China is officially telling automakers to get a full grip: a complete wheel-style steering wheel. According to a draft from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the country plans to ban “yoke-style” or “half” steering wheels (via CarNewsChina).

The ban comes into effect from January 1, 2027, as part of the updated national safety standard (GB 11557-202X). While the documentation doesn’t explicitly name yokes, the new crash-testing requirements make it effectively impossible to pass.

China tightens its grip on steering design

The updated safety norms require steering wheels to pass an impact test at 10 specific points around the rim, and guess what: a yoke-style steering wheel, which doesn’t have a top part, can’t exactly volunteer for the test. It’s a no rim, no test, no approval kind of situation.

Chinese regulators explain how the choice isn’t about aesthetics. Rounder steering wheels offer a broader surface area, preventing drivers from pitching forward past the wheel in the event of a crash. Concerns about airbag deployment have also fueled the new norms.

The move will affect brands that have embraced the sci-fi look, including Tesla (among the major automakers that popularized the yoke-style steering wheels), Lexus, IM Motors, and Mercedes-Benz. While new models must comply from 2027, existing models might get a 13-month transition period.

Automakers rethink the spaceship look

Most recently, China also banned flush, pop-out door handles over safety concerns, stating that motorized handles can complicate emergency exit from vehicles.

Whether it is the yoke-style steering wheel or the flush-type door handles, regulators are dialing back flashy design trends in favor of safety and practicality.

For Chinese drivers who never quite got used to shuffling a yoke through a tight parking space, the news might come as a relief. For those chasing a spaceship-like vibe, automakers have to get back to the drawing board to continue selling models in the region.

For now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) hasn’t given any indication about such bans coming to the United States, nor do the regulatory bodies here have a norm that automatically rules out yoke-style steering wheels.

The 2026 Winter Games in Milano Cortina will feature more medals than previous years, thanks to eight new events. The most notable addition is ski mountaineering — or “skimo” — an entirely new Olympic sport.

Skimo is a test of endurance where athletes climb up steep mountains on skis and then race back down. It combines the physical challenge of mountain climbing with the technical speed of skiing. With three gold medals on the line, it’s he biggest change to the Winter Olympics lineup in years. Here’s everything you need to know about skimo and how, when, and where to watch. 

Meet skimo, the new Olympic sport

As you might have guessed from the name, skimo is a new skiing event. Unlike other ski races, this one involves going both uphill and downhill, combining the endurance of Nordic skiing with the daring of alpine racing, with a pinch of NASCAR pit crew feeling at the top, as competitors transition from climbing to skiing down.

A skimo race begins at the bottom of the hill. Skiers start with carpet-like strips called “skins” on the bottom of their skis, which help them grip the snow as they race uphill. As if cross-country skiing wasn’t enough of an aerobic test of pain tolerance, let’s make it harder and race uphill!

As racers near the top of the skimo course, there will be a section too steep for skis, so racers will hop out of their skis, throw them on their back and hike up the hill in their boots. This exhausting section is called “boot packing.” 

Finally, at the top, racers will jump back into their skis, strip off the skins with shocking efficiency and then race down the hill through a series of gates to the finish line. This downhill section will look like a giant slalom race, for those familiar with alpine ski racing.

What are the three skimo events?

There are men’s and women’s sprint events, as well as a mixed relay. 

The sprint events will be completed faster than you would ever expect. Racers will climb roughly 230 feet to the top over the two uphill sections and then race down to the finish line in under three minutes.

The mixed relay will feature teams of one man and one woman. Each racer will go through the course twice, with the woman racing the first and third legs and the man racing the second and final legs. Since skimo racers use ski poles, there is no baton passing in a skimo relay — a simple tag is all that is required to pass the race to your teammate. The team with the fastest cumulative time wins.

The mixed relay course is longer than the sprint races and, in a twist, features a bootpack section on the second ascent but not the first. The total time for the mixed relay race is expected to be around 30 minutes.

When are the skimo events at the 2026 Olympics?

The men’s and women’s sprint events take place on Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio. All the skimo sprints will take place on this one day, from the first heats to the gold medal final in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

Each field consists of 18 competitors who race in three heats of six. The top three from each heat, plus the three fastest who didn’t automatically qualify, advance to the semifinals. The two fastest from each semifinal, along with the two next-best times, create a field of six for the skimo final.

There are no preliminary heats for the mixed relay event, just a final, consisting of 12 to 18 teams. The men’s and women’s mixed relay finals will be run on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Which countries are the best at skimo?

Ski mountaineering started in the Alps, so it won’t surprise you when I tell you that France, Italy and Switzerland have historically dominated the skimo scene. At last year’s Ski Mountaineering World Championships, France won nine medals (four gold), Switzerland won seven (three gold) and Italy was third in total medals with four.

The current men’s world champion is Spain’s Oriol Cardona Coll. He’s the gold medal favorite in Milan Cortina for the men’s sprint. Emily Harrop from France is the favorite for the women’s sprint.

Who’s on the US skimo team?

Anna Gibson and Cam Smith will represent Team USA in the mixed relay race. They became the first American team ever to win a mixed relay World Cup event. Their win at Solitude, Utah, was not only historic on a national level but also qualified them for the Olympics. 

Gibson is a 26-year-old from Jackson, Wyoming, with a background in trail running and Nordic skiing. Hailing from Rockford, Illinois, Smith is 30 years old and the closest the US has to a skimo veteran. He’s an 11-time US Ski Mountaineering national champion and a five-time North American Ski Mountaineering champion.

