initial shock of the closures, people are still expressing their feelings about the store closures. However, as usual, nothing is straightforward in the court of public opinion. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Oh sure, you’ve got calculators. There’s that phone program of course, and the one that comes with your OS, and the TI-86 and possibly RPN numbers you’ve had since high school.
But what you don’t have is a Flapulator, at least not until you build one. Possibly the be-all, end-all of physical calculating devices, the Flapulator does its calculating live on a split-flap display. It’s kind of slow and the accuracy is questionable, but the tactility is oh, so good.
This baby boasts a 6-digit display, where the decimal point and negative sign each require one digit. Inside is a Raspberry Pi Pico, which can calculate for around 4 hours on a full charge. But the coolest part (aside from the split-flap display, naturally) has got to be the 24-key, hand-wired mechanical keyboard. There’s also a couple of LEDs that light up to keep track of the current mathematical operation.
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The story behind this one is kind of interesting. [Applepie1928] found out that one of their favorite mathematician-comedian-pi-lovers who is known for signing calculators was coming to town. With four weeks to whip something up, this was, amazingly, the result. Check it out in action after the break.
Intel and Google signed a multi-year deal to keep Xeon in cloud infrastructure
Google Cloud instances C4 and N4 already run on Xeon 6 processors
Intel and Google are co-developing custom IPUs for networking and storage
Intel and Google have announced a multi-year collaboration that will keep Intel Xeon processors at the heart of Google Cloud infrastructure for the foreseeable future.
The agreement spans multiple generations of Xeon chips and includes systems used for AI workloads, inference tasks, and general-purpose computing across Google’s global data centers.
Google Cloud instances such as C4 and N4 already rely on Xeon 6 processors, and this deal ensures that pattern continues.
Article continues below
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Why CPUs still matter in an era of specialized AI hardware
“AI is reshaping how infrastructure is built and scaled,” said Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel.
“Scaling AI requires more than accelerators — it requires balanced systems. CPUs and IPUs are central to delivering the performance, efficiency, and flexibility modern AI workloads demand.”
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The announcement comes at a time when many hyperscalers are accelerating adoption of custom Arm-based processors for AI tasks.
Counterpoint Research recently claimed 90% of AI servers running custom silicon will rely on the Arm instruction set architecture, leaving x86 with only a small share of new deployments.
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To ensure Xeon remains relevant, Intel and Google are also jointly developing custom infrastructure processing units designed to handle networking, storage, and security workloads.
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These IPUs operate as ASIC-based accelerators that move infrastructure tasks away from host CPUs, freeing Xeon processors to focus on application execution.
This separation improves system efficiency and resource allocation across large cloud deployments running AI tools, AI agents, and large language models.
CPUs and infrastructure acceleration remain a cornerstone of AI systems — from training orchestration to inference and deployment,” said Amin Vahdat, SVP and Chief Technologist for AI Infrastructure at Google.
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Google currently uses both Xeon 5 and Xeon 6 processors across multiple service layers alongside its own custom Arm-based Axion processors.
These deployments continue alongside Google’s own custom processors used in other parts of its infrastructure stack.
Intel and Google state that collaboration across CPUs and IPUs will continue across future system generations, covering ongoing integration efforts across cloud infrastructure layers.
They maintain that CPUs and infrastructure accelerators remain part of current cloud design patterns across distributed systems.
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Many workloads running in Google’s data centers require backward compatibility with x86 architecture, while others need maximum single-thread performance that Xeon CPUs deliver.
These requirements are expected to persist for years, which explains why Intel and Google signed this multi-year agreement.
The Kraken cryptocurrency exchange announced that a cybercrime group is trying to extort the company by threatening to release videos showing internal systems that host client data.
The company’s Chief Security Officer, Nick Percoco, stated that the incident did not put client funds at risk and involved an insider threat, with two instances of improper access to limited customer data by support employees.
Kraken says that it will not pay or negotiate with the threat actor.
“We are currently being extorted by a criminal group threatening to release videos of our internal systems with client data shown if we do not comply with their demands,” stated Percoco.
“It’s important to start with the most important points: our systems were never breached; funds were never at risk; we will not pay these criminals; we will not ever negotiate with bad actors.”
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Kraken is a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange that enables millions of users across 190 countries to buy, sell, and trade digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and 200 others.
It is considered one of the largest and most established exchanges, with a daily trading volume of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.
Following a “tip from a trusted source” in February 2025 about cybercriminals circulating a video demonstrating access to its client support systems, Kraken initiated an investigation and uncovered a support employee recruited by the threat actor.
More recently, Kraken received a tip about another, more recent video showing insider access to its systems.
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In both cases, the company reacted quickly by revoking the employee’s access, launching investigations, and strengthening controls. Where user exposure was identified, Kraken notified affected users directly.
According to Percoco, the incident affects only about 2,000 accounts, which represents 0.02% of Kraken’s user base. For this small subset, the exposed information reportedly only concerns client support data.
Kraken stated that its investigation has gathered enough evidence to legally prosecute all involved individuals attempting to blackmail them, and the company is closely working with federal law enforcement across multiple jurisdictions towards this goal.
Insider threats and malicious recruitment are a broader problem impacting multiple industries, and especially the cryptocurrency sector.
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In mid-2025, it was revealed that another major American cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, suffered a data breach after hackers bribed employees of an India-based customer support agency to disclose to them private client support information.
In that case, the incident impacted 70,000 customers, with Coinbase estimating the total financial damages to be $400 million.
Automated pentesting proves the path exists. BAS proves whether your controls stop it. Most teams run one without the other.
This whitepaper maps six validation surfaces, shows where coverage ends, and provides practitioners with three diagnostic questions for any tool evaluation.
Google has introduced a new app for Windows desktops and, unsurprisingly, it puts AI front at center. If you aren’t a big fan of Google’s Gemini chatbot, then skip on past this download. For those of you who are heavy Gemini users, though, this could mean a simpler and more integrated experience on Windows machines.
Once installed, you can pull up the app’s search bar with the Alt + Space shortcut. Queries typed into this open-ended search box can hunt down information from the web like typical Google search, where AI Mode will be enabled for an extra layer of artificial intelligence for follow-up questions or a deeper dive down a rabbit hole. But the app isn’t limited to web search. It can delve into your computer’s files, other installed apps or Google Drive files to retrieve information. Screen sharing is also built into the app, which enables using Google Lens to conduct AI-powered searches on content displayed on your monitor.
The app is rolling out globally today in English. Interestingly, this hasn’t been gated to the most recent Windows 11, but it does require a machine running at least Windows 10.
Ambassador leaders, from left: COO Mark Steffler, CEO Geoff McDonald, and Chief Strategy Officer John Larson. (Ambassador Photos)
Seattle customer engagement startup Ambassador has acquired the operating assets of Tacoma-based programmatic ad platform Humming, part of a roll-up strategy that anticipates a larger shakeout among startups as major AI platforms expand their capabilities.
The deal will bring Humming’s technology for automatically buying and placing digital ads into Ambassador’s platform, which uses AI to manage and act on customer referrals, loyalty programs, surveys, and other feedback. Ambassador said the addition will improve its attribution capabilities, connecting ad spending to purchases, leads, and other customer actions.
It’s the latest in a series of acquisitions for the 22-person Seattle company, which has raised about $11 million.
The AI shakeout: Ambassador CEO Geoff McDonald said he sees more opportunities for deals in the future as AI startups that essentially built wrappers around large language models struggle to hold onto customers as Anthropic, OpenAI and others add similar capabilities.
The companies that will succeed, in McDonald’s view, are the ones sitting on years of proprietary customer data that can’t be quickly reproduced, what he calls the context layer.
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Ambassador has been accumulating that data since well before the current AI wave, bolstered by its 2021 acquisition of a referral marketing platform from an Apollo Global Management subsidiary. It has since rebuilt the platform around AI.
Customers of relatively nascent AI startups are increasingly saying, “Oh, well, Claude just came out with this tool. I’m just going to build it internally,” McDonald said, referring to Anthropic’s popular AI assistant. “And I think that’s where we differentiate.”
Latest acquisition: The Humming deal, structured as an asset purchase, closed last week. Financial terms were not disclosed. Humming, founded in 2018, built a platform for buying and managing ad campaigns across websites, apps, and streaming services.
Based in Tacoma, the company was co-founded by Bill Herling and Jill Nealey-Moore, a psychology professor at the University of Puget Sound, and raised more than $5 million, according to Herling’s LinkedIn profile.
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The company had more than 30 employees at its peak. Herling stepped down as CEO in 2023 and has since launched a new ad tech startup called Atrium, focused on TV advertising. He is not joining Ambassador, and Humming’s standalone product will be discontinued.
Ambassador expects to integrate Humming’s technology into its platform within 60 days, an accelerated timeline that McDonald attributed to Ambassador’s use of AI in its own engineering process. Chief Operating Officer Mark Steffler said the team has been shipping new features to customers every two weeks, crediting the company’s use of AI coding tools.
Business model: Ambassador has also shifted its approach away from traditional software subscriptions toward what McDonald calls “Results as a Service,” or RaaS — charging customers based on consumption credits tied to outcomes rather than flat fees for seats or contacts.
The model is designed so that customers pay more when the platform delivers more value, and less when it doesn’t. McDonald said he plans to apply the same pricing approach to Humming’s programmatic ad capabilities, which he described as a first for the space.
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Zipwhip connection: Ambassador’s chief strategy officer and co-founder is John Larson, who co-founded Seattle-based business texting startup Zipwhip, which Twilio acquired for $850 million in 2021. He spent three years at Twilio after the deal before joining Ambassador full-time in mid-2024.
He was part of a $7 million funding round in December that included other former Zipwhip execs, calling the company the biggest personal investment of his career.
M&A: Larson said this week that he believes the current environment will produce more acquisition targets. While the “graveyard” of failed AI startups may not be as dire as headlines suggest, many companies with solid teams and technology simply can’t raise money, he said.
Before Humming, the company acquired Predictive Solutions, a Seattle customer data platform, and ChalkLabs, a Spokane-based semantic search startup, before buying the Ambassador referral marketing platform from Intrado, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, in 2021.
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McDonald, who previously co-founded Seattle startup Element Data, a decision intelligence platform, launched the company as i2H in 2019. The holding company began doing business under the Ambassador name after completing the acquisition from the Apollo Global subsidiary.
Customers: Ambassador says it works with more than 200 companies, listing customers including Visible by Verizon, Canadian bank CIBC, and HR software company Rippling on its website. Its customers are primarily in telecom, financial services, and B2B software.
Financials: The privately held company is approaching cash-flow neutral, McDonald said, distinguishing it from many startups that are burning through their funding as they grow.
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