Google is introducing Gemini-powered Audio Summaries to Google Docs, letting you listen to a shorter AI-generated overview of your document on the go. Think of it as turning long-form documents, such as product manuals, minutes of the meeting, or a quarterly business report, into an audio-only podcast.

Audio Summaries generate a short, natural-language recap of the document (typically a couple of minutes long) that retains the key ideas; it is based on Google Gemini.

Your Google doc, now in podcast form

It offers the gist of the entire document in audio format. You can listen to it while completing your steps on a treadmill, preparing breakfast, or simply walking to your class or office.

The Audio Summaries feature is available in Google Docs on the web, under Tools > Audio > Listen to document summary. Once you select the feature, Gemini scans the file and produces a narrated summary, along with a “Listen to this tab” option that reads the entire page for when you don’t want to miss the details.

Google says the voices sound natural (similar to the Gemini AI assistant). You can also control the playback speed to suit your needs. You also control standard controls like play, pause, and timeline scrubbing, as well as different voice styles, so that you can personalize the document-turned-podcast yourself.

Availability, productivity boost, and a catch

The Audio Summaries feature is rolling out gradually. However, the feature isn’t available for free users; it is currently limited to paid tiers, including the Workspace Business (Standard and Plus) and Enterprise plans (Standard and Plus), as well as certain AI add-ons (including Google AI Ultra and AI Pro).

Audio Summaries could really help enhance your productivity, especially if you’re a multitasker or have accessibility needs. However, be careful when using the feature, as summarizing the document might miss some important details.

Lots of people cruise past brand new GMC Hummer EVs every single day without even giving it a second glance. This massive electric pickup fits in with traffic; its boxy design and silent functioning barely raise an eyebrow on the street. That is, until you place it up against a slew of exotic, high-end supercars, at which point everyone turns around and whips out their smartphones.

GMC recently released a video demonstrating this in action, with their 2026 Hummer EV Carbon Fiber Edition producing 1,160 horsepower and instant torque from its electric motors competing against five highly respected performers: a Ferrari F8 Tributo, a Ford GT, a Porsche Taycan Turbo S, a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye, and an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera. Each test required them to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph from a complete stop, but what makes this even more interesting is that the Hummer functioned as both a competitor and a camera platform.

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The supercars were driven by professionals who understood their vehicles inside and out, but the Hummer managed to draw ahead and leave them in the dust on all 15 runs. The drivers were still chatting about how bizarre it seemed to watch a full-size pickup easily pass them. The truck’s ‘Watts to Freedom’ mode lowers it to the deck and allows it to unleash full power to all four wheels, allowing it to accelerate from 0 to 60 in as little as 2.8 seconds under optimum conditions, and that launch advantage proved too much for the supercars to handle.

Because of its twin-turbo V8 and precision handling, the Ferrari F8 is always a strong challenger in straight-line races against heavier rivals. The Ford GT features race-bred aerodynamics and a powerful twin-turbo V6 engine. The Taycan is another EV that provides rapid torque and has a good performance just like the Hummer. The Hellcat, however, depends on old-school supercharged muscle, while the Aston Martin adds grand touring finesse, but none of them could match the Hummer’s initial surge.

The Hummer EV’s ability to leave the supercars in the dust in a straight line, despite the fact that these cars were valued twice as much as a Hummer EV, may be attributed to one factor: the unique distribution of electric power. There’s no buildup or fanfare, just pure, unadulterated energy that transforms this heavyweight into a sprinter in a matter of seconds, reaching 60 mph. In that small period, the Hummer EV entirely redefines the term ‘quick’.
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As India’s first AI company to IPO, Fractal Analytics didn’t have a stellar first day on the public markets, as enthusiasm for the technology collided with jittery investors recovering from a major sell-off in Indian software stocks.

Fractal listed at ₹876 per share on Monday, below its issue price of ₹900, and then slid further in afternoon trading. The stock closed at ₹873.70, down 7% from its issue price, lending the company a market capitalization of about ₹148.1 billion (around $1.6 billion).

That price tag marks a step down from Fractal’s recent private-market highs. In July 2025, the company raised about $170 million in a secondary sale, at a valuation of $2.4 billion. It first crossed the $1 billion mark in January 2022 after raising $360 million from TPG, becoming India’s first AI unicorn.

Fractal’s IPO comes as India seeks to position itself as a key market and development hub for AI in a bid to attract investment amid increasing attention from some of the world’s most prominent AI companies. Firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic have been engaging more with the country’s government, enterprises, and developer ecosystem as they seek to tap the country’s scale, talent base, and growing appetite for AI tools and technology.

That push is on display this week in New Delhi, where India is hosting the AI Impact Summit, bringing together global technology leaders, policymakers and executives.

Fractal’s subdued debut followed a sharp recalibration of its IPO. In early February, the company decided to price the offering conservatively after its bankers advised it to, cutting the IPO size by more than 40% to ₹28.34 billion (about $312.5 million), from the original amount of ₹49 billion ($540.3 million).

Founded in 2000, Fractal sells AI and data analytics software to large enterprises across financial services, retail and healthcare, and generates the bulk of its revenue from overseas markets, including the U.S. The company pivoted toward AI in 2022 after operating as a traditional data analytics firm for over 20 years.

Fractal touted a steadily growing business in its IPO filing, with revenue from operations rising 26% to ₹27.65 billion (around $304.8 million) in the year ended March 2025 compared to a year earlier. It also swung to a net profit of ₹2.21 billion ($24.3 million) from a loss of ₹547 million ($6 million) the previous year.

The company plans to use the IPO proceeds to repay borrowings at its U.S. subsidiary, invest in R&D, sales and marketing under its Fractal Alpha unit, expand office infrastructure in India, and pursue potential acquisitions.